MBA (Business Administration)

Degrees and Certificates

Courses

MBA 8100: Leadership Challenge

Credits 1.5
Intensive weekend course focusing on the behavioral dimensions of decision making with an emphasis on the dynamics and challenges of creating a positive presence, influencing others, providing responsible leadership, and developing high performance teams.

MBA 8131: Data Transformation

Credits 1.5

Explores how to clean, validate, and transform data for analytics. Focuses on data modeling, integrating structured and streaming sources, and building automated, repeatable workflows to support predictive and prescriptive business intelligence.

MBA 8135: Ethics in AI/ML

Credits 1.5

Examines the ethical and bias implications of AI/ML systems across domains like healthcare, finance, and hiring, focusing on identifying potential harms and designing responsible technologies that reduce bias or determine when not to deploy AI.

MBA 8136: AI & ML for Business

Credits 1.5
This course provides a comprehensive overview of AI trends, impacts on work, enterprise adoption challenges, building an AI-powered organization, AI algorithms, data learning, NLP, computer vision, generative AI, and ethical AI.

MBA 8137: Business Applications in AI&ML

Credits 1.5
This course examines AI/ML applications across all industries, developing business cases and ROI for AI investments based on real-world examples and use cases in multiple sectors.

MBA 8138: Bus Problem Modeling in AI&ML

Credits 3
This course gives business hands-on AI/ML experience through developing prototypes that solve real-world challenges, using no-code tools and applying modeling techniques to business datasets.

MBA 8140: Customer Relationship Mgmt

Credits 1.5
Discusses theoretic and practical issues related to implementation and use of CRM systems including: distinct functional areas (Sales Force Automation, Marketing Automation, Customer Support Centers) and their integration with tools like Salesforce.com and SAP's Integrated CRM package.

MBA 8141: Dashboard Analytics

Credits 1.5
Covers design and implementation of analytic dashboards in various functional areas. Topics include: underlying data sources, their integration into overall dashboard strategy and dashboard lifecycle from design to implementation of simple and advanced dashboards using Xcelsius and SAP's Business Objects.

MBA 8143: Anatomy of Digital Comm.

Credits 1.5
Encompassing both technical and managerial aspects of data communication, this course is designed to enhance student's understanding of how data communication works and to examine challenges and opportunities that confront today's technology-driven decision makers.

MBA 8146: Simulation of Bus. Analytics

Credits 1.5
Spreadsheet modeling course that studies real business decisions. Spreadsheet add-ins at Risk and Precision Tree will be used to allow the student to model applications in finance, marketing, and operations. The students will gain an understanding and appreciation for the uncertainty of values in certain cells and the significant impact that the uncertainty can have on decisions.

MBA 8147: Analytics in Sports Business

Credits 1.5
Discusses theory and application of how professional sports franchises gain competitive advantage through the integration of data analysis into their decision-making processes.

MBA 8151: Financial Accounting&Reporting

Credits 3
This introductory MBA financial accounting course explores the use of financial statement information by investors, creditors, managers, and other corporate stakeholders. Course topics emphasize understanding Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) related to asset and liability valuation, debt and equity issuance, revenue recognition, income measurement, and common supplemental financial statement disclosures, as well as interpretation of common financial statement ratios.

MBA 8152: Management Accounting

Credits 1.5
This introductory MBA management accounting course explores the value of information in performance measurement and decision-making by various organizational stakeholders. Key topics include strategic cost management, budgeting and profit planning, resource allocation, management incentives, and performance evaluation.

MBA 8161: Analyt Meth: Text & Web Mning

Credits 3
This course covers concepts, techniques, and applications of text and web mining -- e.g., information extraction, classification, clustering, sentiment analysis, visualization, and social network analysis. Asynchronous online lectures. Use of software for hands-on exercises and project.

MBA 8162: Big Data: Theories & Practices

Credits 1.5
Numerous factors contributed to increasing the volume, velocity, and variety of data, resulting in the `big data? phenomenon to become an unavoidable IT challenge. This course examines big data from both theoretical and practical perspectives in a condensed 2-weekend format.

MBA 8180: Business Intelligence

Credits 3
This course examines the concepts and approaches in Business Intelligence (BI) from a business user/analyst perspective. Students will learn to use BI tools for creating applications and dashboards in the context of fact-based decision-making.

MBA 8250: Bus Opera & Supply Chain Mgmt

Credits 1.5
Concepts of operations management, operations technology, and the responsibilities of operation managers in the management of production systems, including problems and techniques of systems design, operation and control.

MBA 8324: Economic Anal. of Bus Strategy

Credits 1.5
Provides the analytical framework for strategic decision making within the modern business firm. Topics covered include: horizontal and vertical boundaries of the firm, principal-agent problem, market structures, game theory and competitive advantage.

MBA 8331: Hltcare Econ:Patients-Policy

Credits 1.5
Health care economics from the macroeconomic point of view, provides a framework for understanding the U.S. Health Care system in the global environment. Cost-benefit analysis will be included to analyze policy decisions.

MBA 8332: Hlthcare Econ: Managr'l Perspc

Credits 1.5
Health care economics at the microeconomic level of supply and demand. The providers of medical care (Medicare/ Medicaid/CHIP, private health insurance, physician services, hospitals, pharmaceuticals, and long-term care) and a detailed exploration of medical care production and costs.

MBA 8350: Analyzing and Leveraging Data

Credits 3
The course begins with a review of descriptive statistics, confidence intervals, and hypothesis testing. These tools will be extended into regression analysis geared towards analyzing large data sets in order to make informed business decisions.

MBA 8360: Essential Economics

Credits 1.5
The study of markets, employment, strategic interaction, monetary and fiscal policy, emphasizing implications for business leaders.

MBA 8370: Essential Business Statistics

Credits 1.5
Univariate statistical techniques (descriptive statistics, confidence intervals, and hypothesis testing) used to guide informed business decisions. This course is a building block for more advanced data analysis.

MBA 8380: Analyzing and Leveraging Data

Credits 1.5
Multivariate statistical techniques (with a focus on regression analysis) needed to study complex sets of data. Expands analytical skills beyond univariate techniques. Pre-requisite: MBA 8370 Essential Business Statistics.

MBA 8432: Corporate Restructuring

Credits 3
Focuses on developing a set of analytical tools for corporate restructuring activities, especially Mergers and Acquisitions. Discusses managers' M&A motivations, strategies used in friendly vs. non-friendly takeovers and anti-takeover defense tactics. Includes discussion of costs and benefits of each strategy and methods for valuating a target firm.

MBA 8441: Deriv. & Risk Mgt - Options

Credits 1.5
Mechanics of options markets; properties of stock options; hedging and risk management techniques; binomial trees; the Black-Scholes-Merton pricing model; trading strategies and practices. Restricted to MBA and JDMBA Students.

MBA 8442: Equity Markets & Valuation

Credits 1.5
Risk and return; market efficiency; mechanics and structure of equity markets; equity trading strategies; financial statement ratio analyses; financial forecasting; valuation of common stocks. Restricted to MBA and JDMBA Students.

MBA 8443: Credit Markets & Valuation

Credits 1.5
Valuation and risk characteristics of credit and credit derivatives markets. Valuation of corporate and treasury bonds; credit portfolio management; term structure of interest rates; credit risks; credit default swaps; and interest rate swaps. Restricted to MBA and JDMBA Students.

MBA 8444: Multinational Financial Mgmt.

Credits 1.5
Globalization and the multinational corporation; foreign direct investment and political risk; international parity conditions; foreign exchange market; currency derivatives market; foreign exchange risk management; foreign trade financing; managing the multinational financial system. Restricted to MBA and JDMBA Students.

MBA 8445: Corporate Restructuring

Credits 1.5
Organizational and financial restructuring; ethical issues; goals of the firm; role of corporate governance; mergers and acquisitions; business combinations; merger waves; joint ventures; corporate alliances; valuation of public and private firms; negotiation strategies; leverage buyouts; IPOs; divestitures; takeovers; bankruptcy.

MBA 8447: Portfolio Management

Credits 1.5
Management of investment portfolios: diversification; risk management, portfolio insurance, performance evaluation and attribution; liquidity requirements; utility theory; and portfolio optimization algorithms. Restricted to MBA and JDMBA Students.

MBA 8448: Corporate Governance

Credits 1.5
Course will cover the current state of corporate governance, the roles and responsibilities of shareholders, management, directors and other stakeholders and how corporate governance will evolve in the post global Financial Crisis world. MBA Students & JDMBA Students.

MBA 8449: International M&A

Credits 1.5
Executives now lead in a "World is Flat" competitive environment. Course provides (i) a framework for understanding international M&A and strategic investing and (ii) expertise to serve as an effective business leader on such issues.

MBA 8450: Corporate Finance

Credits 3
Tools and models used for making investment and financing decisions. Topics include valuation, risk and return, capital budgeting and cost of capital.

MBA 8451: Financial Statement Analysis

Credits 1.5
Develop skills for valuation and corporate strategic, business and investment analysis using financial statement data. Application to business world, corporate finance/investment banking, private equity, portfolio and investment management, owning your business, senior corporate leadership including treasury and controller functions.

MBA 8453: International Financ'l Markets

Credits 1.5
Global monetary system; balance of payments; foreign exchange markets; currency interest rates; credit derivatives and swaps; international financing; Euromarkets; and international portfolio management.

MBA 8454: Corporate Valuation & Financial Strategy

Credits 1.5

This course offers a framework for measuring and managing firm value. It provides financial modeling tools to analyze and forecast firm performance, economic intuition to link a company's valuation to core performance drivers, and practical application of each topic.

MBA 8455: Corporate Restructuring - Valuation Analysis

Credits 1.5

Develop analytical tools for corporate restructuring activities, especially Mergers & Acquisitions. Includes estimating values of synergy and control, range of offer price, EPS dilution and accretion, comparable transaction and comparable firm approach, and introduction to leverage buyout analysis.

MBA 8480: Investments

Credits 3
Covers the fundamentals of security analysis and valuation with a focus on equity investments. Holistic approach - applies both top-down and bottom-up valuation methods and introduces industry analysis and portfolio management techniques. Applied in nature, emphasizing how to put valuation theory into practice.

MBA 8481: International Finance

Credits 3
Corporations with activities that span multiple countries, also called multinational corporations (MNCs), face unique challenges and opportunities that purely domestic corporations do not face. In this course, students will learn the principles of international finance. This course adds an international dimension to the concepts previously learned learned in corporate finance. Students will be introduced to the historical and geographic environment of MNCs and financial institutions, the structure and operation of the foreign exchange markets, international monetary systems, international money and capital markets, derivatives markets, country risk evaluation, international portfolio diversification and international elements to project evaluation. This course will provide readings from the financial press.

MBA 8511: Leading Inclusively

Credits 1.5
This course explores inclusive leadership, focusing on recognizing challenges, leveraging diversity as an advantage, and developing skills to manage diversity effectively, empowering you to become a more inclusive leader in your workplace and among peers.

MBA 8522: Talent Management

Credits 1.5
Role of talent management in corporate strategy and success. Staffing, compensation, work design, performance measurement, individual and career development, safety,

MBA 8524: Total Quality Management

Credits 1.5
Introduction to Total Quality Management Improvement philosophies, theories, and strategies as they apply to the business environment. Course will focus on application of improvement strategies to business problems faced by managers in public and private sectors.

MBA 8530: International Bus Management

Credits 3
Provides overview of economic and cultural integration, trade problems, tariff barriers, and highlights the conflicts compromises between the executive policies & national objectives of various countries. Emphasis on the development of marketing strategies and the problems concerning overseas investment and financing.

MBA 8536: Challng of Ldrshp in Glob Orgs

Credits 1.5
Successful global organizations require leaders to be collaborative and empowering, and transform organizations into adaptive and inclusive environments. This course covers specific challenges of leading multicultural organizations to prepare future leaders to understand and negotiate the complexities of such environments.

MBA 8537: Intro to Data Mining

Credits 1.5
Process of selecting, exploring, and modeling large amounts of data to uncover previously unknown patterns and gain insights. Several data mining techniques will be applied to large data sets from different business areas to support business decision making.

MBA 8538: Power and Politics

Credits 1.5
Designed to fuel learning of concepts for understanding, analyzing, and navigating power dynamics in organizations; highlighting how your relations with organizational stakeholders and understanding the organizational context are crucial to navigating the political terrain of organizations successfully.

MBA 8539: Contemporary Topics in Mgmt

Credits 3
This course explores the unique leadership challenges and organizational dynamics that arise during key stages of the business cycle - Startup, Growth, Turnaround, and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A).

MBA 8541: Negotiation and Mediation

Credits 3
Offered as a joint MBA and Law school elective, course is designed to develop advocacy skills for effective negotiation and mediation in transactional and dispute resolution contexts. Students will be required to review materials in negotiation and mediation theory and practice, and to participate in simulated exercises (both as parties and mediators) while confronting the practical, legal, and ethical dilemmas which often arise.

MBA 8543: Crisis Ldrshp: European Union

Credits 1.5
Focus is on the unique challenges and opportunities that the European Union presents for business leaders. Will explore a broad range of issues, including the economic crises facing the EU; regulatory issues; the importance of SMEs as an economic growth engine; the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy; and the EU as a hub of global innovation, sustainability, and social responsibility.

MBA 8550: Team Leadership & Grp Dynamics

Credits 1.5
Course focuses on the behavioral dimension of managerial action and decision making with emphasis on group dynamics and interpersonal relationships. It includes an exploration of personal style, team leadership competencies, motivation, influencing others, communication, diversity, high performance teams, and learning in a global environment.

MBA 8560: Strategic Dec Make & Exe Teams

Credits 1.5
This course helps students understand the human decision-making process in the context of strategic issues faced by the executive team. We will research actual executive teams making strategic decisions.

MBA 8561: Negotiations

Credits 1.5
The purpose of this experiential course is to understand and practice negotiation in a broad spectrum of business interactions faced by managers, consultants and other professionals. It is intended to enhance student negotiation skills.

MBA 8564: Stratg Desgn Think & Implement

Credits 1.5
This course focuses on the intersection between design thinking methodologies and opportunity-finding for strategy development. It covers theory and practice related to innovation, complexity, emergence and principles of systems thinking.

MBA 8565: Business Risk Management

Credits 1.5
This course examines contemporary risk managment frameworks, overviews common regulatory reporting requirements, and provides practical insights on effective business risk management to help students navigate today's dynamic marketplace.

MBA 8566: Risk-Taking and Antifragility

Credits 1.5
This course explores how volatility can create opportunity, leveraging fat-tailed distributions to generate convex payoffs. Topics include optionality, convex rewards, and antifragility. While technical derivations aren't required, quantitative and probabilistic reasoning are essential for applying these concepts in business contexts.

MBA 8570: Intro to Data & Bus Analytics

Credits 1.5
Provides an overview and framework for business analytics as it relates to decision making. Focus is on practical application of analytics to real-world business problems.

MBA 8571: Intro to R for Bus Analytics

Credits 1.5
This course covers the fundamentals of the R programming language and software as a tool to drive business analytics processes. Students will learn how to leverage R's capabilities to solve real-world business problems.

MBA 8580: Intro to Business Analytics

Credits 3
Provides an overview of business analytics process and techniques; data visualization, mining, optimization, simulation. Exposure to a variety of business problems in analytics (marketing, finance, operations). Students learn to model & analyze complex business decisions with various tools to improve decision making across business functions.

MBA 8582: Analytical Meth for Data Mng

Credits 3
Data mining: the process of selecting, exploring & modeling large amounts of data to uncover patterns & gain insights. Students will learn how/when to use various mining techniques & use findings to support business decisions. Topics: logistic, regression, decision tree & neural networks.

MBA 8583: Decision Analytics & AI

Credits 3
Comprehensive application of data mining, decision modeling, and generative AI in business analytics, incorporating data management and advanced tools, Builds on foundational skills to model and solve complex business problems across functions in the context of recent innovation in AI.

MBA 8584: Pharmaceutical Analytics

Credits 3
This course is designed to describe and teach, at a high level, the main analytical methodologies used in the new drug development and commercialization process as practiced by pharmaceutical manufacturers and biotech companies. These methodologies are designed to inform and execute the commercial development of new drug products and identify target product profile (TPP) elements of new products. Estimation and forecasting of market potential will include: Impact of competition, accounting for market barriers and drivers, commercial execution of new product launch, audience segmentation and targeting, deployment of resources, execution and launch tracking, and how to make necessary adjustments throughout the process.

MBA 8631: Exec Level Selling C-Suite

Credits 1.5
Learn to sell at the executive level with targeted strategies, simulations, and case studies. Build skills to beyond mid-level selling and engage effectively with senior leaders across organizations.

MBA 8632: Cons Psy Optimal Bus Solutions

Credits 1.5
Students will become "subject matter experts" on topics that impacts their professional lives. The format will be research-based and result in a detailed "full-immersion" presentation and consultancy exercise that demonstrates marketing and consumer behavior concepts combined with an analysis of a personal, corporate or agency strategic issue of interest to the students. Students will be exposed to in-class consultancy situations from corporate and governmental leaders and will analyze a business problem, provide a framework for analysis and qualified recommendations for action.

MBA 8633: Marketing Perf. & Data Strategy

Credits 1.5

This course equips students with analytical frameworks & tools to turn marketing data into actionable insights that influence consumer behavior, drive results, and align decisions. Through real-world case studies, it explores data strategy, brand benchmarking, storytelling, performance measurement, and artificial intelligence.

MBA 8643: Mgmt & Mkt of Services-Part I

Credits 1.5
Analysis of unique challenges of marketing services compared to products; introduction to the expanded marketing mix (7 P's) and the Gaps Model of Service Quality; apply knowledge through case analysis.

MBA 8644: Mgmt & Mkt of Services-Part II

Credits 1.5
Builds on material from Services I, further exploring the Gaps Model of Service Quality. Major topics include communications and roles of employees and customers in service delivery. Case analysis will make the material relevant and topical.

MBA 8650: Strategic Marketing Mgmt.

Credits 3
Course focuses on the development, implementation and control of strategic marketing management decisions in complex environments designed to accomplish an organization's objectives. Theory and practice are utilized to develop integrated corporate strategies and detailed programs.

MBA 8651: Brand Management

Credits 3
Strategic approach to brand asset management in modern business entities; building and managing brands; understanding brand equity, how brands aid in segmentation, differentiation and positioning; frameworks for understanding brand strategy decisions, a brand's strengths, weaknesses and challenges; high-involvement class.

MBA 8653: Global Strategy for Mkt. Entry

Credits 1.5
Political, legal, economic, financial, social and cultural issues in successful conduct of global business; focus on market entry (how, timing); review organizational strucutre, leadership, labor relations, human resource considerations; develop marketing strategy to plan, organize, and implement foreign market entry.

MBA 8680: Bldg Brands via Promo

Credits 3
Explores: the importance of branding to business, consumers, & society; the brand value chain as framework for analyzing the impact of marketing expenditures on the bottom line; brand equity & techniques for measurement; how advertising & promotion enhance the brand building process.

MBA 8681: Digital Mkting & Social Media

Credits 1.5
Examines how marketers can utilize emerging media (online, social, mobile) to promote customer engagement, enhance their traditional marketing mix, measure effectiveness of marketing efforts. The goal is to provide theoretical understanding of the internet marketplace.

MBA 8683: Marketing Research Tools

Credits 1.5
Provides students with research and managerial perspectives in the application of marketing research tools. Hands-on approach allows students to learn how to construct qualitative and quantitative marketing research tools to understand concepts that range from brand affinity to consumer experience.

MBA 8684: Global Marketing

Credits 3
This course explores the strategic and tactical elements of international marketing, emphasizing market evaluation, strategy coordination, and cultural influences. Key topics include marketing principles, current trends, and the complexities of operating in multinational environments to enhance firm success.

MBA 8710: Info Tech as Strategic Lever

Credits 1.5
Advances in IT provide an opportunity for business to leverage technology to rethink organizational strategy, structure, and process. Course provides an understanding of technology, organizational environment, and its effect on society.

MBA 8720: Ethical Business Practices

Credits 1.5
Ethical responsibilities of managers and corporations. Plausible frameworks for dealing with ethical dilemmas. Common patterns of success and failure in managing ethical conflicts. Critical evaluation of managerial and corporate ethics.

MBA 8730: Mgmt. for Innov. & Creativity

Credits 1.5
Study innovation processes at organizational system level. Develops students & apos; awareness and confidence to innovate. Value of creativity tools and techniques for individual and group innovation. Students develop their own preferred creativity processes and apply to individual and group challenges.

MBA 8740: Global Political Economy

Credits 1.5
International trade and production, global division of labor, environmental change, political economy governance, exchange rate implications, and consequences of globalization and production. International relations and organizations governing countries' trade relations.

MBA 8800: Commercial Real Estate Invest.

Credits 3
An overview of commercial real estate investment. Emphasis is on life cycle from acquisition through disposition using analytical and practical tools. Topics include market analysis, valuation, deal structuring, commercial leases, financing, investment management, marketing and careers in real estate.

MBA 8823: RE Securities & Capital Mkts

Credits 1.5
Course will focus on public equity and debt markets related to real estate. Specific items to be discussed include: public equity markets (REITS), the mortgage back security markets, and hedge fund real estate strategies. Recommended prerequisite - Commercial Real Estate Investments.

MBA 8825: Emerging Trends in RE

Credits 1.5
This class will explore current trends in real estate development, their roots, how they ultimately affected the built environment and early trends that could impact future development.

MBA 8826: Main Street Renewal

Credits 1.5
Towns across America once revolved around cities, people shopped, worked, relaxed and worshipped. Municipal governments are seeking ways to rejuvenate these main streets. This course analyzes the future of small town USA changing in a vibrant and prosperous economic resurgence.

MBA 8827: Sustainable RE Development

Credits 3
This course reflects on the principles and processes of development including land acquisition, legal, zoning, planning and approvals. An in-depth study of the sustainable development of offices, mixed use communities, residential and renovation projects. Emphasis is on understanding and evaluating through case studies the design, architecture, sustainability and financial analysis of real estate development.

MBA 8910: Soc. Enterp. Consulting Prac.

Credits 3
This course is designed to give MBA students the opportunity to develop their professional skill set with a client firm that is serving the common good within the greater Philadelphia community. The focus is on strategic market management using a systems perspective within our Catholic and Augustinian tradition of supporting advancement of human dignity.

MBA 8920: Global Practicum

Credits 1.5
Global project in which student will incorporate all knowledge gained in the MBA program. Can be part of a global immersion or done domestically.

MBA 8930: Global Strategic Management

Credits 3
Strategic decision-making from the executive perspective, with emphasis on learning to formulate, implement, and control the strategic direction of a stakeholder-responsive organization within competitive markets and a global economy.

MBA 9000: Graduate Business Practicum

Credits 1
A required course so that international students can be employed while in the U.S. on a F1 Student Visa. Students will enroll in this course while simultaneously working in an organization where their graduate business skills will be utilized. Required for curricular practical training (CPT).