Course Description

Course Description

ECON 605: UAE IN GLOBAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

A conceptual and operational understanding of current topics in the arena of global business is critical to any organization’s success. The scope and content of international business issues have been fast evolving due to many forces. As the world becomes more integrated, a solid understanding of globalization issues and concepts and their associated implications on UAE businesses has become essential for corporate decision making. The UAE in the Global Business Environment will expose managers to the most recent issues regarding globalization along with the dynamic structure and operations of multinational firm as it relates to the UAE. There will be an integrated progression of topics beginning with an understanding of the political, economic, cultural and monetary features of the UAE business environment and a better understanding of its advantages and shortcomings. Next, we present an overall picture on how UAE business environment is viewed by other professional, government, and business organizations. Some important implications of global trends and forces (i.e., WTO, FDI, and FTA) as they influence the UAE future business are also reviewed. Most discussions will focus on developing an understanding of the strategic and operational alternatives available to UAE business when conducting international business. Overall, the course examines the position of UAE in the context of global business environment, and will include the organization-specific examples such as the use of procurement offsets as an economic development strategy; aircraft industry as a spillover source; and international examples of defense offsets.

STAT 640: STATISTICAL AND QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

This course prepares MBA students to design and conduct research to address and solve business challenges. It provides an empirical basis for action recommendations for the solution of business problems or for the achievement of business objectives. UAEU MBA students will learn to frame, plan, and conduct research projects related to their organization’s business and operations. They will also learn the key statistical techniques used in modeling and analyzing research findings and business data.

ACCT 601: ACCOUNTING FOR SENIOR MANAGERS

Accounting is a powerful tool that plays a critical role in the creation, measurement, and distribution of wealth across various stakeholders in business, economy and society. As such, it creates, mystifies and reinforces power in the society. This course is designed to help students to appreciate this role of accounting and learn various techniques, with which accounting performs its role inside and outside the business entity. Therefore, this course has two distinct but related parts. The financial accounting part deals with the development of financial accounting systems to perform its stewardship and governance functions in business entities. Participants will be exposed to the issues related to: the agency relationships, financial reporting, concepts and theoretical foundations underlying financial statements, financial statement analysis, consolidation and financial diagnosis, use of accounting information in managerial planning, decision making, control, and performance evaluation. The managerial accounting part covers internal cost management, cost control, cost analysis in developing organizational budgets, performance evaluation, and strategic decision making.

MIST 610: MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Strategic information systems examine how information technology (IT) enables organizations to conduct business in radically different and more effective ways. The availability of Internet has created a major change in the business environment. New channels of supply and distribution are emerging. The infrastructure of firms and the industries within which they operate have been permanently altered. In many cases, the changes have threatened not just a firm’s competitiveness but also its survival. Executives bear enormous burden as they attempt to understand the challenges, keep abreast of events, and make intelligent decisions and plans.

This course focuses on providing executives with better understanding of the influence of 21st century technologies on business decisions. The course is highly interactive and students are encouraged to participate in articles and case discussions, and may be called upon to discuss and illustrate their understanding of the materials.

ECON 651: MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS

This course covers the essential principles and tools of Managerial Economics. The course examines the principles of microeconomics and illustrates how they apply to managerial decision-making. Participants who master these materials will be better prepared for leadership positions in business, not-for-profit, and government entities.

The first part of the course discusses basic economic concepts such as supply, demand and costs. We move from these basic concepts to studying how firms behave when they have market power. Topics include differences between perfectly and imperfectly competitive markets, optimal pricing for firms with monopoly power, and the use of advanced pricing such as bundling and versioning to capture value. The final section of the course focuses on advanced topics in market analysis. These include the role of externalities and imperfect orasymmetric information.

Teaching will be supplemented by case studies. Cases are designed to allow participants to apply core elements from managerial economics to a remarkably rich business environment. They can be used as the basis for an «open-ended» discussion of business strategy, or they can be assigned requiring the students to apply specific tools from managerial economics to the case.

MKTG 605: MARKETING MANAGEMENT IN MANUFACTURING FIRMS

This is a senior managerial approach to advanced problems in marketing with primary emphasis on case studies, set in a manufacturing sector context. Traditional analysis and application of marketing principles on both the sides of consumers and executive decision-makers generally remain valid. On the other hand, this course investigates the principles that underpin the marketing process and how they apply in manufacturing firms. It is a broad-based module providing a general overview of marketing for all students and a foundation for further study in the specialist area of marketing. Therefore, this course focuses on providing marketing executives with better understanding of the role of marketing management in converting opportunities and threats they face in such a competitive marketplace into corporate proficiency, profitability, and sustainability.

Upon completion of the course, participants should be able to understand the role of marketing in highly turbulent environments under which manufacturing companies are operating, and appreciate the marketing mix, focusing selectively on the elements of marketing appropriate to the manufacturing sector. Participants should also gain knowledge of how relevant marketing strategies and programs aid an organization in achieving its objectives and be able to apply various marketing concepts and principles to actual day-to-day business encounters.

FINC 610: FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

The central focus of the financial management for corporate strategy course is on the role of financial management in maximizing the value of the firm. This course is aimed at introducing MBA participants to the essentials of modern corporate finance, financial management, and the process of financial decision-making. By the end of this course, participants should gain a thorough understating of financial techniques and tools used in problem solving and decision-making at the corporate level.

The course focuses on how corporate strategy can be translated into investment projects that maximize stakeholders’ wealth. Stakeholders’ wealth creation in imperfect markets can only be achieved by choosing investment projects with competitive advantages (that yield positive net present values). As investment projects are risky and need to be financed, the course studies how to: analyze risky projects, diversify the firm’s projects portfolio, and hedge against unwanted foreign exchange exposure and other financing and general business risks. Financing costs are examined in depth so that the value added of the corporate strategy is not eliminated by high cost financing. Modern financing derivative instruments such as swaps, forwards, futures contracts and options contracts are examined and analyzed for both speculation and hedging purposes. The course also covers an overview of the value added through mergers and acquisitions. Emphasis is on financial decision-making through the extensive use of cases and real-world examples.

MGMT 650: GLOBAL OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

The key to improving productivity in today’s economies lies in the effective management of manufacturing and/or bundled service operations. This course focuses on designing and improving products/services and processes in organizations. Topics covered will include strategy through value creation; new product and process design; facility layouts; process flow management and improvement; total quality management, cost of quality and six sigma; scheduling and sequencing; supply chain management; inventory management; lean systems; and capacity and constraint management. These concepts will be illustrated with examples from the UAE manufacturing and industrial environment. The course will also examine the interactions among operations management and other functions and areas of research, particularly marketing, information systems, and organizational behavior.

MGMT 610: STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Effective management of human resources in a contemporary knowledge economy (a goal of both the UAE vision 2021 as well as the Abu Dhabi vision 2030) is vital for the success of any country and of any organization. To gain and maintain sustained competitive advantage, any organization needs to utilize the full potential of human resources. Thus, the course is designed to examine the strategic challenges faced by both policy makers and managers in formulating and administering human resources policies and procedures in different types of organizational and national settings. Contemporary issues related to strategic human resources management, human resource planning, job/work analysis, hiring, training, performance management, and compensation will be examined with particular focus on the manufacturing and industrial sector. Most important of all, this course is relevant to the UAE work environment, a s it builds on contemporary research conducted in the UAE and on  topics relevant to SHRM.

MGMT 660: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Unlike other business courses that concentrate narrowly on a particular function or piece of the business – accounting, finance, marketing, production, human resources, or information systems - strategic management is a big picture course. It cuts across the whole spectrum of business and management. The center of attention of this course is the total enterprise – the industry and competitive environment in which it operates its long-term direction and strategy, its resources and competitive capabilities, and its prospects for success.

The mission of the course is to explore why good strategic management leads to good business performance for manufacturing organizations, to present the basic concepts and tools of strategic analysis and to drill into the participants the skills of crafting a well-conceived strategy and executing it competently. Participants will be called upon to probe, question, and evaluate all aspects of a company’s external and internal situation thereby sizing up a company’s standing in the marketplace and its ability to go head to head with rivals. Participants will also learn to distinguish between winning strategies from mediocre strategies, as well as become trained in spotting ways to improve a company’s strategy or its execution.

MGMT 620: ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION

The purpose of this course is to explore the mystery of the entrepreneur and the process of entrepreneurship while developing and organizing technology-driven innovations in bothentrepreneurial and established manufacturing firms. We will examine how to build organizations that excel at identifying, building and commercializing innovations. Case analysis of both successful and failed businesses will be carried out with deploying and diffusing products and services through entrepreneurial action. By focusing on live and historical cases, we will cover the broad spectrum of challenges and opportunities encountered during starts-up and development stages  of enterprises. Major topics include how the innovation process works; creating an organizational culture that rewards innovation and entrepreneurship; designing appropriate innovation processes including business model, business plan, funding, business incubation, commercialization and managing growth. The course consists of an integrated package of seminars, workshops, videos, role plays, case studies, web resources, and class activities designed to immerse participants. An attempt is made to integrate the theory and the practice of entrepreneurship. Learning environment is  designed to encourage high interaction amongst participants and the course facilitator.

MGMT 630: BUSINESS ETHICS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Business ethics and corporate governance have gained immense importance over the last decade. If the 19th century focus was on how to create a business and the 20th century how to manage it, the 21st century is the governance era par excellence. The early 2000s scandals such as Adelphia Cable, Enron, Global Crossing, ImClone Systems, Parmalat, Tyco, and WorldCom have become linked to a growing trend of unethical business behavior and a failure of corporate governance. This course addresses the “big picture” questions surrounding the relationships between business ethics, business management and governance, and society as a whole: Why does an organization exist? Who does the organization serve? What are its responsibilities to stakeholders? How can it serve its institutional economic and social role?

The course drives the UAE’s rite of passage into the global business environment. Its sustainable economic and business model to maintain high economic growth and development and to maintain high standards and quality of life requires the business sector, manufacturing and service, foreign and domestic, big and small corporations to be responsible to protect and serve all stakeholders. UAE manufacturing companies may offer unique case-studies in business ethics and corporate governance. Designing and implementing effective governance, internal controls, risk management and assurance framework is vital to remain focused on the needs of society as a whole and to ensure sustainable development. Corporate governance and business ethics is about promoting total quality, innovation, balanced risk taking, and a performance culture, within a caring community and cleaner and greener environment spirit.