Course Descriptions
Download the course schedule for the January 2013 cohort.
Download the course schedule for the August 2013 cohort.
| Course Name | Traditional MBA Course Comparison | Course Description |
|
Course 1: Innovative Leadership |
Leadership Organizational Behavior |
This course addresses the skills, concepts, and mind-set that support leadership in complex, innovative organizations. In the context of new business models and planning for uncertainty, topics include self-leadership, critiquing diverse models of leadership, creating vision and strategy, understanding people, managing change, ethical decision making, power and influence, motivation, facilitation of diverse teams, conflict resolution, and organizational culture. The course begins with creative exercises in leadership style self-assessment and extrapolates these results to leadership in new, innovative organizational structures. |
|
Course 2: Design Research for Business |
Market Research Statistics |
This course provides students with the
qualitative and quantitative tools they need to find and frame opportunities,
construct successful project briefs, and apply the design research method to
products, services and experiences by exploring and documenting new research
techniques. |
|
Course 3:
Business Model Development PROJECT COURSE |
Strategy Organizational Structure Business Planning Marketing IT Management |
In this course students explore a customer-centric approach to business models. They apply tools and skills in system and design thinking learned earlier in the program, to analyze and evaluate existing commercial and non-commercial business models, including both successes and failures. Discussion of the various models and patterns emphasizes the radically changing role of IT in organizations. Students explore and evaluate alternative business models in order to find innovative business solutions, and apply their learning to organizations from a variety of industries. |
|
Course 4:
Metrics I:
Financial
Reporting and Analysis |
Financial Accounting Managerial Accounting |
In
this course students integrate principles of financial accounting and managerial
accounting, becoming familiar with financial analysis for short and long-term
decisions and the use of financial information for control and performance
measurement. The financial accounting
portion covers interpretation of financial statements and basics of transaction
analysis. The managerial accounting component covers cost-volume-profit analysis, job costing, activity based costing, economic value added, capital budgeting, the balanced
scorecard, strategic cost analysis and the potential contribution of these
advancements to organizational effectiveness. |
|
Course 5:
Designed Business Systems |
Operations Management IT Systems Sustainability |
This course examines the value-chain from the acquisition and conversion of materials to the distribution of goods and services emphasizing the relationship of operations to the vision, mission and goals of the organization. In addition to learning traditional operational concepts such as operational strategy, process and supply chain management, production and inventory management, and quality management tools such as Six Sigma and TQM, students will utilize principles, tools and techniques associated with design thinking, integrative thinking, sustainability and the management of complexity in order to effectively execute strategy. |
|
Course 6:
Style and Brand Strategy
PROJECT
COURSE |
Brand Strategy Marketing, Public Relations, Advertising |
In this course students learn to interpret the fundamentals of brand strategy as a tool for strategic execution and as a builder of reliable metrics for profitability. Style, a component of branding, will be analyzed as a competitive differentiator and contributor to firms’ value propositions. Students will explore how brand development is built over time, assessing multiple touch points and identifying the fiscal value of brand investment. Students will learn a brand strategy methodology that incorporates style, and culminate with a brand audit project. |
|
Course 7:
Metrics II:
Managerial Finance |
Managerial Finance Managerial Economics IT Systems |
The objective of this course is to enhance student’s ability to approach and make financial decisions, blending both theoretical and practical aspects of financial decision-making. The course emphasizes the use of case studies to show students how organizations analyze the financial implications of their decisions with a focus on value creation for all stakeholders. |
|
Course 8:
Business Model Execution
& the Environment
|
Strategy Business planning Business intelligence Organizational structure & culture Governance |
This course examines the influence of external factors (social, technological, environmental, economic, political, and cultural) on business strategies and plans. Using tools such as environmental scanning, scenario planning, stakeholder analysis, and competitor analysis, students gain appreciation for organizational and environmental interdependencies and complexity. Strategic decision-making frameworks are examined, with an emphasis on organizational social, ethical, and legal responsibilities, particularly in the context of changing environmental conditions. The imperative for building organizations that are participatory, collaborative and diverse is emphasized. |
|
Course 9:
Strategic Design Integration
PROJECT
COURSE |
Strategy Service Management New Product Development |
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 to address the potential of strategy to drive organizational change and new value propositions. It begins with review of frameworks for strategy development and explores approaches to engaging stakeholders in that development. Students use lifecycle analysis to redesign an existing organizational strategy and develop an actionable and sustainable communication rollout plan. |
|
Course 10:
New Ventures
PROJECT
COURSE |
Entrepreneurialism Social Entrepreneurship New Venture Capital Business Planning |
This course covers all aspects of the entrepreneurial process, providing students with the theoretical concepts and practical skills for creating successful new ventures. This course addresses the entrepreneurial mind set, creativity and idea generation, assessing entrepreneurial opportunities, conducting feasibility studies and market research, developing marketing plans, financial preparation for new ventures, location and capacity planning, new venture team building, legal issues and risk analysis. The course focuses on the development of an effective business plan for a new venture. |
According to The Wall Street Journal, companies like Google and JetBlue that are on the hunt for smart, creative types are posting jobs seeking candidates with “design thinking” backgrounds.
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For more info or to schedule a visit, call 215-951-2700
or email gradadm@philau.edu
