GRADUATE STUDIES at Shepherd Uni

MBA CORE COURSES

MBA 500 CHALLENGES TO MODERN BUSINESS (3)
An examination of how businesses function in the numerous environments that are in constant change. The political, social, economic, technological and international environments challenge the various types of businesses from the small businessperson to the large corporation. The course offers possible solutions to the many work place challenges.

MBA 508 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS (3)
This course examines the management challenges associated with entering markets outside the U.S. {or within the USA marketing to unique ethnic segments} and maintaining global operations. Topics covered include: comparative systems, regional trade blocs, forms of foreign business involvement, international marketing/business tactics, geographic strategies, and functional management of the global enterprise including HRM issues. Emphasis is given to the mechanics of entering global markets. Case studies are used to identify both unique and universal practices.

MBA 510 ADVANCED MANAGEMENT THEORY / Introduction to the MBA (3)
This advanced course examines the philosophy and practice of managing organizations and their subunits in the context of a rapidly changing environment. Course focus will be upon management and leadership philosophies, the structure, design, and operation of organizations, and the management of individuals within organizations, to include the human resource process. Topics covered will include organizational culture, change processes, team building, motivation, decision-making, and diversity. The course will also include a component whereby students will be introduced to the expectations and processes of becoming a scholar in business administration at the graduate level. The student will be introduced to the graduate faculty, graduate facilities and comparative graduate education.

MBA 519 BUSINESS ETHICS (3)
An examination of how business people and commercial enterprises ought to act in order to be consistent with the norms of morality (pursuit of the good) proposed by various philosophical schools. Centering on the meaning of a just economy and social responsibility, the course examines topics such as fair competition, honesty in advertising, product and workplace safety, living wage, hiring practices, exporting of jobs, and/or accountability to stakeholders.

MBA 540 ADVANCED MARKETING THEORY (3)
A study of advanced marketing management with emphasis on product, price, promotion, and distribution problem solving. The organizational environment within which marketing problems occur will be explored. Advanced Marketing Management is a course of study that exposes the marketing practice of organizations in the context of a rapidly changing contemporary environment. The course will weave together a study of classical marketing theory, strategic planning, market research, segmentation, and the marketing mix, as well as the evaluation and control of the marketing plan. In addition, applied cases from each student's organization, text cases and personal profiles will be integrated with the weekly discussions, all of which will allow the student to have a firm grip on foundational marketing management theory in their personal environment.

MBA 560 MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS (3)
The purpose to this course is to provide a foundation in economic principles that affect decisions in business administration. The focus will be on solving problems and analyzing issues and cases that deal with how decisions Should be made to achieve the firm's goals.

MBA 570 MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING (3)
To provide a detailed examination of accounting data and concepts for managerial planning and control, including cost accounting and responsibility accounting.

MBA 579 ADVANCED FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT(3)
This course will provide students with advanced applications of contemporary finance theory to the solution of management and marketing problems.

MBA 582 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS (3)
An integration of the material covered in previous programming and systems courses. An examination of modern management information systems in a business setting. Topics include structured decision systems, decision support systems, information systems acquisition and management, database management systems, and the role of information processing systems in business decisions.

ELECTIVE COURSES

MBA 505 BUSINESS IN WEST VIRGINIA (3)
An examination of the businesses that provided the economic staying power for the State of West Virginia over the history of its statehood. The course continues with an examination of the business environment transition from mining and manufacturing to the current service economy.

MBA 509 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS (3)
Basic statistical skills for advanced work in the functional areas of business administration, including descriptive statistics, probability and its distributions, sampling, and estimation.

MBA 517 HUMAN RESOURCES (3)
A study of manpower planning, recruitment, selection, and development of employees. Examines compensation, employee appraisal, job analysis, collective bargaining, arbitration, and labor relations. Studies how global competition and rapid technological advances accelerate trends such as shared service centers, outsourcing, and just-in-time training. Case studies undertaken.

MBA 545 PROFESSIONAL SELLING AND SALES MANAGEMENT (3)
The purpose of this course is to introduce graduate students to the basic components of both the revenue generation/enhancement process and how to manage that revenue generation process (sales management). The perspective taken is that of a participant (sales person) for the sales portion of the class and as a sales manager/decision maker in an organization.

MBA 548 MARKETING TOPICS FOR THE SALES PROFESSIONAL I (3)
The purpose of this unit is to expose practicing sales and marketers in the graduate program to a series of new, academically challenging and pragmatic issues that they can apply in their chosen sales and marketing profession. This is an advanced unit, so it is expected that students will focus on their careers and apply sales and marketing tactics to stand out from the crowd. This unit will utilize a collage of the top academic theorists and professionals to cover the varying issues.

MBA 549 MARKETING TOPICS FOR THE SALES PROFESSIONAL II (3)
Advanced sales management focuses on the students' sales management career and applying the theory and techniques to organizations where they are employed. This unit will utilize a collection of the top academic theorists and professionals to cover the differing issues students are expected to master over the semester.

MBA 575 ADVANCED AUDITING ( 3)

MBA 576 ADVANCED TAX STRATEGIES (3)
To explore the tax consequences of many, sophisticated business, financial and personal wealth-planning transactions. Each transaction is presented in an economic or legal context, and the non-tax motives of the transacting parties are examined before the tax issues are identified. The discussion of tax issues emphasizes the development and implementation of strategies to make the transactions as tax efficient as possible to all parties involved. Tax strategies are analyzed in terms of their impact on net cash flows and on the income statements and balance sheets of the parties involved.

MBA 580 FOUNDATIONS OF COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES (3)
Provides an overview of the wide range of topics in computer and information sciences. Topics include computer number systems and theory of computation, computer hardware and organization, computer languages, programming, compilation, systems analysis and design, decision support, artificial intelligence, as well as ethical, global, and social issues.

MBA 581 COMPUTER LANGUAGE CONCEPTS (3)
A course in the fundamentals of computer programming using an object-oriented programming. Includes basic data types, problem solving and algorithm design methods, program design, coding, testing, and debugging. Students learn the programming characteristics of subprograms, parameter passing, and modularity. Includes formal laboratory session. Prerequisite: CIS 102 and CIS 104 recommended.

MBA 588 DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (3)
The design and maintenance of a computerized database management system. Includes all operations such as design, creation, searching, sorting, and editing that must be performed on both sequential and direct access files and sets of files. Examines advantages and disadvantages of tree, network, and relational data structures. Coverage of query languages, data dictionaries, and security and privacy considerations.

MBA 590 APPLIED RESEARCH PROJECT (3)
The student will identify a problem of interest, will analyze the problem as completely as possible, will offer the best alternative(s) for solution; and will describe the problem and the proposed solution(s) in a case study format.

MBA 599 MBA SEMINAR (3)

MBA 699 MBA SEMINAR II (3)