TEXAS Evening MBA: At a Glance
Curriculum (Courses and Sequence Are Subject to Change)
Year One
| August | Austin Intensive I |
|---|---|
| Fall | |
| Spring | |
| Summer |
Year Two
| August | Austin Intensive II |
|---|---|
| Fall | |
| Spring | |
| Summer |
Year Three
| August | Austin Intensive III |
|---|---|
| Fall | |
| Spring |
|
| CURRICULUM* YEAR 1 |
Austin Intensive I
Each year of the TEXAS Evening MBA begins with an August
Intensive Course to prepare students for the academic year.
Topics include an introduction to the courses students will take
during that year and the skills they will need to master the
materials.
FALL SEMESTER
Statistics and Decision Analysis
Objective: To enable an understanding of the extraction of
information from data and how decisions are made with imperfect
information. To develop and motivate fundamental statistical
principles and methods, and to illustrate their proper
application to a wide variety of business problems.
Course Description: Basic concepts of methods of data and
decision analysis are introduced. These include statistical
control and random processes, probability and statistical
inference, regression analysis, decision making under
uncertainty, and risky decision making. A study of descriptive
statistics, probability distributions, sampling distributions,
estimation, hypothesis testing, statistical control and random
walks.
Managing People and Leading Organizations
Objective: To develop effective managerial skills and the
ability to lead organizations through change.
Course Description: Through a sequence of readings, lectures,
cases and experiential exercises, students will be introduced to
frameworks from the social sciences that are useful for
understanding organizational processes and learn how to apply
these frameworks to particular situations. This course is
designed to sharpen students’ ability to diagnose and solve a
broad range of organizational problems from the perspective of
an organizational consultant.
SPRING SEMESTER
Managerial Economics
Objective: To analyze the economic constraints and forces
determining the profitability and viability of the firm.
Course Description: A study of many of the microeconomic and
macroeconomic variables that arise in our economy which can
benefit or hinder business decisions. Provides an understanding
of the economic forces, both domestic and international, that
influence management decisions and corporate performance. Topics
include interest rates, economic policy, business cycles, input
demand and supply, market structure, and externalities.
Financial Accounting
Objective: To develop a sophisticated and coherent approach to
the use of financial accounting information.
Course Description: An examination of the strengths and
weaknesses of the information
produced in financial reports as well as the pressures faced by
management and auditors as they prepare financial statements and
the impact of accounting information on strategic decisions.
SUMMER SEMESTER
Operations Management
Objective: To provide a process-oriented understanding of
operations.
Course Description: An examination of processes that transform
inputs into finished goods and services, process improvement,
total quality management, product and process development, and
supply chain management; the relation of operations strategy to
product and service design and to business strategy.
International Management Seminar/Global Studies Trip
Directed
Studies in Global Management
In addition to a seminar in comparative international
management, students attend a group study tour. Prior to the
trip, students learn about the history, culture, politics, and
economics of a particular country or region of the world. The
trip involves company visits as well as visiting cultural sites.
Students have the opportunity to meet with local business
leaders, government officials and academic experts in the
region.
| CURRICULUM* YEAR 2 |
AUGUST
Austin Intensive II
FALL SEMESTER
Financial Management
Objective: To examine the role of financial management in
creating value and to present the analytic framework used in the
study of finance.
Course Description: A study of the basic concepts of valuation
theory and efficient markets. An examination of capital
budgeting; cost of capital; capital structure and dividend
policy; agency theory; issues of corporate control and
governance; the workings of the debt and equity markets; and the
options perspective of debt and equity.
Marketing Management
Objective: To build an understanding of the key elements of
marketing and distribution.
Course Description: An examination of the marketing function and
how it relates to value creation, strategic corporate
management, and marketing decisions. Both theory and cases are
used to develop a managerial perspective of marketing and to
link marketing strategy to financial value.
SPRING SEMESTER
Strategic Management
Objective: To develop a strategic management orientation by
learning new skills and by synthesizing knowledge obtained
through prior course and work experience.
Course Description: A study of the role of the general manager
in: articulating organizational objectives; formulating and
implementing organizational strategies; motivating and managing
strategic change.
Investment Theory and Advanced Corporate Finance
Investment Theory and Advanced Corporate Finance
Objective: To examine the major investment vehicles popular
today throughout the world, and to extend the discussion of
basic corporate financial management decision-making process
begun the Financial Management course.
Course Description: Investments is the study of financial assets
and pricing. Includes an examination of the pricing and the use
of equity securities, fixed income securities, and options.
Additional investment topics covered include: modern portfolio
theory; the capital asset pricing model; the relationship
between the economy and financial securities; the functioning of
markets; asset allocation; measuring returns; and mutual funds.
Corporate Finance topics include: an overview of financial
management in the global marketplace; comparisons of financial
and real investments; valuing real assets and real options;
valuation with taxation; the role of financial leverage; optimal
capital structure; bondholder-stockholder conflicts;
stockholder-owner conflicts; evaluating financial distress;
optimal debt management; managerial incentives and compensation
arrangements; value-based management and information management;
corporate control and restructuring: mergers, acquisitions,
takeovers, spinoffs and selloffs; corporate governance issues;
and the role of institutional activism.
SUMMER SEMESTER
Information Technology Management
Objective: To provide a business perspective on how to improve
and manage critical business process using IT and how to
estimate and realize the associated business value.
Course Description: Today, IT permeates every aspect of a
company’s operations, creating unparalleled opportunities for
driving the customer experience, understanding, analyzing and
improving business processes, delivering financially validated
savings, driving bottom-line improvements and achieving
competitive advantage through business process excellence. The
focus of this course is how firms achieve operational and
strategic business excellence through business process
management (BPM), business process improvement (BPI) and
business process reengineering (BPR) supported by information
technology (IT).
Art and Science of Negotiation
Objective: To create an understanding of the theory and
processes of negotiation as it is practiced in a variety of
settings.
Course Description: The course is designed to be relevant to the
broad spectrum of negotiation problems that are faced by the
manager and professional. The course will allow the participants
to develop a broad array of negotiation skills experientially
and
to understand negotiations in useful analytical frameworks.
Considerable emphasis will be placed on simulations, role
playing and cases.
| CURRICULUM* YEAR 3 |
AUGUST
Austin Intensive III
FALL SEMESTER
Advanced Marketing Management
Objective: To provide an overview of the components and
considerations involved in marketing communications strategy
decisions.
Course Description: Students will participate in a competitive
marketing simulation designed to focus on strategic marketing
issues.
Managerial Accounting and Financial Statement Analysis
Objective: To examine cost accounting systems, decision support
systems, and management control systems in order to develop
skill in and understanding of the use
of internal accounting data by management. To understand a
company’s history, current position and future financial
prospects.
Course Description: An investigation of the construction and
strategic use of cost accounting systems including
activity-based costing; decision support systems, including
relevant costs and capital budgeting; management control
systems, including planning and budgeting systems. Specific
topics in Financial Statement Analysis include: analyzing the
firm’s industry and economic environment; analyzing the firm’s
recent financial performance; analyzing the firm’s accounting
methods and evaluating the quality of financial reporting;
forecasting the firm’s future financial performance and
independently estimating the value of a firm.
SPRING SEMESTER
Legal Environment of Business
Objective: To provide an understanding of significant legal
constraints that affect the management decision-making process.
Course Description: A study of selected internal legal
constraints imposed on business by contractual relationships, by
external legal constraints, by actual and potential liabilities,
by statutes governing the sale and purchase of goods, and by
rights and duties imposed in debtor-creditor relationships. The
study of the various means and procedures for resolving legal
disputes in business matters.
Business Ethics
Objective: To examine the social and ethical responsibility of
business.
Course Description: A study of the appropriate roles of business
in society; the roles of government and regulation in monitoring
business; and the ethical responsibilities of managers.
*The McCombs MBA Programs Committee reserves the right to make
modifications to the curriculum and seminars.
