XMBA 4015 Business Ethics (2 Credits)

Business Ethics is an intermediate level graduate course delivering a rigorous introduction to major ethical topics, theories, and issues relevant to the elements of the 21st century business environment. This course also focuses on ethical reasoning and strives to enhance each student’s ability to integrate these perspectives into appropriate business decisions. Beyond these overarching goals, this course will encourage students to: • Acquire the basic analytical tools necessary to engage in ethical analyses of business problems and decisions • Apply basic ethical concepts to today’s business environment • Appreciate the distinction between an ethical and a legal judgment and deduce useful methods of integrating such perspectives into business decisions • Attain a knowledge base steeped in major ethical frameworks that will prove invaluable in each individual’s course of study, professional career and personal endeavors.

XMBA 4102 Business & Economic Context (2 Credits)

This introductory course is designed to provide a survey of essential economic concepts and frameworks for executives. Economics provides a clear lens to intelligently evaluate and understand the world around us. Disciplines including finance, strategy, international business and marketing all share a foundation in economic principles. Business decisions require knowledge of economic principles in order to effectively evaluate impact. This course provides a survey of these economic principles, with an emphasis on teaching via case studies and examples.

XMBA 4231 Marketing III - Supply Chain/Digital Marketing (2.5 Credits)

This course captures the executive-level understanding of both basic Supply Chain Management (SMC) and more broadly, Value Chain (VC). Students will analyze a firm’s SCM and VC and identify opportunities and challenges. Industry experts and case studies will bring topics to life. The Digital Marketing component of this course will provide executive-level insight into the frameworks used by marketing executives to make decisions on how to spend their budgets to achieve maximum ROI. The digital era has permanently changed the face of marketing and this course will prepare executives to understand how (and where) digital dollars can be spent. Through a detailed overview and hands-on exercises, students can expect to develop the understanding needed to better engage their own marketing departments as well as navigate the online advertising industry as a whole.

XMBA 4234 Digital Marketing (2 Credits)

The Digital Marketing course provides executive-level insight into the frameworks used by marketing executives to make decisions on how to spend their budgets to achieve maximum ROI. The digital era has permanently changed the face of marketing and this course will prepare executives to understand how (and where) digital dollars can be spent. Through a detailed overview and hands-on exercises, students can expect to develop the understanding needed to better engage their own marketing departments as well as navigate the online advertising industry as a whole.

XMBA 4301 Leading with AI (2 Credits)

This course immerses students in emerging technologies that create possibilities and challenges for businesses, organizations, and individuals alike: artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, extended reality (augmented, mixed, and virtual), additive manufacturing, and autonomous vehicles and drones. Students will analyze the impacts these technologies pose to the organizations they do and will lead in the future. Students will build their managerial confidence with emerging technologies, with particular attention to generative and agentic AI, and analyze strategic use cases within their industry and organization. Ultimately, students will evaluate what it means to lead in 21st century enterprises that are increasingly shaped by fourth industrial revolution technologies.

XMBA 4330 Financial Accounting (4 Credits)

This is a study of the fundamental concepts of financial accounting and reporting by business entities in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). The course approaches the material from the perspective of the financial statement user rather than the financial statement preparer. Emphasis is placed on the use and interpretation of information contained in business financial statements by managers, investors, and creditors.

XMBA 4332 Managerial Accounting (2 Credits)

This is a study of the fundamental concepts of financial accounting and reporting by business entities in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). The course approaches the material from the perspective of the financial statement user rather than the financial statement preparer. Emphasis is placed on the use and interpretation of information contained in business financial statements by managers, investors, and creditors.

XMBA 4338 Financial Analysis & Decision Making (4 Credits)

This course prepares Executive MBA students to analyze corporate financial conditions and execute strategic financial decisions. The first half of the course introduces the tools and techniques for financial analysis and planning. Topics include the tax implications of financial decisions, financial ratio analysis, operating and financial break-even analysis, operating and financial leverage, time value of money, and interest rates in the financial markets. The second half of the class applies the tools of financial analysis to financial decisions. Topics include the valuation of financial assets, capital budgeting, cost of capital, Performa financial statements, business valuations and mergers, return on equity analysis, EPS and stock prices, and cash flow statement analysis.

XMBA 4340 Executive Leadership I (5 Credits)

Executive Leadership I has a clear perspective: being a leader in any organization is more than just “managing,” especially at the upper levels of an organization: leadership at the executive level is a profession. This course explores the essential role of leadership at a time when society faces major challenges and uncertainties. Organizations are complex systems that are embedded in larger complex systems; simple formulas will not provide leaders with effective solutions covering all situations. We will emphasize the practice of perspective-taking and diagnosis for making better decisions. This course also applies and reflects what is happening in all types of organizations––whether public or private, large or small, and whether product or service oriented. Personal, interpersonal, team and organizational leadership, along with concepts of business execution and performance, are themes that will be woven throughout the course content. Executive Leadership I includes the experiential Team Sail Challenge. The course will be followed by Executive Leadership II in the third quarter of the EMBA.

XMBA 4341 Executive Leadership II (3 Credits)

This class focuses on an often-overlooked leadership skill – the ability to use power and influence effectively, and to negotiate the relationships critical to being a successful leader. Class time focuses on not only understanding the basics of this critical leadership skill, but also on honing skills through case studies and exercises. Particular attention is given to ethical issues connected with power and negotiation. This course will challenge students to define for themselves what will constitute the effective exercise of power and influence in their lives. The course also asks students to returns to their Individual Development Plan (developed in the Executive Leadership I course) and your World Vision work (developed in the Business Ethics course) to update them as appropriate. Students will review both documents from prior quarters and write a short reflection paper that addresses their progress to date, any issues they see in the plan (weaknesses or pivot opportunities) and any possible changes they might want to make.

XMBA 4342 Talent, People, & Culture (2 Credits)

The course will focus on the role of Human Capital Management as it relates to a firm’s performance. The course follows the cycle of business planning and execution and focuses on the key human capital considerations at each step in the cycle. It addresses Talent Management processes while also exploring current and emerging practices. The course has a global focus and gives significant attention to new trends that relate to human capital.

XMBA 4343 Evolving as an Impactful Leader (2 Credits)

In the gap between a brilliant idea and the successful organization lies the discipline of execution. Execution is built on three key processes: the people process, the strategy process, and the operations process. In this course, we study the methods of successful leaders and organizations known for execution, self-evaluate execution skills and reinforce learning via case methodology.

XMBA 4348 Global Experience Selection (1 Credit)

Executive MBA students shift into a global mindset as they consider international destinations for their Global Business course and 2-week immersion. Students will research possible destinations, craft business pitches for various locations, and will ultimately select two, one developed market and one developing market, in a similar geographic region.

XMBA 4351 Marketing II - Product Innovation (2.5 Credits)

The second course in the marketing sequence shifts from left brain activity to whole brain activity. Building on the tools and disciplines learned in Strategic Marketing, Product Innovation shifts to focus on the art of marketing. The course enables students to understand the role of innovation in delivering value to customers and stakeholders, to acquire the executive competence necessary to secure the innovation investment, and to realize how executives propel and assess innovation through all the stages of the innovation life cycle – from idea exploration to bringing a product/service to market successfully.

XMBA 4353 Global Business (4 Credits)

Students will be asked to apply models, disciplines, and systems learned during the first four quarters of their EMBA program to a global environment. Students selected two global destinations in their second quarter of the program, and this course will prepare them for the two-week Global Business Immersion at the conclusion of the same academic quarter. In this course, students complete ten weeks of learning and research on each of their global destinations, comparing and contrasting an emerging market with a developed market. Students will prepare feasibility studies in an industry of their choice in each global destination and will prepare on-the-ground business meetings to be completed during the Global Business Immersion. Ultimately, students will build their global perspectives and expand their business worldview.

XMBA 4354 Global Business Immersion (4 Credits)

In this transformative 2-week immersion, students apply models, disciplines, and systems learned during the first five quarters of their EMBA program to a global environment, resulting in a global perspective on business issues facing international leaders. Students will travel to the two global markets they selected in their second quarter and will apply pre-learning, conduct business research through company meetings, and test global feasibility studies begun in XMBA 4353. Students attend on-the-ground business meetings with the full group and small meetings specific to their group's feasibility study. Students compile research from their meetings that they will use to complete their global feasibility study when they return in their sixth quarter.

XMBA 4356 Global Feasibility Study (1 Credit)

The Global Feasibility Study serves as the capstone to Executive MBA students' global experience, which began in their second quarter with the research and selection process on two international destinations and continued in their fifth quarter with the 10-week Global Business course followed by two weeks of travel and business meetings abroad. The Global Feasibility Study requires students to synthesize their research and on-the-ground global business meetings into a market or cost reduction feasibility study and present on their go/no-go decision.

XMBA 4360 Marketing Strategy (2 Credits)

Focused on creating customers, this course will build decision tools, mental models and a holistic framework for finding the right market, the right price, the right communication and the right partners for your product or service. Through market research and competitive intelligence, students will learn to provide customer value, customer information, customer solutions and organizational profitability. Strategic Marketing in a Dynamic Environment explores the science of marketing. Students will acquire a detailed understanding of strategic business- and decision support models that helps executives navigate and lead an enterprise towards sustainable competitive advantage and differentiation. The course allows executives to develop and internalize business acumen as relates to translating the voice of the customer to strategy and orchestrating stakeholders in a way that add value.

XMBA 4362 Strategic Management (2 Credits)

This strategy course covers a range of concepts and analytical techniques relating to creating and sustaining competitive advantage as the basis for superior performance. It deals with contemporary issues such as industry analysis, core competence of organizations, value chain analysis, and strategy implementation. The emphasis is on the application of analytical tools and frameworks to understand complex strategic issues. Competitive Strategy integrates concepts from finance, marketing, accounting, general management, information technology, and operations management.

XMBA 4364 Business Data & Analytics (2 Credits)

This course will familiarize the student with data management and analytic methodologies that are prevalent across most industries today, and will suggest a way-ahead as electrons continue to get cheaper to collect and maintain. A well-designed architecture for collecting, storing, and accessing data is essential for all businesses that want to compete successfully as the pace of the decision-making cycle continues to increase. Traditional statistical techniques are still prevalent (and useful!) with proper mining or sampling of big data, and these remain the workhorses of Business Analytics. Analytic modeling is an integral part of business decision-making, and knowing and identifying the appropriate technique can make the difference between discovering the truth and running into a data wall. With the right toolset, the data analyst can tackle large volumes of data with a “divide and conquer” approach. However, the decisions that lead to parsing the data appropriately require not only an understanding of the data and the available tools, but the question being answered as well.

XMBA 4365 Entrepreneurship & Innovation (2 Credits)

This course provides students with the analytical skills needed to identify and evaluate new business opportunities and the skill set to prepare a business plan for an entrepreneurial venture. The curriculum incorporates insights from successful entrepreneurs and covers topics such as crafting a value proposition, market and sales forecasting, exploration of financing options, and building an effective team. The course concludes with the presentation of student business plans.

XMBA 4368 Stakeholders Beyond the Shareholder II (1 Credit)

For 100 years, the business community has operated under an increasingly well-defined and developed framework of shareholder capitalism. In shareholder capitalism, the purpose of business is to generate profits for shareholders. As such, we have developed well defined and refined processes and frameworks for developing strategies, executing plans, and measuring success and progress against this objective. This course challenges us to examine the other stakeholders who are affected by and affect our organizations and their work, including (but not exclusively) customers, employees, governments, suppliers, the global environment and the communities in which we do business. What does it mean for a business or organization to consider the wants and needs of these (and other) stakeholders? What are the issues that we as leaders need to be attuned to when considering these stakeholders? Which stakeholders have (or should have) primacy and why? How do we develop strategies and plans to account for a much broad array of stakeholders? And how do we and others measure success? This course provides a framework for considering the issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in organizations.

XMBA 4369 Supply Chain Management (2 Credits)

This course captures the executive-level understanding of both basic Supply Chain Management (SMC) and more broadly, Value Chain (VC). Students will analyze a firm’s SCM and VC and identify opportunities and challenges. Industry experts and case studies will bring topics to life.

XMBA 4370 Social Impact Perspectives (4 Credits)

XMBA 4370 Social Impact Perspectives requires Executive MBA students, at the conclusion of their degree sequence, to synthesize learning across disciplines and fortify their own values-based leadership. Students will examine business for the public good through consulting-based projects and apply skills they have developed in core Executive MBA classes to create social impact.

XMBA 4401 Design Thinking (2 Credits)

Design Thinking The course examines the Design Thinking’s systematic approach for developing solutions using creative problem-solving techniques and will also build on the concepts introduced in the Marketing and Entrepreneurship classes. We will discuss its application to multiple business domains, the language of design thinking and how this applies to leadership and a broader business mindset. This course will include an immersive activity to understand design thinking, guest speakers, and articles to re-enforce each learning topic. We will discuss several academic models for design thinking.

XMBA 4700 Topics in Executive MBA (0-8 Credits)

This is topics course. The focus is on specialized areas of interest.

XMBA 4720 Executive Business Law (2 Credits)

This course is designed to provide executives and entrepreneurs with practical, applied legal information that will lead to better decision-making in the business environment. It also highlights the importance of managing legal professionals and creating a sound legal strategy – both key components of business strategy – and crucial for business success. Emphasis is placed on teaching applied knowledge and using this knowledge to make difficult, real-world business decisions. This course provides a safe learning environment in which management decisions can be carefully analyzed and studied without real world consequences.

XMBA 4991 Independent Study (1-10 Credits)

XMBA 4995 Independent Research (1-10 Credits)