Pamplin Executive MBA Courses

MODULE 1

MGT 5604: The Leadership Residency/Team Building

An introduction to teams in management for executive MBA students. This course considers the justification for team formation. Practical considerations for developing teams to improve personal and organizational effectiveness are covered. The course considers effective teambuilding in organizations where significant diversity is present. A practical exercise is a key part of this course.

ACIS 5604: Accounting Information for Executive Decision Making

An introduction for practicing executives to financial accounting cycles and transactions, financial statement reporting, and internal managerial accounting and costing. This course is designed to give executives an understanding of accounting systems, and to illustrate and highlight potential points at which the systems could be manipulated.

BIT 5644: Management of Information for Business Decisions

This course examines a number of techniques for converting subjective and objective information into structural models that allow for the systematic analysis and solution of many managerial problems. Emphasis is placed on the application of statistical techniques to unstructured data, as well as, the use of mathematical programming methods for solving decision problems under conditions of certainty and uncertainty.

FIN 5604: Financial & Economic Environment of Business

Provide an understanding of the principles that affect a firm's interactions with its customers, suppliers, competitors, employees, and other organizations, and the roles of monetary and fiscal policies in the overall economic environment. Study the basic principles and concepts underlying the finance function. Topics covered include demand and supply analysis, individual choice, pricing strategies, market structure, monetary and fiscal policies, and the role of the Federal Reserve in managing growth, employment, and inflation.

MGT 5614: Global Organizational Behavior

This course focuses on the implications of globalization and the resulting cross-cultural relationships for leaders and managers of business organizations. The ways in which culture affects characteristics of individuals, interpersonal relationships, negotiation styles, and leadership practices are examined. Cases and exercises develop skills in applying theories and concepts to concrete situation.

MGT 5664: Ethical Leadership in a Global Context

This course examines significant issues in business ethics and the forms they take in different cultures. A stakeholder approach is adopted and attention is focused on firms' relationships with four important stakeholders: employees, consumers, governments, and communities. Skills at stakeholder analyses are developed through the application of various ethical theories to case studies of problems encountered in different cultures. Creativity in resolving conflicts among stakeholders with different values and interests is fostered through participation in experiential negotiation exercises.

MODULE 2

BIT 5604: Modeling Decision Making for Competitive Advantage

This course examines a number of topics in management science and their applications in dealing with managerial problem solving. Decision theory and optimization techniques such as decision-trees, linear programming, integer programming, networks and others are studied, modeled and solved from a managerial and applied perspective. Business and industry cases are used to demonstrate usefulness and effectiveness of the models constructed. Students use software to perform computational studies, obtain solutions, and analyze the results for problems and cases.

FIN 5634: Legal & Ethical Issues in High Tech Environments

Intensive exploration of legal and ethical issues that affect the operation of business in the high technology, networked environment. Studies public and private regulation of business, emphasizing the networked environment. Explores the interrelationship of ethics and law, the duties of directors and managers, and decision-making under uncertain regulatory parameters. Included within these areas are; participating in the regulatory process, intellectual property, ethical frameworks, Internet privacy and security, and international perspectives.

FIN 5654: Principles of Financial Management

Provide an understanding of the basic principles and concepts underlying the finance function, and the analytical tools for making financial decisions. The specific topics covered are Goals of a Corporate Firm and Agency Problem, Cash Flow Estimation and Financial Statement Analysis, Financial Assets and Markets, Time Value of Money, Risk and Return, Diversification and Capital Asset Pricing Model, Valuation of Stocks and Bonds, and Market Efficiency.

MGT 5654: Strategic Human Resource Management

Examines current issues critical to the management of an organization's human capital assets. Uses case analyses and class discussions to critically examine how systems of human resource management policies and practices can be used to enhance a firm's competitive strategy and help to achieve a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Participants examine how to develop and deploy systems of human resource practices appropriate to specific organizational objectives and to evaluate their impact on organization effectiveness.

MKTG 5604: Marketing Principles

An introduction to marketing management for executive MBA students. Considers the principles and processes of marketing planning in business and non-profit organizations.

MODULE 3

ACIS 5614: Implementing Management Controls

The management control process is designed to influence managers and other employees of an organization to implement the strategies of the organization. The activities of management control include: planning, coordinating, communicating, and evaluating. This course addresses the important role that accounting and other information play in this process.

ACIS 5704: Managing Information Systems for Executive Decision Making

An overview of the theories, practices, and technologies used in the management of information systems for business decision making. Topics include use of information systems, electronic business, business intelligence tools and knowledge management, customer relationship management systems, data warehousing, virtual teams and organizations, and information security and privacy, and their role in improving organizational decision-making capabilities.

FIN 5614: Corporate Finance

Provides coverage of the major financial decisions facing a corporate manager in a modeling framework. The specific topics covered are analysis of financial statements, financial planning, cost of capital and capital budgeting, capital structure, working capital management, dividend policy, and international financial management.

MGT 5594: Leadership and Innovation in a Technology Environment

This course focuses on the role of the manager as leader in the crafting of corporate and business strategies where technology provides the basis for the firm's competitive advantage. Students learn to understand the complex nature of integrating the work of people in multiple functions, and the challenges of managing innovations and the impacts of innovation upon organizations.

MODULE 4

FIN 5674: Investments and Portfolio Management

Risk, return and portfolio theory, knowledge of equity and debt markets, derivatives, and management of investment portfolios. Introduction to equity and bond valuation, mutual funds, portfolio analysis, market efficiency, options, and futures.

MGT 5674: Leadership for Change Management

Study methods for changing organizations and individuals within those organizations using organizational transformation techniques, information technologies, and different leadership/personality styles.

MKTG 5614: Marketing Analysis and Strategy

Study of methods for analyzing customers (particularly market segmentation), diagnosing competitive market structure, and forecasting demand and the use of this information to develop marketing strategy.

MKTG 5624: Business Negotiations

This course addresses the practice of successful negotiations in business, including the business activities of marketing, operations, finance, and information management. This course utilizes behavioral principles of negotiation to develop and refine students' understanding and practice of effective negotiating skills.

MODULE 5

BIT 5664: Managing the Global Supply Chain

Students will learn how supply chain excellence can lower cost, increase flexibility, improve responsiveness to customer requirements, and provide a firm with a competitive advantage.  A text will be used to equip the class with basic concepts and best practices, case studies will bring industry-specific issues into focus and improve communication and analytical skills, and articles/readings will bring current happenings in the global business community into the classroom. 

FIN/MGT 5644: Issues in Corporate Governance

Current issues and trends in corporate governance. Topics include overview of the corporation, stakeholder versus shareholder, board of directors, regulatory and legal environment, and executive compensation.

MGT 5634: Strategic Business Environment

Course focuses on tools and techniques for industry and competitive analysis and describes methods used by organizations to develop and sustain a competitive advantage. Examples and cases from current business, single- and multi-business corporations in a variety of industries will be studied.

MODULE 6

BIT 5624: Program Management and Project Leadership

This course introduces the fundamentals of program and project management, beginning with project definition and culminating in the post-project review. Students will learn techniques, terms, and guidelines that are used to manage cost, schedules, risk, group dynamics, and technical aspects throughout the life cycle of a project. The need for leadership as well as technical management of successful projects will be emphasized

FIN 5684: International Finance

The purpose of this course is to introduce the student to the basic concepts of international finance/trade. By the end of this course, the student should understand the problems faced by global corporations and ways to solve such problems

MGT 5684: Global Strategic Management

This course focuses on management challenges associated with global competition and the ways in which firms can create and sustain superior returns by formulating and implementing effective strategies. It will integrate knowledge and skills students have gained in other MBA classes. The course will help students to develop an integrated, multi-functional, "general management" perspective of the organization. Comprehensive case studies of large firms will be used to develop students’ skills in strategic thinking, analysis, and execution. Strong emphasis will be placed on the global environment.

MKTG 5634: International Marketing Management

This course focuses on assessing international markets, comparing marketing systems; management of international marketing operations; focusing on distribution, promotional, and pricing problems faced by firms engaging in world trade.

MGT 5954: International Strategy and Culture

The international residency is the “capstone experience” in Virginia Tech’s Executive MBA Program.  The combined experience is intended to provide students with a unique “worldview” of business that they can use to guide and structure their own management practices and careers, both now and in the future.