REQUIRED Core Courses

MGMT 501: Financial Accounting

Brian Rountree

(3 credits, Full Term)

Financial statements are a key source of information about the economic activities of a firm. This course addresses the construction and interpretation of financial statements. The goal of the course is not to train you to become an accountant. Rather, the course should equip you to become an informed user of financial statement information. Because annual reports are somewhat formidable, we will study how firms present the information for various accounts in their financial statements, including the footnotes. By the end of the course, you should have a basic understanding of financial statements and the ability to use them for decision-making.

MGMT 570: Competitive Strategy

Balaji Koka

(1.5 credits, Term 1)

Competitive Strategy uses the case method to examine how general managers seek to create and maintain a competitive advantage for organizations. In this course we will focus on developing and mastering tools and frameworks necessary to assist using the important task of strategy formulation. The focus is on understanding the nature of strategic competitiveness and refine the ability to analyze the competitive environment facing a firm, assess the attractiveness of the industry, and identify potential sources of competitive advantage and disadvantage in one’s organization.

MGMT 510: Organizational Behavior

Brent Smith

(1.5 credits, Term 2)

Organizational life is built around a complex interplay of psychological and social phenomena. Factors related to status and influence, norms and values, and incentives and rewards shape individual and group behavior. In this course, our aim is to understand and harness these factors. Specifically, this course is designed to help you make more effective decisions, solve challenging problems, and motivate and lead others. To fulfill these aims, we will adopt an evidence-based approach. That is, we will focus on practices and techniques supported by academic research as opposed to management folklore.

MGMT 593: Data Analysis

Sharad Borle

(3 credits, Full Term)

The objective of this course is to learn how to analyze data and methods of statistical inference used in making business decisions.

MGMT 592: Strategic Business Communications

Janet Moore

(1.5 credits, Term 1)

Strategic Business Communication will cover communication strategy and structure. You will have the chance to improve your written, spoken, and interpersonal business communication skills through frequent presentations, written assignments, exercises, and feedback.

MGMT 540: Managerial Economics

Michael Brandl

(1.5 credits, Term 2)

This course is part of a two-course sequence in economics in the MBA@Rice program - the other course being Economic Environment of Business, covering macroeconomics. Managerial economics focuses on how the concepts of microeconomics can be used in managerial decision making.

MGMT 580: Marketing

Constance Porter

(3 credits, Full Term)

This course is designed to help the professionally active MBA student learn and apply core marketing principles and concepts. In this practically oriented, theoretically grounded course, students will ingrain core marketing concepts through the completion of integrative case studies and interactive class discussion about application of core concepts. Students will learn how key decisions are made through rigorous application of core marketing principles, strategies and tactics.

MGMT 574: Operations Management

Amit Pazgal

(1.5 credits, Term 1)

This course provides a general introduction to the discipline of operations management. Operations management deals with the management of business processes, that is, the administration of many recurrent activities of a firm. At the risk of being simplistic, one may say that marketing induces demand for products (goods and services), finance provides the capital and operations produces the product. More generally, operations spans the entire organization: COOs are often in charge of R&D, design/engineering, production operations, marketing, sales, support and service. This course focuses on the managerial tools needed for understanding these processes and prepares managers to use the results of analysis to constantly improve the firm’s operational performance.

MGMT 502: Managerial Accounting

Konduru Sivaramakrishnan 

(1.5 credits, Term 2)

This module examines managerial decision-making as it relates to both the internal organization of a firm's activities and the firm's relationship with its external environment. The primary focus of the module is on how to use accounting data and other relevant information in decision-making. We will also cover the basic vocabulary and mechanics of managerial accounting through discussions, problems and cases. A significant portion of the class discussions will focus on the economic basis for managerial accounting techniques, and the problems and limitations involved in their use.

MGMT 543: Corporate Finance

James Weston

(3 credits, Full Term)

This course provides an overview of the fundamentals of financial decision-making. We emphasize the foundational principles of corporate decision-making with a focus on applications to real-world problem solving. Our set of key concepts includes the time value of money, bond and stock valuation, interest rates, capital budgeting, portfolio selection, capital structure and payout decisions, derivatives, and risk management.

MGMT 511: Organizational Behavior II - Leadership

Brent Smith

(1.5 credits, Term 1)

This course will serve as an overview of key concepts in leadership. Most organizations have developed competency models used to both define and appraise the attributes of leaders. Although we will refer throughout the course to various leadership competencies, the intent of this course is to reconsider the practice of leadership and management.

MGMT 571: Strategy Formulation and Implementation

Prashant Kale

(1.5 credits, Term 2)

The central concern of strategic management is to help companies succeed in competitive environments. Hence, the purpose of the course is to expose students to core concepts, ideas and analytical techniques that can be used for creating sustainable advantage and growth in difficult competitive environments. The perspective adopted is that of a general manager who has overall responsibility for the performance of the firm as whole. To this end, the course will attempt to build students’ ability to develop, evaluate and implement value-creating strategies at the business and corporate level. In doing so we shall not only build upon some of the strategy concepts that students have already studied in the first core course in strategy, but also introduce them to new and advanced concepts to get a more comprehensive understanding of strategic issues and options at the business and corporate level. Given the integrative nature of strategic management, we shall also attempt to establish links with concepts that students have learned in other core courses in the key functional areas.

MGMT 541: Economic Environment of Business

Barbara Ostdiek

(1.5 credits, Term 1)

Fluency in the major macroeconomic concepts provides a framework for understanding both the economic foundations of business and the changing environment across time and economies. Access to this framework can enhance business decision-making in the globally competitive product, financial, and labor markets. With this in mind, the learning objectives for the course include an understanding of 1) the key economic policy goals and how they are related: low unemployment, price stability, and long-term sustainable growth; 2) the primary economic policy tools: fiscal policy, monetary policy, and regulation; and 3) the key economy- wide prices: inflation, interest rates, and exchange rates. We focus on variables over which individual businesses have little or no control, but understanding the dynamics of these forces can lead to recognizing both opportunities and risks and to making more nimble adjustments in the face of changing dynamics.

MGMT 561: Business-Government Relations

Doug Schuler

(1.5 credits, Term 2)

Business managers and business schools oftentimes ignore government and public policy. Sometimes this ignorance is warranted, because public policy is not always that binding over business transactions, especially as compared to market factors. At other times, however, this ignorance is imprudent, because through laws, regulations, and other instruments, government exerts itself on business transactions – something that we have seen increasingly at the federal, state, and even local levels.

MGMT 521: Business Law

Lee Ann E. Butler

(1.5 credits, Term 1)

This course examines the broad subject of law as it relates to business and is designed to help the student develop “legal astuteness,” that is, the ability to communicate effectively with counsel and to work together with counsel to solve complex problems and/or to protect and leverage the firm’s resources and one’s own assets. It is designed to be a guide to understanding how the law impacts daily management decisions and business strategies, to spotting legal issues before they become legal problems, and to using laws and legal tools to marshal resources and manage risk. This course will provide an initial exposure to contracts and the crucial common law concepts of tort, crime, agency and business organization (with particular emphasis on individual and organizational accountability for the actions of agents and independent contractors).

MGMT 562: Corporate Social Responsibility

Duane Windsor

(1.5 credits, Term 2)

Corporate Social Responsibility uses a combination of the case method and key readings to examine five topics from the perspective of executives and managers of business and other Organizations: (1) fundamentals of business ethics and responsibility, including professionalism; (2) social responsibilities broadly defined; (3) stakeholder engagement; (4) environmental sustainability; and (5) “Giving Voice to Values.”

MGMT 531: The New Enterprise

Hesam Panahi

(1.5 credits, Term 1)

Evaluating opportunities for a new innovation-based enterprise; conceptualizing and developing a venture plan through an iterative process; articulating venture assumptions. Intended for students who want to start their own venture, join an early-stage venture, be entrepreneurial within an existing organization, or want to understand entrepreneurs and how to think entrepreneurially.

MGMT 627: Enterprise Acquisition

Allan Danto

(1.5 credits, Term 2)

This course is designed for students who may want to explore purchasing their own business as a pathway to entrepreneurship or investing as an equity partner. The course follows a proven process to find, evaluate and acquire an existing business that fits the experience and objectives of the buyer. The life and career of an entrepreneur constitute a unique journey, and the specific goals, rewards and returns are unique to each person. The course gives students an opportunity to evaluate their personal objectives and resources so they can develop viable options that meet their specific needs, backgrounds, objectives and timing.

MGMT 598: Capstone Consulting Project

David VanHorn

(3 credits, Full Term)

The MBA@Rice Capstone course allows students to apply the knowledge they have gained across disciplines (strategy, finance, marketing, organizational behavior, etc.) in the program and their professional experience to develop a comprehensive enterprise/corporate-level strategic plan for a company or non-profit community organization. Students will work with senior executives at these organizations and with the course instructors through the quadmester to develop thorough and actionable solutions to the strategic challenges facing these organizations.

In order to enroll in this final core course, a student must meet these requirements:

1. Completion of all other core courses prior to MGMT 598.

2. Students will be completing their MBA in the next two quadmesters. Early enrollment into Capstone is not guaranteed.

3. Capstone cannot be taken concurrently with the GFE (MGMT 515).

Due to the magnitude of project work, including the time dedicated to team members and clients, there is a substantial time commitment needed to complete Capstone. It is highly recommended that students not be enrolled in more than two courses, including Capstone, in the enrolled quadmester.

Additional Capstone Course Information:

1.    Students work in teams of 4-5 members and have the opportunity to form their teams.

2.    Students are encouraged to identify projects for the Capstone Consulting course with faculty approval. Please see below for company, NGO, and project specifics:

Capstone Organization & Project Specifics – For Student Project Sourcing Use

Students are encouraged to identify projects and get faculty approval 2-6 months before expected enrollment. Capstone organizations should be ‘stable’ and open-minded to potential new strategies/solutions.

Specifically, Capstone targets two types of organizations:

Companies:

Size: High End: ~$25M annual revenues

Low End: ~$2M annual revenues

Must have been generating revenue for at least 1 year

No initial start-up companies

Variety of industries, though no management or tech consulting companies.

U.S. entities. Can/may opportunistically include global entities for MBA@Rice Capstone

Non-Profit, Community Service Organizations:

Size: High End: ~$10M annual budget

Low End: ~$250K annual budget

No initial start-ups

Variety of causes (e.g., education, social services, etc.), but no political parties or individual churches.

U.S. entities. Can/may opportunistically include global entities for MBA@Rice Capstone