Business Marketing - Courses

This course explores the development of adults as learners and introduces students to the mental, physical, and psychological stages of adult development and how those changes affect the adult learning process. As students analyze adult learning theories, they will reflect on their own life experiences and review their strengths and motivations as adult learners. Students will have an opportunity to reflect, think critically, develop effective presentation skills, and prepare written responses to readings in the field of adult learning and adult development. Students will begin to understand themselves as learners: how they learn, what stages and triggers have affected their learning process, and how to value and incorporate life experiences into the continuing process of lifelong learning. The course launches the student’s journey through their accelerated degree-completion program.

A strong emphasis is placed on the review and practice of writing skills in the context of the class content. Through multiple writing assignments, students will learn the expectations for academic writing at the upper college level, including generating ideas, organizing written material, and improving self-editing skills. They will learn to balance and manage time while in an accelerated degree program.

As pointed out in the main text of the class (Financial Intelligence: A Manager’s Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean by Karen Berman and Joe Knight), there are four skill sets to having financial intelligence:

(1) Understanding the Foundation;

(2) Understanding the Art;

(3) Understanding the Analysis; and

(4) Understanding the Big Picture (in other words being able to “step away from the numbers,” consider all relevant information, conduct analysis, and make effective decisions).

To accomplish this is no small task as the discipline is demanding due to a language barrier, volume of information, analytical tools/skills needed to support comprehension, and the typical adult learner’s lack of familiarity with the subject matter. However, those are also the reasons why it is so important. The overall goals of the course are to help adult learners understand and speak the language of accounting/finance, use the information and tools presented in the course to ask better questions, and ultimately to help themselves or others make better decisions which will help their organizations achieve their goals. Topics include: Accounting-The Language of Business, Introduction to Financial Statements and Reporting, Importance of Cash Flows, Understanding Cost Behavior, Budgeting Systems and Developing Forecasts, Performance Measurement, and an Introduction to Capital Budgeting and Working Capital Management.

This course explores the many facets of leadership, as distinct from management. In most organizations, leadership is more than giving orders and controlling employees and processes. Leadership is about people. Students will identify strengths and areas for improvement in effective communication, emotional intelligence, conflict management, and motivational styles. They will identify the effectiveness of various leadership styles, including the value of servant leadership, as they pertain to different organizational settings. The impact of diversity and multiple generations in the workplace will be viewed in the development of effective relationships and the creation of a productive work environment.

This course is an exploration of your values, ethics, and the kind of person you want to become.  You will make a transition to an understanding of what you believe and why, and the ability to support positions you hold with objective ethical arguments, while better understanding the perspectives of others. The course prepares you to lay out your personal ethical methodology, to apply in the workplace, in your relationships, and in the community.

In addition to the content discussed above, this course will focus on ethical decision-making in the business world or organization in which you function, an environment that has become so complex that making ethical choices presents challenges to managers and administrators who are often faced with competing interests and choices. You will be poised to resolve the potential ethical dilemmas that you may face in your workplace from a moral point of view that gives equal consideration to the interests and well-being of others within your organization and the larger society.

Project Management involves planning, organization, managing, and controlling project activities to ensure that the project reaches its objectives at the desired scope, cost, and schedule. Project managers must engage in sound leadership approaches and techniques in order to influence team members. Finally, the course addresses the activities of effective project managers along with the tasks of effective team members as followers. Students will work in teams taking on the various roles necessary to successfully complete the project assigned. A final paper and group presentation provide the professor and the class with the solutions and process the team followed as they managed their project.

This course provides a basis for understanding consumer behavior on multiple levels - from individuals and family units to larger groups, organizations, and society in an international context. It examines factors and trends influencing marketing strategy development and changes in relation to the dynamics of the behavior of consumers. It also provides a foundation for understanding the consumer decision process as it applies to the marketing of consumer products and services and non-profit services.

The applied research course is a capstone project in the Business Marketing program. The course requires students to select a real problem they have encountered at work or elsewhere, conduct research to determine its cause(s), and make practical recommendations to solve it based on the results of the study. Intended to provide solutions to concrete problems, questions, or concerns within an organization, the research project enables students to apply the academic skills and knowledge acquired across the Business Marketing curriculum. While it is demanding and challenging, the course provides opportunities for students to hone critical thinking, research, written, and verbal presentation skills, gain personal satisfaction for the successful completion of a valuable project, and contribute to the improvement of their organization. The project is organized into two parts. Part One covers introduction to research, research problem statement, and literature review.

The need to be a wise producer and consumer of statistics and research has never been greater.  What students learn in this course should enable them to become more sophisticated consumers of statistics. The course introduces the student to the basic concepts and tools of statistical analysis and helps the student apply those concepts and tools to the Applied Research Project. Microsoft Excel will be used for most of the calculations.  Consequently, a basic understanding of Excel is required for this module.  By using Excel to perform the calculations, the student can focus on the underlying statistical concepts and the application to real-world problems. An online textbook with interactive features is used to support each key lesson in ways that foster a deeper understanding at the student’s individual pace.

This 1 credit course is in addition to Elementary Statistics and focuses on the creation and analysis of a survey to implement in your applied research project.

The applied research course is a capstone project in the Business Marketing program. While it is demanding and challenging, the course provides opportunities for students to hone critical thinking, research, and written, and verbal presentation skills, gain personal satisfaction for the successful completion of a valuable project and contribute to the improvement of their organization. The project is organized into two parts. Part Two requires students to determine the most appropriate data collection method and procedure, design a data collection instrument, if needed, collect the necessary data, analyze the data, and present the overall results of the research project in both written and oral reports. Conducting research is an exciting and challenging part of the academic experience at all levels. The aim of applied research in particular is to generate knowledge relevant to solving problems and making decisions. Prerequisite: MRKT 4910

This course provides an overview of the process of analyzing, planning, and evaluating a broad promotion strategy. Students will develop their strategic marketing planning skills while also diving into analytics and measurement, event planning, public relations, content creation and scheduling, social media, basic website user experience, and SEO. Students will leave this course with certifications in areas of digital marketing and hands-on experience with tools used for digital marketing. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to create a comprehensive integrated marketing communications plan.