Business Administration, MBA

This course provides learners with the opportunity to develop and apply a biblical ethic to business. As they complete this course learners will develop the capacity to understand business from a distinctly biblical perspective and to act on that understanding. Three hours.

This course provides learners with the opportunity to understand particular business organizations and their environments from both an economic and a biblical perspective. As they complete this course learners will develop the capacity to analyze particular business organizations and their environments from both an economic and a biblical perspective and to act on that analysis. Three hours.

This course provides learners with the opportunity to understand the effective use, development and retention of human capital. Both economic and biblical insights will be utilized in this process. Three hours.

This course provides learners with the opportunity to develop an understanding of activity based management, lean manufacturing and total quality management. First, learners will develop the capacity to use activity based management to understand processes within organizations. Second, learners will develop the capacity to use lean manufacturing and total quality management to act on that understanding as they manage and improve processes within organizations. Third, learners will consider insights offered by Scripture concerning efficiency, productivity and quality. Three hours.

This course provides learners with the opportunity to develop an understanding of the demand side of organizations from a marketing perspective and then to act based on that understanding. In pursuit of the related goals of understanding and acting, learner activities are structured around three key concepts: 1) a customer focus is essential, 2) relevant, timely, valid information is essential, and 3) competition based on product differentiation is essential. In the course learners also explore how to evaluate marketing programs and efforts using insights from Scripture. Three hours.

This course provides learners with the opportunity to further develop the capacity to properly and effectively use concepts from courses completed during the first year of the MBA program in realistic problem solving settings. Proper and effective use of these concepts includes: 1) use of individual concepts and 2) use of multiple concepts in an interdisciplinary manner. Properly addressing realistic problems includes: 1) specifying the problem, 2) analyzing the problem, and 3) formulating a solution to the problem. Three hours.

This course provides learners with the opportunity to develop and act on an understanding of finance. In pursuit of these goals, learner activities focus on four key concepts: 1) the realized return of external investors is directly related to the realized outcome of internal management decisions and activities, 2) organizations use financial statements to summarize the realized outcomes of management decisions and activities and to communicate that information to investors and other external parties, 3) the financial accounting model depicts how the individual financial statements fit together and allows managers, investors and other interested parties to fully access the information contained in those statements, and 4) risk is inherent in economic activity so the expected return from any activity must sufficiently compensate for assuming the related risk. In the course learners also explore how to evaluate financial information on organizational activities using insights from Scripture. Three hours.

This course provides learners with the opportunity to develop an understanding of the international landscape. Acting on that understanding, learners then develop the capacity to formulate plans that allow businesses to effectively navigate the international landscape. The international landscape will be viewed from trade, productivity, monetary and biblical perspectives. Three hours.

This course provides learners with the opportunity to develop an understanding of the legal environment within which businesses function Acting on that understanding, learners then develop the capacity to formulate plans that allow businesses to function effectively within that environment. The legal environment will be viewed from planning, compliance, efficiency and equity perspectives. The legal environment will be evaluated using a biblical perspective. Three hours.

This course provides learners with the opportunity to develop an understanding of entrepreneurship, focusing on its visionary, creative and risk-taking dimensions. On the visionary dimension, learners will understand that products, services and processes must first be imagined before they can be created. On the creative dimension, learners will understand that the vision of a product, service or process must be brought to reality. On the risk-taking dimension, learners will understand that bringing a product, service or process to reality is an uncertain, risky proposition, with no guarantee of technical or financial success. From the perspective of Scripture, learners will consider how the entrepreneurial capacity present in humans evidences their creation in image of the ultimate Creator. Three hours.

This course provides learners with the opportunity to understand organizations from a comparative advantage based strategic perspective. Consistent with that understanding learners develop the capacity to formulate and implement strategies that capitalize on and further develop an organization’s comparative advantage. This process of capitalizing on and further developing an organization’s comparative advantage will be evaluated using the concept of stewardship found in Scripture. Three hours.

This course provides learners with the opportunity to further develop the capacity to properly and effectively use concepts from courses completed during the second year of the MBA program in realistic problem solving settings. Proper and effective use of these concepts includes: 1) use of individual concepts and 2) use of multiple concepts in an interdisciplinary manner. Properly addressing realistic problems includes: 1) specifying the problem, 2) analyzing the problem, and 3) formulating a solution to the problem. Three hours.