Master of Science in Business Leadership Online

Strategy is the heart and soul of any business. The essence of business strategy is to understand your organization's uniqueness and order-winning criteria. This course will focus on how classic strategy paradigms such as differentiation; brand creation; core competency expertise; speed to market; value migration and leadership in the areas of cost reduction, technology and innovation are linked to a sustained competitive advantage. In addition, the course will examine how changes in the competitive landscape such as globalization, the rapid diffusion of technology, excess capacity, shifting marketplace demographics, increasing cost transparencies, the erosion of pricing power and the commoditization and unbundling of products/services; are creating both problems and unique opportunities. Utilizing lectures, assigned readings, small group projects, case studies and a business simulation, the students will become proficient at business strategy analysis, creation and implementation within an ethical framework.

Communication is crucial to the success of all leaders, but as you climb within an organization the ability to write and speak effectively is magnified. One needs to be able to talk, write and present effectively to a diverse group of stakeholders, such as customers, supervisors, subordinates, peers, buyers, etc. And while business leaders have marketing strategies, expansion strategies, finance strategies, even exit strategies, successful leaders also have communication strategies. This course explores how individuals can develop and execute effective communication strategies for a variety of business settings. The course emphasizes the essentials of developing personal communication skills, inclusive of persuasive verbal and written communication, influence mapping, and communicating for buy-in. Students study audience analysis, communicator credibility, message construction and delivery, and are given the opportunity to learn best practices in presentation skills, particularly important for those wishing to pursue entrepreneurial interests. Globalization confronts almost every aspect of business from recruiting and managing a diverse staff to providing products and services, which cross language, time, and cultural barriers. This course delves into the two areas impacting a leader’s success in the global arena: technology and culture.

In today's business environment, corporate executives and leading professionals must continuously analyze strategic business situations and at times feel limited in their ability to choose appropriate courses of action. In these situations, the executive is expected to utilize sound critical decision making in order to initiate action and move the organization to creative problem solving. The purpose of this course is to provide students with a sound conceptual understanding of the role that Management Science, Accounting and Financial concepts, Statistics and Technology play in the decision making process. The student will be presented with applications of decision making tools, which have been used successfully. Whenever possible the "problem scenario approach" will be used. This approach describes a problem in conjunction with the tool or technique being introduced. The development of the technique or model includes applying it to the problem to generate a solution or recommendation. The course will primarily consist of lectures, outside readings, problems, and case studies designed to provide the student with the tools and techniques required to manage processes efficiently and make decisions effectively. Upon successful completion of this course, students will have mastered many of the most important fundamentals of business decision-making, will have a new frame of reference and will be able to both understand and to utilize these fundamentals in the workplace.

This course is designed for students to understand and apply key theories and best practices in leadership. Students will gain familiarity with important leadership concepts and hear, first-hand, the lessons-learned from leaders in business, government, military, and non-profit organizations. This is a highly interactive course that will engage students in identifying and applying what they've learned towards leading teams/organizations through challenging business scenarios. Topics include leadership concepts such as: situational leadership, transformational leadership, "Level 5" leadership/emotional intelligence, and "neuroleadership", cross-cultural models and theories, leadership competencies and assessment tools, actions and behaviors that model best practices in ethical leadership, and leadership development approaches. Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to integrate their understanding of leadership fundamentals in their own development as leaders as well as in the development of others through leadership development programs, mentoring, and coaching.

This class provides a comprehensive overview of project management. Students learn how to effectively plan, manage, and control projects that encompass both individual and group efforts in business settings. Basic concepts and tools of project management, such as the work breakdown structure, scheduling, creating milestones, Gantt charts, managing cost, and stakeholder considerations are introduced. The course will include a series of discussion on each of the core knowledge areas and process groups associated with the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). Students will also learn more about the social side of project management, including team building, managing virtual teams and developing and implementing effective project communications. In addition, this class draws upon concepts, models, tools and technologies associated with formal project management methodology, including MS Project and the emergence of social networking and learning tools. Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to integrate the technical and soft skill sides of project management to prioritize goals, write a project charter, create a work breakdown structure, establish reliable project budgets and schedules, implement project tracking techniques, manage teams, and create effective strategies to control the project budget, schedule, and quality.

Nothing is more central to a business than the products and/or services it sells. And, for the majority of businesses, whether small entrepreneurial firms or large established companies, this mandates growth and innovation. The business leader must now be an innovator, ever more important given the rapid evolution in products and business models. Yet, the strategies and processes used to determine which products to make, how to make them or where to get them, and how to bring them to market are not well understood by many firms. Generating Growth and Innovation confronts head on the challenges from the cultural, processes and growth perspective, and helps frame innovation and growth for managers and business leaders from the following perspectives.

In today's corporate setting professionals aspiring to advance to senior levels must be able to lead. It is true that someone can be a leader without being a manager, and someone can manage without leading. Many managers do not even manage people! However, it has become apparent there are clearly definitive traits, qualities, and characteristics that distinguish the two roles and there is also commonality between them. Those differences and similarities have been the subject of an ongoing great debate throughout the last quarter of a century. It is widely held that leaders influence commitment, whereas managers merely carry out position responsibilities and exercise authority but there are others who believe that there is no reason to separate the functions. Through a combination of classic and contemporary readings, formal and informal case studies, and exposure to unfamiliar scenarios and challenging real-life situations, this course compares and contrasts leading with managing and examines the theories, tools, and practices that drive managers of processes and functions to evolve into leaders who build enduring value for their organizations.

The Capstone Seminar is the culminating experience in Manhattanville's graduate business programs. Students in their last semester from different business disciplines participate in the same class, allowing students to see how their discipline fits in with others in a business organization. The Capstone Seminar emphasizes research and writing in a business context.

In recent years the increasing complexity of capital markets, combined with an ongoing economic slump, have greatly complicated the job of investment analysts and portfolio managers. Successful investing requires a firm understanding of the wide variety of securities trading in the debt, equity and derivatives markets, along with several alternative approaches to portfolio management. This course is designed to provide a solid background in fundamental valuation techniques, along with sound principles of portfolio management. Key models of asset returns are analyzed in detail; techniques for measuring and managing investment risk are introduced, along with several measures of performance measurement.

Worldwide theories, research, principles, and practices pertaining to the discipline of managing risk have evolved significantly over the past ten years. Continued catastrophes have emphasized the need for more robust systems for managing risk accompanied by a highly sophisticated approach that supports the development of an appropriate risk mentality. This course is designed so that students obtain a robust understanding in the discipline of risk management better-termed "managing risk". Students will review case studies of companies that have been successful in their efforts to manage risk and those that have been unsuccessful. In both situations, an in-depth analysis will be applied to determine the root causes for the successes and failures. Upon completion of this course students will have learned how to: gain an appreciation for evolution of this managing risk discipline over the past 20 years to what is now considered best in class thinking; extract the essential ingredients for managing risk throughout the organization and assemble them; take a holistic approach to risk using the objectives, principles, process & framework from ISO 31000; think in an integrated fashion and participate in effective risk management implementation efforts; conduct an initial assessment of the adequacy of a company's risk management system; and appreciate the role of rating agencies, regulatory agencies, various standard setters, other professional organizations, & the Board of Directors.

Marketing activity is the engine that creates value in a business. It provides the focus for interfacing with customers, and is the database for knowledge about customers, consumers and competitors. Marketing focuses on both the achievement of short-term sales as well as the long-term relationship of a company to its customers, thus its critical role to the generation of revenue and profit for a firm. This course emphasizes the role of marketing in creating value for customers, which in turn creates value for owners, shareholders and employees. The course teaches what business managers need to know to create strategies that achieve competitive advantage for products and services. Topics taught in this course include (but are not limited to) analyzing market opportunities, competitive analysis, customer relationship management (CRM), customer decision-making, value of brand, product/service management, segmentation and target selection, product positioning, customer acquisition and retention, and social media leverage. At the conclusion of the course, students will understand (a) how companies create, capture and sustain competitive advantage in the marketplace, (b) the sources of value in product/service offerings and how they evolve over time, (c) the role of technology, operations and distribution in delivering value, and (d) effective responses to preempt, deter or effectively counter competitive moves.