ELECTIVE COURSE

INTRODUCTION VIDEOS

Course Sort descending	Title	Description
CIS211	Business Modeling with Excel	The objective of this class is to develop your ability to model business problems in quantitative terms, and analyze them for understanding, insight, and good solutions. the primary focus will be on problem formulation and analysis identifying the key components of a decision problem, structuring it, translating it into an analytical model, and working with the model to generate useful insights.
CIS434	Social Media and Text Analytics-Lab	This course draws on a unique blend of social media strategies and the rapidly evolving information technologies supporting these strategies. we will discuss issues related to the monitoring and analyzing of social media for companies in different industries. the learning objectives of this course include: (1) gaining a deeper understanding of social media and its implications in the business world; (2) becoming comfortable with text data; and (3) being able to understand and apply several commonly used methods to analyze text data.
CIS467	Data Management, Warehousing, and Visualization-Lab	Cis 467 builds an understanding of system data design to enable analytics as well as the concepts and tools necessary to leverage system data to meet an organization¿s analytics needs. the course covers mysql programming skills for data retrieval, including writing and executing queries; updating, inserting and deleting database records; creating views; and writing user-defined functions and stored procedures. cis 467 also introduces a conceptual framework for analytics activities surrounding data warehousing, including creating etl code to transform and transport data from a transitional database into a data warehouse for further analysis. finally, students will use tableau to design and create data visualizations and dashboards, both for exploratory data analysis and effective communication.
ENT423	New Venture Development	The focus of ent 423 is learning how to prepare an effective business plan that will communicate the inherent value of the concept. among the critical issues that will be addressed are: competitive conditions and industry trends, sustainable competitive advantages, management team, marketing plan, financial plan, exit possibilities, franchising, legal entities. the approach used is appropriate for start-ups and for corporate venturing. it is also suitable for both profit and for not-for-profit organizations. also included is a social entrepreneurship module. at the same time plans are prepared, other entrepreneurial issues are studied, such as assembly resources, launching and building new ventures and harvesting results. lectures, cases and guest speakers are utilized. the speakers will address a range of new venture topics from the development of management teams, marketing, finance, venture capitalists and legal issues. the completion of a business plan for a proposed new venture is required.
ENT445	Practicum in Urban Entrepreneurship	With the loss of vital economic drivers, rochester is a prime example of an urban environment experiencing infrastructure distress and stagnation with a marked decrease of quality of life for its inhabitants. like any urban environment, promoting a virtuous cycle of economic growth is vital for the recovery of rochester. social entrepreneurs play a critical role by engaging business tactics and an understanding of market-efficient forces that deliver savvy and creative solutions to address core urban issues, such as reducing poverty (through job creation and other means), increasing access to capital (community banking and microfinance), promoting business growth (incubators, accelerators and the role of the university), residential and retail development, effectively delivering public health services, education for its populace and future work force (i.e. khan academy and charter schools) and ensuring a safe and healthy environment. by encouraging new entity formation and reengineering existing organizations, these challenges create opportunities for the social entrepreneur. understanding the fundamental pieces of the urban puzzle is essential for an urban social entrepreneur to come up with effective and relevant solutions.
FIN241	Real Estate Principles	This course provides an introduction and broad overview of real estate development in our economy and commercial real estate investment as a major capital asset of our financial markets. the course topics include the basic economics of real estate markets, market analysis, real estate development and real estate finance. real estate principles, data and analytic methods used in the real estate industry and current trends in the real estate markets are covered throughout the course. students obtain practice valuing commercial properties and understanding how real estate cycles affect investments.
FIN441G	Asset Management	The course will provide students with a fundamental understanding of the principles and analytics of asset management as applied to both institutional and private clients. it should be of great interest to anyone aspiring to a career in asset, portfolio, private wealth, endowment, foundation, sovereign wealth, or pension fund management. a fundamental understanding of the issues in asset management, whether institutional or private, will also be helpful in other areas of finance such as investment banking, insurance, accounting and personal finance, as well as operations and marketing in these types of firms. in addition, students will learn how to better manage their future personal wealth. this class will focus on the more practical aspects of asset management to prepare students for the actual demands of a job in the industry. the course will also describe the challenges in managing such portfolios from the perspective of an institutional or individual investor and a fund manager (public equity, fixed income, hedge, or liquid).
GBA466	Acct & Fin for MS Students	This course presents the basics of financial accounting, and will provide a framework for analyzing financial data. the course begins with an overview of the four financial statements, and the accounting underlying those statements, and includes ratio analysis based on those statements. the course will then survey topics in corporate finance, centered on the analysis of financial data. the course includes a survey of financial metrics used to analyze operations, then proceeds to a discussion of project evaluation with a focus on relevant cash flows, and then investigates the appropriate required rate of return to be used in evaluating those cash flows. the course also covers methods for estimating firm value, and includes an overview of options and futures
GBA473	Data-Driven Decision Making	The objectives of this course are to understand the analytics environment, including people and organizational challenges, data, and the role of models, and to understand concepts and apply frameworks of data-driven decision-making for business decisions. learning to apply analytics design concepts for decision-oriented projects and pushing through systematized dashboards within the organization are key components of the course.
MGC461	Professional Communication	Mgc 461 is based on classical principles of argument and persuasion and current communication research that reveals the keys to having influence in a global business world. its goal is to develop professional-level presentation skills, individually and in teams. the course is performance based; all class sessions require students to speak and interact extensively. over two mini-semesters, students develop professional presentation skills through four individual and two team-based speaking assignments, for which they receive extensive, individualized feedback. they also learn a systematic process for assessing their own communication, and for giving feedback to others. at the end of the course students will have developed skills key to success in any field: the ability to adapt effectively to a given audience, and to express ideas with an appropriate combination of logic and feeling.
MKT432	New Product Strategy	This course examines the issues involved in the planning, justification, and development of new products. we will fold in best practices from organizations like pragmatic marketing and strategyzer (business model canvas/value proposition design), along with the standard go-to processes and approaches followed inthe business world today. the course explores the fundamentals of understanding market and customer needs to ensure products are developed based on market reality. we study the processes associated with the ideation, iteration and development of value propositions and explore how these value propositions mustfit into a broader business model to find true success. leading from this, we study new product development (npd) processes, and explore the impact of disruptive innovation on crafting new solutions. we conclude with the exploration of the unique leadership skills required in a new product role. select cases will be analyzed and discussed to embellish critical learnings. a term long project will have teams develop a value proposition and its associated business model.
MKT433	Advertising Strategy	This course explores the tools available to marketers for the promotion of products and services. integrated marketing communication philosophy is stressed and principles of consumer behavior are discussed as the starting point for the analysis of promotion decisions. key elements are digital advertising, creative strategy, media planning, media mix modeling, measurement of advertising effectiveness, coupons and sales promotions. groups develop and present an advertising campaign for a new product or underperforming product in an extremely competitive product category. prerequisite: mkt 402
OMG412	Service Management	Success of service management critically depends on managing the integration of business processes with customers as well as all related support systems (technology, human resources, information flow). this integration presents a challenge to service managers who need to address significant variation in customer expectations and requirements while controlling costs and remaining competitive. this course provides a foundation for the analysis and improvement of businesses, paying particular attention to the service sector. the type of analysis learned in this course is required in virtually every industry as companies work to improve their bottom-line performance. the best way to improve performance is through a holistic approach, where the structure of processes, information and technological requirements, and the managerial implications, are considered concurrently.
OMG413	Operations Strategy	For many firms, the operations function marshals the majority share of a firms assets and resources while producing products and services. decision-making in operations can have a decisive effect on both the cost and the attractiveness of the firms outputs. thus the management of operations activities is a critical factor in a firms competitive strategy. this is a course that explores operations related decisions in the context of overall business, operations, financial and marketing strategies. strong emphasis is given to valuation of different operational strategies and npv analysis. many types of operations decisions are considered: location, capacity, sourcing, flexibility, and process choice. risk management and financial evaluation of capital projects will be discussed. in addition to financial evaluation, students will analyze the fit of strategic choices in the competitive context a firm faces.
STR401	Managerial Economics-Lab	The primary objective of the course is to train students to think in economic terms, to identify the relevant economic issue in a given situation, to separate the relevant from the irrelevant, and to analyze the implications of alternative actions. another objective is to provide an increased understanding of markets. the course presents the basic analytical tools of microeconomics, particularly as those skills are relevant to managers. important economic concepts used in subsequent courses, such as opportunity costs and a nash equilibrium, are covered. applications of marginal analysis are stressed.
STR421	Competitive Strategy	Competitive strategy deals with the most significant decisions that companies make in the marketplace, including entry into a market, product positioning, pricing, investments, technology choice and acquisitions. this course provides tools and concepts for analyzing these decisions and for designing business strategies that help firms make above-normal profits in the long run. throughout the course, there is an emphasis on how firms interact with existing or potential competitors and other parties in the market. the tools and concepts used to understand this interaction are partly those of the traditional field of strategic management, but more importantly those of modern microeconomics, especially the field of industrial organization. the first half of the course looks at the 'big picture' and covers industry analysis, value creation and competitive advantage, and integration and diversification decisions. the second half of the course focuses on strategic interaction among firms, and covers specific topics such as the dynamics of price competition in oligopolies, commitment strategies of firms, entry and exit, networks and standards, and technological competition. the course is largely case-based. about one third of all classes are lectures; the other two thirds are case discussions.