• Message from the Program Director
• Overview of the Fast-Track MBA Program
• Admissions Requirements
• Program Structure
• Course Descriptions
• Faculty

On Choosing an MBA Program

What do people look for when deciding on an MBA program?

According to our MBA students at the Rockland Graduate Campus of Long Island University, two of the most important factors in choosing an MBA program are a manageable schedule and quality instruction.

Manageable Schedule:
Given the pressures in today’s business workplace, a conventional schedule of courses can either take too long to complete or can mean an unrealistically heavy workload. That’s why we developed our 8-Week course format called “Fast-Track.”

Students complete three courses in each of the Fall, Spring or Summer semesters. Each course has eight class meetings. By coming to class one night per week, the first course is completed in two months, and the second one in the subsequent two months. The third course is completed by meeting every other week, throughout the Fall, Spring and Summer semesters.

Thus, by attending class one night a week and one night every other week, students who begin in September of a given year will complete their degree in a relatively short time.

Quality Instruction:
Rockland MBA graduates’ feedback of their instructors is consistently positive. When they talk about the quality of instruction, they cite the practical, concrete, real-world orientation of the faculty. That is because the MBA faculty are drawn from the business world, with many years of management experience. In addition to possessing advanced degrees, they also have extensive experience in business plus specialized knowledge in their areas of expertise.

Perhaps most importantly, classes average from 10 to 15 students, so that faculty and students get to know each other well. Students enrolled in the Fast-Track MBA Program move together as a student cohort and work on projects in teams. This close, personal contact deepens learning and at the same time enhances opportunities for career networking.

The Fast-Track MBA Program at the Rockland Graduate Campus incorporates both of these critical factors and has other important advantages described in more detail below.

For Further Information:
For more details about this program, contact Professor Ken Reilly, MBA Program Director. Telephone: (845) 359-7200 ext. 5408. E-Mail: Ken.Reilly@liu.edu.

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OVERVIEW OF THE FAST-TRACK MBA PROGRAM

Mission: The MBA program offered by Long Island University in Rockland has provided graduate study in business to the future leaders of Rockland, Bergen, and Orange Counties for over twenty years.

The “Fast-Track MBA” – an accelerated cohort program is designed to help working students complete the MBA rapidly and to do so with special tuition incentives. The goal of the Fast-Track MBA Program is to prepare students for career advancement and to help them become confident, competent business executives.

Cohort System: Each entering class moves through the program as a “cohort.” This permits intensive interaction between faculty and students and develops strong team-work and communications skills.

Innovative Scheduling: Students complete the MBA degree rapidly through our innovative eight-week semesters, taking three courses every semester (Fall, Spring, Summer).

Student-Friendly Schedule: The program is specifically designed for the part-time student / working business person. Classes meet one night per week and one night every other week, limiting the number of trips to campus.

Practical Orientation: Faculty members are practicing businessmen and businesswomen with advanced academic credentials and extensive experience in the corporate world. The MBA faculty’s business experience ensures a practical, real-world approach to classroom instruction. The faculty emphasize business competencies that are critical to students’ career success:

• The development of personal leadership qualities.
• The ability to communicate well and work effectively with people.
• Strategic thinking, financial analysis, and other problem-solving skills.
• Sensitivity to multi-cultural, diversity, and ethical issues.
• A broad knowledge of business subjects.

Special Tuition-Structure: Enrollees in the Fast-Track MBA Cohort benefit from a $75 per credit tuition reduction, and free textbooks for all MBA courses. The total cost savings is over $5,000.

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MBA ADMISSIONS REQUIREMENTS

The admissions process is selective. Only applicants who are prepared to commit themselves to the demanding course of study required of the Fast-Track MBA should apply.

Admissions requirements include:

• A resume describing prior business or professional experience.
• An undergraduate degree from an accredited institution. Transcripts from all colleges and universities previously attended must be submitted. A G.P.A. of 3.0 is required for full-matriculation. In some cases, “limited matriculation” may be granted to otherwise strong candidates.
• Scores from the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT). The GMAT will be waived for applicants who already hold a master's or J.D. degree from an accredited institution or a Certified Public Accountant license. The GMAT may also be waived for applicants with significant business experience, which ordinarily includes at least seven years of professional employment after completing an undergraduate degree.
• Two letters of recommendation from professional references.
• A written statement outlining the applicant's objective for seeking admission.
• A completed Admissions application.

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MBA PROGRAM STRUCTURE

The M.B.A. curriculum has four levels:

General Business Core
Eight courses (24 credits) at the 500 Level

Advanced Business Core
Six courses (18 credits) at the 600 level

Electives
Four advanced courses (12 credits) at the 700 level in either Management or Finance

Capstone Courses
Two Business Policy courses (6 credits), 800 level.

General Business Core courses are particularly important for students who have not had previous work in economics or business, or who lack comparable business experience. Students who completed business courses as an undergraduate may qualify for a reduction of some or all of the general business core courses, reducing the total requirements of the program.

Waivers
Students with undergraduate and/or graduate business administration training may petition the Program Director to waive courses in the general business core. Students shall have received grades of at least 3.0 (B) in two undergraduate courses for each general business core course to be waived.

The Cohort Framework
Courses at each level of the M.B.A. are offered within a framework provided to each entering cohort of students. The cohort framework organizes course offerings by major themes, as follows:

Business Leadership and Decision-Making Tools
GBA 512 Principles of Management and Leadership
GBA 510 Financial Accounting for Managers
GBA 513 Marketing Management

Building Analytical and Communications Skills
GBA 511 Corporate Financial Management
GBA 515 Managerial Communications
GBA 514 Money, Banking, and Capital Markets

Utilizing Statistical and Technology Applications
GBA 516 Business Statistics
GBA 517 Fundamentals of Management Information Systems
MBA 614 Operations Management

Positioning the Corporation in a Global Economy
MBA 612 Marketing Strategy
MBA 610 Financial Services and the New Financial World
MBA 611 Global Economic Environment

Managing the High-Performing Organization
MBA 613 Organizational Behavior
MBA 615 Management in a Global Society

Mastering Advanced Management Competencies
Four 700-Level Courses in Management
-OR-
Mastering Advanced Finance Competencies
Four 700-Level Courses in Finance

Setting Business Strategy and Policy
MBA 800 Business Policy I (Capstone Course, Part I)
MBA 801 Business Policy II (Capstone Course, Part II)

All of the above are three-credit graduate level courses.

All courses at the 500 level (except for waivers) and at the 600 level are required of all students. Some of these courses have prerequisites, as indicated in the course descriptions below.

For courses at the 700 level, each student must choose one of the two available concentrations, Management or Finance. The four courses at the 700 level may vary somewhat from year to year, but will be drawn mainly from the list below. All 700 courses have prerequisites, as indicated in the course descriptions.

The two Capstone Courses (800 and 801) are also required of all students and are taken when all other courses have been satisfactorily completed. An application to take the capstones must be submitted to the Program Director at least one month before they begin.

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MBA COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

General Business Core: 24 Credits

GBA 510R Financial Accounting
Study of basic accounting concepts and methods and their significance to management and to the financial analyst. Topics include an introduction to financial statement analysis, the measurement of income and capital, accounting for fixed assets, inventory costing and price-level changes, measuring and accounting for corporate debt, corporate investment in securities, and computer applications in accounting. This course does not require previous training in accounting. Three credits.

GBA 511R Corporate Financial Management
Prerequisite: GBA 510
In a risky global environment, methods are studied by which firms and individuals 1) evaluate stocks, bonds and investment projects, 2) combine them in optimal portfolios, and 3) determine the best level of debt versus equity. The basic tools are risk versus return, and the evaluation of future cash flows. Three credits.

GBA 512R Principles of Management and Leadership
Analysis of current management theory and practice. Discussion of its historical foundations and investigation of various approaches to the management discipline. Primary emphasis on administrative functions of planning, decision-making, organizing, staffing and controlling. Three credits.

GBA 513R Marketing Management
Survey analysis of the operations of marketing systems. The course emphasizes strategic planning, coordination, and adaptation of marketing operations to opportunities in profit and non-profit organizations. Focus is placed upon the principal decision-making components of national and international marketing including product development, promotion, pricing and distribution. Three credits.

GBA 514R Money, Banking and Capital Markets
The main objective is to analyze and understand the principal forces that are shaping U.S. world money and capital markets. Money creation, the demand for money, and the relation of money to inflation and financial flows are each examined. Interest rates are analyzed in the context of portfolio choice, and their behavior is carefully examined. Emphasis is also placed on the changing role of competitive financial institutions and the effects of these changes on the flow of funds and monetary policy. Three credits.

GBA 515R Managerial Communications
This course is concerned with improving the way people within organizations communicate. It includes the interpretation and application of organizational communication theory for the working or aspiring manager. Topics include: personal communication styles, media and tools for the manager/communicator, organizational communications climate, one-to-one communications, meetings and conferences, speaking before groups, written managerial communications, planning and producing business reports, advertising managerial communications. Three credits.

GBA 516R Business Statistics
This course is designed to give fundamental knowledge of principles, concepts and techniques involved in application of probability and statistics to business research and managerial decisions. The range of applications covers various functional areas such as Finance, Marketing, Accounting, Management, Economics and Production. Topics include descriptive statistics, probability concepts, risk assessment techniques, decision theory, and statistical inference (estimation and hypothesis testing). Three credits.

GBA 517R Fundamentals of Management Information Systems
This is a survey course analyzing the role of information systems in business strategy. Information systems are shown to be facilitators of market penetration, competitive advantage and organizational change. The material is presented within an integrated framework of organization, management and technology. Topics include: organizational and technical foundations of information systems; applications of information systems to operational, tactical and strategic decision making; management of information as an organizational resource; information architectures; emerging technologies; various approaches to building and management of information systems. Three credits.

Advanced Business Core: 18 Credits

MBA 610R Financial Services and The New Financial World
Prerequisites: GBA 510, GBA 511
This course is a survey of investments, real estate finance, international finance, new corporate financing techniques and their relation to global macroeconomic activity and financial markets. Techniques of investment, speculation, arbitrage and financial leverage are examined. Consistent with the mission and the objective of offering a broad-based introduction to the financial world, this course examines a major part of the global business environment. Three credits.

MBA 611R Global Economic Environment of Business
Prerequisite: GBA 511
The main goal of this course is to analyze and understand the global economy in which business operates. Attention centers on the key policy issues and major economic forces that affect business activity and on the tools necessary to evaluate these issues and forces. The former include unemployment, inflation, fiscal policy, budget deficits, monetary policy, the changing financial environment, the roles of the U.S. dollar, productivity, and international trade. The tools of analysis include the portfolio approach, post-Keynesian and modern monetarist approaches, rational expectations and state-of-the-art analysis of saving and investment. The course also explores the role played by U.S. and world financial markets in influencing the domestic and global economic environment. Three credits.

MBA 612R Marketing Strategy
Prerequisite: GBA 513
This course focuses on marketing planning processes, concepts, methods and strategies with global orientation at the product level as well as the corporate level. It emphasizes the relationship between marketing and other functions and draws upon perspectives from industrial economics, corporate finance and strategic management literature. Marketing strategies and practices of contemporary firms are discussed as they relate to industrial and consumer products and services. The overall objective of the course is to help students incorporate and apply the skills, methods and insights they have acquired in prior marketing and other business courses in the design and implementation of marketing strategies. Three credits.

MBA 613R Organizational Behavior
Prerequisite: GBA 512
This course analyzes both the formal and informal aspects of the administration process. Topics include: human behavior in an organizational environment, individual behavior patterns, leadership, superior/subordinate relationships, group dynamics, communication, motivation and decision-making, and the impact of innovation and change on the organization. Three credits.

MBA 614R Operations Management
Prerequisites: GBA 512, GBA 516
Analysis and synthesis of important problems encountered in the management operations of a business organization. Analytical methods employed in solving problems such as inventory, queuing, network models, linear programming and PERT are explored. Emphasis is on problem-solving and decision-making in such areas as investment in operations, production planning, scheduling and control, reliability and maintenance. Three credits.

MBA 615R Management in a Global Society
Prerequisite: GBA 512
Explores the environment in which business is conducted, with emphasis on legal, social and political dimensions. The demands for ethical responsibility in business are also explored and evaluated. Three credits.

Advanced Courses, Finance Concentration: 12 Credits
The student may choose either Finance or Management as a field of concentration. Finance Concentration courses (4) will be drawn from the following.

Finance 702AR Money and Capital Market Applications
Prerequisites: GBA 510, GBA 511, GBA 514
Study of financial markets as allocators of funds and distributors of risk. Emphasis is given to the roles and functions of financial intermediaries. Theories of financial asset pricing are considered as they help to determine risk and return in competitive markets.
Three credits.

Finance 704R Financial Reports Analysis
Prerequisites: GBA510, GBA 511, GBA 514
Survey of the analytical tools and techniques used to evaluate the current financial position of the firm. Financial reports are analyzed for growth potential, solvency, earnings quality, investments, and forecasting implications. Topics include: business and financial trends, proper adjustments of financial data, cash flow forecasting, estimation of debt risk premiums, and identification of likely candidates for acquisition and high bankruptcy risk firms. Required of all Finance concentration students.
Three credits.

Finance 705R Securities Analysis
Prerequisites: GBA 510, GBA 511, GBA 514, Finance 704
Introduction to the theory and practice of security analysis, including the valuation of individual securities, valuation of the stock market as a whole, portfolio management and investment strategies. Investment risks will be analyzed and measurements of risk, including duration and convexity, will be examined. An introduction to derivative securities and international investments will be included. Three credits.

Finance 707R Portfolio Management
Prerequisites: GBA 510, GBA 511, GBA 514, Finance 704, Finance 705
This course considers the most effective methods of meeting investment objectives for individual and institutional portfolios (specifically pension funds, endowment funds and mutual funds). Focus will begin with dedicated equity and fixed income portfolios and then progress to asset allocation and management strategies for mixed portfolios. Alternative techniques for managing risk, including derivatives, will be explored. Portfolio management, implementation and performance measurement will be analyzed and appraised in terms of economic shifts, yield curve changes, tax and legal considerations. The course makes heavy use of computer programs for portfolio management and analysis. Actual individual and institutional portfolios, managed by large and small institutions, will be examined. Three credits.

Finance 710R Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions
Prerequisites: GBA 510, GBA 511, GBA 514
Study of business enterprise growth through merger and acquisition. Topics include pre-merger planning and fact finding, legal and accounting considerations, financing aspects, tax and antitrust problems, personnel issues, post-merger integration and valuation techniques. International and domestic mergers and acquisitions are considered. Case studies are employed. Three credits.

Finance 715R International Trade
Prerequisites: GBA 510, GBA 511, GBA 513, GBA 514
Includes a review of international trade, its magnitude, direction, and industrial classification, as well as the institutions (GATT, etc) facilitating it. The course focuses on practical techniques and problems of exporting and importing with special attention to small business. Topics include: sources of marketing information, techniques of payment and collections, currency fluctuation problems and balance of payments analysis, sources and uses of funds to finance foreign trade, and government assistance. Three credits.

Finance 750R Financial Problems Seminar
Prerequisites: GBA 510, GBA 511, GBA 514
Selected foreign and domestic financial and economic developments are analyzed. Emphasis is upon integrating acquired financial knowledge with the problems under study. Three credits.

Advanced Courses, Management Concentration: 12 Credits
The student may choose either Finance or Management as a field of concentration Management Concentration courses (4) will be drawn from the following.

Management 702R Theories of the Organization
Prerequisites: GBA 512, MBA 613
Survey of organizational theories with particular emphasis on goal setting, assessing, achievement and displacement. Topics include: the relationship of authority, role responsibility, organizational structure, design and culture. Students will diagnose organizational functions, analyze deficiencies and determine ways of adapting organizational structure to realize goals. Three credits.

Management 703R Project Analysis and Program Management
Prerequisites: GBA 512, MBA 613
Survey of managerial criteria for effective project planning and management. Topics discussed: establishment of objectives, cost benefit analysis, planning methods, organizational concepts, causes of conflict, conflict resolution and options in allocation of resources. Three credits.

Management 704R Managerial Planning and Control Systems
Prerequisites: GBA 512, MBA 613
Formulation of integrated long-range and strategic plans relating to organizational objectives, expense centers, performance centers and investment centers. Also studied are methods of performance measuring and information handling. Three credits.

Management 705R Management Decision Theory
Prerequisites: GBA 512, MBA 613
Survey of the decision-making processes and methods for examining, defining, analyzing and solving complex problems. Emphasis is on defining objectives, value systems and methods for identifying and assessing alternative courses of action. Three credits.

Management 722R Human Resources Management
Prerequisites: GBA 512, MBA 613
A review of the major areas of personnel administration. Topics include: selection and replacement, compensation, training and development, labor relations and employee services. These activities are viewed from the position of both the large and small firm. Three credits.

Management 724R Organizational Development
Prerequisites: GBA 512, MBA 613
Survey of contemporary training and development problems with emphasis on the relationship between development and the organizations personnel decisions. Techniques of personnel training are examined. Three credits.

Management 725R Work, People, and Productivity
Prerequisites: GBA 512, MBA 613
Analysis of the problems of the occupational environment in small and large enterprises. Emphasis on the practical problem-solving that is of immediate concern to the participants. Topics include: survey of new approaches to motivation, attitudes, job satisfaction, job enrichment, monotony, fatigue, working conditions and conflict resolution, quality circles, and productivity. Three credits.

Management 750R Management Seminar
Prerequisites: GBA 512, MBA 613
The human problems of organizational management considered from a multidisciplinary point of view. Concepts and research from the behavior sciences are applied to the personnel problems of management. Theory and technique will be integrated by using group and individual study projects. Course is designed to enhance interpersonal skills related to superiors, subordinates, staff specialists, and peers. Three credits.

Capstone Courses: 6 Credits

Business Policy I, II MBA 800R, 801R
An examination of the fields of policy-making and administration that builds upon and integrates the work covered in the graduate curriculum. The viewpoint is that of senior general managers who set company-wide objectives and coordinate departmental policies and activities. As an integrating experience, students are expected to bring their overall acquired business knowledge to bear on the intricacies of managerial decision-making. Through text, case analysis and a computer-based simulation, students have an opportunity to test their skill in the use of financial, marketing and management variables in a competitive situation. Selected guest lecturers and assignment of a major written project round out the learning experience by providing each student with a pragmatic discussion forum, as well as research and writing experience on the dynamics of a changing business world. Three credits each semester

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