The course focuses primarily on social science theory and the application of social science to business. Ethics, individual psychology, group psychology, and sociology s study of culture are presented and applied to business problems involving leadership, motivation, decision making, business communication, conflict management, and organizational change. Applications of behavioral theory in the study of management, marketing, accounting, and finance are emphasized. These tools, derived from the study of economics and statistics, are necessary to an understanding of how managers have improved their ability to manage measure a firm s performance and better understand business problems which challenge the firm. Emphasis is placed on the use of problem solving techniques and on the tools and organizing frameworks used to generate data necessary for these techniques.
Students gain an understanding of the basics of marketing and the strategic marketing cycle.
The course prepares students to determine optimum responses to customer needs, as well as to identify appropriate consumer markets. Students examine the effects of technological changes, including the advent of the Internet, on business processes, and the marketing function. This course also introduces students to emerging models of electronic commerce and related topics such as cyber marketing, Internet based market research, data mining, and data based marketing. Strategy formulation and implementation are addressed for both new and developed organizations. Emphasis is placed on the application of theory and on case analysis.