University of Illinois MBA

Fall Semester 1996

BUSINESS 401 – Foundations of Business

Understanding the business formation process and how to prepare a business plan. Specific learning objectives include: how to plan and run a business from a strategic perspective; planning and measurement of firm resources; the economic theory of the firm; decision making under uncertainty; understanding customer choice; oral presentation; and computer skills.

BUSINESS 402 – Designing and Managing Business Processes

Helps students understand how to design and manage processes to achieve a firm's objectives. Specific learning objectives include: how managers internally allocate tasks; authority and resources to achieve a firm's objectives; how to design and manage the process of effectively producing products and services; how to measure costs and performance of business processes; how to gather, analyze, and communicate data; and how to manage capital resources within a firm. Students will also develop written communication skills.

Spring Semester 1997

BUSINESS 403 – Managing Stakeholder Relationships in a Changing Environment

Helps students understand how to identify and interact with the firm's stakeholders in a changing environment. Specific topics include: human resource management, capital markets, the macroeconomy and its legal environment. Students will learn how to use communication skills to manage relationships.

BUSINESS 404 – Managing Change

Course considers organizational change and strategic reorientation in the context of managerial challenges presented by issues such as technological development, environmental protection, strategic reorientation, competing for the future, cooperating for strategic implementation, increasingly diverse workforces, and globalization. The emphasis will be on developing personal capabilities to act as a successful agent of change.

BUSINESS 405 – Topics in Management

Course presents topics important to the study of business management. Examples of topics include: marketing management; international business; strategic thinking, incentives, and information; operations management; financial reporting, financial institutions; decision and risk analysis; information systems.

Fall Semester 1997

ACE 328 – Commodity Futures and Options Markets

Development of futures trading; operation and governance of commodity exchanges; economic functions of futures trading; operational procedures and problems in using futures markets; public regulation of futures trading; evaluation of market performance.

FINANCE 444 – International Financial Management

Studies international financial markets to include Euro markets and foreign exchange markets; studies the financing and investment decisions of multinational organizations to include working capital, capital budgeting, cost of capital, and capital structure decisions in an international environment.

FINANCE 456 – Investments

Introduction to investment analysis, including the theory and implementation of portfolio theory; empirical evidence on the performance of financial assets; evaluation of portfolio investment strategies; and the extension of diversification to international markets.

FINANCE 472 – Financial Engineering

Course will present and analyze modern tools for identification, measurement, and management of financial risk faced by corporations and institutional investors; especially as related to the application of forwards, futures, swaps, and other derivative instruments. Focus will be on using various financial instruments to control an entity's exposure to financial risks. Class time will be approximately evenly split between theoretical models and practical applications.

Spring Semester 1998

FINANCE 457 – Financial Derivatives

Introduction to options, futures, swaps and other derivative securities; examination of institutional aspects of the markets; theories of pricing; discussion of simple as well as complicated trading strategies (arbitrage, hedging, and spread); applications for asset and risk management.

FINANCE 458 – Management of Fixed Income Portfolios

Conceptual foundations and implementation of strategies for the selection, evaluation, and revision of portfolios of fixed-income financial assets (bonds); examination of related research.

MBA 420 – Corporate Strategy and Global Issues in Management

Focuses on key issues in formulating and implementing corporate strategies with an emphasis on the international operations of firms. Issues are approached from the orientation of the general manager, whose job is to diagnose what is critical in complex business situations and find realistic solutions to strategic and organizational problems. Designed to integrate various functional areas and provide a "total business" perspective on issues pertaining to corporate and international strategy. Builds on learning experiences in previous modules, and acts as an integrative capstone module.

MBA 431 – Special Projects

Individual projects selected by the student in consultation with a faculty member and approved by the executive officer of the program.

Explanatory Notes

Business 401, 402, and 403 were integrated courses, each with multiple professors. The courses covered Accounting, Finance, Economics, Strategy, Marketing, Decision Making, and Organizational Behavior.

Business 405 offered multiple sections, each with a different topic. The sections I took were 1) Decision and Risk Analysis; 2) Negotiation; 3) Strategic Thinking, Incentives and Information; 4) Financial Reporting; and 5) Financial Institutions.

MBA 431 was a project I was involved in during my final semester at Illinois. I was on a team that prepared numerous business simulations for the Lockheed VentureStar program.

The above course descriptions were taken from the course catalog at the time of my graduation.

Business 401, 402, 403, 404 and 405 were renamed MBA 401, 402, 403, 404, and 405 in the Fall of 1997.