Curriculum
Note: Refer to designated chapters for curriculum details specific to the Masters of Science in Information Systems, Finance, Business Analytics, and Executive MBA Programs.
The Santa Clara MBA program is designed to develop leaders with a broad business, economic, and social perspective who are capable of managing change in dynamic environments. Students develop a breadth of understanding through coursework in accounting, economics, finance, management, marketing, and operations management and information systems; and depth by concentrating electives in particular functional cross-disciplinary areas.
Program Design
The design of the curriculum was guided by several overarching goals:
Provide students with the skills and bodies of knowledge that support successful, fulfilling careers in business.
Alignment with LSB's primary point of distinction: Engagement with Silicon Valley.
Strong content related to Entrepreneurship and Innovation (in both new and established firms) and blending theory and practice to help students put ideas into action.
Commitment to the Jesuit ideals of ethics, integrity and corporate and individual social responsibility.
Overview of Curriculum
The Santa Clara MBA curriculum consists of 70 units across 15 core courses (44 units), and 26 additional units of free electives. While entering students have a recommended schedule for their first year, there is considerable flexibility in the pace and order in which courses are taken (with the caveat that all prerequisites must be satisfied before enrolling in a particular course). Please note that the Evening MBA and Online MBA programs follow the same curriculum and requirements.
Schedules
During the fall, winter, spring, and summer quarters, classes generally meet twice per week for ten weeks for 95 minutes per session. 2-unit courses generally meet twice per week for five week covering the first or second half of a quarter. In all quarters, final exam periods are two hours.
Program Outline and Core Course Descriptions
Core (44 Units)
ACTG 3000. Financial Accounting
Introduces the roles, concepts, principles, legal requirements, and impacts of external financial reporting. Covers basic financial statements and the analysis and recording of transactions, with a focus towards interpretation of reported results. Studies the more common and significant transactions impacting firms. Prerequisite: None. (4 units)
ECON 3000. Managerial Economics
This course will introduce economic foundation for managerial decisions. The course analyzes the economic behavior of individuals and firms and explores how their interactions in markets affect managerial decisions. Basic concept of market, price elasticity, theory of consumer and theory of firm will be studied to incorporate economic theories in managerial decision making. How key managerial decisions are made in different industrial structures will be discussed. Prerequisite: OMIS 3202. (4 units)
FNCE 3000. Financial Management
This course provides an introduction to finance. It addresses the theory and practice of financial management, the generation and allocation of financial resources. The main objective is to provide a foundation in the basic concepts of finance, including the time value of money, cash and working capital management, the role of financial markets, portfolio theory, asset pricing, and the risk-return tradeoff, and to expand awareness of institutions and practices in business and finance. Prerequisite: ACTG 3000. (4 units)
IDIS 3700. Effective Business Communications
Intensive practice in forms of communication specifically for business settings, geared to the student's level of prior preparation. The focus will be primarily on oral communication and writing to support the oral communication. Emphasis on communicating complex issues and quantitative data to inform, advocate or persuade. Prerequisite: None. (2 units)
MGMT 3000. Leading People and Organizations
Provides students with theories, frameworks, and empirical research on the topic of leadership and team dynamics to help students enhance their own leadership capabilities. Topics include empirically-grounded models of leadership, importance of self-awareness in leadership, effective group & team dynamics, group decision-making, conflict resolution, and design thinking. Prerequisite: None. (4 units)
MGMT 3200. Ethics for Managers
This course is an introduction to business ethics that focuses specifically on the kinds of ethical issues that managers typically encounter. Course topics include the psychological factors that influence moral decision-making, normative approaches for dealing with ethical issues in management, and application of these concepts to cases describing real life ethical dilemmas managers have faced in a variety of organizational and environmental settings. Prerequisite: None. (2 units)
MGMT 3050. Strategic Analysis
This course focuses on how managers position their businesses to create and sustain an advantage relative to rivals in the face of uncertainty, rapid change, and competition. Strategy involves understanding the utility of different choices and tradeoffs -- choosing what actions to avoid is as important as choosing what to do. As a result, the course covers a variety of tools, frameworks, theories and concepts for analyzing a firm's strategic position and the environment in which it is operating. By uncovering the factors that make some strategic positions strong and viable, students develop the ability to evaluate the effects of changes in resources and capabilities, industry forces, macro environmental forces, and technology on industry structure and firm behavior and, in turn, on a firm's opportunities for establishing and sustaining a superior position relative to rivals. Prerequisite: ALL core courses. (4 units)
MKTG 3000. Marketing Is Everything
Focuses on decisions faced by managers concerning market segmentation, targeting, and positioning. Covers concepts such as new product development, pricing strategies, distribution channels, customer relationships, and performance metrics within a strategic planning framework. Students apply these key concepts and frameworks to cases and to formulating a comprehensive marketing plan centered on sustainable profitability and capabilities. Cases cover various environments and industries, especially those of concern to Silicon Valley firms. Prerequisite: None. (4 units)
MKTG 3200. Doing Business in Silicon Valley
Introduces the Silicon Valley business ecosystem with a focus on how innovative new companies are launched, financed, and built into the next generation of market leaders. Includes the foundation for effective business communication. Prerequisite: None. (2 units)
OMIS 3000. Business Analytics
Business Analytics is the scientific analysis of data to make better business decisions. Students in this course will learn to use analytics platforms across a wide variety of applications such as marketing, finance, and supply chain management. They will become familiar with current technological environments for statistical/machine learning and visualization. Prerequisite: OMIS 3200 & OMIS 3202. (4 units)
OMIS 3200. Quantitative Methods
Introduces probability and statistical analysis, emphasizing applications to managerial decision problems. Discusses descriptive statistics, probability theory, sampling distributions, statistical estimation, hypothesis testing, and simple and multiple regressions. Additional topics may include exploratory data analysis, analysis of variance, and contingency tables. Prerequisite: None. (2 units)
OMIS 3202. Analytical Decision Making
This course covers how to rigorously formulate decision problems, understand mathematical optimization, deal with the uncertainties inherent in real business problems, while introducing computer-modeling tools like important Excel add-ons, R, Mathematica, CrystalBall, and @Risk. Prerequisite: OMIS 3200. (2 units)
OMIS 3250. Analysis, Design, and Management of Enterprise Platforms
Introduces the information technology infrastructures that enable within and across firm operations, and the competitive advantages that information technology can offer various firms. Focuses on how firms effectively utilize information technology resources in their business models and operations. Prerequisite: OMIS 3200. (2 units)
OMIS 3252. Operations Management
This course introduces how firms get the right products and services to the right people, in the right place, at the right time and cost. In addition to firms that provide physical goods, this course covers information-enabled, supply- demand matching networks like Uber and AirBnB that vastly reduce cost and increase convenience in operationally intensive industries. Prerequisite: OMIS 3200 & OMIS 3202. (2 units)
Required "Challenges in" Selective
Students are required to take at least one of the courses on the "Challenges in" elective list during their final quarter of the program. If pre-requisites and scheduling allows, students are able to take additional "Challenges in" electives as part of their free electives. These classes are case-style. These courses are numbered "3052" in various disciplines. Prerequisite: Taken in the last quarter of the program. (2 units)
Free Elective Courses (26 Units)
Elective courses expand a student's knowledge in areas of particular interest or importance to the student's career and educational goals. Electives may be taken any time during the program assuming the prerequisite coursework is complete. Electives can also be used to earn a concentration in a particular area. Any course offered in conjunction with the MBA program, with the exception of those otherwise required, is considered an elective. For descriptions of elective courses, please consult Chapter 13. New courses are continually being developed and may not be listed.
Independent Study
A student may elect to register for independent study to fulfill an elective requirement (2 or 4 units). Independent study courses are numbered 3698 (e.g., OMIS 3698, MGMT 3698, etc.). A student may take only one independent study course during their program. To obtain permission to register for independent study, students should prepare a complete proposal at least one quarter in advance of the quarter in which they wish to undertake the study. The proposal must be reviewed and signed by a tenured faculty member who thereby agrees to supervise and evaluate the study. The proposal is then reviewed by the department chair who must approve the proposal. The proposal must then be submitted to the Graduate Business Programs Office for final review. A signed copy of the proposal must be on file with the Graduate Business Programs Office before registration. An independent study is graded in the same manner as all other courses.
Concentrations
Santa Clara University's MBA program has a general management perspective but also provides an option for students to complete a concentration. When a student petitions for a concentration prior to graduation the concentration is reflected on her/his official transcript pending completion of all required courses before the degree is awarded. Although the awarded concentration will appear on the student's official degree transcript, it does not appear on the student's diploma. Concentrations require at least 12 elective units in a specific area, and coursework completed outside of Santa Clara University does not satisfy concentration requirements. See below for more information.
Data Science and Business Analytics Concentration
Faculty Coordinators: Sanjiv Das (Finance and Business Analytics) and Xiaojing Dong (Marketing and Business Analytics)
Learning Objectives
Develop critical thinking skills for strategic evaluation and implementation of current data science (and big data) paradigms, including problem definition. Understand and acquire technical expertise in various quantitative fields such as statistics, econometrics, calculus, optimization, and software paradigms (e.g., R, Python, Databases/SQL, Tableau, etc.), that underlie various analyses undertaken by corporations Learn how to build models (theoretical, statistical and econometric) to characterize business situations, develop strategies, and use these models to analyze business problems. Students will learn to collect, verify and use data to achieve enhanced business decisions, and present value-added strategies to senior management.
Requirements
12 units from a combination of the courses below:
ECON 3422/MKTG 3588 - The Analytics of Optimal Pricing and New Product Decisions (3 units/4 units)
FNCE 2402 - Math for FInance and Analytics (4 units)
FNCE 2404 - Introduction to Time Series (2 units)
FNCE 2408 - Analytics for Finance (Panel Data) (2 units)
FNCE 3483 - Applied Time Series Analysis (2 units)
FNCE 3489 - Mathematical Finance (4 units)
FNCE 3490/OMIS 3490 - Data Science and Machine Learning (3 units)
IDIS 3802 - Python Programming for Business Analytics (4 units)
MKTG 3597 - Marketing Analytics (4 units)
MKTG 3802 - Mobile Marketing (4 units)
MSIS 2534/2634 - Natural Language Processing (2 units)
MSIS 2636 - Deep Learning (4 units)*
MSIS 2637 - Reinforcement Learning (2 units)*
MSIS 2627 - Big Data Modeling and Analysis
OMIS 3366/MSIS 2403 - Database Management Systems (4 units)
OMIS 3374 - Artificial Intelligence (4 units)
OMIS 3385 - Supply Chain Analytics (2 units)
OMIS 3386 - Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing (3 units)
OMIS 3392 - Econometrics for Business Analytics (4 units)
\MSIS 2636 and MSIS 2637 require completion of prerequisite OMIS 3490 - Machine Learning (4 units) prior to enrollment.*
Marketing Concentration
Faculty Coordinator: Desmond Lo
Learning Objectives
Describe and apply current and evolving marketing frameworks to both high tech and non-high tech environments. Integrate marketing processes with other traditional business elements to develop creative strategies and plans to further institutional objectives. Utilize marketing concepts and approaches to optimize customer satisfaction and contribute to societal well-being
Requirements
12 units of any graduate level MKTG elective courses.
Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation Concentration
Faculty Coordinators: Jennifer Woolley (Management)
Learning Objectives
Develop an analytical framework for evaluating new business opportunities. Review special operating problems of new enterprises including the problems of survival in the early years, maintaining growth in an orderly fashion, and maintaining momentum as the firm approaches maturity. This involves developing and integrating an understanding of the accounting, finance, marketing, operations and management issues that start-ups face. Identify the unique entrepreneurial challenges faced by startups in high-technology sectors of the economy--these include infotech, biotech and clean tech. This involves reviewing the salient characteristics of these sectors, identifying the key strategic issues associated with them, and providing tools/frameworks to address these challenges. Provide an opportunity for students to evaluate their own abilities and goals in regard to small business opportunities. A minimum of 12 units is required for this concentration
Requirements
MGMT 3504 - Innovation in Silicon Valley (4 units)
MGMT 3802 - Entrepreneurial Opportunities and Innovation (4 units)
The remaining 8 units may come from any of the below courses:
FNCE 3460 - Mergers, Acquisitions & Corporate Restructuring (4 units)
FNCE 3480 - Emerging Company Finance (2 units)
MGMT 3052 - Challenges in Leading and Managing Strategic Change (2 units)
MGMT 3512 - Leadership of Dynamic Organizations (4 units)
MGMT 3538 - Leading Teams and Projects (4 units)
MGMT 3544 - Strategic Business Negotiations (4 units)
MGMT 3548 - Social Benefit Entrepreneurship (4 units)
MKTG 3569 - Small Business Entrepreneurship (4 units)
MGMT 3718 - Venture Capital Essentials (2 units)
MKTG 3572 - New Product Innovation (4 units)
MKTG 3592 - Internet Marketing and eCommerce (4 units)
MKTG 3728 - Social Media Marketing (2 units)
MKTG 3801- Social Media Marketing (4 units)
OMIS 3391 - Accelerating Innovation: Procure, Partner or Invest (4 units)
Finance Concentration
Faculty Coordinator: Meir Statman (Finance)
Learning Objectives
Know the valuation of financial securities such as stocks, bonds, options and futures, and their financial markets Apply finance in corporate settings, such as the choices of investment projects and their management. Apply finance in investment settings, such as the construction of investment portfolios. Know the links between finance and other business functions such as marketing and operations.
Requirements
12 units of any FNCE graduate level electives
Food Entrepreneurship
Faculty Coordinator: Gregory Baker (Management)
Learning Objectives
Explain the unique characteristics of the food and agricultural industries
Demonstrate an understanding of the basic food industry segments and value chains
Identify how socio-economic trends and technological progress provide emerging food industry opportunities
Survey the institutions, policies, laws, and regulations that are relevant to the operation of food and agribusiness firms
Explain food branding strategies and the foundational principles of new product development as applied to food products
Demonstrate an understanding of the techniques and practices used by successful food industry innovators and entrepreneurs to discover and develop new opportunities
Apply innovation strategies to the analysis of firms and segments in the food industry
Requirements
Three, four-unit courses are required to complete the curriculum. Currently, only the three numbered courses, below, are offered in the MBA program, and, ideally, all students completing the concentration in Food Entrepreneurship will complete all three to ensure that they have a broad perspective of the industry. Almost all students are in the program for at least two years and most students take longer. Each of the three courses has been offered at least once every two years, so students will have the opportunity to take all three courses during their time in the MBA program. All courses will be offered at least every other year, except for the independent study course, which would be available every quarter.
MGMT 3540 - Food Industry Management (4 units)
MGMT 3541 - Strategy Development in Food & Beverage Industries (4 units)
MGMT 3543 - Global Food, Startup Culture and Climate Change: A Look Forward (4 units)
MGMT 3XXX - Food Entrepreneurship Independent Study
Leading Innovative Organizations Concentration
Faculty Coordinator: Kelly Patterson (Management)
Learning Objectives
Demonstrate how to create, organize and sustain systems and processes necessary for success in rapidly changing and turbulent environments
Give examples of how one can lead in complex systems with grace and competence, and how one can leverage the strengths of other people, partners, and organizations
Describe the impact of systems on people and people on systems
Delineate interpersonal competencies and awareness of the social and moral dimensions of decisions
Requirements: Minimum of 12 units
- MGMT 3512 - Leadership of Dynamic Organizations (4 units)
8 additional units from the following courses (Students wishing to emphasize in Innovation should include at least some of the courses marked)**
IDIS 3612 - Management of the High-Technology Firm Seminar (3 units)
MGMT 3526 - Strategic HR Management (2 units)
MGMT 3532 - Managerial Communications (3 units)
MGMT 3538 - Managing Teams and Projects (4 units)
MGMT 3540 - Food Industry Management (4 units)
MGMT 3544 - Strategic Business Negotiations (4 units)
MGMT 3546 - Spirituality of Organizational Leadership (4 units)
MGMT 3548 - Social Benefit Entrepreneurship (4 units)
MGMT 3551 - Coaching for Leadership Development (2 units)
MGMT 3801 - Management Consulting (4 units)
MGMT 3802 - Entrepreneurial Opportunities and Innovation (4 units)
MKTG 3566 - Small Business Entrepreneurship (3 units)**
MKTG 3572 - New Product Innovation (4 units)**
OMIS 3368 - Software Project Management (3 units)
OMIS 3390 - New Product Development (4 units)
OMIS 3802 - The Sustainability-Focused Business (3 units)
OMIS 3391- Operationalizing Innovation (4 units)
International Perspective
The Santa Clara MBA program recognizes the increasing importance of obtaining an international perspective on business and society. Students are exposed to multinational business issues and multicultural perspectives in many of the required courses. MBA students have the option to participate in study abroad opportunities during the MBA program. Recent study abroad locations have included Brazil, China, France, England, Vietnam, Germany, New Zealand, Turkey, and India. Leavey School of Business faculty lead all trips. The Global Business Perspectives courses are considered elective courses. Students must be in good academic standing to be eligible for enrollment. A maximum of two global perspective courses may be taken toward a student's elective requirements.
MBA Anywhere Program
The SCU Anywhere Program allows students to take electives on-campus or online from another Master's program. This applies to the Evening MBA, Online MBA, Online MS in Marketing and Online MS in Finance and Analytics Programs. The SCU Anywhere Program will offer greater flexibility and course availability for all Online and Evening MBA students. Students may take up to 12-units of elective credit in another program. Tuition fees will be based on the student's original program.
Evening MBA students must complete an online student success seminar before they begin their first online course. Students will have access to the online student success seminar approximately 4 - 6 weeks before the course begins. Online courses are largely asynchronous, structured with weekly modules, and students login at their convenience to complete their coursework. For all courses, Module 0 provides an overview of each course (including the syllabus) and opens the Friday before the first day of instruction. Students may access the full course beginning on the first day of class. Online courses will take place at http://onlinelearning.scu.edu/. If you encounter technical difficulties, call 833-822-2276 or email mba@scu.edu.
Online students must use a separate Camino tile for on-campus courses. Do not access it via https://onlinelearning.scu.edu. Instead, access it through the Camino tile via SCU's Single Sign-On Portal.
STEM MBA Program
The new designation certifies the Data Science and Business Analytics curriculum as a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and reflects a curricular focus on business skills with an emphasis on STEM applications. International students in the DSBA program who are on an F-1 visa will now be able to work in the U.S. for up to three years following graduation under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program. Read the Press Release here.
Faculty Coordinators: Sanjiv Das (Finance and Business Analytics) and Xiaojing Dong (Marketing and Business Analytics)
Learning Objectives
Develop critical thinking skills for strategic evaluation and implementation of current data science (and big data) paradigms, including problem definition. Understand and acquire technical expertise in various quantitative fields such as statistics, econometrics, calculus, optimization, and software paradigms (e.g., R, Python, Databases/SQL, Tableau, etc.), that underlie various analyses undertaken by corporations Learn how to build models (theoretical, statistical and econometric) to characterize business situations, develop strategies, and use these models to analyze business problems. Students will learn to collect, verify and use data to achieve enhanced business decisions, and present value-added strategies to senior management.
Requirements
12 units from a combination of the courses below:
ECON 3422/MKTG 3588 - The Analytics of Optimal Pricing and New Product Decisions (3 units/4 units)
FNCE 2402 - Math for FInance and Analytics (4 units)
FNCE 2404 - Introduction to Time Series (2 units)
FNCE 2408 - Analytics for Finance (Panel Data) (2 units)
FNCE 3483 - Applied Time Series Analysis (2 units)
FNCE 3489 - Mathematical Finance (4 units)
FNCE 3490/OMIS 3490 - Data Science and Machine Learning (3 units)
IDIS 3802 - Python Programming for Business Analytics (4 units)
MKTG 3597 - Marketing Analytics (4 units)
MKTG 3802 - Mobile Marketing (4 units)
MSIS 2534/2634 - Natural Language Processing (2 units)
MSIS 2636 - Deep Learning (4 units)*
MSIS 2637 - Reinforcement Learning (2 units)*
MSIS 2627-Big Data Modeling and Analysis
OMIS 3366-Database Management Systems (4 units)
OMIS 3374 - Artificial Intelligence (4 units)
OMIS 3385 - Supply Chain Analytics (2 units)
OMIS 3386 - Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing (3 units)
OMIS 3392 - Econometrics for Business Analytics (4 units)
\MSIS 2636 and MSIS 2637 require completion of prerequisite OMIS 3490 - Machine Learning (4 units) prior to enrollment.*
Graduate Transfer Credit
Graduate transfer credit may be granted if specific requirements are met. A maximum of two courses (6 quarter units) of graduate credit from another AACSB-accredited master's program may be transferred for either required or elective courses if the course was:
Open to graduate students only
Completed by the student with the equivalent of a B or better grade
Part of an incomplete master's degree program when taken no more than six years prior to application to the SCU master's program AND is Considered by the Graduate Business Policy Committee to be functionally equivalent to a course or combination of courses offered by Santa Clara's master's program.
Graduate transfer credit is granted on a course-by-course basis. No credit will be given for coursework done elsewhere while in a SCU master's program without prior approval. This restriction does not apply to students participating in the Jesuit Transfer Agreement.
Prerequisites
Before registering for electives, students are responsible for ensuring that they have completed all the prerequisites. Prerequisites for each course are listed in the course descriptions in this bulletin. Course prerequisites are reviewed annually by the academic departments.
Although not explicitly stated in the description of individual courses, when a course is named as a prerequisite, then its prerequisites also are included by reference, and all prerequisites must be satisfied before a student can enroll.
Ecampus, the Web-based registration system, does not allow enrollment in any class or onto any waitlist if the prerequisites for that course have not been completed successfully. The system recognizes current enrollment in prerequisite classes at the time of registration. Course instructors cannot waive prerequisites.
Note: Graduation will not be approved until all prerequisites, required courses, and other requirements of the program, have been fulfilled.
Graduation Petition Process
In order to graduate, all MBA students must complete and submit an online Petition to Graduate. The information provided in the petition will be used to order and mail the diploma and list all graduates' names in the SCU commencement book. If this data changes after the petition has been submitted, students must re-submit an amended petition. Students failing to do so could be omitted from the commencement book and ceremony.
To be eligible to graduate, Graduate Business students must complete:
All required coursework with passing grades specific to the year in which they began the program
The required number of units specific to the year in which they began the program
The program with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher
AND, not have any I or N grades on their transcripts
Deadlines to submit a Petition to Graduate are as follows:
June graduation February 1
September graduation May 1
December graduation August 1
March graduation November 1