Electives / Specializations

At the core of any financial officer's career is creating value for the firm. This involves several activities, including design and implementation of financial policies and regulations; execution of financial plans; management of financial resources; and finally, communication and interaction with investors and the financial community overall.

In the Finance specialization, you will gain a broad understanding of the principles of finance; the use of quantitative techniques; and the application of these techniques to financial decision making. You will have ample opportunities to meet with senior executives who work in the financial services industry.

Sample Course Offerings

The Leadership and Organizational behavior specialization is for those students who want to develop expertise in leadership, learning to manage oneself, manage others, manage teams and relationships with others, and lead organizational change. These courses provide a range of individual and group study, so that you have both a theoretical understanding of leadership and hands-on experience as a leader.

Sample Course Offerings

Electives

• Personal Leadership Effectiveness
• Leadership Values and Decision Making
• Advanced Topics in Leadership Effectiveness: Implementation
• Foundations of Transformative Leadership
• Building Professional Services
• Managerial Negotiations
• Advanced Managerial Negotiations
• Talent Management
• Understanding Teams and Leadership
• International Human Resource Management
• Resolving Social Conflict (3 credit hours)
• Business Ethics
• Washington Campus

Washington Campus

Strategic Leadership: Business and the Public Policy Process

Fisher College of Business is a member of The Washington Campus, a consortium of business schools that host seminars designed to equip students with the understanding necessary to anticipate, influence, and respond intelligently to government initiatives.

This seminar is an intensive, one-week course repeated in seven different sessions in Washington, D.C., providing participants with first-hand exposure to the political process and its impact on management.

Companies invest heavily in developing innovative products and services. For strategic decision makers in the private and public sectors, marketing describes a fundamental approach to general management decision making, as well as a necessary set of business functions. Marketing provides important input to top management's choices of markets served, competitors, and portfolios of operating technologies.

Students in the Marketing specialization choose courses to prepare themselves for careers ranging from market research, product management, advertising, public relations, sales and account management, to retailing, e-business, distribution management, strategic marketing planning, and entrepreneurial marketing.

Sample Course Offerings

By combining operations and logistics, students learn how the total flow of goods, services and information within and between firms can be managed effectively and efficiently. Our faculty in this area teach students how to develop processes that facilitate efficient and cost-effective flow through a variety of supply chains.

This specialization teaches students general management and technical skills in areas such as quality, operations planning and control systems, and operations strategy; while also addressing current issues and topics in the management of the flow of a product through the supply chain. In addition to the foundational curriculum in logistics and operations, Fisher offers innovative coursework in lean management, six-sigma principles, and supply chain management.

Sample Course Offerings

The Strategy specialization curriculum develops the student's ability to think constructively about the pursuit of sustainable competitive advantage through the systematic identification, evaluation, and creation of attractive business and corporate opportunities. The strategy field emphasizes that it is the essential responsibility of management to discover and implement sources of sustainable performance.

Four broad issues are central to the Strategy curriculum

• How can a firm develop and sustain competitive advantage in a given market by exploiting specific market positions and / or its unique history and resources.
• What are the optimal boundaries of the firm, and what are the advantages and disadvantages associated with the integration of a chain of activities.
• How can firms create and capture value in competitive environments that change rapidly. How should managers assemble and organize resources to optimize their innovative output.
• How do business strategies interact when a firm competes in several markets. How can a firm create competitive advantage through the configuration and coordination of activities across multiple markets.

Sample Course Offerings

Electives

• Innovation Practice
• Competitive Analysis (Applied Strategic Management and Value Creation)
• Advanced Competitive Analysis (Dynamics, Uncertainty and Value Capture)
• Vertical Integration and Diversification
• Corporate Diversification
• Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Development
• INTOPIA Simulation: International Competitive Strategy Simulation
• Technology and Innovation Strategy
• Innovation Projects