COURSE DESCRIPTION
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MB641-303 Microeconomics |
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MB643-303 Managerial
Economics |
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MB668-202 Macroeconomics |
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MB669-303 International
Trade Policy Analysis |
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MB682-303 Decision and Risk
Analysis |
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MB662-202 Productivity and
Total Quality Management |
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MB663-303 Business
Accounting |
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MB664-303 Business Finance |
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MB665-303 Strategic
Marketing |
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MB667-303 Public Finance |
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MB671-303 Marketing and
International Trade |
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MB680-303 Sales and
Marketing |
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MB683-202 Futures Market |
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MB699-303 Business
Information Systems |
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MB700-303 Elaboration and
Presentation of Business Research Reports |
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MB661-303 Statistical
Analysis |
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MB674-202 Elements of
Econometrics |
COURSE DESCRIPTION
ECONOMICS
MB641-303 Microeconomics
– Lonnie L. Jones, PhD
This
course focuses on the theory of consumer use and behavior, how individuals make
consumption decisions and market demand.
MB643-303 Managerial Economics – Desmond Ng, PhD
This course provides practical application of
managerial and economic principles to the examination of business problems.
This includes how demand, production and costs and analysis can be used for
managerial decision making; explains how firms decide how and when to horizontally
and vertically integrate; examines diversification decisions and their
performance consequences; examine the nature of the market in which firms
compete and the nature of competitive interactions between firms in those
markets.
MB668-202 Macroeconomics –
Vision
of the different elements of the economy in general with special emphasis in
the greater aggregates that are part of it with the objective to facilitate
students understanding and therefore decision making. Analysis of the macroeconomic markets and
their equilibrium as well as the reasons of the economics growth and the role
of the economic agents’ expectations in the formulation of the principal
economic prices using a temporary focus.
Regarding
public finances, the purpose of the topic is to establish the influence of the
Public Sector upon the firm decision making and know the interaction of these
groups with the Government. Start
knowing functions and organization of the Public Sector of the country, continuing
with the description of the principle directions of the Public Expenses through
the States income and debit budgets, and its purpose. Also analyze the structure of the Governments
incomes (relevance of taxes, establishing the obligations, rates and effects on
the firms rent); fiscal deficit implications and the different form finances
that the Government uses for itself.
Included are other import related topics with the influence of the
Public Sector en the domestic economy, particularly those liked to growing and
development of the economy.
MB669-303 MB669-303
International Trade Policy Analysis –
Parr Rosson, PhD
Learn
the basic concepts of the international trade policy analysis using a partial
equilibrium approach. Analysis of
export/import policies, impacts of exchange rates, and the role of the
macroeconomic policies. Study of global
trade policies, Guatemalan macroeconomic policies, and selected trade policies
will be included. Other subjects include
the trade effects of tariffs and the role of international institutions as well
as the agreements for preferential trade.
Emphasis is placed on technical barriers to trade, anti-dumping, and
compensatory tax policies. Discussion of
the North American Free Trade Agreement, the formation of the Free Trade
Agreement of the
MB682-303 MB682-303
Decision and Risk Analysis – Luis
Ribera, PhD
Directed
towards improving the decision maker’s capabilities to evaluate and execute
business decisions. Roles of finance,
pro-forma budgets, forecasting, and risk management in the decision making
process are important subjects. Emphasis
is on constructing, validating, and using stochastic simulation models to
incorporate risk into business decisions.
Main software used in homeworks and final exam are Excel, and Simetar©
and for other situations for problem solving LINDO and @Risk.
MB662-202 MB662-202
Productivity and Total Quality Management – Alvaro Reynoso, MBA
Theoretical
and practical concepts to manage productivity and quality of the organization
using criteria from the organizational high performance model through the design
and implementation of administrative systems based on data from organizational
performance measurement systems, areas and procedures aligned with strategy and
basic needs of clients, employees, suppliers and stockholders.
Focuses
on all the changes that firms, in a digital economy, are making in their
administration. Changes, that in a
practice, have impacted tremendously the competitive capacity in this new field
of businesses. These paradigms emerging
from the administration change the firms planning, organization, personnel
integration and control. Discussion and
analysis of administrative concepts from high performance firms.
MB663-303 Managerial
Accounting – John Penson, PhD
This
course addresses the fundamental applications of financial and other
performance information in a decision making context. Information from
financial statements is used to better understand the liquidity, solvency,
profitability, economic efficiency and debt payment capability of the firm.
Understanding how these factors can lead to the success or failure of the firm
is stressed. Historical, comparative and pro forma analysis of financial
statements is covered, including the use of business forecasting methods to
project the operating and capital budget in business in business plans. Methods
of allocating overhead to enterprises and products are also covered, including
activity based cost accounting. Methods of evaluating the feasibility of
investments and methods of financing are also reviewed. Team presentations applying
these concepts and methodologies to Guatemalan firms highlight the end of the
course.
MB664-303 MB664-303 Business Finance – John Penson, PhD
This
course focuses on financial management decisions under conditions of risk,
including both sources of business risk as well as financial risk. Advanced
capital budgeting methods are reviewed with case examples. Decisions related to
buying or leasing assets, the maximum bid price for land, and the economic and
cash flow feasibility of investment opportunities are explored. The cost of
capital, the optimal capital structure and the ranking of investment
opportunities are addressed as well. Team presentations applying these concepts
and methodologies to Guatemalan investment opportunities and management decisions
highlight the end of the course.
MB665-303 MB665-303
Strategic Marketing – Charlie Hall, PhD
A
challenging and exciting capstone course related to strategy and managing for
success. Strategic management addresses
the organizational structure, resources & capabilities, and strategic
positioning of the firm to create, capture, and sustain competitive
advantage. A business achieves sustained
competitive advantage only if it has a timely strategic game plan for the
company and implements and executes the plan with proficiency. This content of this course integrates much
of the knowledge gained in previous courses that focused on specific functional
areas (production, marketing, finance, management, accounting). The specific objectives of this course are to
enhance the skills of students in three areas:
(1) understanding how firms gain and sustain competitive advantage; (2) analyzing strategic business situations
and formulating strategy; and (3)
implementing strategy and organizing the firm for success. To accomplish these objectives, this course
introduces and employs various analytical frameworks that help to identify the
sources of competitive advantage from both an industry and firm perspective.
MB671-303 International Trade and Marketing – Parr
Rosson, PhD
This
course develops competencies in the basic practices and principles important in
the global distribution of food products. Emphasis on strategic alliances
and other market entry strategies,
business ethics and corruption, pricing strategies and terms of sale, methods
of payment, trade finance, cultural analysis, and market promotion/advertising.
Discussion of new markets, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),
Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and Free Trade Area of the
Americas (FTAA), Uruguay Round Agreement (URA) of the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade and highlight of current negotiation of the World Trade
Organization, the Doha Development Agenda.
MB680-303 Sales and Marketing – Kerry Litzenberg, PhD
This
course is designed to develop the student’s professional selling techniques for
food, agricultural and other industrial/institutional products and
services. Considerable emphasis will be
spent on developing professional selling techniques with special regard for the
unique aspects of food and agricultural products and the characteristics of the
consumers purchasing these specialized products. Theoretical principles of scientific selling
will be presented with practical applications and practice of the actual
selling activity. Students will be
expected to develop a sales presentation for a food or agricultural product
that will be presented for peer and professional evaluation.
The
role of selling in the agribusiness firm’s overall marketing plan will be
addressed. Objectives of the sales call
and their relationship to overall marketing plan will be developed in the
class. A discussion of: Product
Quality, Transportation and Storage issues relating to the marketing activities
of an agribusiness firm will be included.
MB683-303
Futures Markets – Mark Welch, PhD
Price risk management using commodity futures and options
markets, theories of hedging and formulation of optimal hedging strategies.
Applied hedging strategies developed using futures and options. Students use HedgeSim 4.0 to create simulated
hedging strategies with actual data for commodities. Currency
futures are also considered.
MB695-303 International
Financial Management – Julian Gaspar, PhD
This
course will cover issues related to both international financial markets and
the financial operations of a firm within the international environment. The first part of the course will examine
issues related to international markets, including international commercial
policy, international investment, foreign exchange markets, the euromarkets,
and currency derivative markets. The
second part of the course will consider financial issues associated with the
operation of a firm in the international environment. Specifically, this part of the course will
focus on the identification, measurement, and management of the impact of
exchange rates on the firm; the implications of political risk on project
evaluation and financial structure, firms' cost of capital for international
projects; financing decisions in a global market; and methods for evaluating
the performance of foreign operations.
While the course focuses on fundamental issues and uses basic financial
theory it also relies on empirical evidence and discussion of firms' activities. The course is primarily lecture style with
discussions, several case studies, a few quantitative problem sets, and two
exams.
MB699-303 Operations Research in Management – Eduardo
Alvarez Massis, MSc
The present course is an introduction to the
knowledge of Operations and administrative management, research of operations
and the necessary technology for their integration and comprehension of
information systems for businesses. The
study involves related topics with administrative operational concepts that
include definition, history, organization, client satisfaction, their planning
and control. This is complemented with models used in the research operations
that include topics related with linear programming, transport and problem
assignment, network optimization, administration of projects with PERT/CPM,
decision making under uncertainty for investments, Queuing theory, and computer
simulations. The outcome of total
integration of the topic is made possible and complemented with the necessary
structures and technologies. Emphasis is
given in applied cases and the use of specialized programs for solving
problems.
MB700-303 Elaboration and Presentation of Business
Research Reports – Carlos Paredes, MAEB
Course which looks for the elaboration of a
proposal to be developed and finally presented.
Starting from an idea that afterwards is written based on the business
proposal developed, research and report evaluations concluding with the
preparation and evaluation in the formal presentation. This course is the development of a
graduation report based on that the effective communication is an essential
component in any organization or industry.
Additionally, integrate the acquired knowledge of the courses of the
Masters program. It is clear that in the
actual world, managers need to be capable of communicating internal and
externally, without limitations. They
must be capable of managing related aspects with businesses that include
economical and financial statements, planning and implementation of new firms,
external forces that affect the industrial management, revenues, changes in the
firm according to its experience, etc.
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
MB661-303 Statistical Analysis – Eduardo Alvarez Massis,
MSc
Intermediate
statistics course applied to business administration. The objective of this course is to develop
the student’s ability to correctly use descriptive statistics and the
inferential in data analysis, hypothesis elaboration and conclusion formulation. Subjects include: descriptive statistics,
probability theory, sample theory, proof of hypothesis, statistics inference,
partial and multiple correlation, introduction to regression and factor
analysis. Computer is used for the
development of learning activities.
MB674-303 MB674-303
Elements of Applied Econometrics – David Bessler, PhD
The
goal of this graduate-level course is to develop competent practical analysts
and interpreters of economic and business data.
Modern econometric methods are used to model causal relationships among
observational data. In addition to usual topics in applied regression analysis
recent advances in artificial intelligence and their application to real world
data are covered. Although students will not be expected to understand all the
theoretical foundations of statistical tools they should be able to recognize
and correct for problems inherent in economic and business data they
examine. They should also be able to use
relevant quantitative tools for problems they will face in subsequent
employment.
