Curriculum

The NYU-Poly MBA curriculum comprises 54 credits from the following:

Foundational MBA Core for Modern Management (24 Credits)

Foundational core courses are essential for all who aspire to be effective in and to lead modern enterprises. Courses include:

• Marketing
  Marketing concepts, processes and institutions: positioning, segmentation and product life cycles. Integration of marketing with new product planning, design and development. Strategies for technology based products, services and processes. Market research, consumer behavior, advertising, promotion and sales. The special character of governmental and international markets.
• Accounting and Corporate Finance
  Elements of accounting and finance of importance to managers. Analysis of principles and practices of the finance function. Financing methods for internal and external ventures and innovations; capital budgeting; R&D portfolio analysis. Contrast of strategic perspectives emphasizing innovation and development with those emphasizing short-term return and investment.
• Strategy for the Modern Enterprise
  This course provides an overview of strategic decision making for the modern enterprise. The course introduces general management perspectives of strategy, competitive strategy, emerging analytical characteristics of strategy, and current innovation and global dimensions of strategy. For a business environment that is increasingly fast paced, complex, knowledge-intensive, global and undergoing continuous change, the course concludes with an integrative approach for strategic decision making.
• Operations Management
• Organizational Behavior
  Introduction to theory, research and practice to better understand human behavior in organizations. Topics include motivation and job satisfaction; decision-making; group dynamics; work teams; leadership; communication; power, politics and conflict; organization culture, structure and design; impact of technology; management of work stress; organizational change and development; and career management. Analysis of organizational behavior problems by self-assessments, case studies and simulations. Online version available.
• Economics
  The fundamentals of microeconomics needed by managers. Demand theory (theory of the consumer) including models of demand, demand elasticities and demand forecasting. Supply theory (theory of the firm) including diminishing returns, profit maximizing production levels, labor/capital tradeoffs and long-run vs. short-run issues. Market structures and how they affect optimal production and profit levels. Positive and negative externalities and government intervention including regulation, tariffs and subsidies. Selected applied topics. All topics are presented with examples and with emphasis on managerial application.
• Management Science
• Ethical Dimensions of Modern Management.
  All managers frequently face ethical challenges. Success often depends on how well managers handle decisions that challenge their own set of values. Ethical dimensions of modern management also increase as competition becomes increasingly global and technology-intensive. This course identifies major ethical issues facing managers todayparticularly with regard to technology, innovation and global decision making. The course also provides an opportunity for students to develop effective approaches for dealing with major ethical challenges. Finally, the course gives students a chance to reflect on the efficacy and strength of their own personal set of values.

Distinctive Techno-Innovation Management Core (18 Credits)

These courses, with their explicit attention to key aspects of innovation and technology management, constitute a unique part of the NYU-Poly MBA. They give the program its special character. Courses include:

• Project Management
  Management of technology-based projects ranging from individual research and development to large-scale and complex technological systems. Feasibility and risk analyses. Project selection and portfolio optimization. Functional and administrative structures, coordination and scheduling of activities, personnel planning, negotiations and contracts, cost estimation, capital budgeting, cost controls, effective matrix management. Also listed under CE8203.
• Knowledge Management
  Knowledge workers, who are primarily in professional and technical occupations, increasingly become an important segment of the labor force in the US. The success of innovative organizations today is often a result of the knowledge and skills applied by their professional and technical employees. Effective management of such a work force has become one of the most critical problems faced by organizations in both the private and public sectors. Reflecting this, the course addresses issues relating to the creation, sharing and application of knowledge in organizations. In the course, we examine knowledge management from various perspectives, focusing primarily on the organizational, managerial and technological perspectives
• Management of Information Technology and Information Systems
  This course is designed for managers who need to understand the role and potential contribution of information technologies in organizations. The focus of the course is on different information technologies and their applications in managing business critical data, information and knowledge. The course concentrates on the current state of IT in organizations, challenges and strategic use of IT, IT infrastructure and architecture, building, implementing and managing IT applications, and emerging issues such as intelligent systems, business process reengineering, knowledge management and group support systems.
• Managing Technological Change and Innovation
  Focuses on the effective management of technological change and innovation, which is accomplished by employing a dual perspective. One perspective is based on individual, group and organizational theory, research and practice. This body of literature, viewpoints and experience provides essential guides for successfully managing the introduction of new technologies. Realizing the full potential of new technologies requires effectively managing change to assure the commitment of all stakeholders. The second perspective is based on innovation theory, research and practice. This body of literature, viewpoints and experience provides key insights for effectively managing the process of innovation and the impact of innovation on all parts of an enterprise. Specifically, there is explicit consideration of the need within a firm to manage and inspire people so that they can effectively communicate and innovate.
• Leadership and Team Development
  Focuses on the essential role of multifaceted leadership in diverse organizational settings. Explores the nature of leadership and its relationship to team development and organizational effectiveness. Includes a broad survey of theory and research on leadership and teams in organizations. Includes a hands-on approach involving experiential learning and case analyses, which will be conducted in teams, requiring students to be active participants. Online version available
• Intercultural Dimensions of Global Management.
  This course focuses on the critical intercultural dimensions of global management. Topics covered include identifying key culture-related factors essential for effective global management, communicating across different cultures, building effective transcultural organizations, developing capable cross-culture managers and leveraging cultural diversity

Special Immersion Module on Leadership, Global Decision Making and Innovation (No credit)

This module exposes candidates to the most relevant best practices in modern management, offering direct and continuous contact with leading practitioners and organizations. Individual and small group immersion activities include master classes and a series of field visits in NYC and/or overseas.

Flexible MBA Tracks (6 Credits)

An essential part of the program, the Flexible MBA tracks promote educational innovation and continuous reinvention of the MBA experience. Initial tracks to be offered include:

• Entrepreneurship
  Focuses on entrepreneurship and venture creation as key engines for wealth creation and successful business strategy in the modern innovation-intensive, high-tech economy. Deals with such key issues as: (1) assessing attractiveness of opportunities; (2) launching a new venture; (3) nurturing, growing and entrepreneurial venture; (4) obtaining the necessary financial, human and technology resources; (5) managing the transition from a small entrepreneurial firm to a large, sustainable professionally managed but still entrepreneurial corporation; and (6) being an entrepreneur and promoting entrepreneurship in a large corporation.
• Technology Management
• Human Resources
  Introduction to the broad range of human resource functions and their organizational role. Addresses issues in managing people that impact not only HR professionals but also line managers. The course is divided into four modules:an overview of HRM from a strategic perspective; the management of human resources, including recruitment and selection, performance management, compensation and benefits, training and career support; human resource challenges, including diversity, procedural justice and ethics, collective bargaining, and managing change and innovation; and professional roles in HRM. Online version available
• Services Innovation
  This course deals with services innovation. Services have eclipsed manufacturing, and are now the dominant part of a modern, advanced economy. According to some estimates, services account for close to 80 percent of US employment. This course examines how value creation occurs in a range of fast-growing services sectors, including retailing, hospitality, financial services, professional services, travel, logistics and healthcare. The course emphasizes that services are diverse, and explicitly distinguishes traditional and high-value services. This course focuses especially on the latter type of services. A key objective of this course is introducing to course participants best practices for nurturing modern services innovation.
• Managerial Analytics and Advanced Managerial Tools
  This course focuses on the use of analytics --a fast-growing element in modern management--for achieving both more effective operations and heightened competitive advantage. This course provides a managerial overview of current deployment of a diverse range of analytics--internally-oriented and externally-oriented. The course also identifies the impact of analytics on a firms performance; and explores the strengths and weaknesses of analytics. The course also presents best practices of analytics from a range of industries, including retailing, hospitality, financial services, consulting, healthcare and logistics. Pre/Co-Requisites: MG6083 Economics AND MG6093 Accounting and Finance.

MBA students along with our highly respected faculty in technology management and applied science & engineering can design a custom track within their area of interest.

Elective (3 Credits)

MBA students may select from any course listed in the Polytechnic Institute of NYU Catalog as an elective provided they meet the course pre-requisites.

The MBA Capstone Experience (3 Credits)

The program culminates with the MBA Capstone Experience. The Capstone constitutes an integrative learning process, challenging students to apply their new knowledge to a specific real-world project. The Capstone brings together the concepts and insights gained throughout the program, and can be local and/or global. A major part of Capstone work entails contribution to the community.