Master of Business Administration

MBA Degree Program

To qualify for the Master of Business Administration degree, the admitted student must satisfy the requirements of at least 18 courses. As many as 9 of the initial or core curriculum courses may be waived for students who demonstrate that they have mastered the body of knowledge contained in them. Nonetheless, a minimum of 10 graduate MBA courses must be taken at LMU to satisfy the University’s residence requirement.

All courses are 3 semester hours. Course syllabi are on file in the MBA office.

MBA Course Categories

Two broad divisions of courses exist in the MBA Program: the core and the advanced curriculum.

Core Curriculum

The core curriculum consists of 9 specific courses that comprise the common body of knowledge of business administration as defined by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International). Core courses are prefixed MBAA and numbered in the 60X series (MBAA 601-609).

Core courses are described in the next section. They include the following:

MBAA 601 Legal/Ethical Environ Business 3 semester hours
MBAA 602 Financial & Managerial Acct 3 semester hours
MBAA 603 Business Statistics 3 semester hours
MBAA 604 Business Economics 3 semester hours
MBAA 605 Mgmt & Org Behavior 3 semester hours
MBAA 606 Marketing Management 3 semester hours
MBAA 607 Oper Analysis/Decisn Sup Sys 3 semester hours
MBAA 608 Financial Management 3 semester hours
MBAA 609 Mgmt Information Systems 3 semester hours

Note:

Several topics which are vital to the common body of knowledge in business are not directly referenced in the titles of the nine core courses. These topics include the following: business ethics, social influences, political influences, computer applications, organizational theory, interpersonal communications, integrating analysis, and the international dimension of business.

Because of their critical nature for emerging business leaders, many of these topics are included as major elements within each core course. For example, MBAA 605 Mgmt & Org Behavior , includes modules on organizational theory, interpersonal communication, business ethics and the international dimension of business. Similar matrixed break-downs occur in the other core courses. Viewed from a topical standpoint, the international dimension of business is addressed in MBAA 604 , MBAA 605 , MBAA 606 , MBAA 608 , and MBAA 609 .

The Advanced Curriculum

The advanced curriculum consists of 9-11 classes depending on the Integrative Option. All courses in the advanced curriculum are elective, but certain constraints exist to ensure that each graduate has an acceptable and intelligently constructed program of studies. Within the advanced curriculum, the student is given an opportunity to obtain both specialized knowledge in an Area of Emphasis and generalized knowledge in supporting areas. The curriculum also provides ample opportunity to integrate the knowledge obtained through the above specialization and generalization studies.

Specialization

Depth in a specialized field of knowledge is obtained by the selection of three courses within one of eight designated Areas of Emphasis. These areas and their course designator prefixes are listed below:

MBAB:
MBAC:
MBAD:
MBAE:
MBAF:
MBAG:
MBAH:
MBAJ:
MBAI:

Management and Organizational Behavior
Marketing Management
Information and Decision Sciences
Human Resource Management
Financial Decision Systems
International Business Systems
Entrepreneurial Organizations
Accounting Decision Systems
Integrative Experience Courses

Generalization

By nature, MBA programs that are similar to LMU’s follow the classic AACSB International model mandate that candidates for graduation have a broad academic background rather than one of extensive specialization.

Generalization in the Advanced Curriculum is obtained in the following way:

Students must take 5 advanced electives from at least 3 fields in addition to the specialized Area of Emphasis. An additional requirement is that no more than 2 such breadth courses may be taken within a single area. For example, a student whose specialized Area of Emphasis is MBAB, Management and Organizational Behavior, would take 3 MBAB electives for the Specialization requirement and for the Generalization requirement take 2 MBAC, 2 MBAD and 1 MBAE elective. Another student having the same specialization, may prefer to obtain even greater generalization by taking 1 MBAC, 1 MBAD, 1 MBAE, 1 MBAF, and 1 MBAG elective.

Students may earn a second emphasis by taking one additional course in the MBA Program. That course must be an elective from the second area and assumes that the student has already completed two breadth electives from that second area.

Integration

The integrating experience is designed to draw together the knowledge gained in the Program into a combined focus. Because of this, such courses are taken toward the end of the student’s Program. Three integrative options are available:

Option One, MBAI 692 Integrative Project , is an intensive original analysis and solution of a significant business problem. The student’s project proposal is reviewed by the Associate Dean. When his/her proposal is approved, the student is assigned to work on a one-to-one basis with a faculty member until the project is satisfactorily completed. The faculty member provides general guidance and ensures that the completed project is of high quality. Students who choose to take the integrative project option must take either MBAI 610 Mgmt Strategy , or MBAI 690 Int’l Reg Strats: Cultr/Indust , in their advanced curriculum.

Option Two, MBAI 691 Compartive Mgmt Sys (CMS), is an Integrative course that involves three weeks travel outside the United States. Prior to departure, students participate in a prerequisite advanced elective course, MBAI 690 Int’l Reg Strats: Cultr/Indust , during which they perform area studies of the nations to be visited and participate in seminars conducted by area and industry specialists. The industries visited are held constant for each annual CMS Program. Students are grouped by business functional areas and meet with executives from those areas in each firm visited. Group and individual papers comprise final outputs for the course.

Option Three allows the student to take 3 designated Strategy electives. Strategy electives are designated by 6X0 or have the word “strategy” in the title. All students who elect this option must take MBAI 610 Mgmt Strategy , or MBAI 690 Int’l Reg Strats: Cultr/Indust , plus 2 additional strategy courses. Each designated Strategy elective provides the student with a general management or functional area perspective on the development and implementation of high level corporate strategy. Taken together, the 3 selected electives give the student an integrative view of the total strategic planning and implementing processes. Students who have waived all core courses and who choose this option must take a minimum of 11 courses (rather than 10) to satisfy the residence requirement.

Students who follow this option observe how firms determine and implement corporate strategy from the standpoint of several functional areas. The strategy courses provide an overall integrative focus as a capstone to the student’s MBA studies.