OVERVIEW
OVERVIEW

The Minor in General Business is designed to provide the undergraduate student with an understanding of business concepts and realities. The basic principle of the General Business Minor program is to enhance the knowledge and skills of the student to help them succeed in their future roles as manager, team leader and/ or business owner. Students will be able to apply the learned abilities to lead people, manage tasks, and provide financial reports to key parties. The program requires the student to complete six courses in business for a total of 18 credits. As part of the learning process, the student will work with the Bloomberg Market Laboratory where they will gain an understanding of the functions and navigation of Bloomberg Terminals. The core areas that will be studied are:

  1. Accounting
  2. Finance
  3. Economics
  4. Management

Goals

The goals of the program are:

  1. Provide graduates with fundamental knowledge of business concepts.
  2. Provide graduates with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to relate business theory and analysis to solve business problem.
  3. Enable graduates with the ability to function as a manager, team leader, business owner.
  4. Prepare graduates for careers as business leaders.
  5. Certification of graduates with Bloomberg Terminal Certification.

Student Learning Outcomes

  1. Apply learned concepts to produce, analyze and interpret financial statements 
  2. Model product and process costing systems to increase productivity and reduce costs 
  3. Interpret and analyze trends to determine economy and industry performance, at macro and micro levels respectively 
  4. Demonstrate knowledge and analytical skills needed to develop and manage sustainable businesses and teams
  5. Identify and analyze key personal and organizational factors, in order to establish healthy employee relations, and productive business environments 
  6. Identify and apply key communication and leadership skills, in order to establish positive human relationships, and a productive business environment.
STRUCTURE
Course Description

BUSS 150 Introduction to Economics

(3 Lectures, 0 Laboratories – 3 Credits)

Prerequisites: ENGL 112, ENGL 102; Co-requisite: None

This course introduces microeconomic concepts and analysis and provides an overview of macroeconomic issues. Topics studied include: the nature and dimensions of competition, the concepts of demand and supply, theories of the firm and individual behavior, market structure, competition and monopoly, costs and incentives, wage determination, and employment, the determination of output, employment, unemployment, interest rates, and inflation. Monetary and fiscal policies are discussed.

BUSS 201 Fundamentals of Accounting & Finance

(3 Lectures, 0 Laboratories – 3 Credits)

Prerequisites: Sophomore Standing; Co-requisite: None

This course provides an introduction to financial and management accounting. It is aimed at 

providing a broad understanding of the theory and practice of financial accounting, 

management accounting and financial management, both for non-specialist students and as 

a foundation for further study in the area. This course examines the basic principles and 

underlying concepts and the ways in which accounting statements and financial information 

can be used to improve the quality of decision-making.

BUSS 202 Business Communications

(3 Lectures, 0 Laboratories – 3 Credits)

Prerequisite: ENGL 112; Co-requisite: None

Students will be introduced to effective business communication for various business settings. They will learn key business strategies for workplace communication, for business proposal and report writing, and for conducting successful meetings and presentations. Students will learn about business professionalism, teamwork, leadership and conflict resolution, as well as cultural diversity and cultural literacy.

 

BUSS 203 Environmental Economics

(3 Lectures, 0 Laboratories – 3 Credits) 

Prerequisite: BUSS 150 ; Co-requisite: None

This course offers an opportunity for students to explore the broad applicability of economic thinking in environmental and sustainability problems. On completion of this course, successful students will have a clear perspective of concepts such as market failures (particularly, externalities), market-based instruments for controlling regional and transboundary environmental problems, and economic methods for assessing the environment. 

BUSS 204 Introduction to Organizational Management

(3 Lectures, 0 Laboratory – 3 Credits)

Prerequisite: ENGL 112; Co-requisite: None

This course provides a basic introduction to contemporary business and organizational environments through the theory and practice of managerial functions (planning and decision making, organizing and changing, leading and controlling). Topics covered include organizational performance, risk management, stakeholder analysis, strategic planning, the operating environment and organizational culture.

 

BUSS 301 Corporate Leadership and Human Resource Management

(3 Lectures, 0 Laboratories – 3 Credits)

Pre-requisite: Junior standing; Co-requisite: None

This course teaches students to be informed future leaders through the combination of theoretical analysis and practical application. They are placed in a variety of real-life situations in which they apply the decision-making process in relation to organizational problem-solving and development. They integrate key leadership and human resource functions by means of acquiring data, planning methodically, formulating strategy, collaborating, and communicating with clarity.

BUSS 322 Fundamentals of Innovation & Entrepreneurship

(3 Lectures, 0 Laboratories – 3 Credits)

Prerequisite: Junior Standing

The goal of the course is to equip the next generation of leaders in the UAE with an innovative and entrepreneurial mindset and its related core skills. The course is composed of four modules designed to be taught over a fifteen week semester. These comprise Innovation, Design Thinking, Entrepreneurship and Leadership. A proportion of examples and cases are selected to complement students’ majors in the College of Arts & Sciences.

BUSS 339 Econometrics 

(3 Lectures, 0 Laboratories – 3 Credits) 

Prerequisite: BUSS 150, MATH 242; Co-requisite: None

This course introduces students to the main statistical methods and techniques used in business and finance related studies. The course assumes introductory knowledge of calculus, basic algebra and statistics. The emphasis throughout the course is real application of econometrics techniques to problems in business and finance fields. The course will cover simple linear regression model, multiple linear regression model, relaxing assumptions, univariate time series studies, limited dependent variables and panel data estimation techniques.

BUSS 344 Managerial Finance

(3 Lectures, 0 Laboratories –3 Credits)

Prerequisite: Sophomore Standing and BUSS 201; Co-Requisite: None

This course emphasizes on financial management, financial markets, tools, techniques, and methodologies used in financial decision making. Students are introduced to financial planning, working capital management, capital budgeting, long-term financing and international finance. The overall goal of this course is to enable the student to utilize various tools to evaluate and measure alternative solutions in decision making.

 

BUSS 361 Business and Sustainability

(3 Lectures, 0 Laboratory – 3 Credits) 

Prerequisite: ENGL 102, ENGL 112; Co-requisite: None

This course explores the role of business in the accumulation of capital and power, the prospects for future socio-economic sustainability, and responsible practices. The course describes how organizations can contribute to a sustainably developed future world, with a focus on maximizing contributions to economic, social, and environmental well-being worldwide.

BUSS 374 Managerial Accounting

(3 Lectures, 0 Laboratories – 3 Credits) 

Prerequisite: Sophomore Standing; BUSS 201; Co-requisite: None 

In this course students will learn alternative methods of preparing managerial accounting information and its application. Managerial accounting focuses on skills and strategies for decision-making, production management, product design and pricing techniques. Students will gain and understanding of a company’s internal operations, and will learn to develop strategies to engage and resolve competitive and economic factors in business.

BUSS 381 Macroeconomics, the UAE Economy

(3 Lectures, 0 Laboratories – 3 Credits)

Prerequisite: BUSS 150; Co-requisite: None

The course is designed to provide students with sound understanding of the UAE economy and other national economies. The aims of the course are: (i) to provide a deeper knowledge of the principles of macroeconomic analysis, (ii) use these principles to understand the macroeconomic dimensions of UAE economic history and in a broader international context, and (iii) develop good understanding of the general working of the economy to make sense of governmental policy-making and changes occurring in the world economy today.

BUSS 456 Investments & Portfolio Management

(3 Lectures, 0 Laboratory – 3 Credits)

Prerequisite: MATH 204, MATH 231, MATH 243; Co-requisite: None 

This course focuses on a quantitative finance analysis of risk and asset allocation. Students are introduced to the different steps to solve general asset allocation problems. This includes detecting statistical market invariants, estimating and modeling the market, defining the investor’s optimal objectives, computing the optimal allocation and accounting for estimation risk. It provides comprehension of the main tools to perform portfolio analysis and risk assessment evaluation, including the use of Bloomberg terminals.