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MBIT / Course Descriptions

1. Core Courses

The objective is to provide students with an integrative exercise that draws upon the fundamental materials and skills developed in the core courses. Students demonstrate their ability to structure and complete a major project that identifies and resolves an important management or organizational issue. Students work in teams to develop a comprehensive business plan for a new venture, i.e., a new product or service. The start-up concept is developed through the stages of initial screening, market assessment, business analysis (preliminary and final plan), product development, testing, production, and market launch. Students report the results of their efforts in written and oral form. The project may be developed in cooperation with students' current employers or with some organization of their choice, provided there is no conflict of interest.

AIT70C: Strategic Marketing of Services & Products [12 units]

The methods and principles of marketing new technology-based products and services are introduced with a focus on innovative strategies for bringing them to market. The issues of competitive strategy, pricing, customer service, market differentiation, and new product launches are presented. The strategic role of marketing as an integrated part of the product development process and its role in the overall strategic planning of the firm is discussed. Qualitative and quantitative market research techniques, including sampling and data collection procedures, demand forecasting, and product research and test marketing are presented.

AIT47C: Innovation Management & Entrepreneurship [12 units]

This course identifies the key principles and practices needed to start a business from the initial idea to the management of profits and expansion during the early phase of the life-cycle of a new product until it crosses the chasm to mass market acceptance. It provides insight on approaches for fostering both external/entrepreneurial (new business start-ups) and internal/intrapreneurial (innovation management inside the organization) ventures. The elements of a business plan are examined, along with methods for assessing capital, personnel, technology, and marketing needs. Case examples of venture management successes and failures for start-ups, spin-offs, and established firms are examined.

AIT49C: Accounting and Finance [12 units]

This course prepares students to analyze and manage financial information in technology-intensive organizations with rapid product/service cycles and high value-added intellectual property. Students are introduced to the preparation of a variety of financial analysis tools from simple balance sheets to activity-based costing. Topics include economic concepts, financial markets, financial accounting, cost of capital, discounted cash flows, capital budgeting, and performance measurement.

AIT60C: Strategic Management [12 units]

Students apply strategic analysis techniques to business policy and organizational development. Emphasis is placed on linking technology policy with corporate strategy and the identification of technology options appropriate for the business or organizational strategy being executed. Topics covered include historical perspectives on strategic technology planning, external and internal strategic analysis, technology forecasting, benchmarking, corporate intelligence, and implementation and control strategies.

AIT62-B: HARVARD Executive Course in Negotiation

Senior professionals need to perform in complex and turbulent environments where negotiation is an essential survival skill for advancing important individual and organizational goals. When conflict and relationships are poorly managed, precious organizational resources are wasted and leadership effectiveness is undermined. Leaders may become disconnected from their followers. Battles over resource allocation, personnel, turf and the organization’s strategic direction all occur more frequently in times of uncertainty and squander the energy needed for constructive change. When such conflicts exist, the whole organization becomes vulnerable to damaging external shocks. Negotiation becomes an essential element in the effective allocation of resources and in building an organization’s capacity and strategic resilience. The Art and Science of Negotiation is a three-day executive education program designed to improve the ability organizational leaders to confront internal strife and successfully drive and navigate the increasingly complex transactions and relationships that predominate in today’s turbulent political, economic and social environments.

2. Elective Courses

AIT50E: Market Perspective of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Industry [12 units]

This course is an overview, introducing students to the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Industry and supporting them in understanding the strategic options that are open to them regarding the coordinated development of products and services in this sector. The crucial role that the ICT plays as an infrastructure as well as an enabler in the evolution of the modern knowledge society and connected economy will be discussed. The major technical, social, legal, and ethical issues in innovating and implementing technology in the globally competitive environment are presented.

AIT51E: Regulatory Framework of the ICT Industry [12 units]

This course will present the ICT and internet policies and will discuss why should we care about them. ICT policy generally covers three main areas: telecommunications (especially telephone communications), broadcasting (radio and TV) and the internet. The new ICT environment – privatized, competitive, responsive to fast paced technological change and convergence – shapes the relevant regulatory requirements. Regulation of the ICT sector is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a single agency at a national level but with other actors at a regional or international level. Each level may have its own decision-making bodies, which will be presented and their interdependencies will be discussed. A presentation of the major telecommunications regulatory reforms (e.g. the cases of the telecom act in USA and the EU directives) will be given. The basic ingredients that appear in most reform programs (private sector participation, market competition and an independent regulator) will be outlined. The interpretation and sequencing of these ingredients within the overall mix of policies is what distinguishes one approach from another, and may be as important to successful reform as the individual ingredients themselves. Other policy and regulatory issues like security, privacy, DRM, cybercrime and anti-terrorism legislation will be also presented.

AIT52E: Systems Analysis and Design [12 units]

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of systems analysis and operations research. The purpose is to provide an understanding of the systems view of a product, service, or process and to include a generic representation of its elements and dynamics. The skills, tools and methodologies needed to quantitatively analyze and optimize systems, and to make decisions as technology managers are provided. Topics covered include decision theory, linear programming, transportation problems, network analysis, game theory, reliability theory, cost estimating, and expert systems.

AIT53E: Management of Information Systems (MIS) [12 units]

This course aims at providing the information and skills required to exploit information systems in creating business value and improving business results. It emphasizes the digital integration of the firm through enterprise applications (management of the supply chain, customer relationships, enterprise systems, and knowledge). This course offers vivid examples and up-to-date information to illustrate the impact of information technology on business. Topics covered include: alignment of business strategies and plans with IT/IS strategies and respective plans; IT technologies, tools and techniques as a vehicle to increasing productivity and competitiveness.

AIT55E: ICT Security [12 units]

The aim of this course is to provide a thorough understanding of the issues associated with the design, provision and management of integrated security services for modern communication and information systems, infrastructures and enterprises. With organizations facing increasing pressure from regulatory bodies to comply with policy standards (Sarbanes-Oxley, GLBA, HIPAA etc.), basic levels of encryption and authentication are not sufficient for compliance and security. The modern trend in designing security architectures is to treat security not merely as a technology issue but rather as a management issue that requires top-to-bottom commitment and enforcement. This course covers the basics of enterprise and public infrastructure security architectures. It starts with a brief review of protection technologies and then concentrates on more advanced aspects of designing, deploying and managing enterprise wise information security architectures and policies.

AIT56E: Logistics & Supply Chain Management [12 units]

Concepts and methods of managing production and service operations for global competitiveness are introduced. The focus of the course is on the cross-functional integration of design, manufacturing, and marketing systems. In the modern enterprise, boundaries of function, organization, and geography are rapidly disappearing. The enterprise’s procurement, manufacturing, distribution, and sales organizations must be aligned to efficiently serve the ultimate customer. Suppliers and vendors must become partners in the integrated supply chain organization. Often these relationships and processes extend around the world, creating the truly globally-integrated supply chain. The Supply Chain Course focuses on effective planning and management of highly integrated product and information flows from the supplier’s suppliers to the customer’s customers. A systems approach is used to cover topics such as design and control for customer satisfaction, the translation of demand into orders, and orders into outcomes.

AIT57E: e-Business [12 units]

The objective of this course is to provide students with the essentials to understand e-Business and briefly introduce them to the underlying technology of e-commerce. It begins by formulating a definition of electronic commerce and linking it to strategic objectives. It then relates technological, political, economic, and market forces to internal electronic commerce (EC) capabilities such as management, production and services, marketing, and technology. Finally, marketing strategies are analyzed in various key sectors in this field like e-marketplaces, e-Government and e-Health.

AIT58E: Project Management [12 units]

This course explores the theory and practice of how to manage projects. The fundamental elements of project management are stressed, including project planning, organizing, team building, and effective control mechanisms. The key management aspects and proven techniques that differentiate project management from other types of management are fully discussed. These topics include effective project management styles, critical factors for project success, organizational support systems that enhance projects, project authority, and ethics in project execution. Cost, schedule and technical planning, and control methods such as PERT, CPM, variance analysis and risk analysis are stressed.

AIT59E: Quality Management [6 units]

In this course, you will learn how to develop, deploy, and maintain business processes, policies and practices that assure marketplace acceptance of ICT products and services. The course provides a comprehensive review and working knowledge of principles of Quality Management (QM), quality leadership and strategic planning, process management, and performance measurements. Different QM philosophies and frameworks advocated by celebrated management consultants such as Deming, Juran, and Crosby, will be compared and contrasted. We will introduce several international management system models (e.g., ISO 9000) which have become standards in the field and we will discuss their application in a wide range of businesses and organizations—service, manufacturing, government, education, healthcare, etc. Case studies of award winning companies will be used to demonstrate successful practices.

AIT69E: Technoeconomic Value Analysis [12 units]

We have entered an era in which new conditions (competition, globalization, convergence, etc.) make the requirement for productivity in innovation as important as productivity in production. Major prerequisites for the pursuit of successful innovations include relevant R&D investment and strategy/marketing activities supported by a set of methodologies (e.g. technology planning process, value analysis) and tools that can assist in the establishment of effective generation of innovations and creation of successful business plans. Value analysis studies are an important key part of every business and strategic marketing plan related with engineering projects. It may be used with the goal to compare important parameters like capital expenditure (CapEx), operational expenditure (OpEx), life-cycle costs, revenue streams, discounted cash flows and techno-economic evaluation measures such as the net present value (NPV) and the internal rate of return (IRR). This type of studies offer a measurable output and can be used to assist and support the decision making process on issues such as e.g. the business that a company should be in, the potential of certain technology solutions, the future of internal R&D projects, etc. In this course the methodologies and tools for technology/product planning and value analysis based on techno-economic evaluation measures will be described and analyzed. The students will have access to relevant commercially available simulation tools and they will gain hands-on experience through their course project.

AIT79E: Financial Risk Management [6 units]

The course intends to prepare managers, with limited knowledge of market risks faced by any company operating in a globalized economy, to understand and handle these risks that could potentially be harmful to their company’s profitability. The focus will be more on the actual practices applied by companies and less on the theoretical background of such market risks. The intention is to lead students to think like Chief Financial Officers trying to mitigate market risks that threaten the profitability of their companies. The course will provide an overview of various market risks that almost every company faces in a globalized economy. These risks are linked to fluctuations in interest rates, foreign exchange rates, commodity prices and other assets traded in the financial markets. Different methodologies (such as swaps, forwards, options, futures) to mitigate such market risks will be outlined and explained how they are used by many corporations in the capital markets. The main objective of the course is to explain the risks and methodologies with real life examples and give students a sense of available tools and methods in the financial markets to hedge against market risks.

AIT80E: Independent Research [6 units]

If there is a special topic that interests the student, and if there are no AIT courses covering the topic in depth, the student may negotiate an "independent research" course with a faculty member. If the student can find a faculty member who agrees to supervise such a course, the student must secure a form from the AIT student secretariat, fill it out, and submit it for approval. The independent study course is to count towards an half elective course and it must be approved by the Academic Advisor. Approval will only be granted for independent research topics that are clearly different from a student's MBIT graduate project research topic. Each MBIT student can take up to one independent study course. Students may not enroll in independent study courses during any semester in which they are on probation.

AIT81E: Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour [6 units]

This course combines areas of organizational behavior and human resource management. It provides a basic understanding of individual, interpersonal and group behavior in organizations and how this understanding can be used in the practice of managing a corporation’s most important asset – its people. Topics include: employee motivation & satisfaction, leadership, recruitment, selection, organization development and change management. It’s a practical course on examining people in organizational settings, providing theory and applications to real problems. Emphasis is given on reaching the optimal use of human resources to achieve organizational effectiveness.

AIT83E: Research Methods [6 units]

The course's aims to make research an active component of students' practice by enhancing their skills and abilities to investigate and understand business research methods both quantitative and qualitative. The course begins with an introduction into the field of research and the nature of business and management research. It then presents the research process and design while placing special emphasis on the different data collection strategies such as structured interviews and questionnaires. Furthermore, quantitative and qualitative methodological strategies employed in contemporary business research will be analysed through a combination of theoretical and practical approaches. Data analysis including the use of statistical modeling tools, like SPSS, will be considered covering the most common research methods. Finally, the various issues that should be considered in the course of a research project and its presentation will be investigated.

AIT 84E: Decision Making & Risk Analysis [6 units]

The course intends to cover the fundamentals of Decision Analysis and Risk Management, from an entrepreneurial point of view. We will examine concepts like Influence, Inference, Value at Risk, Value of Information, Value of Control, Real Options & Monte Carlo simulation, as they apply to situations of decision making under uncertainty. We will also work through a simulated business case, in the form of a final, hands-on workshop

AIT94E: Green ICT: Assessing Problems, policies and Possibilities [6 units]

This course is intended for students who want to be able to use a multidisciplinary approach for accessing technical, economic, energy and environmental aspects of the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
ICTs do not only constitute an industry in their own right, but they are also used in almost every sector of the economy and every day life, acting as integrating and enabling technologies. Thus, ICTs have a profound impact on society, and their production and use heavily influence development in economic, social and environmental domains. In this course, after a review of the technical fundamentals of ICT and energy, will proceed with analyses of their economic aspects and interrelationships, as well as emerging business models. Then, frameworks for the interactions among the economic, environmental and societal pillars will be presented and will be used to identify policy options. The course will conclude with analyses and studies of various cases.

Students' Views

“MSIN is an extensive yet well-structured and a cutting edge course by CMU which is endowing me with enough expertise and confidence to make my mark in the IT arena. Along with AIT’s excellent, world-class resources and infrastructure, the highly qualified faculty contributes to a pleasant & fruitful learning experience.”

Charuta Joshi, MSIN 2005, (India)

MBIT