Business Administration – Accelerated Courses

Business Administration

This course introduces you to the nature and scope of decision making in business and provides an overview of the functional areas of management, marketing, human resources, finance, and operations. Using a case study approach, you will use business frameworks for defining and analyzing business problems and developing solutions and plans of action.

It is strongly recommended you take this course first in the Certificate in Business Administration and Diploma in Business Administration. 

Business Writing

This course prepares you to become a better workplace communicator. You will focus on ways to strategically plan, format, and send business messages — presentations, letters, e-mails, proposals, and more — leading to better efficiency and efficacy on the job.

Those wishing to assess and add to their business writing skills will find this course a confidence builder. Developing the self-assurance to communicate effectively in the workplace will be the main goal, and you will benefit from the practical approach to building these skills. You will identify the characteristics of effective communication and learn how to successfully critique business documents.

You will also have at least one other goal, and that is to improve your confidence in your ability to communicate effectively. In a business environment, egos and professional reputations are on the line, and people often feel threatened. The result is either poor communication, or no communication at all.  Being an effective business communicator has many advantages and rewards. Some are financial, and others relate to your emotional well being. It is important to recognize that communicating in your job is key to not only your success, but also to your enjoyment and your perception of acceptable self-worth in the workplace.

Delivering messages effectively allows you to share ideas and contribute, and to lead and inspire others.

This course will focus on seven key topics:

• Today's Successful Business Communicator
• Presentations
• Characteristics of Effective Business Writing
• Direct Messages
• Unwelcome Messages
• Persuasive Messages
• Career Messages

View sample course outline (PDF). 

Finance

This course is designed to follow the introduction to finance and continues using material presented in Financial Accounting. You will be introduced to:

• basic financial management theory
• financial and operating leverage
• project planning
• financial statement analysis
• capital structure
• capital investment decisions
• forecasting
• sources of financing

View sample course outline (PDF). 

Financial Accounting

This course is an introduction to financial accounting. You will be introduced to the accounting cycle as well as the preparation of journal entries and financial statements. Other topics covered include the accounting for:

• cash
• accounts receivable
• inventory
• capital assets
• current liabilities
• owner’s equity

A strong knowledge of the principles of accounting gives you the power to make sound business decisions.

International Business

This course examines the global environment in which firms operate and how that environment affects the strategies and choices the companies make. We will examine how businesses are managed across different countries, considering factors both external and internal to the company. For example, while considering international expansion, a firm needs to take into account exchange rates, international taxation, free trade agreements, market conditions, culture, language, politics and many other factors which will affect its operations, but over which it has little control. In the context of these external factors, a firm must then make internal decisions to devise a strategy effective for operations in the global environment. Does the firm choose to export its products or invest in production facilities in a new country? Should the company buy production facilities or businesses already present or build its own? What about a joint venture with a local entrepreneur? How do local culture and language influence domestic and international operations of the firm?  

This course will investigate these and other questions as part of an exploration into how international corporate strategy is shaped and what are the economic factors that influence it. More broadly, the course will offer insights into major topics as well as emerging themes in international business.

Interpersonal Business Communication

The primary goal of this course is to assist in improving the effectiveness of your interpersonal communication in a workplace and personal setting. As a participant, you will be challenged to examine the way you communicate, the effect that your communication has on others and the application of the course material in a workplace settings. This is a dynamic course structure, one that will require introspection and involvement.

This course examines communication from many perspectives and explores the skills that improve interpersonal communication, the communication between two people. The course will help to develop effective communication approaches for personal and workplace relationships through a thorough study of communication concepts.

View sample course outline (PDF). 

Management Accounting

This course is an introduction to the fundamental concepts of management accounting. It complements concepts covered in Financial Accounting by focusing on the accounting functions internal to the organization.

Management Accounting is concerned with the data and techniques used in the decision-making process. This includes:

• analysis and accounting for costs
• exposure to cost behaviour (cost-volume-profit)
• the contribution approach
• variance analysis
• differential cash flows
• budgeting

The course will also discuss recent developments such as activity-based costing.

Management Computing

This course provides a brief introduction to the historical development of computers, the fundamentals of using a PC using the Windows desktop operating system, and hands-on training in the use of office automation application. Specifically, the course will offer instruction on the use of:

• Windows 10
• Word 2016
• Excel 2016
• PowerPoint 2016

We will also discuss Web browsers (specifically Microsoft Internet Explorer, FireFox and Chrome) and learn more about the Internet and Cloud Computing. The course will also spend time on using these applications together, linking information from one application to another. The emphasis of the learning outcomes will be on practical business management applications.

Marketing

This course has been designed to introduce you to the fundamentals of marketing. You will learn the
fundamentals of key marketing theories, concepts, and principles as well as their application in making sound marketing management decisions in a variety of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Part of the focus of
this course is to give you two perspectives – that of an aspiring marketer but also to have you be a more astute consumer. When you consider that much of what is marketed are things we don't really need, it makes some sense to pay attention to cues and approaches so that we can make decisions that work for us - both
professionally and personally. We will cover a lot of diverse business concepts such as demographic and psychographic segments, understanding the history of marketing, product life cycles, the four p's, and marketing plan development. 

View sample course outline (PDF). 

Operations Management

This course will introduce the basic concepts involved in the design and management of the core function of any business: the transformation process that produces the good or service delivered to the customer.

Despite the wide diversity of firms and industries, firms generally select from a limited set of transformation processes. Each of these processes has its own set of strengths and limiting characteristics. This course focuses on understanding these process tradeoffs as they support the firm's strategic objectives as well as the resulting implications for efficiency and effectiveness. In addition, the course will explore the appropriate "best practice" to ensure that customer value is maximized once a particular transformation process has been chosen.

View sample course outline (PDF). 

Organizational Behaviour

This course will look at the impact that individuals, groups and structures have on human behaviour within any modern organization, from nonprofit to public sector to private sector. Organizations are made up of people who behave and act within certain constructs, and learning about these processes is important to understanding how to make organizations effective and productive.

Small Business Management

Small businesses represent a vital economic activity in Canada, and small business owners and managers must quickly develop a broad range of entrepreneurial and managerial skills in order to prosper and grow their companies.

BMBA 290 provides essential business skill development in marketing, business modelling and strategic planning, scaling up, understanding customers and delivering value, managing cash flow, funding and financing, intellectual property protection, and government compliance.

Strategic Leadership

The objective of this course is to create an awareness of what constitutes the process of leadership, and the skills needed to effectively lead in a complex and constantly changing environment. This course is competency based, and emphasizes five essential elements:

• taking charge
• strategic visioning
• communications
• teamwork
• integrity

A variety of approaches are used in the delivery of the course. Selected movies bring to life in the classroom different leaders from a variety of backgrounds. In addition to discussing these leaders, short lectures develop in more depth the elements of leadership. Role-playing and other experiential exercises demonstrate some of the skills that are required to lead effectively.

Strategic Management

This course uses a strategic management approach to provide you with a systematic framework for evaluating the strategies, policies, design, productivity and performance of organizations.

View sample course outline (PDF).