Lake Forest MBA Core Course Descriptions
The Lake Forest MBA program is comprised of 16 units, including 13 core units and three elective units. Typically, one course is the equivalent of one unit, however some classes are half units.
Given the integrative nature of the Lake Forest MBA curriculum, courses follow a suggested sequence, with electives typically incorporated as the 10th, 14th, and 15th courses in the sequence.
The content in our courses is delivered within this sequence to maximize relevance and synergy, and to promote student learning, confidence, and retention.
The standard core course sequence is listed below. Because Lake Forest MBA courses are continually reviewed for quality content, they are therefore subject to change.
Lake Forest MBA Core Courses
5100 Executive Success Skills
5110 Accounting for Decision Making
5120 Effective Leadership
5130 Strategic Thinking
5145 Quantitative Analysis
5156 Analysis and Decisions: Competing and Winning
5160 Global Business & Cultural Diversity
5170 Economics for Managers
5190 Financial Management
5200 Innovation & Risk
5210 Marketing
5220 Leading Organizational Change
5230 Operations Management
5240 Strategic Management
5100 Executive Success Skills
Communication is at the heart of effective leadership. This introductory course establishes performance expectations for the critical communication skills necessary for success in business. Students will have an opportunity to fine-tune their written, oral, and listening skills, as well as to learn the basics of teamwork. Students will learn how to frame a message for maximum impact using a variety of communication tools, how to incorporate delivery techniques into their presentations that will engage the audience, and how to respond effectively to their managers and peers. Fundamental concepts and guidelines are reinforced through practical assignments, ongoing instructor/peer/self critique, and participation in team activities. Subsequent courses will build upon the criteria for excellence in communications that have been defined in this class.
Prerequisites: None
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5110 Accounting for Decision Making
This course provides the student with an understanding of the financial information shared with external stakeholders and the management information critical to internal stakeholders in achieving stated goals in the organization. Learning about the components of profitability, liquidity, and asset management through financial statement analysis will promote insight in the areas of governance, investment decisions, credit decisions, and regulatory compliance. Essential to meeting internal corporate objectives is the creation of useful analysis and communication of management financial information. This course will provide the student with a set of tools and models to approach difficult decisions faced each day.
Prerequisites: None
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5120 Effective Leadership
Effective Leadership is a highly personal look at leadership. This course enables students to better understand their own leadership styles and apply these styles effectively in the workplace. The course includes a discussion of individual and universal leadership concepts, how leaders think and act, and how various management styles impact situations and relationships within an organization. In addition, coaching models are demonstrated to help students become influential leaders within their companies.
The course helps students develop action plans to enhance their professional and personal leadership skills through the completion of personal assessments and interactive activities. The course materials also explore how effective teams are formed, how team members interact, and how students can become more effective members and leaders of teams.
Prerequisite: 5100
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5130 Strategic Thinking
In this course, students will learn to think strategically and apply strategic concepts and tools to the fundamental functions and processes necessary to lead a business in a dynamic and highly competitive environment. Students are introduced to a higher level of thinking that is used by general managers in running successful businesses by forming an integrated systems perspective of the organization. Students will be required to demonstrate their ability to convert their analysis into logical and persuasive recommendations Complex business case studies will challenge students to improve their ability to resolve complex business issues, identify underlying problems, be open to new ideas that lead to innovative but feasible alternatives, and to take actions that will meet the needs of their organization’s stakeholders. Students will learn to think, act, and communicate like a general manager. Thinking, communicating, and implementation skills necessary to advance to higher organizational levels will be acquired.
Prerequisites: 5100, 5110
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5145 Quantitative Analysis
This course introduces students to major statistical and decision analysis tools used in business, preparing them for quantitative analysis across a variety of areas, including strategy, operations, finance, human resources, and marketing and sales. The course consists of a self-directed, attractive online learning environment, encompassing a business case and extensive examples, guides and tips that are supplemented by two instructor-led webinars. This is a Pass/Fail course.
Prerequisites: None
One-half unit course
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5156 Analysis and Decisions: Competing and Winning
This five-week course focuses on the practical application of statistical tools to understand relevant data leading to inning decisions. By separating facts from opinions and identifying the most influential factors and risks in areas such as marketing, operations, finance and strategy, students will formulate judgments that provide a competitive advantage to themselves and their organizations. The emphasis is on interpretive skills and making decisions within ethical principles while recognizing risks, assessing probabilities and their potential impact. Interpreting data and making decisions are not exclusively mechanical processes; they also involve intuition, ideas and values to find real-world meaning from real-world numbers. Special emphasis is given to actionable recommendations derived from high-quality analytics.
Prerequisites: 5100, 5145
One-half unit course
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5160 Global Business & Cultural Diversity
Companies and managers are impacted as the global economy trends towards greater integration and interdependency. This course examines the effect of cultural diversity on personal and organizational effectiveness, the impact of globalization on business operations and the strategic considerations and factors necessary to compete ethically and effectively in this dynamic marketplace. Students will view the global environment from many viewpoints (an individual contributor, functional manager, and CEO), through case studies, discussions, simulations and assignments. Effective communication, ethical decision making and strategic thinking under the umbrella of the global challenge are addressed.
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5170 Economics for Managers
This course examines key economic concepts that are critical to managerial decision-making within today’s business environment, including microeconomic and macroeconomic principles. Microeconomic topics addressed include supply and demand, consumer and competitor behaviors, cost analysis, and pricing and output decisions within various market structures. Issues related to public policy and regulation as they apply to market dynamics and business decision making are also included. In the macroeconomics section, the course considers the national and worldwide economic environment within which businesses operate. Specifically, it provides an understanding of gross domestic product, unemployment, investment, interest rates, the supply of money, inflation, exchange rates, international trade, business cycles and fiscal and monetary policy. All topics are discussed with an emphasis on real-world applications.
Prerequisite: 5100
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5190 Financial Management
This course combines understanding, application, and discussion of important financial management concepts, resulting in the student’s improved appreciation of the dynamics of financial relationships. Drawing upon previous instruction in accounting and statistics courses, the student builds upon prior skills and knowledge, identifying the real-world trade-offs in business planning and corporate operations. The student applies financial principles, tools, and identifiable risk to create and measure economic value. This course places particular emphasis on the practice and theory associated with asset valuation and the maintenance of appropriate capital structure. The student presents oral and written analyses of a real company’s financial issues and develops confidence in being able to recommend courses of action for that company. This course consists of self-directed learning, including online materials for the second and third week of the term. The class will meet in person the first week and the fourth through tenth weeks of the term.
Prerequisites: 5130, 5145; 5170
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5200 Innovation & Risk
This course focuses on the acquisition of discovery techniques, risk assessment tools, and innovation leadership skills to initiate strategically aligned innovation in an organizational environment. The significance of innovation, the strategic and organizational environment, and best implementation practices for both individuals and teams are examined and experienced. There are individual and team graded assignments. The culmination of the course is a team presentation of a new product or service idea with risk assessment for approval and funding.
Prerequisite: 5130
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5210 Marketing
This course provides the student with a working knowledge of contemporary marketing principles, the ability to solve diverse and complex marketing problems, and to implement comprehensive marketing strategies and tactics within a global environment. Emphasis is placed on application of course learnings to real-world challenges, and the ability to think strategically and ethically in achieving a desired market presence while developing and maintaining customer relationships. Areas of study include market assessment and development, understanding consumer behavior, segmentation and target selection, strategic brand positioning, product management, integrated communications, channel management, strategic pricing, and market planning. Student teams develop a marketing plan for a product or service, which is presented to an impartial panel of marketing professionals during the final class session.
Prerequisites: 5130, 5145, 5156, 5190
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5220 Leading Organizational Change
Leading Organizational Change helps students understand and participate effectively in dynamic organizational change. Students will learn why enhancing the pace of learning and change is important to personal and organizational performance and growth. They will be able to diagnose the functional or dysfunctional impact of strategic intent, culture and leadership behaviors on effecting constructive organizational change. The course will also enable students to recognize and address both personal and organizational obstacles to change. Finally, students will understand the need for continually reassessing and updating their capabilities for leading change and how to apply these capabilities to facilitate change within their organizations.
Prerequisites: 5120, 5130, 5200
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5230 Operations Management
This course provides an overview of the key operations management functions in the context of a globally competitive environment, both in a service and a manufacturing setting. Various elements critically necessary to achieve optimal performance are examined. Such elements include labor evaluation, process design and management, capacity planning, site selection, software systems such as ERP, inventory management, scheduling and demand flow, quality systems, managing customer relationships, supply chain management, employee involvement, lean enterprise management, operational strategies, and the impact of global operations. Insight and a deeper understanding of the role that operations plays in the overall organizational strategy will be attained. This course consists of self-directed learning, including online materials, for the first two weeks and a traditional in-class format for the remaining eight weeks.
Prerequisite: 5210
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5240 Strategic Management
This capstone course is designed to provide students an opportunity to apply and integrate knowledge and skills acquired in the MBA program. The emphasis is on the holistic perspective of the CEO/General Manager in crafting a business strategy and using acquired team and leadership skills to successfully execute this strategy. Strategic management issues are explored and applied within the contexts of stakeholder value, ethical decision making, innovation, and strategic thinking.
The centerpiece of this course is an interactive, online business strategy game computer simulation. Student teams form companies to develop and execute a strategy to compete with other student teams throughout the course. At the end of the simulation, each team makes a comprehensive oral presentation summarizing their performance and learning experiences. Students are also required to act as CEO/Team Leader for part of the course and write a paper describing the effectiveness of their team. The simulation is supplemented by team and class discussions of complex business cases, student experiences, contemporary readings, and other relevant materials.
Prerequisites: All core courses
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