Course Descriptions

DDBA 8005 Foundations for Doctoral Business Administration Studies (3 sem. cr.)
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to Walden University and to the requirements for successful participation in an online curriculum. Ethical issues related to business and management are covered in this course. It provides a foundation for academic and professional success from a practitioner approach and as a social change agent. Course assignments focus on practical application of writing and critical-thinking skills and promote professional practice and academic excellence. Major assignments include the preparation of the Professional Development Plan and program of study.

DDBA 8110 Business Operations: Systems Perspectives in Global Organizations (3 sem. cr.)
This course immerses students in how business operates in a global environment. Topics include supply chain management, process management, quality, innovation, forecasting, and decision-making in a global operations environment. Course assignments focus on the practical application of writing, creative, and critical-thinking skills, and the integration of professional practice at the doctoral level.

DDBA 8120 Information Systems: Global Management Strategies and Technologies (3 sem. cr.)
This course provides broad coverage of information systems management concepts and trends underlying current and future developments, as well as principles for providing effective implementation of information systems management. The course is heavily case- and discussion-oriented. A business case study as well as one or more articles or chapters will typically be assigned for each class. Students are expected to be able to develop and define, as necessary, their position and reasoning on a variety of information systems current issues as the course progresses. Course assignments focus on the doctoral-level practical application of writing and critical-thinking skills and the integration of professional practice at the doctoral level.

DDBA 8130 Marketing: Strategic Innovation in Globally Diverse Markets (3 sem. cr)
Today’s world is so globally diverse and interactive that the old skills, and sometimes tools, of marketing are often insufficient. In this course, the student will assume a global marketplace and identify, adapt, and apply those skills and supporting tools with a knowledge base that will guide the student to realize and create a globally competitive advantage in multiple and diverse scenarios and settings. The course moves beyond the essentials of the 5P’s, mix, differentiation, and focused markets to grow the student’s abilities in blending this knowledge with other critical skills, such as financial planning and data analysis. The student will hone skills in proposing and defending an organization’s movement into new products and markets, using decision-based analytical tools in a socially responsible manner.

DDBA 8140 Finance: Fiscal Leadership in a Global Environment—Creating Competitive Responses and Building Corporate Opportunities
While the basic principles of finance and financial planning remain constant and well established, the world within which those principles are applied knows nothing but change. Daily, there are risks of corporate challenges and insults, ranging from local and national regulatory shifts and breaches to international complexities of emerging opportunities. These events create the foundation for building global skills in the financial and economic arenas for business leaders and managers. Through case studies and applied knowledge used in analytical projects, the student will build skills and knowledge for leading organizations with ethical integrity and social accountability. The student will also apply important financial and economic concepts and tools that every key manager should understand. Learners explore the financial and monetary markets, not only within the United States but also abroad, to gain an economic context to apply the concepts and tools necessary to assess an organization’s financial position and explore alternatives to finance organizational ventures. The course also includes financial planning, budgeting, and other trends such as balancing risks. Importantly, the course helps prepare learners to be key ethical players who are effective in leading an organization’s financial capabilities, based on sound financial and economic principles.

DDBA 8150 Leadership: Building Sustainable Organizations (3 sem. cr.)
This course focuses on leadership dimensions of business such as globalization, individual and group behaviors, organizational culture and change, systems thinking, innovation, social responsibility, and sustainability. Students explore these basic dimensions of leadership as they affect the employee, the organization, the community, and the environment. Course assignments focus on the practical application of writing, creative, and critical-thinking skills and the integration of professional practice at the doctoral level.

DDBA 8160 Business Strategy and Innovation (3 sem. cr.)
This course focuses on the development and implementation of business strategies that enable competitive advantage, with an emphasis on understanding the current environment and innovation in which the organization competes and forecasting how that environment may change. Course assignments focus on the practical application of writing and critical-thinking skills and the integration of professional practice at the doctoral level.

DDBA 8427 Applied Research Methods—Qualitative and Quantitative (3 sem. cr.)
This seminar focuses on students’ acquisition of substantive, foundational knowledge of the philosophy of science, including the construction, use, and critique of concepts and theories. Qualitative and quantitative frameworks for inquiry are introduced. Ethical, social, and political aspects of conducting research and producing knowledge for practice are examined. Quantitative designs covered include experimental and quasi-experimental, survey, causal-comparative, evaluation, and existing action research; qualitative designs covered include case study, phenomenology, grounded theory, and ethnography. Assignments consist of knowledge demonstration and problem-solving for professional practice. Course assignments focus on the practical application of writing and critical-thinking skills and the integration of professional practice at the doctoral level.

DDBA 8991 Qualitative and Case Study Research for Business Analysis (4 sem. cr.)
This course provides students the opportunity to extend their research and general analysis skills as they further explore research methods and project types that they may incorporate into their own doctoral study. The focus of the course is on qualitative and case study research methods, where students learn to focus their analysis on efforts to improve the quality of an organization and its performance. Students will also focus on how to think in an action oriented manner, as if they were consultants, so that their own doctoral study work could be applied in action. Finally, students engage in an iterative process of writing their own prospectus application, incorporating feedback from peers and the course instructor. Ultimately, the prospectus is offered by the student as a document for review for consideration by potential mentors for the student’s doctoral study.

DDBA 8438 Quantitative Decision-Making for Business Analysis (3 sem. cr.)
This course develops students’ skills in descriptive statistics, statistical inference, quantitative techniques including analysis of variance and covariance, multiple linear regressions, and various non-parametric techniques. Students will use quantitative data reduction and analysis and data management techniques. Students will learn to utilize software for data analysis. This research competency component is intended to focus on key concepts and issues in the conduct of data analysis in management-oriented social science research, including the role of distribution assumptions underlying various hypothesis tests, the computational details of various tests, and the use of readily available statistical software packages. It is specifically not expected that learners will become fully grounded in statistical methods; rather, it is hoped that students will learn what questions to ask about data analysis and be able to defend their use of specific techniques to be used in professional practice.

DDBA 8100 Doctoral Study Mentoring (0 sem. cr.)
The purpose of this course is to assist doctoral students in making steady progress toward their D.B.A. degree. The instructor of record for a section of the course is the chair of the doctoral study committee. Section participants are the students working with the faculty member at various stages of their doctoral study. The course provides a forum for ongoing exchange of ideas, input, and feedback between the student and the doctoral study chair as the student completes the coursework for the D.B.A. degree.

DDBA 9000 Doctoral Study Completion (4 sem. cr.)
This final doctoral study demonstrates a student’s scholarly ability to examine, critique, and synthesize knowledge, theory, and experience, so that new ideas can be tested; best practices identified, established, and verified; and theoretical, practice, or policy constructs evaluated and advanced. In all cases, the doctoral study is a rigorous inquiry that results in new knowledge, insight, or practice, demonstrating its efficacy in the world of business and management. The goal of the doctoral study is for the business professional to conduct an investigation that focuses on business practice within a designated context. Ultimately, every doctoral study should make a fresh contribution to the field of practice in the professional business environment.

Specialization Courses

DDBA 8510 Seminar in Global Supply Chain Management (3 sem. cr.)
As globalization integrates all regions of the planet, business has become multinational and multimodal. Whether you are a manufacturer, a retailer, or a service provider, if you do business globally you will need to understand how products, services, and even information products develop from ideas to deliverables. In studying global supply chain management, the student will learn the systems required to identify sources of people and material and how to insure that the supply chain conforms to the highest expected standards of doing business anywhere in the world. The course will attempt to accomplish its objectives by providing students current information through extensive use of recent journal articles and papers as well as classic articles and papers related to the field of study.

DDBA 8511 Seminar in Innovation Management (3 sem. cr.)
The golden rule in today’s organizational environment is to “innovate or die.” This course has been designed to provide learners with the concepts, processes, and tools to accelerate the rate, breadth, and depth of innovation within any organization. Specifically, the course has been designed to convey an understanding of what innovation is, what innovation is not, and how to establish the organizational policies, processes, and employee-support infrastructure required to facilitate successful innovation throughout any organization. The course will accomplish its objectives by providing students current information through extensive use of recent journal articles and papers as well as classic articles and papers related to the field of study.

DDBA 8512 Seminar in IT for Competitive Advantage (3 sem. cr.)
Though many aspects of information technology are becoming staples in the business toolbox, competitive advantage is still possible through the development of unique applications and configuring technology in ways unique to your organization. This seminar looks at both the frontier of information technology (IT) in business and new ways of applying IT to cut costs, increase customer satisfaction, and open new business opportunities. Social networking tools and Internet recognition strategies will also be examined for their potential business uses. The course will attempt to accomplish its objectives by providing students current information through extensive use of recent journal articles and papers as well as classic articles and papers related to the field of study.

DDBA 8521 Seminar in Change Management (3 sem. cr.)
The only constant in today’s business environment is change. However, implementing change alone is not sufficient. It is also necessary to identify and prioritize the key organizational issues requiring change and to successfully implement the required changes. Furthermore, the required changes must be defined and aligned at the organizational, process, and employee levels. This course has been designed to help students to learn, identify, and focus on the key areas of the organization that should be prioritized for change initiatives and to develop and implement strategies that will increase the success rate of the key change initiatives. The course will accomplish its objectives by providing students current information through extensive use of recent journal articles and papers as well as classic articles and papers related to the field of study.

DDBA 8522 Seminar in Sustainability (3 sem. cr.)
The environmental crises facing the planet may threaten the human race. The number one challenge for business is to conduct itself in a responsible manner through sustainable decisions. That means more than anticipating continuous profitability. This seminar will explore what it means to be sustainable from an environmental perspective and explore the implications for business in terms of resource consumption, materials processing and disposal, and the impacts of the products we make and distribute. The student will look at the natural systems and how their condition influences doing business in a global economy, as well as what the long-term implications are for conducting business anywhere. The course will accomplish its objectives by providing students current information through extensive use of recent journal articles and papers as well as classic articles and papers related to the field of study.

DDBA 8523 Seminar in Law and Compliance (3 sem. cr.)
Recent years have been witness to numerous cases of suspected corporate greed as well as actual bankruptcy and fraud. These abuses followed by the housing-market collapse and its fallout in the investment community, new regulatory pressures, laws (such as Sarbanes-Oxley), and compliance systems from either third-parties (such as the efforts of the Global Reporting Initiative, GRI) or new watchdogs have arisen to address the failure of the market's self-correcting mechanisms. This seminar will examine the new realities of doing business in today’s sociopolitical climate from a legal perspective. The course will attempt to accomplish its objectives by providing students current information through extensive use of recent journal articles and papers as well as classic articles and papers related to the field of study.

DDBA 8524 Seminar in Multicultural Management (3 sem. cr.)
Both the growing cultural diversity within countries and the expansion of organizations’ international initiatives have brought about the need to recognize, lead, and manage a broader cultural spectrum of workers, managers, and performance improvement teams. This course has been designed to define both the key organizational techniques that can be effected and the potential benefits stemming from managing multicultural workforces. Participants will study and develop analyses of case studies of both successful and unsuccessful attempts to realize the potential that can be derived from multicultural workforces and teams. The course will endeavor to accomplish its objectives by providing students current information through extensive use of recent journal articles and papers as well as classic articles and papers related to the field of study.

DDBA 8531 Seminar in B2B Marketing (3 sem. cr.)
This seminar focuses on business-to-business marketing techniques, strategies, and customer acquisition and relationship-building. Though usually seen as limited to Internet processes, the student will explore the theory and conceptual challenges facing today’s B2B marketing manager. Primarily, the student will learn aspects of online promotion and advertising, communications strategies to promote online initiatives, and creative ways of developing the B2B channel. The course will accomplish its objectives by providing students current information through extensive use of recent journal articles and papers as well as classic articles and papers related to the field of study.

DDBA 8532 Seminar in Consumer Behavior (3 sem. cr.)
This seminar focuses on the characteristics of consumers from the perspective of why they purchase products and services and the expectation they have when doing business. More importantly, the student will study both individual behavior and the psychology of choice, the motivation to buy, and how to maintain satisfaction after purchase. Consumer behavior will also be examined from a cultural (and subcultural) perspective, since markets, niches, and segments are influenced by forces beyond the individual. The focus of the seminar will be on how to manage the customer experience from attraction to a mutually rewarding relationship. The course will accomplish its objectives by providing students current information through extensive use of recent journal articles and papers as well as classic articles and papers related to the field of study.

DDBA 8533 Seminar in Marketing Research (3 sem. cr.)
This seminar explores the processes and methods of studying markets with a focus on understanding the empirical research process. Marketing research methods will be surveyed in the context of understanding competitive opportunities, new product development, and positioning a product or service in the marketplace. Learners will become familiar with public databases, trend-spotting, and futures research as well. The course will attempt to accomplish its objectives by providing students current information through extensive use of recent journal articles and papers as well as classic articles and papers related to the field of study.

DDBA 8540 Seminar in International Finance (3 sem. cr.)
International finance looks at how capital investment is undertaken globally and how financial markets and global trade influence investment opportunities. The seminar includes an overview of the impact of the liberalization of markets by the world’s financial institutions, such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization (WTO), on trade, economies, and the competitiveness of countries, new markets, and exchange and interest rates. The course will attempt to accomplish its objectives by providing students current information through extensive use of recent journal articles and papers as well as classic articles and papers related to the field of study.

DDBA 8541 Seminar in Entrepreneurial Finance (3 sem. cr.)
This seminar explores the development of a small business from start-up to financial security. Various sources of funding will be examined, from personal debt to partnerships with venture capitalists to conventional sources, and, eventually, initial public offerings (IPOs). Most importantly, learners will explore how funding should be structured and the trade-offs and benefits for each model. Learners will also look at entrepreneurial equity and how to negotiate any agreement with funding sources. The course will accomplish its objectives by providing students current information through extensive use of recent journal articles and papers as well as classic articles and papers related to the field of study.

DDBA 8550 Seminar in Managerial Accounting  (3 sem. cr.)
Using a theoretical approach, students in this seminar examine common concepts, principles, and methods used in managerial decision making, including revenue forecasting and cost prediction methods, breakeven and cost-volume-profit analyses, performance variance analysis, relevant cost analysis, project valuation, expected rates of return, and discounted cash flow methods. They also explore opportunities for optimizing methods. Additionally, students examine applied research methods in the context of design and development of rational managerial decision-making systems.

DDBA 8551 Seminar in Accounting-Based Performance Evaluation Systems  (3 sem. cr.)
Students in this seminar examine theories of corporate governance and employee performance evaluation, including the control and performance evaluation aspects of pricing/contribution margin analysis, cost allocation, activity-based costing, throughput accounting, key performance indicators, and balanced scorecard methods. They also explore opportunities for optimizing methods. Additionally, students examine applied research methods in the context of design and development of rational corporate governance and employee performance evaluation systems.

DDBA 8852 Seminar in International Aspects of Managerial Accounting  (3 sem. cr.)
Through this seminar, students have the opportunity to examine international aspects of theories of managerial decision making, corporate governance, and employee performance evaluation in the context of global, cross-cultural management. They also explore applied research methods on the effects of import/export issues, foreign exchange rates, controlled economies, social responsibility reporting, inflation accounting, and international taxation.

DDBA 8560 Seminar in Healthcare Managerial Decision-Making (3 sem. cr.)
In this seminar, students examine the application of healthcare policy and economic principles to managerial decision making, including policy development and implementation processes as well as how health policy changes over time. They also explore key policy initiatives related to cost, quality, and access, and they investigate stakeholders and interest groups involved in the health policy process. They devote special attention to how economic principles, such as supply, demand, and market price determination, relate to the structure of the healthcare industry and the distribution of resources and services.

DDBA 8561 Seminar in Managing Healthcare Delivery Systems (3 sem. cr.)
Healthcare delivery is one of the largest industries in the United States. Students in this seminar focus on the components of the health services delivery system, including patients, organizations, professionals, public and private third-party payers, regulators, reimbursement and reimbursement methods, and technology. Students explore the nature of population illness and disease, and they examine the continuum of health services, such as hospitals and hospital systems, ambulatory care services, long-term care services, wellness/prevention services, and community/public health services. In addition, students analyze contextual factors and challenges that are linked to the healthcare delivery system management; they also explore the impact of these challenges on the delivery of services and healthcare management.

DDBA 8862 Seminar in Law and Ethics in Healthcare Management (3 sem. cr.)
Students in this seminar engage in an examination of the key laws, regulations, and court decisions related to the licensing and oversight of facilities and practitioners, accreditation, credentialing requirements and processes, scope of practice for practitioners, admission and discharge processes, and privacy and confidentiality of patient information. They study contract law governing the relationships with physicians and other providers, the identification of organizational governance issues, and the development of risk management processes and controls. Students also explore key ethical principles underpinning the management of healthcare organizations.

DDBA 8570 Seminar in Program and Portfolio Management  (3 sem. cr.)
In this seminar, students examine the evolving discipline of project-based program and portfolio management and the business competencies required to manage complex projects in dynamic, distributed, and global environments. They also analyze the processes for building and managing a strategic portfolio of projects, including the development of enterprise project support offices.

DDBA 8571 Seminar in Project Portfolio Performance and Organizational Effectiveness (3 sem. cr.)
Managing an organization’s portfolio of projects requires assessing portfolio risk and uncertainty, analyzing opportunities for improving portfolio performance, and addressing project, program, and portfolio sustainability. Students in this seminar focus on these topics as well as on models for assessing and improving organizational project management maturity. They also examine approaches to delivering value to the organization and its stakeholders in socially, environmentally, and culturally responsible ways.

DDBA 8572 Seminar in Project-Based Strategic Leadership (3 sem. cr.)
Students in this seminar examine organizational processes and practices required to support project-based leadership. They focus on the components of project-based strategic leadership, including a global vision for the knowledge economy, the competencies for managing innovation and resistance to change, and a systems thinking framework supported by enterprise-level tools and processes. Students also explore entrepreneurial competencies and approaches to new product and new venture development. Through various course assignments, students address the characteristics of ethical decision makers and approaches to gaining commitment throughout an organization.