Applied Management Principles (AMP): Faculty and Courses

Faculty:

Krannert has world class business faculty, many of whom have been nationally and internationally recognized for their teaching and research excellence. The instructors in Krannert's programs have helped Krannert repeatedly secure top rankings across a variety of disciplines. The same faculty who have extensive applied experience working with executives in the classroom and who have helped Krannert attain this international recognition teach in the Applied Management Principles program.

Courses:

This executive education certificate program is designed for participants who currently or in the near future will be managers in their organizations or will have to deal with management issues. This includes individuals working in sales, marketing, technical service, research and development, engineering, operations, or financial management/accounting. This course helps people in both large and small companies and entrepreneurs wanting to start their own business. The breadth of information across different issues and fundamentals of functions allows the participant to finish the program with an understanding of how the systems of an organization come together and of organizational challenges. This program covers the most important concepts and principles in each of the major functional areas of management: Accounting, Business Law, Economics, Innovation, Financial Management, Leadership, Marketing Management, and Strategic Management.

Accounting

The Accounting segment introduces participants to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), which they use to learn how to read, understand, and analyze financial statements and the important steps in their preparation. We cover other topics like breakeven analysis, how to make special pricing decisions, whether to continue to operate or shut down a business unit, and other cost-volume-profit analyses. We also address the preparation of effective budgets for planning and control.  Specific topics may include:

• The accounting cycle -- accrual vs. cash accounting
• Introduction to financial statements -- how to read and understand them
• Financial statement analysis and the use of ratios
• Introduction to cost accounting -- cost-volume-profit relationships
• Concept of the contribution margin and breakeven analysis
• Relevant cost information and special decisions
• The elements of budgeting (preparing master budgets and flexible budgets)

Business Law

The purpose of the segment is to provide the student with an understanding of the legal environment as it pertains to business organizations and of the ethical considerations and social and political influences that affect such organizations. Students will examine a wide range of substantive rules of law that will provide a framework for a discussion of the ways in which managerial decision making affects and is affected by the legal environment.

Economics

This segment focuses on macroeconomics to provide an overview of the environment within which firms operate.  An understanding of the economic fundamentals that drive efficiency, effectiveness and competitive advantage is essential for managers, particularly in turbulent times. The main topics will be:

• The top 5 macro-economic measures that businesses should follow (e.g., GDP growth, inflation, unemployment, interest rates, national debt)
• The drivers of the key macro-economic measures.
• The impact of these measures on what businesses want to do.

Financial Management

Financial management concerns itself with two fundamental questions that every firm faces:  What projects should the firm undertake and how should the firm obtain the funds necessary to undertake them? The finance function with the firm seeks to answer these questions such that the value of the firm is maximized. The financial management segment of the program provides a survey of the concepts and tools required to make value-maximizing decisions.

• Financial Planning
• Sources of Financial Capital
• Time Value of Money
• Valuing Stocks and Bonds
• Capital Budgeting and the Investment Decision Process

• Cost of Capital

Innovation

In good and bad economic times, innovation is a requisite for companies seeking to remain competitive especially in uncertain and turbulent times. Many organizations are increasingly looking to “Corporate Entrepreneurship” (CE) as a way of combating the lethargy and bureaucracy that often accompany size. CE is an attempt to take both the mindset and skill set demonstrated by successful start-up entrepreneurs and inculcate these characteristics into the cultures and activities of a large company. It is hoped that CE can be a powerful antidote to large company staleness and the inertia that often overtakes the large, mature companies of the world.  Topics include:

• What is innovation?
• What are the types and patterns of innovation?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of large firms (versus small) or incumbent firm (versus new entrants) in terms of conducting incremental and radical innovations?

Leadership

Leadership concerns itself with the skills and characteristics that leaders need within an organization.  As such, it does not focus on a leader versus manager dichotomy, but rather on how to lead an organization effectively.  By doing so, the course has lessons for people at all levels within an organization to effectively lead within their area or to help other leaders be more effective.

Marketing

We break down Marketing Management into its core components and explore each -- from the quality, price, and value trade-offs to the analysis of marketing opportunities. We highlight the importance of effective market planning by taking a step-by-step approach. This includes such traditional considerations as environmental and competitive analyses, characterizing buyer behavior and buying priorities, and effective ways of segmenting your markets. We cover the special topics, product positioning and pricing, in some detail, and we also discuss methods of evaluating and controlling marketing performance.

• Quality and value in marketing -- it's all in the eyes of the customer
• The marketing process and the foundations of marketing planning
• The elements of the marketing plan
• Analyzing marketing opportunities
• Defining an attractive market
• Segmenting markets
• Developing marketing strategies:
• Positioning your product
• Pricing issues
• Evaluating and controlling marketing performance

Strategy

The Strategy segment brings all of the prior functional processes and concepts together in addressing the principal question: How do you best manage the overall enterprise? We present and discuss in detail the five basic tasks of strategic management, and we explore some of the more important organizational strategies. We demonstrate a step-by-step approach for the definition and implementation of successful strategies, and we consider the requirements for creating shareholder value with a situationally-appropriate strategy.

• Factors that influence strategy
• Matching the strategy to the situation (general)
• Industry analysis
• Low cost strategies
• Focus strategies versus diversification strategies
• Matching organizational situation to organizational strategy
• Blue-Ocean Strategy
• International Strategy

Participants receive comprehensive class notes for each program segment. In addition, we may assign pre-program readings so that participants arrive prepared to maximize the returns on their participation. We also assign and discuss readings, cases, problem sets, and other homework assignments during the program.  Please note, however, that these are not graded assignments, and there are no exams in the program.

 

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