The request to establish MBA Concentration in Innovation and Growth Strategies

Date: August 5, 2016
To: Belk College of Business
From: Office of Academic Affairs
Approved On: July 20, 2016
Approved by: Graduate Council
Implementation Date: Spring 2017

Note: Deletions are strikethroughs. Insertions are underlined.

Catalog Copy

Innovation and Growth Strategies Concentration (a minimum of 12 credit hours). Students complete at least twelve hours of elective courses specified for a concentration. Students may enroll in electives as soon as they complete the prerequisite for each course. MBAD 6890 (Directed Individual Study) and MBAD 7090 (Special Topics in Business) may be included in the concentration with permission of the MBA Director and Department Chair.

Concentration requirements (12 hours):

Prerequisite: MBAD 6270 or permission of MBA Director unless otherwise noted

Choose at least 3 of the following:

MBAD 6271: Consumer Behavior and Strategy

MBAD 6273: Branding and New Product Ideation

MBAD 6279: Design Thinking and Innovation

MBAD 6280: Innovation and Growth Strategies

Choose at least 1 of the following:

MBAD 6272: Marketing Analysis and Decision Making

MBAD 6277: Social Media Marketing and Analytics

MBAD 6278: Innovation Analytics

MBAD 6309: Business Models and Business Plans

MBAD 6271. Consumer Behavior and Strategy. (3) Prerequisite: MBAD 6270. The consumer is the central focus of all business activity. Designed to help understand consumption-related behaviors and develop marketing strategies to influence those behaviors. Behavioral concepts are applied to develop dynamic and effective marketing strategies from the perspective of the marketing manager.

MBAD 6272. Marketing Analysis and Decision Making. (3) Prerequisite: MBAD 6270. Planning, execution, analysis, and evaluation of marketing research activities. Emphasis on the techniques and methodology used in the collection, analysis and interpretation of economic, demographic and sociological data for use in marketing decision-making.

MBAD 6273. Brand Building and New Product Strategy Branding and New Product Ideation. (3) Prerequisite: MBAD 6270. A strategic approach to branding, building new brands, measuring brand strength and equity and the management of existing brands and brand extensions. Understanding of new product development and the launch process for a new market offering or extending an existing market offering.

MBAD 6277. Social Media Marketing and Analytics. (3) Prerequisite: MBAD 6270 or permission of department. The utilization of social media in marketing strategy and tactics. Topics include: the use of social media in building brand strength and equity, as a customer acquisition tool, and as a customer relationship management tool. The utilization of analytics in creating effective social media marketing.

MBAD 6278. Innovation Analytics. (3) Prerequisite: MBAD 6270 or permission of department. The comprehension and application of text analytics as a tool to examine unstructured qualitative information to generate innovations. Identifying the various sources of consumer insight and using them in innovation strategy. Understand how to differentiate between what consumers want versus what they say.

MBAD 6279. Design Thinking and Innovation. (3) Prerequisite: MBAD 6270. The theoretical and practical components of innovation. Introduction to design thinking and the innovation process from idea generation to early design to declaration of importance to delivery to the end user. Implementation of innovations.

MBAD 6280. Market Change and Innovating the Future Innovation and Change Strategy. (3) Prerequisite: MBAD 6270. The prediction and exploitation of marketplace change and the development of strategies to dominate future markets through innovative transformation. Frameworks to help market-driven organizations change before circumstances force them to do so and to create innovation-driven consumer strategy for the future. Understanding demographic and consumer trends.

MBAD 6309. Business Models and Business Plans. (3) A course that examines the formulation of business models and plans to detail how to appropriate value from recognized opportunities and innovative solutions. The business model captures a static view of the decisions needed to be made to create value, whereas the business plan provides a dynamic view of the decisions and investments needed to support a business’s specific growth objectives.