Course Descriptions

This course focuses on critical and analytical review of the management theories over the years from pre-Scientific Management era, to the present day. Students are encouraged to compare and contrast management theories and to examine them critically in light of their environmental context.

In this course students will learn statistical concepts used in business research situations. It is well known that any academic career involves research based on data analysis or empirical work. In today’s knowledge society there are huge amount of data and available information that can be used as part of the research process. But it is crucial to use data intelligently and correctly and extract from them significant information. During this course student will examine the most important and fundamental statistical techniques and tools that are required to support the research process. Topics include descriptive statistics and numerical measures, statistical inferences, hypothesis testing, analysis of variance, regression models, and forecasting models.

The course focuses on understanding, implementing and critically evaluating the marketing concepts. The objective is to provide comprehensive explanation of the marketing concepts including target marketing, segmentation, positioning, and the marketing strategy encapsulating product, promotion place, and price strategies, and implement them in the UAE context. The core focus of the course is to develop students’ skills in critically evaluate the existing literature, identify gaps and develop conceptual framework.

The purpose of this course is to provide doctoral students with an understanding about the conceptual foundations of qualitative research methods in business studies. In this course students will be prepared in obtaining the skills, techniques and knowledge necessary to undertake an independent research in qualitative business research.

This course will cover the fundamental concepts and theories of quantitative research methods as applicable to the investigation of organizational phenomena. The students will critically evaluate the various models, designs, principles and statistical skills necessary to independently perform an empirical study. Upon completion of the course, students will gain critical skills relevant to research methodologies applied in business administration research as well as being able to differentiate between a variety of models and statistical methods used in business studies.

In this course provides deeper insights in macroeconomic theories and how to apply it in current macroeconomic problems in the UAE or GCC countries. The main topics covered in this course include income determination, determination of employment and price; fiscal and monetary policies; various theories of business cycles and economic growth. At the end of this course, students should have more understanding of macroeconomic theories and how macroeconomists address the country’s economic issues from a policy perspective.

This course prepares students to gain advanced quantitative skills necessary to analyze research data. It helps students grasp a multitude statistical models that are tailored to answer particular research question. After introducing these advanced techniques such as 2SLS, time series analysis, panel data analysis, forecasting and programing models, the course will focus to provide the students with the ability to evaluate recent empirical studies and develop practical skills which are necessary to perform independent research using statistical packages such as STATA and Smartplus.

The course provides a comprehensive introduction to empirical finance and financial markets landscape, instruments, structure, and valuation. The essential topics of the course include portfolio selection, equilibrium asset pricing, stock valuation, arbitrage pricing, fixed-income securities, derivatives, and foundations of behavioral finance. The classes will cover the central themes of modern finance including individual investment decisions under uncertainty. Upon completion of this course, students should have a clear understanding of the major concepts in finance and financial economics. The relevant tools for problem-solving will be developed and practiced in the homework assignments. All the models considered have immediate applications for real-world finance and investment decisions. The course will focus on empirical evidence and research applications and could be utilized and extended in future studies.

The main purpose of this course is to help students gain knowledge in the theoretical and substantive areas of operations and supply chain management in order to develop mastery of rigorous methods of reasoning and experimentation, to understand and evaluate the scientific literature related to its research project, and to contribute to the advancement of theoretical and applied knowledge. In sum, this course provides an introduction to the key conceptual skills and methods of supply chain management which involves the application of frameworks and mathematical modelling tools to supply chain management problems.

In this course students will learn the core elements of Business Strategy with the underlying theoretical rigor of economic theories. Competition lies at the heart of business, and doctoral students after studying this course will have the knowledge to undertake research in areas related to businesses conducted locally, regionally or globally. A selection of key areas on which students could focus their research themes for doctoral thesis could be: entry and exit strategies in a variety of markets, sources and strategies to cope with competitors, sources of competitive advantages and their sustainability, links between the strategy and structure of firms, and conducting industry analysis. This Course will also expose students to the elements of game theory principles of modern global business.

This course exposes doctoral students to the theoretical foundations of the contemporary approach to financial reporting. This course also examines the political and other environmentl factors that played a role in the development of current accounting standards. Alternative theories and controversial topics in accounting are discussed through a set of readings.

This course is designed to expose doctoral students to a selection of current research in managerial accounting, using both different research designs (e.g., survey, experimental, and archival methods).  Students should leave this course with a proper level of knowledge of managerial research in accounting and be better able to create, analyze, and critique such research.  This course may also help those students who intend to work in this area to identify a thesis (dissertation) topic.

This course exposes doctoral students to accounting issues that are not covered in the other two research seminars (ACC 735 and ACC 740) such as auditing and international accounting research and other issues that under consideration by standard setters (e.g., FASB and IASB).

This seminar develops students’ skills and ability to read and critically evaluate published empirical research in accounting using different research paradigms. It emphasizes use of survey methods, use of secondary data, use of quasi experiments, use of the historical approach, and experimental economics.