PMBA Curriculum

Standard classes start around 6:15pm and end around 9:30pm. Most weeks require attending class on Mondays and Wednesdays, but during the first semester students also have to attend class on alternating Thursdays. Please note that there are a few times you'll be required to participate in an all-day class. Class days are outlined in the month-by-month calendar. 

The weekend format was designed for those with a 9/80 work schedule. The standard class time on Friday is 4pm to 9:30pm, but some Fridays require students to come to campus early. Roughly 2/3 of the Fridays in the program are standard starts. Most of our students plan to go into the office for just half a day every other Friday. Saturday classes are from 7:30am to 6:30pm. Class days are outlined in the month-by-month calendar.

Launch is a six-day long jumpstart to your Rice Professional MBA experience. 

• For those in the Evening option, Launch takes place at the end of July or beginning of August, before the start of your first year.
• For those in the Weekend option, Launch takes place at the end of July or beginning of August, prior to the start of each year. 

The goal of Launch is to help you quickly acclimate to the MBA experience. You'll start some of the required coursework during Launch. In addition to the academic coursework, you'll participate in a series of academic boot camps, career and professional development workshops, team building workshops and assessments and a few camaraderie-building activities.

You will need to take time off if you decide to travel with your cohort for the Global Field Experience. The course takes place in the summer after your first year.

These are full courses completed in two all-day sessions. Find the specific dates reflected on the two-year calendar. 

MGMT 503 - Management Control
This course builds on earlier courses on cost management and corporate strategy and focuses on the management control systems that can be used for the effective implementation of strategy. Included topics are the balanced scorecard, stretch budgets, performance evaluation and incentives, organizational and operational controls, and the development of metrics to motivate and evaluate performance.

MGMT 601 - Financial Statement Analysis
Study of how investors, financial analysts, creditors, and managers use financial statement information in evaluating firm performance and in valuing firms. Emphasizes industry and firm-level analysis of accounting information using financial accounting concepts and finance theory.

MGMT 541 - Economic Environment of Business 
An examination of the global economic environment that serves as a backdrop for business decision making, this course places an emphasis on the key macroeconomic policy goals and tools and how they affect exchange rates, interest rates, business cycles and long-term economic growth.

MGMT 561 - Business-Government Relations 
A study of how public policy influences the private competitive environment of the firm. The course examines the major political institutions and actors — Congress, the president, interest groups, the media and administrative agencies — that shape U.S. public policy. Students analyze business political strategies and formulate several of their own.

MGMT 609 - Energy Markets in Transition
This course considers various publicly available projections of long-term world and U.S. energy markets to 2050. The focus is on the relative impact of input assumptions on modeled trends in the energy sector with an emphasis on renewables.

Students will form teams to take a qualitative look at the risk, uncertainty and relative impact of economic growth, demographics, oil price, oil & gas supply, renewables cost, policy, and other assumptions. The teams will also consider how policies, investment and technology advances could drive energy trends to lower emissions.

MGMT 610 - Fundamentals of the Energy Industry 
The course is based on the principle that one cannot understand commodity markets without a good grasp of the technology and physical infrastructure behind the production, transportation, and distribution of energy commodities and linkages between different segments of the energy complex.

The review of the industry infrastructure will be followed by a discussion of the institutional framework of the energy markets in the U.S. and other developed economies, including a discussion of the different types of participating business entities, types of transactions and regulatory infrastructure. The course will be divided into three groups of lectures, covering the natural gas industry, power and coal business and oil / refined products markets, with an additional shorter lecture on regulatory issues.

MGMT 611 - Geopolitics of Energy 
Geopolitics of Energy builds on critical thinking developed in core courses such as Strategy, Finance and Ethics. The modules deal with historical themes, access to resources, operational issues occurring during the life of an investment, and decisions at the end of investment life (at expected maturity or prematurely).

Scenario Planning is used - not to predict the future but to consider the viability of strategies under alternate future directions. The course uses the case method to a significant extent and deals with diverse regions and levels of economic development. Class participation, individual and group exercises account for grading.

MGMT 616 - Energy Market Organization
The course offers a review of the US energy markets across the entire commodity spectrum: natural gas, oil and refined products, electricity, coal and emission credits. Some aspects of the international energy markets will be covered as well, to the extent the material is critical to understanding the US energy business.

The class is recommended to anyone contemplating a career in energy trading and marketing, energy risk management, or regulatory institutions.

MGMT 712 - Process Management and Quality Improvement 
This course provides students with tools, techniques and frameworks for recognizing and analyzing operating performance opportunities along with a process-centric lens with respect to commercial competitiveness. The course provides a team project opportunity to identify business performance issues and take action by diagnosing and addressing relevant process components.

MGMP 626 - Financing the Startup Venture 
Overview of the venture capital industry; the organization and operation of venture capital funds; investment methodology; monitoring and portfolio liquidation; leveraged investing; and specialized investments.

MGMT 621 - The New Enterprise 
Evaluating opportunities for a new innovation-based enterprise; conceptualizing and developing a venture plan through an iterative process; articulating venture assumptions; testing venture assumptions through experimentation. Intended for students who want to start their own venture, join an early-stage venture, be entrepreneurial within an existing organization, or want to understand entrepreneurs and how to think entrepreneurially.

MGMT 627 - Enterprise Acquisition 
The needs approach to buying and selling businesses; enterprise valuation; deal and contract structuring; mergers and acquisitions; leveraged buyouts; consolidating fragmented industries.

MGMT 641 - Entrepreneurial Strategy 
This course provides an integrated strategic framework for entrepreneurs, focusing on the core challenges startup innovators face when building competitive advantage in dynamic environments. Students explore how to balance experimentation and learning with strategic decision-making while examining financing options for early-stage ventures, including angel investment, accelerators, crowdfunding and venture capital.

The course also covers the structure and economics of startup funding, including term sheets, deal structures, investment methodology and the role of venture capitalists as advisors and board members. Through interactive lectures, guest speakers and case analyses, students apply these concepts to real-world entrepreneurial opportunities across a range of industries.

MGMT 724 - Social Entrepreneurship 
This practical course will examine social entrepreneurship and its ability to create social change by applying business principles and earned income strategies. Light on Powerpoint slides and theory and heavy on real-world leadership and discussions, the course will have students consider social enterprise solutions to real social needs and write a business plan utilizing knowledge gained throughout their MBA program.

MGMT 740 - Student Venture Fund 
Students will identify, screen and evaluate start-ups for investment by the Rice venture capital fund. Through this highly experiential course, students will learn tools for rigorously evaluating startup ventures for investment, valuing early-stage companies and structuring investments. Students will present their investment recommendations to an advisory committee.

MGMT 761 - E-Lab: Enterprise Acquisition 
Students will follow the processes learned in MGMT 627 to acquire an existing business or start a search fund. Students will develop selection criteria, network to connect with sellers, conduct preliminary due diligence, perform a business valuation, develop potential deal structures and have the opportunity to move forward on any potential opportunities on their own after graduation.

Students attend a check-in class every other week to present updates and receive feedback from faculty, students and alumni mentors.

MGMT 762 - E-Lab: New Enterprise 
Students working on their own startup have the opportunity to apply the processes learned in the New Enterprise course to their startup. Students attend a check-in class every other week to present updates and receive feedback from faculty, students and alumni mentors. Repeatable for credit.

MGMT 833 - Strategy in Technology Ecosystems 
The course deals with strategic management topics of interest to ventures that operate in technological ecosystems. Topics covered include platforms, network effects, coping with disruptive innovation, and how technology can create new markets and revolutionize existing ones.

MGMT 601 - Financial Statement Analysis 
Study of how investors, financial analysts, creditors and managers use financial statement information in evaluating firm performance and in valuing firms. Emphasizes industry and firm-level analysis of accounting information using financial accounting concepts and finance theory.

MGMT 642 - Futures and Options I 
An introduction to forward, futures, option, and swap contracts, including the basic valuation principles, the use of these contracts for hedging financial risk, and analysis of option-like investment decisions. Recommended for finance students.

MGMT 645 - Portfolio Management 
This course offers a review of classic investment theory with an emphasis on measuring and managing investment risk and return. It covers the development of modern portfolio theory and asset pricing models, an introduction to option and futures contracts, market efficiency and stock valuation. Recommended for most finance students.

MGMT 646 - Advanced Corporate Finance
This course examines the investment, financing, and related policy decisions faced by a corporate financial officer. We will study several frameworks for evaluating corporate projects that expand on the capital budgeting issues developed in the core finance course. In particular, we will develop techniques for assessing projects with inherent flexibility (real options).

We will also examine the interaction between investment and financing decisions, and how capital structure affects firm value. The final part of the course examines other important topics in corporate finance such as payout policy, risk management, and corporate governance.

MGMT 648 - Applied Finance 
Study of the theory and practice of the fundamental principles in finance emphasizing hands-on experience with a wide range of corporate finance and investment applications. The course provides extensive opportunities to implement finance theory at a practical level and to develop advanced analytical spreadsheet expertise.

MGMT 652 - Mergers and Acquisitions 
The course examines the merger and acquisition process from the perspectives of buyers and sellers. Attention is paid to the internal (make) versus external (buy) growth opportunities and their value consequences. The course also analyzes the M&A transaction process through the study of cases. An additional focus will be on the interaction of strategic planning, value planning, financial strategies and investment decisions.

MGMT 659 - Real Estate Finance: Asset Valuation 
This course has two primary objectives: 1) to provide an overview of the fundamental frameworks commonly used in the real estate industry, and 2) to provide a detailed understanding of the discounted cash flow (DCF) model, the primary quantitative financial decision tool used in the real estate industry. Students will learn how to build robust DCF models incorporating important features and conventions for application to real estate assets.

MGMT 788 - Corporate Rivalry 
This course is about learning to think like a game theorist and developing a systematic way to evaluate strategic problems. Emphasis is on real-world applications and in-class business exercises.

MGMT 604 - Mindfulness and Performance in the Workplace 
Throughout contemporary society and corporate America, we frequently hear people touting the value of “mindfulness.” What exactly is this concept – and how can it foster high performance in the workplace and improve the quality of workers’ lives? This course addresses these questions through cases and experiential learning activities.

MGMT 631 - Health Insurance in the U.S.: The Essentials 
The basics that all executives, especially those working in the healthcare industry, need to know about health insurance programs, public and private markets, pricing, risk management and how insurance companies think about their business. After covering the basics, the course examines the rapid shifts occurring as a result of the Affordable Care Act and other environmental and legislative changes.

MGMT 678 - Business of Healthcare 
A sequence of offerings that provides an introduction to the business of healthcare in the U.S. Topics include health care systems, health service organizations, issues relating to the aging problem and the technology explosion in healthcare. Required elective for MD/MBA's dual-degree students. Repeatable for Credit.

MGMT 690 - Healthcare Strategy 
The healthcare sector, which includes areas such as healthcare delivery, payment, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, etc., is an important part of any economy and society in all countries of the world, including the U.S.

This elective course offers students the opportunity to study and review core strategy concepts, analytical techniques and frameworks relevant to developing, evaluating and implementing value-creating strategies for organizations operating in various sectors of the healthcare space.

MGMT 691 - Breakthrough Negotiations in Applied Contexts
This course focuses on designing and conducting breakthrough negotiations in context, using the healthcare context as an example. It introduces a dynamic model and illustrates how negotiators should consider characteristics of a specific context in formulating and executing their negotiation strategies.

The course uses a variety of exercises and simulations in the healthcare context to facilitate students’ understanding and internalizing of the framework and to sharpen their skills in contextualizing their negotiation strategies.

MGMT 712 - Process Management and Quality Improvement 
This course provides students with tools, techniques and frameworks for recognizing and analyzing operating performance opportunities along with a process-centric lens with respect to commercial competitiveness. The course provides a team project opportunity to identify business performance issues and take action by diagnosing and addressing relevant process components.

MGMT 744 - Services Operations 
This course aims to provide students with a theoretical and practical understanding of current operational challenges faced by service organizations. It explores both quantitative and qualitative tools and methods for the effective planning, design, marketing, management and improvement of service operations.

MGMT 753 - Operations Lab: Healthcare 
This course provides the needed skills and the experience of leading and facilitating change in a live healthcare environment with actual processes, staff and business value on the line. Students are paired, given a real business problem in a major Houston healthcare system and guided to deliver the solution, implementation plan and control plan.

MGMT 778 - Customer Experience Management 
This course examines the key issues in managing customer experience in customer-focused service organizations. Its learning objectives are to understand the customer decision journey framework, diagnose and solve problems with journey mapping, design a transformative customer experience, measure experience, and manage unforeseen mishaps and setbacks.

MGMT 680 - Customer Lifetime Value 
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is a metric of burgeoning interest for firms, venture capitalists, financial analysts and marketers. In this course, students learn how to build powerful and predictive data-driven CLV models. Topics covered include valuing firm equity using customer data, using RFM segmentation for direct marketing, customer acquisition and retention, and measuring the impact of a loyalty program.

MGMT 681 - Managing Customer Perceptions 
This course is designed to offer you an overview of the major principles of persuasion. The emphasis will be on developing a marketing communications approach that will fit into a firms’ marketing program. The course will cover how to set effective communication objectives, decide what to communicate and how to develop a message execution approach.

MGMT 682 - Pricing Strategies 
Study of the paradigm that success of a product lies not only in its acceptance by the end consumer but also in how it is priced and how it reaches the intended consumer, with emphasis on understanding and analyzing the issues, problems and opportunities characteristic of the channel relationship and of the various faces of pricing. Repeatable for Credit.

MGMT 684 - Brand Strategy 
The Brand Strategy course is designed to build on your first-year MBA marketing course and will explore the elements of brand strategy to build capabilities on brand management and how brands drive business strategy and long-term value: what it is, what it is not, how to manage, execute, measure and value.

MGMT 686 - Introduction to Marketing Research 
Students will learn the most common methods managers use to gain insight about customers and markets as well as the objectives/advantages/disadvantages associated with different research designs such as qualitative methods, surveys and experiments. Students will not learn specific analytic methods but rather how to design studies to yield valid results.

MGMT 707 - Advanced Marketing Research 
Students focus on conjoint analysis, a state-of-the-art method for discovering consumer preferences. This framework enables a quantitative approach to new product design that encompasses analysis of market share, segmentation, targeting and positioning. In this project-based course, student teams design a set of new product concepts using conjoint analysis, analyze related survey data and present a data-driven strategic marketing plan for their chosen concept.

MGMT 771 - Digital Marketing 
This course provides an introduction to digital marketing and examines the ways it should be implemented. In addition to learning fundamental constructs and principles, students will focus on tools and skills needed for setting goals, implementing campaigns and measuring success. Guest speakers and in-class exercises are used to provide insights and relevancy to this swiftly expanding area of marketing.

MGMT 778 - Customer Experience Management 
This course examines the key issues in managing customer experience in customer-focused service organizations. Its learning objectives are to understand the customer decision journey framework, diagnose and solve problems with journey mapping, design a transformative customer experience, measure experience, and manage unforeseen mishaps and setbacks.

MGMT 995 - Introduction to Data Mining for Business Analytics
The main purpose of this course is to expose students to the interactive process of analyzing and exploring enterprise data to find insights that can be leveraged for competitive advantage. We will apply analytical tools to data in order to learn how to discover patterns and associations in business data that would otherwise be ignored.

We will go through the steps of a typical data science project, such as data exploration, data visualization, (data) storytelling, prediction, classification, and optimization, using a real-world data set.

MGMT 653 - Blockchain: The Internet of Value 
In this course, students will come to understand the design principles of the blockchain economy and its implementation challenges. You'll analyze the potential application of this “protocol of truth” beyond currency: to develop decentralized networks, to optimize logistics and trade, and to record value and identity (smart contracts, birth certificates, insurance claims, art, land titles and even votes).

MGMT 670 - Operations Strategy 
Examines the key components that build an effective operations strategy for driving a 21st-century company’s competitive business strategy. Covers a range of industries and uses current events and cases to highlight the underlying theories and practices. Also looks at cutting-edge topics in operations and supply chain management.

MGMT 682 - Pricing Strategies 
This course explores the paradigm that the success of a product lies not only in its acceptance by the end consumer but also in how it is priced and how it reaches the intended consumer, with an emphasis on understanding and analyzing the issues, problems and opportunities characteristic of the channel relationship and of the various faces of pricing. Repeatable for credit.

MGMT 698 - Applied Business Process Optimization 
An analytic introduction to the design and integration of successful operations tactics both within the organization and across the supply chain. The course focuses on quantitatively understanding, managing and improving processes and flows of products, customers and information and using measurable techniques to address bottlenecks, manage inventory, improve quality, and other strategic issues in operations.

MGMT 712 - Process Management and Quality Improvement 
This course provides students with tools, techniques and frameworks for recognizing and analyzing operating performance opportunities along with a process-centric lens with respect to commercial competitiveness. The course provides a team project opportunity to identify business performance issues and take action by diagnosing and addressing relevant process components.

MGMT 717 - Project Management 
This course focuses on the fundamentals of project management. Students will have the opportunity in this course to apply many of the subjects discussed in the MBA program in practical ways through case studies and consulting with company project managers.

MGMT 719 - Supply Chain Management 
This course explores strategies to optimize the integrated planning and execution of processes that facilitate the flow of materials, information and financial capital. Topics include materials demand planning, procurement systems, inventory management, strategic sourcing, supplier relationship management, logistics and asset management.

MGMT 753 - Operations Lab: Healthcare 
This course provides the needed skills and the experience of leading and facilitating change in a live healthcare environment with actual processes, staff and business value on the line. Students are paired, given a real business problem in a major Houston healthcare system and guided to deliver the solution, implementation plan and control plan.

MGMT 793 - Creating the Data-Driven Business 
This course provides an understanding of how to build and lead a data-driven business. Lectures cover fundamentals of data management, analytics maturity models, the role of “Big Data,” application of artificial intelligence, machine learning and cognitive computing technologies for predictive and adaptive analytics, and creating value-based business analytics strategies.

MGMT 604 - Mindfulness and Performance in the Workplace 
Throughout contemporary society and corporate America, we frequently hear people touting the value of “mindfulness.” What exactly is this concept – and how can it foster high performance in the workplace and improve the quality of workers’ lives? This course addresses these questions through cases and experiential learning activities.

MGMT 691 - Breakthrough Negotiations in Applied Contexts
This course focuses on designing and conducting breakthrough negotiations in context, using the healthcare context as an example. It introduces a dynamic model and illustrates how negotiators should consider characteristics of a specific context in formulating and executing their negotiation strategies.

The course uses a variety of exercises and simulations in the healthcare context to facilitate students’ understanding and internalizing of the framework and to sharpen their skills in contextualizing their negotiation strategies.

MGMT 784 - Power and Influence in Organizations 
A manager’s primary purpose is to use power to influence subordinates and create an effective organization. This course will teach students how to build power, how to influence people, and the proper use of power in the modern organization through lectures, discussions, and experiential activities.

MGMT 608 - Disruption in Commercial Real Estate 
With a seismic shift in commercial real estate due to technology-driven changes to distribution networks and the digitization of the economy, developers face challenging and evolving opportunities. How do you adapt and thrive when customer desires change at lightning speed and everyone competes against Amazon?

Through simulations and a real-time case study, students learn to capture the rewards of customer-centric design using psychographics and quantitative methodologies.

MGMT 654 - Real Estate Capital Markets: Public & Private 
This course has two major objectives: First, to provide an overview of topics related to real estate capital markets. Specifically, this course will focus on how to raise capital for various uses. This course will devote time to understand the working of the capital markets. Second, to prepare students interested in real estate to learn concepts related to accessing capital from various sources.

Finally, you will learn from various guest speakers who are highly recognized in the industry, what their experience has taught them and how to use it to make a team presentation “pitch” for capital.

MGMT 659 - Real Estate Finance: Asset Valuation 
This course has two primary objectives: 1) provide an overview of the fundamental frameworks commonly used in the real estate industry and 2) provide a detailed understanding of the discounted cash flow (DCF) model, the primary quantitative financial decision tool used in the real estate industry. Students learn how to build robust DCF models incorporating important features and conventions for application to real estate assets.

MGMT 660 - Real Estate Contract Negotiations for Business Professionals 
Legal risk pervades business dealings. This course explores legal risk by educating the student on legal theories, and then how to identify, quantify, reduce and accept legal risk, in the context of real estate transactions. Effective interaction with legal counsel will be emphasized. Repeatable for credit.

MGMT 674 - Real Estate Finance: Securities 
This course describes the connection between financial markets and real estate, dealing with the study of public traded securities that have their cash flows tied to real property cash flows, such as mortgage-backed securities and REITs. This course is particularly useful for students interested in the connection between real estate and capital markets. After all, the Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) market is the largest fixed income market in the world!

 This course also aims to be useful to students interested in pursuing a career in real estate. Even though many jobs in the real estate industry do not deal directly with the topics related to this course, it is impossible to have a comprehensive view of the industry without understanding the topics described in this course.

MGMT 728 - Real Estate Development Seminar
The Real Estate Development course follows the development process from an entrepreneurial and "deal-making" point of view. Course topics include market analysis, site selection, project budgeting/financial analysis, land acquisition, marketing and leasing, joint ventures, financing, design and construction management and dispositions.

MGMT 746 - Real Estate Property 
This survey course provides a short but intensive overview of real estate and the real estate industry.

MGMT 776 - Introduction to Real Estate Industry 
An introductory survey course intended to provide a foundational understanding of the real estate industry. This course aims to be useful to students interested in pursuing a career in the real estate industry who have no or limited experience in real estate. This course is open to MBA students in each program. Outside graduate students may enroll with instructor permission provided space is available. Repeatable for credit.

MGMT 561 - Business-Government Relations 
A study of how public policy influences the private competitive environment of the firm. The course examines the major political institutions and actors — Congress, the president, interest groups, the media and administrative agencies — that shape U.S. public policy. Students analyze business political strategies and formulate several of their own.

MGMT 652 - Mergers and Acquisitions 
The course examines the merger and acquisition process from the perspectives of buyers and sellers. Attention is paid to the internal (make) versus external (buy) growth opportunities and their value consequences. The course also analyzes the M&A transaction process through the study of cases. An additional focus will be on the interaction of strategic planning, value planning, financial strategies and investment decisions.

MGMT 686 - Introduction to Marketing Research 
Students will learn the most common methods managers use to gain insight about customers and markets as well as the objectives/advantages/disadvantages associated with different research designs such as qualitative methods, surveys and experiments. Students will not learn specific analytic methods but rather how to design studies to yield valid results.

MGMT 721 - Business Law 
This course examines the broad subject of law as it relates to business and is designed to help the student develop “legal astuteness.” That is, the ability to communicate effectively with counsel and to work together with counsel to solve complex problems and/or to protect and leverage the firm’s resources.

It is designed to be a guide to understanding how the law impacts daily management decisions and business strategies, spotting legal issues before they become legal problems, and using laws and legal tools to marshal resources and manage risk.

MGMT 733 - Strategies for Growth 
This course focuses on examining various strategies that companies can adopt to achieve sustainable and profitable growth. The course will use a variety of real-life cases of companies and supplement them with relevant readings, lectures or other exercises, as necessary.

MGMT 786 - Global Business Offsite 
This course, led by Rice Business faculty, takes place in an international business setting and consists of a combination of lectures by local university faculty and business leaders and site visits to companies in the region. Students have the opportunity to meet with corporate executives, investors and scholars to discuss opportunities and challenges of doing business in the country.

The objectives of the course are to further an appreciation of the opportunities and obstacles of doing business in different parts of the world, increase sensitivity to cross-cultural issues, and broaden perspectives on issues dealing with global business. Department permission required. Repeatable for credit.

MGMT 833 - Strategy in Technology Ecosystems 
The course deals with strategic management topics of interest to ventures that operate in technological ecosystems. Topics covered include platforms, network effects, coping with disruptive innovation, and how technology can create new markets and revolutionize existing ones.

MICO 605 - Managing Foreign Market Entry for the Energy Industry 
The energy industry is global in nature. This course is designed to equip you and your organization with the skills, knowledge and sensitivity required to successfully manage foreign market entries in the energy industry. This course will cover the following issues: (1) how to mitigate political risk in the global environment, (2) how to choose foreign entry strategies, (3) how to manage partnerships with local firms, (4) how to manage relationships with local stakeholders, and (5) the environmental concerns in the global energy industry.

 The course is structured around cases and newspaper articles to highlight the relevance and applications of the course concepts. We will also have guest speakers from major energy companies join us and share their experiences and insights.