Course Descriptions BUSS 6101   Research Design and Methods
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course is intended 1) to provide students with a fundamental understanding of research methods in applied business disciplines (i.e., Marketing, Management, Organizational Behavior, Information Systems, etc.) and 2) to equip students with skills for research design, data collection, and data analysis. In this course, students will be exposed to various research methodologies and learn quantitative data collection and analysis skills for their research projects in applied business disciplines.
FORMAT:
  • Lecture
  • Lab
  • Discussion

LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
RESTRICTIONS: This course is restricted to students registered in the Master of Science in Business program.

BUSS 6102   Behavioral Statistics
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course presents fundamental statistical concepts and tools for understanding and analyzing data from studies in applied business disciplines (i.e., Marketing, Management, Organizational Behavior, Information Systems, etc.). Topics include measures of central tendency and dispersion, basic probability theory, data distributions, significance testing and statistical inference, ANOVA, regression and modelling.
FORMAT: Lecture
LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
PREREQUISITES: There is no prerequisite for this course.
RESTRICTIONS: This course is restricted to students registered in the Master of Science in Business program.

BUSS 6103   Research Reading and Conference
CREDIT HOURS: 3
The ability to conduct research competently and publish it in academic journals is a key determinant of students’ success in a graduate program and an entire academic career. The knowledge of the "how" behind performing research, the writing principles, and the rules of academic integrity are needed to develop research writing skills. In this course, students will read articles and book chapters about writing research papers and proposals to develop research writing skills. The students will learn how to reach different types of audiences, effectively describe research results, avoid plagiarism, and incorporate relevant and appealing stories into research writing. The mode of class discussion will rely on each student’s ability to relate the course material to the issues in their areas of interest. The students will apply the principles of effective writing at the word, sentence, and paragraph levels while writing a paper for a presentation or a conference submission.
FORMAT: Seminar
LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
PREREQUISITES: BUSS 6101 Research Design and Methods
RESTRICTIONS: This course is restricted to students registered in the Master of Science in Business program

BUSS 6201   Theory of Finance
CREDIT HOURS: 3
The intent of this course is not only to give students a solid understanding of seminal works in finance theory, but also introduces them to the concepts and current issues of financial research. This course covers the core theory of investment, corporate finance, and derivative securities. Topics include diversification and portfolio selection, valuation theory and equilibrium pricing of securities, capital budgeting with real options, and financial decision making.
FORMAT:
  • Lecture
  • Discussion

LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
PREREQUISITES: Students in the MScB program who may not have much background in Finance are recommended to read the standard undergraduate textbooks covering the main topics in finance theory to get themselves familiar with the basic knowledge. Examples: Fundamentals of Corporate Finance by Ross, Westerfield, Jordon, and Roberts, 9th edition, Investments by Brodie, Kane, Markus, 10th edition, and Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives by John Hull
RESTRICTIONS: This course is restricted to students in the MScB program.
EXCLUSIONS: COMM 4250.03

BUSS 6202   Seminar in Corporate Finance
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course is designed to provide an overview of major issues in corporate finance. It will cover key scholarly work, including seminal and recent research papers, in the field. We will cover theoretical foundation and empirical findings. The course is structured to introduce students to selected areas of research and research methods.
FORMAT:
  • Lecture
  • Seminar
  • Discussion

LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
RESTRICTIONS: This course is restricted to students in the MScB program.

BUSS 6203X/Y    Econometrics for Business Research
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course covers the mathematical and statistical tools needed to undertake financial economics research. Topics include statistical inference, linear and nonlinear regressions, generalized least squares, simultaneous equations models, and time series models, with a focus on parameter estimation, hypothesis testing, statistical inference, and forecasting.
FORMAT:
  • Lecture
  • Seminar

LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
PREREQUISITES: The prerequisite courses include an introduction to statistics, calculus, and matrices. Students should be familiar with concepts in probability theory and statistical inference, and the course begins with a brief review of basic probability and statistics. Students who lack the required background are encouraged to undertake study before taking this course.

BUSS 6292   Financial Econometrics
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course builds on the knowledge and skills gained in Econometrics I and the previous finance courses to expose students with the various econometric skills used in asset-pricing and corporate finance. We will cover a very large spectrum of empirical methods, including how to compute various moments of returns, tests of random walk, event studies, asset-pricing tests, measurement of conditional volatility and conditional skewness, and the use of GMM (General Method of Moments) estimation. We will apply the econometric theories to real data by replicating the most important studies using SAS.
FORMAT: Seminar
LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
PREREQUISITES: ECON 5575, Econometrics I Students are expected to have a working knowledge of computers, software, and statistics. The skills gained in Econometrics I will come handy.
RESTRICTIONS: This course is restricted to students registered in the Master of Science in Business program

BUSS 6293   Seminar in Investment
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course is designed to provide students with essential theories of investment and asset pricing as well as some practical aspects of making investment decisions. The course will begin with “classical” theories of investment decision and portfolio management and will continue with “traditional” models of capital market equilibrium such as Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and Arbitrage Pricing Model (APT) before moving to cover more recent asset pricing models. Theory and practice of fixed income instruments and bond portfolio management as well as theory and practice of portfolio performance evaluations will also be covered.
FORMAT: Seminar
LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
PREREQUISITES: BUSI 6290, Theory of Finance
RESTRICTIONS: This course is restricted to students registered in the Master of Science in Business program

BUSS 6301   Seminar in Managing People & Organizational Theory
CREDIT HOURS: 3
BUSI 6301 is a required course in organizational and managerial theory and practice relative to how human beings function in organizations. Focused primarily understanding the theory to practice relationship, BUSI 6301 provides the student with an introduction to the practical application of theory in managing people within the context of the external and organizational forces that impact management. We will address specific organizational behaviour and general management knowledge requirements for today’s managers and focus on enhancing the student’s capacity for creative application of that knowledge to achieve success. In particular, BUSI 6301 will facilitate the student’s gaining command of both foundational organizational theory and contemporary managerial practice research that can augment and inform their individual research project and continued organizational learning development.
FORMAT: Seminar
LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
PREREQUISITES: None
RESTRICTIONS: Restricted to MScB students

BUSS 6302   Seminar in Micro Organizational Behaviour
CREDIT HOURS: 3
We spend most of our waking lives in organizations. In this class, we will tour the field of micro-organizational behavior (“micro” in terms of the focus on individuals and groups vs. “macro” in terms of how institutions behave), covering theoretical approaches, empirical findings, and ethical issues. We will cover a blend of classic and contemporary literature so that we can appreciate the prevailing theories and findings in various areas of micro-organizational behaviour. However, for each topic we will then go beyond the existing literature, applying course concepts and ideas to students’ current theses projects.
FORMAT: Seminar
LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
PREREQUISITES: None

BUSS 6401   Seminar in Consumer Behaviour
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course overviews the practice of consumer behaviour as seen through the eyes of academic researchers. Course readings are drawn largely from the Journal of Consumer Research and focus on topics central to consumers
FORMAT: Seminar
LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3

BUSS 6402   Seminar in Marketing
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course overviews the practice of marketing as seen through the eyes of academic researchers. Course readings are drawn largely from the Journal of Marketing and focus on topics central to marketing strategy and marketing management.
FORMAT: Seminar
LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
PREREQUISITES: None
RESTRICTIONS: Restricted to MScB students

BUSS 6501   MIS –Theory and Research
CREDIT HOURS: 3
The main purpose of this course is to provide students with a fundamental understanding of theories and research in the Management Information Systems (MIS) discipline. In this research-seminar course, students will be exposed to some of classical academic research papers on various sub-topics on MIS in order to help them learn different streams of academic research and different research methodologies used in the MIS field.
FORMAT: Seminar
LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
PREREQUISITES: There is no prerequisite for this course.
RESTRICTIONS: This course is restricted to students registered in the Master of Science in Business program.

BUSS 6502   Seminar in MIS Research
CREDIT HOURS: 3
The main purpose of this course is to examine the research foundations of the discipline of Management Information Systems (MIS). The class is conducted as weekly seminar, where some seminal papers of the MIS research are discussed by participants, with an emphasis of applying the theoretical underpinnings to students’ thesis proposals. The range of academic research papers spans several decades and different mythological and epistemological paradigms. Students in this course will learn how to apply the theoretical underpinnings of MIS research to their own research topics, how to build their own research model, and eventually how to conduct academic research project.
FORMAT: Seminar
LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
PREREQUISITES: BUSS 6501 Foundations of MIS –Theory and Research
RESTRICTIONS: This course is restricted to students registered in the Master of Science in Business program.

BUSS 6901   Directed Studies for Reading and Research
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course provides an opportunity for supervised in-depth academic research on a topic of special interest to the student (proposed by the student and faculty member involved, and approved by the Master of Science in Business Program Committee). The objective of this course is to help students work on a research project with the topic(s) that are not necessarily covered by the mandatory research seminar courses of students’ areas of concentration. The required course deliverables should be specified in the course proposals but usually include (but not limited to) periodic reading reports, a literature review, and research proposal and presentations, etc., depending on the topic of interest. Deadlines for electronic submission of proposals (submitted to mscb@dal.ca) are July 15, November 15, and March 15 for the following term (one time only). Proposals must be accompanied by name of supervising professor. Once approved by the MScB Program Committee, the student may engage in this course.
FORMAT: Other (explain in comments)
FORMAT COMMENTS: Independent Study
LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
RESTRICTIONS: Instructor’s permission ‘On’ required for registration

BUSS 7100   Master's Thesis
CREDIT HOURS: 0


BUSS 7101   Research Workshop
CREDIT HOURS: 0
This course encourages early progress in a student’s thesis and facilitates development of a research proposal within the first 2 terms of a MScB student’s program. Students will understand what the key components of a research proposal are and how they have to be articulated in a coherent manner. The course will facilitate an understanding of the fundamental elements associated with a literature review and the principles of peer-review processes. The course will assist students with: developing the ability to assess the quality of a research document, write documents in a manner fitting for scientific publications and assess the ethical requirements of a research project.
NOTES: Students are expected to register in this course each term until all requirements are successfully completed (typically 4 terms). A grade of IP will be given in each term while the course requirements are in progress.
FORMAT: Seminar
FORMAT COMMENTS: The class time and dates are coordinated directly with the MScB Graduate Coordinator.
PREREQUISITES: There is no prerequisite for this course.
RESTRICTIONS: This course is restricted to students registered in the Master of Science in Business program.