Courses in Business
BUSI 200 - Introduction to Business
This course provides students with an introduction to the business environment, including from a global and societal perspective. Students will learn key concepts and apply them in a variety of simulated and real-world scenarios. Core areas covered include marketing, operations management, accounting and finance, management, entrepreneurship and worldviews.
BUSI 253 - Introduction to Financial Accounting
This course is about financial accounting - the preparation and reporting of financial information to users who are outside of a firm (e.g., creditors, shareholders, and tax authorities). This information is usually communicated through the preparation of a set of financial statements. This course will provide an understanding of how financial statements are prepared, and how the financial information they contain can be used and interpreted by various external decision makers. At the same time, the student will gain an understanding of assumptions and conventions that underlie accounting in general, and various financial statement components in particular.
BUSI 303 - Business As Mission
Business As Mission (BAM) is a representation of the Kingdom of God in the context of business by engaging with the world's pressing social, economic, environmental and spiritual issues. This course provides a broad understanding of BAM, as well as facilitates students in gathering relevant information and discerning their calling in business through lectures, a boot camp, community living, focused company visits and case study analysis.
BUSI 305 - Fld St: Global Entrepreneurshi
In this course, students experience the opportunities and challenges of global entrepreneurship. Students are challenged to assess alternative ways of doing business. The course involves pre-departure training classes and meetings with the instructor which facilitates gathering relevant information and identifying business opportunities. On the study trip students interact with companies in the countries visited. Students learn about the global business environments, practice cross-cultural skills, encounter international trade issues, and observe different decision-making, communication and negotiation styles. The course concludes with student presentations of global business plans.
BUSI 320 - Statistics for Business
This course is an introduction to statistical methods and their application to business decision-making. Descriptive statistics, frequency distributions, probability and probability distribution, sampling distributions, statistical inference on means and proportions are examined. Hands-on experience in using a statistical analysis software package is provided. Students are expected to have basic familiarity with computer applications including spreadsheets.
BUSI 323 - Project Management
This course will provide students with a flexible toolkit of techniques that a student could use to deliver the right solution on time and within budget. Focusing on scheduling, planning, monitoring and controlling, communication, resource management, risk management, stakeholder management, project lifecycle.
BUSI 325 - System Design and Analysis
The focus of this course is to provide students with the tools they need to successfully examine a business's current system, research the problems, develop effective alternatives, and implement a new solution. Participants are also provided information on effective methods for risk management when working with new solutions. Hands-on experience is provided. Concepts taught in this course include the IS development process: concepts, main phases, activities, products and roles, business requirement analysis, enterprise modeling, process modeling and other modeling approaches, and issues in the implementation process of information systems.
BUSI 327 - Innovative Design Thinking
Innovative design thinking is the ability to turn abstract ideas into practical solutions for complex organizational and societal challenges. Through comprehensive exploration, students will harness their creative potential, master essential design thinking tools, develop the aptitude to identify and seize opportunities, evaluate and refine ideas, and accomplish more with fewer resources. Through two substantial projects, including a case study and a competitive case competition, students will sharpen their ability to craft out-of-the-box solutions and present them confidently in a competitive arena.
BUSI 335 - Consumer Behaviour
This course is designed to help marketers understand why consumers behavior the way they do, and it examines how this can inform marketing decision making. Topics include various factors influence consumer behaviors such as psychology, sociology, economics, education, and culture.
BUSI 339 - Organizational Behavior And Management
This course will examine the relationship between human behaviour, managerial practices, and organizational outcomes. Theoretical and practical aspects of organizational behaviour will be explored from both micro and macro perspectives. Topics covered include self-awareness, perceptions and emotions, motivation, group dynamics, leadership, power and conflict, organizational structure and culture, decision-making, and organizational change. The overall objective of this course is to enable students to develop the foundational skills necessary to be an effective employee as well as manager.
BUSI 341 - Small Business Start-up and Management
An introduction to the process of setting up, developing and operating a small business in Canada, particularly in the West. The emphasis is on the managerial and strategic problems existing during the early years of business formation and growth, including sound business planning. This includes creation of a business plan, securing finance, selecting a site, developing products/services, marketing, and legal, ethical, and environmental aspects of setting up a firm. The responsibilities inherent in each of these activities, as well as the resources required, are also reviewed.
BUSI 343 - Managing Public, Non-Profit and Voluntary Organizations
This course will study approaches to managing in the non-profit sector, particularly the unique programs and policies that are required for effective management practices. These practices will be contrasted with the approaches utilized in the private for-profit sector.
BUSI 344 - Human Resource Management
As organizations move rapidly into a knowledge-based economy, the strategic importance of effective human resource management become increasingly evident. This course aims to familiarize students with the key functions, concepts, and practices which characterize modern HRM. Issues examined include staffing, work design, reward systems, training and development, performance evaluation, union-management relationships, workplace health and safety, and legal concerns.
BUSI 345 - Cross-Cultural and Diversity Management
As the network of globalized operations expand and the diversity in workplaces increases, individuals will need to become more culturally competent and responsive in order to effectively address issues, challenges, and opportunities that arise. This course will explore the implications of culture and diversity on managerial and leadership approaches, business practices, communication and interpersonal relations, organizational and individual performances as well as overall workforce management - in both international and domestic settings.
BUSI 346 - Family Business
Family owned enterprises present unique management issues which will be explored in this course, including: family vs. business value sets, integration of non-family managers, taxation and inheritance, generational transition, exit strategies, governance structures and conflict management issues
BUSI 348 - Operations Management
This course introduces the concepts underlying effective operation and control within various organizations. Approaches to production control, inventory policy, facilities planning, methods improvement and technological assessment are studied. A balance between academic and real-life examples, applications and constraints are considered.
BUSI 350 - Geographic Information Systems
An introduction to the principles and applications of GIS. Hands-on lab assignments focus on data input and manipulation, spatial problem solving, and map presentation using GIS software on micro-computers. Students complete a GIS-based project.
BUSI 353 - Intermediate Financial Accounting I
This course focuses on elements of the Balance Sheet, Capital Assets, Current and Long-term Liabilities, Partnerships, Shareholders Equity, Investments and Cash Flow generated, and Taxes on Corporation Income. This course is available to first year B.Com. students.
BUSI 354 - Intermediate Financial Accounting II
Continues from Busi 353, Intermediate Financial Accounting I. Accounting for the Statement of Financial Position is completed, covering relevant IFRS and ASPE standards, disclosure and reporting for the liabilities and equity sections. Also examines the preparation and interpretation of the Statement of Cash Flows. Other topics covered include earnings per share, income taxes, pensions, leases, changes in accounting methods, and accounting errors.
BUSI 355 - Management Accounting
This course teaches cost terms, cost behaviour, costing systems, product costing, cost allocation, relevant costs for decision-making, budgeting and capital budgeting.
BUSI 356 - Intermediate Management Accounting
Covers decision analysis and strategy from a management perspective, activity-based costing and management techniques, customer relationships, process costing and performance management, life cycle costing, behavioral issues in management accounting and control systems, budgeting and investment planning and capital budgeting decisions.
BUSI 357 - Advanced Management Accounting
This course builds on the material covered in Busi355 and Busi356, emphasizing practice of the concepts and techniques learned to real-life case situations. In particular, the course provides practice in defining issues and applying management accounting knowledge. Topics include responsibility accounting, performance management and strategy analysis, control system design, and corporate governance.
BUSI 359 - Management Information Systems
Topics covered include the technology ecosystem, using information systems (IS) for competitive advantage, data collection and organization (databases), business process management, and security. Students will also gain experience through labs with hands-on technology projects (particularly Excel). The blending of the academic and lab work will result in a greater understanding of the strategic possibilities inherent at the crossroads of business and technology.
BUSI 361 - Tax Principles
Study of the basic principles of the Canadian income tax system. Topics covered include individual and corporate tax principles, GST, taxation of various income sources, calculation of net income, taxable income and taxes payable, income tax management and planning.
BUSI 367 - Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Business
Social and environmental concerns can be addressed in many ways, including within a for profit framework. The deliberate combination of social and environmental purpose with profit has led to the development of several expressions of what has become known as social-purpose businesses. This course will survey and differentiate the variety of socially- and environmentally-oriented businesses that exist in the business landscape.
BUSI 369 - Commercial Law
This course gives students a practical knowledge of business law that enables them to participate in the managerial decisions of a business and allows them to recognize problems and situations that require the help of a lawyer. The basic content of the course consists of legal concepts, principles and precedents of commercial law and their application to business situations, especially through the case-study method.
BUSI 370 - Introduction to Finance
This course provides a general corporate framework for financial decision-making. The course examines: Introduction to Financial Management, the Canadian Financial System, and Environment; The Time Value of Money; Risk and Value; The Cost of Capital; Capital Budgeting: Certainty, Part I; Capital Budgeting: Certainty, Part II; Capital Budgeting: Uncertainty; Financing Decisions and Capital Structure; Dividend Policy and Retained Earnings; Financial Analysis and Planning; Financial Forecasting and Planning; Management of Working Capital; Sources of Long-term Capital; and Other Financial Topics: Mergers, International Financial Management, Corporate Reorganizations and Liquidation.
BUSI 371 - Intermediate Finance
Examines financial and investment decisions from the corporation's perspective. The financial markets, the trade-off between risk and return, the firm's cost of capital, capital budgeting decisions, the firm's working capital management decisions and the derivatives markets are integral to the valuation of financial assets.
BUSI 375 - Sport and Recreation Management
This course provides an overview of the basic management principles as they relate to sport enterprises and the operation of sport and recreation organizations. Functional areas of management will be highlighted including finance, marketing, human resources, and ethics. Students will explore the nature of recreation and sport from a Christian world view with an emphasis on developing effective leadership skills. Current trends and challenges in sport and recreation will also be addressed.
BUSI 377 - Event Management And Marketing
This course will examine effective management strategies and knowledge associated with pursuing a career in event management. It will introduce students to management career opportunities as well as guiding principles as they apply to event management, organization, leadership styles, communication and marketing. In addition, students will be exposed to the logistics required in proposing, designing, planning, promotion, managing, budgeting, execution, risk management and evaluation of events. Concepts taught in this course are applicable in a number of contexts including: sporting events, festivals, community celebrations, cultural events and arts productions. This course also explores the types, purpose and importance of events and analyzes the impact of events on the local and wider community, as well the economy, environment and socio-cultural and political implications of these events.
BUSI 381 - International Business
This course provides a comprehensive overview of the key aspects of international business,helping business leaders' see opportunities and manage challenges in the international marketplace. The course will cover legal, technical, cultural, and political environments. It will also present the fundamentals of international trade theory, foreign direct investment, regional economic integration, the mechanism of foreign exchange market and global capital market, and latest trade issues and agreements. Classroom activities and assignments are designed to integrate and apply frameworks, models, tools, and concepts to enable sound strategic choices.
BUSI 385 - Leadership
This course includes an overview of the various approaches to leadership theory, including trait-based, skills-based, situational, contingency, path-goal, leader-member exchange, transformational and servant leadership, and others. Leadership issues examined include: leadership development, roles of followers, management vs leadership, personality, faith perspectives, personal values, group status and dynamics.
BUSI 389 - Organizational Design and Change
We inevitably encounter organizations, both in work and leisure, everyday of our lives. This course examines how organizations are structured and how they change. Students will be introduced to the theories of why organizations look the way they do, to the principles of organizational design, to the theories of how organizations change, and to practical steps in initiating and accomplishing organizational change. Through these theories and tools, students will develop an appreciation for how organizations affect us, as well as skills in analyzing organizations and reshaping them in order for them to be more effective.
BUSI 391 - Statistics for Business II
Students will deepen their skills in data analysis and decision making under uncertainty using quantitative methods. Regression analysis, modeling, and time series forecasting are applied to real data and business examples. The course also provides a basic understanding of optimization modelling, simulation modeling, and data mining. Students will learn to interpret output from statistical spreadsheets.
BUSI 395 - Marketing Promotions
This advanced course explores promotional strategies in the contemporary marketplace. Students examine sales, digital promotion, public relations, product management, and sales management. Through a blend of theoretical frameworks and practical applications, students engage with the critical aspects of crafting compelling promotions that resonate with target audiences and drive market success. Covering traditional retail to the ever-evolving digital landscape, students will develop skills with promotional tools and platforms.
BUSI 396 - Introduction to Marketing
This course starts with marketing vocabulary, concepts and techniques. It foregrounds the 4 P's of marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Students will also be introduced to such concepts as consumer behaviour and marketing research. We will evaluate modern marketing from a Christian world-view. Students will have an opportunity to develop critical skills through evaluating the marketing strategy of a specific product, service or concept of their choice.
BUSI 397 - Applied Business Simulation
Students will be introduced to the application of business theories in a complex, interactive, virtual business environment. Working in teams students will establish strategy and implement management decisions in the areas of operations, marketing, finance, and human resources. As well, teams will need to respond to various ethical dilemmas placed before them during the course of the simulation.
BUSI 399 - Special Topics
A course on a topic or field of special interest to a member of the commerce faculty and offered on a non-reoccurring basis.
BUSI 401 - Advanced Financial Accounting
Complex areas of financial accounting including such things as business combinations, foreign currency translation and multinational operations, joint ventures, and not-for-profit organizations.
BUSI 406 - Marketing Research Analytics (Formerly BUSI 439)
Marketing research employs a scientific approach of setting a hypothesis, collecting, analyzing, and reporting of data relevant to marketing decision-making. In this course students will: gain familiarity with the tools and ethics of qualitative and quantitative marketing research, inferences, regression analysis, modeling; design and execute a significant marketing research project; interpret and present the research results to help decision-makers address their marketing problem. The set of labs offers extensive preparation in using modern analytical tools to solve marketing problems.
BUSI 410 - Topical Issues
This course will give attention to the nature and impact of pressing current issues that affect all Canadian firms and which do not have easy solutions. The impact of these on various aspects of the business enterprise relevant to the particular issue will be investigated and possibilities suggested. This course will be offered in alternative years and its content will be informed by the dynamics of business as an ongoing process.
BUSI 411 - Natural Resources Mgmt
This course examines various ways in which humans manage their use of ecological systems and the resources found within them. We will explore contemporary concepts, methods, and approaches to management, and investigate how they are applied in resource-based activities such as fisheries, agriculture, forestry, energy, mining, wildlife and parks. We will also examine conflict and uncertainty in resource management and cross-cutting issues such as Indigenous perspectives, and sustainability governance. Canadian case studies are emphasized.
BUSI 420 - Business Ethics
This course will emphasize that all business decisions have significant ethical content. It will explore the varied history of incorporating ethics into or attempting to eliminate it from business. The contemporary ethical challenges in the conduct of business will be examined from a Christian viewpoint and compared with other ethical stances. It is intended to help students develop and refine an ethical framework.
BUSI 430 - E-Commerce
This course will introduce you to a current and comprehensive overview of e-commerce. It will make you look at e-commerce through three lenses: business, technology, and society. The business lens will allow you to learn main e-commerce business models for B2B and B2C as well as how marketing and management tools could be applied in e-commerce; the infrastructure of e-commerce will be exposed to you via the technology lens; and the social lens will make you think about numerous ethical, social, and political issues raised by e-commerce. Learning the latest empirical and financial data, e-commerce trends, and business cases will help you to understand how e-commerce is altering business practices and driving shifts in the global economy.
BUSI 450 - Environmental Impact Assessmnt
This course examines the Environmental Impact Assessment process from both institutional and scientific perspectives, considering legislative and policy aspects. It includes a survey of EIA methods and contemporary issues in EIA, cumulative effects and post-auditing. Students will monitor or participate in contemporary Canadian or Alberta cases.
BUSI 460 - Audit
Examines the economic role of financial statement auditing for public companies, addressing ethical requirements such as independence, competence and objectivity, management of audit engagements, audit objectives, analytical procedures, major accounting cycles, internal control and audit objectives, evidence gathering techniques, sampling, and reporting.
BUSI 471 - Business Strategy
This course examines the tools of strategic management, including ethical considerations and responsibilities, for the formation of business strategy for the small to medium-sized business in the Canadian environment. It also examines corporate strategy and how it differs from business strategy. This course integrates core management principles and ethics with strategic analysis through the use of business cases. Students are required to register for both Business Core courses, BUSI 471 and BUSI 496, in the same school year. They are required to register for BUSI 471 in the Fall semester and BUSI 496 in the Winter semester of that school year.
BUSI 489 - Internship Preparation
This course equips students with preparatory tools, knowledge, and skills to secure, undertake and thrive in their business internship, BUSI 490. Students should develop greater self-awareness in their career choices and professional success. Students will research occupational sectors and business roles, become familiar with sources of labour market information, and hear from field practitioners about the opportunities and challenges of working in various industries and professional fields. Students will create preliminary internship learning plans for their internships.
BUSI 490 - Commerce Internship
This course is a structured and supervised work-integrated learning experience, combining theoretical and academic learning in professional settings. Students apply design thinking processes to career decision-making and vocational discernment, while cultivating a growth and discovery mindset. Focus is on meeting learning objectives set by the student, their internship employer and the faculty internship coordinator. This pass/fail course requires 160 hours in an internship or volunteer position in a business function. Grading is based on employer evaluation, student engagement at the host organization and the completion of course work. Internships are completed during the winter or spring/summer terms.
BUSI 496 - Senior Business Project
This course provides students who expect to graduate with a first concentration in business administration with the opportunity to work closely with faculty members on a project, either a research project or a practicum, which will allow them to pursue some facet of their business studies in a more concentrated way. Students are required to register for both Business Core courses, BUSI 471 and BUSI 496, in the same school year. They are required to register for BUSI 471 in the Fall semester and BUSI 496 in the Winter semester of that school year.
BUSI 499 - Directed Studies in Business
This course gives an opportunity to do intensive study of some area of business of particular interest to the student. Students work closely with a member of the business or economics faculty in tutorials. Students must apply in advance for directed studies to the faculty member involved.