PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
BUS4000 | Jewelry Business Management Diploma Program
In GIA’s Jewelry Business Management (J.B.M.) diploma program, you gain valuable knowledge and insight into the unique and competitive world of the jewelry business. Here, you gain an executive’s perspective of what it takes to achieve long-term success in the jewelry industry. You develop your ability to think creatively, act strategically, and lead effectively.
- Become a leader in the ever-changing, highly-competitive, and extremely exciting gem and jewelry industry
- Learn general business fundamentals taught directly as they relate to the jewelry industry
- Learn proven business school principles and the unwritten rules of the trade
- Learn critical business issues facing gem and jewelry professionals using real world industry examples
Program offered:
Online:
4 required courses and 4 elective courses.
Full time, maximum completion time 20 weeks. Part time, maximum completion time 2 years.
Full time: 4 courses per quarter
Part time: 1–3 courses per quarter
What you earn: Jewelry Business Management Diploma
REQUIRED COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
BUS210 | Principles of Management
Required course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
This course provides an overview of fundamental business management concepts as they apply to the jewelry industry. Study various sections of jewelry management such as retail, sales and wholesale. Discover proven strategies to deal with day-to-day challenges – from ethical questions to performance reviews, to team building and staff collaboration. Uncover the different levels and responsibility of management. Examine effective and successful management, leadership, and communication styles.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Winter
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
BUS220 | Accounting Basics
Required course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
In this course, see how everyday transactions, when properly analyzed and recorded, determine what financial statements show. Learn to prepare entries, journals, and ledgers to support all aspects of business transactions. Discover how to read financial statements and use them to determine the most profitable products, maintain efficient levels of gemstone inventory, and understand what the major cost drivers are for the business in general. Learn the basic language of accounting to discuss these factors with others.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Spring, Fall
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
BUS230 | Fundamentals of Marketing
Required course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
This course is an introduction to the basic concepts and practices for successful marketing in the jewelry business. Learn how to develop winning marketing strategies by examining campaigns from thriving jewelry businesses. Special emphasis will be placed on the jewelry industry and how companies are currently marketing jewelry products. Topics include: consumer behavior, marketing communication process, promotional strategies, branding, advertising, public relations, and sales promotion.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Winter, Summer
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
BUS300 | Ethics and Law
Required course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
Given the highly unique nature of the jewelry industry, ethical dilemmas are a common issue. In this course, examine the roles that law and ethics play in business transactions, specifically interactions within the jewelry industry. Learn how to protect the legal and ethical interests of a jewelry business. The framework of legal regulation created to address ethical concerns will also be examined and compared to professional standards within the industry.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Spring, Fall
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
Elective Course Descriptions
BUS310 | Marketing Management
Elective course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
Prerequisite: BUS230
In this course, learn to apply marketing principles to retail, wholesale, and jewelry manufacturing businesses. Examine how marketing strategies integrate advertising, sales promotion, branding, and media communications. Identify strategies that best attract consumers and gain their loyalty. Using case studies from the jewelry industry, analyze the marketing environment, understand consumer buying behavior, recognize lucrative retail opportunities, develop innovative marketing plans, implement effective advertising campaigns, and incorporate the 4Ps (product, place, promotion, and price) into the development of your strategy.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Spring
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
BUS350 | Managerial Accounting
Elective course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
Prerequisite: BUS220
In this course, learn to analyze and understand various factors that affect organizational performance and use this information in the decision-making process. Learn to identify costs such as manufacturing and non-manufacturing, labor, overhead, direct and indirect, and variable and fixed. Apply this in-depth knowledge to the planning process and create a variety of static and dynamic budgets and analyze how changes in these categories affect an organization’s return on investment (ROI).
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Winter
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
BUS360 | Merchandising Management
Elective course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
This course examines the fundamental principles of merchandise management as it relates to the jewelry industry. Develop effective buying strategies based on key business practices such as sales forecasting, budgeting, product assortment, and open-to-buy factors. Explore important elements of merchandising, including store design and image, space allocation, and inventory management. Examine the practical aspects of merchandising management. Learn to assess customer buying trends, create stunning visual presentations, and develop winning merchandising strategies.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Winter
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
BUS380 | Leadership
Elective course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
In this course, examine the essential skills a business leader needs to become more competitive and achieve business success in the jewelry industry. Explore the restructuring of a business to meet the challenges of increasingly turbulent markets and better-informed consumers. Examine a leadership philosophy that elicits extraordinary performance from ordinary people and instills self-discipline, honor and integrity by leadership example. Learn key skills, strategies, and techniques to become a successful business leader in the evolving jewelry marketplace.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Spring
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
BUS390 | Sales Management
Elective course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
This course identifies practical solutions for the wide range of problems typically encountered by sales managers in all segments of the global jewelry industry. Analyze basic functions of sales management, including: planning, staffing, direction, forecasting, motivation, compensation, organization, and sales force evaluation. Discover powerful communication tools that help close more sales, inspire employees, and retain more customers. Gain a solid understanding of how to motivate sales staff. Learn the secrets to a winning leadership style conducive to a productive working environment.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Summer
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
BUS400 | Retail Management
Elective course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
In this course, develop an understanding of jewelry retail management, both in store and online. Analyze the retail jewelry process and understand the environment it competes in. Explore how to take a service or finished product from strategy to the shelf, or even the Web. Learn how to develop competitive business models for retail jewelry stores. Topics include: mark-up and pricing principles, basic concepts of store layout, merchandise presentation, merchandising and store operations, consumer buying behavior, and personnel management.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Spring
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
BUS410 | Entrepreneurship
Elective course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
This course provides an introduction to the theory and practice of starting a new jewelry business – either retail or business-to-business. Explore all elements of entrepreneurial finance and analyze the resources needed to provide the emerging, or mature jewelry businesses with the best chance of achieving a competitive advantage. Learn how to create a business plan for a jewelry business, addressing such issues as: type of business, location, store design, the demographics and lifestyle of customers, and merchandise and price points.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Summer
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
BUS420 | Global Business Management
Elective course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
This course provides practical knowledge in all aspects of global business, including contemporary political, cultural, economic, and legal issues. Using case studies, explore planning, social responsibility, and human resource management for the global jewelry entrepreneur. Develop vital skills in cross-cultural communication, negotiations, and labor relations. Learn solid actionable methods to apply hypothetically, or as an extension of a current business.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Summer
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
BUS430 | International Law and Trade
Elective course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
This course focuses on the principles and doctrines that shape the conduct of international trade. Acquire a solid foundation of accepted business practices as dictated by national sovereign law, international norms, and industry standards of conduct. Find out how the international gem and jewelry market is governed by a combined system of national and international legislation, self-regulation, and the informal enforcement of a code of ethics through various industry organizations.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Spring
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
BUS440 | Visual Merchandising
Elective course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
This course explores the theories of visual merchandising and examines how to use it to excite customers and communicate the emotional appeal of a store’s products. Learn techniques for designing window and interior displays that motivate jewelry shoppers and increase jewelry sales. Discover how to use store design and layout, fixture selection, lighting design, and visual displays to create exciting shopping environments. Learn how to create a strong presence in advertising.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Fall
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
BUS450 | Business Negotiations
Elective course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
This course focuses on the basic concepts and practices of negotiation and bargaining as they apply to the jewelry industry. Examine effective negotiation strategies developed by some of the nation’s most successful jewelry businesses. Explore the major concepts and theories of negotiation and bargaining. Learn to incorporate negotiation theory into specific business activities. Topics include: negotiation management, strategies, and ethics; communication and bargaining techniques; and global negotiation perspectives.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Fall
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
BUS460 | Quantitative Methods
Elective course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
In this course, learn how manufacturing quantities, sales volumes, and costs can be analyzed using statistical tools. Discover basic statistical process control techniques that provide a quick and easy approach to business challenges. Learn how to identify mean, median, mode, and standard deviation. Apply Critical Path techniques to determine management strategy for specific projects. Learn how to estimate profits across a wide variety of scenarios.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Fall
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
BUS470 | Information Systems Management
Elective course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
This course will provide a broad overview of management information systems and identify their role in the jewelry industry. Explore ways in which managers can apply information technology to gain a competitive edge in the industry. Examine how e-business and e-commerce can be essential to a successful jewelry business. Discover how information systems can support business objectives, operations, needs, and strategic plans.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Winter
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
BUS480 | Strategic Management
Elective course for Jewelry Business Management Diploma
This course enables students to integrate previous coursework and use knowledge gained, values learned, and skills developed to demonstrate their mastery of all subjects studied. Strategic Management is an intensive experience in critical analysis, creative thinking, and problem solving. It challenges you to address and critically examine established assumptions and reach beyond familiar cultures as well as orthodox or traditional approaches and perspectives. Each student is expected to prepare as a course project a management plan for a jewelry firm that will be presented to and critiqued by the campus community.
Course offered: Online (10 weeks)
Online in 2009: Winter
What you earn: Letter of Completion
$990 plus textbooks
