Kaplan University Graduate School of Management

SELF DIRECTED LEARNING PLAN

The Self Directed Learning Plan (SDLP) is a process and document to chronicle your accomplishments and learning steps through the MBA program and beyond as they relate to your professional goals. The SDLP will help you to identify and target the array of competencies you need to reach your professional objectives and to help you organize your Kaplan MBA learning experience to suit your career objectives. The SDLP will be a section of your Program Portfolio, so take some quality introspective time to consider strengths and areas of development relevant to your career objectives. We encourage you to contact Career Services for feedback on relevant competencies for your career goal, as well as other insights. By knowing your strengths and areas to develop, you can begin a plan to find out what you need to do to achieve your career goals. We encourage you to continue to reflect on the identified areas throughout the MBA program. If you feel strength or development area is no longer relevant, you may add another to take its place. At any time, you may also add additional areas.

Your Name: Amit Mathur Date: 4-20-2013

Course Title: Financial Management: theory and practice

Professional Goal (3-5 years) from now:

To attain a management position in a health-care organization. At the end of the program I should be able to analyze, and administer support to various pharmacy operations that are needed to run the pharmacy business successfully. I should be able to successfully implement these programs that would offer customer satisfaction to the clients. In addition to that, I may be able to modify certain tasks to the best interest of the company I work for.Some of the computer skills that I need are already integrated in this MBA program. At the end of this course I can easily work on excel, PowerPoint presentation and Microsoft word. These tools are absolutely essential to work as a benefits manager. I also have acquired analytical and financial accounting skills by taking a course of Financial Management GB550 in this program. I would like to see myself climb the corporate ladder up the top position one day.

Strengths to Leverage

Step 1: The most effective and satisfied people align their work with their natural strong points. Identify 3-5 of your key strengths (see Column 1 below); these could be a competency, skill, ability, knowledge area or personal characteristic. Think about how you can leverage those strengths to be effective in your work, achieve your professional goals, and become a leader in your profession.

Step 2: At the beginning of each course in your MBA program, answer the following question either using this template or a narrative format. What do you expect to learn in this course that will help you leverage your strengths? (See Column 2 below). Be as specific as you can, e.g., assume that strength is your analytical ability. You might expect to understand more about macro economics so that you can analyze how the

housing crisis affects other segments of the economy, such as interest rates or unemployment. At the beginning of the course you are not expected to be an expert in all facets of the course learning; however, you can glean valuable insights from the course description or purpose, course and unit learning objectives, and from unit themes.

Step 3: At the end of each course (Unit 6) answer the following questions either using this template or a narrative format. Did you learn what you expected to learn? (See Column 3 below). Was there information or insights that helped you that you didn’t expect to learn at the outset of the course? For example, not only did you learn about macro economics, but you learned some software tools that help in conducting an economic analysis. What changes or additions, if any, will you make to your SDLP based on learning in this course?

Step 1: Strengths to

LeverageStep 2: Course Learning Goals Step 3: Course Outcomes & Assessment

Strength 1Good Analytical skills

GB 550. Using Strategic Analysis, I should be able to strategically analyze financial statements for businesses.

GB 550. At the end of Unit 1& 2 in this course I can strategically analyze various financial statements and can identify style, quality and customer service in a company. I am able to analyze financial ratios as well.

Strength 2Ability to identify risks in a business

GB 550. Recognize the various roles of capital structure decisions in a company. How to maximize a firm’s intrinsic value by identifying the appropriate capital structure issue(s).

GB 550. The project given in Unit3 and 5 has enabled me to identify potential capital structure issue(s) that a firm could possibly have and chapter 15 in the text book has taught me how to manage these issues.

Strength 3Ability to implement rational thinking.

GB 550. Deal with budgeting process in a business. Analyze various behavioral considerations in an efficient portfolio.

GB 550. Chapter 24 from the text book has enabled me to identify key issues involved in managing investment portfolios through beta coefficient.

Strength 4Determination of a business’s position in terms of its stocks

GB 550. Study various Pricing models to determine the value of stocks and their returns.

GB550. Chapter 24 in the text book has taught me various pricing models used to determine returns on stocks of a firm. I also studied the comparisons among CAPM, APT and the Fama-French Model in this chapter.

Strength 5Perform evaluation for my staff

GB 550. Be able to check performance of the tasks given to my staff against set goals like budget and plans

GB 550. The chapter on Strategic Performance from the text book has taught me how to measure performance of my staff based on the budget goals given to them.

Areas to Develop

Step 1: We all have strengths, but we also have areas on which we need to improve. As related to your career goal, identify 3-5 areas to develop (see Column 1 below); these could be a competency, skill, ability, knowledge area or personal characteristic. Think about how you can improve in these areas so that you can achieve your professional goals and become a leader in your profession.

Step 2: At the beginning of each course answer the following question either using this template or a narrative format. What do you expect to learn in this course that will help you to develop in the identified area? (See Column 2 below).

Step 3: At the end of each course (Unit 6) answer the following questions either using this template or a narrative format. Did you learn what you expected to learn? (See Column 3 below). Was there information or insights that helped you that you didn’t expect to learn at the outset of the course? What changes or additions, if any, will you make to your SDLP based on learning in this course?

Step 1: Areas to develop Step 2: Course Learning Goals Step 3: Course Outcomes & Assessment Area 1Lack accounting skills

GB 550. Be able to identify and analyze accounting processes through different analytical situations

GB 550. I have been able to overcome this weakness through analyzing and interpreting various accounting assignments that I took in this course

Area 2Difficulty in concepts on capital structure.

GB550. A project on capital structure analysis should be able to help identify the key issues and how a business makes decisions based on them.

GB 550 the project assigned to analyze the capital structure of a publicly held company has enabled me to be able to analyze capital structure of a business and thus make financial decisions accordingly.

Area 3Difficulty in determining the value of a firm.

GB 550. Unit 6 in this course should enable me how the value of a firm is determined.

GB 550. Chapter 13 form the text book has taught me how to determine the financial value of a firm by using corporate governance method as corporate decisions are made by managers and not stockholders. This chapter also taught me how to calculate the present value of a company along with its non-operating assets.