text:
Course Descriptions
The following courses are required for all PEMBA students. For elective courses, you can browse a list of recommended business classes or choose from over 7,000 courses offered by Boston University.
Core Courses
AC711: Financial Reporting and Control
An introduction to accounting, and an examination of how it helps in decision-making. Financial accounting (information needs of stockholders, creditors, and analysts) and managerial accounting (information needs of managers) are stressed equally. Topics covered include income statement and balance sheet format, purposes, and limitations; statement of cash flows; analysis of financial statements; cost behavior; use of relevant costs in decision making; budgeting; and divisional performance measurement.
FE722: Financial Management
Financial Management examines three sets of problems: (1) saving and investment decisions by households, (2) investment and financing decisions by corporations, and (3) the role of securities markets and financial intermediaries in the economy. Decisions today affect the timing of and uncertainty about future flows of income; both timing and risk determine the current value of those future flows. This course develops the tools required to analyze these decisions and their interaction within the financial system.
FE730: Economics and Management Decisions
The aim of the course is to present many of the decision problems managers face and to present the economic analysis they need to guide these decisions. In the first half of the course, microeconomic tools are used to structure complicated decision problems about production, pricing, investment, and other strategic issues, address uncertainty through probabilistic forecasts and sequential decisions. An additional goal is to distinguish different market structures and apply competitive strategies using game theory. In the second half, the focus shifts to the study of the national and global economic environments within which companies operate. We identify the drivers of fluctuations in GDP, inflation, interest and exchange rates, and other key features of the economies. Since governments play key roles in determining the fate of economies and companies, the final theme is the rationale for and efficacy of government policy tools.
IS711: IT Strategies for a Networked Economy
This case-based course demonstrates the role that information technology plays in shaping business strategy and business models. It provides an overview of the key technologies that are important in today's business environment and introduces organization and management concepts relating to the information technology function. The course also illustrates the relationships between organizational performance and the ability to leverage knowledge assets.
MK724: Marketing Management
This course builds an in-depth understanding of basic marketing concepts and applies those concepts to a variety of management situations, including non-profit and public sector settings. The course provides working knowledge of the tools of marketing (product policy, pricing, distribution, promotion, consumer behavior), and the ways in which these tools can be usefully employed. The course builds practical skills in analyzing marketing problems and opportunities, and in developing marketing programs.
OB712: Leading Organizations and People
This course introduces concepts, models and frameworks to help you become better managers of the organizations you work for, the teams you work in, the people you work with and your own professional development. Emphasis will be on behavioral science concepts and research findings related to the major challenge managers face—how to organize individuals in order to fulfill the objectives and strategies of the firm. Topics that will be examined include: the nature and dynamics of the organization (organizational structure and culture, performance systems and metrics, reward systems, selection and socialization); the elements of individual leadership and personal development (power, decision-making, emotional intelligence, career development, developmental needs, feedback, and mentoring and coaching); managing change within organizational contexts (the dynamics and stages of organizational change and the skills and tactics employed by change agents); and the relationships between the firm and the external environment in which it operates. The course objective is to provide analytical skills and strategies, substantive knowledge, and a professional sensibility that will increase your ability to take effective action in firms, agencies and other organizations.
OM726: Creating Value Through Operations and Technology
This MBA core course is case-oriented and focuses on topics of use to managers in any environment: process analysis, process improvement, supply chain management, and strategic operations decision-making. The course emphasizes the importance of effectiveness and efficiency and evaluates the potential trade-offs between them.
PL700: Introduction to Business Law
This course will survey contemporary issues in selected areas of law and ethics. We will introduce pivotal areas of law, so that students begin to anticipate legal problems, analyze how to avoid them, and realize how legal principles can be employed to add value in their chosen fields. The subjects are torts, contracts, employment law, securities regulation and corporate governance. We expect that this overview of a few disciplines will encourage students to explore other legal topics relevant to their business interests. We will also offer an analytic structure that enables students to identify ethical issues in business, analyze options and make choices consistent with their own values.
QM717: Data Analysis for Managerial Decision-Making
Managers deal with a large amount of information in quantitative form. Effective managers must understand the conditions under which quantitative techniques may be appropriately applied for decision-making. In this course, students develop skills in using the computer to examine and report data. The focus is on deriving meaning from particular data sets, and the use of statistical estimation, hypothesis testing, and regression/correlation analysis in decision-making.
SI751: Competition, Innovation, and Strategy
This is an integrative course designed to capitalize on your understanding of Finance, Operations Management, Marketing, and other functional issues. The course draws on a number of academic disciplines, especially economics, organization theory, and sociology, to build a fundamental understanding of how and why some firms achieve and sustain superior performance. We also study why some firms persistently generate returns that are lower than average. The course is analytically focused and requires that you evaluate both the external environment and the internal capabilities of organizations. Corporate diversification and global management are important topics that are also featured.
Other Required Courses
The following additional courses are required for all PEMBA students. Students must complete ES707 and at least one of ES701 and ES700.
ES700: Executive Presentation
A presenter's delivery skills impact the audience's image of the presenter and the clarity of the message being communicated. A combination of lecture, discussion, and hands-on practice and simulation, this course is designed to help you exercise leadership through verbal communication.
ES701: Executive Written Communication
This course is a combination of lecture, discussion, and hands-on practice. It's designed to help you exercise leadership through writing and understand how strategies of written communication are an essential aspect of effective management, working relationships in the network era, and overall business strategy.
ES707: Managing Career Growth
The MBA is simply a step along the path of a career. It provides the skills and tools necessary to take many steps forward, but you must manage where those steps lead and how. Managing Career Growth will provide you the understanding of to managing your own career going forward. The class will cover:
- Career self-assessment (interests, values and skills)
- Networking and developmental relationships
- Career management/advancement strategies
- Developing your career marketing plan and professional portfolio
All with the purpose of providing a foundation to not only manage your next steps but continuously assess, network, market and manage yourself. You are indeed a business of one and you are the one responsible for managing that business.
Sample Electives
The following electives are a sample of classes currently being offered.
AC810: Managerial Accounting
This course examines cost measurement issues in organizations and the use of cost data to support managerial decisions and measure performance. Traditional as well as state-of-the-art concepts and approaches to the measurement and use of cost data are
illustrated in class through cases. [Lectures, exercises, exam and team project.]
AC814: Financial Statement Analysis & Investor Decisions
This course is designed to develop skills in interpreting and analyzing the financial reports prepared by firms for investors and creditors. The following topics are covered: 1) analyzing profitability and risk, (2) understanding the major accounting choices
affecting financial statements and managerial incentives that influence these choices, (3) assessing the quality of earnings, (4) using cash-flow based and earnings-based valuation models. The course also includes a brief review of some important
accounting principles, emphasizing areas that were not covered in AC710. [Lectures, exercises, exams, and project.]
AC840: Nonprofit Financial Management
This course will build on the fundamentals of accounting and finance introduced during the first semester, and allow students to apply that learning in a nonprofit context. Cases will involve a broad array of entities, including charter schools, human-service
providers, international economic development agencies, universities, environmental groups and youth development organizations. Students will be challenged to hone their financial analysis skills by examining the strategic financial implications involved in capital projects, growth, debt financing, turnarounds, and collaboration and mergers. In addition, the course will look at how nonprofit leaders build critical financial capacities such as budgeting, working with the board, fundraising, and investing.
AC841: Advanced Accounting
Examines accounting principles and practices related to business combinations and foreign operations (accounting for mergers and acquisitions, constructing consolidated financial statements, recording foreign currency transactions and hedging exchange risk, translating foreign subsidiaries' local currency financial statements), business segments, reporting for local governments, and the impact of the SEC and international standards on financial reporting.
AC847:Intermediate Accounting I
Topics covered: 1) Review of generally accepted accounting principles, especially matching concept and revenue recognition rules. 2) Consideration of balance sheet and income statement classification issues. 3) Accounting and reporting issues related to cash, accounts receivable, inventories, investments, intangibles, and plant assets.
AC848: Intermediate Accounting II
This course focuses on the recognition and measurement of issues in accounting related to income taxes, lease obligations, and pension liabilities and equity. It focuses further on the preparation of, and uses for, statement of cash flows; calculating, reporting, and interpreting financial measures, including earnings per share; the nature and purpose of segment and interim reporting; and accounting for changing prices. The course also provides a brief overview of the auditor's opinion.
AC865: Auditing Issues & Problems
Introduces the basic concepts underlying auditing and assurance services (including materiality, audit risk, and evidence) and demonstrates how to apply those concepts to audit and assurance services through financial statement audits.
AC869: Principles of Income Taxation I
Federal income tax law common to all taxpayers–individuals, partnerships, corporations. Tax returns for individuals. Topics include tax accounting, income to be included and excluded in returns, tax deductions, ordinary and capital gains and losses, inventories, installment sales, depreciation, bad debts, and other losses.
FE815: Competitive Decision Making
This course explores the strategies of decision-makers in a variety of competitive situations. The main topics include 1) bargaining, negotiation, and arbitration; 2) market competition; 3) competitive bidding; 4) group decisions in organizations; and 5) game theory. In most of these settings, optimal decisions call for cooperation as well as competition. Examples are drawn from a wide variety of managerial settings. [Text, cases and other readings; simulations.]
FE817: Clean Energy Services: Financial Models and Incentive Structures
This course explores the reasons behind the slow adoption of clean energy technologies and develops business models that provide incentives and financing to accelerate adoption. We will use —live? cases that allow students to work with industry participants. For example Cambridge Housing Authority, Home Depot, Public Services NH.
FE820: Corporate Financial Management
This course provides an in-depth analysis of financial considerations relating to corporate growth. It addresses the setting of financial or corporate goals in terms of maximizing shareholders' equity, and relationships among dividend policy, debt levels, capital costs, return on investments, and growth.
FE821: Advanced Corporate Finance
This course is designed for students who are pursuing careers in corporate finance within industrial corporations, corporate finance departments of investment-banking firms or in investment banking. The course provides follow-up on the basic financial frameworks and analytical methods outlined in introductory courses. Three primary areas are covered: risk management; agency, information, and psychology; and real options.
FE822: Fixed Income Markets
This is a course primarily on fixed-income debt securities and markets. Emphasis is placed on the factors that determine bond yields, factors such as the coupon and maturity structure, liquidity, credit risk, and tax status of the security, and on measures of return and risk, statistics such as the yield to maturity, horizon yield, duration, and convexity. We will cover government debt (Treasuries and municipals), corporate bonds (investment-grade and high-yield), agency (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and mortgage-backed debt created via securitization (i.e., collateralized mortgage obligations). We will emphasize how interest rate and credit derivatives are used to manage portfolios of fixed-income securities.
FE823: Investments
This course looks at speculative markets, including organized security markets and exchanges; definitions of securities; relevant tax law and sources of investment information; principles of stock and bond valuation; and security price behavior. Also discussed in this course are problems and models associated with portfolio analysis and management.
FE825: Advanced Topics in Investments
This course is about the theory and practice of science-based investing. It is intended for students who are either already working in the field of investments or plan to become professional investment advisers or portfolio managers. It focuses on building quantitative decision models for individual investors, investment firms, and pension funds. Subjects covered include the framing and quantitative modeling of lifecycle saving, investing, and risk-management decisions, and the design, production, and pricing of structured investment contracts to achieve targeted objectives.
FE827: International Financial Management
This course examines the acquisition, investment, management, and conversion of funds in the international context. Other areas of discussion include: foreign exchange exposure and risk, investment decisions, international capital markets and banking, trade financing and tax planning, balance of payments and national goals, and financial planning from a multinational perspective.
FE828: Fixed Income Derivatives
Term structure models are the basis for the valuation of any asset class. Fixed income instruments are by far the most important asset class in today's financial markets. The course focuses on the valuation, hedging and management of fixed income securities.
Basic theoretical and empirical term structure concepts are introduced. Basic short rate models are presented. The Heath-Jarrow-Morton term structure methodology is discussed in detail. Consistency requirements for the construction of term structure curves are presented. The Market LIBOR model and its application for the valuation of futures, forwards, swaps, caps, floors and swaptions and other interest rate derivatives is analyzed. The course emphasizes both theoretical and practical aspects of term
structure models and fixed income securities.
FE829: Futures, Options & Financial Risk Management
Futures and stock options are recognized as important tools of investment and risk reduction. This course covers the theory of futures and option pricing and develops a framework for analyzing hedging and investment decisions using futures and options. Attention is paid to practical considerations in the use of these investments, tax and accounting issues and the institutional features of the market in which the various instruments are traded.
FE834: Macroeconomics in the Global Environment
Macroeconomics is the study of the aggregate behavior of global market participants, i.e. consumers, firms, workers, governments, central banks, foreign investors. Decision making by investment bankers, product/sales managers, policy makers, or consumers inevitably rely on an understanding of the main forces driving GDP, inflation, unemployment, interest rates, and exchange rates. Consider these questions:
- Should new consumer durable products be launched during recessions?
- Are countries that experience high productivity growth good investment targets?
- Will interest rates drop if the US government starts buying back its debt?
- With significant liquidity demands by the US economy from the public sector, the household sector and businesses, what explains the low US interest rates? Are these factors expected to keep interest rates low also in the future?
- Can the Euro boost productivity in Europe in the medium to long run and what are the competitiveness challenges for US businesses of such changes?
- What are the economic effects of wars and how should they be financed?
These and other issues will come up in the course. The main goal of this course is to provide a coherent framework that you can use to understand economic events as you confront them in your work environment.
FE836: Risk Management: The Essential Approaches Used by Companies to Control Risk
Over the last decade risk management has gained importance as companies attempt to improve profitability and reduce the dollar amount of loss. This course is designed to help students develop a strong risk management skill set across an array of industries. Students will assume the Chief Risk Office role and learn "best practices" in risk identification, measurement, monitoring and control methodologies. Particular attention will be placed on the major risk contributors including market, credit and operations. Students will also be exposed to other risk factors that can trigger significant financial loss an/or company bankruptcy. To provide added relevance, a detailed forensic study on Lehman Brothers, including lessons learned and breakout sessions will be used.
FE850: Private Equity: Leveraged Buyouts
Private Equity (PE) has become a major force in the capital markets. This course will expose students to, and de-mystify, the world of PE. The focus will be centered on LBOs and their position in the "alternative asset" class. Students will learn about the activities of a PE firm including formation, fundraising, investing (including deal structure, terms, due diligence and governance) and exiting. We will also discuss what other industry sectors serve or are affected by PE and who the players are. Case study and class participation will be the primary mode of learning.
Health Sector Management
HM703: Health Sector Issues and Opportunities
This course provides a dynamic introduction to the health sector, beginning with the burden and distribution of disease and current patterns of expenditures. While the emphasis will be on the American system, a global context will be developed. The basic elements of insurance and payment, service delivery, and life sciences products will be described, and put in the context of the unique economic structure of the sector. The intense challenges of the sector will be explored, as well as both the ethical issues presented and the opportunities that emerge. Public policy and technological and practice development as drivers of change will be addressed throughout.
HM710: Health Service Delivery: Strategies, Solutions and Execution
This course will provide knowledge and skills needed to develop and implement systems capable of delivering accessible, high quality, efficient health care services. It will draw upon relevant information from disciplinary areas of study including strategy, operations, marketing, finance, law, human resources, quality improvement, and information technology.
HM717: Drugs, Devices, and Diagnostics: New Challenges, Strategies, and Execution
This course will examine issues and opportunities in life sciences including the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical devices sectors and the life sciences service industry supporting these sectors. The course will investigate who manages these companies and what are the strategies that are used to build successful enterprises. There will be a review of the expertise that is needed in these companies or that must be out-sourced including development, manufacturing, marketing and finance. The principals governing the industry including patent law, regulatory and FDA compliance will be addressed.
HM801: Bench-to-Bedside—Translating Biomedical Innovation from the Laboratory to the Marketplace
The subject of the course is the translation of medical technologies into new products and services for the healthcare system. The course begins with a rigorous study of intellectual property, licensing and the core aspects of planning, creating, funding and building new entrepreneurial ventures. Concepts and tools are presented for assessing new technologies and their potential to be the basis for a new entrepreneurial venture. Comparisons will be made of how technologies can be sourced and commercialized out of three very different environments: universities, national laboratories and corporate laboratories. Cross-disciplinary teams of students will be formed which will evaluate translational research projects currently being developed at Boston University and their potential for transformation into a start-up company to commercialize the technology, providing a unique linkage between the scientific research activities of the university and the professional schools. Each week there will be a case study which will discuss examples of both success and failure in technology commercialization. Some of these case studies examine Boston University life sciences spin-out companies, and the founders and CEO's of these ventures will share their experiences with the class.
HM817: Health Information Technology
With increasing cost constraints and demands for improved quality of care, information technology has become essential to manage health care organizations and systems. This course is intended to provide students with knowledge of extant health care information systems for operations management, financial management, performance appraisal, and strategic planning. It will also investigate analytical frameworks and methods that can be used to evaluate information systems, determine information system requirements, and plan system changes to meet future requirements. The perspective of the course is that of the chief information officer and other managers of health care information systems, not that of the technical specialist.
HM833: Health Sector Marketing
This elective provides an in-depth understanding of health sector marketing in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors for both products and services (hospital, managed care and health services of all types, life sciences, pharma and biotech, medical devices, medical software, and so on). The course explores how the tools of marketing (e.g., consumer behavior, pricing, promotion, channels, branding, segmentation, etc.) can be employed in the rapidly changing health sector with particular attention to changing organizational structures, financing, technologies, market demands, laws, channels of distribution, on-line applications, and regulations which require new approaches to marketing. Topics to be addressed include marketing to physicians, DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) Marketing, new product development particularly for pharmaceuticals and medical devices, adoption of medical and service innovations, typical decision making units in the health sector, and social marketing. (The course is still in development so there will likely be more topics added.) The course will have you keep in mind always while making marketing decisions that medicine, in the purest sense, is a profession with an intellectual discipline, a tradition of service, and an ethical code of conduct, and that service to the patient, as individuals and in the aggregate, is foremost in marketing decision making.
HM840: Health Sector Consulting
This is an applied consulting project course. Students enrolled in this course will be divided into teams of 4 students during the first class; the assignment of teams is largely dependent upon having a shared interest in one of the number of prospective consulting projects. Each team will select from a pre-designated list of business development-strategy-marketing consulting projects. Projects in the past have ranged from developing an international pricing strategy for the introduction of a new product by Genzyme to providing a marketing plan for a web-based entrepreneurial venture (a medical website targeted toward providing health care clinicians with products, services and information related to electromyography) to developing a strategy for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to maintain the loyalty of their referring physicians. Client companies/ organizations have requested these projects, are paying the school for the privilege of having an MBA team, and are covering all expenses associated with the projects. In return, they anticipate receiving a consulting report from the student team at the end of the semester. The deliverables for this assignment are the consulting report as well as a 30 minute in-class presentation followed by a 10 minute question-and-answer period. The team may also be asked by the client to make a presentation to the client's management. These projects constitute a way to apply what you are learning in the MBA program to a real health sector management situation; an opportunity to gain experience and broaden your familiarity with health sector organizations with which you have had little or no direct experience; a way for local, regional, and national health sector organizations to benefit from your expertise and hard work in solving a management problem; and a continuing linkage of the Boston University MBA and Health Sector Management Programs to the health sector community.
International Management
IM834: Competing In China
This new elective course deals with contemporary issues in competing in China, which probably is one of the most critical strategic agenda of many multinational companies in this decade. Based on cases, observations, and evolving theories, this course provides future global business leaders with an opportunity to explore important development and management challenges around the following issues:
- The evolving nature of economic and social development in China and its impact on business opportunities—how did the market and competitive environment change over the last 20 years and what might we expect in the future?
- Significant and promising patterns in the evolution of multinational companies' strategies in China—who are making successful progresses in the Chinese market and what are the critical elements in their strategic drive?
- Chinese competitors that are emerging as dominant domestic competitors in the market and growing further into the global market—what are their unique competitive capabilities and advantages?
- Personal and professional challenges and opportunities—what do we have to prepare in order to contribute to the success of our enterprise?
While the course is focused on issues in China, the learning framework and lessons should be relevant to developing management and strategic capabilities in other fast growing markets around the world, such as India and Russia.
IM836: Competing in High-Growth Economies
In this course we focus on the management challenges associated with developing strategies and managing the operations of companies whose activities stretch across national boundaries, especially in high-growth and developing economies. Operating in
an international rather than a domestic arena presents organizations with many challenges and opportunities. Having a worldwide operations not only gives companies access to new markets and diverse resources, it also opens up new sources of information and knowledge that stimulate future innovation and strategic moves, as well as assessing Corporate roles in social responsibility. With opportunities, however, come challenges that are more complex, diverse, and uncertain than those faced by companies that operate only within a given nation's borders. As a result of taking this course students will acquire new and useful skills, competencies, an perspectives that will help them as they consider perusing a career in international management.
IM845: Asian Field Seminar
How do we prepare for the emerging opportunities and challenges that China's economic development and Asia's growing presence continue to create? This two-week seminar through six cities in China and Korea provides future global business leaders with an opportunity to contemplate answers to the above question. We visit companies (both multinational and local) competing in this dynamic market, meet governmental officials to hear about policies and implications, learn from local MBA professors about what they see our strengths and weaknesses are, participate in real market activities, and develop global network of knowledge with local MBA students and BU alumni in the region. Through this process, students will deepen their understanding of the unique nature of opportunities and challenges in the region, become more comfortable with the myriads of cultural and communicational details, and explore professional opportunities located in the region.
IM851: European Field Seminar
The European Field Seminar gives students an appreciation of "competing in Europe." The European competitive landscape is changing rapidly. Three Boston-based class sessions introduce students to topics such as the history of the European Union, European Community Law, Member States, European Monetary Union and Competition Policy. During a two week period, the class visits a variety of organizations in Europe to learn about relevant competition issues; students experience first-hand how firms are dealing with them (or should be dealing with them). The wide variety of sectors covered appeals to broad segments of the MBA population.
IM852: Brazil Field Seminar
This intensive ten day seminar will provide students with a broad understanding of the ways in which business strategies can create value at the base of the economic pyramid. Students will gain first hand experience of how businesses, NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and government are using models of social enterprise to address social and economic issues in the fields of health, education and the environment in the context of an emerging market—in this case, Brazil. This study program will include extensive site visits throughout the country to social enterprises, multi-national firms, NGO ventures and government organizations. Students will also hear from a wide variety of Latin American specialists in topic areas. A broad range of topics will be covered including: renewable energy, sustainable development, eco-tourism, new models for providing health and education services to under-served populations, social enterprise, micro-enterprise, corporate social responsibility and public/private partnerships.
The course will consist of three pre-departure sessions focused on social enterprise, corporate social responsibility and emerging markets. Students are also expected to select an individual research track of interest for the duration of the seminar.
Information Systems
IS705: Issues in Managing Networked Systems
This course explores the business implications of emerging Internet-based technologies such as wireless devices and Web services. Students will learn key technical concepts underlying these technologies and will explore how this technical understanding can be connected to managerial practice. Students will be asked to apply this knowledge to the design of an architecture for a strategic technology product or infrastructure. Students will develop these designs in the context of a specific business situation and will examine both the technical and organizational issues that arise.
IS706: System Design for Business Networks
This course provides a comprehensive review of the theory and practice of Information Systems Analysis and Design. Students explore the tools and techniques associated with a process, a data-oriented, and an object-oriented view of systems design and evaluate the implications of the emerging technologies of computer-aided software design.
IS707: Systems Architecture
This course explores the internal structure of the modern digital computer as well as the design principles that lie behind this structure. Topics covered by this course include: principles of modular design, computer architecture, and operating systems.
These technical issues are examined from the perspective of a manager tasked with either managing internal technologies or using technologies externally to create and sustain competitive advantage. The technical material in the course will be used to
analyze the strategic import of competing platforms in the video game and personal computer industries.
IS714: Mastering IT Strategy
This is a capstone course to integrate the key concepts and approaches to managing IT in modern corporations. Using a set of leading-edge case examples, frameworks, the students will have an opportunity to understand how IT strategy supports current business models while shaping tomorrow's business models. Students will master the intricate challenges of placing IT at the core of modern enterprises. They will have an opportunity to apply their learnings to a company of their choice through a course project.
IS717: IT Applications in Management
The objective of this course is to provide an introduction to IT/IS technologies and to provide a hands-on, tutorial-driven, application development experience. The course will be divided into two sessions on each day. For three days, the first session will offer a strategic application of a technology, and the second session, will provide an overview of the technological components that enable this technology. Technologies to be discussed include enterprise systems applications such as ERP systems, SCM systems, and CRM systems. The other two days of the course will focus on using a programming environment to develop one or two simple applications. The "instructional" half of the day will cover the key constructs and components of the programming environment and the second half will be a hand-on tutorial on the application of the concepts covered.
IS828: Managing Information Security
This MBA elective (also open to undergraduates) will combine a technical and business approach to the management of information. It will address technical issues such as cryptography, intrusion detection and firewalls along with managerial ideas such as overall security policies, managing uncertainty and risk and organization factors. We will examine different aspects of computer security such as passwords, virus protection and managing computer security in dynamic environments. Topics will also include network security and how to secure wireless application and services. These technical details will be placed in a business context. The class will have a practical focus as we examine current best practices. There well be several guest speakers in the security area. This will be a project oriented class and students will present their research projects during the last several classes.
IS829: Business Transformation
Every business sector is undergoing profound changes partly due to the recent financial crisis but also due to the impact of information technology. This course allows MBA students a chance to engage with how IT impacts business operations in a strategic way. The distinctive feature of this course is that we will have real-life cases from companies and the students will have an opportunity to present their analysis and recommendations to corporate executives on Friday, January 8. We will use latest cases and articles as well as review and work with leading-edge practice from companies. This course is open to non-MSMBA students and provides an opportunity to learn about the interconnection between business and IT strategies, although MSMBAs can register with instructor permission.
IS830: Competing in Business Networks; The Business Capability Platforms in the 21st Century
Business strategy has been profoundly affected by the pervasive connectivity enabled by the internet, modern communications and the explosion of connected devices. Add to this the emergence of intelligent sensor technologies such as Mote, RFID and many forms of nano technologies, the business strategists of today have the opportunity to fundamentally transform the nature of the modern business model. This course uses the design concepts of platforms to examine the characteristics of and the implementation issues associated with the design and deployment of these new business models.
The course is divided into three parts. First, the concept of business capabilities and the design logic of platforms will be explored. These concepts will be examined from both an economic perspective and from the perspective of designing adaptive business processes. Second, the course will use case studies to explore how these concepts have been applied across multiple industries including, retail, healthcare, transportation, manufacturing and a variety of service contexts. Finally, the implementation and leadership issues associated with the deployment of these concepts will be discussed using case studies and through dialogue with invited speakers.
IS841: Business Analytics
The widespread proliferation of IT-influenced economic activity leaves behind a rich trail of micro-level data about consumer, supplier and competitor preferences. This has led to the emergence of a new form of competition based on the extensive use of analytics, experimentation, and fact-based decision making. In virtually every industry the competitive strategies organizations are employing today rely extensively on data analysis to predict the consequences of alternative courses of action, and to guide executive decision making. This course provides a hands-on introduction to the concepts, methods and processes of business analytics. We will learn how to obtain and draw business inferences from data by asking the right questions and using the appropriate tools. Topics to be covered include data preparation, data visualization, data mining, text mining, recommender systems as well as the overall process of using analytics to solve business problems, its organizational implications and pitfalls. Students will work with real world business data and analytics software. Where possible cases will used to motivate the topic being covered. Prior courses in data management and statistics will be helpful but not required.
IS854: Practicing IT Strategy, Management and Delivery
For future business leaders who want to understand, influence and leverage technology investments more effectively. The course provides effective strategies, pragmatic options, and leading practice alternatives for linking Business and Technology Strategies, defining effective governance and organization models, and successfully delivering new technology innovation. Students will master the complex methods and practices needed to frame a problem and propose an actionable solution that would be expected from future Business Executives and Technology Managers. Students will master the complex methods and practices to frame a problem and propose an actionable solution that would be expected from Business Executives (e.g., CEO, Marketing Executive, CIO, CFO) and Technology Executives (e.g., Product Manager, Consultant, Program Manager, Sales).
IS883: Designing Systems for Data Management
The first objective is to introduce the student the concept of design in information systems. Although the design concepts covered largely focus on data management, it will include high level systems design concepts as well. The second objective of this course is to introduce the student to the practical applications of databases and database management systems. The students will learn the fundamentals of data management starting with the basics of data design. The students will learn querying and managing the data in a database, defining the structures for storing data, and implementing business rules in relational databases using the Structured Query Language (SQL). The two objectives will tie in together as the students will be expected to integrate systems design with data design to design a prototype information system. This exercise will walk the students through the process of eliciting requirements, defining the scope, designing a restricted set of functions, designing the database, implementing the database, and explaining how restricted set of functions will use the data. The programming requirements will be very minimal. Besides the basics of data management, this course will also cover relevant "in" topics in data management such as database security, data quality management, and data auditing (if time permits).
IS889: Telecommunications and Business Networks
Examines the data communication hardware and software characteristics that are relevant to the applications software designer, and presents a general overview of communications network design. Topics include issues in the design and use of both local area networks and wide area networks, the impact of communications technology on organizations, and trends in the communication industry.
MK852: Marketing Research
This course examines a variety of exploratory and survey research approaches and their associated data analysis procedures. It provides participants with state-of-the-art tools for identifying and assessing customer needs and requirements to improve the performance of profit-oriented and public-sector organizations.
MK853: Global Strategic Marketing
This course focuses on the key strategic marketing decisions managers must make: deciding whether to market globally; selecting countries in which to market; choosing marketing strategies and tactics for entry and growth; and organizing for and managing the implementation of global marketing strategies.
MK854: Branding
This is a course about branding, and the ways that brands acquire and sustain value in the marketplace. The course is embedded in sociological, anthropological, and psychological theories of consumer behavior and culture, and relies on these disciplines for insight into effective strategic management of the brand. The cases, readings, in-class discussions, and assignments are designed to provide you with: an understanding of brands as co-creations of consumers, marketers, and cultures, and brand management as a collaborative process of meaning management; a sound foundation in consumer-brand behavior; and a capacity to think creatively and with increased precision about the strategies and tactics involved in building, leveraging, defending, and sustaining strong brands. Select topics we will cover include brand (re)positioning, brand design, brand community, product placements and grassroots marketing, internal branding, brand relationships, brand architecture, brand leverage and extensions, brand metrics, and brand stewardship. A group brand planning project weaves content throughout the course; individual write-ups allow you to explore select branding topics in more detail. Several guest speakers from the branding services, consulting, and practice sides will provide their insights throughout the course.
MK856: Consumer Behavior
In order to successfully implement strategy, marketers need to understand their consumers who they are, what they want, how they make decisions, and how their behavior is influenced by marketers' actions. This course will cover topics such as the role of culture, psychological processes (e.g. motivation, perception, memory, attitudes, etc.) and marketplace behaviors (e.g. in retail settings, online, post-purchase, etc.). We will also look at such marketing concepts as segmentation strategy, value-based pricing, brand equity, new product adoption, and customer relationship management. The course involves a team project focused on discovering an unmet consumer need and designing a product and marketing plan to address that need.
MK857: Services Marketing and Management
This course takes both a practical and conceptual approach to the marketing of services. The marketing literature views quality as being defined by customer expectations and perceptions. This course looks at key components of services that affect these expectations and perceptions as well as issues of demand management; developing systems that address custom problem solving and complaint management; and the overlap between operational, organizational, behavioral, and marketing issues in service management. The focus of the course varies by class to include professional services, small service, large service organizations and businesses that produce services as a key and necessary line extension to products that they produce.
MK858: Customer Relationship Management
The course is designed to give students a working knowledge of the concepts and practices of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The course will emphasize management of the customer experience and how to modify customer behavior using CRM. Key CRM components will be explored, including: database marketing, campaign management, marketing channels – including social media, marketing technology, marketing planning and measurement, and pricing. Instruction will be a combination of lectures, class discussion, cases, group activities, and guest lecturers.
MK859: Business to Business Marketing
This course provides an in-depth understanding of the unique aspects of marketing in a business-to-business environment. Students apply current marketing theory and techniques to industrial market settings. In addition, they develop managerial skills in the marketing planning and execution process, as well as critical analysis and problem-solving abilities with respect to marketing working relationships. The course allows participants to experiment with and apply strategic marketing concepts in a complex industrial marketing environment. Topics covered include the dynamics of relationships between suppliers and customers, the increasing reliance on the marketing-/R&D interface, the structuring of alliances between so-called competitors, and the process of negotiations – to better understand how organizations endeavor to become and stay market-oriented. Includes guest speakers and interactive marketing simulation.
MK860: Integrated Marketing Communication
The aim of this course is to provide you with an understanding of the strategic issues surrounding marketing communication, of which advertising is but one vehicle. We will be focusing on Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC), which involves using a variety of tools (e.g. advertising, sales promotion, public relations, etc.) in a synergistic manner to achieve communication objectives. Students will learn IMC principles and practices and then develop an IMC campaign from situation analysis to strategy development and implementation. The ultimate objective of this course is to enable students to understand and operate within the advertising industry from either a client or agency perspective.
MK864: Pricing Strategy and Tactics
This course focuses on the practical needs of the marketing manager making pricing decisions. Students learn the techniques of strategic analysis necessary to price more profitably by evaluating the price sensitivity of buyers, determining relevant costs, anticipating and influencing competitors' pricing and formulating an appropriate pricing strategy.
MK867: Marketing Social Change
Many corporations are taking an interest in corporate social responsibility, as they realize the implications of climate change, respond to public, NGO and shareholder scrutiny of business practices, and see the need for long-term sustainability strategies. Businesses are analyzing how to incorporate practices that conserve resources and promote social good into the business model. Some companies are scrutinizing their supply chain, generating eco-footprints for their products, and developing metrics to evaluate the value that CSR brings to business. More and more, corporate marketers are integrating social-change strategies, from cause-related marketing to campaign sponsorship to social change advertising, into their marketing programs.
The course Marketing Social Change will examine the roots of marketing social change — marketing at traditional nonprofits, campaigns launched to influence public actions, legally-dictated social change, cause-related marketing — and the evolution of corporate social responsibility. The course will explore how commercial marketing principles can be applied to positively influence social change. Particular emphasis will be placed on what it means for a corporation to be "socially responsible" and the complex issues facing marketing managers in evaluating the costs and benefits of CSR.
The course will include lectures, discussions, guest lectures by experts in social marketing and corporate social responsibility, and a semester-long project at a socially responsible company or organization.
MK 929: Marketing Management and the Customer-Focused Firm II
This course builds on material presented in MK927 to familiarize doctoral students with various areas of investigation for problem-oriented academic marketing research pertinent to the research mission of the department: advancing the customer focused firm. Discussion topics concern strategies for gaining competitive advantage and include: establishing a market orientation, product strategy, product innovation and new product development, brand design and product aesthetics, co-creation and mass customization, pricing strategy, sales promotions, corporate social responsibility, cause marketing, stakeholder marketing, and the measurement of firm and marketing performance. Through exposure to a strategic marketing perspective for the identification of research problem areas, this course will further socialize students into the process of developing research ideas and undertaking research, while stimulating the development of ideas for summer projects, qualifying papers, and dissertations.
Markets, Public Policy, & Law
PL835: Real Estate Management
The course provides an introduction to and an understanding of Real Property Finance and Management. The course draws together the functional areas of ownership, financing, analysis, valuation, taxation, negotiation and management structure. The focus of the course is to provide a framework for decision making in the real property field by providing a basic understanding of the factors that influence long-term value in real estate.
PL837: Strategic Fundraising and Corporate Philanthropy
This course is designed for future civic, business and nonprofit leaders who will be in the position of raising funds or giving away funds for charitable purposes at some point in their career. Whether for your child's school, the local little league or symphony, or a cause you care deeply about, you will want to know the fundamentals of raising or giving away money. This course explores the topic of strategic fundraising and philanthropy in three modules. The first explores the history, trends and current topics in philanthropy using case studies and current events. The second module provides students with specific tools and lessons in strategic fundraising and gives students an opportunity to apply these skills within a nonprofit of their choice. Finally the course examines how corporations can use their philanthropic efforts to further the strategy and goals of the business.
PL842: Real Estate Development
The course provides a framework for evaluating the aspects underlying successful real estate development from concept and feasibility, through site control to regulatory review and construction. The course is taught utilizing class discussion, cases and outside speakers to reinforce the functional areas in the development process.
PL845: Improving Your Decisions
The main aim of "Improving Your Decisions" is to present many of the decision problems managers face and to identify the most effective ways to make sound decisions — as well as the pitfalls, biases, and mistakes that should be avoided. A key element of the course is to present students with a series of decision challenges: What would you do? In other words, you must come to grips with actual decisions and defend your actions. The assigned readings also convey the most recent research findings in behavioral economics: how individuals and managers actually make decisions. The second half of the course centers on group decision making: how groups with common and not-so-common interests decide. A key topic here is the art and science of negotiation, thereby shifting the focus of attention from individual choices to competitive decisions. Again, students are challenged to test their group decision making skills and strategies in a series of simulations and face-to-face negotiations.
PL850: Social Entrepreneurship
This course is designed to introduce students to the concepts, practices, opportunities, and challenges of social entrepreneurship. The course provides students with a framework and tools to evaluate, plan and execute a social enterprise. Students are afforded the opportunity to practice business skills by developing a business plan for a socially responsive, income-earning venture for either a for profit or nonprofit organization. Skills developed in this course include recognizing opportunities, mobilizing resources, managing risks, creating viable economic models, business planning and building effective organizations. Following an introduction to social entrepreneurship, the course is organized around three modules. Module I focuses on the challenges and opportunities in creating high impact social enterprises. Module II explores strategies for sustaining and expanding a social enterprise. Module III examines various models for measuring and increasing the social impact of a venture. Students are required to produce a completed business plan as a final project for this course.
PL861: Emerging Issues in Business Law
You ask your outside lawyer or your company's legal department whether you can undertake some activity without violating the law. You are annoyed when you are told "Well, maybe. It depends". You want a yes-or-no answer, not a game of twenty questions. Why can't your lawyers give you a straight answer? Why do they make everything more complicated? What language are they speaking? Most business people ask these questions. If you do business you cannot avoid dealing with lawyers. You can allow your interactions with lawyers to frustrate you, or you can learn how lawyers think so that you can better manage them. Emerging Issues in Business Law introduces graduate business students to fundamentals of legal analysis by focusing on timely legal problems of particular interest to business. Students develop familiarity with substantive legal principles and leave the course with the ability to recognize legal issues, discuss them intelligently, and understand why the lawyers seem incapable of giving a simple answer. The course uses lectures to provide a common foundation of knowledge. It is primarily discussion based, using a question and answer format to engage students in the process of legal analysis.
PL862: Applied Ethics
The goal of this course is to help each student develop a methodology for leading an ethical life. Each of the cases focuses on an individual faced with an issue that challenges his/her principles. Students will also explore the kinds of situations that are likely to lead to unethical decisions.
PL864: Managing Political, Economic, Social, and Technology and Country Risk
This case-based course introduces students to conceptual tools and frameworks that allow them to think systematically about environmental changes that restructure companies, industries, and countries, preparing them to deal with those changes. The course explores political, economic, technological, and social change, as well as natural disasters and political risk. Students will map the flow of events and experiences that shape political or business leaders' attitudes and will be introduced to the analyses of countries, systems, trends, stakeholders, scenario developments, cross-impact, and payoff assessments. They will assess probable shifts in stakeholder power within the industry or country and suggest potentially successful leadership and change strategies.
PL868: Corporate Governance, Accountability, and Ethics
"As we move forward into the twenty-first century, the interest in corporate governance is at an all-time high." (Gillies) The failures associated with fraudulent activity of high profile companies in North America and Europe, the transformation of the world economy into one great market for goods and services, plus the transition in many countries of economies from a command to to a market form have led to calls for development of new and better forms of corporate governance. The lines between politics and markets are changing, affecting industries, organizations, and managerial practice. This seminar will focus on the reformation of corporate governance and its effects on business and nonprofit management practice. Topics will include the role of transparency, new forms of accountability, governance risk, and organizational strategies of response. Course materials will include cases, readings, and discussions with guest speakers. Professor Post is the author of "Redefining the Corporation" (Stanford Press, 2002) and a new book on governance and accountability.
PL882: Public Policy Analysis
This course explores the economics of the public sector and the impact government policy and programs have on society and business. The course provides students with tools to systematically examine the financing and measure the impact of government policies and regulations. It explores the rationale for government intervention, appropriate levels of intervention and how to measure the effectiveness of policies and regulations. This course is helpful to those who desire a deeper understanding of the central role government plays in the economy and how government impacts the business and nonprofit sectors.
Organizational Behavior
OB802: Leading Transformation in Health and Social Sector Organizations
Organizations in the health and social service sectors have missions to create social value in a variety of areas including patient care, client services, environmental sustainability, educational access, global health, health service delivery, and poverty. This course examines theories and practices of leading transformation to bring about a desired social impact through such organizations. For example, it will explore how sustainable change is achieved through "small steps" infused into everyday life.
In order to build skills in leading transformation the course is heavily experiential. It will integrate a field-based group project along with exercises, cases and speakers. Group project teams will work with a health or social sector organization to examine a change effort and develop a leadership briefing that distills the change implementations process and value realized, and generates action recommendations for leading future transformation.
OB830: Leading the Mission-Driven Organization
Mission-driven organizations are created in order to accomplish goals that extend beyond profits for stakeholders and owners. Missions vary, ranging from, among many others, educating or protecting youth, safeguarding the planet, healing the sick, eradicating poverty, and enabling spirituality. Such missions occur in the context of various organizations, including non-profit and for-profit, philanthropic and religious, public and private, governmental and non-governmental. This course focuses on leadership theories, frameworks, and practices that take seriously the nature of workers, including both professional staff and volunteers, and their reasons for choosing to work in such organizations. This course is designed to build the capacities of students to use specific tools—related to leadership, conflict, and change—that are particularly useful in leading mission-driven organizations, and enable them to develop particular insights about specific mission-driven organizations of interest, related to their effectiveness and capacities for change. This course is particularly appropriate for students focusing on non-profit organizations, health-care systems and entrepreneurial organizations.
OB840: Management Consulting Field Project
The purpose of this course is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the management consulting process and its practical application. The course simulates a small consulting firm where students are consultants. Students complete significant fieldwork outside of classroom time. Students explore dimensions of defining and understanding the consulting framework, engagements, work methodology, client relationship management, value creation, developing and delivering presentations and client follow-up. This course includes one primary deliverable: the initiation, scoping and completion of a consulting field project. This class is designed and best suited for second year students who have 3-5 years work experience in the public, private or nonprofit sectors.
OB844: Managing Organizational Change
This course focuses on the planning and control of organizational and behavioral change in a dynamic business environment. Emphasis will be on the development of change techniques used to diagnose, implement and evaluate organizational change processes. The course will also examine the conflict that often accompanies change, how it can be useful or dysfunctional, and its relationship to resistance to change and organizational dynamics. The course objectives are to: develop an understanding of the complexity and dynamics of change, discuss and evaluate different change techniques, examine the implications of change for the manager's own behavior and career, and provide techniques for recognizing, anticipating and responding to change opportunities and efforts.
OB847: Leading High Performance Teams and Project Groups
This course introduces the challenges of leading and participating in teams and project groups. It emphasizes the role of leadership in composing teams, motivating members, and creating an environment in which teams and their members grow in capacity over time. This course will use cases, experiential exercises, and group projects to help students gain both knowledge of team dynamics and the skills to shape them.
OB848: The Leadership Challenge
This course examines the essence of leadership; its relationship to managing; and the behaviors, attitudes and perspectives that distinguish leaders. Leadership is considered in a variety of ways: leadership in crises, at the top, in the middle, and in groups. Case studies, students' past experiences, instruments, and other learning activities provide opportunities for students to assess and develop their leadership talents.
OB853: Negotiations
This course uses the theory and research on effective negotiating strategies to build students' understanding of, and skills for, managing differences and negotiation situations. The course considers, among other topics, the issues of negotiating across functions, between levels, across national and cultural differences, over race and gender differences, and between organizations. Students examine: 1) problems of influence and self-defense in highly competitive "hardball" negotiations; and 2) the art of using differences for creative problem-solving and "mutual gain" outcomes. The emphasis is on developing practical skills for effective negotiations that can be applied to concrete situations. Students should be prepared to learn from their own experiences and practice in this course.
OB923: Field Studies Seminar
As management researchers seek to understand questions of 'how' and 'of what ' in addition to the more traditional question of 'how many,' qualitative methods are taking a central place in our field's methodological practice. One indicator is the publication of qualitatively based articles by major journals in the sub-disciplines of organizational behavior, information systems, strategy, accounting and marketing. This doctoral-level seminar has two objectives: to explore the range of methodological practices and processes associated with conducting and composing high quality qualitative research, and to draw particular attention to the important processes of observing, discovery, justification and writing.
Operations & Technology Management
OM840: Managing and Improving Quality: Six Sigma Green Belt Certification
Six Sigma is a powerful management tool that promotes process improvement, cost reduction and significant enhancement of bottom-line profitability. The purpose of this course is to thoroughly examine the concept of quality, to define it in terms that are useful for managers, to survey the ideas of major quality thinkers and theorists, to develop proficiency in the use of quality tools, and to consider the challenges of quality program implementation in real business situations. Throughout the course we will investigate similarities and differences between quality management in manufacturing and service contexts. The course has three major objectives. The first goal is to define quality and explore important philosophies and useful frameworks for managers or consultants. The second goal is to focus on the Six Sigma tools available for the pursuit of lasting quality improvements. The third is to bring the experiences of Six Sigma practice into the classroom. We'll benefit from the expertise and experience of Six Sigma professionals who will help us to understand the challenges of Six Sigma implementations and analyze the lessons they have learned from projects they have undertaken.
OM845: Clean Technologies and Supply Chains
The clean technology industry is touching some of the largest sectors of the economy and yet still undergoing significant growth and attracting a plethora of new entrants. It has been characterized by a great deal of experimentation around new technologies and around business models in the face of regulatory and market place disruptions. The course uses a combination of cases, simulation and analytical exercises to review trends and their co-evolution within the clean technology/energy eco-system. It aims to build a skill set around risk and opportunity assessment, and allied implementation challenges.
OM854: Supply Chain Management
This course presents tools and modeling frameworks that are relevant to solving today's supply-chain problems. The class will offer a mixture of case discussions, lectures, games, and outside speakers. Case discussions will cover subjects including designing new-product supply chains, optimizing inventory levels, quick response, the role of B2B exchanges, and managing capacity for short life-cycle products. Games, including the distribution game, the OPT game, and the Beer Game, will reinforce the concepts in a constructive way. Finally, outside speakers will present real-world examples of how supply chain models are being deployed in practice. This course is for students who will be working in consulting or supply-chain management. For those interested in finance or marketing, the course provides solid exposure to an area that is integral to product-focused companies.
OM855: Project Management
Projects are increasingly the way that work gets done in companies of all types and sizes. In this new course you will learn the strategic dimensions of project management, including critical aspects of project selection, definition, planning, execution, and monitoring. Concepts and approaches for dealing with complexity, uncertainty, vague mandates, temporary staff, partners, stakeholders, dynamic risk, and time-critical deadlines are emphasized. Cases and readings cover a wide range of industry and organizational contexts. This course requires that students apply these topics and considerations to a real project of their choice either by analysis of publicly available information or direct field study. Many MBA's are tested on the job through tough assignments in project settings. Your performance there is highly visible. Doing especially well can accelerate your subsequent career opportunities. Prepare now for success in strategic project management by developing the skills and perspectives covered in OM855.
OM880: Product Design and Development
This course explores central managerial challenges in the effective design, development, and introduction of new products. Topics covered include reducing the time to market while meeting cost and quality targets; managing cross-functional projects and inherent technological risks while keeping a focus on customer requirements; and integrated problem-solving by industrial designers, engineers, manufactures, and marketing specialists. Case studies, readings, guest lecturers, field project.
Public and Nonprofit Management
IM852: Brazil Field Seminar
This intensive ten day seminar will provide students with a broad understanding of the ways in which business strategies can create value at the base of the economic pyramid. Students will gain first hand experience of how businesses, NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and government are using models of social enterprise to address social and economic issues in the fields of health, education and the environment in the context of an emerging market—in this case, Brazil. This study program will include extensive site visits throughout the country to social enterprises, multi-national firms, NGO ventures and government organizations. Students will also hear from a wide variety of Latin American specialists in topic areas. A broad range of topics will be covered including: renewable energy, sustainable development, eco-tourism, new models for providing health and education services to underserved populations, social enterprise, micro-enterprise, corporate social responsibility and public/private partnerships.
The course will consist of three pre-departure sessions focused on social enterprise, corporate social responsibility and emerging markets. Students are also expected to select an individual research track of interest for the duration of the seminar.
MK867: Marketing Social Change
The course has two main and interdependent components. First, students will be exposed to the marketing concepts and principles that can be applied to change individuals' attitudes and behaviors toward a variety of social issues, including health, housing, environment, culture, education and poverty. The second component, which will be informed by the first, will be a semester-long field project in which student groups will address a specific management problem for a real social-cause organization and provide the organization with a set of actionable recommendations.
OB830: Leading the Mission-Driven Organization
Mission-driven organizations are created in order to accomplish goals that extend beyond profits for stakeholders and owners. Missions vary, ranging from, among many others, educating or protecting youth, safeguarding the planet, healing the sick, eradicating poverty, and enabling spirituality. Such missions occur in the context of various organizations, including non-profit and for-profit, philanthropic and religious, public and private, governmental and non-governmental. This course focuses on leadership theories, frameworks, and practices that take seriously the nature of workers, including both professional staff and volunteers, and their reasons for choosing to work in such organizations. This course is designed to build the capacities of students to use specific tools—related to leadership, conflict, and change—that are particularly useful in leading mission-driven organizations, and enable them to develop particular insights about specific mission-driven organizations of interest, related to their effectiveness and capacities for change. This course is particularly appropriate for students focusing on non-profit organizations, health-care systems and entrepreneurial organizations.
OB840: Management Consulting
The purpose of this course is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the management consulting process and its practical application. The course simulates a small consulting firm where students are consultants. Students complete significant fieldwork outside of classroom time. Students explore dimensions of defining and understanding the consulting framework, engagements, work methodology, client relationship management, value creation, developing and delivering presentations and client follow-up. This course includes one primary deliverable: the initiation, scoping and completion of a consulting field project. This class is designed and best suited for second year students who have 3-5 years work experience in the public, private or nonprofit sectors.
OM845 Clean Technologies and Supply Chains
The clean technology industry is touching some of the largest sectors of the economy and yet still undergoing significant growth and attracting a plethora of new entrants. It has been characterized by a great deal of experimentation around new technologies and around business models in the face of regulatory and market place disruptions. The course uses a combination of cases, simulation and analytical exercises to review trends and their co-evolution within the clean technology/energy eco-system. It aims to build a skill set around risk and opportunity assessment, and allied implementation challenges.
PL837: Strategic Fundraising and Corporate Philanthropy
This course is designed for future civic, business and nonprofit leaders who will be in the position of raising funds or giving away funds for charitable purposes at some point in their career. Whether for your child's school, the local little league or symphony, or a cause you care deeply about, you will want to know the fundamentals of raising or giving away money. This course explores the topic of strategic fundraising and philanthropy in three modules. The first explores the history, trends and current topics in philanthropy using case studies and current events. The second module provides students with specific tools and lessons in strategic fundraising and gives students an opportunity to apply these skills within a nonprofit of their choice. Finally the course examines how corporations can use their philanthropic efforts to further the strategy and goals of the business.
PL849: Global Sustainability
Global Sustainability and the New Entrepreneur explores the underpinnings of today's global sustainability challenges and how entrepreneurial thinking can be applied to government, NGOs, multinational corporations, small start-ups and the capital markets to address these challenges. Though lecture, case discussion, computer simulation and a unique guest speaker program, students will gain deeper understanding of both root cause, the interconnected and interdependencies across sectors such as energy, the environment and the global food and water supplies along with entrepreneurial thinking, methods, models and practices being employed by innovative individuals and organizations at the forefront in the search for solutions.
PL850: Social Entrepreneurship
Business plans integrate the marketing, financial, operational, and organizational activities required to realize an opportunity. This course offers students the opportunity to write a business plan for a mission-based venture (both for-profit and nonprofit plans are welcome). This course offers an introduction to the theory and practice of social entrepreneurship in the private, Public & Nonprofit sectors. The course focuses both on the creation of an innovative mission-based organization and the establishment of an innovative program or activity within an existing organization to meet a societal need. Areas of social innovation as diverse as business, environment, education, human services and government are explored. Students gain practical knowledge about how to identify potential social opportunities; develop skills and competencies for creating, developing, and implementing social entrepreneurship ideas; and examine ways of measuring the success of social entrepreneurial activity.
PL870: Government, Society and the New Entrepreneur
"Government, Society and International Entrepreneurship" (GSIE) exposes students to the challenges of managing in an international and global environment. The course is broad and far-reaching in its scope and topics, dealing with such varied issues as economic globalization, international entrepreneurship, and the interplay between democracy and capitalism. Students are asked to take a long perspective of the histories of countries and regions and to study the implications for modern business enterprise.
The first major substantive section of the course is a series of country cases that describe the cultural, social, political and economic context in which business enterprise is conducted. These cases, which were written for the BGIE course at Harvard, support dense and rich discussions of the economics of global enterprise and the challenges of operating in various country settings.
The second major section of the course deals with international institutions such as the WTO as well as major trends in the global economy such as the move toward outsourcing. The topics in this section cut across country boundaries and enrich the material in part one on competing in country environments.
The third major sections of the course address the challenges of managing enterprises in each of three major global sectors: food, health and energy. These industries were selected because of their foundational nature and importance to national security across many country environments. In each of the sectors, a case on a large, multinational enterprise is coupled with a case on a small entrepreneurial organization. The challenges of managing each type of organization—and the implications of competition between them—become vivid by the contrast.
The overarching goal of this course is to provide students with the background to appreciate the complicated issues of stewarding business enterprise in diverse geographic and institutional environments.
PL882: Public Policy Analysis
This course explores the economics of the public sector and the impact government policy and programs have on society and business. The course provides students with tools to systematically examine the financing and measure the impact of government policies and regulations. It explores the rationale for government intervention, appropriate levels of intervention and how to measure the effectiveness of policies and regulations. This course is helpful to those who desire a deeper understanding of the central role government plays in the economy and how government impacts the business and nonprofit sectors.
Quantitative Methods
QM880: Business Analytics: Spreadsheet Optimization and Simulation
The modeling process illustrated throughout the course will significantly improve students' abilities to structure complex problems and derive insights about the value of alternatives. You will develop the skills to formulate and analyze a wide range of models that can aid in managerial decision-making in the functional areas of business. These areas include finance (capital budgeting, cash planning, portfolio optimization, valuing options, hedging investments), marketing (pricing, sales force allocation, planning advertising budgets) and operations (production planning, workforce scheduling, facility location, project management). The course will be taught almost entirely by example, using problems from the main functional areas of business.
Strategy & Innovation
SI814: Intellectual Property Strategies in Life Sciences and Technology
This course covers the ways in which companies use intellectual property to protect their investments in knowledge assets. Traditionally a concern for technology-intensive businesses, patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets have become important business tools throughout the knowledge-based economy. A good understanding of what IP assets are and how they work has become essential for managers in all types of organizations. This is not a law course, nor a how-to manual – rather it is intended to develop your analytical understanding of fundamental economic and legal aspects of intellectual property systems, and how they drive competition and strategy.
SI830: Corporate Strategies for Growth
This course will examine strategies for firm growth that involve expanding the range of the firm's business activities. We will study strategic logics underlying vertical integration, franchising, related and unrelated diversification, alliances, corporate venturing and spinouts, and other such strategies. We will also study the management challenges associated with these strategies, including designing organizational structures and managerial incentives, managing acquisitions, structuring supplier relationships, and fostering organizational cultures.
SI831: Employer Consulting Project I
For PEMBA students who want to leverage their dual roles as student and employee, this course will allow them to utilize and apply their MBA learning to work on a strategic issue for their current company. The scope, objectives, milestones and deliverables of the project are to be agreed upon by the student, his/her employer and faculty advisor for the course. Periodically over the course of the project the student will have one on one session's with the professor to report on their progress and receive counseling and feedback in addition to group sessions with other PEMBA students taking SP831 for peer coaching, support and to exchange ideas.
SI832: Employer Consulting Project II
This course is a continuation of SP31 and is for students who are working on a strategic issue with considerable depth and breadth. Due to the possible confidential and sensitive nature of the project at this point there will be no more peer meetings or discussion of the project progress. The deliverables and milestones for this course were agreed to during the project approval phase for SP831.
SI838: Technology Commercialization an Entrepreneurship: Essential Tools for the New Entrepreneur
This course addresses the innovative transformation of knowledge into new commercial products and services. The course begins with a rigorous study of intellectual property, licensing and the core aspects of planning, creating, funding and building new entrepreneurial ventures. Concepts and tools are presented for assessing new technologies and their potential to be the basis for a new entrepreneurial venture. Comparisons will be made of how technologies can be sourced and commercialized out of three very different environments: universities, national laboratories and corporate laboratories. Cross-disciplinary teams of students will be formed which will evaluate real technologies and their potential for transformation into a start-up company. Students may bring their own technology ideas to the class for assessment. Each class there will be a case study which will discuss examples of both success and failure in technology commercialization. Many of these case studies examine Boston University spin-out companies, and the founders and CEO's of these ventures will share their experiences with the class. The course is listed in a number of schools of the University and attracts a diverse mix of students including MBA students, law school students, scientists, engineers and clinicians. This diversity of interest adds significantly to the learning experience.
SI839: Design and Innovation Strategy
This class will examine how managers and leaders can create the conditions for innovation at the individual, team and organizational levels – and how those conditions differ for startup and mature organizations. Managing innovation includes the generation of ideas; the integration of ideas into new product concepts; and the commercialization of ideas. While core strategy courses address the questions of what innovations to pursue and whether and when those innovations will bring value, this course addresses the question of how managers can create organizations to deliver innovations of value. Thus, the course will focus on the practices and processes that mangers need to put in place to enable organizations to execute on an innovation strategy. In doing so, students will evaluate how to balance the challenges of organizing, managing and leading innovation with the need to produce concrete, routine and expected outcomes within the organization. To be innovative, any new idea must resolve the innovation paradox – introducing enough novelty to appeal to new markets while retaining enough familiarity to tap into existing behaviors. Because design and innovation are frequently inseparable in managing this paradox, the class will assess how design contributes to innovation in product, process and business models across industry sectors. The course will also consider the role that all sources of innovation play – including communities, networks, brokers and other forms of open innovation. Students will be asked to reflect upon innovations that have been critical to their lives, and how these innovations were produced and gained market traction. Final group projects will explore how to —rescue? innovations in trouble with turnaround teams.
SI847: Strategic Analysis of Sustainable Ventures
Investing in Sustainable Technologies introduces students from all backgrounds to the broad issues underlying global sustainability challenges resulting from population growth, resource scarcity, environmental degradation and climate change; emerging technological solutions to those challenges in food supply, water/sanitation, energy, healthcare industries/sectors; and, the structure, operations and methods of the global venture capital industry.
The class will take the role of a global venture capital firm and the students will take the perspective of the —deal sourcing? team within the firm seeking to develop a portfolio of early stage, sustainable technologies investments. Students will work in teams focused on specific industries/sectors of interest and identify attractive investment opportunities within the industry/sector. Students will then search for and identify an array of breakthrough technologies related to that sector, connecting emerging innovations from the research lab with market needs/opportunities and assessing attractiveness and commercial feasibility of each, thus collectively crafting a diversified portfolio of sustainable technology-based investments.
The course is intended for students with limited/no prior background in sustainability, sciences or technologies. Students with prior experience will make significant contributions to the class from their experience in their field while broadening their knowledge across the full spectrum of topics studied. Formerly "Inventing a Sustainable Future," students who took that course may not take this one.
SI849: Global Sustainability
Global Sustainability and the New Entrepreneur explores the underpinnings of today's global sustainability challenges and how entrepreneurial thinking can be applied to government, NGOs, multinational corporations, small startups and the capital markets to address these challenges. Though lecture, case discussion, computer simulation and a unique guest speaker program, students will gain deeper understanding of both root cause, the interconnected and interdependencies across sectors such as energy, the environment and the global food and water supplies along with entrepreneurial thinking, methods, models and practices being employed by innovative individuals and organizations at the forefront in the search for solutions.
SI852: Starting New Ventures
This course focuses on the process of identifying and obtaining the necessary resources to launch an entrepreneurial venture through the development of a business plan. A well-written business plan will communicate the business concept in a way that attracts the various resource providers necessary for the venture's success. Students will individually develop a business concept and prepare and present a professional business plan.
SI853: Entrepreneurial Management
This course explores the changing demands that a business places on the entrepreneur as it moves from start-up through its phases of growth. The skills, competencies and perspectives required to manage the organization through its growth are considered. There is also a special emphasis on the process of developing the financial resources necessary to fund the venture's growth. This course will help the student integrate prior learning to perform analyses, considering the strategic, financial, operational, marketing and organizational dimensions of managing the venture. Teams of students will interview CEO's of entrepreneurial companies to explore and report on the demands and challenges their respective organizations.
SI854: Entrepreneurial Finance
The focus of SP854 is on the development of financial and business skills to identify, evaluate, start and manage new ventures. A comprehensive understanding of finance is an essential ingredient in the "recipe" for business success. No longer can the assumptions underlying financial projections be treated as "black boxes." In many cases, the answer is less important than the analytical process used to calculate it. Readings for the course will primarily be in the form of case studies, and will be supplemented by guest speakers, presentations, and readings from academia and industry.
SI855: Entrepreneurship
The course is a comprehensive introduction to the entrepreneurial process from idea generation through venture launch and later growth. Initial lectures and case studies focus on idea generation and concept feasibility along with the skills, competencies and perspectives entrepreneurs must develop to manage the organization through each phase of development. Later lectures and cases emphasize the issues faced by entrepreneurs in scaling innovative enterprises; use of strategic alliances, attracting funding and managing investors, managing growth expansion and choosing among exit options.
SI856: International Entrepreneurship
This course focuses on international entrepreneurship, covering the development of skills to identify, evaluate, start and manage ventures that are international in scope. Specific topics will include market entry, forming alliances, managing growth and cross-border financing in different regions of the world. Support from local governments and the cultural, ethical, legal, and human resource issues facing the entrepreneur will also be discussed. Readings will primarily be in the form of case studies and will be supplemented with outside articles and guest speakers. Team projects addressing current events, international negotiations, and business strategies will be used to integrate the course material.
SI859: Strategy Implementation
Gain the skills and know-how to manage up and across your organization, passing the normal organizational tests along the way from technical expert to cross-functional integrator to directing the future course of your organization. This is strategy implementation for the middle manager who needs to 1) size-up the situation and 2) determine how to gain the power needed to achieve their objectives. One of the qualitative factors that will be explored in great detail is personal style choice vis à vis different stakeholders and organizational politics and the resultant perceptions of you and your programs. Students will study both successful and less-successful managers through cases and readings, honing their own, personal managerial style.
SI863: Strategic and Financial Analysis and Design
The purpose of this course is to increase students' awareness of what they already know about business and what they can know through strategic corporate financial analysis. Students will use numeric thinking and documentation to reduce uncertainty and to bring the strategic and limiting factors of managerial decisions into focus. The course is appropriate for students who have financial savvy as well as those who want to develop their analytical capabilities. It is case-based, emphasizing business sense first, and developing through first-hand experience a sense of the strengths and limitations of corporate financial data, financial theory and strategic evaluation models. It stresses fast approximate analysis to achieve managerial insights over precise calculation.
SI870: Government, Society and Sustainable Development
Government, Society and Sustainable Development is broad and far-reaching course in scope and topics. After an introduction to the concepts of the limits-to-growth and global sustainability challenges resulting from population growth, resource scarcity, environmental degradation and climate change students dive deep into the cultural, societal and economic development issues of globalization, study the implications of globalization on the current social and economic development of nations/regions/industries and explore new development models (for-profit and non-profit entrepreneurship) for sustainable development at the international, national, and sub-national levels.
The Course has three major themes:
- The first major theme of the course is a series of country cases that explore the cultural, social, political and economic context in which business enterprise has historically been conducted.
- The second major theme of the course overlays the international institutions that emerged from Bretton Woods; the UN, GATT/WTO, the World Bank and the IMF, (the emerging World Environmental Organization, WEO) onto the country cases and explores emerging topics of international Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and International Environmental Protection (IEP).
- The third major theme of the course explores the emergence of new models of sustainable development; contrasting bottoms-ups collective action and entrepreneurship against classic aid-based models as a force for change and driver of sustainable development.
SI871: Strategies for Bringing Technology to Market
Strategies for Bringing Technology to Market is a unique course that guides student teams as they undertake commercial go-to-market strategy for scientific and engineering breakthroughs. By collaborating with faculty and graduate students in the University's research labs and mentors from the business community, teams will assess the economic and social prospects of recent technology innovations, outline the technical and market risks and the key commercial milestones and make recommendations for the most effective commercialization strategy. Project work is supported by lectures that focus on critical skills required. Guidance will be provided in assessing critical commercialization milestones by a combination of faculty and mentors from the business community.
SI874: Entrepreneurial Sales Strategy
Focusing on sales strategy and execution as one of the most critical success factors in building entrepreneurial ventures, the course will enable students to develop the practical knowledge and specific skills necessary to maximize top-line revenue growth for emerging companies. Topics to be covered include direct, indirect and channel sales strategies; implementing pipeline management principles and forecasting techniques; the use of technology in selling; building a sales organization; and the development of strategic partners and alliances. Also covered are the use of sales tools and skills (presentation, negotiation, territory management, and pipeline development), building successful channel partners, and the keys to successful selling including solution selling vs. product selling.