Cornell University Registrar

This is an introductory management course covering the management of technology and innovation in established firms. This course will explore what lessons large firms can learn from startups as well. This course is designed for students who may someday work in roles that require them to apply entrepreneurial thinking to launch new products and business models to capture new markets and evade disruption. Students taking this course will receive an understanding of how to incorporate aspects of entrepreneurship into their work in established firms to better discover and exploit valuable opportunities. This course will discuss how industries are transformed by new technologies and how these patterns of industrial change generate both opportunity and high rates of firm failure. This course will examine technology companies such as Netflix, Google, Adobe, Eli Lilly, etc. and explore the questions: Why do some technology leaders fail, and how do technology innovators successfully take on and replace incumbent firms? This course will discuss how to design and lead innovative organizations and teams to develop new products and identify opportunities for new products and market segments and effective strategies for managing intellectual property.

The Business of Entrepreneurship is a comprehensive introduction to the key aspects of envisioning, starting and running a new business. The Business of Entrepreneurship focuses both on concepts and frameworks in entrepreneurship and on doing entrepreneurship. Students will form teams, ideate new businesses, complete customer development, construct business models and work towards defining minimum viable products. Topics covered will include definition of the market, sales and distribution, competition, hiring and management of people, cash flow and financial management, making compelling pitches and raising capital. The course culminates in a capstone project of writing a business plan and presenting to a group of entrepreneurs and investors. This course is appropriate both for students interested in launching an entrepreneurial endeavor or students who will benefit from learning frameworks applied to the entrepreneurial process.

This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of equity research and is similar to that provided to aspiring analysts, as apprentices, in buy-side investment firms. The course provides a comprehensive framework for analyzing equity securities and developing formal target prices and BUY/SELL/HOLD recommendations. Each student defines an industry to study and prepares an industry review. Each student analyzes in detail one stock in the industry and prepares a stock report. A live portfolio is invested in late March with student picks. Topics include the research process, analysis strategies, valuation techniques and portfolio construction methods. Templates, examples and detailed feedback on draft reports are provided. Students should be prepared to conduct rigorous, creative research based upon their own work and insights. Class is taught in a hybrid format composed of in-class lectures, workshops, guest speakers, reading assignments, research assignments, lecture video assignments and student presentations.

This course is targeted at students that are or plan to be involved in family enterprises-irrespective of how-as an investor/owner, future leader, consultant, or employee. It will bring to light, many of the unique features (advantages and challenges) of a family enterprise. Students will be exposed to some critical themes that are unique to such enterprises-Role Definition, Effective Governance, Conflict Management, Succession and Fund Raising/Exit. They will acquire practical tools to effectively deal with them. One of the unique features of this class is that students will have an opportunity to discuss and analyze the specific opportunities and challenges they face in the family enterprise they represent (the level of sharing is of course entirely optional and up to each student to define). They will work on a Student Case project that allows them to dissect the issues and develop solutions, in a supportive team environment. This will be woven into the more traditional means of learning such as lectures, case studies, and guest speakers. Students will leave the course armed with clear insight into what to expect as they enter the family enterprise and how to navigate their unique environments. In doing so, they will amplify their ability to create enterprise, family and personal success.

With the availability of large, fine-grained traces of consumer behavior, artificial intelligence is increasingly deployed to automate marketing tasks by personalizing consumer experiences. This course is focused on demystifying the artificial intelligence hype by giving you a high-level understanding of how artificial intelligence works, and what it can (and cannot) do well. The course will involve a mixture of lectures, lecture-style case studies, and hands-on exercises in class.

This course is relevant to a general business career, but is particularly relevant to careers that involve the use of financial statements. The specific accounting topics covered includes: Statement of Cash Flows; Income Taxes; Divestitures; Financial Assets (Investments and Hedges); Leases; Non-Financial Assets; Revenue Recognition; Pensions; Equity-based Compensation; and EPS. My objective is to enable you to become more knowledgeable, skeptical consumers of financial information. This objective will be achieved by a combination of lectures and analyzing and discussing cases that are based on actual financial statements.

Part of being financially savvy is having an understanding of how taxation affects business decisions; e.g., forming a corporation and raising capital, operating the firm, distributing cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, expanding through acquisition, and divesting lines of business. Taxes have a direct impact on cash flow and often divert 30 to 40 percent of the firm's pretax cash flow to the government, effectively making the government the single largest stakeholder in many firms. Having an understanding of taxation and how firms plan accordingly is important for just about any career path you choose, whether you will be an investment banker, venture capitalist, consultant, money manager, CFO, treasurer, controller, taking over a family-owned business, or an entrepreneur setting up a new business. Topics include tax planning fundamentals, corporate tax fundamentals, taxation of mergers and acquisitions, taxation of divestitures, international taxation, taxes and wealth planning.

This course is designed for managers who want to use accounting information within their organizations to improve decision making. The class is divided into three units: cost classification and analysis, costing systems, and performance management. In the first unit, we learn about cost definitions, behavior, estimation, and cost-volume-profit analysis. In the second unit, we discuss the pros and cons of costing systems with an emphasis on accounting for manufacturing. Finally, we explore internal planning and decision making topics, such as budgeting, performance measurement.

This course will prepare students to systematically plan for volunteer leadership through board service and financial giving across the course of their careers. Topics to be covered include: motivations for board service and philanthropic giving; the role of philanthropy in society; non-profit board structures, governance, and risk mitigation; impact and other forms of giving; board practicum. The course will be informed by theory and experiential in nature. Students will have the opportunity to research local non-profit organizations, determine whether this is the type of board they want to serve on, and, thanks to the generosity of a grant to our course from The Philanthropy Lab, award ~$50,000 to local organizations.

This course presents the tax skills necessary to make business, and personal, decisions as it relates to real estate ventures. Emphasis is placed on such areas as acquiring ownership of real property, the various entity structures that a real estate venture can create, and the operational rules surrounding a real estate venture, including the sale and/or exchange of real estate. In addition, securitized real estate investments, such as limited/master limited partnerships and real estate investment trusts (REITS), will be introduced in the later part of course. Practical application of the tax law will be emphasized with proper consideration placed on the historical, economic and political perspectives of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). The content and design of this course is, only, suitable for advanced undergraduate students and graduate students.

The purpose of this course is to give students a broad understanding of financial statement analysis and valuation issues. The emphasis is on helping students understand the basic equity research process for use in investment and business decision applications. The course format is a combination of examples, case studies, and lectures. Potential topics include information sources, strategic ratio analysis, accounting quality, non-GAAP metrics, cash flow analysis, forecasting financial statements, and firm valuation using discounted cash flow and residual income techniques. The course deliverables include an equity research project and a final exam.

The course provides a hand-on experience for learning the key philosophies and tactics of entrepreneurial activity and the entrepreneurial mindset. The unique focus of this class is that it is designed for Scientists & Engineers who would start a business that would have meaningful technology at the heart of the company. This includes the development of a viable business concept, customer discovery, the evaluation and planning of the start-up businesses, go-to-market strategy, intellectual property, and financing. The course utilizes lectures, directed readings, and guest speakers. The goal is a meaningful understanding of how to design a new business venture, achieved by building and communicating the framework for a viable business.

Big Red Ventures is Cornell's student-run venture fund. Founded in 2000 as a student project, BRV fund managers source new investment opportunities, conduct opportunity assessments and due diligence, make investment recommendations, assess and vote on recommendations of other fund managers, and make investments in early-stage, high-growth startup companies. Fund managers also manage existing portfolio investments, conduct annual portfolio valuations, and prepare investor materials such as an annual report and annual meeting. Fund managers operate under the guidance and oversight of experienced practitioner faculty. BRV is a selective program, with an application and interview process open to MBAs, JDs, and PhD candidates; the course is only open to students who apply to become and are selected as fund managers (see brventurefund.com for application details and timing). Full participation at either the Ithaca or Cornell Tech campuses, both fall and spring semester, is required.

This course builds on the material of NBA 5060 and focuses on more advanced financial statement topics and specialized industries. Topics may include investment research, accounting analysis, accounting quality, credit analysis, and advanced valuation issues. Instruction focuses on a combination of lecture and case-based discussion. Students are expected to have taken NBA 5060 or possess a good understanding of basic financial statement analysis. The material is designed to broaden student's understanding of financial statement analysis and complement the tools developed in NBA 5060. The course deliverables include case write-ups, an equity research project, and a final exam.

This class is designed to provide the participants with a viable pathway to understanding their role in making an enterprise more socially valuable in today's ever changing world. This course will explore the rising interest in practicing capitalism in order to benefit society as a whole. In this class we will be tapping into the inherent feelings many students have that doing well and doing good in business is attainable. The course will further explore potential business practices that are not only a force for doing good in society but lead to actually being socially and environmentally restorative. Students will learn to identify their core passion and how to make that the centerpiece of their entrepreneurial path. Students will identify the different purposes business have and evaluate their value to society utilizing a taxonomy of business structures from profit maximization to not for profit. Students will evaluate what business structure is most favorable for their individual entrepreneurial path and will identify actual business practices that promote the thriving of the human spirit.

Financial modeling is the art and science of constructing spreadsheet models of firms' future financial statements. This class draws on and integrates students' knowledge of concepts learned in prior accounting classes by modeling the effect on the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows of financial transactions such as leveraged buyouts, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate reorganizations.

This course is NBA 5110 for non-MBA students. The course integrates financial analysis and financial modeling concepts to prepare students for careers in investment banking. Early classes focus on understanding and interpreting financial statements. Focus then shifts to building economically sound financial statement forecasts to create financial statement models. The second half of the course uses financial statement models to model equity valuations, alternative investment and financing decisions, leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations, and merger and acquisition transactions. The course presumes familiarity with basic financial accounting concepts, as well as basic corporate finance concepts and time-value of money.

Under the leadership of experienced students and the guidance of faculty advisors, teams of MBA students undertake commercialization assistance projects to innovators and technologists looking to take new inventions from the bench to commercial practice. Projects include engagement with PhD candidates, advising student project teams, assessment of invention disclosures, and could include scope such as business model design and validation, market assessment, intellectual property portfolio strategy, and financial planning and analysis. Participation is based on application and successful admittance to BR Tech Strategy.

This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of fundamental research, quantitative equity security selection, and equity portfolio management. Students have the unique opportunity as part of this course to manage the Cayuga Fund, a student managed fund with $1 million in assets under management from the Cornell University endowment. Students will serve as fundamental analysts, quantitative analysts and portfolio specialists for the fund. Instruction on analysis, portfolio management and the investment business are included in this course. Students are expected to assume leadership for managing the Fund by the end of the semester. The experience is similar to that offered to rising analysts and portfolio managers in buy-side investment firms. Students will learn credit research techniques, maintain their stock coverage and continue managing the Fund in the spring.

An accounting/finance elective course that focuses on the management of the Cayuga Fund, a live small-cap equity portfolio. It is taken concurrently with NBA 5120. See NBA 5120 for more information.

International finance is different because of two issues, exchange rate volatility and barriers to the flow of capital. Furthermore, political risk is heightened when money crosses borders, and governance, disclosure, law, and regulation are more varied than in a single-country context. The purpose of this course is to practice applying the ideas and methods of finance to cross-border problems. The course is centered on seven cases including discussions of related research and other materials. An introductory Managerial Finance class is a pre-requisite.

In the high-pressure worlds of business and law, all too often good people do bad things. In many cases, the unethical behavior is due in part to a toxic corporate culture. The attitudes, values, and practices that prevail in their organizations induce otherwise ethical employees to take actions that violate widely shared norms of conduct. Such behavior can be costly-even disastrous-leading to ruined careers, tarnished corporate reputations, and legal liability for the individuals and their companies. In an environment where only results matter, it can be difficult for a new MBA or law school graduate to recognize the risks. This course seeks to help MBAs and law students understand how a firm's culture, combined with common human tendencies, can tempt-or push-employees into unethical behavior. It also considers how employees can meet ethical challenges posed by their firms' cultures. Course consists of case studies and readings reporting on relevant research in psychology and organizational behavior, as well as the annual Day Family Ethics Lecture by a noted guest speaker from business, law, journalism, or academia.

This course will focus on the challenges of effective leadership in a complex world. The course has four significant parts: 1. Exploring historical and contemporary theories and models of leadership through the required text and selected articles; 2. Examining and applying the Johnson School's Leadership Model; 3. Analyzing the practical challenges of leadership through case studies, and executive speakers; 4. Developing self-awareness of the student's leadership strengths and weaknesses through the use of behavioral instruments and group exercises and creating a personal action plan for improvement. A critical element of this course will be the coaching and feedback students will receive on their own leadership styles and behaviors from their peers and instructor.

The course provides a hands-on experience for learning the key philosophies and tactics of entrepreneurial activity surrounding the launch and early growth of life science ventures. We will focus on learning how life science technology concepts in the pharma/biotech, health, veterinary, and agri-tech sectors are converted into sustainable and scalable businesses. We will also consider the unique aspects of starting a life science venture related to R&D/product development, regulatory/clinical aspects, reimbursement/revenue models, and manufacturing/operations.

In today's business landscape, creative problem solving has become a critical tool for leaders to drive innovation and transformation across different industries. This hands-on course serves as an initial introduction to various design tools and aims to develop a creative problem-solving opportunity mindset to identify new avenues to create meaningful impact. The curriculum dives into foundational design concepts, design thinking, and human-centered design principles. This course requires agility, openness to new ways of thinking, and the ability to embrace ambiguity. It is structured around project-based teamwork to foster collaboration and aims to establish a culture of diversity through open and constructive critiques. With support from selected readings, case studies, and insights from guest speakers across various industries, the course ensures a comprehensive understanding of design and innovation thinking and methods.

Focused on developing the next generation of clean energy, climate tech, and sustainability-oriented startup leaders, this course empowers PhD and MBA candidates from across Cornell's colleges to dive into hands-on, innovation-driven startup creation. This workshop course leverages PhD participants' research expertise and thesis subjects to shape innovative business model hypotheses. Collaborative, cross-disciplinary teams, inclusive of researchers, cultivate their 'entrepreneurial judgment' by strategically testing these hypotheses to mitigate business model risks. Seasoned entrepreneurs, investors, and faculty provide ongoing feedback to refine insights and set team priorities. Armed with essential tools, training, and deeper entrepreneurial judgment, attendees are prepared to spearhead their own startups or lead in the flourishing green tech sector. Enrollment is limited to participants in the Green Technology Innovation Fellowship with instructor permission.

This course is focused on the operations management of firms in the digital technology operations and retailing (both brick & mortar and online) sectors of the economy. It is divided into four modules: (i) data analytics modeling for operational decisions, (ii) operations of retailing businesses, (iii) operations of marketplaces, (iv) technologies that are driving change. The course is very applied and uses a mix of lectures, recent case studies, data, and exercises based on various startups and established companies. Student evaluation is done through individual and team assignments, a course project, and class participation.

This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of equity research and is similar to that provided to aspiring analysts, as apprentices, in buy-side investment firms. The course provides a comprehensive framework for analyzing equity securities and developing formal target prices and BUY/SELL/HOLD recommendations. Each student defines an industry to study and prepares an industry review. Each student analyzes in detail one stock in the industry and prepares a stock report. A live portfolio is invested in late March with student picks. Topics include the research process, analysis strategies, valuation techniques and portfolio construction methods. Templates, examples and detailed feedback on draft reports are provided. Students should be prepared to conduct rigorous, creative research based upon their own work and insights.

The course introduces the basic tools of economic policies and the key issues of modern economies. The course provides the necessary knowledge to analyze the basic goals of macroeconomic policy i.e., low unemployment, stable inflation, financial stability, and stable and strong economic growth. Topics covered include, among others, economic growth, expansions and recessions, monetary and fiscal policies, GDP, inflation, unemployment, the public debt, interest rates, the trade deficit, exchange rates, and global markets. Although focusing on the U.S.- the world's largest national economy-and paying special attention to its institutions and problems, the course will emphasize the global context in which it functions by periodically shifting attention to other economies around the world. Globalization-related issues such as international financial markets and global crises will be given special attention.

The Cayuga Fund Equity Analyst program is designed for students interested in pursuing careers in securities research and investment management. This course allows select first year MBA and select other students to participate in the management of the Cayuga Fund, a $1 million small-cap equity fund that invests money for the Cornell University endowment, under the guidance and mentorship of faculty and second year Cayuga Fund students who are taking NBA 5120 and NBA 5121. Students are assigned industry sectors to cover, and conduct investment research on the industries. Deliverables include participating in sector meetings and portfolio reviews and presenting industry research in the NBA 5120 class.The selection process for this course begins in the first semester of the MBA program. Students are only accepted after demonstrating strong interest in investment management and commitment to supporting the Fund. First-year MBA students interested in this course should begin their training in the summer and fall of their first year by participating in the summer prep program, the August one-day Stock Camp, the September Research Mentor Weekend and the Investment Management Club. Interested students are also expected to conduct research work on their own and complete coursework in finance, accounting and management. Students apply to the First Year Cayuga Fund Analyst program in October. More information may be found on the Parker Center website.

Emerging markets represent now almost 40% of the world economy and eight out of the 20 biggest economies are from emerging markets with China as the second biggest economy in the world. As emerging countries are becoming more prominent in the world, MBA students need to have the knowledge and the tools to navigate its economic and business challenges. The course will also be looking at business strategies for emerging markets. Students will learn from lectures from the faculty and a number of executives from companies working in and from emerging markets. The Goals of this course are 1) To provide the opportunity to learn about Emerging Markets and leveraging the faculty lectures and the excellent speakers EMI brings 2) To increase connections between speakers and their organizations with EMI fellows and MBA students 3) To highlight the challenges and opportunities of doing business in emerging markets and 4) To engage students in active discussions about issues around emerging markets.

This course is designed to introduce students to the challenges and pitfalls of financing new enterprises from the perspective of the finance function head for a seed- or early-stage startup. We will cover how startups assess their needs for capital, access different sources of capital and appropriateness for different types of startups, and how new ventures manage the finance function as they grow. Class sessions will combine lectures and cases; the course assumes students have completed introductory finance and accounting.

This course is for students interested in creating forward-looking strategies for companies across a range of industries. It goes beyond “finding the right answer” and pushes critical thinking to then argue persuasively for a specific recommendation. Management Cases uses the case method to develop essential skills using fundamental frameworks, analytical models, and financial analyses. Students develop and defend strategic decisions in authentic business contexts. Students become equipped with skills required to effectively present to executive audiences in general management and advisory situations. It prepares students for internships and careers in strategy, general management, and consulting. The course consists of 4 PowerPoint assignments (maximum 10 slides) and 1 final case (10 slides). Class participation is essential, as value is derived from in-class discussion about potential strategies.

This course presents the tax skills necessary to make business decisions pertaining to corporations and their shareholders. Emphasis is placed on such areas as a corporation's formation and capital structure, earnings and profits, dividend distributions, redemptions, liquidations and reorganizations of corporations. Practical application of the tax law will be emphasized with proper consideration placed on the historical, economic and political perspectives of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC).

This course presents the tax skills necessary to make business decisions pertaining to flow-through entities and to a more limited extent transfer taxes, including the estate and gift tax. Emphasis is placed on such flow-through entities as partnerships and S Corporations. Partnership areas covered include the formation and operation of a partnership, transactions between partner and partnership, distributions from a partnership, including distributions to retiring or deceased partners, sale of a partnership interest, optional adjustments to property basis, and the termination of a partnership. The formation and operational rules surrounding an S corporation are also talked about, including the similarities and differences in compliance issues facing both a partnership and S corporation.

This course will help students learn how to be investment bankers. Taught by an experienced ex-banker on the faculty of Johnson, this class will introduce students to capital raising, LBO, and strategic M&A transactions in a hands-on way that will focus on how to perform IB analyst-level duties. Students will be introduced to valuation (comps, precedents, and DCF), accretion/dilution, and how to assemble a pitch book. Working in groups, students will be presented with real-world assignments and will present their work in class. No prelim or final exam.

The Practicum is an intense, hands-on program providing applied experience and maximum interaction with prominent private equity leaders. Prior to each meeting, the executives provide complete data sets on a recently closed or pending deal that the fund has managed. During scheduled class times and in independent and team-based work, the students perform analyses and prepare deal memoranda and presentations with respect to each deal. At each meeting, students meet with senior private equity executives from the firms and engage in discussion and analysis of these investments, acting as PE associates and making investment recommendations. The Practicum is designed to allow a more natural business interaction that mimics as closely as possible the partner/associate relationship.

Do you want to become an entrepreneur, but you don't yet have that brilliant idea? This class will help you come up with new ideas and evaluate which ones are the most worth pursuing to ensure you invest your time and energies on ideas that have the most promise. The first section of the course will be about places and processes that you can use to find inspiration to come up with a large number of potential business ideas. We will then walk through a systematic process to evaluate, validate, and quantify the best ideas for each team. This process will be assisted by experienced entrepreneurs as guest speakers who will share the inspirations for their businesses, the methods they used to select those ideas as worthy of pursuit, as well as insights into their careers.

Profiles in Leadership is Johnson's premier platform for c-level executive speakers. Johnson has long attracted an impressive array of executive speakers; this course provides a streamlined platform for students to engage regularly with industry luminaries such as Irene Rosenfeld, David Einhorn, and others. Each session will begin with a presentation by the invited guest, followed by a robust discussion about the topics raised in the lecture as well as issues related to current events and other experiences of the lecturer. Students are required to research each lecturer and submit a topical question via Canvas prior to the lecture.

This course covers basic concepts in planning, scheduling and monitoring a project. The tools provided in the course aim to help plan, manage and deliver projects on time and on budget.

The first half of the course focuses on the tools of disciplined investing: portfolio construction, diversification, arbitrage pricing, and valuation. We also cover factor investing (value & momentum strategies), fixed income pricing, and performance evaluation of institutional investors such as pension funds, private equity, and hedge funds. The second half of the course studies investing in the context of the global macroeconomy. We study how monetary policy and banking affect financial markets, along with the risks and opportunities of emerging market investing.

This course presents an overview of the structure and function of the financial markets. The course attempts to provide a general working knowledge of the financial system by examining not only how various intermediaries and markets work, but also their evolution over time. The role of central banks, and their operations, is particularly emphasized, as is the nature of risk management both within the financial institution and more broadly for the financial system. Topics considered here include swaps, credit derivatives, value at risk models, and systemic risk. Just as intermediation has moved from institutions to markets, the course follows a similar evolution in the topics studied over the course of the semester. Market topics examined include securitization, the Blockchain, digital currencies and the impact of fin tech on intermediation.

This course is intended primarily for more advanced students in finance and students interested in investing/investment management.The course presumes an understanding of basic corporate finance theory, introductory accounting, financial analysis and an particularly an interest in financial markets. We will be covering several topics including active and passive investing, ETFs, fundamentals based quantitative investing and short-selling. I expect this course to be useful for students planning for careers in investment banking, investment management, wealth management, corporate management, private equity, venture capital, security analysis, credit analysis, consulting, or public accounting.

The Corporate Finance Immersion (CFI) Practicum is designed to provide students with a real world and practical perspective on the activities, processes and critical questions faced by corporate finance executives. It is oriented around the key principles of shareholder value creation and the skills and processes corporations use to drive value. The CFI Practicum will help develop skills and executive judgement for students seeking roles in corporate finance, corporate strategy, business development, financial planning, treasury, and financial management training programs. The course can also help students pursuing consulting to sharpen their financial skills and get an excellent view of a corporation's strategic and financial objectives. The practicum will be comprised of a mix of lectures, cases, guest speakers, and team projects. Additionally, there will be training workshops to build your financial modelling skills.

Focuses on basic financial and managerial accounting and the economic and financial concepts that have a bearing on internal (i.e., managerial) and external (i.e., investors, creditors, regulators) users' decisions. The goals are to (1) give students a working knowledge of the accounting process and the value and limitations of the data that come out of the accounting information system; (2) familiarize students with key concepts in managerial accounting and the application of cost information to pricing and operating decisions; and (3) promote an understanding of the use of economic theory in the evaluation of capital investment projects. Instruction is a mixture of lecture and case discussion. Grading is based on exams, assignments, and class contribution.

This is an introductory course covering the present structure of tax law in the United States, measurement of taxable income, fundamentals of tax planning and compliance, and the tax issues encountered by various taxpayers (e.g., individuals, corporations and partnerships).

Applies principles of finance to the international setting. International finance is different in two basic respects: (1) the existence of multiple currencies adds risk to investment and financing decisions; (2) when corporations and portfolio investors cross international borders, both problems and opportunities arise. This course focuses on these issues and highlights how finance theory can be extended to address them. Students apply the basic principles of international finance to a variety of problems. The course helps students understand the ideas and research results of international finance and adapt what they learn to the practical problems in the increasingly globalized business world. The first part of the course outlines exchange rate volatility, barriers to international capital flows, and the value of international diversification. The second part presents a variety of problems, examples, and applications from the three basic themes described in part one. Spreadsheet assignments and a group presentation requiring data analysis develop research skills and illustrate academic concepts. Exams consist of computational, short answer, and short essay questions.

Designed to study the pricing, hedging, and risk management of fixed-income securities, interest rate and credit derivatives. Topics include the term structure of interest rates, interest rate swaps (caps, floors, collars), credit risk, corporate bond valuation, and credit derivatives. The method of instruction is lectures and discussion, with computer illustrations. A secondary theme of the course is the use of models in practice for risk management.

The Investment Banking Immersion Practicum is structured to provide students with real world investment banking experience in an academic environment. Students, working in teams, will play the role of investment bankers throughout the semester. Assignments will be structured in the form of client pitch-book presentations, which will generally be presented during class. Students will be exposed to, and will develop a working understanding of, all aspects of the capital raising and merger & acquisition processes.

This course develops the framework for evaluating the gains, costs, and risks of managing firms' financial assets and liabilities, as well as their interaction with real-side decisions (investment, mergers, R&D, employment, etc.). It takes the perspective of financial managers at public corporations, individuals that are responsible for financial decision-making, as well as that of market participants ? e.g., investment bankers, analysts, fund managers, regulators ? that monitor and evaluate corporate policies. Among other topics, the course will discuss issues related to corporate capital structure, dividend policy, issuance decisions, and liquidity risk management. The course will do so going beyond standard textbook coverage, making sense of available research on financial policy, looking at what CFOs think via field surveys, studying real-world examples of financial policy-making.

Jesse Reyes is a leading private equity research expert, providing research or advisory services to the private equity industry for over 30 years. His lectures will focus on the venture capital and private equity industries from the limited partner investor's perspective. Topics include (1) an introduction to the private equity ecosystem, including its structure, participants, history, and trends; (2) institutional private equity investing-examining how private equity investment fits into the institutional investors' asset allocation mix; (3) an examination of private equity performance measurement and trends and how structural differences in private equity investments make optimized allocation decisions challenging; and (4) emerging issues facing the private equity industry, such as new regulatory initiatives, fundraising and market efficiency challenges. There is an assigned problem set or a small topic research report to be completed for class credit.

The goal of the course is to give a systematic and rigorous introduction to the emerging areas of financial technology, cryptocurrencies and DeFi, digital economy, crowd-based financing and lending, and applications of big data, machine learning, and AI in business settings. This elective consists of seven intensive sessions of lectures, discussions, guest talks by industry leaders, and readings of media and research articles.

Business platforms are a set of business and technology building blocks that serve to facilitate the creation of complementary products and services. They are an essential feature of modern economies, particularly among products and services created by software. The emphasis of this course is on how to create, grow, gain value and capture market share from platforms. Course content will draw concepts from network effects, information asymmetry, pricing, and game theory. Students will apply these concepts to make decisions on how to manage platforms in case studies drawing from social media, entrepreneurship, enterprise software, and mobile services, among others. The course will be useful for students interested in founding new businesses, managing technology ventures and investing.

The Business of Entrepreneurship is a comprehensive introduction to the key aspects of envisioning, starting and running a new business. The Business of Entrepreneurship focuses both on concepts and frameworks in entrepreneurship and on doing entrepreneurship. Students will form teams, ideate new businesses, complete customer development, construct business models and work towards defining minimum viable products. Topics covered will include definition of the market, sales and distribution, competition, hiring and management of people, cash flow and financial management, making compelling pitches and raising capital. The course culminates in a capstone project of writing a business plan and presenting to a group of entrepreneurs and investors. This course is appropriate both for students interested in launching an entrepreneurial endeavor or students who will benefit from learning frameworks applied to the entrepreneurial process.

The purpose of NBA5645 Dilemmas in Founding New Ventures is to increase your startup's chances of success by helping you avoid the #1 reason for startup failure: not strategy, not product, not execution, but TEAM-related mistakes. We start by analyzing the very first decision in any new venture, whether to found solo or with others. If you have co-founders, who will they be? And how will you split the equity? Finally, we wrestle with the fundamental tradeoff in entrepreneurship: Growth vs. Glory. Can you grow your startup quickly without being replaced by a seasoned CEO? I'll teach you techniques for keeping control, which too many founders realize too late they have lost. For further information, please visit: http://nba5645.org.

The goal of this course is to introduce you to the area of corporate governance. We will discuss the goal of the corporation and the role of stakeholders in the decision making. We will examine the sources of the conflict of interest between controllers of the organization and shareholders. We will then study the different mechanisms to overcome these conflicts, their advantages and disadvantages. We will also devote time to study differences in corporate governance systems across different countries. I put a strong emphasis in this class on current events and real life examples. Among the topics covered: the role, responsibilities, and strategies of the board of directors, shareholder activism and the mechanisms used to protect shareholders, the takeover market, the tender offer mechanism, and anti-takeover measures, the design of compensation contracts, and differences among the above mechanisms across different countries.

This course is designed to develop your writing skills in the context of practical business applications. It begins with a strategic perspective on business writing and focuses on the elements that make your writing clear, concise, efficient, and effective. You will improve the clarity, content, structure, and visual design of your management writing, as well as increase your confidence in your communication skills. The course is suitable for students for whom English is their native language, as well as students for whom English may be a second or third language.

NBA 5680 focuses on advancing the management presentation skills of graduate students. The course covers effective strategies and best practices for business presentations both in terms of content/organization and delivery (verbal and non verbal). The course emphasizes active learning and continuous student practice with feedback from peers and the instructor. By the end of the class students raise their understanding and appreciation of effective presentation practices, increase their awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses and become noticeably improved communicators.

Examines a range of interpersonal communication strategies and skills required of successful managers in the workplace, based on self awareness of your own communication style, with a focus on intercultural challenges. Topics include listening skills, debate vs dialogue, conversational skills, difficult conversations, and appreciation of intercultural perspectives.

Nelson Mandela said courage is the triumphant over fear. In Courageous communication students will triumph over fear of tough conversations at work and home. Courageous communication will help MBA students, as well as students in other graduate degree programs, to learn and practice effective listening, especially to those with different points of view, in a way that builds trust and community at work. They will learn techniques and tools for confidently handling difficult and courageous conversations in the workplace and will be able to use these techniques and tools to stand up and stand out for themselves and others and contribute to a positive work environment.

This course will help students learn about consulting and the skills and capabilities to be a successful consultant. The course will begin with a module on successful case interviews. The consulting process will be discussed and why it leads to successful solutions for complex business problems. With the consulting process understood the course will focus on developing a problem definition diagnostic framework, hypotheses, analytical approaches, data collection and conclusions. The course will also include concepts critical to consulting including interviewing to collect information, facilitating meetings, managing clients and their expectations, selling recommendations and developing impactful presentations. The course will use a combination of lectures, case work, individual and teamwork to learn the concepts.

This course is designed to provide you with instruction and experience in leading and contributing to high-performing teams that: (1) set clear goals and objectives; (2) develop, implement, and enforce appropriate internal team norms; (3) effectively collaborate, taking maximum advantage of diverse strengths and backgrounds; (4) produce well-reasoned analyses of complex business problems; and, (5) provide team members with appropriate constructive feedback from which further growth and development can occur.

You've learned finance, marketing, operations, accounting, economics, management, leadership, statistics, and strategy. You've done a deep dive into at least one of these subject areas. But how do they fit together? How are they used to actually run a company? The Cornell Management Simulation elective course will give you the chance to form a team and run a company that will compete against your classmates in a simulated industry; this strategic management simulation was written by Johnson faculty and has been part of the MBA curriculum for over 20 years. At the beginning of the simulation, each team develops a strategy, and before the results of the last decision have been determined, presents an analysis of its performance and lessons learned in a final meeting. The first course meeting (mandatory to be in the class) introduces the simulation and its mechanics as well as a discussion of company strategy. Future weekly meetings review key business topics that teams encounter as they run their companies, and include time for teams to review their performance and work on their company decisions. Grades are based on the value created for the company's shareholders (relative to other firms in the same industry), the team's strategy, and the instructor's evaluation of team's performance at the board meeting.

This course will examine the federal income taxation of M&A transactions and prepare students for the practical aspects of transactional tax work in the context of mergers and acquisitions. We will explore selected tax issues that drive deal structure in both public and private M&A transactions and pay special attention to tax considerations relevant to private equity fund acquisitions. We will also cover topics of current political relevance that relate to M&A taxation. Students will learn to draft and negotiate tax provisions in M&A documents and conduct tax research in the manner of a transactional tax attorney. The content of this course will be useful not only to students interested in transactional tax work but also to those who will pursue a more general corporate practice in which they will encounter significant tax issues.

This course is focused on strategies for creating and growing market-leading firms in various creative industries. We will analyze business cases of such market-leaders in a wide range of creative industries such as art, fashion, film, food, music, publishing, and theater to explore and understand the economic, organizational, and sociological underpinnings of entrepreneurship, markets, and culture. The course is targeted towards students who are interested in creative work and creative industries and are inspired to start, work or consult for, or invest in large and small creative, high-impact firms. The course may also interest students more broadly seeking to understand how firms offering radical innovations can create new markets by addressing the entire market ecosystem.Because markets for cultural goods are complex and difficult to navigate, entrepreneurs must, understand the economic sociology of the cultural market, its structure, and the broader ecosystem in order to capture economic value, while also maintaining a cultural imperative. At the same time, the creative industries are seen by some as the last frontier for technological innovations, where many of the gains made in other sectors by entrepreneurial leaders, have not yet been realized. This course will explain the complex and unique market ecosystems of cultural and creative goods by shedding light on the underlying economic, social, and cultural rules and norms that govern the structure and functioning of these markets, in order to derive strategies and business models for business and cultural success.

Focuses on understanding and applying the problem-solving process used by consultants. The course is organized around a simulated project to help students understand the process and skills needed to be successful in a consulting internship or beginning a career in consulting. There are assigned readings on interviewing and the client consultant relationship. You will work through the simulated project in problem definition and project planning, interview planning, data collection, analysis, developing conclusions and recommendations and final presentations. There are five team assignments, an interim presentation and a final presentation. The final team presentation will be live. We have a series of guest speakers for most of the classes focusing on key capabilities in the consultant problem solving process for success in your internship and career. This course is designed for those interning in consulting or going into it full-time.

This course is designed to expose students to common multifaceted analytical and decision-making scenarios they will face in a management consulting environment, be it a large consultancy, a specialized boutique, or an internal consulting group within a Fortune 500 company. The topics, hands-on class work, and assignments are largely based on real cases the instructor has faced in the course of his management consulting career. This real-life approach provides students the analytical tools necessary to better prepare for a career in management consulting. In this hands-on lab-style course, we will develop and use Excel spreadsheets to analyze a variety of business problems and derive client recommendations.

This course builds on the concepts covered in the core strategy course, NCC 5090. It is designed to further develop and refine skills for analyzing, formulating, and implementing business strategies - and is organized into four modules. Module 1 focuses on the entire ecosystem of strategy, including the strategy process, the key tools for strategic analysis, the key frameworks for strategy formulation, and the key levers for strategy implementation. Module 2 goes deep into competitive games and research findings on what constitutes a successful strategy. Module 3 focuses on strategy implementation, including decision-driven design models as the key linkage between strategy and organization, as well as repeatable models as the key engine to successful execution. In addition, a methodology for change management will be introduced, illustrated, and put into practice. Module 4 focuses on strategy and transformations in a turbulent, post-globalized, digital, and stakeholder-driven world. Each module covers multiple real-life case examples and will conclude with a case study for classroom discussion.

This course uses the case method to introduce the fundamental conceptual models, analytical frameworks, and financial analyses, essential for strategy formulation. Students will decide where to compete, and how to sustain a competitive advantage over rivals, by analyzing cases and applying rigorous financial methods to solve key challenges encountered at each stage of the business lifecycle: entry, funding, organic growth, acquisition, turnaround, and exit. Students will confront critical issues such as: What business should we be in? What products or services should we provide? Which customers should we serve? In which geographic areas? The course will provide students with the conceptual models, analytical tools, and financial methods they need to formulate and implement strategy at each stage of the company lifecycle. The class will enhance performance as general managers and consultants.

Family businesses are the predominant form of business organizations, accounting for nearly two thirds of all businesses in the world, and contribute an estimated 70-90% of the annual global GDP. In the United States, it is estimated there are 32.4 million family businesses, and collectively they contribute over 54% of GDP and generate 59% of private sector workforce. These firms are distinguished from other enterprises by the significant influence of the controlling family on the creation, continuity, mode and extent of growth, and exit of a business. This course aims to prepare students to work effectively and professionally, in, with or for a family firm, to understand the unique characteristics of family ownership, and/or to create, launch and manage create cross-generational value and wealth in family firms.

The course seeks to give students a broad exposure to different facets of the financial markets and develop an awareness of the connectivity between discrete investment markets and the participants in those markets. The course primarily focuses on equity and fixed income investing and the associated analytical and modeling skills required. Learning valuation methodologies for bonds and equities as well as perfecting presentation skills are also key components of the Immersion. Other investing strategies including quantitative and index investing will be covered as well. Finally, asset allocation and portfolio/risk management considerations are incorporated throughout the course.

Building upon the foundational critical and strategic concepts introduced in NCC 5050 (Core Critical and Strategic Thinking), this course will: (a) deepen your understanding of frameworks that aid in strategic analysis of organizational problems; (b) explore additional concepts and skills that promote critically thoughtful analysis of complex dilemmas (e.g., framework for analyzing strategy/context fit, stakeholder analysis, change management, risk rating and monitoring); and (c) give you opportunities to practice persuasively communicating to key decision-makers your proposed solution to the complex organizational problems you have thoughtfully analyzed.

Combines classroom sessions and international experience with an increased awareness of business environments outside the United States. On trips, students visit local businesses, subsidiaries of foreign multinationals, government officials, local business school students, and others. Students in some treks do pro bono consulting projects for small and medium size companies.

The Johnson Leadership Expedition is a customized leadership expedition course where students test and enhance their leadership skills in an unpredictable, challenging, and dynamic environment. This immersive leadership experience stretches and grows students' understanding of themselves as leaders as they face ambiguity and adversity, make decisions with incomplete information, and get real-time feedback on their leadership efforts. The experiential component of the expedition is combined with pre- and post-class sessions, individualized coaching sessions, and written deliverables. Students will be introduced to key leadership concepts and findings related to active leadership, followership, and judgment and decision-making under uncertainty and stress. Those learnings are then applied and reflected upon during and after the expedition.

The Johnson Leadership Expedition is a customized leadership expedition course where students test and enhance their leadership skills in an unpredictable, challenging, and dynamic environment. This immersive leadership experience stretches and grows students' understanding of themselves as leaders as they face ambiguity and adversity, make decisions with incomplete information, and get real-time feedback on their leadership efforts. The experiential component of the expedition is combined with pre- and post-class sessions, individualized coaching sessions, and written deliverables. Students will be introduced to key leadership concepts and findings related to active leadership, followership, and judgment and decision-making under uncertainty and stress. Those learnings are then applied and reflected upon during and after the expedition.

This course provides an overview of how to do the accounting and reporting for M&A deals. In addition, students are taught how to model, evaluate and perform critical analysis of M&A deals.

Behavioral Finance studies financial market phenomena that occur due to cognitive biases of market participants. This course introduces the conceptual framework of behavioral finance and investor psychology and then applies the framework to issues in stock market investing, real estate investing, and banking. Topics include: (1) investor psychological biases and irrational trading behavior; (2) limits of arbitrage and the risks of leveraged convergence trading; (3) behavioral finance trading strategies; (4) stock market and real estate bubbles; and (5) credit booms and financial crises.

In this course students will work on improving their innovation skills. We will start by discussing the basic principles of agile innovation. We will then discuss those behaviors linked to innovation and creativity. Students will learn how to optimize innovation in a team setting. Students will also work on developing these skills in a 3 day innovation event (hackathon) where they will identify an unmet need and develop a solution to the opportunity build a prototype and business model around this solution and pitch this solution to a panel of investors. Students will gain a broader perspective of both the challenges (i.e. organizational and institutional) in an increasingly digital economy and opportunities (i.e. unmet customer needs and possibilities for future ventures) in this economy. Students will formulate teams to generate solutions to real-world problems. Students will learn and apply team innovation principles, business model innovation, design thinking, and product development, the class will also cover the psychology of creativity, product pitches, and the basic principles of leading innovation in a team including team demography and team processes that drive innovation. Students will then practice these skills.

Corporations are under increasing pressure from shareholders, employees, communities, and activists to account for the environmental and social effects that their activities create. Increasingly, firms are taking strategic approach to addressing these issues, developing programs that fit their capabilities, resources, and cultures. Through a combination of cases, readings, lectures, and videos, class sessions will ensure students develop an understanding of sustainability in the context of business as well as strategic business decision-making in the context of sustainability. NBA 6030 is open to all graduate students.

Building on concepts established in NBA 6030, students will develop deeper understanding of how firms have implemented sustainability initiatives related to product improvement, innovation, and restructuring to define the role the private sector can play to address social and environmental issues in a competitive marketplace. Students will follow a company of their choosing and analyze its sustainability initiatives, developing a strategic plan for the company's future sustainability efforts.

This course will focus on finance and ethics. The premise of the course is that ethical issues in finance are not always straightforward to discern, in part because of the arbitrage-based characteristics of modern finance. The current plethora of scandals in financial firms, however, suggests that we need to think more carefully about these issues. This class will involve a variety of lectures, class discussions focusing on specific cases, and guest speakers. The lectures will use articles as well as my book Something for Nothing: Arbitrage and Ethics on Wall Street. This course is intended for second-year MBA students interested in finance, but other students interested in ethics more generally may also find it interesting. Students will be graded on class participation, two case write-ups, and a group project. This course satisfies the 1.5-credit Leadership Core that is required for graduation. Students taking the course to satisfy the core requirement must elect the graded option.

The objective of this course is to build a foundational understanding of the product management function in modern organizations. This course takes a consumer-centric and data-driven approach to the challenge of developing and launching new products into the market, as well as managing them over their lifecycle. Focusing mainly (but not exclusively) on technology companies interested in pursuing growth, we will discuss the steps needed to develop and bring products to market, including understanding customer needs to create mutual value, conducting demand forecasts, and designing a launch plan, including targeting, positioning, advertising, pricing, and distribution decisions. To bridge theory and practice, class sessions will interweave lectures, case discussions, in-class exercises, and guest speakers. Deliverables include individual and groups assignments and a final group project.

The course will help students develop their strategic thinking, strategy formulation and strategic analysis skills. It will use a series of cases involving companies in different strategic situations such as in an emerging industry, mature industry, transforming industry, network effect industry, etc. and engage students in developing and / or evaluating appropriate strategies in these varied situations. It will help build a skill in formulating strategy, refining strategy and very importantly evaluating strategy.

This course focuses on the financial-economic analysis of corporate investment (i.e., capital budgeting) decisions. One of the most important decisions a firm makes is how to best allocate its capital resources. This course will help students understand the tools and frameworks needed to analyze and communicate the value impact of proposed capital expenditures and strategic decisions. This course is especially useful to anyone preparing for a career role with input to business investment decisions, including marketing, operational, and corporate financial managers. Both conceptual understanding and practical implementations through case studies will be emphasized.

This course will help students to gain the necessary skills of building a data product and using AI (artificial intelligence). Many industries today are faced with high data volumes and there is an understanding that data is the new gold. Business or customer value is not created by data; but rather, it is created by the application of data, ML (machine learning) and deep learning AI. This course trains students to link the possibilities of data and AI to business needs. This course will be held over seven class sessions of double-period length. These classes will be a combination of lectures, discussions, interviews, hands on training with data and AI and peer reviews. At the end of this course students will build their own AI driven product.

The purpose of this class is to introduce fundamental concepts in digital marketing and prepare students for roles as a marketer, entrepreneur, or product manager. Students will be exposed to an overview of the major players in the advertising and digital industries, as well as a variety of tools commonly found in start-ups and technology firms. Through case studies, lectures, and guest speakers, students will develop skills and a plan for interviewing with established firms or starting a technology venture. Each year this course will highlight emerging digital technology as an anchor for the speakers and the assignments, such as the interaction of AI and digital marketing.

Operations are integral to every enterprise, within and across their supply chain. Whether it is a traditional product-manufacturing supply environment, retail setting, service operations, financial services or pure e-commerce, successfully defining and executing an operations strategy is critical to the success of the enterprise. It is vital to understand the role and value of operations as an integral enabler of value for an enterprise business strategy. The Applied Operations Strategy course is designed to provide essential grounding on both why comprehensive operations strategies are designed to support the goals of the enterprise, and, importantly, how such strategies are executed successfully. The curriculum will take a topical approach to understanding the role an operations strategy plays, such as: How a legacy internal combustion engine car maker enters the electric car market; Supply chain resiliency - think how you configure global operations when facing a pandemic; Integrated sales & operations planning for consumer packaged goods or consumer electronics; Off-shoring, near-shoring, on-shoring supply chain strategies; Digital supply chain and Industry 4.0 strategy and execution; How a start-up ecommerce platform manages supply & demand when they own no physical assets. A combination of case- and instructor experience is used to cover most of the topics, with senior operations executive guest speakers planned. Other Johnson faculty may participate to complement a case discussion to address the theory behind the practice. Applied Operations Strategy is a half-semester elective class that may be taken as a stand-alone class or as a complement to other operations and supply chain management courses.

What are the facts about the current state of women as leaders? What special challenges face women as they transition from students to managers to leaders? What do the latest research findings offer to organizations that want to benefit from more women leaders? In this course, we will take a multi-pronged approach to learning about women and leadership to better prepare students of both genders to lead in organizations. To do this, we will analyze case studies of women leaders pulled from a range of industries. We will review the current state of empirical evidence about the status of women as leaders, investigate the barriers that have made it more difficult for women to reach the top of the business world, and consider ways in which individuals and organizations can overcome them. Finally, there will be time to engage in deep reflection about what students expect from their careers, as well as a chance to consider the pathways they must take to become effective and inclusive leaders in increasingly diverse organizations.

This course examines some of the myriad ways that artificial intelligence (with a particular focus on generative AI such as GPT) is affecting society. Based on the latest empirical research, we will explore the potential benefits and promise of AI for improving society, and discuss ways to harness this potential in one’s own personal and professional life. We will also discuss the risks that AI poses, and the associated ethical challenges. The course will involve lectures with substantial student participation, and culminate in a keystone project involving proposing an AI-driven solution to a press business or societal problem.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a science and set of computational techniques that are inspired by the way that humans use their nervous systems and bodies to sense, learn, reason and take action. In recent years, AI has emerged as one of the most important disruptions facing business and society over the next several decades. While AI is not new and has been around for more than 60 years, the confluence of certain trends over the last decades and accelerating technological change has introduced a new urgency into the study of the impact of AI on business, government and society.The overall business and societal implications of AI technologies remains an important domain to be explored and understood. While the core technologies of AI need to be studied, strategies regarding the effective application of AI to business need to be articulated and complemented with the requisite awareness of their associated human implications. There will be significant new opportunities as the underlying forces of AI disruption and value creation are understood and leveraged. Succeeding in this rapidly changing world will require both a solid understanding of AI enabled products, services and business models and an inspirational leadership style to be bold, take risks and lead complex change.The elective course should be of interest to all MBA and graduate students. The goal of this elective course is to provide an effective combination of theory and practice of AI. Lectures and case studies will provide a rich forum for in-class discussions. Students will be encouraged to assemble key insights along three important dimensions: core AI technologies (30% of course approximately), innovative business applications of AI (40%) and human and societal implications (30%). Students will leave the elective better prepared to help their organizations to compete and win in an AI-enabled world.

First part of a two-semester sequence for advanced mandarin learners. This course aims to equip students with the linguistic and intercultural skills necessary to thrive in a Chinese business environment. The main vehicle of exploration is Zhihong Chen's newly updated multimedia book When China Meets the World: Bilingual Business-Finance Cases (Oxford University Press, 2024) which provides a wide range of real case studies to showcase China's continuous integration with the larger outside world. Through the learning and discussion of real business cases in Chinese, students will not only develop linguistic tools vital to doing Business in China, but also obtain cultural understanding to the Chinese way of conducting business with the outside world. In addition to business case analysis, students will also gain hand-on experience in skills that can be applied in the fields of Finance, Consulting, Accounting and the like. The course will also allow students to interact with entrepreneurs and experts in the field, as well as utilize language skills gained in the course within a mock business interaction.

Leaders in Sustainable Global Enterprise, is meant to provide students the opportunity to hear in-depth presentations from private, public, or non-profit leaders who are on the cutting edge of the business-sustainability domain. Session structures can vary in format, and could include lectures, living case studies, panel discussions, and moderated Q&A, etc. The slate of speakers is structured to represent a variety of functional areas as well as industrial sectors. The course is meant to expose students to a diverse array of business-sustainability topics and issues facing today's leaders; as well as the actions those leaders are taking to ensure the competitiveness of their organizations in the marketplace.

The course is aimed at students who are interested in pursuing activities in marketing strategy and analytics. The primary objective of this course is to provide students how marketing research can help drive strategic business and marketing decisions. Students will be exposed to the practical side of marketing research (e.g., research design, qualitative research, survey research, marketing analytics) through case studies, hands-on exercises, and projects. This course is particularly relevant for students interested in careers in consulting, product, service and brand management, and retailing as well as for entrepreneurs.

The rapid accumulation of high-dimensional data has opened new opportunities to make informed business decisions. Python is a widely used programming language for analyzing data-rich business problems. Python is designed to describe, categorize, and analyze this large-scale data easily and intuitively. This course presents a unique opportunity to cover the basics of programming with Python while exposing students to various kinds of applications. The objective of the course is to build from scratch students' ability to write codes in Python, read other people's code, analyze, visualize, and interpret data.

This course will help you build and defend a great business. A strong business leader has to make smart, strategic marketing decisions, create and present a plan to get people on board, and then execute. You will learn about all of these steps in the course, as we review a range of topics including marketing fundamentals, new business strategy, established business strategy, brand portfolio strategy, and more. In doing so, we will build on the core marketing course and other marketing classes, in addition to introducing new concepts. The material for this course will help you analyze and understand businesses, develop and gain support for your marketing strategies and ultimately deliver strong results. Upon successful completion of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to apply working knowledge of marketing concepts to make marketing decisions to solve case-based and simulated problems, assess business situations and diagnose the effectiveness of marketing decisions (made by you, classmates and business leaders) using analytical frameworks, understand the problems that are encountered/managed by the marketing function. Make recommendations as to how the situations could be managed more effectively, and communicate marketing insights and engage in group decision making.

Actualizing Your Startup Parts 1 and 2 are performance learning courses, based around student projects in the form of students and teams starting their own companies. eLab's instructors serve as coaches, guides, mentors, teachers, and assistants to the teams, and will coordinate the involvement of a number of high-profile mentors from the startup and venture capital community. Students will enhance their business and entrepreneurship learning by putting theoretical concepts into practice in starting and growing their own companies in a team environment. We expect that students will take this opportunity to make it real - eLab is not about starting theoretical companies, or theoretically exploring potential business ideas. Rather, it is about starting real companies that have the potential to grow and provide employment and economic benefit to their founders, and to provide deep experiential learning in starting and growing a business. Participation in this course is limited to students that are on an admitted eLab team. eLab has an application process which is described at elabstartup.com.

This immersion course is essential for students going into product management (tech) or brand management (consumer goods) careers. Many of our students are successfully placed in jobs in companies such as Amazon, Apple, American Express, Bayer, Colgate, Citibank, General Mills, Google, Microsoft, S C Johnson, Unilever, Verizon, or early-stage startups. Students interested in general management and those who plan to start their own businesses might also find this course useful. This course introduces students to the frameworks that address how to identify target customers, launch new products, run A/B tests to prove out growth strategies, write positioning statements, build brands, manage product portfolios, and optimize both digital and non-digital marketing activities. The course entails lectures, guest speakers, and a team-based, semester-long consulting project focused on a marketing or product management challenge.

How do you grab people's attention, increase someone's motivation, or boost customer satisfaction? Drawing on psychology, marketing, and economics, this course provides future managers, analysts, consultants, and advisors with strategic insights for influencing customer behavior within and outside of traditional marketing problems. By the end of this seven-week course, students will be able to (1) analyze theoretical and empirical findings on consumer behavior and (2) apply these insights to provide novel recommendations for how companies can change customer behavior. Along the way, students will be challenged to think differently about how people arrive at the judgments and choices they do, and how these choices ultimately affect their well-being. Students will also be able to assess themselves as a target of influence from marketers and media, gaining insights into their own decisions and behavior. The premise of the course is that understanding consumer psychology has powerful business and personal implications.

Are you ready to become a marketing leader? This course is designed to equip you with cutting-edge strategies and insights in the evolving world of marketing. Dive into emerging trends and innovative brand strategies, guided by industry experts. Gain practical experience through hands-on assignments and real-world case studies. Don't miss out on this opportunity to transform your marketing career. Enroll today and unlock your potential!

This course is designed for MBA students interested in working in the technology industry, technology-focused consulting, or managerial roles in companies which provide digital products and services. It is also useful for students looking to familiarize and understand the latest technologies from a business perspective. This course focuses on technology considerations in business management decisions concentrating on technology strategy, industry digital transformation, and a high-level understanding of technology concepts needed by business leaders to make effective decisions regarding them. Students will be exposed to a variety of current technologies and trends enabling them to achieve success in technology-driven enterprises and new ventures.

Core Leadership Skills for a VUCA World is designed to provide students with an opportunity to expand their knowledge and understanding of the key leadership skills required for success in today's volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous business world through discussion and interaction with an experienced practitioner and former leader of the United States Army. The course will be comprised of four modules: 1) Leadership Principles for a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous World; 2) Developing and Communicating Vision and Strategy; 3) Setting Conditions for Success; and, 4) Character and Leadership. Coursework to include readings, discussion, and a final paper.

Actualizing Your Startup Parts 1 and 2 are performance learning courses, based around student projects in the form of students and teams starting their own companies. eLab's instructors serve as coaches, guides, mentors, teachers, and assistants to the teams, and will coordinate the involvement of a number of high-profile mentors from the startup and venture capital community. Students will enhance their business and entrepreneurship learning by putting theoretical concepts into practice in starting and growing their own companies in a team environment. We expect that students will take this opportunity to make it real - eLab is not about starting theoretical companies, or theoretically exploring potential business ideas. Rather, it is about starting real companies that have the potential to grow and provide employment and economic benefit to their founders, and to provide deep experiential learning in starting and growing a business.

The course is aimed at students who are interested in pursuing activities in customer strategy and analytics built around the notion of customer centricity. The primary objective of this course is to provide students how customer management can help accomplish strategic initiatives, improve firm profitability and build lasting competitive advantage. Students will be exposed to the practical side of customer management through case studies and hands-on exercises. This course is particularly relevant for students interested in careers in consulting, product, service and brand management, and retailing as well as for entrepreneurs.

The objective of the course is to deepen students' understanding of current issues of business-government relations. In particular, the course will help students contextualize political, economic or business events and their consequences for conducting business in different parts of the world. The course is organized around the analysis of a series of current events that illustrate specific challenges and opportunities. Some of the main topics include world trade in the current context, nationalism and business in Europe, doing business under single-party rule in China, populism's risks and opportunities for business environments. Students will analyze current news in both developed (Europe) and emerging markets (China, India, Brazil, Mexico). The course will strive to expose students to different points of view on these issues and their implications. This course will give students the tools to navigate the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity of the current international environment. It will provide a VUCA and scenario planning frameworks to help students understand 1) The rapid pace of political, economic and business changes in both developed and emerging markets and the connections between both 2) Paradigm changes 3) Risk scenario management 4) Business strategies for different types of markets and 5) Different sources of news/data from emerging markets.

Finance + Sustainable Global Enterprise Colloquium is meant to provide students the opportunity to hear in-depth presentations in interactive sessions with leaders from the private, public, or non-profit sectors who are on the cutting edge of the finance-sustainability domain. The class will leverage connections from the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise and faculty active in the finance industry. Session structures will vary in format and are likely to include lectures, living case studies, panel discussions, and moderated Q&A. The instructor will strive for representation of a variety of areas, including public and private equity, investment banking, and managerial finance. Content will span environmental finance, impact investing, socially responsible investing, capital budgeting, project financing, and other areas relevant to the sustainable global enterprise space. The course will be open to any interested student, but students selected for the Center's Environmental Finance & Impact Investing (EFII) Fellows Program will be required to enroll in the course. In addition to speaker sessions, there will be 1-3 additional sessions focused on synthesizing.

Deals with the use of data to make marketing decisions. Introduces concepts, methods, and applications of analytics to address marketing questions. Three broad areas are covered: Digital Advertising Analytics, Demand Analytics, and Customer Analytics. Unlike marketing courses that focus on conceptual material, this course provides skills to translate conceptual understanding into specific operational plans, ?a skill in increasing demand in organizations today. Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on return on investment in marketing spending. The course is particularly valuable to students planning careers in management consulting, marketing, and market research. It is designed for students who have some background in quantitative methods and have a willingness to deal with mathematical concepts. Knowledge of Excel and regression analysis is required.

Firms are increasingly gathering, storing, and drawing on data to serve customers and drive profits. This course will teach managers how to ask the right questions to understand their data, evaluate metrics with a critical eye, and assess business choices using experimental and quasi-experimental variation to understand causal relationships. The course is lecture and discussion based, with a focus on conceptual understanding rather than software implementation (no advanced software skills are required). Students will gain hands-on experience with periodic data exercises that illustrate the course concepts and a final group presentation.

Entrepreneurial Mindset intends to provide MBA students with tools to further their entrepreneurial thinking and ambition, and to provide foundational knowledge for further study in theoretical, practical, and experiential contexts. Over five sessions, students will begin to learn about the dilemmas faced by founders of entrepreneurial startups, frameworks for defining and testing business models, market identification and business ideation, issues of scaling new ventures, types of entrepreneurship and sources of growth capital. The course will culminate with resources for students including descriptions of entrepreneurial career paths and opportunities for further curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular development at Johnson.

A supply chain is a network of organizations that are involved in the different processes and activities that produce value in the form of products and services. Increased competition, expanding product variety and more demanding consumers require more efficient supply chains. Supply chain management is an essential competitive tool. Innovations arise from three main sources: application of information technology, reconfiguration of the supply chain network, and modification of incentives. Effective supply chain management can enable companies to increase market shares, reduce costs, and improve customer service. In this course, we will introduce main concepts and analytical tools for supply chain management. We will address the following issues: leveraging information to improve supply chain efficiency; multi-level inventory optimization; collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment; postponement for efficient supply chain design; managing short life cycle products through accurate response; outsourcing and procurement management; and supply chain finance.

A supply chain is a network of organizations that are involved in the different processes and activities that produce value in the form of products and services. Supply chain management is an essential tool for firms to achieve profit maximization as well as social responsibility. Innovations arise from three main sources: application of information technology, reconfiguration of the supply chain network, and modification of incentives. In this course, we will introduce analytical methods and innovative designs of supply chain management, with applications in both developed and emerging economies. We will address the following issues: cross-docking and automation; global project management and coordination; dynamic pricing and revenue management; humanitarian logistics and sustainability; and counter-strategy for illicit supply chains.

The goal of this hands-on course is to develop proficiency in quantitative modeling within the environment of Microsoft Excel. Students develop and use spreadsheets to analyze a variety of business problems. The course has two principal components: spreadsheets and models. Spreadsheet topics include principles of good spreadsheet design, the effective presentation of information through spreadsheets (including graphical controls and dashboard design), and advanced Excel features (e.g., conditional formatting, data validation). Modeling topics include the art of finding the appropriate level of modeling detail, sensitivity analysis, and using solver and regression to perform optimization and estimation tasks.

This course explores the economic functions, institutional design, and regulation of financial institutions. Beginning with conventional deposit-taking banks, the course examines the risks embedded within the business of banking, along with how regulation seeks to manage these risks. It then expands this framework to examine several other forms of 'non-bank' financial intermediation including investment banks, insurance companies, wholesale funding markets, structured finance markets, money market and other investment funds, and financial market infrastructure. The course also examines some of the related consumer/investor protection problems and how financial regulation seeks to address them.

The goal of this hands-on course is to develop further proficiency with Microsoft Excel with emphasis on the following main components. Accessing, managing, and analyzing data with power query, power pivot, data model, hierarchies, advanced charting, regression and forecasting. Designing malleable pivot tables using sorting, grouping, conditional formatting, calculated fields, etc. Developing excel applications using WordArt, macros, and visual basic. Ensuring authenticity of data using data validation, protecting (as needed) the workbook content.

This course is for students looking to work in Product management in Tech companies or in companies which provide digital products and services. It is also a suitable class for those considering a career in Digital/Tech consulting. The class consists of lectures and training on how to be an effective Product Manager for digital products and services through a combination of lectures, guest speakers and a semester long hands-on project. The Project is a simulation of what a Product manager would do in real life at a tech company with deliverables which are similar to what they would have at work. The Project deliverables will be in sync with what is taught in the class lectures. The Project teams will comprise students from different backgrounds including having Masters students from Information sciences to reflect a real-life team in the workplace. Guest speakers will share their experiences and learnings as Product managers, Product Strategists, Digital Transformation experts, Technology Consultants etc.

The Semester in Strategic Operations (SSO) is a semester-long intensive course designed for students interested in careers in management consulting, operations, and e-commerce/tech operations. The objectives of this course are to: (i) explore the linkages of operations with data analytics, human capital, finance, marketing, technology, and new product development in different business contexts - e-commerce, manufacturing, supply chains, software, services, etc., (ii) practice how to design operations to address different types of current challenges and opportunities that firms face, (iii) learn from industry leaders how operations is getting transformed, and (iv) execute an industry-sponsored project with outcomes that have meaningful value. SSO achieves its learning objectives using class curriculum, site visits, guest speakers, and industry-sponsored projects. A large portion of the course work is team-based and participation in off-campus site visits is required. SSO enrolls students from the Johnson School, the College of Engineering, and the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and the course is designed to take advantage of this diversity in the student body.

In the fast-paced world of global business, companies very often find themselves constrained in their ability to access markets, technology or other key drivers of success. This highly interactive course explores how companies might use strategic alliances as a lever to help achieve strategic growth objectives. It will explore various types of strategic alliances, from arms-length contracts to joint ventures, delving into the rationale and pros and cons of each major type of alliance. It will further arm students with tools to manage a strategic alliance through its life cycle stages-from ideation to negotiation, governance and wind down. Students will emerge from this class with a unique, practical toolkit on how to utilize strategic alliances to deliver business success. This course will be taught from the perspective of a senior executive responsible for a global business.

This course is about the art and science of influence in organizations. While many people are ambivalent, even disdainful, of those who wield power and influence at work, organizations are fundamentally political entities, and power and influence are key mechanisms by which things get done. Without political capital your ideas will too often fail to be recognized or implemented and your career progression will be more challenging and potentially limited. All aspiring leaders therefore stand to benefit from developing greater political acumen. This course aims to enhance your political intelligence and interpersonal influence through building your knowledge base and equipping you with an expert toolkit to become a more astute manager and successful leader without sacrificing your authenticity. After taking this course, you will be able to: (1) diagnose the sources and distribution of power in organizations, (2) formulate strategies for building your own sources of power, (3) understand your own natural influence style, and sharpen your ability to interact and communicate with others in ways that make you more influential, (4) apply the principles of power and influence in groups and organizations, and (5) anticipate and guard against the pitfalls of power including ethical lapses and the loss of power.

We live in an age of data abundance. Vast amounts of data are being collected and analyzed to inform decision-making. Introductory knowledge of SQL database systems is a requirement for most business management roles. The objectives of this course are firstly, to build from scratch your ability to write SQL code in order to retrieve, clean, and organize datasets stored in databases, and secondly, to expose you to different kinds of business datasets and potential uses. In other words, this is a unique SQL course targeted at business students. Students with a good programming background should not take this course.

This course provides fundamental concepts and tools to value firms and assets using an economic framework. It begins with an overview of three approaches to valuation: 1) discounted cash flow (DCF); 2) valuation by multiples using comparable firms; and 3) real-options. We will first discuss how valuation by multiples and the DCF approach are one and the same. Then, we will discuss these two approaches in detail. We will also discuss issues concerning the cost of capital, and the real-options approach to value assets. Both conceptual understanding and practical implementations through case studies will be emphasized.

Individual and Institutional investors are increasingly aligning their investment portfolios to account for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) objectives. ESG investing, however, is still in its infancy. Academic thought, regulations and investor behavior are rapidly evolving. This makes ESG investing an extremely interesting and dynamic area of study. By the end of this class, a student should be able to articulately incorporate ESG considerations into their overall investment recommendations and decisions. This course should be beneficial to any student planning a career in equity investing, either as a direct investor, asset allocator or advisor. Students planning on being corporate managers would also benefit from this class as ESG considerations are increasingly impacting the way corporations are managed. This course is also suitable for anyone interested in sustainability issues broadly, but a basic knowledge of equity investing is required.

NBA 6580 provides first year MBA students and non-Johnson graduate students the opportunity to collaborate in multi-disciplinary teams on a semester-long practicum project consisting of a strategic sustainability-related issue facing a real organization. Note that NBA 6581 is part of the SGE Intensive program and requires simultaneous enrollment in NBA 6030 and NBA 6585.

NBA 6585 will include a combination of readings, activities, simulations, and other interactive mechanisms that help students gain insight into how to identify and define complex business issues, rigorously collect and analyze data related to sustainability and business, and develop and recommend strategies and solutions for companies to address sustainability challenges in ways that align with the competitive demands of the market. NBA 6585 is part of the SGE Intensive program.

This course will provide students with an overview of the design, structure, purpose, and "fairness" of executive compensation as seen from the perspective of all stakeholders including executives, other employees, regulators, board members, institutional shareholders, independent advisors, and the independent press. We will pay special attention to the role of the Stakeholder in setting corporate priorities as reflected in the choice of performance metrics. Students will learn the structure of all components of executive pay (including base pay, annual incentives, performance plans, and equity-based pay), understand how performance and pay levels are determined, and investigate how the various stakeholders interact in the decision-making process.

Which brands do you feel connected to? Starbucks? NPR? Johnson? What draws you into these brands? How do firms create compelling brand experiences? How could you build a brand that fosters relationships with consumers? This course takes a consumer-centric approach to explore such questions with the goal of identifying the ingredients for building and managing brand relationships, where brand is defined as a reputation. To bridge theory and practice, the course interweaves lectures, case discussions, guest speakers, and in- and out-of-class exercises. The course culminates in a Brand Audit, which provides a systematic way to inventory current brand assets and develop strategy. Please note that although this course does include individual assessments, it also has a strong emphasis on teamwork (e.g., two in-class team presentations).

This course attempts to make its participants better managerial decision makers. However, most students find that the course applies equally well to their personal decisions. There are two other objectives. The first is to convey an enduring understanding of decision concepts, skills, and tools that, taken as a whole, comprise a troubleshooter's guide to dealing with the uncertainty, complexity, and conflict of the professional world. The second is to provide a framework for a good decision process in which all of the decision concepts, skills, and tools fit coherently. The pedagogical approach uses lectures, in-class exercises, and applications.

This is an introductory management course covering the management of technology and innovation in established firms. This course will explore what lessons large firms can learn from startups as well. This course is designed for students who may someday work in roles that require them to apply entrepreneurial thinking to launch new products and business models to capture new markets and evade disruption. Students taking this course will receive an understanding of how to incorporate aspects of entrepreneurship into their work in established firms to better discover and exploit valuable opportunities. This course will discuss how industries are transformed by new technologies and how these patterns of industrial change generate both opportunity and high rates of firm failure. This course will examine technology companies such as Netflix, Google, Adobe, Eli Lilly, etc. and explore the questions: Why do some technology leaders fail, and how do technology innovators successfully take on and replace incumbent firms? This course will discuss how to design and lead innovative organizations and teams to develop new products and identify opportunities for new products and market segments and effective strategies for managing intellectual property.

Business leaders today constantly face crises that threaten their company's reputation. Such defining moments require effective crisis communication to mitigate negative effects, build trust with the organization's internal and external audiences and navigate through the crisis gracefully and effectively towards resolution. In this course you will learn to anticipate and appreciate the complexities and challenges of brand reputation management during a crisis and develop strategies and techniques to communicate with various constituencies, especially the media/public, employees and major stakeholders. You will apply principles of effective crisis communication management through a simulation, and will develop message maps for emergency and other crisis scenarios. Course work includes readings, case analyses, and simulations.

Building almost any consumer-facing business at scale requires using the internet for core operations around attracting and engaging users, and generating revenue. Even traditionally offline industries, such as transportation and education, have been deeply disrupted by the deployment of consumer-facing internet services, by both new entrants and incumbents. This trend has been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the social distancing steps taken to contain it. In this course, we study key themes relevant to building a successful consumer-facing internet business - (1) user growth and engagement, (2) monetization, and (3) leveraging platforms.

Poor moral judgment can ruin a manager's career or even sink a company. In general, an organization cannot survive without the trust of numerous stakeholders, and ethical lapses destroy trust and threaten vital stakeholder relationships. In today's volatile and fiercely competitive business environment, a manager must be able to identify and effectively resolve ethical issues that inevitably arise in the pursuit of business (and career) objectives. This course is designed to enhance students' skills in moral reasoning as it applies to managerial decision making. It thus examines normative concepts and principles that typically enter into moral reasoning and uses those concepts and principles in analyzing real-world cases. Discussions are designed to help students understand the moral issues confronting the decision makers in the cases and explore how those issues might be addressed in ethically responsible ways.

This course is targeted at students that are or plan to be involved in family enterprises-irrespective of how-as an investor/owner, future leader, consultant, or employee. It will bring to light, many of the unique features (advantages and challenges) of a family enterprise. Students will be exposed to some critical themes that are unique to such enterprises-Role Definition, Effective Governance, Conflict Management, Succession and Fund Raising/Exit. They will acquire practical tools to effectively deal with them. One of the unique features of this class is that students will have an opportunity to discuss and analyze the specific opportunities and challenges they face in the family enterprise they represent (the level of sharing is of course entirely optional and up to each student to define). They will work on a Student Case project that allows them to dissect the issues and develop solutions, in a supportive team environment. This will be woven into the more traditional means of learning such as lectures, case studies, and guest speakers. Students will leave the course armed with clear insight into what to expect as they enter the family enterprise and how to navigate their unique environments. In doing so, they will amplify their ability to create enterprise, family and personal success.

The market for derivative securities has experienced dramatic growth in recent years. Market participants use financial instruments such as futures, options, and other derivatives to transfer and manage risks, as well as express views on market outcomes. While the study of derivatives is inherently quantitative, my goal is to help students develop strong intuition and build the skills necessary to understand, value, and use derivatives. In order to provide a useful treatment of the topics suitable for a rapidly changing environment, I will stress fundamental concepts and emphasize important applications throughout the course.

This course builds on the foundations established in NBA 6730 (Derivative Securities I) and focuses on options markets. We will start with option types and strategies. After observing the limitations of model-free approach, we will spend an important portion of our time on how to utilize models to price and understand options. Specifically, we will study binomial option pricing, the Black-Scholes model, and the associated Delta-Hedging. We will conclude with Volatility and (if time permits) Credit Risk.

Negotiation is the art and science of securing an agreement between people who have some conflicting interests.Seen this way, you negotiate every day-with partners about travel plans, with roommates about dishwashing, with teammates about who writes the first draft of the paper. And you can begin to see how you can turn situations into profitable negotiations-getting a hotel room upgrade, managing a dispute on a client team, finagling a deadline extension.The goal of this class is to help you do better in these and other important negotiations. As is true in life, there is no formula you can simply apply to achieve success in negotiation. Nor is there a single right answer to the question of what is the best tactic to use. What we will do, however, is provide you with frameworks and empirical findings that shed light on which tactics are likely to be effective, given particular situational constraints (relationships, few outside options, etc.). Your jobs are to hone your ability to decide when a tactic is likely to work, and to practice using the appropriate skills to gain experience and confidence.

An introduction of core concepts encountered in entrepreneurial businesses. The class is designed to broadly prepare students for working in start-up entrepreneurial environments and assist in fostering a like mindset. The course consists of lectures, guest speakers and a short written paper. By the end of the course, students will be able to discuss topics and issues related to beginning and running start-up companies. Participants will understand terminology and general concept categories including idea validation and market assessment, product and marketing strategy, networking, team selection culture and team building, legalities formation issues, business partnerships, marketing tactics, patents trademarks copyrights and financing business.

As a leader in any organizational context, your ability to collaborate with a diverse range of colleagues is a key driver of individual influence and collective success. Through a highly interactive and engaging process known as intergroup dialogue, this course will provide students with an opportunity to: recognize how social identities shape experiences in academic and workplace settings, public image, and approaches to leadership; develop and apply critical dialogue skills in order to have meaningful communication and effective collaboration across social, cultural and power difference; and identify and act upon opportunities for exerting influence to create more equitable and inclusive interpersonal interactions and team/organizational structures. The primary assignments for this course are readings and written reflections with class participation being a significant portion of the grade.

This course develops the framework for evaluating and managing firms' assets and liabilities in financial distress, including periods of formal bankruptcy and restructuring. It takes the perspective of managers as well as that of capital market participants - e.g., distressed-debt investors, analysts, legal professionals, regulators - that monitor and evaluate corporate policies in distress situations. The course will do so going beyond standard textbook coverage, making sense of practice and available research on financial distress, bankruptcy and reorganizations, looking at what professionals think and act, as well as in-depth study of real-world situations. All of these elements are integrated and analyzed with rigorous method. Our ultimate goal is to understand the objectives different economic agents mean to achieve given the institutional constraints they face in distress situations.

An analysis of key issues that an emerging high growth business must consider and address when incorporating and raising capital.

The Physical Product Entrepreneurship course introduces students to the renaissance in physical product development created by the emergence of new desktop manufacturing technologies, small-scale production, and internet based market aggregation all combined with Lean Startup principals. Unlike an engineering course that focuses on the nuts and bolts of creating a physical product this course will examine the creation of the product business itself rather than the actual device. This course is appropriate for the student exploring the creation of a hardware startup as well as students pursuing a career in product management at a physical product company. In this course, students will form teams and take a product idea through all stages of product development - business model development, prototyping, funding, manufacturing and fulfillment. Topics covered will include current product development ecosystem, Intellectual property, manufacturing and materials, scaling, roles, core documentation, and more.

Learn the diverse data mining techniques used in business applications to recognize patterns and make intelligent use of large amount of data. This includes logistic regression, classification trees, clustering and more. Get a sense of the range of applications of data mining techniques in business, healthcare, and elsewhere, gain hands-on experience through realistic samples and a project using real data.

With the availability of large, fine-grained traces of consumer behavior, artificial intelligence is increasingly deployed to automate marketing tasks by personalizing consumer experiences. This course is focused on demystifying the artificial intelligence hype by giving you a high-level understanding of how artificial intelligence works, and what it can (and cannot) do well. The course will involve a mixture of lectures, lecture-style case studies, and hands-on exercises in class.

Pricing is one of the most powerful levers that a firm can use to maximize profits. However, this opportunity to impact profits often remains untapped as many managers do not know how to improve upon historical pricing practices within their companies and industries. This course prepares students to address both strategic and tactical pricing issues and to identify profit-boosting changes in pricing practices across a range of professional contexts - as management consultants, product managers, entrepreneurs, business-unit managers and M&A advisors. The course is structured around three modules: Pricing Analysis, Price Structures and Metrics, and Price Management. The course uses a mix of lectures, case discussions, mini-cases, analytical exercises, and covers pricing across a broad spectrum of industries involving both B2C and B2B and from both economic and psychological perspectives.

Game theory is a systematic tool of analysis when a situation involves more than one interest groups. Strategic interactions among these groups often lead to interesting and unexpected outcomes. The key to good business decision lies in the ability to think in the shoes of others. This course delivers the basic concepts and tools of game theory with focus on intuition and applications. We will encounter some simple algebra, but math is not the focal point.

This course aims to enable students to apply IO models to study real-world problems. We will learn (i.) the fundamentals of game theory through numerous examples; (ii.) the applications of game theory models in various IO topics; pricing and firm competition, product differentiation, merger analysis (antitrust), platform and entry analysis. (iii.) market analysis and case studies for different industries/marketplaces (oil, smartphone, music streaming, social media apps, food delivery platforms, ride-sharing platforms, and EV industry). (iv.) empirical methods use to research and in the consulting industry (regression analysis, structural models, and causal inferences). This course is especially helpful for students interested in consulting or related industry jobs.

This course will examine the private equity industry and will explore the many roles that lawyers and business professionals play in the private equity marketplace. The course will focus on private equity acquisitions (including public and private transactions), as well as on the evolving fundraising market and the investor community, financing private equity transactions, exit transactions (such as IPOs, strategic and secondary sales), governance issues in private equity portfolio companies, regulatory and litigation issues facing private equity firms, and the role of management in private equity transactions. Guest speakers will include practicing (and non-practicing) lawyers and private equity professionals who will offer insight into the state and evolution of the private equity industry and how it has impacted the broader asset management business and the merger and acquisitions and financing marketplace. Although private equity in a global alternative asset class and includes many investment strategies , including venture capital, growth equity and real estate, this course will focus on the US buyout environment with some reference and comparison to other categories of private equity.