This course will consider the critical issues necessary for effectively managing people both at home and abroad and help students understand how to effectively manage in a multicultural setting. We will discuss the critical role that culture plays in shaping the success or failure of an international organization. In addition, we will discuss how the subtle nuances of culture can lead to conflict, especially in multi-cultural teams. We will also explore critical skills for global management: problem-solving and conflict management in multicultural settings and the leadership and management of geographically dispersed teams. Finally, we will discuss the role of HR during mergers & acquisitions.

Accounting for Managers focuses mainly on the set of frameworks and methods which serve to measure, analyze, and interpret internal information to support managerial decision making as well as performance evaluation and control. Unlike financial accounting, there is no set of rules and regulations that dictate how internally generated information is reported to management. Therefore, this course focuses on methods of data measurement and interpretation, with particular emphases on: 1) the design of appropriate costing systems; 2) the use of internal information to support managerial decisions; 3) the array of evaluation tools to monitor managerial incentives and performance. The course will also provide a brief review of the financial accounting principles as needed.

Examines the art of solving problems under uncertainty. Course topics include descriptive statistics, probability, sampling distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing and simple and multiple regressions. Methods are applied to management problems drawn from marketing, finance, economics, organizational behavior, and operations management.

Analyzes the market-driven corporation with respect to the marketing mix (product, promotion, price and distribution strategy) as it applies to consumer and industrial goods and services in the private and public sectors. Emphasis is placed on the application of the marketing mix through real-world projects.

This course will provide a sound understanding of the theory of corporate finance. We will cover a wide range of topics including the time value of money, stock and bond valuation, the calculation of cash flows for a project, capital budgeting, the relationship between risk and return, and the cost of capital. By the end of the course students will have the basic tools used in analyzing the investment and financing decisions made within firms.

This course builds directly on the material covered in Financial Management I. The course focuses on the key policy decisions made in corporate finance and discusses their impact on firm and shareholder value. The course will include an in-depth analysis of firms' financing choices and capital structure and their role in capital budgeting decisions. The course also introduces the different discounted cash flow valuation techniques for the valuation of corporate cash flows. The last third of the course focuses on options, option pricing, and applications of option pricing in corporate finance including warrant and convertible bond valuation.

Increases understanding of the functions and responsibilities of general management. It examines the problems that affect the character and success of an entire enterprise, whether an entrepreneurial venture or a multinational conglomerate.

Introduces the basic concepts of contracts, labor laws, discrimination, torts, partnership, corporations, securities, and bankruptcy and gives students an understanding of the relationships between parties in a typical business setting. Tax consequences relative to various entities used in business transactions are also examined.

Focuses on the structure and processes of management, particularly those of a global organization, and simulates upper-level management activities of the global enterprise. Course objectives include developing an integrated understanding of strategic and operational decision-making in a global enterprise from a general management perspective.

Provides a framework for analyzing and identifying key management issues and developing plans for action. Study focuses on identifying what managers do, what distinguishes effective management, how managers make decisions, and what makes a company excellent.

Explores the behavioral processes and phenomena which are inherent in virtually all types of negotiations. Emphasis is on systematic preparation of a negotiating strategy. In-class negotiation exercises and extensive debriefings are used by participants to test and evaluate their strategies and tactics.

Through case analysis, this course explores ways to value different types of business enterprises. The course emphasizes discounted cash flow methods of valuation, though other methods, such as the method of multiples, the venture capital method, and real options are also introduced. Students develop and practice valuation skills, such as financial forecasting, cash flow measurement, discount rate estimation and continuing value calculation. In addition, students work with a variety of corporate situations, such as LBO's, IPO's, spin-offs, and mergers, in which valuation plays a key role.

Explores the principles and techniques for understanding and interpreting financial statements, including statement comparability, income measurement and disclosure, cash flow analysis, ratio analysis and the disaggregation of ratios, quality of earnings, account analysis, and footnote disclosures. The financial relationships of the accounting model are applied to published financial statements. Cases are used extensively.

Examines the key aspects of leading a successful organizational change. The course analyzes both successful and unsuccessful change management efforts, allowing students to practically apply readings and discussions to individual organizational experiences. The course will build a framework for leading a successful organizational change.

This course provides a basis for understanding the international business environment and the mode of entry to foreign markets. The course is organized around three major topics: (1) The differences in the business environment across nations from a social, cultural, and political perspective as well as the effect of the business context on managerial decisions, (2) The methodology to select foreign markets for a firm’s expansion, and (3) Foreign market entry strategies and management implications for operating overseas.

Recognizing that effectiveness in managerial communication continuously ranks as the single most important skill for managers and executives, this course focuses on the different ways managers communicate within organizations and on the different ways companies communicate with both internal and external constituencies, including employees, shareholders, regulators, and the public. The practical emphasis is on student exercises and includes informal individual briefings, formal group presentations, and media events during crisis situations. Students are encouraged to draw on their experiences and materials from their own backgrounds and companies.

Conveys skills and modes of analysis that will be used directly in initiating or acquiring, managing, and harvesting a new venture. Concepts are also applicable to venturing within an existing corporation. Students will be expected to apply tools and theories learned in functional area core courses and additional knowledge gained from this class to the analysis of cases, a venture feasibility analysis process, and the formulation of a business plan.

This course examines the foundations of investment theory and practice. It begins by elaborating the concepts of risk and risk aversion, wealth allocation between risky and riskfree assets, and optimally risky portfolios. The course proceeds to develop various asset-pricing models, paying special attention to the CAPM and APT. The course will also examine the concept of market efficiency and review the empirical evidence for and against efficiency. The second half of the course examines theories and strategies for managing investment portfolios. This includes surveying how securities are actually traded and cleared. It then examines theories of active portfolio management ranging from the Peter Lynch approach to more formal models such as the Treynor-Black model. Issues of asset allocation, extended (e.g. global and real asset) diversification, and investment company organization and policy formation are studied. The course concludes with a study of portfolio performance measurement.

This course examines the psychological, cognitive, and social processes that facilitate (or undermine) effective influence in organizations. The course seeks to develop cognitive, interpersonal, and strategic skills of business leaders, and relies on an organizing framework that examines leadership and ethics at three levels-of-analysis: leadership of (1) self, (2) others, (3) groups and organizations. Classroom activities will examine, discuss, and demonstrate how core concepts in class are realized at each level.

One of the cornerstones of human resource practice in any organization, performance management shifts the common focus on an annual evaluation of employee performance to an ongoing process that includes establishing an organizational climate for success, setting and aligning goals, coaching and developing employees, formally evaluating performance, and linking performance to recognition and rewards. This course will expose students to current thinking, strategies, and evidence-based best practices in these areas of performance management by incorporating perspectives of leading practitioners, consultants, and researchers in the field. The course will be conducted in an interactive and participative manner. Learning will be facilitated through lecture and discussion, case studies, interactive exercises, and student presentations.

This course is designed to provide experienced executives with practice-oriented, nuanced, in-depth knowledge of the various aspects of the corporate strategy of the firm. “Corporate strategy” means managing the firm’s scope – in other words, managing a corporation as a portfolio of businesses: What business units should the company have in order to maximize the shareholders’ value? How should it acquire new lines of business? How should it divest the units it no longer wants? What should be the extent of the units’ autonomy? In this class, students will improve their understanding of what makes a portfolio of businesses under a single corporate umbrella more or less valuable. Students will also develop and hone the decision-making tools for properly structuring and executing acquisitions and alliances under different business situations.

This course will develop state-of-the-art quantitative tools for evaluating large, complex investment projects that cannot be evaluated in a satisfactory manner with standard discounted cash flow techniques. Issues covered include risk-adjusted probability measures and an introduction to modeling project cash flows as financial options. The course will also address financing and distribution policies and restructuring strategies with a special focus on the energy industry. The second half of the course will include valuing capital projects using discrete time and continuous time option pricing models. Special attention will be paid to actual and strategic real option problems in energy finance such as off-shore exploration and power plant management. (2 credit hours)

Corporations face a variety of risks including interest rate risk, commodity price risk, foreign exchange rate risk, counter party default risk and political risk in addition to the usual business risks of their chosen fields of operation. This course analyzes the corporate decision to hedge (or not to hedge) focusing on how these decisions maximize shareholder value. The course explores ways in which firms manage their exposure to product market and financial risk and provides a balanced treatment of commodity price, interest rate, and currency risks. Topics include swaps, financial futures, FRAs, options and other recent innovations in the derivatives markets. The issue of counter party default risk and risk management approaches such as VAR (value-at risk) are also studied.

This course provides experienced executives with practice-oriented, powerful analytical frameworks for better managing their company’s innovation process and increasing its success rate of bringing innovations to market. “Managing innovation” means creating effective internal processes to sense innovation trends, to invest in the “right” portfolio of innovation projects, and to better understand the factors causing innovations to succeed or fail in the market. How can companies sense future innovations and shape these innovation opportunities to their advantage? Which projects should we invest in to create a portfolio that balances our company’s needs for both short-term profits and long-term growth? What implications do disruptive technologies have for our company and its industry? How likely is an innovation to restructure the basis of competition in our industry and threaten our current competitive advantage?