MBA Elective Courses

ACCT D31 Managerial Accounting

This introductory study of the application of cost accounting techniques to business problems emphasizes the system of internal reporting through the application of costing and managerial information systems for different situations and purposes. Solutions to particular types of problems and the structural evolution of costing systems for management planning and control in business are emphasized. Prerequisite: ACCT D30  

ACCT D32 Forensic Accounting

This class introduces students to forensically-focused financial statement analysis. The course material is organized around the broad themes of earnings quality and cash flow quality. The course provides students with the tools to detect when reported earnings and cash flows are not sustainable. Although financial fraud is not the course’s explicit focus, academic research demonstrates that companies with low quality of earnings and cash flows are more likely to experience governance scandals and regulatory enforcement actions. The course’s material is essential for anyone who relies on published financial statements to make business decisions. It also prepares students for senior roles in overseeing financial reporting processes and serving on corporate boards.  

ACCT D59 Sustainability Reporting and Analysis

Traditional financial reporting is often criticized for ignoring some of a company’s most important economic assets and liabilities. On the assets side, mainstream accounting often ignores brands, human resources, intellectual property, supplier and customer relationships, and more generally the goodwill that accrues to a business through its involvement in the wider community. On the liabilities side, accountants tend to ignore many of the risks, or contingent liabilities, posed by deleterious environmental and social policies. This course introduces students to sustainability reporting, a system of analysis and reporting that attempts to bridge some of these gaps and provide a more expansive view of an organization’s social and environmental performance (sometimes called the “triple bottom line”). Through lectures and case studies, we will examine markets for sustainability reporting and metrics that have been developed to supply information to these markets. The class will address socially responsible investing, carbon disclosure initiatives, accounting for legal and environmental liabilities, and the role of intangible assets in long-run performance.

FINC D48 New Venture Funding

This course is designed to provide students with an understanding and working knowledge of both sides of the new venture funding process: that of an entrepreneur raising funding and of an investor in new ventures. Students will create a financial plan and valuation for a new business idea, will engage in simulated presentations to and negotiations with investors. Students will also manage a simulated venture capital fund, make investments in new ventures and generate a return on their portfolio. Through this course, students will learn to look at new venture funding issues both from the perspective of the entrepreneur and from the perspective of the venture investor.  

MGMT D62 Entrepreneurship and New Venture Formulation

This course focuses on the initiation of new business ventures as contrasted with the management of ongoing enterprises. The emphasis in this intensively interactive and uniquely structured course is on applying concepts and techniques that were studied in various functional areas to the new venture development environment. Questions that are addressed include: how to effectively screen venture ideas; how to identify and define the fundamental issues that are relevant to the new venture; how to prepare a cohesive, concise, and effective Business Development Plan (BDP) for a new venture; how to identify the venture’s market niche and define its business strategy; how to determine the best time for launching the venture and for selling it; how, when, by whom, how much, and what type of financing should be raised; how to evaluate the viability of the venture. Actual venture cases, readings, and some outside speakers who address important topics, such as venture capital and legal issues, are used. Student teams conceptualize and develop business plans for a venture of their choice. Prerequisites: All Basic D30 courses

FINC D41 Corporate Finance

This course explores theories, empirical evidence, and applications of corporate financial policy. Basic topics covered include consumption, investment, and financing decisions. The early part of the course covers topics on capital structure, cost of capital, moral hazard, designs of contracts and securities, signaling, and asymmetric information. The second part of the course focuses on valuation and capital budgeting under certainty and uncertainty. Other topics covered include corporate governance, dividend policy, mergers, acquisitions, corporate control, and related theoretical and applied issues in corporate finance. Prerequisites: FINC D30 and DECS D34, ACCT D30 and MECN D30 are recommended.  

FINC D42 Financial Decisions

This course uses case studies to enhance the student’s understanding of managerial financial decision making. The course covers topics in short and long-term financing, capital structure decisions, cost of capital, capital budgeting, firm valuation, financial and operational restructurings, and mergers and acquisitions. The course emphasizes the application of basic financial principles. It provides students with the opportunity to practice applying the concepts and theories developed in other finance courses to actual ‘real world’ problems. Prerequisites:  FINC D30 and FINC D41  

FINC D48 New Venture Funding

This course is designed to provide students with an understanding and working knowledge of both sides of the new venture funding process: that of an entrepreneur raising funding and of an investor in new ventures. Students will create a financial plan and valuation for a new business idea will engage in simulated presentations to and negotiations with investors. Students will also manage a simulated venture capital fund, make investments in new ventures and generate a return on their portfolio. Through this course, students will learn to look at new venture funding issues both from the perspective of the entrepreneur and from the perspective of the venture investor.  

FINC D55 Mergers and Acquisitions

The main objective of this course is to learn how companies can create shareholder value by optimizing their business portfolio by means of targeted acquisitions and divestitures. Besides financial and strategic aspects, the business integration process is studied as well. This course also aims to enhance your competencies in the area of business valuation. This will also help you understand how the capital markets and private equity can be utilized by the corporation to support its restructuring and expansion objectives. The course will expose you to a wide range of best and worst M&A business practices from around the world and from a wide range of industries through class discussions of cases and recent transactions. Prerequisite: FINC D30  

FINC D60 Investment

This course examines financial theory and empirical evidence useful for making investment decisions. Topics include behavior and distribution of stock returns; portfolio selection based on mean-variance analysis; cross-sectional models of risk and return analysis; performance evaluation of mutual funds based on the market model; market efficiency (including asset pricing anomalies and behavioral finance); bond valuation, and the term structure of interest rates; interest rate risk management of bond portfolios by matching duration and convexity. The course involves several projects, including applications to real-world problems such as portfolio selection and investment management. Prerequisite: FINC D30  

FINC D63 Securities Valuation

This course aims to develop students’ ability to use information contained in corporate financial statements to assess company performance and relative valuation. Participants will gather, analyze and interpret information from selected annual and quarterly reports as well as other publicly available sources, examine strategic decisions and assess the business’ competitive environment. The class will frequently involve guided discussions, which are supplemented by formal theoretical concepts. Students are expected to learn and enhance their critical thinking through the breadth of presented perspectives and proposed solution approaches rather than by a single solution.  

FINC D64 Fixed Income Analytics

In this course, we learn the characteristics of fixed income securities while examining the uniqueness of different tools to immunize and manage bond portfolios. Tools include duration of defaultable corporate bonds, convexity, yield curve models, option pricing models (which are used to understand the pricing and hedging of forwards, futures and swaps, asset-backed securities and other fixed-income derivatives). In this course, students understand fixed income valuation and implement sophisticated approaches to master complex hedging strategies. We methodically analyze financial theories and compute the required elements to be used in fixed-income valuation. In all cases we first stipulate and examine the set of theoretical assumptions underlying the specific tool; then we present empirical evidence that tests the validity of these pricing models. Since the quality of a theoretical model can be judged either by the logic of the underlying assumptions or by its predictive power, we make an effort to bring empirical support into our classwork.  

FINC D78 Strategic Performance Management 

This course uses financial analysis and the economics of contracts and management control systems to provide an understanding of how corporate governance is related to shareholder value creation. The nature of incentive conflicts in organizations and how contractual and governance arrangements and market mechanisms mitigate such conflicts are analyzed. The theoretical concepts developed in analyzing value creation and destruction in specific contexts such as decentralization and examples of corporate restructuring such as mergers, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, spin-offs, and leveraged recapitalizations are then applied. Prerequisite: FINC D30

LAW D30 Business Law

This course is designed to acquaint students with concepts and applications of the law of contract. The topics covered include the examination of legal issues affecting business operations, including product liability, employment and taxation. The course also briefly explores the law governing international trade activities.

MORS D35 Measuring the ROI of Human Capital and Human Resources

People, the human capital of organizations, are frequently described as an organization’s greatest asset. It is critical that we measure the return on the investment in our people and the human resource processes that support our people just as we would measure the return on any other critical capital investment. This course focuses on why and how we measure the effectiveness of an organization’s human capital in successfully executing business strategy and goals. The course will also identify the key human resource programs and processes that are critical to executing an organization’s strategy, and learn how to measure their effectiveness in helping to achieve business goals and objectives. This course will provide tools and techniques for measuring the return on the investment (ROI) in key strategic human resource management programs including recruiting and staffing, compensation and benefits, training and development, career and leadership development, and performance management.  

MORS D38 Managing Human Capital in a Global Context

This course will be an advanced course on the management of human capital in global business. Frequently the single largest line-item investment which enterprises make is people. While home country laws and situations may be easily handled by most companies, the complexities involved in leading and managing people across borders cannot be underestimated. This course will have a clear focus on global issues and will revolve around the five recognized domains of Global Human Capital: Strategic HR Management; Global Talent Acquisition, and Mobility; Global Compensation and Benefits; Organizational Effectiveness and Talent Development; Workforce Relations and Risk Management. Although Thai practices will be referenced, the focus will be on cross-border issues, particularly some of the more frequent business destinations in the world: The EU, the US, China, India, the UK, and Canada. This course focuses on the issues and impact of human resources in global enterprises.  

MORS D68 Leadership through Business Ethics

In order to overcome the challenges of cultural and physical barriers to success, in this class, you will learn how best to manage the strategic and personal dilemmas at the core of these dynamic enterprises. The competitiveness on both domestic and an international scale requires new skills and a more finely tuned worldview. This course examines two areas of interest: the importance of leadership in the success of the high-performance organizations and the ethical challenges leaders face. It also explores the ways in which the failure to consider the ethical aspects of decisions can bring managerial careers to an end, as well as provides guidelines for the analysis of decisions and policies from an ethical perspective. Students gain a deeper understanding of the anatomy and requirements of leadership and create an awareness of the ethical challenges which derive from changing societal norms and values, from the rapid internationalization of business, and from increased scientific and technological capability. It distinguishes right versus wrong ethical conflicts from right versus right conflicts and develops guidelines and frameworks that leaders can use to resolve conflicts. You will discover how to build credibility with the community, family shareholders, the board and the management team while being respectful to your forbearers. Master your understanding of governance and accountability while still retaining the autonomy necessary for effective decision making. Indeed, this Leadership class helps prepare you to dive deep into the real-world challenge and you will benefit from real-life experiences from prominent guest speakers who have successfully led global expansion.

DA D14 Applied Modeling for Management Decisions

Decision Analysis is designed to help us better define the problems we face so we can make better decisions. It provides effective quantitative methods and useful tools for organizing complex decision problems into structures that can be effectively analyzed in the decision-making process. In this course, we emphasize quantitative and analytical aspects, rather than behavioral or qualitative aspects of decision making. Theories, concepts, and methodologies in the decision-making process and mathematical modeling skills are the main focus. The topics covered will be decision making under certainty and uncertainty, the value of information, utility theory, sensitivity analysis, and risk quantification. The course focuses on the practical application of quantitative methodology to solve real-world decision problems taken from the realms of capital investment, bidding, purchasing, inspection, inventory control, and other areas. Prerequisites: DECS D34  

DECS D51 Judgement and Managerial Decision Making

Managerial decisions can be very complex and difficult. Managers, leaders, and investors can benefit highly from understanding their own decision making processes and avoiding decision biases and traps. They can also benefit greatly from understanding the decisions of their colleagues, competitors, and customers. This course will help you understand how and why people make irrational decisions and help you make better managerial and investment decisions both for yourself and your organizations. This is an introductory course and students will learn various concepts and insights related to judgment and decision making from a wide range of disciplines: behavioral economics, behavioral finance, behavioral science, cognitive science, consumer behavior, decision science, neuroscience, organizational behavior, political science, and social psychology. In particular, students will learn how and why people’s decisions and behaviors deviate from the optimum. Importantly, students will learn how to predict and manage these irrational decisions and behaviors. Managers, leaders, investors, and consumers at all levels can benefit from knowing the arts and sciences of decision making and from using these insights to make better decisions both in a business context and personal life.  

MECN D41 Competitive Strategy and Industrial Structure

An analysis of the determinants and nature of competition in a variety of industry structures is covered. The course considers how the structure of a firm’s industry affects its strategic choices and performance. Special attention is given to the possibility that the firm’s strategic commitments may change the structure of its industry. Topics discussed include the dynamic aspects of pricing, entry, and exit in concentrated industries, and product differentiation, advertising, and technological change as competitive strategies. Prerequisite: MECN D30  

MECN D46 Pricing Strategies

This course provides students with an opportunity to develop a systematic framework for assessing and formulating pricing strategies. Economic, marketing, organizational, psychological and competitive factors all affect the pricing decision and each of these presents an interesting aspect of the pricing problem. The course revolves around understanding how one may go about making a pricing decision while keeping in mind these factors. To achieve this objective, we will learn appropriate concepts, methods, and explore new approaches for formulating pricing strategy. This course is less about the mechanics of setting a price-it is more about understanding the process of making pricing decisions. The course will use a combination of lectures, cases, and exercises. Assignments will be in the form of reading (text and relevant articles), case preparation and discussion, problems for discussion, and a case write-up.  

MECN D50 – Macroeconomic Analysis for Management

This course provides students with a simple but rigorous analytical framework to understand and evaluate international macroeconomic events and their consequences. Actual macroeconomic examples from around the world are used extensively throughout the course which is divided into three parts. Part 1 introduces the basic macroeconomic framework and the four key markets (labor, goods and services, assets, and exchange rates) needed to understand the international or open economy macroeconomic equilibrium and the determination of equilibrium output, employment, interest rates, and exchange rates. Part 2 focuses on economic indicators and policy issues. Part 3 discusses long-term economic growth and other topical issues.  

MECN D55 International Trade and Investment

This course introduces several important economic aspects that are relevant to firms involved in international business. After a brief discussion of globalization, it focuses on the causes and consequences of international trade and trade policies. Subsequently, the course examines the causes and problems of foreign direct investment activities. It then discusses the foreign exchange market operations, the risk associated with exchange rate exposure and how to manage such risks. The final part examines different exchange rate systems and more recent crises. The various topics are investigated by combining concepts and cases that aim at illustrating how economic linkages between countries affect the decision of firms.

MGMT D38 Management of 21st Century Enterprises

This course focuses on how the modern, 21st-century firm competing in a global economy can best optimize itself for these turbulent times. We will utilize the emerging concept of “Dynamic Capabilities” to organize the course, and draw from a variety of sources for our learning. Dynamic Capabilities can be described as “the firm’s ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external competencies to address rapidly changing environments”. Traditional management, including the standard “Porter model” of strategic competitor analysis, is under an increasing critique for its inability to resolve problems presented by the modern global, technologically driven, and extremely dynamic marketplace; we continue to presume that firms compete primarily in a production sector environment in which scale, heavy fixed investment, externalization of production byproducts, rigid organizational hierarchies, and defined industry structures are the order of the day. This course will include lecture/discussions sessions, case studies, outside invited speakers, and a comprehensive computer-based management simulation exercise, “The Protean Strategist”©. The simulation will be a key part of our learning, as it will allow students to leverage the various concepts that are raised in the classroom discussions and readings. Students should be prepared to engage course materials with vigor, actively participate in classroom discussions and the simulation, and embrace your classmates as professional colleagues in our quest for the new truth about organizational management.  

MGMT D52 Global Strategy: How to Win and Lose Big in the Digital Ecosystems of China/Asia

This course is an integration of the preceding courses through the study of strategy formulation, implementation functions, and responsibilities of top-level management. The topics addressed include the concept of corporate strategy, competitive strategy, analytical methods for evaluating strategy, key corporate decisions, the design of formal organizational structure planning and control systems, reward and sanction systems, the selection and training of key personnel, and the leadership role of the Chief Executive Officer. Cases and readings are drawn from a variety of organizations.  

MGMT D54  Formulating Competitive Direction

This course is designed specifically to prepare students to become successful entrepreneurs and managers who have to compete in a changing market environment with limited resources under control. The course covers various aspects of competitive strategies and tactics for students and provides an understanding of different industry conditions and market segments and how to create a sustained competitive advantage through different competitive strategies; how to articulate a new strategic direction under intense competitive environment; how to define and deploy competitive strategies with dynamic and uncertain changes in the industry due to competitors’ strategic moves; how to structure the necessary analyses and synthesize the analysis results to formulate a new strategic direction at the business unit level.  

MGMT D55 IT Concepts for General Manager

This course addresses the opportunities and challenges involved in applying information technology to modern business organizations. The interplay between information technology and business strategy, business processes (systems) and human resources is explored from a general management perspective. Major developments in information technology are identified and their impact discussed. The direction of the design and deployment of information technology is addressed. Case studies are used throughout the course to illustrate both effective and ineffective use in a variety of industries, applications, and strategic settings.  

MGMT D62 Entrepreneurship and New Venture Formulation

This course focuses on the initiation of new business ventures as contrasted with the management of ongoing enterprises. The emphasis in this intensively interactive and uniquely structured course is on applying concepts and techniques that were studied in various functional areas to the new venture development environment. Questions that are addressed include how to effectively screen venture ideas; how to identify and define the fundamental issues that are relevant to the new venture; how to prepare a cohesive, concise, and effective Business Development Plan (BDP) for a new venture; how to identify the venture’s market niche and define its business strategy; how to determine the best time for launching the venture and for selling it; how, when, by whom, how much, and what type of financing should be raised; how to evaluate the viability of the venture, etc. Actual venture cases, readings, and some outside speakers who address important topics, such as venture capital and legal issues, are used. Student teams conceptualize and develop business plans for a venture of their choice. Prerequisites: All basic required courses.  

MGMT D64 Business Environment and Emerging Technologies

The course will introduce students to important technology-based business trends and an overview of various emerging technologies, particularly web 2.0 technologies. Students will themselves explore technologies and applications to have a general understanding of contemporary web applications that enhance the possibilities for social interaction, exchange of information and content creation, and the use of these applications for business benefit. In addition, the course culminates in a discussion of the potential business impact and managerial implications of these technologies as well as guidance on how to select and deploy them effectively. The course is designed to reflect the technological business environment particularly in Thailand and with an awareness of the potentially important role of overall Asian countries, which can play to not only react to but also even shape innovation and technology-based business trends.  

MGMT D66 Managing Demographic Shift

This course highlights how marketing deals with demographic shifts. It introduces students to insights about population changes and trends that can affect business planning and business decisions, and how to practically apply the demographic principles, data and methods in marketing and business planning. Topics include business demography as a decision-making discipline; demography and demographic shift; population mobility and business implication; fertility pattern and the business environment; changing population composition: implications for marketing and business planning; demographic data and business decision making; and how marketing do with the demographic shift. Students will discuss several demographic data and demographic trends as part of the business environment during the course and will form groups to produce and present their own analyses of how to profitably apply the demographic perspective in decision making.  

MGMT D67 Family Business: Managing Growth and Succession

Managing family business is one of the norms for business in Asia and elsewhere. Here in Thailand, 75% of the THB 11 trillion market capitalization of publicly listed companies on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) is family business-related. The course is designed to provide participants with the framework to analyze the dynamics of family business organizations, the behaviors, and issues. The course will cover the following themes: family decision-making process (resolving family conflicts); succession planning (when to let go & how); hiring, developing & retaining talent (within the family and outside the family); governance and structure (formal or informal structures legal, regulation); career decisions to work for family business (understand and anticipating the issues working as professionals).  

MGMT D70 Negotiations

The purpose of the course is to help students understand the theory and process of negotiation as it is practiced in a variety of settings. A basic premise of the course is that while a manager needs analytic skills to discover optimal solutions to problems, a broad array of negotiation skills is needed for these solutions to be accepted by others and implemented with their cooperation. The course will allow students the opportunity to develop these skills experientially and to understand negotiation through useful analytic frameworks. Considerable emphasis will be placed on the in-class role-playing negotiation exercises which have been chosen to highlight the central concepts that underlie negotiation strategy. Topics include an overview of negotiations, single-issue and multi-issue negotiations, cross-cultural issues, creating and claiming value, agents in negotiations, ethics in negotiations, multi-party negotiations and dispute resolution.  

MGMT D79 Innovation for Future Fitness

Are you fit for the future? Will your product, organization, community, city or country survive and thrive in 10, 20, 50 or even 100 years? This course will introduce you to the mega-trends and futures-thinking tools you will need to be more resilient and sustainable in the 21st century. We live in a world that is changing faster and challenging us more than ever before. Great progress has been made in lifting people out of poverty, advancing scientific frontiers, connecting the globe with technology and making knowledge more accessible. At the same time, there are disturbing trends of increasing inequality, catastrophic destruction of ecosystems and loss of species, pervasive corruption, increasingly volatile and dangerous climate change, waves of forced migration and floods of refugees, a rise of religious extremism and the omnipresent threat of terrorism. The question is: how can we – as individuals, businesses, communities, and policy-makers – prepare for the future? How can we maximize our chances of success, not only by being ready but also by helping to shape the future that we desire? The course uses the 5-S Integrated Value Framework developed by Dr. Wayne Visser at Kaleidoscope Futures Lab. Ltd as a lens through which to view emergent issues and trends. The 5-Ss of future-fitness are: Secure – a future which we are more healthy, secure and resilient (looking at OH&S, toxicity, risk & emergency preparedness); Smart – a future in which we are more educated, connected and responsive (looking at connectivity, access to knowledge, R&D investment); Shared – a future in which we are more fair, diverse and inclusive (looking at value distribution, stakeholder participation, diversity); Sustainable – a future in which we are more renewable, enduring and evolutionary (looking at cradle-to-cradle resourcing, externality pricing, and footprint analysis); Satisfying – a future in which our lives are more beneficial, beautiful and meaningful (looking at quality standards, levels of satisfaction, happiness) We will also look at the 7-steps for implementing Integrated Value in organizations, as follows: Rethinking patterns – Modeling the key dynamics of the operating environment for sustainability; Realigning partners – Capturing the material concerns & expectations of key stakeholders; Renewing principles – Uncovering & aligning the organization’s shared, synergistic values; Redefining purpose – Reflecting on the strategic aspirations versus the systems map & stakeholders’ needs; Reassessing performance – Identifying appropriate metrics for reporting on value creation & sustainability impacts; Redesigning products – Applying innovative ways of thinking to products, services & business models; Reshaping playing-fields – Reviewing government policies & codes that incentivize sustainable transformation.  

MGMT D96 Sustainability Practicum

This course allows students to apply the theory taught in the “Sustainability and Ethics in Management” course (D95), a pre-requisite, to practice through a project with a company, organization or community. The course begins with exposure to panel discussions with guest speakers under various topics, as well as company visits. Working in teams, students will have several months to work on a case study, consulting project, a business plan for a new venture, or a community project.

MKTG D52 Consumption and Marketing

This course is designed to enhance an understanding of theories and concepts in the area of consumer behavior as well as an implication in marketing. With an emphasis on consumer and marketing research which is fundamental to successful business practices, students will study and practice how to use the qualitative consumer and marketing research to explore new ideas, identify business opportunities, and propose actionable marketing strategies. Moreover, students will learn to interpret consumer psychology and sociocultural influences emerging from real-life situations. With the practicum approach, this course facilitates several opportunities for students to attain hands-on experiences from group assignments to in-class exercises, field works, and projects. This course intends to stimulate students’ learning via the 3Ps approaches of Problems, Practices, and Projects. In each class, students will learn about “problems” from various business sectors at both domestic and international levels and they are encouraged to “practice” tackling the multiple challenges with focuses on analyses of target consumer behaviors and development of marketing strategies. These problems can be in forms of experience sharing, documented cases, live cases, news reports, etc. Finally, students will be able to apply knowledge and experiences into their “projects.” Through this process, students can also learn about relevant theoretical concepts but in a more engaging and pragmatic manner. Prerequisite: MKTG D30  

MKTG D54 Advertising and Integrated Communications

In recent years, the number of brands and media that consumers can choose from has exploded. Consequently, the need for brands to engage with potential consumers has never been more urgent. How do you get through to your core audience effectively and efficiently, moving them from awareness to purchase and, eventually, loyalty? This course aims to help you answer this question, by providing a balanced analysis of communication strategy and execution. We will discuss the key communication challenges in today’s marketplace and you will learn about frameworks that help you communicate with your customers and build your brand in a dynamic environment. Although our main focus will be on advertising, we will also address other key elements of integrated marketing communication strategies that, done coherently and well, enable marketers to be most effective. Throughout, the course will stress the importance of customer insight as a basis for creating and executing optimal communication strategies. Prerequisite: MKTG D30  

MKTG D59 Services and Hospitality Marketing

This course examines the marketing and managerial implications of the differences between goods and services. A wide variety of services are examined, such as travel, professional services, hospitals, banks, hotels, churches, sports clubs, and theme parks. The course discusses many service marketing concepts, including the relationship between the service provider and customer, the real-time experience of services, customer satisfaction, and service quality. Prerequisite: MKTG D30  

MKTG D64 Brand Management

This course proposes macro and microeconomic considerations on brand and brand management. The students are considered as potential Brand Managers. The focus of the course will be on Asian brands. Cases, as well as field and individual assignments, will allow the application to real-life examples of the notions and tools introduced in the course. 3 broad categories of objectives will be pursued: Basics – Introducing some basic notions on the nature and scope of brand management. Various academic and operational approaches will be reviewed. Basic definitions of marketing, positioning, brand identity, in order to create a sound basis for the entire course. Macroeconomics considerations – Providing a clear understanding of the historical evolution of the notion of brand, their multiple dimensions and complex role as a medium in our societies leading to a better understanding of the impact of digital on brands as well as the contribution of brands to sustainability. Understanding the emergence of “new luxury” in consumption as well as the relevance of brand authenticity in order to be prepared for better decision-making in the Brand Management field; Microeconomic considerations – Introduction and actual utilization of brand analytical tools allowing to develop judgment on brand management consistency and efficiency and to propose improving strategic, organizational and operational measures. The tools will include the brand life cycle;  the brand identity hinge; the “Est-E”t diagram; most used semiotic squares; communication and aesthetic chains; brand manifestations scheme, and applications to basic functions like creation, communication, distribution. We will be constantly looking at how the digital world is affecting traditional practice.  

MKTG D68 Multicultural Marketing

This survey course on multicultural marketing is based on a combination of lectures, discussions, quizzes, cases, videos, outside speakers, country specialist reports, and a final marketing project in another country. It integrates and addresses the significant impact of cultural, economic, political, infrastructure and population variables in cross-cultural marketing management and acquaints students with basic strategic and functional areas of marketing in a cross-cultural environment. After their initial exposure to the field, students can seek more in-depth knowledge in areas of specific interest to them. Prerequisite: MKTG D30.

OPNS D50 Analytical Decision Modeling with Spreadsheets

This course focuses on structuring, analyzing, and solving managerial decision problems on Excel spreadsheets. We will address problems of resource allocation (how to utilize available resources optimally), risk analysis (how to incorporate uncertainty in problem parameters), decision analysis (how to synthesize a sequence of decisions involving uncertainty),data analysis (how to summarize available data into useful information), and forecasting (how to extrapolate past data into the future). In each area, we will consider specific managerial decision problems, model them on Excel spreadsheets, analyze and solve the models using available Excel commands, functions, tools, and add-ins, and study economic interpretations of the solutions obtained. This course is not about learning spreadsheet skills; it is about modeling, analyzing and solving business decision problems on spreadsheets. This course involves a hands-on, in-class learning experience, so attending each class and bringing a laptop computer (with Office 2007 installed) to class is absolutely essential. Course requirements consist of creating and analyzing models of assigned problems and cases on spreadsheets and submitting a term project that illustrates a new application of the course material to a problem of your choice. All work may be completed in groups of five. Prerequisite: DECS D34.  

OPNS D75 Project Management

This course is designed to capture basic concepts and tools whose use will enhance successful management of projects in general businesses, not one industry-specific. Topics will include a systems approach to project management, project selection and evaluation (NPV, IRR, decisions under uncertainty and risk, scoring models, etc.), organizational concepts in project management (functional, project, and matrix organizations), project planning (WBS, RIM, RBS, CPM, PERT, etc.), project monitoring and control (milestone chart, EVA, etc.), Microsoft Project, and project termination. The objective is to get insight into human behavior, understand organizational issues, and learn quantitative methods that are necessary for successful project management. The course has a strong emphasis on team work and a significant amount of interaction is expected during lectures, assignments, and project presentations.

DA D14 Applied Modeling for Management Decisions

Decision Analysis is designed to help us better define the problems we face so we can make better decisions. It provides effective quantitative methods and useful tools for organizing complex decision problems into structures that can be effectively analyzed in the decision making process. This course is the foundation for quantitative decision making fields such as Artificial Intelligence, Data Sciences, and Machine Learning. The course focuses on practical application of quantitative methodology to solve real-world decision problems taken from the realms of capital investment, bidding, purchasing, inspection, inventory control, and other areas

DA D15 Marketing Analytics

In today’s environment, Chief Marketing Officers require tools and techniques to both quantify the strategic value of marketing initiatives and to maximize marketing campaign performance. This course emphasizes many of the analytic marketing tools commonly used in the management consulting industry. The course is designed to help marketers demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) of marketing and leverage data from marketing analytics to make better and more informed marketing management decisions. The course covers marketing measurement and analytic marketing for brand positioning, new product development, customer value-based segmentation, customer lifetime value management, and resource allocation. Students will be required to use a simplified version of marketing decision support systems called Marketing Engineering for Excel, have access to real data sources, and will conduct hands-on marketing analysis. Prerequisite: MKTG D30.  

DA D10 Intro to Data Analytics

 

DA D11 Intro to Machine Learning for Data Analysis

Course Objectives

• understand the inspirational, philosophical, theoretical mathematical, and practical foundation of MACHINE LEARNING (ML) concepts and principles
• appreciate how ML-driven DATA ANALYTICS can/have been applied to solve real problems in business and industry
• appreciate how DATA SCIENTISTS run ML PROJECTS build ML APPLICATIONS
• be cognizant of SHORTCOMINGS and PITFALLS
• be informed of RECENT BREAKTHROUGHS and FUTURE TRENDS
• get preliminary exposure to ML SOFTWARE LIBRARY and HIGH-LEVEL PROGRAMMING

 

DA D12 Data Science and Visualization for Business

This course provides an introduction to data visualization. Through a combination of lectures, hands-on experiments, and activities, students will learn the principles and best practices of data visualization. The topics covered include techniques to build “stories” with data (explanatory analysis), to visual analytics to help fact-finding missions (exploratory analysis). Students will practice how to design and develop graphics and effective dashboards using quantitative and qualitative data to support managerial decision-making. Excel and Tableau are extensively used throughout the course to build visualizations. No prerequisites are needed.  

DA D13 Simulation for Complex Business Problems