Denmark

Google, eBay and Amazon have one thing in common: their business is providing a platform that facilitates users’ interaction. The success and failure of these business models depend to a large degree on the number of people using the platform and the “network effects” between them. Understanding networked businesses, their unique management challenges and competitive dynamics is crucial for students interested in a career in any such industry. Platform businesses comprise a large and rapidly growing share of the world economy. Such businesses in the computer, consumer electronics, media and internet sector comprise the heart of the so-called “New Economy.” Network effects are at the core of a series of improbable success stories, such as the intense growth of the smartphone-based car service Uber, the enormous user numbers of the Chinese auctioning site Taobao, and the massive advertising revenue that Facebook realized in recent years. Platform businesses face distinctive management challenges, which differ from those found in traditional manufacturing and service industries. Familiar rules for marketing and strategy may not apply. Pricing strategies for example follow different rules and platform providers often price their products and services below cost – or even given them away for free. Traditional barriers to entry no longer hold. Many of the industries gravitate towards “winner-take-all” competition. They have room for only few large players outperforming all of their competitors, as the spectacular success stories of Facebook, Amazon, and Google show. The course introduces concepts and frameworks to analyze platform business models and provides a foundation for strategic decision making in them. Using the Harvard Business School case study method, students discuss real-life cases, their successes, failures and options for the future. After completing the course, students are able to systematically analyze different networked businesses and evaluate the economic, technological and public policy context for the development of such businesses.

This course provides a survey of the role of plant-animal interactions in the evolution of biodiversity. It covers various subjects from an evolutionary approach and uses examples from recent and ongoing research. Topics include antagonistic and mutualistic types of plant-animal interactions; generalization versus specialization; evolutionary approaches to study plant-animal interaction, including understanding phylogenies; herbivory and grazing from both a plant and animal perspective; pollination ecology, especially plant-insect interactions; attractants and rewards; seed predation and dispersal; plant protection; arms race and co-evolution; physical and chemical plant defenses; plant-plant and other interactions; grazer-algae interactions in the marine environment; and community-level interactions including plants as habitat and food webs. The course consists of lectures and small in class exercises, hands-on activities, visits to the botanic gardens, and literature-based discussions. Training in scientific writing and oral and written communication skills is provided through workshops, journal clubs, an essay and an oral presentation. Students choose a plant-animal interaction and write an individual essay in the form of a scientific article (in review form) using primary literature.

This course teaches the art of writing narrative. It allows students to explore their creative side and includes perspectives on narratological concepts such as point of view, characterization, conflict, and writing feeling. Readings include contemporary British and American writers with a specific eye to their craft and technique in the art of writing.

This course introduces the history of concepts of gender and sexuality, and covers topics such as heterosexuality, homosexuality, sex education, women’s emancipation, masculinity, prostitution, pornography, sexual nationalism, and transgenderism. It uses a diverse range of teaching methods including group work, movie screenings, and lectures. The course focuses on Denmark, but also studies how Denmark relates and compares to the rest of the world. The course does not require previous knowledge of theories of gender and sexuality and provides the opportunity to share knowledge of students' respective home countries in an academic setting.

The course explores different aspects of Danish culture such as literature, mythology, history, film, music, architecture, painting, the welfare state, and national identity. This course is a unique combination of lectures and excursions, which includes trips to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art and Frederiksborg Castle. NOTE: This version of the course (50 A) represents the evaluation based on attendance only. It is worth 6 quarter units and is graded on a P/NP basis only.