Copenhagen Business School

This course introduces basic principles of the circular economy and the strategies, market arrangements, and regulatory landscapes that set barriers and enablers for circular transitions. The course is intensive and follows a problem-based learning approach, where students develop novel solutions to a real-world challenge posed by a case company that aspires to go circular. The class requires active participation from students, with classroom activities and discussions as well as working in project teams inside and outside the classroom. It facilitates learning by doing, learning by observing, and learning by explaining and critical reflecting. Students are supported in their learning process with coaching in collaboration with the Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship.

This course explores how sustainability and social justice have evolved from isolated considerations to interrelated frameworks that jointly influence policy decisions. Discussions focus on understanding sustainable development through the diverse worldviews of local communities, businesses, and governments in emerging markets. The course not only examines sustainability from ecological and economic perspectives but also incorporates ethical and social considerations, particularly issues of intergenerational fairness and justice. The course specifically discusses and contrasts the concept of sustainability for social justice within the operations of both local and multinational corporations in emerging markets. It frames these discussions in the context of the unintended impacts that business investments can have on biodiversity, human rights, and global value chains. Special attention is given to the challenges businesses face in mitigating and adapting to climate change within their operations. The course provides the knowledge and tools needed to navigate the intricacies of sustainability, with a special emphasis on human rights, biodiversity, and global value chains in emerging markets. Supported by academic theory and real-world case studies, the course adopts a holistic, social-sciences perspective on current sustainability concepts. This comprehensive approach facilitates the design and evaluation of governmental and corporate policies and practices to contribute to a more equitable and sustainable future.

This course develops an understanding of the fundamentals of consumer behavior and the ways in which consumer behavior can be influenced. It introduces concepts and theories to provide insight into the drivers of consumer behavior, including the analysis of how consumers make decisions. Several company examples are discussed that show how insights about consumer behavior are applied and implemented in business contexts. Topics include consumer segmentation, tools to conduct consumer research, consumer decision making process (problem recognition, information search), internal influences on consumer behavior (exposure, attention, motivation, attitudes, memory, knowledge, learning), external influences on consumer behavior (social influence, reference groups, cultural influences), consumer biases and heuristics, and consumer behavior in the age of artificial intelligence.

This course introduces the basic tools to understand how to analyze economic phenomena and presents the main topics in macroeconomics and international economics. It focuses on applications and policy implications rather than formal demonstrations to provide a critical perspective on economic models and apply them to many different situations. Critical thinking and knowledge of the basic formal mechanisms of macroeconomic and international trade models is essential. The first module on modern macroeconomics analyzes the determinants of economic well-being in the short and long run and key macroeconomic terms (for example, defining and measuring economic growth, inflation, and unemployment). It examines how the economy grows in the short and long run, the role of productivity, and the impact of the business cycle, as well as the role of monetary and fiscal policies. The second module on policy in the open economy analyzes the financial linkages between different countries, especially regarding the Balance of Payments and its effects on national economies. It also surveys the role of money and finance in the world today and the role of government policies toward the foreign exchange market, including the choice between fixed and floating exchange rates, strategies to keep currencies under or overvalued, and the use of exchange controls to create impediments to currency flows. Finally, it incorporates climate change and income inequality in regular macroeconomic models and examines development problems and the role firms can play in fostering growth.

This course examines the dynamic nature of leadership and innovation as theorized in the past, its present application, and how it might evolve in the future within the backdrop of a fast-digitalizing emerging economy. Lectures focus on how leadership and innovation have evolved over time and how emerging economies are learning from the existing leadership debates and adding to it from their own experiences, culture, and social context. While this course starts from existing leadership discourse, it does not limit itself to the current understanding of leadership. It explores newer leadership experiences from emerging economies to develop a counter exploration to the existing leadership narrative and provides a holistic understanding of leadership by filling the gaps and insights from vibrant diverse cultures that identify themselves as emerging economies.

This course analyzes financial data in Microsoft Excel using Pivot Tables and various Excel financial functions and financial concepts. These concepts include capital budgeting and time value of money, corporate bonds and stock valuation models, discounted cash flows, portfolio analysis and the capital asset pricing model, forecasting sales and profits, measuring investment performance, financial sales analysis, and cost and profit analysis. The course combines the basic theory of finance with the intensive implementation of all concepts in Excel to provide a better understanding of financial theory and valuable skills in Excel.

This course provides theoretical and practical knowledge of individual behavior in the context of social marketing and behavioral science. It takes on a multidisciplinary approach drawing from psychology, consumer research, marketing science, and behavioral economics that allows a holistic understanding of how people consume and behave. Based on these theoretical frameworks, the course introduces a range of tools to foster behavioral change, such as social marketing or nudging, and examines how they are applied in practice. Applied consumer research is at the core of this course and its potential and limits in understanding and ultimately changing individual behavior are studied. The course provides an opportunity to practice formulating research questions and proposing social marketing and behavioral science solutions to address real-life social and environmental problems. It also engages critical discussion on the use of behavioral and marketing techniques by policy-makers and the private sector.

This course develops an integrated framework of household finance for private and public use. It covers how to maximize intertemporal utility given an individual's life-cycle income; how to become rich if one wants to pay the price for it; how to save, borrow, and purchase property (and if one should do it at all); et cetera. In terms of public policy, the course provides a holistic view of wealth and income inequality, how poverty restricts sound financial decision making, and how policies can improve social outcomes by reducing (or increasing) income inequality. Topics include developing a sound integrated framework for individuals to manage their finances with a long-term horizon in mind (based on the permanent income hypothesis); analyzing the impact of credit restrictions and hyperbolic discounting in household financial management in poor and middle-income countries; investigating the role of public policy in improving household financial decisions; and explaining the determinants of wealth and income inequality and how economic policies can improve social outcomes. 

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.