Business Administration

This course provides a fundamental understanding of financial accounting. The first part of the course presents accounting as a form of communication and a powerful tool for decision making for the management of companies as well as external users. It introduces each of the financial statements, its purpose and relationship among them. Further, it covers the conceptual framework of accounting and important differences between the International Financial Reporting Standards and US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The second part of the course covers the processing of accounting transactions using the double entry accounting system. It covers accounting for income, expenses, assets, liabilities and equity. This part of the course provides students the knowledge and tools to prepare a simple set of financial accounts. Students are exposed to how a transaction affects the accounting equation, the income statement, balance sheet and financial statements as a whole. The third part of the course provides students with a framework to perform financial analysis of companies. This is carried out through computing and using various ratios to assess the liquidity, solvency and profitability of a company to determine the company’s performance. The course also covers ethical issues and dilemmas relating to accounting and the moral and social implications of accounting decisions.

This course develops an in-depth knowledge of the venture capital (VC) industry in order to get students be able to carry out an investment analysis in a proper way, taking into consideration all the specific terms and features that affect a VC deal from the investor’s perspective. Moreover, students who attend the course should be able to enter in touch with a real VC deal, to embrace the investor’s angle and to put in practice the know how learnt during the course. The course is split in two parts. The first part is focused on financial features that mark target companies for VC, the VC industry characteristics and the management of VC companies. The second part devotes attention to carry out a comprehensive analysis of an investment opportunity from the VC investor’s point of view. Topics covered include: what is VC and why it exists; what differs entrepreneurial finance from corporate finance; why are VC target firms special, and why and when are they not able to raise capital in the debt market; which are the solutions offered by venture capitalists to the firm’s financial needs, and the relationships between the entrepreneur (the firm) and the outside investor (the VC company); how to read and analyze a business plan from a target company, and business models and revenue forecast; how to invest: organizational framework, strategies, and investment vehicles; investor categories who place funds in the VC industry (financial institutions and pension funds, family offices, corporations, government and local authorities, and informal investors); how to regulate the relationship between general and limited partners ring fenced in investment schemes: disclosure and accountability, incentives schemes, and how to share returns between parties; investment criteria and investment styles (round-financing, milestones, venture debt, portfolio leverage, and exit way); investment valuation: valuation criteria, relevant cash flow, and cost of capital measures; investment valuation: valuation model, and explicit and implicit values; how to put valuation model in practice; and investment decision process: terms of the deal, share price, expected IRR, and investment recommendation. The course recommends students have a background in Financial Mathematics, Accounting, and Corporate Finance as a prerequisite.

In this course, students explore the impact of digital transformation on organizations, customers, and wider environments. Students examine different approaches to becoming a successful digital organization, while also discussing some of the "darker" sides of this digital transition. The course uses examples and case studies to develop students’ understanding of current business practices and research.

This course on international finance focuses on decision making in an international context and the way in which financing and investment decisions change when a firm operates in more than one country. It explores international financial markets and currency parity conditions, including the relationship between spot and forward exchange rates, interest rates, and inflation rates. The course also covers the role of derivatives in hedging risk in the international capital markets, as well as the assessment and valuation of foreign investments.

The popularity of the Internet, the rise of ‘Internet +’, the in-depth use of e-commerce, social networks and various network platforms in enterprises have greatly changed the competition methods and strategies in the Internet era from the traditional competition strategies. The enterprises that cannot adapt to this new change are doomed to be at a disadvantage in the fierce competition and be eliminated. Then, what are the essence and characteristics of Internet economy, Internet + and Internet thinking? What are the characteristics of Internet platforms and their competitive strategies? What are the fundamental differences between the competitive strategies of Internet economy and traditional modes and their root causes? How should The Internet platform be designed? How should enterprises cope with the fierce competition in the Internet economy and develop corresponding strategies according to their own characteristics in order to gain the leading edge in the new economic pattern?

This course reviews the most important features of the Internet, platform features, lock effect and the scarcity of information products and services, winner-take-all and first-mover advantage in inevitability and coping strategies of the Internet economy, subversive innovation strategy and the long tail theory applicable occasions and matters needing attention in the Internet economy, the new product strategy of the Internet economy environment, pricing strategy, marketing strategy and channel strategy, to analyze O2O e-commerce mode of opportunities and challenges, to discuss the importance and strategic points of plate-based business model innovation, product development innovation and pricing model innovation in Internet platform economy, Internet finance platform strategy and cost-benefit analysis, as well as how enterprises use social networks to build, expand and maintain customer loyalty. This course also analyzes the network economic environment with Chinese characteristics and discusses the dynamic competitive strategy under the current network platform economic environment in China.

This course improves students’ understanding of the complexities presented by managing businesses in an international environment. It begins with a historical background of globalization and the development of institutions to support international transactions. Potential similarities and differences between countries in economic development, political and legal systems, culture, government policies on trade, and in accepting foreign investments are discussed. Differences in national monetary systems and capital markets are considered with reference to globalization and the integration of world markets. The second part of this course reviews the role of location, the strategy and organization of multinational corporations (MNCs), cross-border alliances and international mergers and acquisitions, and the formation of international knowledge networks for technology creation. The course concludes with ethical issues faced by international businesses. The course uses Hill’s 14th edition of ISE International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace. Students also need to register on the Harvard website (www.hbr.org) and purchase assigned cases using a link included in the course manual.