Business Administration

The course teaches quantitative techniques that guide evidence-based managerial decision-making. Students examine whether the predictions of managerial, social, or economic theory are supported by empirical evidence. Particular emphasis is on (a) the many ways in which evidence is abused in the academic or managerial debate, and (b) the causality in the relationship between variables. The approach is both formal, as the course makes extensive use of econometric theorems and techniques, and solidly grounded in intuition, as it provides numerous examples of tests of real-life relations. Many of these examples are illustrated using the STATA software package, and students learn the basics of data manipulation and regression techniques.

The course covers analyzing market demand; factors affecting firms; cost, profit analysis, pricing, competition in various kinds of market structure, strategic behavior, firm growth (mergers and acquisitions); the impact of governments on company policies; interpreting economic data; and the macroeconomic environment.  In analyzing all these topics, the course relies heavily on, and where practical, current examples and case studies, rather than mathematical modelling. 

In this course students learn how to evaluate a brand strategy and how to use defined models and analytical tools to improve upon it. It covers the complete process, from consumer research, competitor analysis and positioning, to bringing the brand to life through design and activations. The course is based on the latest academic insights and infused with examples from our daily lives. It helps you prepare for a future as a marketeer, brand strategist, or entrepreneur.

This course covers leading-edge concepts and tools related to strategic and financial analysis. Students develop experience in discovering, diagnosing, and solving business- and corporate-level problems such as formulating business and corporate strategies. Topics include Strategic thinking and analysis, Corporate vision, Environmental analysis, Competitive strategy, and Corporate strategy. 

This course focuses on accounting data used by managers to plan and control the operations of an organization. Students examine the design methodologies of management accounting systems that enhance the quality of management decision-making related to each function in the corporate value chain, namely research & development, design, manufacturing, marketing, distribution and customer service. Topics include cost structure analysis, various cost concepts, design methods of various costing systems, strategic decision makings using cost information, and performance measurement systems. This course provides students with contemporary management accounting techniques including ABC, Target Costing, Quality Costing, Lifecycle Costing, Balanced Scorecard, etc.  

The course covers methods for data mining and business analytics and their usage in making strategic business decisions. It concentrates on the modelling aspects of data mining and provides tools for better understanding key methods of data exploration, visualization, classification, prediction, and clustering. The course starts with data visualization and getting to know features hidden in the data. Traditional regression models and hypothesis testing are practiced using real data. This introduction to traditional approaches then leads to the discussion of more advanced methods such as, discriminant analysis, classification and clustering methods, which are useful in finding patterns hidden in the data. The course deals with various types of data such as categorical data, time series, text data, and network data, among others. The fundamentals of building suitable models are discussed. Illustrations are carried out using the statistical package R. 

 

This course is intended to introduce students having no previous experience of project investment appraisal to the ways in which such investments can be analyzed. Students who wish to enter the business world, either working for companies or for themselves, are required to conduct formal assessments of a proposed project (or business) and present these to decision-makers. The course equips students to conduct such analyses, by describing a case study (chosen by the student), modelling it using formal techniques and indicators, and to present the results in a well-structured document. In the past a variety of projects have been examined, including sports centers, restaurants, new products, renewable energy schemes, an escort agency, theme park, retail businesses, driving school, hotels and hostels, a company take- over, etc. 

The course develops students’ understanding of key marketing terminology and conceptual frameworks; provides students with an understanding of the role marketing plays in businesses and not-for-profit organizations and its importance for individuals within a society; provides students with: a) an understanding of buyer behavior and b) a skill to apply this knowledge for building firms’ competitive advantage; develops students’ understanding of how different organizations develop their marketing mix strategies while also paying attention to quality, ethical behavior, and social responsibility; and develops students’ knowledge of marketing tools and procedures used to analyze a variety of business situations.

This course provides students with a detailed understanding of eSports, enabling them to analyze the current ecosystem and identify the potential that it has for future growth and development. This course examines the concept and history of eSports, different modalities for play, eSports organizations, eSports players and fans, media platforms for hosting and streaming events, types and structures of competition, and the organization of teams and entities. Students also learn both the positive and toxic sides of eSports, the socio-cultural influences of eSports, and the relationship between eSports and the Olympics. The course covers the unique fandom of eSports, the similarities and differences from traditional sports, and how the organization and institutionalization of a computer-mediated culture have created a global phenomenon that is changing the way we think about sports.