Business Administration

Economic and especially wealth inequality in the US is rising, along with the number of and power exerted by billionaires, multibillionaires, and multinational enterprises (MNEs). While taxes count as one key instrument to reduce inequalities, the most affluent individuals and corporations seem to make use of multiple pathways to circumvent their tax obligations and thereby harm the redistributive effect of taxation. In this seminar, students will become familiar with general economic and sociological theories on tax evasion and avoidance, and challenge the view of tax havens as Caribbean island paradises, where the rich and famous store their money. We will discuss ways in which tax evasion works, the impact of tax havens on regional and global inequality, historical developments of tax havens, and economic approaches to measure tax evasion. Students are expected to have knowledge or the willingness to learn basic sociological as well as economic concepts and theories such as tradeoffs, opportunity costs, and expected utility theory. 

This course offers a rigorous examination of the theory and practices relevant to brand management. Its core objectives are to provide an understanding of the important issues in crafting and evaluating brand strategies, to provide the appropriate theories, models, and analytical tools that enable managers to make well-informed brand management decisions, and to provide a platform for students to apply these principles.

Retailing globally is in a state of rapid evolution – driven by technological advances, consumer trends, and global market dynamics. In this challenging and engaging environment, retail managers make complex decisions involving: retail strategy; complex retail channels; customer trends; retail locations; merchandise and service planning; training and motivating staff; the pricing, presentation and promotion of merchandise; and the impact of retail operations upon people, society and the environment. Agility and diverse capabilities are necessary to make these decisions efficiently and effectively, to create an edge in mature and crowded marketplaces. Omni-channel Retailing has a dual focus to: (1) introduce the fundamental concepts and principles of retail; and (2) explore the frontiers of retailing globally. This involves examining strategic and tactical retailing issues in complex retail environments—to enhance competitive advantage.

This course focuses on introducing organizational behavior and leadership in the workplace. Students learn theoretical and conceptual foundations for understanding people, groups, and organizations, and practical tools for accomplishing personal, group, and organizational objectives. Topics include personality and individual differences, work values and attitudes, work motivation, organizational trust and justice, emotions and stress management, organizational culture, decision making, and power and conflict management among others.

The Entrepreneurship Camp will provide the opportunity to observe actual entrepreneurial practices and to discuss the pros and cons of these ventures, so that the students will be able to perceive the difficulties, processes and key issues of entrepreneurship. On this basis, students will be given the opportunity to work on their own, forming teams to prepare and plan an actual entrepreneurial project. The focus of the course is to organize students to discuss the key issues of entrepreneurship with video cases, and to organize various entrepreneurial teams to carry out practical work to complete the preparation and planning of an entrepreneurial project. Through the training in this course, students are expected to: gain practical experience; gain a deep understanding of the key issues of entrepreneurship, such as business models, team building, market entry strategies, etc.

The course introduces key ideas and processes in the area of Entrepreneurship using an applied approach. The course focuses on the generation of business ideas followed by development, articulation, and formulation of a business plan. Relevant areas such as business model development, the external environment, resource management and financial planning are integrated in an entrepreneurial context. Theoretical and empirical foundations of entrepreneurship are explored at the start of term; the remainder of the course is dedicated to students designing their own entrepreneurial venture and experiencing the entrepreneurial process in action.

This course covers the fundamental scope, theory, and methodologies of management; improves the abilities of defining, analyzing, and solving problems. The content includes management need in globalization; managers, management activities, and management goal; mission, directions, and functions of institutions; design of organizational structure and staffing; problems, routine, and non-routine decisions; goal and planning; team behavior, negotiation, and motivation in operations; standardization, process control, and information system; cost/benefit of management and performance evaluation; environmental challenges and organizational change; the science and art sides of managerial mechanism; managerial thoughts of leaders and their development. 

Family firms are the dominant organizational form worldwide, yet a distinctive field of study due to the potential tensions and synergies between family and business systems. This course explores these tensions and synergies, which are manifested in the resources, governance, succession planning, and most important the entrepreneurial orientation and transgenerational value creation potential of family businesses. While research has found consensus on some general trends and characteristics of family firms, there are some surprising outcomes that challenge existing theories. 

This course is designed to help students gain insights into Chinese institutions that can facilitate investment decisions in Chinese capital markets. Understanding the institutional environment in China is important because it exhibits significant differences from shareholder-driven Western economies. The course begins by introducing a stakeholder approach to understanding Chinese markets and highlighting the major differences relative to the capital markets in developed countries. Subsequent classes are devoted to understanding the behaviors and incentives of each important stakeholders and market participants in more depth such as the government, managers, investors, analysts, and China’s position in the world. The course materials are largely based on the field research conducted in China involving case studies and surveys. Topics include insider trading, financial market transparency, frauds, ESG, Investment in AI, joint-venture and cross-listing firms. While the course focuses on China and its institutions, the theories and insights covered in the course are applicable to understanding international, especially other emerging, markets. A broader objective of this course is to raise awareness for a thorough understanding of the relevant institutions when engaging in international investment decisions.