Business Administration

Game theory is the study of strategic interactions among rational agents. Game theory provides techniques for analyzing situations in which two or more individuals make decisions that will influence one another’s welfare. It has applications in many fields of social science, used extensively in economics, business, political science, and international relations.  

This course introduces Game Theory, with a strong emphasis on applications in economics and business. The objective of the course is to give students an understanding of the core concepts of Game Theory and how to use them to understand economic, social, and political phenomena.  

This course introduces production management and presents tools and techniques mostly used by Japanese companies to manage and control their production systems. It provides the necessary concepts, tools, and methods to understand production management systems and the logic behind the various planning, scheduling, control, and decision techniques. The course covers essential Japanese production management concepts such as Toyota’s production systems, just-in-time, Kanban, and Kaizen. It also deals with traditional and modern Japanese production systems and those control systems being practiced in Toyota.

The course gives students an introduction to some key legal areas relevant to business law. It teaches important aspects of business law, looking at business relationships, agency, and the business organization. 

This course analyzes, from a sociological perspective, the impact of industrialization (and its later development) in the organization of productive processes, companies, and society as a whole. It discusses the different conflicts related to the emergence and changes of industrial societies including the regulation of labor relations, mobilization of the workforce, the relationship between education and employment, etc. 

Marketing Management focuses on the development of a better understanding of core marketing issues through the analysis of real-life marketing problems and marketing decision-making in an international context. The course adopts two formats: case study analysis and a marketing research project. In the case study format, emphasis is put on contemporary and international issues within a diverse scale of industries that focus on strategic as well as tactical marketing problems. Although conceptual material is provided and used as an instrument for analysis, emphasis is put on a critical and problem-solving approach of real-life cases. Through a marketing research project, students are challenged to delve into a real managerial issue and utilize skills that are developed within the course. To understand how to address this problem, students are tasked to design and implement full-scale marketing research and provide a report with proposed solutions back to the company. The sessions build upon PBL-guided case study sessions, while in-class exercises and assignments help build students’ marketing research skills. Lectures support the elaboration of the research project. International marketing and research cases are discussed in tutorial group meetings. The necessary knowledge for these discussions can be found in a basic textbook on marketing management, as well as a book on how to conduct marketing research. The latter is also necessary for successfully conducting a real-life marketing research project. Additional information on how to conduct marketing research comes from lectures. Basic managerial, marketing, and statistical knowledge is a prerequisite for attending this course.

Organizations of one form or another play an important part of society and serve many important needs. They vary greatly in size, complexity and the activities they undertake. To achieve organisational goals people working in organisations have to be managed. This requires understanding the behaviour of the individual in the workplace. The course explores three key areas. Firstly, the factors that influence individuals such as personality, attitudes, perception, motivation, learning, communication and job satisfaction. Secondly, the factors that influence the nature of groups and teams and the importance of leadership. Thirdly, the course explores the nature of organizations by analyzing issues such as goals, structure, design, control, culture and development.

This course examines various contemporary aspects of corporate governance, including issues relating to responsibility, accountability, sustainability, oversight, risk, ethics, and incentives. The course is multi-disciplinary, integrating concepts from the disciplines of accounting, finance, law, economics, and business ethics. A comprehensive overview of a myriad of issues, both theoretical and practical, arising out of the current international debate on creating effective corporate governance is provided. Next to acquiring a comprehensive overview of corporate governance, key learning objectives are to: (1) Develop a deep understanding of the key elements of corporate governance, (2) Acquire general knowledge of institutional differences in corporate governance as well as a general appreciation of many different codes of best practice worldwide; (3) Learn how to apply knowledge and understanding of corporate governance to real-world problems, and provide well-informed advice and judgments based on relevant academic research; and (4) Learn how to effectively communicate knowledge, advice and judgments on various corporate governance issues.

This course introduces information technologies (IT) in organizations and the interplay between IT, work, management, and organizations. The course examines the impacts of modern IT and the related artificial intelligence (AI) technologies on knowledge workers, teamwork, work design, management practices, and the organization. The course discusses the multifaceted roles IT can play to support communication, collaboration, and organizational improvements in operations, planning, and decision making. Students learn to apply strategic thinking to identify opportunities for IT-enabled innovations and issues involving information systems (IS) adoption and deployment.

Marketing communications are how firms inform, persuade, and remind consumers about their brands which are viewed as one part of the overall marketing mix. The goal of marketing communications is to convey meanings to the relevant consumer audience to build a strong brand value.  Designing an effective marketing communications mix involves moving the target customer from their current knowledge state on a firm’s brand values to the state desired by the firm.   

This course teaches how to design a marketing communication plan to build brand values. Furthermore, it discusses how to develop an effective marketing communication program and how to design and evaluate different communication plans to achieving the desired objectives of the firm.   

Important note:  The course covers recent advertising clips, including Korean ads that are presented in KOREAN language. There may also be guest speakers from Korean advertising agencies who may lecture in Korean only.

Design thinking is a creative and collaborative process that focuses on understanding the problem from the customer’s perspective. This course introduces design thinking within the context of digital innovation because no disruptive innovations can be made without understanding the customer’s needs and technological change. In today’s rapidly changing business environment, organizations face many challenges, which include disruptive technologies and economic pressures, as well as keeping up with changes in customer behavior. In this sense, design thinking provides an effective tool to cultivate an innovative thinker and uncover creative business opportunities. 

Therefore, this course is designed to:

(1) Understand and analyze the multiple, complex problems of information, systems, and design that one will encounter; and,

(2) Identify opportunities for designing better interactions, decisions, and outcomes. 

More specifically, the course discusses two main themes, “design thinking” and “digital innovation practice” through a digital innovation project solving a real problem. The project will stretch one’s “design thinking” by identifying social design, innovation, information systems problems through a variety of design discussions and exercises. The course also provides practice for “digital innovation” by instructing on ways of synthesizing people-centered design opportunities and creating tangible solutions.