Business Administration

This course covers economic strategy and management in a business context. It also addresses theory of economics in the perspective of business management.

This course explores the complexities of multinational financial management, ranging from the management of foreign currency exposures (to determine a subsidiary’s capital structure or to value an investment in a risky country) to the managerial and environmental considerations that make multinational financial decision-making so challenging. Financial decision making in the multinational setting requires a sound understanding of: 1) the extension of traditional finance considerations to a more complex global setting (i.e. Exchange Rate Effects, Global CAPM); 2) how institutional constraints can create obstacles and opportunities for multinational firms (i.e. Opportunities created by different markets); 3) the managerial objectives that can often limit the relevance of traditional financial objectives or institutional opportunities. The framework developed in the course suggests how to balance these three relevant factors: complex financial incentives have to be integrated with institutional obstacles and opportunities and aligned with managerial objectives. The goal then offers both a clear framework and a set of operative tools to understand the relationship between multinational firms and international financial markets. The whole structure of the course is applied, involves several real-world cases that are discussed in class, and is oriented to develop capabilities to understand and use international finance methodologies and practices used around the world. The course requires students to have familiarity with basic topics of corporate finance and a basic knowledge of concepts like risk, return, capital structure, and the CAPM as a prerequisite.

This course introduces students to relevant concepts to provide an understanding of the business environment. It sets the scene and provides a platform for future study as well as helping students to appreciate the interconnected nature of business organizations, the environment in which they operate, and the people involved. Through collaborative team-based activities, students show an ability to engage in a critical discussion of issues affecting contemporary business and analyze a selected organization’s approach to a selected managerial process. Topics and concepts may include – Organizational Structure, Management Theory, Corporate Social Responsibility and the culture and ethics of business organizations. The course help students contextualize the study of organizations and should give students the capability to analyze organization and management issues in a contemporary setting. Students also work collaboratively in team-based activities providing networking opportunities throughout the module. This module may include in-class simulations, where students evaluate the success of a selected organization’s market performance.

The focus of this course is on how managers can enhance and sustain superior business performance by making sound strategic decisions. The course covers analytical and conceptual models that help in the development of business strategy. The course is designed to expose students to fundamental and advanced topics in business strategy and enable them to analyze business situations from the point of view of the practicing general manager. General managers engage in identifying opportunities and threats in the competitive environment, developing and allocating critical resources, and interacting with competitors. They also identify opportunities for forming strategic alliances and plan how to create and capture value from alliances, especially when collaborating with competitors. The course also studies how managers should negotiate alliance agreements and manage the firm’s alliance portfolio. The course recommends students have prior knowledge in functional areas of economics, marketing, finance, and operations management as a prerequisite.

This course explores the relationship between collective and individual behavior, society, and technology. It is especially concerned with how technologies evolve in relation to organizational, collective, and individual behavior, and vice versa. Students evaluate how technologies deliver (and fail to deliver) profitable, effective and valuable products services processes and activities. The course explores in detail the relationship between society and technology, especially in terms of how and why technologies succeed and fail; the value that technologies deliver (and do not deliver); and the wider position of technology in society. Students examine also the relationship between individuals and technology, and how behavior influences how technologies are developed, and how technologies influence and shape behavior.

This course explores the influence of advertising discourse and the effects these messages have on society. Topics include: advertising language, audience and impact of advertising strategies, memory, persuasion, attitudes towards advertising, and advertising campaigns in audiovisual format.

Government has, and continues to have, many ways of relating to businesses. This course takes a journey through them, tracking their historical changes and investigating how they shape our world today. Its particular focus is on how government ensures the provision of public services, whether through public or private sectors, or some combination of the two. What is the role of government today? How has this changed over recent decades? And what role does business play in contemporary society? In addressing these questions, the course focuses on the role of both public and private sectors in the management and delivery of services including health, education, transport and culture. It investigates the different ways such organizations coordinate their work and equips students to make critical decisions about whether services are best provided by hierarchical governments, businesses within markets, or in some other way.

This course explores the ethics of artificial intelligence in the context of autonomous technologies that involve the transfer of control and governance from human beings to robots and other intelligence systems. Normative and behavioral theories of ethics are used to explore the implications of artificial intelligence in the areas of liability associated with ownership of AI, agency and privacy, biases, malicious and harmful use of AI, and the rights of artificially intelligent beings. 

This course is the first series in intermediate corporate financial management and aims to develop an understanding of the concepts, processes, and tools implemented in a business enterprise for financial management. The course covers: (i) introduction of finance; (ii) financial statement analysis; (iii) time value of money; (iv) portfolio selection: concepts of risks and returns and the capital asset pricing model (CAPM); (v) financing decisions, and (vi) capital budgeting decisions. This course is designed to be paired with “Intermediate Course in Finance” offered in Winter quarter.

This course explores the concept of circular economy and sustainable development through the prism of private business including three primary subcategories: sustainable public purchases, sustainable corporate conduct under renewed corporate law rules, and sustainable consumption and support of environmental legislation at the international level. It discusses the newest developments in EU law for each subcategory.