Business Administration

Globalization and technological innovations are changing the types of jobs available and the skills needed to succeed. With an uncertain future, the process of choosing a career can be frustrating and time consuming. Therefore, this course takes a practical approach to the career application process. Students explore professional options after graduation, conduct self-assessments, research employment opportunities in various industries, create an effective résumé and work portfolio, practice job interview techniques, and/or apply to graduate schools. The focus of this course is to provide students with the professional writing and interviewing skills that are required for employment and/or graduate school. By the end of this course students learn how to do the following: write essays for graduate school applications or companies, employ techniques for job-search activities, such as researching companies, developing resumes, writing cover letters, and interviewing, develop and present a professional portfolio for use in job interviews, and research and explore various positions in diverse industries. Assessment: Career Documents (45%), Presentations & Mock Interviews (30%), Reflections (15%), Professionalism (10%).

This course examines the management of marketing functions, analysis of external forces affecting marketing decision-making, implementation and control of marketing activities, and an examination of the global impact of marketing. It also explores the fundamental concepts surrounding the selection and assessment of markets and development and delivery of products, the role and contribution of marketing to successful business operations as well as to society, and the identification of marketing opportunities and viable marketing strategies. Specific topics include segmentation, consumer behavior, marketing research, diffusion of innovation, product and pricing strategies, distribution, advertising management, and global marketing. Text: Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong, PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING. Assessment: class participation (15%), class exercises (20%), team project (35%), final exam (30%).

This course first outlines the importance of strategically-oriented stakeholder engagement, due to the growing set of claims addressed to the private sector, then focuses on the tools and techniques available to design and implement effective “mega-marketing” or “pre-market” strategies, which in complex institutional settings are more and more often critical in determining the outcome of traditional market strategies. Throughout the course students develop two complementary sets of skills underpinning the development of corporate political strategies: analytical skills, required to understand the needs, expectations, and “rules of the game” associated to the interaction with non-market stakeholders; and design and implementation skills, required to harness the tools and techniques which can be used to enact effective non-market strategies. The course relies on lectures by the instructor and guest speakers, complemented by a mix of class discussions, case studies, and role-playing exercises to provide the framework needed to connect the many facets of non-market strategies on the one hand, and to practice with the levers managers can use when trying to shape or to position their firms in the non-market environment on the other.

Twenty-first century capitalism has been marked by an increasing international economic interdependence. Modern multinational firms from the high-income countries have spread their businesses across the world just as the Chinese economy has undergone dramatic transformations. This course examines the rise of modern multinational companies, the revolutionary changes in the structure of global business systems since the 1970s, and China's enterprise reforms in a global context. It involves theoretical and macro-level analysis with detailed empirical analysis, as well as considerable examination of in-depth case studies from large Chinese firms. Assessment: attendance (10%), participation (15%), group project (25%), individual project (25%), term paper (25%)

This course explores the varied field of strategic management with particular focus on how strategic analysis, strategy formulation, and strategy implementation contribute to organizational performance and success. The course explores topics such as the assessment and evaluation of a firm's internal and external environment, competitive positioning, creating and maintaining competitive advantage, strategy formulation, and strategy implementation. Students assess the work of a "contemporary strategist" by looking at relevant ideas and frameworks that facilitate strategy design and formulation. Students use case studies throughout the course.

This course explores concepts, strategies, and processes of social innovation and social change. It examines the state of the world from a social-economic perspective and focuses on how social innovation can help solve existing and future problems. This course also discusses social entrepreneurship as the vehicle for social innovation and its accompanying challenges and opportunities.

Based on practical cases and financial news, this course provides an introduction to the modern investment theory. It focuses on the background for making investment decisions such as the concepts of assets and liabilities, game theory, adverse selection and moral hazard, investors' rationality and basic knowledge of assets valuation. It demonstrates the investment decisions are tightly related to the market structure, market information and the investors' behavior.