Economics of Strategic Behavior

This course is designed to reinforce and develop student abilities to apply the concepts of industry analysis and game theory that were introduced in the core course in Business Economics (B7005). The vehicle for doing this will be predominantly case analyses since the ability to use the course concepts effectively will come largely from repeated application of those concepts. The topics covered will be (1) the dynamics of entry and the impact of global competition, (2) the strategic imperatives of competitive markets, (3) sources of competitive advantage (local and global), (4) managing competitive interactions (cooperation and preemption), (5) bargaining situations, (6) the impact of information distribution, and (7) financial implications of strategic economics. The course will consist of approximately one-third lectures and two-thirds cases. The emphasis in the course is on the ability to apply a small number of principles effectively and creatively, not the mastery of detailed aspects of the theory. For this reason the case discussion classes are particularly important.

My Comments: Great class. Professor Greenwald lives up to the hype. Cases where a bit dated, but they help him (Greenwald) get his point across.

Emerging Markets: China

The purpose of the course is to allow students an opportunity to study business in a specific region of the world via a combination of class sessions on campus and a field trip to the region. It can be viewed as the most significant case study in students’ EMBA education. This course involves the study of Asia - it’s economy, financial structure and firm behavior and performance. Much of the learning and value acquired from the course is based on hands-on experience visiting Asia. This course is designed to provide future business leaders with the essential knowledge necessary to evaluate opportunities and risks in the People’s Republic of China. The course will use analytical tools drawn from several fields of economics as well as business cases to focus on the key strengths that have sustained economic growth for two decades as well as the weaknesses that could undermine that growth in the post-WTO era. The course will also draw upon the expertise of Columbia University experts on Chinese politics and Chinese law and other guest speakers.

My Comments: This course included a field trip to China (Beijing and Shanghai); we met with both local and US based companies on this trip.

Global Economic Environment

This course explores the fundamentals of national competitiveness, productivity and growth. It studies the forces that determine production, consumption, savings and investment. It introduces the problem of variable foreign exchange rates and their impact on policy, performance and finance. It explores the complex relationships among government policies and private-sector performance in a global setting.

My Comments: Macro econ, another class hard to get excited about. A lot of material was covered and in the end, it delivered on its goal.

Global Markets in Changing Economies

Recent years have seen markedly closer integration of countries around the world, with increased flows of goods and services, capital, and knowledge. There are two alternative views concerning globalization: one, reflected in the protest marches from Seattle to Genoa, argues that globalization has hurt the poor, has been bad for the environment, and is governed by undemocratic institutions operating behind closed doors, advancing corporate and financial interests of the more developed countries. The other argues that globalization is the only means by which developing countries will be able to grow and eradicate poverty. This course will try to enhance understanding of these alternative perspectives. It will analyze the underlying forces that have led to globalization, and identify its effects, particularly in developing countries—when and why it has had the adverse effects that its critics claim, and when and why it has had the positive effects that its proponents argue for. It will examine the need for international collective action, discuss the structure and conduct of the international economic organizations, and assess the extent to which they are to be blamed for the failures of globalization or should take credit for its successes. The course will end with a discussion of alternative reforms of the global economic architecture.

My Comments: This was a week long class was in London (London Business School). Both professors did a great job in teaching the material and provided some good entertainment value in their heated debates.

Managerial Economics

This course focuses on the problem of business decisions, making extensive use of cases. Topics include basic supply-demand theory and marginal analysis, the structure of decision problems, the impact of the market setting (i.e., competitive, oligopolistic or monopolistic structures) and strategic interactions among firms using game theory. The emphasis throughout is on the use of economic reasoning to solve actual business decision problems.

My Comments: Tough class. I worked my tail off, assignements were long and tough. Enjoyed Game Theory material; learned a great deal about micro-ecomonics (mostly from the supply side-firms behavior).

Capital Markets & Investments

This course complements B7301, Corporate Finance, by introducing market and portfolio perspectives. The course starts with the discounted cash flow methodology, and continues to the concept of term structure in the valuation of risk- free cash flows, including forward rates. Next, the general problem of valuing risky or uncertain cash flows is considered. This leads to the classical theoretical problems of portfolio diversification, the efficient frontier and two- fund separation. The capital asset pricing model (CAPM), arbitrage pricing theory (APT) and efficient market theory are explained. The Modigliani-Miller theory is presented as a corporate-perspective application of asset valuation ideas. Rounding out the course is an introduction to the valuation of derivatives using binomial trees. This course has three goals: 1)?To introduce the principles of asset valuation from an applied perspective. The majority of the class is concerned with the valuation of financial securities but it will be shown that corporate financial transactions can be reasonably viewed as applications of asset valuation. Moreover, valuation issues are heavily used in portfolio management. 2) To introduce the following concepts and ideas: the term structure of interest rates and the notion of forward rates, the relationship of risk and return, including the concept of (risk) diversification, the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), the notion of efficient markets, applications of portfolio management, and derivative securities (in particular options). 3) To provide sufficient background to allow the reading of the applied literature and to serve as an introduction to advanced Finance courses.

My Comments: Enjoyed this class and learned a great deal about Modern Portfolio Theory and Capital Markets (fixed income, etc.).

Corporate Finance

This is the core course in finance, required of all students in the EMBA Program. It may be considered the first course in corporate perspective. It focuses on the primary tasks of the corporate treasurer, showing students how to use ratio analysis to assess corporate performance and project financial statements and cash needs for both projects and whole companies. It devotes substantial time to the question of how much debt is optimal in a firm's capital structure. It then introduces discounted cash flow and shows how to estimate a weighted average cost of capital to use as a discount rate appropriate to a particular company or project. By the end of the course, students have all the tools necessary to value a company by projecting its free cash flow and discounting it at an appropriate rate.

My Comments: Tough class (for me) with a lot covered. Teacher was not the best (in class), but looking back on his notes, they where thorough and very good.

Financial Accounting

Designed to develop an understanding of accounting principles for users of accounting information. The course looks at how users of financial information interpret accounting reports when making business decisions. The emphasis is on profitability concepts and performance evaluation. Coverage is not restricted to the existing U.S. model but includes a broad discussion of measurement issues and alternative country practices.

My Comments: At the time I thought the professor did not get into the "accounting" enough. Looking back, he was very good, in that he focused on certain themes and drilled them home.

Managerial Accounting

Designed to develop an understanding of accounting principles for users of accounting information, this course looks at how users of financial information interpret accounting reports when making business decisions. The emphasis is on profitability concepts and performance evaluation. Coverage is not restricted to the existing U.S. model but includes a broad discussion of measurement issues and alternative country practices.

My Comments: Good class, would have like to have spent more time on Activity Based Costing.

Mergers and Acquisitions in Media

This course focuses on current trends and recent developments in the media industry. The course is divided into two parts. Part I is devoted to the analysis of different media transactions. The pedagogic framework is not structurally different from traditional M & A analysis. The overlay of media-specific commercial, strategic and regulatory issues provides additional insight into a particularly dynamic segment of the economy. Each week focuses on a different transaction type (e.g., cash divesture, cash acquisition, stock merger), different media industry subsector (e.g., cable, newspapers, broadcasting) and different aspects of the analytical framework (e.g., financial analysis, corporate governance).

My Comments: I audited this class in Spring of 2006.

Private Equity

The Seminar in Private Equity is designed to introduce the processes private equity professionals employ when evaluating investment opportunities and closing transactions. It will also cover the way firms monitor and manage the companies in their portfolios. The primary focus of the course will be to expose students to the analytical processes used to evaluate venture-stage, growth equity, and leveraged buyout transactions. Accordingly, it will combine many of the fundamental skills that have been introduced in the EMBA Program (e.g., financial statement analysis, valuation, industry analysis, macroeconomics, operations, strategic management and organizational dynamics). Students will form project teams and analyze cases in these domains. Each group's results will be presented in class along with an investment memorandum that explains the team's conclusions in more detail.

My Comments: A lot of material covered in this class (case studies) and another class (like Strategy) where presentation skills were very much required. "Pitching" deals in a simulated board room led to some heated presentation. Good class, I learned a great deal.

Executive Leadership

This course is designed to address key challenges facing executive leaders. The goal of the course is to increase students’ understanding of these challenges while building skills required for successful leadership. The three major themes of the course are: 1) Personal foundations for leadership, 2) Strategic leadership, and 3) Leadership of change and innovation. This is an interactive, hands on course emphasizing learning via self-study and personal assessment, small and large group discussion and debate, guest speakers, and personal application projects. Sessions will be grounded in theory and research findings while providing students with practical frameworks and tools. This course will include a variety of executive guest speakers and live cases that will serve as a basis for class discussion and debate. It’s critical that students are fully prepared to participate in these case discussions.

My Comments: Excellent course that was capped with a visit to West Point Military Academy. Guest squeakers where excellent, course was well organized, and left me with great tools in leadership.

Leading and Managing Organizations

This course is designed to get students to the next level in their careers. The assumption is that their careers have peaked at the point where their technical expertise and IQ can take them; their future success requires getting the ordinary people around them to do extraordinary things. Students will take away practical tools for improving their ability in influencing, negotiating and leading changes in their organizations. Emphasis is on the practical. Many of the principles are demonstrated using classroom experiments. The final project requires students to apply course concepts to an ongoing challenge in their current work environment.

My Comments: 1st semester course. Professor was very good in teaching the material and looking back, a very valuable class.

Managerial Negotiations

In managing human resources in an organization, many outcomes and decisions are determined by the process of negotiation. This course involves students in actual negotiating experiences to enhance their skills as negotiators. Concepts developed in the behavioral sciences, economics and game theory are used as guides to improve negotiating. Each fall and spring, one section of the course places emphasis on game-theoretical foundations of the negotiating process.

My Comments: I really liked this class. Although negotiations seems like common sense, the skills learned in this class were invaluable. The best part was that it provided the class with the chance to practice their negotiations skills.

Power & Influence in Organizations

Power and influence are present in all organizations to some extent, and in many to a great extent. For those considering careers in management or who will work in an organization, it is important to be able to understand and diagnose organizational political systems, and to understand and be able to implement strategies to get things decided and accomplished. Management and leadership invariably involve the acquisition and exercise of power. Although it may be called something less sensitive, like supervision, administration, or leadership, the fundamental task of the manager is to develop and use power and influence to accomplish things.

My Comments: Much like negotiations, this class seemed like common sense, but the professor does a good job in highlighting the importance of treating the subject matter as something that requires work in the individual (networking, etc.).

Decision Models

This half-term, 1.5-credit course offers a brief introduction to computer-based models and their use in structuring information and supporting managerial decisions. It conveys an appreciation for the extraordinary scale and complexity of the information needed to manage effectively and demonstrates how decision models can serve to organize this information and provide tools for analyzing and improving the decision process. Specific topics include linear programming, multi-period planning models under uncertainty, nonlinear programs and Monte Carlo simulation.

My Comments: Great class, it is amazing what you can model in Excel.

High Technology Marketing

This course attempts to provide some structure and offer guidelines for the development of marketing programs for high-technology firms facing dramatic changes in their business and technological environments. The course covers a variety of high-technology sectors (software, robotics, biotech, Internet, et al.) and both emerging and prominent companies. Some of the topics covered include identifying and evaluating opportunities in the evolving environment; building and evaluating business models; and current trends in the positioning, distribution, branding and pricing strategies for high-technology companies. The course uses a combination of case discussions, “live” cases with senior industry guests, lectures, readings and actual development tasks. Team projects that propose a new high-technology venture, or analyze an existing one, are key evaluative components of the course. This course is particularly relevant for students interested in careers in high-technology industries, entrepreneurship, product management and media communications.

My Comments: A very good class. The professor was excellent and the course was very well structured. The final project gave the class the opportunity to pitch a new business ideas to VC's (and one person actually received funding).

International Business Strategy

The purpose of this course is to give students a practical understanding of why, when and how companies develop their international activities and of the issues such transformations raise. The emphasis will be on the identification and making of the strategic and organizational decisions that such changes imply. As such this course is conceived as a continuation of the reflections started in the international business, international economics, international finance and strategy of the enterprise courses/course modules and is positioned at the intersection of these areas of study. The course takes an action point of view -- emphasizing application, execution, and the framing and resolving of large, multi-dimensional problems. As such, the course places students in a variety of international business situations, primarily through cases and projects, in different national environments both developed and emerging and for a variety of firms, large and small, manufacturing and service oriented, growing and mature, "new economy" and "old economy". The emphasis is on making the kind of analysis that is likely to lead to the best possible decision in an imperfect and uncertain (but not necessarily unpredictable!) world and on making these decisions as managers.

My Comments: I really liked this class because it provided me the opportunity to learn about doing business in other countries and how to value opportunities abroad. The course pulled together other courses in strategy, marketing, macro economics, etc. My teams final project was to explore the possible entry of Monster.com in South Korea (which eventually Monster did).

Managerial Statistics

This course introduces students to basic concepts in probability and statistics of relevance to managerial decision making. Topics include basic data analysis, random variables and probability distributions, sampling distributions, interval estimation, hypothesis testing and regression. Numerous examples are chosen from quality-control applications, finance, marketing and management.

My Comments: It's hard to get excited with Stats. Professor was brilliant, but not the best in getting the material across.

Marketing Strategy

This course emphasizes the role of marketing in creating value for customers that, in turn, leads to the creation of value for other firm stakeholders (e.g., shareholders, employees). The course introduces students to the role of marketing in the modern corporation, both at the level of the firm and the marketing function. The course focuses on providing both a set of concepts and ideas for approaching marketing decisions and a common language with which to think about marketing issues; it also focuses on the structuring and analysis of managerial problems in marketing. The course prepares future CEOs and general managers to deal with core marketing issues by providing a way of thinking strategically about the firm’s products, services and markets. By the conclusion of the course, students should have developed a framework for approaching marketing problems and be able to develop marketing strategy and implementation programs (i.e., the 4 Ps + S: product, price, place, promotion and service) in a variety of contexts — domestic/international, products/services, industrial/consumer, private sector/public and nonprofit.

My Comments: Might have been the toughest final taken (if you can imagine that). We covered a lot of material in this class. Overall it served it's purpose.

Operations Management

This course provides a fundamental understanding of manufacturing and service operations and their role in the organization. Surveys a wide range of operations topics, including process flow analysis, inventory management, capacity planning, facilities location, total quality management, human resource management, technology management, and manufacturing and service strategy. The course deals with these topics from a managerial, applications-oriented perspective. Special emphasis is placed on the international dimensions of operations. The course is integrative in nature, emphasizing the fit and relationship of operations with other functions of the firm.

My Comments: I really liked this class from a practical point of view. Most everything in our environment involves some kind of process and this class provided the basic tools to measure efficiency and quality.

Strategic Management

Considers the roles and responsibilities of the general manager, with special emphasis on the strategic management of the business unit. Provides a set of concepts and frameworks for formulating and implementing business strategy. For multi-business firms, problems of corporate organization and strategy are discussed. Issues of corporate governance and social responsibility are also considered. Students grapple (using cases and projects) with diverse managerial situations: large and small organizations, manufacturing and service industries, growing and mature firms and U.S. and international settings.

My Comments: A lot of work in this class (ton of readings). Learned the standard strategy (Porter 5 forces, etc) material. However, the "other" skill learned in this class was the ability to summarize and present efficiently and effectively (required to present two cases).