ELECTIVES

Summer Electives

Accounting
Finance
Marketing
Management

Academic Year Electives (Fall and Spring)

Accounting
Finance
Marketing
Communication
Ethics
General
Law
Management

SUMMER ELECTIVES

ACCOUNTING

ACCT 60000  Accounting (Summer):

All business majors and decision-makers both within an enterprise and external to the enterprise need to have a basic understanding of accounting information. This course deals with the accounting process used to measure and report economic events. It begins with an overview of how financial statements are constructed and later the emphasis shifts to interpreting and analyzing the financial statements. The course focuses on alternative ways of reporting economic activity and on the different uses that investors, managers, and regulatory agencies may have for financial statement data. The primary focus of the course is a survey of several financial accounting topics. However, it also introduces basic managerial accounting concepts, including cost behavior, break-even analysis, and inventory costing.

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FINANCE

FIN 60400 Financial Management (Summer):

Creating shareholder value should be the primary focus of the finance function within any organization. Identifying the key value drivers that create shareholder wealth is a critical step in defining and implementing corporate strategy. Additional topics such as financial planning, capital budgeting and capital structure are discussed within a value creation framework.

FIN 70660 Investment Management (Summer):

The investment world has witnessed rapid changes over the past few decades. Never has it been more important for investment professionals, corporate managers, and individual investors to understand investment principles. This course will benefit students who do not intend to be full-time investment managers by providing an understanding of investment fundamentals that are applicable in corporate contexts. For those who do intend to be full-time investment professionals, the course also sets the stage for more specialized courses. Topics covered include how securities are traded, the history of returns for different asset classes, the relationship between risk and return (and how that relationship is affected by combining investments), determination of fair rates of return for investments, performance evaluation, and the basic characteristics of bonds, stocks, options, and futures.

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MARKETING

MARK 60100 Marketing Management (Summer):

This course is designed to provide students with a systematic approach for making marketing decisions and to give students practice in the analysis, design, implementation, and control of marketing strategies.  It is an operationally oriented course in which the application of marketing concepts, principles, strategies and methods is emphasized.

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MANAGEMENT

MGT 60300    Organizational Behavior (Summer):

It is difficult to picture an upper-level manager who has not mastered the skills of managing people. Executives must be efficient leaders, motivators and team managers. Furthermore, research suggests that these “soft” skills are critical determinants of promotions to the upper echelon of managerial positions. Organizational behavior is about developing these skills. Through lecture, case analysis and class discussion, we develop a deep appreciation for the things that distinguish effective from ineffective managers. Special attention will be paid to the topics of selection, motivation, leadership and managing teams. The overall objective of the course is to apply theories of human behavior to solve day-to-day problems of organizational administration, help students become more aware of their own managerial styles and ultimately become more effective managers.

MGT 60700    Operations Management (Summer):

Business and government leaders are increasingly recognizing the importance of involving the whole organization in making strategic decisions in order to compete globally. Because an organization usually commits the bulk of its human and financial assets to operations, operations is an important function in meeting global competition. Successful firms have demonstrated that operations can be an effective competitive weapon and, in conjunction with well-conceived marketing and financial plans, these firms have made major penetrations into markets worldwide. This course is designed to address key operations and logistical issues in manufacturing as well as service organizations. Students will understand the role of operations managers in the overall business strategy of the firm and be able to identify and evaluate the key factors in the design of effective operating systems for the production of products or services. The course also covers a range of tools appropriate for the analysis of operating systems and offers an opportunity to discuss and compare various approaches to operations management in an international context.

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ACADEMIC YEAR ELECTIVES (FALL AND SPRING)

ACCOUNTING

ACCT-70110 Corporate Financial Reporting I (Fall):

This course continues the study of financial accounting. Topics examined include accrual accounting and cash flow, revenue recognition and earnings management, marketable securities and comprehensive income, deferred taxes, renewable and inventory, property and intangibles, simple financial instruments (debt), and leases.

ACCT-70120 Corporate Financial Reporting II (Fall):

This course is a continuation of ACCT 70110. Topics examined include owners' equity and stock compensation, pensions and other post retirement benefits, the equity method, derivatives, consolidations, securitization and valuable interest entities, foreign currency, foreign subsidiaries and hedging, and segment disclosures.

ACCT-70210 Strategic Cost Analysis (Fall):

The course covers the topics of opportunity cost, cost behavior, cost-volume-profit analysis, information economics, responsibility centers, transfer pricing, budgeting, cost allocations, product and service costing, activity-based costing, customer profitability reporting and variance analysis. Knowledge of this material has been useful to prior students while interviewing for job placements. Grading is based on individual assignments, group work and a final examination.

ACCT-70310 Analysis Val Using Fin Stmts. (Spring):

This course focuses on the analysis and use of accounting information for equity valuation. The course examines alternative approaches to equity valuation and a systematic approach to the analysis of financial statements, which we ultimately apply to publicly traded firms.

The course begins by investigating valuation theory, including a comparison of discounted dividend, cash flow, and accounting-based approaches to valuation. Our discussion of valuation suggests a systematic approach to the analysis of financial statement information that will help us forecast pro forma financial statements and simplify our approach to valuation. It also helps us identify the fundamental determinants of firms’ market-to-book and price-to-earnings ratios.

One objective of the course is to help students develop good thinking about valuation problems. A second objective is for students to be able to apply the valuation models and the analysis tools discussed in the course to actual companies. To meet this second objective, much of the course is structured around a valuation project, which completed by teams of two or three students each.

ACCT-70681 Special Topics in Tax IV: State and Local (Spring):

TBD

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FINANCE

FIN-70230 Business Forecasting (Fall & Spring):

Forecasts may be either subjective or objective. A subjective forecast can be prepared by reading extensively about a situation and the economy, and then combining this information through some unspecified judgment process to come up with a forecast. A disadvantage of this form of forecasting is that there is no systematic way to improve forecast accuracy by learning "correct" techniques.

The objective approach to forecasting, on the other hand, involves developing a model which is generally constructed by studying past relationships between the item to be forecast and the factors thought to affect it. Objective forecasting methods have several advantages over the subjective variety. Because they are objective, the forecasts are not affected by what the forecaster wishes the outcome to be. Many of the objective methods also include processes by which the forecasting model learns from its past errors. Perhaps most importantly, objective methods provide a basis for evaluating forecast accuracy and for developing confidence ranges for forecasts.

This course concentrates on these objective methods of forecasting. Economic forecasting in general, and this course in particular, are designed to explain the nature of the real world; the intent here is to integrate theory and application. Theory is only justified by its power of application in this course.

FIN-70410 Mergers and Acquisitions (Fall & Spring):

The objective of this course is to facilitate understanding of corporate merger and acquisition activity, restructurings, and corporate governance. This includes exploring the theory and evidence regarding these topics; the motives for these transactions, the sources of value-added, and managerial incentives to engage in or resist these activities.

In this class, you will learn how to apply discounted cash flow and other techniques for valuation purposes. Case projects and valuation assignments will be used to apply financial theory and valuation techniques in real-world situations. Classroom discussion of current M&A related activities will be used to reinforce key concepts.

The structure of the class is a combined lecture/class discussion format with an emphasis on active learning. We will rely heavily upon case studies of past events and news articles of current events to illustrate how financial theory can be applied in an actual business environment.

FIN-70440 Financial Policy (Fall):

This course will cover some of the classic topics of corporate finance: dividend policy, capital structure, costs of issuing securities, maturity structure of debt, financial considerations in mergers, and the interrelationships between financial policy and corporate governance. It is not so much a tools course as a course that uses theoretical and empirical research to provide approaches to various financial decisions. Emphasis is on learning the relevant concerns and issues for financial decisions. Most of the class periods will be devoted to lectures with some cases used.

FIN-70450 Bond Issues Process (Fall):

This course will primarily concern the issuance of a “mock” corporate bond, with the process being as “real life” as possible, including the involvement of a major investment banking firm in the process. This will involve an initial in-class “pitch” by the investment bank and subsequent weekly conference calls, leading up to the launch of the issue. The transaction will include a swap of some sort, either interest rate or cross currency. Each member of the class will act as a financial analyst for the issuer and be required to take an active role in the process.

FIN-70460 Initial Public Offerings and Venture Capital
(Fall & Spring):

Module I: We will first look at Initial Public offerings, or IPOs. Topics include: how IPOs are done in the U.S.; how they are done in other countries; the recent scandals and calls for reform; auctions, both IPO auctions and others, and whether they can be expected to work for IPOs; the Google IPO; and alternative proposals for reforming the IPO system in the U.S. You will be learning about various types of auctions in detail, and we will spend much time looking at how IPOs have performed and what methods have been used in other countries, outside the U.S. Case studies will include a U.S. IPO, Netflix, and a Hong Kong IPO, Tom.com.

Module II: For the venture capital/private equity market, we will discuss how to negotiate funding, how to structure deals to avoid conflicts and optimize performance incentives, and how to manage private equity investments (for example, by helping the entrepreneur in non-financial matters). Case studies will cover some of the choices and problems that may arise.

We will explore new venture financing from three different perspectives: the entrepreneur’s, the venture capitalist’s, and that of the investors backing the VC (such as pension funds and college endowments). If we want to understand how private equity investors such as venture capitalists and entrepreneurs can create value despite high degrees of uncertainty and asymmetries of information, we also need to understand the VCs’ own incentives and constraints.

These are linked to the fund-raising cycle and the structure of a fund. VCs are continually raising new funds and the terms on which they do so influence their behavior. For an entrepreneur, it is critical to understand how. This section will also deal with issues arising from the way in which outside investors exit their venture investments (typically by taking them public or selling them to another corporation). Having already covered IPOs, we will discuss the trade-offs between an IPO and a sell-off.

Conclusion: Last, we will pull everything together by considering cases where a company is choosing between an IPO and another round of venture capital.

FIN-70500 Multinational Financial Mgt. (Fall & Spring):

This course covers various aspects of the international side of finance, including organizational issues that impact the financial decision making process. After an overview of the international financial environment companies operate in, we will learn how they organize themselves to do business internationally, the impact of volatile exchange rates and how they can be measured and managed to minimize effects on economic and reported results. In addition to looking at the theoretical underpinnings of international finance, we will also cover the practical side of financing decisions – how corporations actually use these tools to manage the potential impacts on their business that come from operating around the world.

We’ll also see how making international financing decisions is an integrative process, requiring input from the accounting, tax and legal experts to make sure overall corporate objectives are met, especially for public companies.

FIN-70610 Equity Valuation (Fall & Spring):

This course covers the theory and practice of security valuation for both stocks and bonds. The emphasis is on equity analysis as it applies to the aggregate market, alternative industries, and individual companies. The central theme of the course will center on the pricing of equity securities using the discounted cash flow procedure.

FIN-70620 Options Markets (Fall):

This course examines options markets, serving as an introduction to the dynamic world of derivatives. The goal is to provide rigorous applied training that prepares students for employment with firms where derivatives are either of primary importance (e.g., investment banks, trading firms) or secondary importance (e.g. corporations having interest rate or foreign exchange rate exposure that requires hedging). Topics include fundamental pricing relations and models (e.g., arbitrage bounds, the Black-Scholes and binomial models), trading strategies (e.g., covered calls, money spreads, straddles, and strangles), and risk management. The course emphasizes financial (as opposed to commodity) derivatives for which the underlying assets are stocks, bonds, or foreign exchange.

FIN-70630 Futures Markets (Spring):

This course examines futures markets, serving as an introduction to the dynamic world of derivatives. The goal is to provide rigorous applied training that prepares students for employment with firms where derivatives are either of primary importance (e.g., investment banks, trading firms) or secondary importance (e.g., corporations having interest rate or foreign exchange rate exposure that requires hedging). Topics include fundamental pricing relations and models (e.g., the cost of carry model), trading strategies for individuals and corporations (e.g., cash and carry trades, program trading, and portfolio insurance), and risk management. Although both financial and commodity derivatives are discussed, the course emphasizes financial derivatives for which the underlying assets are stocks, bonds, or foreign exchange.

Classes typically include both lecture and discussion. Financial theory and empirical evidence appear throughout the course due to their important implications for practitioners.

The course is very managerial in spirit, containing numerous real-world examples current events regarding derivatives, and be prepared to discuss them in class.

In some respects this course is more quantitative than the average finance course.

It is not a math course, but it does require significant mathematical reasoning. That is simply the nature of the subject. Mathematical reasoning cannot, and should not, be avoided. Besides the usual spreadsheet, word processing, and presentation software packages, students should also expect to use specialized software designed for analyzing and pricing derivatives.

FIN-70640 Applied Investment Management (Spring):

The Applied Investment Management (AIM) course will provide an opportunity for students to blend the theory of investments with the practical demands of hands-on investment management.

Academic objectives include an understanding of the process of establishing and implementing a portfolio strategy, detailed knowledge of the mechanics of trading and the current theories of market microstructure, the principles of fundamental equity valuation, technical analysis, and portfolio management concepts such as performance evaluation, active structured and passive (i.e., indexing) strategies. During the semester the students will complete several written assignments to ensure mastery of the underlying concepts.

The practical objectives will be achieved by hands-on management of a real portfolio. At the outset the class will establish portfolio management policies and objectives that are consistent with those of the University. They will actively manage this portfolio throughout the semester in accordance with the established goals. Each week they will make presentations on economic fundamentals and markets around the world, on alternative industries, and on individual companies.

From these presentations they will make investment recommendations that will be voted on by the entire class. Periodically, guest speakers who are security analysts and/or portfolio managers will be invited to share practical insights on the investment management process. At the end of the course the students will establish a policy to be followed until the next class assumes responsibility for the portfolio.

The application for this course is posted on the AIM web site http://aim.nd.edu/

FIN-70650 Fixed Income Securities (Fall):

This course deals with an understanding of U.S. and global bond markets and traditional and evolving bond instruments including bond structures with embedded options. We will consider the techniques for valuing option-free bonds, the term structure of interest rates, the analysis of bonds with embedded options, as well as active and passive bond portfolio management strategies and the benchmarks used to evaluate bond portfolio performance.

FIN-70660 Advanced Derivatives (Spring):

Intended to follow an introductory derivatives course, this course uses basic concepts involving options and futures as a springboard into several advanced topics. The goal is to provide rigorous applied training that prepares students for employment with firms where derivatives are either of primary importance (e.g., investment banks, trading firms) or secondary importance (e.g., corporations having interest rate or foreign exchange rate exposure that requires hedging). Topics include swaps; interest rate forwards, options, and swaptions; advanced derivatives and strategies (e.g., digital, chooser, and path-dependent options); risk management techniques (e.g., VAR); and organizational risk management.

Classes typically include both lecture and discussion. Financial theory and empirical evidence appear throughout the course due to their important implications for practitioners.

The course is very managerial in spirit, containing numerous real-world examples and applications. Students should read The Wall Street Journal regularly, keeps abreast of current events regarding derivatives, and be prepared to discuss them in class.

In some respects this course is more quantitative than the average finance course.

It is not a math course, but it does require significant mathematical reasoning. That is simply the nature of the subject. Mathematical reasoning cannot, and should not, be avoided. Besides the usual spreadsheet, word processing, and presentation software packages, students should also expect to use specialized software designed for analyzing and pricing derivatives.

FIN-70670 Investments (Spring):

This course follows the second MBA core finance course, which covers the traditional investment topics of portfolio theory, the Capital Asset Pricing Model, and market efficiency. This course builds on that background by focusing primarily on the major different types of investments such as stocks, bonds, and options. For each investment type, the course covers terminology, mechanics, pricing, uses, and risk analysis. In addition, it covers how secondary markets work to facilitate trading securities.

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MARKETING

MARK-60500 Promotion Strategy (Fall):

This course focuses on the strategic use of marketing communications to build and maintain brand equity. Effective integration of marketing communication elements including advertising, sales promotion, public relations, event sponsorships and direct marketing is emphasized. Analysis centers on topics such as: selecting among alternative promotional tools; communication market analysis; budgeting and allocation decisions; determining appropriate message strategy; media selection and social and regulatory issues. This course is structured in a seminar format. Class meetings are focused on discussion of academic articles and the current business press as well as the strategic analysis of business cases. As part of the course, students work in teams to develop a marketing communications program for a new brand.

MARK-60550 Seminar: Consumer Behavior (Spring):

Permission Required

MARK-70100 Marketing Research (Spring):

Business is the art and science of decision-making under uncertainty. This course is a managerial introduction to marketing research that examines how additional information can be obtained and how to incorporate that information into decision-making. The role of "uncertainty" will be highlighted throughout the course and how marketing research can decrease or increase the amount of uncertainty facing the decision maker.

MARK-70150 Qualitative Market Research (Spring):

Qualitative research methods are spreading rapidly among firms across industry boundaries, in recognition of the fact that marketers often have no systematic intuition about or affinity for the segments to which they cater. As managers are exhorted to "get closer" to the consumer, they must divine unarticulated needs and anticipate intersections of their own industry with others. This course is designed to help you distinguish the actual lived experience of consumers from the assumptions of the firm. That is, you will seek authentic consumer insight. Our emphasis is on the managerial implications of prolonged engagement with consumers. You will analyze and interpret the experiential and functional dimensions of product/service/brand essence. You will learn to conduct rapid appraisals using qualitative methods, and to supervise diagnostic research into marketing problems. The class will observe a seminar-workshop format, and depend for its energy upon discussion of ongoing field research projects that student teams will conduct in naturalistic settings. This course will be immediately useful to careers in consulting and entrepreneurship, technology, category and brand management, new product development, advertising and marketing research.

MARK-70200 Designing Value in Business Markets (Fall):

Business-to-business marketing is large, accounting for over half of our total economic activity. Over 80% of all e-commerce activity is conducted in business-to-business markets. Business marketing is also highly varied, with products ranging from sophisticated computers and nuclear plants to routine maintenance supplies and services ranging from architectural, legal and accounting to janitorial. In sharp contrast with consumer marketing, most business marketing transactions involve extensive person-to-person contacts, which, in many instances, occur over time leading to close personal relationships between buyers and sellers. Through a mix of lectures, case discussions and team projects, students will gain exposure to the unique challenges involved in formulating marketing strategies for business-to-business markets. Numerous cases on high-technology firms and e-commerce applications highlight this course. The course assumes students already grasp basic marketing concepts in an introductory marketing course.

MARK-70220 Delivering Value in Business Markets (Fall):

Business-to-Business (B2B) Marketing is large, playing a pivotal role in generating over half of our total economic activity. B2B markets are wide-ranging, including business, government, or institutional customers. B2B products and services are also highly varied, ranging from sophisticated e-business solutions, to nuclear plants, to architectural, legal, and accounting services, to routine maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) supplies. Value assessment and communication are the cornerstone of the course. Through a mix of lectures, cases discussions, and a team project, students learn systematic procedures for delivering value for B2B customers.

MARK-70300 Brand Strategy (Spring):

Brands matter. Companies that are adept at developing and managing them reap the rewards. (McKinsey Quarterly).

In this course, students will play the role of strategist, running their own companies and living with the consequences of strategic and tactical brand management decisions. This is accomplished through a computer-based competitive simulation, which is supported by readings, cases, and exercises designed to provide insight into developing a customer-driven organization. The course will be organized around a framework for brand management, and will focus on research to uncover customer perception of value, segmentation, and the development of effective growth strategies. Emphasis will be focused through on conceptual frameworks for understanding marketplace phenomena, current practice, and fun. The course will involve participation by several former students who are now brand managers for companies such as Intel, Dell, and Nestle.

MARK-70350 Customer Relationship Management (Spring):

In this course, students will examine how firms deal with specific elements that drive complexity in Customer Relationships Management (CRM) and related initiatives. Students will be encouraged to view CRM holistically by evaluating the impact of strategic, operational and analytical CRM initiatives on performance outcomes for both customers and firms. More specifically, students will focus on the impact of CRM, from the marketing manager’s perspective. The fact that CRM requires cross-functional coordination and integrated technologies expands the traditional domain of the marketing function, changes the role of the marketing manager and affects how the marketing manager interacts with other members of the organization. The course requirements and format include lectures, case analyses, student-led discussions and short papers

MARK-70360 Pricing Strategy (Spring):

TBD

MARK-70450 New Product Marketing (Fall):

This course provides an opportunity to develop both conceptual and tacit knowledge of important methods and procedures used in the development and evaluation of new product concepts.

The course is intended to serve students who anticipate careers in product management/product planning or who expect to be involved in the contribution of marketing expertise and insights to the development of new products. (Although the cases discussed are weighted toward firms and products in the consumer sector, most of the processes and issues discussed are generally applicable across all industries).

MARK-70550 Culture Consumption Marketing (Spring):

Contemporary marketing requires a holistic understanding of fantasy and behavior as they interact in marketplaces around the globe. This course will help you comprehend, stimulate, manage and resist desire as you unpack the forces that shape and reflect the culture(s) of consumption.

You will grasp the market as a complex system of material and metaphysical interactions, and learn to manipulate these interactions in a pro-social, ethical manner. Tempering interdisciplinary perspectives with a symbolic cast and combining the techniques of systematic introspection with participant observation, you will examine the many ways that consumption ramifies throughout daily life. Marketer and consumer misbehavior will also be probed.

Cultural, sub-cultural, generational, class, life course and group influences on marketing and consumption will be investigated. Semiotic interpretation, cross-cultural analysis, scenario planning, trend projection and other frameworks are employed throughout the quarter. This course is especially useful if you want to comprehend the "human" aspects of marketing, especially as they influence the "technical", and if you seek insight into the deep structure of your own motivations.

Its most immediate relevance is to careers in consulting and entrepreneurship, category and brand management, new product development, advertising and multicultural marketing.

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COMMUNICATION

MBCM-60400 Management Speaking (Spring):

This course will provide students with an opportunity to improve their spoken communication skills in a variety of settings from informal meetings to large, formal presentations. We provide special emphasis on business briefings, informative talks, and persuasive speeches. Students will receive instructor feedback as well as peer review on every aspect of oral communications, including delivery, non-verbal behavior, content, organization, and visual support. Small sections promote personal student-professor contact and provide time for individual coaching.

MBCM 60420 Management Writing (Spring):

Because the most important ideas in business end up in writing, and because writing can frequently become a career sifter, this course will focus on the written word as a principal means of implementing business strategy and solving managerial problems. This course will focus on the basics of written expression in a business context, including the communication process, critical thinking, audience analysis, message development, correspondence, and document design.

MBCM-60460 Listening and Responding (Fall):

Being a good listener is frequently cited as one of the most important characteristics of a successful manager. Yet listening skills are rarely taught in an academic curriculum. This course will help you to develop your listening skills through an examination of individual barriers to good listening and personal strategies to overcome them, and through an exploration of feedback techniques that facilitate effective communication. Some specific topics include listening to criticism non-defensively, perception checking for accuracy, and providing affirming feedback to a speaker.

MBCM-60490 Persuasion (Fall & Spring):

Every day we are bombarded with messages meant to influence us. This course introduces you to the dynamics of social influence. Through class discussion, activities, and lecture, you will learn about classic and contemporary research on persuasion and how organizations are putting these findings into practice. You will learn how to craft persuasive messages, how to evaluate the attempts of others to persuade you, and how to recognize unethical attempts at persuasion.

MBCM-70450 Corporate Communication I (Fall & Spring):

Few issues can affect stock price faster than a corporate crisis or a negative story in the news media. In the course of their careers, managers will confront a series of issues related to corporate communication, including reputation management, media relations, legislative and government affairs, employee communication, and crisis management. Other issues will include investor relations, corporate philanthropy, and identity and image issues. You will examine the intersection of three separate, yet related, groups: the public, the press, and private enterprise. You will also focus on communication programs intended to improve and influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of companies, industries, organizations, and causes.

MBCM-70500 Conflict Management (Fall & Spring):

Conflict is a central feature of human behavior on interpersonal, organizational, societal, and international levels. In this course, we explore the psychology of disputes, the nature and sources of conflict, and the ways in which conflict and human emotion can disrupt or make business organizations dysfunctional. As we examine the nature of conflict, we’ll explore behavioral responses and theoretical approaches to it, and offer a wide range of alternatives to working through conflict. This course is highly practical and will offer you an opportunity to apply current research findings as you interactively participate in conflict resolution.

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ETHICS

MBET-60320 Marketing Ethics (Fall):

This course examines a range of ethical issues facing marketing managers. Traditional topics such as ethics in marketing research, selling, advertising and pricing are covered. Emerging ethical issues such as international marketing, competitive intelligence, and social cause marketing and corporate policies are also examined. The class is taught using a seminar format, and the opportunity exists for students to examine ethical problems in marketing that…

MBET-60330 International Business Ethics (Spring):

International business raises enormous ethical challenges in terms of globalization, environment, development, corruption and cultural and religious diversity. This course focuses on these challenges in the context of corporate decision-making. Students are encouraged to enhance their sensitivity for differing, sometimes conflicting, values and to develop ethical reasoning abilities. Various methods are discussed to formulate and implement ethical corporate policies for international business.

MBET-60360 Spirituality of Work (Spring):

This exploration of the spirituality of work will begin with a consideration of the theology of work, including an overview of the theological perspectives on work that have emerged over time in the Christian imagination, the factors that shaped these perspectives and the influence of the same on contemporary attitudes. The theological foundation will lead to a more detailed consideration of the spirituality of work. The discussion regarding a spirituality of work will include: (1) definitions of spirituality, Christian spirituality, and work; (2) the need for workers to form a spirituality of work; (3) the contours of a spirituality of work: (4) the relationship of a spirituality of work to corporate and personal prayer (with particular attention to its place in the Catholic sacramental and liturgical imagination). Finally, the various dimensions of a spirituality of work that are indicated above will be appropriated to contemporary workplace settings, with particular attention being given to the student's chosen business fields. The questions to be considered include: How might an awareness of the spiritual dimension of work impact one's role in the workplace, i.e., as an employee or employer, co-worker, manager, business partner or investor, corporate officer, etc.? What influence does the spirituality of work have on one's work habits and presence in the workplace? What bearing does the spirituality of work have on the overall vision, policies and priorities of a business? What are potential areas of tension in the secular business world for a person whom is mindful of the spirituality of work?

MBET-60370 Ethics in Finance and Banking (Spring):

This course builds on the previous course Conceptual Foundations of Business Ethics (MBA 516) and focuses on the ethics in financing and banking. It includes seven weekly sessions covering the following topic areas: Ethics and Economics, Trust in Corporate Decision Making, Ethics and IPO Pricing, Ethics in Corporate Finance, Ethics in Banking, and Ethics in Investment. The course pursues a strongly interdisciplinary approach. Faculty specializing in economics, financing, banking, and ethics will help the students to analyze thee topic areas and explore their ethical implications. These topics will lead the class in their area of expertise.

MBET-60380 Ethical Dimensions of Leadership (Spring):

This course will consider both what is required for ethical leadership in business and what it takes to achieve something more: leadership in ethics. These topics will be pursued in the context of a number of related questions: What is leadership, and how does it differ from power? What are some major styles of leadership? What role is played in it by such elements as communication, delegation, empowerment, persuasion, and negotiation? What is entrepreneurial leadership? Must every kind of successful leadership in business have an entrepreneurial element? Does ethics call for “servant leadership” and in what ways might entrepreneurs and other kinds of business leaders achieve it? These questions will be pursued with the idea of bringing out how knowledge of ethics can both extend what we know about leadership and contribute to its exercise.

Readings will include three kinds of texts:

1. Selections from ethical literature articulating standards of conduct and models for ethical decision-making;

2. Selected business theory literature concerning such topics as transactional vs. transformational leadership and the theory of negotiation;

3. Short case studies illustrating leadership or biographical sketches portraying leaders.

Activities will include presentations by members of the group and associated discussions of effective writing and speaking for the exercise of ethical leadership—and, especially, of leadership in ethics. The plan also includes debates between teams representing different points of view on the ethics of corporate leadership. Toward the end of the course, a short paper on the ethical aspects of leadership will be due.

MBET-70500 Globalization Multinational Corp. Res. (Fall):

Digital technology is driving a process of global economic, political, and social change. This globalization is galloping across our world at a dramatic pace--enhancing global productivity but leaving many people behind in the process. As the key integrating institutions, multinational enterprises deserve much of the credit for the productivity, but are also inextricably involved in the associated social destruction. The objective of this course is to enhance the awareness and understanding of future business executives, multilateral and national governmental officials, or managers of nongovernmental organizations about the evolving role of the multinational enterprise, and how that role should be managed. The course is offered jointly with the graduate Kroc Peace Institute students enrolled in IIPS 611.

MBET-70600 Spirituality and Religion in the Workplace (Fall):

Many persons of faith experience a split between their faith and their daily lives. This split is especially significant with respect to work, where most of us spend most of our lives. The consequences of this tragic split for believers with respect to work include confusion, alienation, and a lack of motivation, productivity and fulfillment. There are numerous potential benefits to better understanding and living out our faith in the workplace, including greater focus, motivation and fulfillment. Strengthening the link between work and faith can also lead to enhanced experience of and contribution to the local and wider communities in which one works.

A spirituality of work involves a cooperative response in one’s work to the action of God in one's life and in the world in general. This response begins with critical awareness of the values and ideology of our culture as these affect us in the workplace, analyzes such interests and ideology of the workplace in the light of religious faith, and then reinterprets the reality of the workplace with a view to better integrating faith and work.

The course here proposed addresses a particular and important aspect of the broader contemporary discussion regarding meaning in the workplace. For religious believers, illumining and strengthening the link between faith and work will facilitate the search for meaning in the workplace in important ways.

The goal of this proposed course is to provide students with insights and tools that will help them to achieve a spirituality of work based on their own experience of God and of work. The course is offered in the Judeo-Christian tradition, involves readings from the Jewish, Protestant, Catholic and Buddhist perspectives, and is intended as an elective open to all persons sincerely interested in reflecting on the link between religious faith and work.

Part I of the course will identify and critically analyze, from a multi-disciplinary perspective, certain dominant values and beliefs operative in the U.S. workplace, where most of us spend most of our time. Part II will draw on various resources of biblical and extra-biblical traditions to establish a foundation on which a spirituality of work can be built. Part III will consider more fully what religious believers realistically can and should try to do by way of prayerfully integrating faith and work, with attention to the critical role of individual and communal prayer in the ongoing effort to live out one’s faith in and through one’s work.

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GENERAL

MBGR-60210 Ten Years Hence (Spring):

• To give students a sense of the near future and the possibilities the lie in store for us by the year 2015.

• To offer students, faculty, and invited guests an opportunity to engage in structured speculation about the nature of life, human society, business, and government a decade from now.

• To help students understand the problems, challenges, opportunities, and responsibilities that will accrue to the leaders of business and society in 2015.

• To assist students in understanding emerging issues related to demography, science, sociology, economics, anthropology, commerce, and technology and how they will affect our lives over the next ten years.

• To facilitate an informed discussion about the issues, opportunities, and choices facing those who compete for management and leadership positions in large and complex organizations;

• To assist students in making decisions about their own education, careers, obligations, and life choices.

MBGR-60220 Boardroom Insights (Spring):

Corporate leaders and senior executives reflect on critical issues, concerns and experiences, sharing their insights in a mix of lecture and discussion sessions designed to stimulate ideas and provide an opportunity for dialog. Topics will vary from speaker to speaker, ranging across the spectrum of business to expose students to the opportunities and challenges inherent in today's global business environment. Speakers will select ideas they feel are relevant and valuable to students' development as they prepare for a professional career.

MBGR-70180 Sports Business (Spring):

This course provides a historical, theoretical and practical look into the various facets of sports administration from a business perspective. To this end, readings, lectures, and research assignments will: (1) give students a global overview of the sports business in general; (2) describe the cultural nuances that are specific to the business aspects of professional sports such as football, baseball, hockey, basketball, etc., as well as amateur sport organizations; (3) identify markets, target audiences, as well as methods employed to communicate to selected groups; and (4) examine in a comprehensive manner the economics of each sports business sub-sector.

MBGR-70210 Teaching Decision-Making (Spring):

All decisions – even unethical ones – are “values-based.” For example, a manager who chooses to fix prices with competitors is essentially trading off two deeply personal values: personal/company achievement vs. responsibility, although he may not see it as such. Further, he may not think through the short-term consequences or longer-term outcomes of his decision in a balanced way.

What we need is a framework or tool to help us understand what values are being traded-off in the moment, to provide insight for everyday decision-making.

In the teaching decision-making course, students learn such a framework, but do so in a unique way that provides an important contribution to local schools and primary school children.

In this course, our students are trained to teach a curriculum on decision-making to 1st through 3rd graders. They then deliver their lessons over several weeks to classes in a local public elementary school. In learning the rudiments of good teaching and in teaching the decision-making model, our students have a significant impact on the young children with whom they work. At the same time, they build important leadership skills, develop a deep understanding of their own decision-making, and explore their personal values.

Students leave the course with a toolkit for dealing with real-world decisions applicable to both simple and complex choices and focused on the key reality that every decision is ultimately a trade-off of values.

For more information regarding this course, including syllabus, go to the school, Inc. web site and select the "Teaching" link.

That link is: http://www.nd.edu/~urbany/si.htm

MBGR-70540 Language/Culture Japanese Business (Spring):

This course is designed for MBA students interested in the summer internship program sponsored by the College's Center for U.S.-Japanese Business Studies. It will also prove helpful for those students thinking of working for American firms that have contacts with Japanese businessmen. The course covers the fundamental structure of the Japanese language, its speech forms and elementary writing forms. It introduces cultural customs that enable students to meet Japanese businessmen in company settings and, for those interning in Japan, to acclimate themselves to the Japanese workplace. Emphasis is placed on Japanese expressions used in the Japanese office. Only auditors who agree to do the written homework will be admitted.

MBGR-70543 Working with Japanese Business (Spring):

This course tries to help you increase your understanding of how and why the Japanese business and management systems are organized and function in the ways they do so that you can work with them more effectively. It is assumed that Japanese business and management systems and their environment differ significantly from those of Anglo-American systems and environment in some critical areas while recognizing at the same time that these two systems in the contemporary world are becoming increasingly more similar in substantial areas of business organization and management.

Specifically, the course intends to:

Familiarize you with some very basic aspects of contemporary Japanese economic, social and cultural environment of industry, business and management;

Introduce you to select, critical aspects of Japanese industrial, business and management organizations and their working, and environment in which they operate; and help you gain an increased awareness and understanding of and ability to work with the world of Japanese business and management.

MBGR-70544 Selected Topics in Japan Bus. (Fall):

Japan has been in a critical protracted period of fundamental transitions for almost a decade. It has been undergoing a slow, painful process of changing many aspects of the ways to organize and operate society, government, business and finance to enable them to anticipate, respond and adapt to the rapidly changing world in the age of "globality." This course provides students with the opportunity to study in some depth topics of the student's special interest on Japanese business, culture, and society.

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LAW

MBLW-70600 Business Law for Managers (Fall & Spring):

Business Law for Managers provides the graduate student of business with a general overview of the legal system as that institution relates to the manager's role in the business community. The course's primary focus is on the law of torts, contracts and sales, legal procedure(s), employment law, entity selection and related tax issues.

In order to provide a high-quality class that will prepare the graduate business student for careers that may involve significant legal principles; this class will incorporate topics and teaching methodologies that focus on:

- Communication

- Critical Thinking

- Ethics

- Global Issues

- Management Leadership

- Problem Solving

- Research

- Teamwork

- Technology

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MANAGEMENT

MGT-70310 Healthcare Management (Fall):

Healthcare comprises approximately 14% of the gross national product of the United States. Healthcare expenditures are likely to continue to rise for the foreseeable future. Issues concerning healthcare will continue to affect virtually any business enterprise.

The objectives of this course are to introduce students to the healthcare field and management challenges facing healthcare executives and managers. This course will provide students with a basic understanding of the following areas in healthcare: administration; public policy and the law; economics and the role of managed care; the role of physicians in healthcare; healthcare information systems and patient safety and quality. This class will practice using the basic introduction and the students’ lessons learned from other fields (e.g., accounting, financing, operations) to solve real-world problems generated from one of Mercy Health System’s more than 50 clinical locations.

MGT-60740 Technology and Business (Spring):

This course exposes the students to how technology is being used to the change the competitive landscape within industries and among corporations. By examining a set of cases, the students learn how some businesses have transformed their competitive environment through the use of technology. The students then will be required to research how a specific company has used technology to enhance its competitiveness and how an emerging technology can potentially be used to provide a strategic advantage. The final project in the class involves examining the potential impact of such technology on the business models within a specific industry.

MGT-60750 Project Management (Spring):

Project management involves the coordination of many activities that cut across interdisciplinary groups of people, external organizations, and other resources to achieve a common goal. Especially challenging is the selection of projects to effect transformation in a company and the assessment of how the projects support the company’s strategy. This course provides students with the tools, insights and field experiences that form the foundation for sound strategic project management in practice.

MGT-70410 Advanced Leadership (Fall):

Organizational effectiveness requires creative leadership. Yet there is a continuing shortage of talented leaders. Understanding the actions of leaders and managers as they attempt to influence individual, group and organizational performance is the central focus of this course. A wide range of personalities and locales will be considered (covering Cleopatra to Clinton, Bill Gates to George Bush). The literature on leadership (what is known), as well as specific techniques for enhancing inter-personal effectiveness (what seems to work), will be explored and critically analyzed.

MGT-70420 Innovation (Fall):

At its very core, innovation is about creating new ideas that have a positive impact. It requires thinking differently about the world around us: The more differently we can think, the better are the chances that we will come up with something that is really different and something that holds the promise of being better and valuable. In this module, we learn the key principles the lead to great  innovation and how they can be used to foster the creation of new ideas in organizations. We will learn about highly effective innovation processes, the practices that make them work, and how to use these practices effectively. We will also learn about design and design thinking and how it can be used to solve big problems in a human centered way.

MGT-70425 Innovation Seminar (Fall):

This seminar builds on the Innovation module, and explores the concepts of design and innovation more deeply. We will also study about how to create the kinds of environments in which innovation can flourish. As a seminar, the class will rely heavily on discussions, experimentation, and discovery-based learning. We will draw material from a broad range of disciplines—design, psychology, anthropology, art, business, history, etc…—to explore innovation and creativity from many diverse perspectives.  This is a class for people who want to stretch their thinking and who will enjoy joining with other people on an expedition to learn more. It will work well for people who can listen, ask good questions, help others succeed, develop empathy for people with different life experiences and opportunities, and have the skills, judgment, and courage to do things in new ways.

MGT-70430 Negotiation (Fall):

The purpose of this course is to introduce the theory and processes of negotiation as it is practiced in a variety of settings.  The course is designed to be relevant to the broad spectrum of negotiation problems that are faced by managers and professionals.  Thus, the content is relevant to students interested in marketing, real estate, consulting, entrepreneurship, or mergers and acquisitions.  In addition, the course will emphasize negotiations that occur in the daily life of the manager. 

This course is designed to complement the technical and diagnostic skills learned in other courses at Notre Dame.  A basic premise of the course is that while a manager needs analytic skills to discover optimal solutions to problems, a broad array of negotiation skills is needed to get these solutions accepted and implemented.  The course will allow participants the opportunity to develop these skills experientially and to understand negotiation in useful analytical frameworks.  Considerable emphasis will be placed on simulations, role playing, and cases.

MGT-70450 Acquiring and Assessing HR (Fall):

This course is designed to increase understanding of how organizations acquire high-performing employees.  Although staffing and selection systems historically have been considered “HR” topics, our focus will be managerial in nature and is intended to help you become “informed consumers and users” of these organizational staffing practices, rather than experts in their design and implementation.  Our approach will be balanced between theoretical examination of the underlying principles and practical applications of data-based techniques.  Our discussions will be informed by the research that has addressed these topics, by examples of what has worked in a variety of organizational settings – in particular how staffing practices fit within existing legal, ethical, and economic contexts.

MGT-70455 Developing and Rewarding HR (Fall):

This course is designed to increase understanding of how organizations develop and use appraisal and reward systems to create high performing organizations.  Although the assessment, development, and reward functions historically have been considered “HR” topics, our focus will be managerial in nature and is intended to help you become “informed consumers and users” of these organizational practices rather than experts in their design and implementation.  In particular, we will focus on identifying existing performance deficiencies, implementing performance enhancement interventions, and understanding how compensation systems affect performance – all within existing legal, ethical, and economic contexts.  Our approach to the topics will be balanced between theoretical understanding of the underlying principles and practical applications of data-based techniques.  Our discussions will be informed by the research that has addressed these topics, as well as by examples of what has worked in a variety of organizational settings.

MGT-70490 Organizational Consulting (Fall):

This course prepares students for careers in the area of management consulting. Special emphasis is placed on consulting in technology, operations management and corporate strategy. The course uses a variety of cases, lectures and exercises to familiarize students with consulting and to build necessary skills.

MGT-70500 Entrepreneurship (Fall & Spring):

This course is an introduction to the critical tools necessary to create a successful new venture. It provides focus on the entrepreneur's perspective of business, life, and the world at large. The course will examine ways of testing the feasibility of an idea and lay out a set of skills students can use to take their idea from concept to reality. Tools for raising capital, for marketing the product, and growing the business will be discussed.  The course will also help students develop a feasibility analysis and a business plan that makes the profitable use of what has been learned. The goals of this course are to give the MBA candidates a broad understanding of the field of Entrepreneurship. The deliverables in this class will be the development of a feasibility analysis and a business plan utilizing what has been learned.  

MGT-70520 Funding New Ventures (Spring):

This course examines financing the start-up of a new venture. The course will examine bootstrapping, the characteristics and merits of financing with equity and debt, venture capital and angels. Students will learn how to prepare a financial plan including projecting sales and capital expenditures, designing pro forma income statements, balance sheets and sources and applications of funds statements.

MGT-70530 Legal Issues in Startup Business (Spring):

The central objective of the course is to increase future business leaders’ awareness and understanding of certain core legal issues they will encounter, and to foster their ability to anticipate and resolve those issues in a manner that both complies with applicable laws and achieves core business objectives. We will also analyze actual business agreements— e.g. the operating agreement for a limited liability company, a commercial lease agreement, or an employment and non-competition agreement— to increase students’ familiarity with the language of and issues contained in those documents. Greater understanding of such language and issues will enhance students’ ability in their business careers to work effectively and more confidently with legal counsel. Toward that end, explicit attention will be given also to the effective selection and management of legal counsel.

Consideration will be given to diverse legal issues in such areas as choice of legal entity, corporate securities, commercial leases, insurance, intellectual property, and employment. With solid understanding and effective action, such legal issues need not become legal problems. We will focus on smaller businesses, but much of what we consider is applicable to larger businesses as well. This course will be of special interest to students who anticipate becoming entrepreneurs, but the issues considered are important also for venture capitalists, investment bankers, and executives and managers in established businesses.

The legal issues covered in the seminar will be integrated with one another and connected to the reality of business decision-making on legal matters through the application of each such topic to a hypothetical entrepreneurial client whose founders will be seeking legal counsel from us as a class.

MGT-70540 Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries (Spring):

Entrepreneurs and micro-enterprises can be found through the world. Understanding the role that entrepreneurial activity and micro-enterprises play in building economies is important to the understanding of international commerce. Issues such as cultural and governmental influences on entrepreneurship, micro-lending and strategic alliances are examined in this course. Upon the completion of this course students are prepared to serve as consultants to third-world micro-enterprises.

MGT-70550 Social Entrepreneurship (Spring):

The content and structure of the course is currently being created for spring 2006.

MGT-70560 Venture Capital Fundamentals (Fall):

The objective of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the methods and approaches used by venture capitalists to evaluate new business ventures and to develop and negotiate investment terms. The emphasis on the perspective of the venture capitalist distinguishes this course from other courses that emphasize the perspective of the entrepreneur.

Most sessions will be led by various venture capitalists and industry professionals, many of whom are members on Notre Dame's Irish Angles network. Projects will focus primarily on seed and early stage business ventures, but the fundamental approaches and philosophies taught are largely applicable to later stage venture capital investments.

MGT-70580 Family Business (Fall & Spring):

Family-controlled businesses are characterized by challenges that threaten their continuity and distinct core competencies resulting in unique competitive advantages. The challenges are primarily the result of issues presented by the interaction of family, management, and ownership – particularly where the family wishes to perpetuate its influence and/or control from generation to generation.

Family firms seem to be as agile in one generation as they are fragile across generations. They represent one third of the fortune 500 list and up to 80% of all businesses in the U.S. 1 Well-known names like Cargill, Michelin, Peugot, Ford, Heineken, Timken, Lego, and Hyundai … still have a family as a main shareholder. But, the majority of family businesses are small, privately held companies. Many of these family-controlled businesses experience the difficulties of moving from one-person general management to an institutionalized competence that results in competitive fitness across generations.

This course will explore and analyze family business continuity challenges and management, family, and governance practices. The final product of this course will be a continuity plan written by each student on their family business or, in rare and very unusual circumstances, a family business they have chosen for the course projects. The text, readings (provided by the instructor and those discovered from student research), case studies, guest speakers, and the class will provide the information necessary to analyze the family business and complete the projects.

Confidentiality this is an engaging course. Its content will stimulate discussions of sensitive and personal topics about family business issues. It is important for students to be able to discuss these matters. Therefore, we need to establish that any information shared within this classroom will be kept confidential and not discussed by anyone outside of this classroom unless the person who provided the information is present and discussing the information is approved by them. Students may discuss these matters with the instructor when there is course relevancy.

MGT-70650 Business Intelligence (Spring):

The course will cover several tools and techniques needed to capitalize on the unprecedented availability of information and to meet the growing demand for better and faster decision support from such information. The course material will provide an understanding of various methods used to extract knowledge from data, such as data mining, as well as with important tools to improve managerial decision-making. Cases from finance, management, and marketing will be used as illustrations.

MGT-70660 E-Business Technology (Spring):

This course gives an overview of the technologies relevant to electronic commerce, including operating systems, networking, the Internet, computer security, and electronic transaction processing. The course also involves extensive hands-on work in developing e-commerce applications using modern programming and mark up languages common on the Internet. It aims to bring all students up to a basic level of competence and familiarity with e-commerce technologies. After completing this course, students should understand the functions of technologies that support e-business and be able to develop interactive Web-based e-commerce applications.

MGT-70690 Strategic Info. System Issues (Fall):

The course addresses current information systems issues for managers. It discusses topics that allow managers to identify information technologies opportunities for various business functions. Through case examples of organizations, students will learn how to address current and future business challenges through strategic use of information technology.

MGT-70710 Supply Chain Management (Spring):

Increasing customer expectations and global competitions continue to force companies to be more efficient in controlling the flow of materials throughout the supply chain. To achieve the goal, many ideas and methods have been developed and used by companies in Supply Chain Management (SCM) environments. The course is designed to (a) investigate the issues that most managers encounter in the contemporary SCM and (b) develop students' analytical ability to solve practical problems in SCM, including inventory coordination, location, distribution planning, etc. The course is highly integrative and interdisciplinary, requiring knowledge and ideas in Operations Management/Research, Logistics, Marketing and Statistics.

MGT-70720 International Operations (Spring):

This MBA elective course studies what it takes for a company to attain  excellence in process design and value chain management in a global economy. Through case analyses and other channels of learning, this course has the following study objectives: (1)Broadening knowledge and awareness about operational excellence in world-class companies; (2) Addressing issues of building and managing a global supply chain; and (3)Enhancing analytical and communication skills through case presentation and class discussion.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Understand the approaches and issues of applying Lean Thinking in various situations (firm size, nationality, position in value chain);
• Recognize the interactions between product and service design and other activities in the value chain;
• Develop an effective strategy for outsourcing in the era of e-commerce;
• Identify the roles and select the right locations for international operations;
• Understand key process changes during acquisitions and joint venture

MGT-70750 Spreadsheet Decision Modeling (Spring):

Managers today must increasingly make decisions on issues that are complex and have quantitative aspects. This course explores how spreadsheet-based tools can improve this type of decision making. All tools are studied in the context of real-world applications from several business functions: operations, finance, and accounting. Specific applications include logistics systems, process improvement, portfolio selection, financial planning, options pricing, and cash balance analysis. General principles that can enhance the choice and application of these tools will be discussed. Only a basic familiarity with spreadsheets is assumed.

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