FORMS DUE APRIL 1, 2013
2013 FALL REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Welcome to the IMBA class of 2013. I know a number of you have just joined the class on March 13 but as you may or may not know things happen fast in the IMBA. I know you have yet to take your summer classes but fall registration is about to begin. Please read on for information on fall registration. You will need to email me your course selections on April 1.
We have posted information for your fall registration below.
What you will find here is a spreadsheet with the electives you are eligible to take. Courses highlighted in yellow are your core courses. You will have an opportunity to take waiver exams during preterm for FE722, QM716, and FE730. We will give you more information about that over the summer but you can review Advance Standing and Waiver requirements here http://smgworld.bu.edu/gpo/academic/mba-program/academic-policies-grading/alternate-coursework-and-advanced-standing/. If you think you will be able to waive out of one of your core courses you can either choose to take an additional elective (no additional cost) or have a bit lighter load in the fall. There are two worksheets on the spreadsheet. One is the master and the other is set up by day and time so you can easily see which class’s conflict with one another and know if you will need to make a choice. We have also included a column notating if the elective can be used towards a concentration. You will note a number of courses can be applied to multiple concentrations. Here is a link to information on concentrations and their requirements http://smgworld.bu.edu/gpo/academic/mba-program/programs-concentrations-overview/
Also posted are course descriptions and a registration form. You will notice on the registration form your core courses are already filled in and there is space for you to list your 3 elective choices and your 3 alternative choices. Every effort will be made to get you into your first choice but if a class is full I will move down to your first alternative etc.. Even if you are not able to initially get into a class you want there is often a lot of movement over the summer and the odds are by the time the fall semester begins you will be able to get into all of the classes you wanted. If you do plan on taking a waiver exam during preterm please highlight the core class you will attempt a waiver for on the form and if you plan on taking an additional elective please replace your first alternative with your elective to replace core. If you do not end up taking a waiver or pass the waiver we can drop the additional elective at that time.
You must email me back your registration forms on April 1, beginning at 7:00AM Boston time. I will register you in the order that I receive your forms (first come first served beginning at 7:00 AM Boston time April 1), but I will not accept any forms BEFORE 7:00 AM April 1. We will e-mail you on April 4 and confirm what fall courses you are registered for. When you register for your spring courses (typically in November) registration begins at 7:00 AM and a number of classes typically fill by 7:01 so we are just getting you prepared for your spring registration.
Read over all of the material we have provided for you on the web site and if you have any questions please email me at milleral@bu.edu.
2013 Fall Registration Form to Download
Download and complete this form. Starting on April 1 from 7:00 AM Eastern Standard Time / UTC -5 hours, email your completed form to Amanda at milleral@bu.edu
2013 Fall Elective Course Planning Schedule
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
2013 Fall Course Descriptions PDF
AC814 Financial Statement Analysis & Investor Decisions
This course is designed to develop skills in interpreting and analyzing the financial reports prepared by firms for investors and creditors. The following topics are covered: 1) analyzing profitability and risk , 2) understanding the major accounting choices affecting financial statements and managerial incentives that influence these choices, 3) assessing the quality of earnings, 4) using cash-flow based and earnings-based valuation models. The course also includes a brief review of some important accounting principles, emphasizing areas that were not covered in AC710. [Lectures, exercises, exams, and project.]
AC847 Intermediate Accounting I
Topics covered: 1) Review of generally accepted accounting principles, especially matching concept and revenue recognition rules. 2) Consideration of balance sheet and income statement classification issues. 3) Accounting and reporting issues related to cash, accounts receivable, inventories, investments, intangibles, and plant assets.
AC869 Principles of Income Taxation I
Federal income tax law common to all taxpayers–individuals, partnerships, corporations. Tax returns for individuals. Topics include tax accounting, income to be included and excluded in returns, tax deductions, ordinary and capital gains and losses, inventories, installment sales, depreciation, bad debts, and other losses.
FE820 Corporate Financial Management
This course provides an in-depth analysis of financial considerations relating to corporate growth. It addresses the setting of financial or corporate goals in terms of maximizing shareholders’ equity, and relationships among dividend policy, debt levels, capital costs, return on investments, and growth.
FE822 Fixed Income Markets
This is a course primarily on fixed-income debt securities and markets. Emphasis is placed on the factors that determine bond yields, factors such as the coupon and maturity structure, liquidity, credit risk, and tax status of the security, and on measures of return and risk, statistics such as the yield to maturity, horizon yield, duration, and convexity. We will cover government debt (Treasuries and municipals), corporate bonds (investment-grade and high-yield), agency (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and mortgage-backed debt created via securitization (i.e., collateralized mortgage obligations). We will emphasize how interest rate and credit derivatives are used to manage portfolios of fixed-income securities.
FE823 Investments
This course looks at speculative markets, including organized security markets and exchanges; definitions of securities; relevant tax law and sources of investment information; principles of stock and bond valuation; and security price behavior. Also discussed in this course are problems and models associated with portfolio analysis and management.
FE827 International Financial Management
This course examines the acquisition, investment, management, and conversion of funds in the international context. Other areas of discussion include: foreign exchange exposure and risk, investment decisions, international capital markets and banking, trade financing and tax planning, balance of payments and national goals, and financial planning from a multinational perspective.
HM801 Bench-to-Bedside: Translating Biomedical Innovation from the Laboratory to the Marketplace
The subject of the course is the translation of medical technologies into new products and services for the healthcare system. The course begins with a rigorous study of intellectual property, licensing and the core aspects of planning, creating, funding and building new entrepreneurial ventures. Concepts and tools are presented for assessing new technologies and their potential to be the basis for a new entrepreneurial venture. Comparisons will be made of how technologies can be sourced and commercialized out of three very different environments: universities, national laboratories and corporate laboratories. Cross-disciplinary teams of students will be formed which will evaluate translational research projects currently being developed at Boston University and their potential for transformation into a start-up company to commercialize the technology, providing a unique linkage between the scientific research activities of the university and the professional schools. Each week there will be a case study which will discuss examples of both success and failure in technology commercialization. Some of these case studies examine Boston University life sciences spin-out companies, and the founders and CEO’s of these ventures will share their experiences with the class.
HM840 Health Sector Consulting
This is an applied consulting project course. Students enrolled in this course will be divided into teams of 4 students during the first class; the assignment of teams is largely dependent upon having a shared interest in one of the number of prospective consulting projects. Each team will select from a pre-designated list of business development-strategy-marketing consulting projects. Projects in the past have ranged from developing an international pricing strategy for the introduction of a new product by Genzyme to providing a marketing plan for a web-based entrepreneurial venture (a medical website targeted toward providing health care clinicians with products, services and information related to electromyography) to developing a strategy for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to maintain the loyalty of their referring physicians.
Client companies/organizations have requested these projects, are paying the school for the privilege of having an MBA team, and are covering all expenses associated with the projects. In return, they anticipate receiving a consulting report from the student team at the end of the semester. The deliverables for this assignment are the consulting report as well as a 30 minute in-class presentation followed by a 10 minute question-and-answer period. The team may also be asked by the client to make a presentation to the client’s management. These projects constitute a way to apply what you are learning in the MBA program to a real health sector management situation; an opportunity to gain experience and broaden your familiarity with health sector organizations with which you have had little or no direct experience; a way for local, regional, and national health sector organizations to benefit from your expertise and hard work in solving a management problem; and a continuing linkage of the Boston University MBA and Health Sector Management Programs to the health sector community.
IS 841 Business Analytics
The widespread proliferation of IT-influenced economic activity leaves behind a rich trail of micro-level data about consumer, supplier and competitor preferences. This has led to the emergence of a new form of competition based on the extensive use of analytics, experimentation, and fact-based decision making. In virtually every industry the competitive strategies organizations are employing today rely extensively on data analysis to predict the consequences of alternative courses of action, and to guide executive decision making. This course provides a hands-on introduction to the concepts, methods and processes of business analytics. We will learn how to obtain and draw business inferences from data by asking the right questions and using the appropriate tools. Topics to be covered include data preparation, data visualization, data mining, text mining, recommender systems as well as the overall process of using analytics to solve business problems, its organizational implications and pitfalls. Students will work with real world business data and analytics software. Where possible cases will used to motivate the topic being covered. Prior courses in data management and statistics will be helpful but not required.
MK852 Marketing Research
This course examines a variety of exploratory and survey research approaches and their associated data analysis procedures. It provides participants with state-of-the-art tools for identifying and assessing customer needs and requirements to improve the performance of profit-oriented and public-sector organizations. The course emphasizes a managerial, user-oriented point-of-view.
MK857 Services Marketing and Management
This course takes both a practical and conceptual approach to the marketing of services. The marketing literature views quality as being defined by customer expectations and perceptions. This course looks at key components of services that affect these expectations and perceptions as well as issues of demand management; developing systems that address custom problem solving and complaint management; and the overlap between operational, organizational, behavioral, and marketing issues in service management. The focus of the course varies by class to include professional services, small service, large service organizations and businesses that produce services as a key and necessary line extension to products that they produce.
MK867 Marketing Social Change
Many corporations are taking an interest in corporate social responsibility, as they realize the implications of climate change, respond to public, NGO and shareholder scrutiny of business practices, and see the need for long-term sustainability strategies. Businesses are analyzing how to incorporate practices that conserve resources and promote social good into the business model. Some companies are scrutinizing their supply chain, generating eco-footprints for their products, and developing metrics to evaluate the value that CSR brings to business. More and more, corporate marketers are integrating social-change strategies, from cause-related marketing to campaign sponsorship to social change advertising, into their marketing programs. The course Marketing Social Change will examine the roots of marketing social change — marketing at traditional nonprofits, campaigns launched to influence public actions, legally-dictated social change, cause-related marketing — and the evolution of corporate social responsibility. The course will explore how commercial marketing principles can be applied to positively influence social change. Particular emphasis will be placed on what it means for a corporation to be “socially responsible” and the complex issues facing marketing managers in evaluating the costs and benefits of CSR.
The course will include lectures, discussions, guest lectures by experts in social marketing and corporate social responsibility, and a semester-long project at a socially responsible company or organization.
OB 835 – Leading Sustainable Enterprises
The convergence of a number of factors is driving an increase in investment and focus on sustainability. More specifically, high profile corporate scandals, recognition of the finite and increasingly costly resources on our planet, a shrinking globe with far more transparency and increasing consumer power are serving to elevate the imperative of sustainability. That said, there is wide variability in the definition of sustainability, the scope of efforts aimed at sustainability, and the perceived effectiveness of sustainability efforts. This is not surprising given the newness of the field and the attendant absence of theory, frameworks, and uniform measurements to deliver value attributable to these efforts. This class intends to introduce students to the opportunity and challenges facing startups and established companies as they contemplate the import of…and approach to creating a sustainable enterprise. Illustrations of progressive models (e.g. TOMS, GE, Marks & Spencer) will be coupled with case studies, lectures, practitioner speakers and debate to engage students in the nuances and intricacies of this developing field. This class will be taught from the perspective of practitioners and emphasize the real challenges of making operating decisions in an increasingly complex context.
OB840 Management Consulting Field Project
The purpose of this course is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the management consulting process and its practical application. The course simulates a small consulting firm where students are consultants. Students complete significant fieldwork outside of classroom time. Students explore dimensions of defining and understanding the consulting framework, engagements, work methodology, client relationship management, value creation, developing and delivering presentations and client follow-up. This course includes one primary deliverable: the initiation, scoping and completion of a consulting field project. This class is designed and best suited for second year students who have 3-5 years work experience in the public, private or nonprofit sectors.
OB848 Leadership
This course examines the essence of leadership; its relationship to managing; and the behaviors, attitudes and perspectives that distinguish leaders. Leadership is considered in a variety of ways: leadership in crises, at the top, in the middle, and in groups. Case studies, students’ past experiences, instruments, and other learning activities provide opportunities for students to assess and develop their leadership talents.
OB853 Negotiations
This course uses the theory and research on effective negotiating strategies to build students’ understanding of, and skills for, managing differences and negotiation situations. The course considers, among other topics, the issues of negotiating across functions, between levels, across national and cultural differences, over race and gender differences, and between organizations. Students examine: 1) problems of influence and self-defense in highly competitive “hardball” negotiations; and 2) the art of using differences for creative problem-solving and “mutual gain” outcomes. The emphasis is on developing practical skills for effective negotiations that can be applied to concrete situations. Students should be prepared to learn from their own experiences and practice in this course.
OM 845 – Clean Technologies and Supply Chains
The clean technology industry is one of the largest sectors of the economy and yet still undergoing significant growth and attracting a plethora of new entrants. It has been characterized by a great deal of experimentation around new technologies and around business models in the face of regulatory and market place disruptions. The course uses a combination of cases, simulation and analytical exercises to review trends and their co-evolution within the clean technology/energy eco-system. It aims to build a skill set around risk and opportunity assessment, and allied implementation challenges. This course is being set up as an MBA elective that is aligned with the needs of Entrepreneurship, PNP and Strategy concentrations. GRS and ENG students who have graduate level exposure to clean technologies/ environmental studies, and who wish to explore business aspects of clean technology issues may enroll with instructors permission.
OM855 Project Management
Projects are increasingly the way that work gets done in companies of all types and sizes. In this new course you will learn the strategic dimensions of project management, including critical aspects of project selection, definition, planning, execution, and monitoring. Concepts and approaches for dealing with complexity, uncertainty, vague mandates, temporary staff, partners, stakeholders, dynamic risk, and time-critical deadlines are emphasized. Cases and readings cover a wide range of industry and organizational contexts. This course requires that students apply these topics and considerations to a real project of their choice either by analysis of publicly available information or direct field study. Many MBAs are tested on the job through tough assignments in project settings. Your performance there is highly visible. Doing especially well can accelerate your subsequent career opportunities. Prepare now for success in strategic project management by developing the skills and perspectives covered in OM855.
OM880 Product Design and Development
This course explores central managerial challenges in the effective design, development, and introduction of new products. Topics covered include reducing the time to market while meeting cost and quality targets; managing cross-functional projects and inherent technological risks while keeping a focus on customer requirements; and integrated problem-solving by industrial designers, engineers, manufactures, and marketing specialists. [Case studies, readings, guest lecturers, field project]
PL837 Strategic Fundraising and Corporate Philanthropy
This course is designed for future civic, business and nonprofit leaders who will be in the position of raising funds or giving away funds for charitable purposes at some point in their career. Whether for your child’s school, the local little league or symphony, or a cause you care deeply about, you will want to know the fundamentals of raising or giving away money. This course explores the topic of strategic fundraising and philanthropy in three modules. The first explores the history, trends and current topics in philanthropy using case studies and current events. The second module provides students with specific tools and lessons in strategic fundraising and gives students an opportunity to apply these skills within a nonprofit of their choice. Finally the course examines how corporations can use their philanthropic efforts to further the strategy and goals of the business.
PL 870 – Government, Society and Sustainable Development
Government, Society and Sustainable Development is a broad and far-reaching course in scope and topics. After an introduction to the concepts of the limits-to-growth and global sustainability challenges resulting from population growth, resource scarcity, environmental degradation and climate change students dive deep into the cultural, societal and economic development issues of globalization, study the implications of globalization on the current social and economic development of nations/regions/industries and explore new development models (for-profit and non-profit entrepreneurship) for sustainable development at the international, national, and sub-national levels. The Course has three major themes: ? The first major theme of the course is a series of country cases that explore the cultural, social, political and economic context in which business enterprise has historically been conducted. ? The second major theme of the course overlays the international institutions that emerged from Bretton Woods; the UN, GATT/WTO, the World Bank and the IMF, (the emerging World Environmental Organization, WEO) onto the country cases and explores emerging topics of international Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and International Environmental Protection (IEP). ? The third major theme of the course explores the emergence of new models of sustainable development; contrasting bottoms-ups collective action and entrepreneurship against classic aid-based models as a force for change and driver of sustainable development.
PL 882 – Public Policy Analysis
This course explores the economics of the public sector and the impact government policy and programs have on society and business. The course provides students with tools to systematically examine the financing and measure the impact of government policies and regulations. It explores the rationale for government intervention, appropriate levels of intervention and how to measure the effectiveness of policies and regulations. This course is helpful to those who desire a deeper understanding of the central role government plays in the economy and how government impacts the business and nonprofit sectors.
QM 880 Business Analytics: Spreadsheet Optimization and Simulation
Prereq: QM716/717 *The modeling process illustrated throughout the course will significantly improve students? abilities to structure complex problems and derive insights about the value of alternatives. You will develop the skills to formulate and analyze a wide range of models that can aid in managerial decision-making in the functional areas of business. These areas include finance (capital budgeting, cash planning, portfolio optimization, valuing options, hedging investments), marketing (pricing, sales force allocation, planning advertising budgets) and operations (production planning, workforce scheduling, facility location, project management). The course will be taught almost entirely by example, using problems from the main functional areas of business. This course is not for people who want a general introduction to or review of Excel. This course is for students who are already comfortable using Excel and would like to use it to create optimization and simulation models.
SI 814 – Intellectual Property Strategies in Life Sciences and Technology
This course covers the ways in which companies use intellectual property to protect their investments in knowledge assets. Traditionally a concern for technology-intensive businesses, patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets have become important business tools throughout the knowledge-based economy. A good understanding of what IP assets are and how they work has become essential for managers in all types of organizations. This is not a law course, nor a how-to manual rather it is intended to develop your analytical understanding of fundamental economic and legal aspects of intellectual property systems, and how they drive competition and strategy.
SI 830 – Corporate Strategies for Growth
This course will examine strategies for firm growth that involve expanding the range of the firm?s business activities. We will study strategic logics underlying vertical integration, franchising, related and unrelated diversification, alliances, corporate venturing and spinouts, and other such strategies. We will also study the management challenges associated with these strategies, including designing organizational structures and managerial incentives, managing acquisitions, structuring supplier relationships, and fostering organizational cultures.
SI 835 – Real Estate Management
This is an introductory course that covers the basics of real estate investing and managing. Subject materials include mortgages, lenders, forms of ownership, tax laws effecting real property, financial analysis and valuation techniques.
SI852 Starting New Ventures
This course focuses on the process of identifying and obtaining the necessary resources to launch an entrepreneurial venture through the development of a business plan. A well-written business plan will communicate the business concept in a way that attracts the various resource providers necessary for the venture’s success. Students will individually develop a business concept and prepare and present a professional business plan.
SI 855 – Entrepreneurship
The course is a comprehensive introduction to the entrepreneurial process from idea generation through venture launch and later growth. Initial lectures and case studies focus on idea generation and concept feasibility along with the skills, competencies and perspectives entrepreneurs must develop to manage the organization through each phase of development. Later lectures and cases emphasize the issues faced by entrepreneurs in scaling innovative enterprises; use of strategic alliances, attracting funding and managing investors, managing growth expansion and choosing among exit options.
SI859 Strategy Implementation
Gain the skills and know-how to manage up and across your organization, passing the normal organizational tests along the way from technical expert to cross-functional integrator to directing the future course of your organization. This is strategy implementation for the middle manager who needs to 1) size-up the situation and 2) determine how to gain the power needed to achieve their objectives. One of the qualitative factors that will be explored in great detail is personal style choice vis à vis different stakeholders and organizational politics and the resultant perceptions of you and your programs. Students will study both successful and less-successful managers through cases and readings, honing their own, personal managerial style.
SI871 Strategies for Bringing Technology to Market
Strategies for Bringing Technology to Market is a unique course that guides student teams as they undertake commercial go-to market strategy for scientific and engineering breakthroughs. By collaborating with faculty and graduate students in the University’s research labs and mentors from the business community, teams will assess the economic and social prospects of recent technology innovations, outline the technical and market risks and the key commercial milestones and make recommendations for the most effective commercialization strategy. Project work is supported by lectures that focus on critical skills required. Guidance will be provided in assessing critical commercialization milestones by a combination of faculty and mentors from the business community.
