Course Grades

This course is designed for students who are thinking of doing a research project in business administration. This course brings the methodology and critical apparatus of the humanities into the field of management to fulfill two basic objectives. The first objective is to place in broad critical perspective how we think about the function and culture of management and to expand the boundaries of how managers understand their role within a firm, how they take decisions, set priorities and benchmark success and failure. The second objective is to help students learn how to build robust analytical frameworks informed by different perspectives in order to evaluate concepts and solve problems. The course draws upon diverse material, ranging from history to economics, to encourage students to think about management beyond its traditional confines. Topics include the function of the firm, the role of incentive, the ways in which narrative forces shape decision making, and how market relationships define the managerial culture in ways that can lead to sub-optimal outcomes.

This course is designed for students who are thinking of doing a research project in business administration. This course aims to provide students with the foundation for differentiating marketing from other organizational functions by fostering an understanding of markets, marketing concepts, key marketing issues and the relationship of these to society as a whole. This framework enables students to link their knowledge with the practicalities of marketing. The aim is to provide students with an understanding of the key concepts of marketing and to provide an insight into the role of marketing in an organization, and to provide an understanding of the main essentials of marketing. The subject is presented within a marketing planning framework in which marketing theories and concepts focus on the practical need of developing and implementing effective marketing strategies. It covers, in broad detail, the concepts and applications of marketing for consumer, business-to-business (including industrial) and service organizations.

Accounting is the language of business. Companies communicate their performance to outsiders and evaluate the performance of their employees using information generated by the accounting system. Learning the language of accounting is essential for anyone that must make decisions based on financial information. The course is designed to provide an understanding of financial accounting fundamentals for prospective users of corporate financial information, such as investors, creditors, employees, and other stakeholders (e.g., suppliers, customers). The course focuses on understanding how economic events such as operating activities, corporate investments, and financing transactions are recorded in the three main financial statements (i.e., the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows). Students will develop the technical skills needed to analyze financial statements and disclosures for use in financial analysis. Students will also learn how accounting standards and managerial incentives affect the financial reporting process. The course then considers topics in management accounting, to understand the decision-making requirements and the information needs of management. Managerial accounting principles and techniques are applied to a wide range of situations in both service and manufacturing industries. They should also be able to appreciate recent developments in the theory and practice of management accounting, control systems; and appreciate the developments information technology in relation to the provision of decision information

This course will introduce students to frameworks and tools to measure value; both for corporate and personal assets. It will also help students in decision-making, again at both the corporate and personal levels. This course is primarily devoted to the fundamental principles of valuation. Students will learn and apply the concepts of time value of money and risk to understand the major determinants of value creation. The course uses both theory and real world examples to demonstrate how to value any asset. 

The impact of economic forces in our lives is sizable and pervasive. For this reason, it is impossible to understand the social and economic forces shaping our lives without a good understanding of basic economic principles. This course provides a quantitative and model-based introduction to such principles, and teaches how to apply them to make sense of a wide range of real world problems. The course begins with an investigation of supply, demand and market equilibrium, including the measurement of elasticity of demand and supply. Then it focuses on the production process, and especially on the costs of production. The course will investigate firm output and pricing policies in competitive, monopolistically competitive, oligopolistic and monopolistic markets. The latter part of the course, will focus on applied and policy problems, by looking at problems posed by ‘market failure’, ‘externalities’ and ‘public goods’. An analysis of industry policy, focusing on tariffs and non-tariff barriers, regulation and corporatization/ privatization will then be done, including the purpose and nature of competition policy.

In this course, the underlying theory and frameworks that provide the foundations of a successful business strategy are explored.  It will develop the student’s ability to think strategically by providing him/her with the tools for conducting a strategic analysis. Strategic analysis is critical for analyzing the competitive context in which an organization operates and for making reasoned and reasonable recommendations for how that organization should position itself and what actions it should take to maximize value creation.   Aspiring managers, entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, analysts, and consultants all may find value in mastering these fundamentals.

International and not-for-profit organizations present an increasingly complex environment to work in and therefore require for their successful management an unprecedented level of managerial skills on top of a deep understanding of the socioeconomic and political context they operate in. This course is designed to provide students with (1) basic notions of the practice of international relations (2) a general overview of the management challenges international and not-for-profit organizations are faced with as well as key theoretical frameworks and practical tools for managers to excel in this environment. Key areas of management will be reviewed, from strategy setting to implementation through marketing and fund raising, and assessment. (3) Given the growing interaction between public and private sectors, this course also touches upon the management of public/private partnerships. 

In this course students will learn how firms behave in situations in which strategic decisions are interdependent, i.e. where their actions affect competitors' profits and vice versa. Using the basic tools of game theory, students will analyze how firms choose strategies to attain competitive advantage. This course is about the behavior of companies in competitive markets. Facing competition forces firms to look ahead and anticipate developments: If rivals are likely to react to a price cut, a firm will have to take the expected reaction into account. Students focus on such instances of “strategic interdependencies” in real business situations. Students will first study the basic concepts of game theory as a toolbox and then analyze strategic “games” in real-life settings. Rather than a set of checklists of “how-to-behave” in a number of prespecified situations, this course will teach students to think about business strategy in a systematic and exciting - and ultimately more successful way.

In all parts of the world, and especially America, there are “rags to riches” stories about the energetic and dedicated hero who worked hard and made it big. Hard work and a little luck were all that was required. Oddly, alongside that belief was another contradictory one that anyone who was or became rich must have become so by unethical activity and behavior. As such, there is now a growing consensus that ethics has a role to play in business, the public view of business is still expressed in what can be called the Myth of Amoral Business. This business ethics course studies the Myth of Amoral Business, by offering an introduction into the concept of values, morality, as well as cultural beliefs and upbringing in all areas of business, from consumer rights to corporate social responsibility. Decisions made by shift managers or corporate presidents may affect thousands of individuals or entire communities. Consumers today expect and demand integrity, honesty, and transparency in all levels of their environment. Understanding those expectations is the key to communicating core values and behavior not only to employees, but society in general.

The objectives of the course are to study the global challenges of the twenty-first century; i.e. to tame the markets, promote equality, opportunity, and second chances while limiting wasteful and destructive choice and agreeing on social solutions. The course will focus on the priorities that people from around the world have identified as necessary for a more equitable, peaceful and sustainable world. These goals are largely unknown by many people; especially in wealthier nations, certainly they have received little attention in the United States. This course will demonstrate that when the conditions of basic infrastructure (roads, power, and ports) and human capital (health and education) are in place, markets are powerful engines of development. Without those preconditions, markets can cruelly bypass large parts of the world. The course will encourage students to take collective action, through effective government provision of health, education, infrastructure, as well as foreign assistance when needed, and that this will underpin economic success.

The objectives of the course are to equip all students of the university to the tool and techniques used for critical thinking. Specifically, this course presents the basic terms and concepts employed in logic and critical thinking. One is introduced to ‘argument’, which is the primary function of logic and critical thinking. The course demonstrates how to structure an argument in logic and is actually aims towards a goal. Student are shown how carefully chosen statements work together to prove virtually anything. This course demonstrates to students not only how an argument is supposed to work; but also paves the way for the notion that not all arguments are good arguments. Students are made to appreciate that most of our knowledge is derived with inductive arguments, but that probability should not be confused with certainty. Students are also shown how to test deductive arguments validity and soundness.

The objectives of the course are to develop and enhance a student’s ability to consider philosophy as an area of study that is based on the belief that it is filled with fascinating questions. It is designed to invite every student in whatever discipline into deep, enjoyable, and accessible philosophical exploration. Students will consider the thinking of the world’s most influential philosophers; this course is an explanatory pedagogy that presents philosophy in a clear, accessible way that does not sacrifice rigor. The course makes connections among different philosophical theories throughout, and helps students to engage in subject matter and apply theories to important philosophical issues.