MBA Courses for 2007–2008

Fall-Term Core Courses

MGT 401a, Managing Groups and Teams. 1 unit. This is a short course on the theory and practice of leading, managing, and functioning in task-performing groups and teams. It has two primary goals: first, to provide students with a conceptual framework for analyzing group dynamics, diagnosing performance problems, and designing appropriate interventions, and second, to help students develop practical skills for building effective groups and teams. Both of these objectives are important to students’ effectiveness in study groups at SOM and in organizational teams they will join or lead after graduation. The design of the course is based on the belief that conceptual understanding of the principles of team effectiveness is of little use without a more direct experiential understanding of group dynamics (or process) and the behavioral skills required to implement this knowledge. J. Phills, Victor Vroom, Amy Wrzesniewski.

MGT 402a, Basics of Accounting. 2 units. The course helps students acquire basic accounting knowledge that is extremely useful in the day-to-day practice of general management. This basic accounting knowledge is indispensable background for the work to follow in the Organizational Perspectives courses as well as for elective courses in accounting, finance, marketing, and strategy. Accounting systems provide important financial information for all types of organizations across the globe. Despite their many differences, all accounting systems are built on a common foundation. Economic concepts, such as assets, liabilities, and income, are used to organize information into a fairly standard set of financial statements. Bookkeeping mechanics compile financial information with the double entry system of debits and credits. Accounting conventions help guide the application of the concepts through the mechanics. This course provides these fundamentals of accounting. Rick Antle, Stanley Garstka.

MGT 403a, Data and Decision Analysis. 2 units. The ability to understand and apply probability concepts and statistical methods is fundamental to management education. The concepts covered in this course include probability, decision analysis, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, and applied regression modeling. This course provides a foundation of basic statistical concepts that are essential for many other courses at SOM. These materials surface routinely in students’ Organizational Perspectives courses and electives and are useful for decision-making applications in financial analysis, marketing, operations management, and other areas. Edward Kaplan, Brian Mittendorf.

MGT 404a, Basics of Economics. 2 units. This course concentrates on the role of market processes in determining the opportunities facing individuals and business firms, the policy issues facing public officials, and the patterns of resource allocation in the economic system. It is intended to be accessible to students with little or no prior exposure to economics. The mathematical prerequisite is competence in high school algebra and in the interpretation of graphs. The aim is to provide students with analytical tools to help them tackle economic problems, which arise whenever agents must make economic trade-offs or engage in trade. While we cover a range of topics in microeconomics, the emphasis throughout the course is on learning how to approach and tackle economic problems—a skill that will be useful in making managerial decisions. Topics include supply and demand, consumers, production, equilibrium, imperfect competition, competitive strategy. Sharon Oster, Keith Chen.

MGT 405a, Interpersonal Dynamics. 1 unit. Studies have shown that the average manager spends about two-thirds of his or her time interacting with others. It should be no surprise that skill in interpersonal relationships is one of the most frequent determinants of managerial success or failure. This course is designed to help students learn some of the skills necessary to build more open and effective working relationships. Improving knowledge and abilities in these areas is critical to being an effective manager in today’s global and highly interdependent organizations. This course builds on students’ experiences in the Managing Groups and Teams course. The learning teams created during the latter part of that course continue to work and learn together in Interpersonal Dynamics. Heidi Brooks.

MGT 406a, Individual Problem Framing. 2 units. The objective of this course is to provide students with tools for framing and structuring problems. The course begins with general problem structuring heuristics that are useful for almost any sort of problem. These include simplifying a problem, searching for related but simple problems that one knows how to solve, anticipating the form of a solution, changing the problem to an equivalent problem, breaking problems down into parts, and recognizing common structure in different settings. The course continues with a variety of guest lectures with different perspectives on framing problems. It concludes with a unit on how to set up and frame problems in strategic settings; that is, in settings in which the outcomes depend not just on your own actions but on the actions of others. Paul Bracken, Nathan Novemsky.

MGT 407a, Careers. 1 unit. This course focuses on the individual and the idea that he or she is going to have a career over forty or fifty years. We take a long-term focus in order to highlight frameworks, concepts, and theories that detail the ways in which careers unfold over time and the forces that guide career trajectories. Through a combination of course readings, experiential exercises, lectures, and illustrations from others’ careers, students gain a deeper understanding of the choices and tradeoffs they may face and how to assess these against the backdrop of the frameworks offered. Specifically, we focus on developmental frameworks, theories of resilience and transition, and the role of different kinds of capital—such as human capital, social capital, and financial capital—that people build in creating their careers. Jonathan Feinstein, Amy Wrzesniewski.

MGT 408a, Introduction to Negotiations. 0.5 unit. The course objective is to learn a conceptual framework for analyzing and shaping negotiation processes and outcomes. Negotiation can be broken down into two basic activities: creating value and capturing value. Creating value is about making the pie bigger, while capturing value is about getting the largest possible slice for yourself. The course presents strategies for achieving both of these objectives at the same time. The course also helps students to develop a repertoire of negotiation strategies and skills. There are several opportunities to negotiate with classmates in a simulated environment. Barry Nalebuff, Cade Massey.

MGT 410a, Competitor. 2 units. This course enables students to be better managers by equipping them to (1) identify key players in the environment both from a competitive and a cooperative perspective, (2) identify the objectives and constraints of those players given the environment in which a manager’s own organization and competing organizations are embedded, (3) anticipate the likely actions that competitors will take given their objectives and constraints, and (4) recognize and deal with the feedback between their own actions and the actions of other agents. The course explicitly recognizes that relevant players in the environment include government and nonprofit organizations as well as corporations and that these players act both cooperatively and competitively. Thus an important premise of this course is that the environment within which organizations compete is multi-layered, encompassing not only the market but political, cultural, and legal dimensions. Finally, the course explicitly draws attention to the fact that objectives and constraints arise not only from the external faces of the environment but from internal features of the organization. The course draws from the disciplines of economics, marketing, organizational behavior, and politics. Fiona Scott Morton.

MGT 411a, Customer. 2 units. The course takes the viewpoint that the best way to create and keep a customer is to develop a deep understanding of customer behavior, integrate that understanding across the organization, and align the organizational structure to both satisfy current customer needs and adapt to changes in customer needs better than competitors. To be truly customer-focused and market-driven, a company (profit or nonprofit) should develop the capability to sense and respond to the changing needs of customers in the market. An important element of the course is the idea that customer focus must extend to the entire organization across all its major functions for it to be successful. The course consists of two main modules: (1) Understanding Customers and Creating a Superior Value Proposition and (2) Creating and Maintaining a Customer-Aligned Organization. The first module focuses on understanding customer needs in consumer and industrial markets from a multidisciplinary perspective (economics, psychology, and sociology) to create a superior value proposition; the second highlights how creating a customer-aligned organization requires functional perspectives that span marketing, operations, accounting, finance, and human resource management. K. Sudhir.

MGT 412a, Investor. 2 units. This course is about investors: what they do, how they think, and what they care about. The course is, in places, quantitative. It makes use of basic concepts in probability, statistics, and regression analysis. Course topics include returns, risk, and prices; asset allocation; efficient markets; valuation and fundamentals-based investing; the capital asset pricing model (CAPM); quantitative equity investing; bond markets; evaluating money manager performance; futures and options; investment errors and human psychology; and sourcing and managing funds. Nicholas Barberis.

MGT 423a, Sourcing and Managing Funds. 2 units. This course considers groups within the firm tasked to raise money from different sources as well as manage different aspects of those funds within the organization. Many of these functions are concentrated within the office of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), split between the Treasurer and the Controller. But many other functions are spread across the organization, principally in the hands of strategy groups and product managers. Topics include capital structure decisions; capital structure: equity funding; capital structure: debt funding; capital budgeting: cash flow analysis and techniques; capital budgeting: incorporating risk; taxes; the planning process; inputs for decision making; performance evaluation; transfer pricing; and corporate risk management. Stanley Garstka, Geert Rouwenhorst.

Spring-Term Core Courses

MGT 413b, State and Society. 2 units. This course has five objectives. First, it aims to provide students with insight into the motives driving a diverse array of nonmarket constituencies. These constituencies include elected and unelected public officials, leaders of NGOs, interest-group advocates, and representatives of multinational organizations, as well as organized (and sometimes unorganized) movements that arise in a society. Second, the course examines underlying societal trends that can have a significant impact on the opportunities and risks faced by business management. Third, it provides insight into some of the systematic sources of variation across the nation-states that can impact managerial and investment decisions. Fourth, the course helps students read the institutional environment of the firm—legal and regulatory frameworks, media market structures, religious organizations, and many other factors. Finally, the course repeatedly asks students to reflect on the differences between what is legal and what is right, what is customary and what is legal, what is customary and what is right. Douglas Rae.

MGT 420b, Employee. 2 units. Leadership influence on employees is at least threefold: an impact on the employees who are brought into and retained in the organization; a strong role in shaping the context in which employees act (culture, rewards, etc.); and a personal relationship with those whom you manage, which can profoundly influence subordinates’ values, beliefs, and behaviors. The purpose of this course is to enhance the student’s capability as a manager and leader to take actions that align employees’ actions with organizational goals and objectives. The course is organized into four parts. It begins by placing the manager’s relationship with employees in the broader context of the organization’s human resource strategy. Then it examines in closer detail some of the main levers that managers and organizations can use, paying attention to four factors: recruitment and selection; employee evaluation and development; extrinsic rewards, compensation systems, and job design; and the connection between the employee’s identity and organizational objectives. The third portion of the course briefly considers the challenges of transforming employment relations. The course concludes by discussing how employment relationships are shaped by values and ethics—those of the manager, as well as those of the larger organization. James Baron.

MGT 421b, Innovator. 2 units. This class studies issues of idea generation, idea evaluation and development, creative projects, and fostering and sustaining innovation in organizations. Students are exposed both to the ways of thinking of innovators and to the promises and perils of interacting with and managing innovators. Students generate ideas in a number of contexts, and evaluate ideas that they and others have generated in terms of customer adoption (the market) and feasibility. They analyze innovation in a set of companies across sectors. Students also engage in a role-playing exercise to get a sense for how the innovator’s perspective interacts with a managerial perspective rooted in the other Organizational Perspectives courses. Jonathan Feinstein.

MGT 422b, Operations Engine. 2 units. The course broadens the traditional operations management course by including and emphasizing linkages to organizational behavior and workforce management, strategy, accounting, finance, and marketing. At its heart, this course is about using quantitative models to provide managerial insights. The framework for this course is simple: First, we focus on how work is organized and how processes are improved. At the next higher level, we consider the relationship among work centers, suppliers, and customers: the design and improvement of the supply chain. Finally, operations analysis influences and is influenced by the organization’s competitive strategy. While carrying out these activities, organizations need to continually improve manufacturing and service quality. These activities of process improvement, supply chain management, and quality management fundamentally involve issues of workforce management and organizational behavior and require understanding and applying capital budgeting and other accounting/finance tools, and coordination with the marketing function. Arthur Swersey.

MGT 430b, Integrated Leadership Perspective. 4 units. This course asks students to bring together skills learned throughout the core curriculum by working through a series of cases about organizations of different scales. All of the cases involve current situations, and much of the class material is “raw,” consisting of financial filings, data sets, news reports, company material, and other primary source data. The course is organized in four parts. The first part focuses on organizations that are just beginning. Students examine how ideas are generated from existing holes in the market and how leaders think about positioning and developing their organizations to fill those holes. The second phase focuses on the leadership challenges associated with organizations in transition. Students examine how organizations handle the challenges of raising new capital, finding new partners, expanding geographically, and growing through acquisition. The third phase focuses on mature organizations and also gives students the opportunity to step back from the cases and think about the broader ways in which leadership styles and organizational challenges connect. The course concludes with high-level, modern management challenges bridging the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Sharon Oster.

Fall-Term Elective Courses

The general prerequisite for all elective courses is completion of the core curriculum. M.B.A. students may enroll in elective courses while concurrently enrolled in appropriate core courses. Enrollment by other students in the University is permitted only with the instructor’s permission and authorization by the School of Management registrar.

MGT 526a, Doing Business in the Developing World. 4 units. This course examines the challenges faced by for profit firms and nonprofits interested in operating in the developing world. The first half of the course focuses on conducting business in environments with weak or deficient institutions, including corruption, political instability, and poor investor protection. The second half of the course explores the role of nonprofits, NGOs, and multilateral institutions in the process of development. We study credit market failures and the gap filled by micro-credit institutions. We then learn some strategies to evaluate the success of NGO projects aimed at reducing poverty or improving health, educational, or environmental outcomes. We also examine the workings of international institutions such as the World Bank, WTO, and IMF in dealing with contentious international policy issues such as the free trade of goods and the migration of workers, labor rights, intellectual property protection, and climate change. A. Mushfiq Mobarak.

MGT 528a, Public and Private Management of the Environment. 4 units. This course explores environmental management from the perspectives of government regulators, private corporations, and nonprofit organizations. The first part of the course centers on innovative market-based approaches to environmental policy, such as tradable pollution permits. We also consider a variety of market-driven initiatives outside the government sphere, including eco-labeling and the growing area of “ecosystem service markets.” In the second part of the course we focus on proactive corporate environmental strategies, examining a series of case studies on firms including DuPont, BP, and Starbucks. Can firms shape regulation to secure competitive advantage? Can firms earn cost savings by reducing their environmental impacts? What is the potential for product differentiation along environmental lines? What is the role of “socially responsible investment” in the environmental realm? In short, does it “pay to be green”? We also examine the role played by nonprofit organizations in influencing corporate environmental actions, whether by confrontation or collaboration. While this course is concerned with environmental strategy and policy, the tools we develop will be useful to anyone interested in competitive strategy, corporate social responsibility, or the design of public policy. Erin Mansur.

MGT 541a, Corporate Finance II. 4 units. This course focuses on financial management from the perspective of inside the corporation or operating entity. It builds on the concepts from the core finance courses, using lectures to develop the theory, and cases and problem sets to provide applications. Topics covered include capital budgeting, valuation of companies, the cost of capital, initial public offerings, privatization, mergers and takeovers, dividend policy, optimal capital structure, leveraged buyouts, and applications of option pricing to corporate finance. Heather Tookes.

MGT 542a, International Finance. 4 units. The course provides an introduction to international financial markets and corporate decision making in an international context. The first part of the course develops a measure of exchange rate risk and provides an overview of international financial markets and the principal contracts traded on these markets: spot and forward contracts on currencies, international bonds, currency swaps, and currency options. Theories about the tradeoff between risk and return (CAPM) are extended to include multiple countries and currencies, and the predictions of the theory are compared to the empirical evidence from international developed and emerging equity markets. The last part of the course focuses on three aspects of corporate financial decision making in an international context: how to measure and hedge corporate exposure to currency risk, the rationale for currency hedging, and capital budgeting in an international context. Throughout the course, students are required to prepare written solutions to case problems and make class presentations. Geert Rouwenhorst.

MGT 543a, Financial Instruments and Contracts. 4 units. This course is designed to provide an understanding of why various financial instruments and contracts are used and an introduction to their valuation. The first part of the course develops the tools of contingent claims analysis. Contingent claims are assets or securities whose prices depend on the values of other assets or numerical indices. Obvious examples of contingent claims are put and call options, warrants, futures contracts, and convertible bonds. In addition, virtually every financial asset or contract, traded or not, is a contingent claim as well. The value of a firm’s debt and equity depends on the value of the firm’s assets. A standard mutual fund management fee contract depends on the value of the managed assets. The marketing service of investment bankers depends on the value of the assets they are trying to sell. Even the taxes that the government collects from investors can be viewed as contingent claims. The second part of the course uses the developed tools and understanding to cover as wide a variety of contingent claims as possible. We consider existing contracts and potential new contracts. In addition to learning how to value these instruments, we discuss the use and design of contracts. Hongjun Yan.

MGT 544a, Investment Management. 4 units. This course provides a broad overview of investment management, focusing on the application of finance theory to the issues faced by portfolio managers and investors in general. Topics include the general tools of portfolio optimization and performance evaluation as well as the subject areas of asset allocation, equity investing in both efficient and inefficient markets, fixed income, alternative investments, international markets, and derivatives. The course includes lectures, guest speakers, cases, problem sets, and a final exam. William Goetzmann, Roger Ibbotson.

MGT 555a, Pricing Strategy. 4 units. The course examines the pricing strategies used by profit, nonprofit, and public organizations. Topics include pricing as a means of market segmentation, quantity discounts, product line pricing, product bundling, pricing over the experience curve and the product life cycle, pricing of durables, pricing in an oligopoly, legal aspects of pricing, and pricing in the public sector. Teaching methods include cases, lectures, and guest speakers. Course requirements: several cases drawn from a wide variety of products and services, and a group term project. Subrata Sen.

MGT 559a, Marketing Strategy. 4 units. This course offers students the opportunity to develop skills and acquire experience in dealing with strategic marketing problems. The course presents an integrative, dynamic view of competitive brand strategy. It focuses on understanding, developing, and evaluating brand marketing strategies over the product life cycle. The course is suitable for students pursuing careers in marketing or strategy consulting, as well as those looking to round off their skill set for investment banking and operations. Topics include marketing strategies for pioneering brands, strategies for late entrants, growth strategies, strategies for mature and declining markets, and defensive marketing strategies. Case studies highlight marketing strategy exercise in consumer packaged goods, high tech, pharmaceuticals, and luxury goods. Material is presented using a mix of cases, lectures, guest speakers, and a computer simulation game called MARKSTRAT. Ravi Dhar.

MGT 565a, Behavioral and Institutional Economics. 4 units. Behavioral economics incorporates insights from other social sciences, such as psychology and sociology, into economic models and attempts to explain anomalies that defy standard economic analysis. Institutional economics is the study of the evolution of economic organizations, laws, contracts, and customs as part of the historical and continuing process of economic development. Behavioral economics and institutional economics are naturally treated together, since so much of the logic and design of economic institutions has to do with complexities of human behavior. Topics include economic fluctuations and speculation, herd behavior, attitudes toward risk, money illusion, involuntary unemployment, saving, investment, poverty, identity, religion, trust, risk management, and social welfare institutions. Course requirements: midterm exam, short term paper on one of the topics on the reading list, take-home final exam in short essay form. Robert Shiller.

MGT 586a, Strategy, Technology, and War. 4 units. From the computer chip to the global information grid (GIG), the demands of national defense have imposed some of the greatest management challenges ever faced. Technology management, systems integration, and complex mission analysis are central to designing the structures of national defense. Analytical intelligence (early warning systems, data mining, risk management) is also critical for monitoring a rapidly changing global environment. This course analyzes the technological transformation of the defense and intelligence communities. Subjects analyzed include defense industry structure (large system integrators, LSIs, and small venture-backed companies), the restructuring of intelligence after 9/11, and homeland defense. Special emphasis is given to managing technological innovation, that is, strategic investing by LSIs, the role of DARPA, In-Q-Tel (the CIA venture capital arm), and private equity. Scenario methods, red teaming, net assessment, and case study approaches are used. Students interested in careers in technology corporations, engineering management, private equity, and anyone fascinated by developments in national security and international order will find the course of interest. Paul Bracken.

MGT 598a, Governing the Corporation. 4 units. The course focuses on the relationship between management and the board of directors in leading the corporation (public, not for profit, and governmental) in today’s complex and competitive economy. Corporate leadership with integrity requires an ethical foundation, based on personal values and morality, to guide decision making in the vast areas of leadership open to discretion. The course begins with the philosophical origins of ethics, then considers the parameters of ownership rights, laws and regulation, best practices, media and public attention, and the interests of other stakeholders, within which corporate leaders’ discretion and integrity are tested. Guided by guest lecturer practitioners and current cases, students gain detailed knowledge of contemporary corporate governance and are challenged to exercise leadership on ambiguous matters such as compensation, options, perks, balancing profit with corporate social responsibility, and human rights in emerging markets. By considering these perspectives, this course builds on the core curriculum and better equips tomorrow’s leaders to meet the challenge of governing the corporation with integrity. Ira Millstein, Anne Simpson.

MGT 611a, Policy Modeling. 4 units. How can one evaluate the effectiveness of HIV prevention programs? How many drug treatment slots are required to provide treatment on demand? Does capital punishment deter homicide? And what do the above questions have in common? The answer to the last query is simple: these problems and more are considered in Policy Modeling. Building on earlier course work in quantitative analysis and statistics, the course provides an operational framework for exploring the costs and benefits of public policy decisions. The techniques employed include “back of the envelope” probabilistic models, Markov processes, queueing theory, and linear/integer programming. With an eye toward making better decisions, these techniques are applied to a number of important policy problems. In addition to lectures, assigned articles and text readings, and short problem sets, students are responsible for completing a take-home midterm exam and a number of cases. In some instances, it proves possible to take a real problem from formulation to solution, and to compare the student’s own analysis to what actually happened. Prerequisite: a demonstrated proficiency in quantitative methods. Edward Kaplan.

MGT 612a, Program Evaluation. 4 units. This course introduces students to the concepts and tools used to evaluate programs and policies. The course focuses on issues that arise when evaluating programs, using programs offered by nonprofit and governmental organizations as case studies. In teams, students work with a local community agency throughout the term in designing a program logic model and a detailed evaluation plan for one of the agency’s programs. Beth DaPonte.

MGT 618a, Entrepreneurial Business Planning. 4 units. Entrepreneurship is all about starting and running one’s own business. In order to focus thinking and to help assemble the needed people and financial resources, many entrepreneurs write a business plan for their new venture. One of the best ways to learn how to write a business plan is to learn by doing—a real plan for a real new venture. The work is hands-on, learn-by-doing in nature. Entrepreneurs should be flexible thinkers and highly motivated, with a large capacity for work. They must be persistent and able to thrive in an unstructured environment. Entrepreneurs should be confident self-starters with the ability to take the initiative, overcome obstacles, make things happen, and get things done. This course is for three teams of five students each, who want to write a business plan for their own real start-up company. Students enter their plans in the Y50K Business Plan Contest sponsored by the Yale Entrepreneurial Society. The scope of the work includes doing in-depth market, product, and competitor research; creating a strategy for a sustainable business; and writing and presenting a professional-quality plan (including a financial model and deal structure). Enrollment limit: fifteen, by permission of the instructor. There is an information session in September explaining how to apply for this course; date TBA. David Cromwell.

MGT 635a, Venture Capital and Private Equity Investment. 2 units. Investing in venture capital and in the equity of private companies is an apprenticeship business. Venture investors need analytic and quantitative skills, as well as broad knowledge of a range of business and financial disciplines. Successful investors need practice and a variety of experience, as well as good judgment and people skills. Course topics include start-ups and expansion-stage venture capital, leveraged buyouts, and turnaround situations. Disciplines include business research (library skills), business and financial analysis, financial projections and equity valuation, verbal and written presentations, teamwork, and negotiating techniques. The course includes both lectures and in-depth case studies, with a strong emphasis on learning by doing. Teamwork is actively encouraged to frame and solve problems, and to handle heavy workloads. Execution of case studies requires teams of students to do research on industries, segments, and niches, to evaluate business plans, and to make financial projections and value equity instruments. Teams make written and verbal presentations. Entrepreneur and investor teams negotiate and structure “deals” in a role-playing mode. Enrollment limit: thirty-six second-year SOM students. Heavy workload. Note: One section of this course runs from fall-2 to spring-1. This is a 4-unit course, but for bidding purposes it is listed as 2 units. Students receive 2 units in the fall and 2 units in the spring. They do not need to re-bid for the second part of the class in the spring; they are automatically added. David Cromwell.

MGT 644a, Structured Finance. 4 units. There is no universal definition for structured finance. From the way that structured finance teams are organized in banks, it is apparent that the term covers a wide range of financial market activity. Structured finance for this course is defined as techniques employed whenever the requirements of the originator or owner of an asset, whether concerned with funding, liquidity, risk transfer, or other need, cannot be met by an existing, off-the-shelf product or instrument. Hence, to meet this requirement, existing products and techniques must be engineered into a tailor-made product or process. Thus, structured finance is a flexible financial engineering tool. In this course we discuss the following forms of structured finance: asset securitization, collateralized debt obligations, securitized and synthetic funding structures, structured notes, credit-linked notes, leasing, and project financing. Many structured finance vehicles employ derivatives, and therefore these instruments are explained at the outset on the course, with emphasis placed on interest rate swaps and caps and credit derivatives. Case studies are presented. Enrollment limit: fifty second-year students. There are visits to NYC on several Fridays; dates TBA. Frank Fabozzi.

MGT 647a, Hedge Funds. 4 units. This course covers critical managerial aspects and characteristics of hedge funds and the hedge fund industry. It looks at the legal foundations and structures of hedge funds including the primary regulations in the U.S. and abroad that are most relevant for hedge funds. It describes operations, control, and administration, due diligence, and valuation issues. Also, while explicitly not a course on hedge fund trading techniques, it introduces a sampling of major hedge fund strategies from a general perspective so that students better understand the concept of absolute-return strategies. Moreover, we discuss performance evaluation and investing in hedge funds from the investor’s perspective, as well as issues of potential changes in regulation, risk management, and the use of leverage. The course also touches on ethics in the industry. The format mixes lectures with presentations (depending on availability) from industry participants, hedge fund managers, those who invest in hedge funds, those who advise them and provide services to them, and those who regulate them. Students give presentations; no midterm or final exams. Leon Metzger.

MGT 648a, Emerging Market Finance. 4 units. This course covers essential issues relating to investing and doing business in emerging markets. The coverage is from the perspective of an investment manager responsible for portfolios of mutual funds. The topics should also be useful for a corporate strategy/finance manager at international corporations. What we cover in this course has obvious implications for asset allocation, security selection, and business diversification strategies. We discuss several outstanding problems of emerging market investing, including market institutions, currency risk, corporate governance, related-party transactions, and performance measurement. We also cover emerging market security valuation, portfolio diversification, project/structured finance, and overseas stock listing issues. The objective is to train highly skilled financial analysts and managers with strong theoretical background and practical knowledge about emerging markets. Zhiwu Chen.

MGT 684a, Management and Environment: Issues and Topics. 4 units. Environmental issues have long challenged managers to look beyond the corporate bottom line. Rules, regulations, litigation, and other indicators that the environment must be responsibly managed have become more prevalent in the last generation, and there is no hint that they will become any less so in the future. Indeed, the familiar issues related to safety, health, and environmental compliance are now expanding to include shareholder and customer demands for greater environmental presence and responsibility in complex topics such as global climate change, energy supply and use, sustainability, and a long list of more specific matters that corporations have seldom confronted directly, if at all.

The situation is not necessarily all bleak. Many envision marvelous opportunities emerging from the burgeoning environmental sensibility. Reduced emissions from industrial processes can improve competitiveness as best available technologies are brought into play. A search for alternative energy supplies to lessen our dependence on a finite stock of oil and gas around the world creates numerous investment opportunities in an array of promising alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar power. The search also redirects global scientific and investment attention to existing but problematic sources, such as nuclear and coal.

The course provides a basic introduction to both problems and opportunities that face managers today and well into the future. Issues included in the course are some essentials of environmental science—including a discussion of the ecological and public health viewpoints and their contrasts with the economic one; environmental politics—with illustrations of special-interest influences, public perceptions, successful bargaining, negotiating, and conflict resolution; and several emerging environmental management approaches and movements, including “green boards” and accounting, industrial ecology, and other techniques designed to improve sustainability. Several more comprehensive approaches such as those seeking a “Triple Bottom Line,” “The Natural Step,” or a life “Beyond Gray Pinstripes” are also described. The long forecasting horizons associated with many environmental issues, measured in decades, centuries, and sometimes longer, require different methods and procedures from those usually encountered in management curricula. An introduction to scenarios, long-range planning, and modeling tools and techniques is provided.

Broad topics are identified to provide a realistic grounding and to illustrate many complex environmental details. Global warming/climate change and energy represent two of these. In addition, a third, sharply focused, segment considers a practical case in some detail: ecotourism, green buildings, wine production, next-generation power means and transportation modes, and others are illustrative. Each topic ranges over a two-week period and includes background readings, case materials, and also guest specialists and practitioners. Garry Brewer.

MGT 685a, Private Investment and the Environment: Legal Foundations and Tools. 4 units. As environmental problems become harder to regulate and the public funds available for environmental protection decline, more people are looking to private investment as a tool for improving environmental performance—or, more broadly, as an engine of sustainable development. However, as with all efforts to achieve sustainable development, no one knows exactly how to do it. Rather, a series of experiments in social learning are under way, both to make some progress toward a sustainable future and to use that experience to help inform future efforts. This class is one such experiment. It explores the legal aspects of these initiatives, both opportunities and limits. It starts with an analysis of the goals of private investors—as a way to target efforts to change their decisions. It then moves to a review of the legal frameworks within which investors operate (property and tax law), as well as the legal tools that investors use to order their activities (contract law) and that governments use to address market failures (monopolies, information gaps, externalized costs and benefits). It concludes by examining efforts to use combinations of these legal tools to expand private investment in environmentally superior goods, services, and operations. The course is designed to help students think through the following question: “For the environmental problem about which I care, should I and, if so, how far can I use legal tools to attract or drive private investors into helping me solve it?” Examples from around the world are used to illustrate the legal principles, focusing on water, carbon, and renewable energy issues. Students are required to prepare three written products considering the opportunities and limits of private investment as a part of the solution to the problem about which they care. Bradford Gentry.

MGT 694a, Community and Economic Development. 4 units. A multidisciplinary workshop involving students from the Schools of Law, Management, Divinity, Forestry & Environmental Studies, Public Health, and Architecture. Under the supervision of faculty and members of the local bar, participants work on behalf of nonprofit organizations and small businesses to promote job creation, neighborhood revitalization, low-income housing, access to capital and credit, and social service delivery in the New Haven area. The clinic emphasizes a nonadversarial, transactional approach to problem solving. As legal, financial, architectural, and social policy advisers, participants research legal issues, facilitate negotiations, draft contracts, incorporate organizations, complete loan and grant applications, develop financial analyses, and draft architectural plans, among other tasks. Class topics include professional responsibility, real estate finance, low-income housing policy, community development corporations and financial institutions, neighborhood planning, public school reform, and urban economic policy. Enrollment limit: ten SOM students. Robert Solomon.

MGT 695a, Nonprofit Organizations Clinic. 2 units. This clinical workshop serves the needs of nonprofit organizations, nascent and established, that require help in the process of organization and incorporation, in obtaining tax exemption, and in solving ongoing legal problems—organizations that cannot afford to retain private counsel. The class meets as a group five or six times during the term. John Simon.

MGT 808a, Management Decision Making with Spreadsheets. 2 or 4 units. This can be taken as a 2 or 4-unit course. 2 units upon completion of midterm exam or 4 units upon completion of final exam. Operations research, also known as management science, is a discipline devoted to applying scientific methods to decision making. Operations researchers utilize statistical and mathematical modeling techniques in concert with empirical observation and occasionally experimentation to arrive at solutions to management problems in government and industry. This course introduces students to operations research through a combination of lectures and computer models using EXCEL. Model formulation and use of the computer are emphasized in applications to a broad spectrum of management problems. Mathematical details are kept to a minimum. Lode Li.

MGT 810a, Behavioral Economics. 2 units. Behavioral economics looks to neighboring sciences such as psychology, biology, and neuroscience for insights into how human behavior systematically deviates from rationality. Carrying these insights one step further, behavioral economists seek to understand both the ways these biases respond to incentives, and how they affect aggregate behavior in games, organizations, and markets. This course begins with a survey of the behavioral-economic view of psychology, which can roughly be characterized by three “bounds” on human behavior: bounded willpower, bounded foresight, and bounded selfishness. Here we emphasize in equal parts the experimental lab evidence collected by psychologists and economic studies of biases as manifest in real-world behavior. Then we conclude by attempting to apply behavioral insights to strategy and industrial organization. That is, we look at what new insights behavioral economics brings to the study of both the firm’s internal structure and the firm’s relationship with consumers, financial markets, and other firms. Enrollment limit: forty. Keith Chen.

MGT 812a, Financial Statement Analysis. 2 units. This course helps students evaluate the performance, prospects, and value of a business. It develops the following four tools: (a) business strategy analysis (profit drivers, competition, etc.); (b) accounting analysis (understanding how accounting choices affect reported numbers); (c) financial analysis (understanding ratios); and (d) forecasting future financial statements and testing the validity of underlying assumptions. In parallel, we conduct a detailed analysis of one company (The Gap) and develop the spreadsheets necessary for its valuation. Basic knowledge of accounting (discussed in MGT 402) and familiarity with spreadsheets is assumed. This course also integrates concepts and issues discussed in other core courses. Frank Zhang.

MGT 815a, Managerial Controls. 2 units. This course investigates the theory and practice of incentive compensation. The goal is to examine the key forces that shape compensation and performance measurement systems, and gain an understanding of the subtleties that incentive problems bring to bear on other decisions within a firm. Topics include earnings management, budget padding, stock-based pay, Economic Value Added, and the Balanced Scorecard. Merle Ederhof.

MGT 822a, Foundations of Competitive Strategy. 2 units. An introduction to competitive strategy. Topics covered include industry profitability analysis, positioning strategies, first mover advantages, competitive advantage, and sustainability of competitive advantage. There is considerable emphasis on case analysis. Most students should consider taking Foundations in Competitive Strategy, as the topics discussed are relevant to consulting, general management, brand management, financial analysis, and many other career areas. Topics of Competitive Strategy is designed to be the second half of this sequence, and students are encouraged to take Foundations and Topics, either sequentially or concurrently. Sharon Oster.

MGT 823a, Developing Winning Strategies. 2 units. Through vivid case experiences that are similar to those faced by executives in a range of different organizations, this course helps prepare students to address business strategy issues after graduation—whether they are analyzing issues for senior executives at large institutions, working on a new assignment for a consulting firm, or making their own decisions as entrepreneurs. These cases are all based on real consulting assignments for real companies, largely drawn from the professor’s personal experience over twenty-three years at McKinsey & Company. They allow students to practice what they may be doing in the real world the following year. The course also exposes the students to highly relevant academic and consultant writing on these subjects—concepts that they apply to the case situations. Enrollment limit: thirty-five. William Barnett.

MGT 824a, Topics of Competitve Strategy. 2 units. This course is the second half of the competitive strategy sequence. The course analyzes the determinants of firm performance, sustainability, and profitability. Topics include strategic interactions, models of competition and cooperation, pricing, networks, innovation, entry and expansion decisions. This course is primarily case-based. There is a final project with student presentations. MGT 824 must be taken after or concurrently with MGT 822. Alessandro Gavazza.

MGT 826a, Negotiating Strategy. 2 units. Negotiations are everywhere we deal with others. In settings as diverse as brokering a joint venture, buying a house or car, or choosing what movie to see, compromise and mutual agreement are often a must. The goal of this course is to improve the student’s skills as a negotiator by learning a conceptual framework for analyzing and shaping negotiation processes and outcomes. Toward this end, this course brings to bear tools from game theory, behavioral economics, and social psychology. Lectures and course work build on a foundation of formal analysis with equal parts devoted to negotiations exercises, psychology readings, and demonstrations. Students leave with an understanding of two complementary sets of topics. First are formal tools and strategies, including understanding goals and incentives, structuring competition and alliances, and the making and breaking of coalitions. Equally important are key behavioral and psychological phenomena such as perceptual anchoring, motivated overconfidence, and personal and cultural perceptions of fairness. Enrollment limit: thirty. Keith Chen.

MGT 830a, Quantitative Modeling for Competitive Strategy. 2 units. This course is designed to provide students with quantitative tools to perform strategic analysis. Today corporations have precise data on costs, sales, prices, consumers, competitors, and so on. Very often, managers lack the statistical skills to analyze these data and statisticians lack the managerial skills to interpret them. The course provides a first step in filling this gap by integrating statistical tools and economic/strategic ideas. The course builds on some similar theoretical topics seen in the Basics of Economics, Foundations of Competitive Strategy, and Topics of Competitive Strategy courses, but with a more analytical/quantitative approach. In particular, students apply statistical techniques to real-world data from a variety of industries to make strategic decisions in such areas as pricing, incentives within the firm, entry in a new market, horizontal and vertical product differentiation, mergers, and new product launches. Alessandro Gavazza.

MGT 851a, Listening to the Customer. 2 units. This course is designed for students interested in brand management and strategy consulting careers. The course takes a decision-oriented perspective about data collection: students gain experience in understanding what data about consumers and markets, if available, can help them make strategic marketing decisions. We discuss both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods such as focus groups, survey design, and so on, and when they are appropriate. While Strategic Market Measurement introduces methods of data analysis once the data have been collected, the focus in this course is on the data collection itself. Students plan and execute a research project, in which they combine the data collection skills learned in this course, with data analysis skills learned in Strategic Market Measurement. Jiwoong Shin.

MGT 852a, Strategic Market Measurement. 2 units. This course is designed for students interested in brand management and strategy consulting careers. The course equips students with methods to perform critical elements of marketing strategy such as market segmentation, targeting, competitive market mapping for product positioning, and product design. We cover techniques such as discriminant and logic analysis, cluster analysis, factor analysis and conjoint analysis. The course has a heavy hands-on flavor, and we analyze datasets using the Minitab statistical analysis program. The instructor’s notes integrate the underlying theory and logic of the analysis with the practical Minitab implementation details to facilitate learning. Weekly homework assignments involving analysis of datasets and interpretation provide an experiential learning experience. Jiwoong Shin.

MGT 854a, Channel Strategy. 2 units. This course investigates the tradeoffs firms face in channel management as they bring a product to market. The goal of this course is to develop a general framework for channel management that is enduring and can be applied to both the initial channel design and its ongoing management. The framework rests on three important microeconomic principles: coordination, incentives, and a resource-based view of the firm. We illustrate how strategies for bringing products to market balance these effects. Course concepts are illustrated primarily in class lectures, and in each class subject we discuss one or two cases. Many of the cases address channel conflict, multi-channel coordination, and multi-channel incentives. Jiwoong Shin.

MGT 860a, Managing in Times of Rapid Change. 2 units. Gradually, and in great long waves which moved down as well as up, the rate of turnover in the S&P (which has become, of course, the S&P 500) has increased to its present level of about 5 percent, or five times the number eighty years ago. Corporate leadership once lasting decades now comes and goes in much less time. Imperceptibly slowly, continuity has given way to change and capital intensity has been replaced by knowledge intensity. Investors are now increasingly active, seeking a shared role with management in allocating free cash flow. Management, seeking to maintain the long-term health of the enterprise, often disagrees. The game has changed forever. Managerial theories based on the assumption of continuity, rather than the assumption of change, have become increasingly strained. Through lectures, case studies, and analytical exercises, this course explores, the changes that have taken place over the past eighty years and what they mean for managers over the next decade. The course consists of three modules.

The first module (covered in the first three classes) examines the economics of long-term investor returns and the lessons those economics hold for managers as well as investors. The reasons that corporations find it as difficult to outperform the S&P as do asset managers are explored, including the notion of investor error. Some use of statistical analysis is required to understand when performance variations are meaningful. In this context, the sources of long-term investor risk are examined and contrasted with more conventional notions frequently used in financial markets. Further, the economics of disruptive change is studied with a focus on unraveling the importance of speed, margins, and balance sheet strength to the success of competitive attack and counterattack.

The second module (discussed in the fourth and fifth classes) examines the Scylla and Charybdis of successful management—creativity and control. The opposing demands of permissiveness and discipline required by creativity and control form the nexus of the battle between continuity and change, between risk and return. “Creativity,” the propensity to create, was first listed in Webster in the later part of the nineteenth century, and as such is a reasonably modern concept. Control is an ancient word. The history and present applications of these concepts are discussed as they are applied in both large and small companies.

The third module (covered in the last two classes) examines models of managerial response to the increasing pace of change. Examples from different countries, where the pace, scale, and nature of change differ, are examined along with examples from different industry sectors. In particular, the role of the executive committee, the CEO, and the board is setting and controlling the pace and scale of change in the corporation is explored in depth. Finally, the applicability of a new model of corporate management, one based on the Schumpeterian paradigm of “create-operate-trade” rather than operational excellence alone, is presented and examined as a basis for managing contemporary enterprises which can expect an even faster pace of change in the future. Richard Foster.

MGT 861a, Philanthropic Foundations. 2 units. This course examines the history and practice of philanthropic foundations in the United States from the establishment of the Peabody Education Fund in 1867, through the rise of large general-purpose foundations in the first decades of the twentieth century, to the major reshaping of foundations that occurred in the wake of the 1969 Tax Reform Act. The course examines the practices of independent, family, corporate, and community foundations and explores, in detail, foundation governance structures, program design, grant decision-making processes, and evaluation procedures. Particular attention is paid to the interrelations between foundations and government and to foundations’ evolving philanthropic missions and strategies. The course also analyzes important debates in the field about issues such as program versus project support, the value of “venture” philanthropy, and the extent to which foundations must be accountable and transparent. Course work includes case studies, individual and group projects. Enrollment limit: forty. Jack Meyers.

MGT 863a, Maximizing Corporate Performance. 2 units. This course offers an integrated framework for managing corporate performance, with a focus on how financial, strategic, and organizational decisions can be aligned around the common objective of maximizing the company’s intrinsic value. Students are expected to take the perspective of a corporate CEO with the explicit goal of leading the company to achieve strategic and financial performance that is consistently superior to competitors. Specific topics include measuring economic profitability and intrinsic value, setting appropriate performance objectives, understanding how strategic position drives the intrinsic value of a business, formulating high-value line of business and corporate strategies, and creating organization structures and processes aligned with the optimal allocation of the company’s human and financial capital. In addition to the core reading, lecture, and case material, three or four senior executives participate as guest speakers. Enrollment limit: thirty-five. Peter Kontes.

MGT 868a, Tranforming Events. 2 units. During the last century and especially during the last twenty-five years, a series of events has given birth to new financial instruments and institutions whose creation and influence have radically altered the development of capital markets and political outcomes. This course explores select developments from three perspectives: what occurred; what financial instrument was developed or played a central role; and what were the enduring cultural, business, or political results of the event. The goal is to equip managers to respond earlier and more effectively to such seminal events in the future. Three examples are: (1) Event: the rise and fall of Drexel Burnham; Instrument: high-yield bonds; Result: the launch of Rudolph Giuliani’s political career; (2) Event: the battle for RJR Nabisco; Instrument: the leveraged buyout; Result: the growth of private equity; (3) Event: long-term capital implodes; Instrument: fixed-income derivatives and hedge funds; Result: the Federal Reserve takes an activist role.

The course consists of lectures consisting of three components: presentation by students on the event itself; academic lecture on the instrument or institution; guest presentation related to the result. Guest speakers include senior managers from Alliance Capital Management, Blackstone, Citicorp, SAC, Securities and Exchange Commission, Thomas Weisel Partners, among other significant institutions that have agreed to participate on a preliminary basis. Mark Manson.

MGT 869a, Banking and the Public Interest. 2 units. This course explores the complex relationship between financial services and the public interest, and the wide variety of financial institutions required to support a modern economy. Economic growth and prosperity depend on the development of strong, efficient, innovative, and honest financial institutions that collect capital from savers and redistribute it to investors, who put it to productive use building businesses and creating jobs. Commercial banks have long played a central role in economic growth, and we study their function and evolution over time. In addition, we examine the important roles played by investment banks, security and venture capital companies, savings institutions, credit unions, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, insurance companies, and others. Because of the pivotal role banks play in the prosperity of a nation, governments have traditionally chosen to regulate their activities to protect the public interest. This course reviews the major regulatory systems in the U.S., including the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, the FDIC, the SEC, the Federal Home Loan Bank System, the state insurance regulatory system, and many others. Government supervision and oversight have important roles to play in a modern financial system. At the same time, excessive or inappropriate regulation interferes with the optimum allocation of capital and the functioning of the payments systems. Obviously the key is to strike the right balance between effectively functioning private markets and the public interest broadly defined. This course examines both sides of this persistent and important issue. Enrollment limit: thirty. Donald Ogilvie.

MGT 896a, Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship. 2 units. This course examines the legal issues likely to arise in the course of forming a start-up and managing a growing firm. Students learn how to spot legal issues before they become legal problems and how to use the law and legal tools to create value, marshal resources (human and financial), and manage risk. Issues addressed include arrangements among the founders, intellectual property protection, venture capital financing, executive compensation (including tax considerations), and securities regulation. LAE is of particular interest to students planning to become entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, or chief financial officers. There is one take-home final exam. The final grade is based on class participation (40 percent) and performance on the final exam (60 percent). This course involves an above-average amount of reading and case preparation, and every student is expected to come to class prepared to discuss the assigned materials. Constance Bagley.

MGT 898a, Principles of Commercial Real Estate. 2 units. This is a micro-view, bottom-up course on the basic principles of real estate development and investment for the five commercial property types (office, industrial, retail, multifamily, and hotel) throughout the U.S. but with utilization of New Haven for case studies of actual projects. The focus of the course is primary research on essential real estate documents: assessments, deeds, leases, mortgage liens, and partnership agreements. Mathematics is required but limited to the methods for calculating property valuation with and without debt, partnership interests and capital accounts, debt interests, and the tax benefits of depreciation and leverage. We examine the factors influencing value for major commercial real estate property (location, financing, timing, ownership structure, environmental issues, etc.) in the context of the space market and the capital markets. In addition to weekly assignments, there is a final presentation, given by team or individually, analyzing a real property in or near New Haven. The course requires the use of a handheld HP or similar financial calculator capable of IRR and loan amortization calculations. Each class includes an in-class mathematical exercise. Enrollment limit: thirty. Kevin Gray.

MGT 948a, Security Analyis. 4 units. This course is designed to help students develop skills in conducting in-depth industry and company analyses, writing reports, and presenting and defending results. Each team of two students analyzes and reports on one industry and three companies. Most of the class time is spent on presenting and discussing the reports. Students may enroll for one or both terms. Students who take both terms have responsibility as portfolio managers to supervise teams of analysts and manage portfolios. There are a few invited speakers. Grades depend on the reports and insightful contributions to class discussion. Reports of exceptional quality are posted to the Internet for public downloading and comment with the authors’ names on them. Shyam Sunder, Matthew Spiegel.

MGT 949a, Private Equity Investing. 4 units. This case-driven course focuses on principal issues and types of investments typically found in substantial private equity portfolios: cash flow analysis, sources of private equity capital, private equity analytical framework, borrowing and bankruptcy, employee incentives, ownership issues, leveraged buyouts, build-ups, growth capital, venture capital financing, and investing in new categories. Classes are based largely on primary source materials and active student participation. Past students have found the class to be demanding and unusually practical. Students benefit from strong foundations in corporate finance, accounting, and strategic business analysis. Michael Schmertzler.

Spring-Term Elective Courses

The general prerequisite for all elective courses is completion of the core curriculum. M.B.A. students may enroll in elective courses while concurrently enrolled in appropriate core courses. Enrollment by other students in the University is permitted only with the instructor’s permission and authorization by the School of Management registrar.

MGT 523b, International Economics. 4 units. This course explores topics in international economics relevant for managers. The first third of the course provides a theoretical framework for thinking about the costs and benefits that international trade confers on countries, firms, and workers, and for understanding what is meant by various invocations of the term “globalization.” The remainder of the course focuses on evaluating specific strategies pursued by companies, governments, and labor unions in pursuit of profit, national welfare, and workers’ well-being. Topics addressed include trade liberalization, monetary and customs union, tax harmonization, foreign exchange rate risk, currency hedging, international alliances, outsourcing, and international entrepreneurship. Peter Schott.

MGT 527b, Strategic Management of Nonprofit Organizations. 4 units. The purpose of this course is to study, discuss, and debate many issues of concern to managers of nonprofit organizations. Broadly speaking, these issues involve mission definition, competing internal and external demands, resource scarcity and uncertainty, governance systems, and managing strategic change. While the principal thrust of the course is on nonprofit organizations, there are opportunities to examine areas where public, for-profit, and nonprofit organizations interact. This is primarily, although not exclusively, a case-based course. Sharon Oster.

MGT 532b, Leadership and Values. 4 units. This class mixes behavioral economics, neuroscience, philosophy, and management techniques to explore how actions become disconnected from core values. We examine questions that keep leaders up at night, and we take a critical look at attractive answers. In doing this, we learn how to lead ourselves and others into doing what we want. Daylian Cain.

MGT 536b, Judgment and Negotiation. 4 units. Negotiation has been described aptly as both a science and an art. This class applies concepts from economics and psychology—the science—to develop powerful negotiators who implement optimal solutions—the art. The heart of this course is a set of weekly negotiation exercises. Through guided debriefs supplemented by readings and case study, students learn to evaluate the interests of key stakeholders, identify sources of power, leverage their personal strengths, and anticipate the long-term consequences of short-term decisions. They come to understand how people assess and value options, the judgments they are likely to make about those options, and the means by which they influence—and are influenced by—others. We cover all the topics of MGT 887 as well as advanced material: power and persuasion, multiparty and iterative negotiation, situational and psychological barriers to agreement, and cross-cultural negotiation. Please note that because of the experiential nature of the course, attendance at all classes, including the first, is required. This class may not be taken in addition to MGT 887. Erica Dawson.

MGT 541b, Corporate Finance II. 4 units. This course focuses on financial management from the perspective of inside the corporation or operating entity. It builds on the concepts from the core finance courses, using lectures to develop the theory, and cases and problem sets to provide applications. Topics covered include capital budgeting, valuation of companies, the cost of capital, initial public offerings, privatization, mergers and takeovers, dividend policy, optimal capital structure, leveraged buyouts, and applications of option pricing to corporate finance. James Choi.

MGT 544b, Investment Management. 4 units. This course provides a broad overview of investment management, focusing on the application of finance theory to the issues faced by portfolio managers and investors in general. Topics include general tools of active portfolio management such as portfolio optimization, performance evaluation, style and attribution analysis, and metrics to quantify different dimensions of active management, especially as applied to mutual funds and hedge funds, as well as issues relevant to various passive strategies such as fundamental indexing. Topics also cover the subject areas of asset allocation, equity investing in both efficient and inefficient markets, fixed income, derivatives, and alternative investments with a focus on hedge funds. The course includes lectures, guest speakers, cases, problem sets, and a final project on portfolio management. Antti Petajisto.

MGT 545b, Financial Engineering. 4 units. This course is a continuation of MGT 543a, Financial Instruments and Contracts. It develops the advanced tools needed to understand and value the increasingly complex financial instruments and contracts that are being used by corporations and other organizations. Specific topics include contracts with two or more basis assets, interest rate contracts, perpetual contracts, and numerical approximation methods for valuing. This course uses calculus. The course requirements are mini-cases and a final exam. Prerequisite: Financial Instruments and Contracts or permission of the instructor. Jonathan Ingersoll.

MGT 547b, Fixed-Income Security Analysis. 4 units. This course is designed to provide a comprehensive and rigorous analysis of fixed-income securities such as bonds, forward contracts, swaps, mortgage-backed securities, and interest rate derivatives. It presents the conceptual framework used for the pricing and hedging of these fixed-income securities in an intuitive and mathematically simple manner. The subject of this course is calculation-heavy. Martijn Cremers.

MGT 556b, Information- and Technology-Based Marketing. 4 units. A description of this course was not available at press time. See www.som.yale.edu for up-to-date information about electives. Oliver Rutz.

MGT 557b, Product Planning and Development. 4 units. This course deals with the development and introduction of new products and the management of existing products. Topics include the innovation process; product positioning; idea generation; screening; concept testing; the integration of design, manufacturing, and marketing; pre-test market models; test market models; diffusion of innovations; product life cycle; and defensive marketing strategies. The course involves readings, lectures, and guest presentations. Several cases are also discussed. These cases are selected to represent a wide variety of products such as durables, frequently purchased products, services, and products from the nonprofit and public sectors. Subrata Sen.

MGT 558b, Consumer Behavior. 4 units. Contemporary approaches to business emphasize the importance of adopting a customer focus. Marketing, in particular, begins and ends with the consumer—from determining consumer needs to providing customer satisfaction. The primary goal of this course is to enhance students’ understanding of consumer behavior. The psychology of the consumer includes some intuitive and some nonintuitive ideas about behavior. In this course we train intuition, so that the student thinks more like a psychologist about how consumers perceive and respond to market events. Many of the psychological insights are particularly useful for strategy, brand positioning, and marketing communication decisions. Some of these applications are discussed in class. In addition, we focus on the methodology of research to build the tools the student will need to interpret research. The ability to correctly interpret market research makes this research much more actionable in managerial contexts. Nathan Novemsky.

MGT 562b, Behavioral Perspectives on Management. 4 units. A description of this course was not available at press time. See www.som.yale.edu for up-to-date information about electives. Joseph Simmons.

MGT 574b, Management of Quality. 2 units. In recent years, service and manufacturing companies have undertaken Six Sigma programs and other efforts to improve quality, and it is now commonplace for a firm’s quality systems to be certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). At the same time, quality disasters, such as the Firestone tire recall, occur with regularity, and as a recent major study reported, far more people are dying each year from medical errors than from automobile accidents. In short, as Jeffrey Garten wrote in Business Week, “the war for better quality is far from won.” This course focuses on the most useful approaches to quality in delivering services and goods, and emphasizes both managerial issues and statistical methods. We make use of a service quality framework that consists of defining quality, determining customer needs, assessing customer satisfaction, and developing quality measures and standards. Understanding and reducing variability is a fundamental theme. The course includes lectures, in-class demonstrations, and cases. Cases include controlling and improving production for a leading maker of copier paper, increasing circulation at Mother Jones magazine, and improving service quality at Florida Power & Light and the Paul Revere Insurance Co. A key subject is design of experiments, with an emphasis on applications to marketing and service operations. Experimental design originated in the 1930s with experiments in agriculture such as measuring the effects on crop yields of using different seeds, fertilizers, and insect sprays. The course presents the basic experimental design principles and shows how they can be applied to a wide range of problems, with a focus on marketing applications such as Arthur Swersey’s project at Mother Jones magazine aimed at increasing circulation through direct mail. The course builds on the statistical foundations of Data and Decision Analysis, and covers material that will be especially applicable to marketing, operations, and management consulting. Final exam and weekly written assignments. The textbook for the course is Testing 1-2-3: Experimental Design with Applications in Marketing and Service Operations by Johannes Ledolter and Arthur J. Swersey (Stanford University Press, 2007). Arthur Swersey.

MGT 583b, Understanding Global Financial Centers. 4 units. The course focuses on a number of global financial centers such as New York City, London, Hong Kong, and Dubai. (Others that can be studied include Miami, Boston, Chicago, Frankfurt, Tokyo, New Delhi, Shanghai.) The course is designed for students to gain an appreciation for what constitutes a financial center, what makes one competitive, how they compete and cooperate at the same time, and what ingredients determine the most successful centers for the future.

The course offers a window into some of the fiercest competitive drives among countries and companies in an increasingly globalized world. For students working in commercial or investment banking, investment management, private equity, hedge funds, accounting, or consulting, the course provides a global context for the working environment. For those interested in financial regulation, corporate governance, or the management of public infrastructure, there is much to learn as well.

The first half of the course focuses on analytical issues. Just what is a financial center, over and above the formal stock exchanges? What has their history been (using the examples of cities like Venice, Amsterdam, or London)? We also examine financial, regulatory, and human resource issues that go into making a vibrant center. We look at how financial centers contribute to globalization and innovation, and are affected by these same phenomena. And we discuss how financial centers are part of urban planning.

During spring break, the entire class makes a trip to London, Dubai, and Hong Kong to investigate the strengths and weakness of these financial centers. We meet with a broad range of officials including financiers market makers, regulators, and politicians.

The second part of the course, beginning after spring break, is similar to an independent study class in which teams of students do an in-depth report on one financial center and its future challenges against the broader global backdrop that we have studied. At the end of the term, three student teams present their results to the entire class.

Students are required to cover their own cost of travel and lodging. The estimated cost of the spring trip for each student is $3,000. Students are eligible to take out additional loans and financial aid to help pay for the cost. (Karen Wellman in the Office of Student Affairs can provide additional information.) Enrollment limit: twenty-four second-year students. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the class, every attempt is made to assemble a group of diverse interests, experiences, and course concentrations. Jeffrey Garten.

MGT 584b, Leading a Global Company. 4 units. The purpose of this course is to give students a comprehensive overview of the challenges of running a global company. The classes are a mix of lectures, discussions, case studies, and outside speakers. Students are evaluated on the basis of class participation, a group presentation, and a research paper looking at one challenge facing a global company and evaluating how it was or is currently being handled.

The course begins with an overview of the range of issues that global companies face today as viewed from the perspective of a CEO. Examples are drawn from companies such as GE, BP, Campbell Soup Company, Alcan, Wal-Mart, Toyota, WPP, and Siemens, as well as a number of companies that are based in emerging markets, such as Mexico’s Cemex (building materials), Brazil’s CVRD (mining), India’s Infosys (IT and consulting), Singapore Airlines, and Hong Kong’s Li & Fung (supply chain management). We discuss specific issues facing these companies including organizational questions (such as organizational structures to better manage and control globalization of activities), strategic challenges (such as breaking into new markets), dealing with the environment, and confronting deep-seated new trends such as the need to combat obesity (in the case of food companies), confronting intellectual property rights violations (in the case of pharmaceutical or entertainment companies), or handling censorship (in the case of companies like Yahoo! in China.)

In 2007 the chairmen and/or CEOs of the following companies came to class: Goldman Sachs, Campbell Soup, Pfizer, Alcan, KPMG, The Starr Company, Spencer Stuart, The NYSE-Euronext Group, and McKinsey & Co.

By the end of the course, students re expected to be familiar with the way CEOs think about a range of big issues, the way they frame their decisions and the information they seek and use, and the dilemmas they face in making decisions and implementing them. It is expected, as well, that students have sharpened their ability to do meaningful research on global companies, using reports from regulators, industry analysts, and other sources. Enrollment limit: forty second-year SOM students. Jeffrey Garten.

MGT 623b, Strategic Leadership across Sectors. 4 units. This course takes a comprehensive view of the value-adding impact of top corporate leaders and how they revolutionize their enterprises, their industries, and the world economy. The subject matter embraces and integrates such broad key dimensions of strategic change as economic context, shifting markets, emerging technologies, corporate life stage, company culture, and corporate governance together with the character, skill set, and life stages of individual leaders. The course mission involves three equally important goals. The first is to help students anticipate the multidimensional cross-disciplinary aspects of successful planned change from strategic systems to group dynamics and individual psychology. A second is to appreciate the consequences of the unintended effects of strategic change initiatives on work communities and societies at large. The last goal is to provide students with an overview of the contemporary industry-specific challenges in an effort to highlight the varied leadership values and skills that are not always apparent as corporations make acquisitions or managers select careers. The course materials used to fulfill this mission require students to be comfortable with a wide variety of learning tools including research articles, case studies, current industry periodicals, spirited class discussion, role playing, video, and frequent prominent industry leaders as class visitors. Following an overview that builds an analytic framework for the course, the key dimensions of strategic change are examined through a sequence of industry-by-industry settings including professional services, financial services, retail, e-commerce, communications and media, recreation and travel, government and nonprofit, industrial and consumer products. Toward the close, the course returns to cross-industry change leadership and challenges such as executive succession, life stage imperatives, and ethical dilemmas. There is a thirteenth class, scheduled at a later date. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld.

MGT 635b, Venture Capital and Private Equity Investment. 4 units. Investing in venture capital and in the equity of private companies is an apprenticeship business. Venture investors need analytic and quantitative skills, as well as broad knowledge of a range of business and financial disciplines. Successful investors need practice and a variety of experience, as well as good judgment and people skills. Course topics include start-ups and expansion-stage venture capital, leveraged buyouts, and turnaround situations. Disciplines include business research (library skills), business and financial analysis, financial projections and equity valuation, verbal and written presentations, teamwork, and negotiating techniques. The course includes both lectures and in-depth case studies, with a strong emphasis on learning by doing. Teamwork is actively encouraged to frame and solve problems, and to handle heavy workloads. Execution of case studies requires teams of students to do research on industries, segments, and niches, to evaluate business plans, and to make financial projections and value equity instruments. Teams make written and verbal presentations. Entrepreneur and investor teams negotiate and structure “deals” in a role-playing mode. Enrollment limit: thirty-six second-year SOM students. Heavy workload. Note: One section of this course runs from fall-2 to spring-1. This is a 4-unit course, but for bidding purposes it is listed as 2 units. Students receive 2 units in the fall and 2 units in the spring. They do not need to re-bid for the second part of the class in the spring; they are automatically added. David Cromwell.

MGT 641b, Behavioral Finance. 4 units. This course develops the psychological framework for, and then surveys recent research on, possible mispricing in financial markets due to investor psychology or institutional constraints. Broad themes are the practical limits of arbitrage, models of psychological behavior, predictability of security returns, and managerial biases in decision making. Practical implications for portfolio management, executive contracting, and policy implications are developed. There is a required final project in which students apply the concepts to develop a new test of behavioral finance in the managerial or portfolio setting. Paul Tetlock.

MGT 664b, The Law and Economics of Corporate Control. 4 units. This course is taught jointly by a professor and an attorney with a very large acquisitions and corporate governance practice. Its objectives are to explore positive theories of why changes of control occur and the forms they take, and to explore normative theories of how the state should respond to these changes. Topics include hostile takeovers, proxy contests, leveraged buyouts, friendly mergers, state and federal regulation of acquisitions activity, and corporate governance issues. Readings range from current cases to scholarly articles. The theoretical and legal treatments are tested in the analysis of three recent deals, each of which is presented by an actual participant in the deal. Students are asked to critique the conduct of the deals in light of the legal and commercial options available to the parties. The course grade is based on the critique and on an examination or a paper option with permission of the instructors. Self-scheduled examination. Alan Schwartz.

MGT 668b, Managing Performance Improvement in Health Care Delivery Organizations. 4 units. This course is designed to provide participants with a foundation for developing, implementing, and analyzing efforts to improve health care delivery by provider organizations. Participants become familiar with the internal problems of managing performance improvement in health care delivery organizations at multiple levels—individual, interpersonal, group, and organizational. Additionally, they acquire knowledge of (1) fundamental management theories and perspectives related to performance improvement (e.g., on motivation, leadership, knowledge transfer, goal-setting, contingencies, managing superiors and self, etc.), and (2) recent initiatives by health care organizations. Through case studies, readings, exercises, and class discussions, participants are introduced to analytic frameworks, concepts, tools and skills necessary for facilitating organizational learning, quality improvement, innovation, and overall performance in health care organizations. Ingrid Nembhard.

MGT 694b, Community and Economic Development. 4 units. A multidisciplinary workshop involving students from the Schools of Law, Management, Divinity, Forestry & Environmental Studies, Public Health, and Architecture. Under the supervision of faculty and members of the local bar, participants work on behalf of nonprofit organizations and small businesses to promote job creation, neighborhood revitalization, low-income housing, access to capital and credit, and social service delivery in the New Haven area. The clinic emphasizes a nonadversarial, transactional approach to problem solving. As legal, financial, architectural, and social policy advisers, participants research legal issues, facilitate negotiations, draft contracts, incorporate organizations, complete loan and grant applications, develop financial analyses, and draft architectural plans, among other tasks. Class topics include professional responsibility, real estate finance, low-income housing policy, community development corporations and financial institutions, neighborhood planning, public school reform, and urban economic policy. Enrollment limit: ten SOM students. Robert Solomon.

MGT 695b, Nonprofit Organizations Clinic. 2 units. This clinical workshop serves the needs of nonprofit organizations, nascent and established, that require help in the process of organization and incorporation, in obtaining tax exemption, and solving ongoing legal problems—organizations that cannot afford to retain private counsel. The class meets as a group five or six times during the term. John Simon.

MGT 698b, Health Care Policy, Finance, and Economics. 4 units. This course teaches students the critical skills in analyzing and working within the health care industry. The first portion of the course focuses on the economic and financial drivers of the domestic health care system, including private and public financing and delivery models. In the latter portion of the course, the students learn about current issues of importance to this $2 trillion + industry. The course is part didactic/part seminar style, with team projects and presentations as a major component of the grade. Undergraduates and non-SOMers enrolled only with the permission of the instructor. Howard Forman.

MGT 699b, Health Care Leadership Seminar. 4 units. This course, open to joint-degree candidates of the School of Medicine or with written permission of the course director, exposes the students to current leaders in health care, with a particular emphasis on those leaders who are, or have been, active clinicians. The students come prepared to discuss the key elements in the speakers’ careers, including their research, when appropriate. This course meets throughout the year, though credit is only earned in the last term before graduation (at least two years of participation required). Howard Forman.

MGT 808b, Management Decision Making with Spreadsheets. 2 or 4 units. This can be taken as a 2- or 4-unit course: 2 units on completion of midterm exam or 4 units on completion of final exam. Operations research, also known as management science, is a discipline devoted to applying scientific methods to decision making. Operations researchers utilize statistical and mathematical modeling techniques in concert with empirical observation and occasionally experimentation to arrive at solutions to management problems in government and industry. This course introduces students to operations research through a combination of lectures and computer models using Excel. Model formulation and use of the computer are emphasized in applications to a broad spectrum of management problems. Mathematical details are kept to a minimum. Lode Li.

MGT 811b, Taxes, Business, and Strategy. 2 units. This course is designed to give students the tools to identify, understand, and evaluate tax planning opportunities. We begin by developing a conceptual framework for thinking about how tax rules affect business decisions. Once developed, the framework is brought to life by application to a variety of settings of particular interest to M.B.A. students (e.g., mergers and acquisitions and tax arbitrage). Several cases and a final exam. Frank Zhang.

MGT 812b, Financial Statement Analysis. 2 units. This course helps students evaluate the performance, prospects, and value of a business, It develops the following four tools: (a) business strategy analysis (profit drivers, competition, etc.); (b) accounting analysis (understanding how accounting choices affect reported numbers); (c) financial analysis (understanding ratios); and (d) forecasting future financial statements and testing the validity of underlying assumptions. In parallel, we conduct a detailed analysis of one company (The Gap) and develop the spreadsheets necessary for its valuation. Basic knowledge of accounting (discussed in MGT 402) and familiarity with spreadsheets is assumed. This course also integrates concepts and issues discussed in other core courses. Frank Zhang.

MGT 813b, Advanced Financial Statement Analysis. 2 units. This course builds on the concepts and tools developed in MGT 812 and values firms with more complex financial and accounting situations than those discussed in MGT 812. Both lectures and cases are used to develop this material. In addition, students form groups, conduct a full-blown valuation of a company they select, and present their analyses in class. Prerequisite or corequisite: Financial Statement Analysis. Jacob Thomas.

MGT 822b, Foundations of Competitive Strategy. 2 units. An introduction to competitive strategy. Topics covered include industry profitability analysis, positioning strategies, first mover advantages, competitive advantage, and sustainability of competitive advantage. There is considerable emphasis on case analysis. Most students should consider taking Foundations of Competitive Strategy, as the topics discussed are relevant to consulting, general management, brand management, financial analysis, and many other career areas. Topics of Competitive Strategy is designed to be the second half of this sequence, and students are encouraged to take Foundations and Topics, either sequentially or concurrently. Barry Nalebuff, Judith Chevalier.

MGT 824b, Topics of Competitve Strategy. 2 units. This course is the second half of the competitive strategy sequence. The course analyzes the determinants of firm performance, sustainability, and profitability. Topics include strategic interactions, models of competition and cooperation, pricing, networks, innovation, entry and expansion decisions. This course is primarily case-based. There is a final project with student presentations. MGT 824 must be taken after or concurrently with MGT 822. Barry Nalebuff.

MGT 827b, Endowment Management. 2 units. The seminar focuses on investment policy and portfolio management of tax-exempt institutional funds, with an emphasis on endowments. The class discusses asset allocation, risk, the role of active management, incentive structures, and manager selection and evaluation. Guest speakers include investment managers from various asset classes. Enrollment is by permission of instructor; enrollment limit: sixteen, with priority to first-year SOM students. Students should e-mail shannan.warner@yale.edu a statement of interest indicating why they want to take the course and what they will contribute to the class; a copy of the student’s resume should be attached. The submission deadline is in November; precise date TBD. Dean Takahashi.

MGT 828b, Creativity and Innovation. 2 units. Creativity and innovation generate novel ideas, products, applications, strategies, and solutions. In this course we explore the many different aspects of creativity and innovation that are important in business and in life, including being creative oneself, nurturing creativity in others, managing activities of innovation in organizations, recognizing valuable creative ideas and innovations when one comes across them, and appreciating the competitive dynamics associated with innovations. Students learn about creativity and innovation through a mixture of readings, lectures, small group and class discussions, cases, and independent projects. Enrollment limit: thirty-five. Jonathan Feinstein.

MGT 833b, Designers Designing Design. 2 units. This course offers students the opportunity to be design clients and to acquire the skills and experience necessary to use design to shape and manage products, programs, initiatives, and campaigns. Two working designers explore design as a methodology, a way of working in modern organizations—corporations, foundations, magazines, schools, even cities. Beginning with an overview of contemporary “design thinking,” the course surveys far-ranging examples in which design has been used as a means of innovation, change, message, and influence. Cases include corporate, retail, and nonprofit identity; content-rich media and editorial projects; and social and political initiatives. Weekly assignments involve writing design briefs for real-world projects, considering strategic goals, organizational strengths, and consumer and public need. The course combines hands-on exercises, lectures, readings, and cases. Guest lecturers include well-known designers, as well as clients involved in live cases. William Drenttel, Michael Bierut.

MGT 838b, Navigating Organizations. 2 units. This course explores how employees succeed in their organizations. Throughout we focus on the new M.B.A. graduate, including case studies from that perspective. The intent is to push beyond formal motivational systems and organizational design, to the informal side of organizations. The objective is to leave the student with a well-grounded understanding of the threats and opportunities presented by this side of organizations, and well equipped to navigate it. Topics include social networks, status, power, groups, coalitions, and influence. Cade Massey.

MGT 843b, Corporate Finance Part 1. 2 units. This half-term course covers the topics in the first half of MGT 541. The emphasis is on mastering the foundational analytic tools required for financial management of a corporation or operating entity. Topics covered include capital budgeting, valuation of companies, the cost of capital, optimal capital structure, and dividend policy. This course’s rigor is equivalent to that of MGT 541. However, it is suited for students who are not interested in special topics such as private equity, bankruptcy, real options, initial public offerings, and corporate governance. James Choi.

MGT 856b, Managing Marketing Programs. 2 units. This course focuses on the decisions managers must make to successfully implement marketing strategies. Successful marketing implementation requires the managed introduction of new products, effective setting of prices, persuasive communication of product value, and the distribution of the product through intermediaries or direct sales teams. The course uses cases, lectures, hands-on exercises, and class discussion to teach how organizations could make effective decisions within the “marketing mix” or the “4 P’s of Marketing”—product, price, promotions (communication), and place (distribution). A marketing simulation exercise is used to present a challenging and practical business environment in which to apply and hone marketing skills. The course also emphasizes the interconnections between the different elements of the marketing mix. Joseph Simmons.

MGT 862b, Emotionality and Irrationality in Management. 2 units. A course in identifying and managing the underlying, often unrecognized, and frequently unwelcome emotional factors that lead to irrational outcomes in management. A mix of readings, biographical material, and case studies is used to get at the ways in which those factors arise in management activities, including negotiating, team building, supervising, and planning. Ambition, pride, and conscience are looked at, with a particular emphasis on their emotional correlates, such as anger, aggression, excitement, despair, and guilt. The basic aim is to deepen the understanding of normal human psychological functioning, though the pathological gets at least a sidelong glance. Interaction in discussion and in role-playing is emphasized. Grading is based on a weekly log kept by each student, a brief final paper, and classroom participation. Enrollment limit: twenty. Marc Rubenstein.

MGT 863b, Maximizing Corporate Performance. 2 units. This course offers an integrated framework for managing corporate performance, with a focus on how financial, strategic, and organizational decisions can be aligned around the common objective of maximizing the company’s intrinsic value. Students are expected to take the perspective of a corporate CEO with the explicit goal of leading the company to achieve strategic and financial performance that is consistently superior to competitors. Specific topics to be addressed include measuring economic profitability and intrinsic value, setting appropriate performance objectives, understanding how strategic position drives the intrinsic value of a business, formulating high-value line of business and corporate strategies, and creating organization structures and processes aligned with the optimal allocation of the company’s human and financial capital. In addition to the core reading, lecture, and case material, three or four senior executives participate as guest speakers. Enrollment limit: thirty-five. Peter Kontes.

MGT 864, CSR: Social Venture Management. 2 units. This course’s central question is how pursuit of profit is reconciled with nonfinancial goals. The method of answering this question is analysis, with each class focused on a different company. For example, how do “socially responsible” enterprises integrate social goals into their business plans? How do Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two publicly traded, highly profitable financial intermediaries, manage their twin goals of profitability and provision of financing for affordable housing? How do investors (including large pension funds) use their capital as a tool to promote social objectives? How do private contractors, such as prison companies, maximize shareholder return while satisfying government clients? Public interest enterprises are those that integrate the concerns of corporate “stakeholders,” the wide range of people and communities affected by a company’s operations, as opposed to the more narrow focus on shareholders. While American businesses have generally focused exclusively on return to shareholders, European and other non-U.S. business cultures have traditionally embraced broader “stakeholder” considerations. What are the advantages and drawbacks of each approach? Does consideration of stakeholders imply a sacrifice of profitability? Can American companies adopt an approach that is generally alien in U.S. business culture? These questions serve as the recurrent theme throughout the class. Jonathan Koppell.

MGT 871b, Financial Reporting. 2 units. This course extends the understanding of financial statements developed in MGT 402 by (a) exploring the generally accepted accounting principles that underlie financial statements, (b) understanding what can be gleaned from those statements, and (c) projecting future financial statements to conduct discounted free cash flow valuations. While the focus is on reporting in the United States, international examples are also considered. Stanley Garstka.

MGT 874b, Operation Analysis and Strategy. 2 units. This course is devoted to central issues in operations management, especially those related to design and implementation of a successful operations strategy. These issues include production and capacity planning, facility location and production allocation for multi-plant operations, global operations management, and response time management. This course draws examples from many industries including service sectors, and covers a variety of frameworks and quantitative tools for analyzing operations problems. Lode Li.

MGT 877b, Simulation Modeling. 2 units. This course introduces students to computer simulation as an aid to managerial decision making through lectures, case analyses, and computer models using Extend. Computer simulation is a widely used modeling tool for designing and improving service, manufacturing, and business processes. Examples of simulation models include queueing simulation of people and jobs awaiting service, such as customers in a bank’s teller queue, Internet packets traversing routers, or the inventory of parts on a factory floor over time. Recent developments in simulation programs such as Extend greatly simplify the task of modeling and simulating complex systems. People can build a model quickly in Extend by creating a block diagram of a process without even having to type an equation. Students in this course become proficient in simulation modeling in Extend and also have the opportunity to apply their model-building skills to analyze a variety of managerial situations. Lode Li.

MGT 881b, Managing Organizational Politics. 2 units. This course provides tools of political analysis for managers. By examining the sources and instruments of power—and its limits—we see more clearly why some objectives are achieved by organizations and others are not. The topics considered in this class are relevant for all organizations—private, governmental, not-for-profit. The application of political analysis to management is emphasized throughout the course. All the topics considered—the sources of power within organizations, the implications of organizational structure, the importance of identifying stakeholders (and their interests)—necessarily inform the strategies and tactics of effective managers and leaders as they pursue personal and organizational objectives. Jonathan Koppell.

MGT 887b, Negotiation. 2 units. The purpose of this half-term course is to understand the theory and processes of negotiation as it is practiced in a variety of settings. The course complements the technical and diagnostic skills learned in other courses at the Yale School of Management. A basic premise of the course is that while a manager needs analytical skills to develop optimal solutions to problems, a broad array of negotiation skills is needed in order for these solutions to be accepted and implemented. The course is largely experiential; students develop their technique and analyze their own behavior through weekly negotiation exercises relevant to business situations they later encounter as professionals. Students integrate their experiences with the principles presented in the assigned readings and class discussions. We cover topics of competition, cooperation, strategic choice, communication, power, coalitions, creativity, leadership, ethics, and cultural differences. Because of the experiential nature of this course, students are required to attend all sessions. Students are required to attend the first class in order to remain enrolled. Erica Dawson.

MGT 894b, Media Economics and Financing. 2 units. While the first purveyors of journalism in the U.S. were many and their audiences small, the second half of the twentieth century saw the consolidation of news businesses into a finite number of media companies enjoying substantial profits. Print and broadcast companies devoted substantial resources to the pursuit of quality journalism, hiring graduate-school-educated men and women as reporters and supporting them with fact-checking, editing, peer review, and production expertise. Early in the twenty-first century, it is already apparent that the most successful media companies of the last 100 years face serious financial troubles. Audiences have become fragmented and much less captive, driving down the value of traditional media to advertisers. Vast revenue streams that once paid the bills for quality journalism (such as classified advertising in newspapers and advertising on network television) have been substantially reduced or diverted to companies not pursuing journalism at all. The course explores how future journalists, editors, and producers (in new or traditional media) find meaningful economic backing to do their jobs well. Is true editorial independence and review, which inevitably are labor intensive, essential to the health of the “Fourth Estate” and its role in a democracy? If so, how can media companies afford the cost of quality assurance, however “quality” is defined? Can journalism and the dissemination of news be supported primarily by advertising, subscription revenue, or in some other way? Project groups within the class research and present existing business models in media, both in readings and by interaction with executives currently active in media and journalism. Class groups then do brainstorming and early stage thinking that lead to the creation of pro-forma business plans or models for the final project(s). No examination. Enrollment limit: twenty. Stephen Taylor.

MGT 897b, Real Property. 2 units. This course is for any student serious about a career in managing, developing, or investing in real estate. Educational objectives: how to analyze a real estate project; how to assess the risks; how to be a better deal maker; how to manage a project; how to be a leader in the industry; how to think about financial innovation. William Goetzmann.

Ph.D. Courses for 2006-2007

See the Bulletin of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

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