MBA Courses for 2002-2003

Core Courses

MGT 510, Data I: Probability Modeling and Statistical Estimation. 2 units. This course introduces students to probability modeling and its applications to management problems. Students learn how to portray real-world phenomena as sample spaces and probability trees, and how to calculate the probabilities that different events of interest will occur. Students also learn how to simulate probability experiments in the Excel spreadsheet program. Random variables and their associated probability laws are reviewed and applied to problems in finance, marketing, operations management, health care, and other areas of interest. Statistical approaches to estimating the parameters of probability models are also reviewed, with an emphasis on simple random sampling and confidence intervals. Edward Kaplan, Nathan Novemsky.

MGT 511, Data II: Hypothesis Testing and Regression. 2 units. Empirical research in management typically involves tests of hypotheses. In the simplest settings, random sampling is used to justify statistical tests of hypotheses. To estimate causal relations between variables, experimentation is the preferred method. For many management problems, only historical data are available for which regression analysis is the standard method. In this course, all of these situations are considered. For the estimation of relationships between variables, the topics include linear models, nonlinear transforms, and interactions between variables. The objective is to provide students with the basics so that they know when statistical analysis has the potential for improving the quality of decisions, can distinguish between good and bad applications, and can make intelligent use of statistical applications for management decisions. Dick Wittink, K. Sudhir.

MGT 515b, Decision Analysis and Game Theory. 4 units. This course serves as an introduction to methods of quantitative and qualitative decision making. Topics include basic probability concepts and models, decision trees, risk taking and risk aversion, the value of information, and game theory. The course emphasizes the formulation of problems with applications in the public and private sectors. Jonathan Feinstein, Barry Nalebuff, Benjamin Polak.

MGT 520a, Economic Analysis. 4 units. This course concentrates on the role of markets and other forms of organizations 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. Topics include analysis of competitive markets, firm behavior and the theory of profit, and problems of microeconomic policy design. The course is intended to be at a level accessible to students with little or no prior exposure to economics. Nathaniel Keohane, Erin Mansur, Sharon Oster.

MGT 550a, Marketing Management. 3 units. This course presents the basic concepts of marketing required to formulate sound marketing strategies and understand the many marketing functions in an organization. Topics include consumer behavior, market segmentation, product planning, international marketing, pricing strategies, distribution strategies, sales force management, advertising and promotion decisions, and issues of corporate responsibility and ethics in marketing. The course consists of readings, cases, lectures, class discussion, and presentations by outside speakers. Course requirements include midterm and final examinations, several written cases, and periodic written assignments. Session two through February 14, 2003. Ravi Dhar, Nathan Novemsky, Dick Wittink.

MGT 571b, Operations Management I. 3 units. This course focuses on the management of operating systems. Topics covered include capacity management, inventory control, the application of queuing models to service and manufacturing systems, scheduling, Japanese manufacturing techniques, and quality management. The emphasis is on real-world cases, including operations at a cranberry processing plant, quality control at Steinway piano, and the production/inventory control game. Begins on February 17, 2003. Rodney Parker, Arthur Swersey.

MGT 803b, Leadership. 2 units. Leadership involves influencing others in a non-coercive manner to direct their efforts toward shared goals. This course offers an experiential, practical, and theoretical approach to understanding and developing leadership abilities. The course distinguishes managerial from leadership skills, and stresses the importance of the latter in times of rapid change. The primary teaching methods are experiential- and discussion-oriented, and provide informed practice in key leadership skills. Session one. Victor Vroom.

MGT 815a, Managerial Controls I. 2 units. This course investigates the reporting system for the planning, control, and decision-making activities of an organization. We study the process of identification, measurement, accumulation, analysis, preparation, interpretation, and communication of financial information—the process used by management to plan, evaluate, and exercise control within the organization. Topics include budgeting, variance analysis, pricing of products and services for both internal and external customers, cost allocation, performance evaluation and the balanced scorecard, compensation schemes, decentralization and responsibility centers, and transfer pricing. Session two. Brian Mittendorf.

MGT 870a, Financial Accounting. 2 units. Accounting systems provide financial information critical to managing, valuing, and regulating all types of organizations around the globe. Despite their many variations, all accounting systems are built on a common foundation. This foundation relies on such economic concepts as assets, liabilities, and income to convey financial information, as well as the double entry system of debits and credits to accumulate and organize financial data. The purpose of this course is to provide these fundamentals of accounting. Session one. Rick Antle, Stanley Garstka.

MGT 871a, Financial Reporting I. 2 units. Most organizations issue public financial reports of one form or another. For example, for-profit corporations regularly issue financial statements to their shareholders. In most countries, these financial statements must adhere to a set of generally accepted accounting principles. The purpose of this course is to explore these accounting principles. The principles used in financial reporting in the United States are the focal point of the course, but international examples are often examined. Session two. Rick Antle, Stanley Garstka.

MGT 880a, The Strategic Environment of Management. 2 units. A survey of governmental, civil, and economic institutions that define the major opportunities and risks available to senior management. These include national governments, central banks, regulatory agencies, the joint stock corporation, equity markets, labor unions, nonprofits, and international regimes. Particular attention to issues of conflict and stability in the political environment of business. Emphasis on major capitalist democracies and selected emerging market systems. Case materials form the basis of group projects. Session one. Paul Bracken, Douglas Rae.

MGT 881b, The Politics of Strategic Management. 2 units. Understanding politics is critical to understanding the success or failure of any organization. This course deals with political issues that managers encounter within organizations—issues of power and influence, of constraints and leverage. We examine the political calculations, skills, and strategies that can help managers produce or induce change. We analyze the implications of organizational structure, rules, and relationships for an individual or organization pursuing specific objectives. Finally, we see how political analysis can be used to inform strategic planning by providing an understanding of stakeholders, their interests, and the opportunities to satisfy them. Session two. Jonathan Koppell.

MGT 886b, Designing and Managing Organizations. 2 units. Managing people effectively is a critical challenge in organizations that have become increasingly decentralized, de-layered, and struggling with turbulent environments. Indeed, 80 percent of a manager’s time is spent in face-to-face interaction with others. A manager’s effectiveness depends upon how she or he organizes, motivates, and directs people. This course is oriented toward helping future managers develop the skills necessary to assess, analyze, and act upon organizational challenges. We examine issues related to organizational culture, implementing change, designing effective organizational architecture, social influence, and managing performance. The course combines hands-on exercises, lectures, readings, and cases in a once-a-week three-hour format. Session two. Sigal Barsade.

MGT 890a, Valuation and Investment/Corporate Finance and Options. 4 units. The first half of this course, Valuation and Investment, is an introduction to the basic theory and methods of finance. Students apply the principles of finance to decisions faced by corporate managers as well as by individual and institutional investors. This segment of the course sequence develops the concept of net present value through the discounting of future cash flows. Students use the net present value rule to solve problems of capital budgeting and project selection, as well as for the valuation of financial instruments such as perpetuities, annuities, stocks, and bonds. The basics of asset allocation are taught through an introduction to the principle of diversification. The foundations of modern portfolio theory are presented, together with new developments in capital market research, including such topics as arbitrage and the impact of information on financial markets. In the second part of the course, Corporate Finance and Options, students are introduced to the use and pricing of options and to the basics of corporate finance. Topics include payoff diagrams; the “no-arbitrage” principle; put-call parity; early exercise of American options; the binomial and Black-Scholes pricing models; and the analogy between options and corporate securities. The corporate finance portion discusses capital structure and dividend policies of firms, first under a perfect capital markets assumption and then under more realistic conditions. Topics include the Efficient Markets Hypothesis and its influence on firms’ financing decisions; the MM irrelevance propositions; the influence of corporate taxes, personal taxes, bankruptcy, and agency costs in determining firms’ financial policies; and capital budgeting for the levered firm. The material is presented in lecture format, with weekly problem sets, two cases, and TA review sessions. Matthew Spiegel, Ivo Welch.

Fall-Term Elective Courses

MGT 519a, Corporate Strategies in Network Industries. 4 units. This course examines the strategies of major companies in network industries set within the framework of a public policy transition from regulation to competition. We consider the effects on competitive strategy of barriers to entry, universal service requirements, price regulation, state versus federal regulation, the relation of antitrust to regulation, mandated access, and pricing of interconnection. Both theory and cases are emphasized, with cases involving student oral critiques of strategies of companies currently seeking to deal with this complex set of conditions and to emerge as the competitive leader. Enrollment limited to thirty-six. Paul MacAvoy.

MGT 525a, Competitive and Cooperative Strategies. 4 units. This course analyzes the strategic choices of organizations. Case studies include nonprofit as well as for-profit organizations, with a focus on strategy at the individual business level. Though often compared to a game like chess, business strategy is different. To win at chess, someone else has to lose. In business, success doesn’t require others to fail. Furthermore, people can play chess, but they can’t change it. In business, people are free to change the players, rules, boundaries, and more. Actively shaping the game is the essence of successful business strategy.

This course provides a map, method, and mindset for changing the game of business. Behind this approach is a unifying theory, namely game theory. Case discussions and lectures. Oral and written presentations of cases are the classroom responsibility of those taking the course. Assignments include essays, case memos, analytical exercises, and a substantial project. Readings include Porter, Oster, Hammer and Champy, Hamel and Prabhala, and the current work of Brandenburger and Nalebuff. Prerequisite: Economic Analysis or equivalent preparation in economics and data analysis. It is assumed that students have a strong background in core curriculum subjects. Preference given to second-year SOM students. Enrollment limited to fifty. Judith Chevalier, Barry Nalebuff.

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 trade-off 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 final 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. Prerequisites: Data I and II, Valuation and Investment/Corporate Finance and Options, or permission of instructor. 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, as well as 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 indexes. 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 understanding of these tools 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 of and the design of contracts. Prerequisites: Data Analysis and Statistics, Valuation and Investment/Corporate Finance and Options. Andrew Jeffrey.

MGT 544a, Investment Management. 4 units. This course applies current theory and methods to investment and portfolio management. We cover capital markets, asset allocation, and institutional (for-profit and nonprofit) and individual (taxable and nontaxable) portfolio management, starting from the framework of efficient markets, and eventually analyzing excess return generating strategies. We cover equities, fixed income, currencies, and derivative instruments in a global setting. We analyze the CAPM, APT, the equity risk premium, valuation, portfolio optimization, long-term forecasting, and performance measurement. The course includes lectures, cases, outside speakers, a capital market game, and a final exam. Prerequisites: Data Analysis and Statistics, Valuation and Investment/Corporate Finance and Options. Roger Ibbotson.

MGT 545a, Financial Engineering. 4 units. This course is a continuation of MGT 543, Financial Instruments and Contracts. It develops the advanced tools needed to understand and value the increasingly complex financial instruments and contracts which are being used by corporations and other organizations. Specific topics to be covered 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 instructor. Jonathan Ingersoll, Jr.

MGT 546a, International Financial Markets. 4 units. The focus of this course is world foreign exchange, interest rates, and stock markets. The course is a balance of theoretical financial economics and practical issues of market and trading mechanics. Topics cover both the G10 economies and the emerging market countries. Analysis of important policy decisions of central banks and ministries of finance is interspersed throughout the course. Prior course work in finance, especially in derivatives, and macroeconomics would be a great help to students. David DeRosa.

MGT 555a, Pricing Strategy. 4 units. This 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, Internet pricing, 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. Prerequisites: Economic Analysis or permission of instructor. 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. This course presents an integrative, dynamic view of competitive brand strategy. It focuses on understanding, developing, and evaluating brand strategies over the product life cycle. A framework for developing marketing strategies that yields a sustainable competitive advantage based on customer, competitor, industry, and environmental analysis is presented and applied in various situations throughout the course. Topics include strategies for pioneering brands, strategies for late entry, growth strategies, strategies for mature and declining markets, and defensive marketing strategies. Case studies highlight marketing strategy exercise in 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. Enrollment limited to fifty second-year students. Prerequisite: Marketing Management or permission of instructor. Ravi Dhar.

MGT 580a, Business, Government, and Globalization. 4 units. The transformational forces of globalization and technology are radically challenging national policies, competitive strategies, and organizational structures as we know them today. This course takes an integrated, conceptual approach to the interaction of the multinational corporation with the international environment and national economic decision making. The strategy frameworks and analytical tools taught in this class are valuable to students seeking to understand the implications of the economic strategies of countries as diverse as Japan, Mexico, China, Italy, and the United States. The course examines the tradeoffs of increased economic integration, addressing international trade, foreign direct investment, portfolio capital flows, and corporate governance issues. The course focuses on how multinational corporations and countries face increasing constraints and opportunities resulting from the accelerating integration of the world economy. Paul Bracken.

MGT 585a, Operating Systems, the Internet, and the Web: Where We Were, Where We Are, and Where We’re Going. 4 units. The course has four segments: (1) The technical facts of life: What do operating systems and computer networks do, and how do they do it? (2) The historical facts of life: How did today’s dominant commercial operating systems develop (where do windows come from?); how did the Internet and the Web develop? (3) What happens now? New technologies (program-building models such as Sun Microsystems’ Java and Jini; information-management models such as Lifestreams and mirror worlds). (4) What, if anything, does it all mean? Cultural, educational, and organizational implications (good and bad) of the cybersphere and the increasingly ’Net-centered universe. The course is intended to introduce students to technical (and historical) material in an intellectually rigorous way without relying on mathematics, science, or engineering. Readings are distributed as we go along. Enrollment limited to thirty. David Gelernter.

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? These and other policy-related problems are considered in Policy Modeling. Building on earlier course work in quantitative analysis and statistics, this 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, queuing 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 is possible for students to take a real problem from formulation to solution, and compare their own analysis to what actually happened. Prerequisites: Decision Analysis and Game Theory, Data I and II, or a demonstrated proficiency in quantitative methods. Edward Kaplan.

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, most entrepreneurs must 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. Starting a successful new business requires some special skills and motivation. 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 three to five students each, who want to write a business plan for their own new 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 a professional-quality plan (including a financial model and deal structure). Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. Session two (through session one of the spring term). David Cromwell.

MGT 621a/ECON 451a, The Theory and History of Money and Financial Institutions. 4 units. An approach to the theory of money and financial institutions that stresses the way in which money, financial instruments, and institutions emerge naturally from the trading and production technology. The way in which the price system meshes with the financial system to provide a control system for a political economy is considered. The approach emphasizes both institutions and the underlying mathematical models (although stress is laid upon modeling, the seminar is not heavily mathematical). A few basic concepts of game theory and the techniques for the building of process models are required, and are covered in the seminar. Both theory and implications for practice are considered. Thus, the ability to read the Wall Street Journal and Forbes as well as the Journal of Economic Theory, the Journal of Political Economy, and the Federal Reserve Bulletin, as well as to understand generally accepted accounting principles, is regarded as desirable. Martin Shubik.

MGT 623a, Strategic Leadership across Sectors. 4 units. This course takes a comprehensive view of top corporate leaders—how they impact and revolutionize their enterprises, their industries, and the world economy. We consider such key dimensions of strategic change as economic context, shifting markets, emerging technologies, corporate life stage, company culture, and corporate governance, examining how each is affected by the character, skill set, and life stages of individual leaders. The course mission involves three equally important goals: (1) to help students anticipate the multidimensional, cross-disciplinary aspects of successful planned change from strategic systems to group dynamics and individual psychology; (2) to appreciate the consequences of the unintended effects of strategic change initiatives on work communities and societies at large; (3) 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 include: research articles, case studies, current industry periodicals, spirited class discussion, role playing, video, and frequent visits from prominent industry leaders. Once the analytic framework for the course is established, 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. The course concludes with a return to cross-industry change leadership and challenges such as executive succession, life stage imperatives, and ethical dilemmas. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld.

MGT 635a, 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 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 oral presentations. Entrepreneur and investor teams negotiate and structure “deals” in a role-playing mode. Enrollment limited to 36 second-year SOM students. Heavy workload. Prerequisite: Valuation and Investment/Corporate Finance and Options. David Cromwell.

MGT 661a/LAW 20304, Health Law and Policy. 4 units. This course provides a general introduction to health law, policy, politics, and economics. Topics include, among others, access to health care, patients’ rights, the meaning and effects of “managed care,” the relationship of health care to public health, and selected issues in bioethics. Treatment of these issues in foreign health care systems is analyzed to provide perspective on domestic issues. Theodore Marmor, Jerry Mashaw.

MGT 672a, Problem Solving with Excel. 4 units. A problem-based survey of the science of decision making, using Excel as a tool for computation and as a vehicle for interactive learning. Examples are chosen from probability, resource allocation, optimization, operations management, economics, and finance. For second-year SOM students. Eric Denardo.

MGT 677a/LAW 20295, International Joint Ventures and Strategic Alliances. 2 units. Transnational businesses are very common these days. When a firm wants to expand its business across borders, the decision whether to open a subsidiary, acquire or merge with a local firm, or take a strategic partner is sometimes a matter of choice. But law often constrains that choice. Often, a contract between firms or a joint venture entity with a particular nationality is the only permissible form of organization. These joint efforts present the business strategist and lawyer with many complexities and choices. When they are successful, they are very valuable, but they are also fragile and often have short lives. This course explores many of the challenges involved in structuring these transactions, coupled with a practical examination and study of several prominent international alliances and joint ventures. The course focuses more on incentive and political problems presented by the desire to do business internationally with a partner and the legal and organizational strategies available for dealing with them, than on the important technicalities (tax, corporate form, etc.) necessary to make one of these joint ventures a reality. Paper required. Michael Levine.

MGT 678a/LAW 20297, Regulation, Deregulation, Reregulation. 4 units. This course is about the origins, nature, and consequences of using the power of government to alter the outcomes of economic activity. The focus of the course is both positive and normative, addressing the questions “what are the forces that produce regulation?”; “how does regulation work in theory and practice?”; and “is regulation desirable?” As a positive matter, the course focuses on the forces that bring regulation into being, how regulators behave, how regulated managements behave, what kind of performance can be expected from regulated industries, the origins and effects of deregulation, and the availability of institutional substitutes for regulation. As a normative matter, this information is used to assess the desirability of various regulatory interventions from the standpoint of the various interests affected and from the “public interest.” Examples are drawn principally from the California electricity “crisis” and airline deregulation, but the lessons drawn are general. Paper required. Michael Levine.

MGT 689a/F&ES 769a, Ecological Knowledge and Environmental Problem Solving. 4 units. The “heart” of the course is a distillation of core ecological concepts and their translation into an accessible framework. The framework guides both scientists and decision makers through a series of steps and questions that allow them to frame environmental problems in a realistic way. The first half of the course concludes with increasingly complex cases that familiarize one with the approach. The remainder of the course focuses on specific environmental issues of current and continuing interest. Class members work in groups to confront these topics as scientists and decision makers might in actual circumstances. Topics may vary, although the following are illustrative: risk assessment and communication, fisheries management, offshore oil and gas exploration and development, nuclear waste disposal, and global warming and climate change. Garry Brewer.

MGT 690a, Independent Reading and Research. 2 or 4 units. This course provides an opportunity for students and faculty to work together on projects of mutual interest outside the structure of normal courses. Each independent project must have a faculty sponsor. Students must submit a Petition for Independent Study that includes the project proposal and the faculty sponsor’s signature. The proposal must indicate the means by which the student’s performance is to be judged (e.g., weekly assignments, final paper, etc.), as well as the scope of the project. The dean of students must also approve the project before the course is entered on the student’s record. No more than 4 units of Independent Reading and Research may be undertaken in a term. Petition forms are available in the Office of Student Affairs.

MGT 692a, Business Ethics. 4 units. This course explores the ethical responsibilities of managers to their firms, to their customers, to their employees, and to their communities. We begin by looking at some of the theory of markets: the rules that must be in place in order for them to function, their limits, and the conditions under which they break down. From this base, we develop a picture of the ethical responsibilities of business managers that is tied to the proper functioning of markets. Along the way, we review a number of famous ethical theories and consider their applicability to business-ethics problems. Because ethical responsibilities are frequently embodied in law, this course includes consideration of many of the most important basic legal constraints on managerial behavior. Readings are a mix of ethical and economic theory, ethics cases, and legal material; all readings are accessible to students with no special background in philosophy, economics, or law. Stephen Latham.

MGT 693a/F&ES 810a, Business Concepts for Environmental Managers. 4 units. The objectives of this course are to offer environmental managers a basic understanding of accounting systems to enable them to interpret financial data in corporate and governmental settings, to integrate traditional business concepts with those of sustainable environmental management, and to recognize the role of environmental management among the multiple interests within business negotiations. The first part of the course develops skill in financial accounting, and this knowledge is then applied to areas in environmental financial management, including budgeting, project finance, and business development and strategy. Marian R. Chertow, William Ellis, Larry Schiffres.

MGT 812a, Financial Statement Analysis. 2 units. This course helps students learn basic tools in analyzing financial statements. We cover the following four topics: (1)fiinancial analysis using ratios; (2) equity valuation; (3) assessment of the impact of using alternative accounting methods and exploration of ways to “disentangle” such methods, if possible; (4) credit analysis. We proceed under the framework of a four-step process: business strategy analysis, accounting analysis, forecasting, and valuation. Business strategy analysis establishes the context of the financial reports and suggests important areas for our attention. Accounting analysis describes the extent to which the use of different accounting methods affects reported results. Forecasting combines the results of the business strategy analysis and the accounting analysis to generate predictions, usually of future earnings and cashflows. Valuation converts the forecasts into estimates of variables of interest, such as stock prices or debt ratings. While no accounting methods beyond those contained in MGT 870a and MGT 871b are presented, we make extensive use of the material from those courses. Class time is spent in a combination of lectures and case discussions. Prerequisite: Financial Reporting I. Session two. Ganapathi Narayanamoorthy.

MGT 814a, Understanding and Evaluating the Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Organizations.
2 units. This course is designed to provide the basic knowledge needed to understand and analyze the general-purpose financial statements of private not-for-profit organizations (NFPs) and covers the following topics: the historical development of accounting standards for NFPs and the current institutional framework for standard-setting for those organizations, namely the respective jurisdictions of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB); consideration of how, if at all, the general-purpose financial statements of NFPs should differ from those of for-profit entities; distinctive accounting standards applicable to private not-for-profit organizations in the areas of required financial statements, contributions, and investments as promulgated by FASB; ratios and other summary indicators used to evaluate the financial condition and performance of NFPs. To illustrate the application of the standards and ratios, the course focuses on those major groups within the not-for-profit sector—higher education, voluntary health and welfare organizations, and cultural institutions. Students are required to review and analyze financial statements of selected NFPs. Session two. Herbert Folpe.

MGT 829a, The Practice of Real Estate Development. 2 units. This course teaches the principles of creating value through successful real estate development and includes economic analysis and feasibility, planning and design concepts, construction and risk management, public approvals and marketing. Requirements include active class participation based on a reading of case studies and other materials, preparation of pro formas, and a major group project conceptualizing and analyzing the feasibility of a proposed commercial real estate development of a type and at a location of the team’s choosing. Enrollment limited to twenty-five. Session two. Bruce Alexander.

MGT 833a, Organizational Communication and Influence. 2 units. This course examines the critical factors involved in communication and influence in organizations. It is intended for managers who seek to understand the complexity of conveying strategies and decisions to others. It is also for those who seek to engage in more effective interpersonal communication in interactions ranging from face-to-face and group to large audience situations. Effective influence strategies are analyzed by focusing on both presentation techniques and the theories behind them. Fundamentals of persuasion and influence tactics provide the context for considering such topics as group interaction and influence, cultural and gender differences in communication, and strategies for communicating during conflict. In-class exercises, oral and written presentations, and case discussions provide hands-on illustrations of concepts. Enrollment limited to thirty. Session two. Sandra Spataro.

MGT 851a, Listening to the Customer. 2 units. In this fiercely competitive world, understanding the customer is crucial to maintaining the profitability and economic viability of the firm. This course provides a concise “user’s guide” to the most valuable and common customer research methods (focus groups, customer visits, interviews, online and offline surveys) used to measure customer preferences, intentions, satisfaction, shopping behavior, recall, and other issues of interest. Students obtain hands-on exposure to the research methods covered in class through the execution of a group project (three to four students per group). The method of instruction is a combination of lectures, cases, and assigned readings. This course is designed for the nonspecialist, i.e., someone planning a career in general management, product or project management, R&D, advertising, or entrepreneurship. Prerequisite: Marketing Management. Session one. K. Sudhir.

MGT 852a, Strategic Market Management. 2 units. This course is a sequel to Listening to the Customer and is designed for the specialist, i.e., someone planning a career in consulting or marketing research. Students learn how to develop, conduct, and analyze a marketing research study. The course provides students with hands-on exposure to analysis techniques that are widely used in consulting and marketing research, e.g., factor analysis, perceptual mapping, conjoint, and cluster analysis. Students must complete a group project (three to four students per group) and weekly problem sets. Prerequisite: Data Analysis and Marketing Management. Session two. K. Sudhir.

MGT 863a, Public Use of the Private Sector. 2 units. Government’s role in the market is typically conceived as regulatory. In many instances, however, public sector organizations play other roles in the economic sphere. This class focuses on the government as a market participant rather than regulator. We examine the wide range of activities that bring government into the private sector, including public borrowing, government-sponsored enterprise, public investment in private companies, and government programs that shape incentives of market participants. In evaluating such activities, the course focuses on the implications for market participants, public policy makers, and other groups with an interest in the impact of public and private activities. Session two. Jonathan Koppell.

MGT 872a, Strategic Financial Decisions Lab. 4 units. This course helps students develop an understanding of interactions between decisions made in corporations and in security markets. These decisions include production, investment, dividend, managerial compensation, corporate governance, financial reporting, income management, capital structure, insider trading, issue of equity and debt securities, initial public offerings, valuation of equity and debt securities, and trading strategy in security markets. Designed to consolidate material from the theoretical and case-based courses in accounting, economics, and finance through interactive decision making under controlled conditions in laboratory, this course offers students the chance to practice application of the theory of financial decision making and to learn from others’ feedback. Those who plan to pursue careers as financial managers, analysts, or strategists in corporations and banks, as well as financial analysts and investment bankers in the investment industry, should find
it useful. This lab course emphasizes experiential learning, and uses new state-of-the-art CAPLAB software. Prerequisites: Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting I or Managerial Controls I, Economic Analysis, The Strategic Environment of Management, Valuation and Investment/Corporate Finance and Options. Shyam Sunder.

MGT 884a, Leading High-Performance Teams. 2 units. As organizations increasingly turn away from traditional hierarchical structures, teamwork among coworkers has emerged as a critical aspect of success in organizations. This course is intended for managers who seek to understand the complexities of sharing knowledge and tasks with others, and for managers who wish to harness the power of collaboration among those they manage. Class sessions make use of a variety of approaches to teaching and learning, including the case method, simulation exercises, and lectures. With a focus on the many structures supporting teams in organizations, including project teams, networks, work groups, and virtual teams, we cover topics such as group formation and socialization, diversity, creativity, group problem solving and decision making, conflict, and knowledge sharing. Session two. Sandra Spataro.

MGT 887a, Enhancing Negotiation Skills. 2 units. This half-term course studies negotiation skills through theory and practice. At the center of the course are role-playing group exercises in negotiation. Each exercise is designed to highlight a different aspect of negotiating. Exercises are based on business situations that involve negotiation, such as buying or selling in a market, merging companies, doing salary negotiation, working in teams, group decision making, giving performance reviews, and so on. In addition to negotiation exercises, students learn negotiation theory through readings and class discussion. We cover topics of competition, cooperation, strategic choice, communication, power, coalitions, creativity, leadership, ethics, and cultural differences. Since we rely on in-class participation in negotiation exercises, students are required to attend all sessions. Enrollment is limited to thirty-two (twenty-four M.B.A. students, with priority given to those seeking a Leadership concentration, and eight graduate students from other programs). Session one. Jennifer Mueller.

MGT 888a, Emotional Intelligence at Work. 4 units. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a critical part of workplace knowledge. Like corporate culture, emotional intelligence provides the ability to manage at work going above and beyond standard organizational structures and procedures. In this half-term course we examine the different facets and levels of EI—how to “read” other people and be sure they can “read” you; understanding how affective processes influence thinking; and how to manage/regulate your own and other co-workers’ affect. More specifically we consider the role of affect and EI in managing work performance, decision making, building and maintaining successful work groups, coping with job insecurity, and job satisfaction. We do so at both a practical and theoretical level, through self and other assessments, lectures, case studies, discussions, role-playing, experiential exercises, observation, and guest speakers. Sigal Barsade.

MGT 948a, Equity Valuation. 4 units. This termlong finance elective is designed to help develop skills in conducting in-depth industry and company analyses, writing reports, and presenting and defending your results. Each team of four students analyzes and reports on two industries and four companies (two from each industry). Most of the class time is spent on presenting and discussing the reports. There are a few invited speakers. Reports of exceptional quality are posted to the Internet for public downloading and comment. Prerequisites: first-year core courses (including Financial Reporting) and Financial Statement Analysis. Enrollment (limited to twenty) is by instructor’s permission. Shyam Sunder.

Spring-Term Elective Courses

MGT 521b, Macroeconomic Analysis. 4 units. The goal of this course is to develop a framework for understanding the current state of the economy and for interpreting macroeconomic events around the world as they occur. The objective is not to produce more macroeconomists, but instead to give students the tools necessary to evaluate the opinions and forecasts of others. In particular, by the end of the term, students should be able to navigate successfully the minefield of contemporary business reporting on macroeconomics.

After defining the major macroeconomic variables and the basic national accounting identities, we examine the behavior of each of the players in the economy: households, firms, and the government. We then explore how these players interact in different markets and how the markets themselves are linked. This yields a contained and logically consistent system through which to examine the effects of various shocks to, as well as the overall dynamics of, short-term macroeconomic movements, or business cycles. Throughout the course we try to match the models with historical and current evidence to gauge where each succeeds and fails. Examples of macroeconomic topics covered recently are the causes and consequences of the low U.S. savings rate, the “new” economy, the productivity slowdown (real or data illusion?), the importance of the ongoing current account deficit, the East Asian “miracle,” and the East Asian crisis. Topics for this course may be different. Peter Schott.

MGT 524b, E-Commerce Strategy. 4 units. This course applies microeconomic concepts to both e-commerce standalone ventures and to e-commerce initiatives inside traditional corporations to help us understand the reasons for profitability and success. The course begins by distinguishing between value creation and value capture. The bulk of the course involves presenting a series of models of value capture that are particularly appropriate for e-commerce and evaluating the choice and use of these strategies in a range of e-commerce applications. Topics include network externalities, search costs, alliances and value capture, versioning, disintermediation, mobile technologies, the “final mile,” and regulatory issues. There is an exam partway through the course. Case write-ups, class participation, and a final group paper (due in exam week) make up the remainder of the grade. Fiona Scott Morton.

MGT 525b, Competitive Strategies. 4 units. This course develops an approach to the analysis of strategic decisions facing an organization. Although the primary emphasis is on strategic choices of organizations at the individual business level, and the primary source of analytical methods is economics, other application areas and other analytical perspectives are considered. The central integrating idea is the concept of strategically balancing the objectives, characteristics, and resources of the organization with the opportunities presented by the environment. The range of organizations studied includes nonprofits as well as for-profits. Class sessions are a mixture of case discussions and lectures. Oral and written presentations of cases are the student’s classroom responsibility. Assignments include short essays, case memos, analytical exercises, and a substantial project. Prerequisite: Economic Analysis or equivalent preparation in economics and data analysis. This course is intended for second-year students, and it is assumed that students have a strong background in core curriculum subjects. Enrollment limited to fifty students. Fiona Scott Morton.

MGT 528b, Public and Private Management of the Environment and Natural Resources. 4 units. This course explores the management of the environment and natural resources from the perspectives of government regulators, private corporations, and nonprofit organizations. The basic analytical framework is economics, but much of the course involves discussions of practical applications and actual cases. A major theme is consideration of various approaches to environmental protection: from conventional “command-and-control” emissions standards, to “market-based instruments” such as tradeable emissions permits, to “demand-side” approaches such as product labeling, to voluntary “green business” practices by private firms. From the public perspective, what is the best policy approach for regulators to use? What should be the role of cost-benefit analysis in determining the level of environmental protection? How are regulatory choices made in the real world? From the private perspective, what can and should companies do to protect the environment? What role can nonprofit organizations play in shaping corporate practices? Minor themes may include the environmental impacts of energy production and electricity generation; the management of national parks, wilderness, and biodiversity; and the role of international institutions, including environmental accords such as the Montreal Protocol as well as trade regimes such as the World Trade Organization. Prerequisite: Economic Analysis or the equivalent. Nathaniel Keohane.

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 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. Prerequisite: Valuation and Investment/Corporate Finance and Options. Arturo Bris, S. Abraham Ravid.

MGT 542b, 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 trade-off 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 final 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. Prerequisites: Data I and II, Valuation and Investment/Corporate Finance and Options, or permission of instructor. John Griffin.

MGT 547b, Fixed Income Security Analysis. 4 units. This course is designed to provide a comprehensive and rigorous analysis of fixed income securities. What distinguishes fixed income analysis from ordinary equity analysis is the focus on interest rates. In equity analysis the “risk-free interest rate” is often assumed to be given whereas in fixed income analysis it is important to acknowledge that the rate moves randomly over time. The purpose of the course is to give a thorough grounding in fixed income security analysis as a basis for analytical or applied work. This course is mathematical and uses some calculus. Prerequisite: Valuation and Investment/Corporate Finance and Options. Martijn Cremers.

MGT 549b, Portfolio Management. 4 units. This course applies current theory and methods to the problem of investment and portfolio management. The course consists of two-thirds lectures and one-third cases and is designed to develop a specific set of analytical tools that can be used in a broad range of settings, including the management of for-profit and nonprofit institutional portfolios. Among the topics and methods covered are portfolio optimization using mean-variance methods; long-term portfolio management using bootstrapping methods; equilibrium pricing relations (Capital Asset Pricing Model and the Arbitrage Pricing Theory) using linear programming; investment performance evaluation using constrained regression; the efficient market theory and long-term stock market forecasting using OLS regression; bond portfolio management using simulation; and the basics of pricing contingent claims contracts using the binomial model. Students may choose a full case load and no final, or a light case load and a final exam. William Goetzmann.

MGT 551b, E-Business and Marketing. 4 units. The objective of this course is to examine what happens to markets (whose key players include consumers, sellers, and intermediaries) and strategic marketing decisions (products, pricing, advertising, etc.) as a consequence of business on the Internet. The course is designed to link the opportunities and challenges offered by the Internet with the theory and practice of marketing. Specifically, the course aims to understand how these principles will have to change in order to create and capture value online. Students become actively engaged in critically evaluating online business ideas and have an opportunity to present their topics to the class. Teaching methods include cases, lectures, and discussion, guest presentations, and project work. Dina Mayzlin.

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, Internet products, services, and products from the nonprofit and public sectors. Course requirements: several cases and a group term project. Prerequisites: Data Analysis and Statistics or permission of instructor. 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. Thus, a clear understanding of consumers is critical to successful marketing. This course is designed to familiarize you with principles and findings in the area of consumer behavior. We consider topics such as perception, attention, learning and memory, self-concept, personality, attitudes and attitude change, decision making, hedonic judgment, group influence, social class, and culture. The goal is to provide you with a set of approaches and concepts to help you understand and predict how consumers will respond to marketing actions. By training your sense of what makes the consumers tick, the course aims to provide you with the ability to better predict consumer response to marketing actions, and hence a talent for making more insightful marketing decisions. Prerequisite: Marketing Management or permission of instructor. Nathan Novemsky.

MGT 566b, Seminar on Urban Change. 4 units. This is a research seminar of limited enrollment, focusing on the city of New Haven and its region. Topics include politics, economy, technology, culture, and the development of social capital. Reading is substantial, and each member is expected to complete an original term paper. Douglas Rae.

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 to be ISO 9000 certified. At the same time, quality disasters, such as the Firestone Tire recall and the crash of the Concorde in Paris, occur with regularity, and customer surveys show that service quality has continued to decline steeply. A recent and highly publicized study found that far more people die each year from medical mistakes than from automobile accidents. 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 involves lectures, in-class demonstrations, and cases. Cases include: controlling and improving production for a leading maker of copier paper, reducing dents and scratches on an automobile assembly line, increasing circulation at Mother Jones magazine, and improving service quality at Florida Power & Light and the Paul Revere Insurance Co. A key subject is the design of experiments, with an emphasis on applications to services. 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, including improving education, evaluating medical treatments, and marketing applications. The course builds on the statistical foundations of the data analysis core courses, and integrates concepts from operations, organizational behavior, and marketing. Prerequisite: Data Analysis I and II. Session one. Arthur Swersey.

MGT 633b, Strategic Human Resource Management. 4 units. People make organizations work, and organizations gain competitive advantage to the extent that they motivate and mobilize their work force for strategic goals. This course focuses on effectively managing people in organizations by emphasizing the critical link between human resources and organization strategy. It is premised on the idea that effective strategy implementation is possible only through a motivated work force, and it is designed for prospective general managers who want to understand how to make this translation happen. A “stakeholder” approach is used, stressing the multiple influences of employees, government, and shareholders on managerial decisions. Such topics as managing complex global systems, strategic compensation, managing performance, career development, labor relations, and job analysis and design are discussed, interweaving management theory with real-world practice. Guest lecturers from both profit and nonprofit sectors provide benchmarks for “best practices” in organizations, demonstrating current applications of tools and thinking. Current issues confronting managers, including diversity, outsourcing, downsizing, and re-engineering, are studied, discussed, and debated. Class sessions are a combination of case discussions, experiential exercises, and lectures. Jennifer Mueller.

MGT 635b, Venture Capital and Private Equity Investments. 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. Both lectures and in-depth case studies are included, with a strong emphasis on “learning by doing.” Teamwork is actively encouraged to frame and solve problems and to handle workloads. Execution of major case studies requires teams of participants 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 oral presentations. Entrepreneur and investor teams negotiate and structure “deals” in a role-playing mode. Enrollment limited to thirty-six second-year SOM students. Heavy workload. Prerequisite: Valuation and Investment/Corporate Finance and Options. David Cromwell.

MGT 642b, International Corporate Finance and Strategy. 4 units. The course helps students think about structuring business opportunities and using financial markets around the world. It focuses on the two fundamental factors that make international corporate strategy special: (1) foreign currency; and (2) the extent to which the law protects investors. Exchange rates are considerably volatile and we need to include the effects of these variations in our assessment of an investment opportunity, for example. Foreign currency factors that affect cross-border transactions and other strategic corporate decisions are reviewed in the first part of the course. The second element that affects international strategic thinking is investor protection. Differences in legal structures and institutional characteristics have recently been shown to be key determinants of how corporations are valued, raise capital, etc. We explore three sets of these issues in the course. First, what rights do security holders have when things go badly? Do corporate governance arrangements differ across countries? How does investor protection affect corporate structures, mergers and acquisitions, the ability of corporations to raise capital, firm payout policies, and the size of capital markets? Second, what is the role of financial contracting in mitigating opportunistic behavior? Can raising equity in foreign markets (e.g., in the United States) be advantageous for companies in countries with bad investor protection and shallow capital markets? Are securitization, venture capital, and joint-venture arrangements a valid alternative for firms in nations with poor institutions? Finally, what is the role of banks in foreign countries? Is there merit in the distinction between bank- and market-centered financial systems? Why are banks always bankrupt? Throughout the course, students are required to prepare written solutions to problems and cases. Prerequisites: Data Analysis and Statistics, Corporate Finance or equivalent, or permission of instructor. Florencio López-de-Silanes.

MGT 644b, Structured Finance. 4 units. Structured finance products are debt offerings that are structured to be different from standard bond offerings. These products include asset-backed securities and structured notes. The major product is asset-backed securities, created by pooling loans and receivables and using them as collateral for a debt offering. The primary focus of the course is asset securitization. Topics include the motivation for securitization, the types of structures, how to structure transactions, credit enhancement mechanisms, rating of deals, the role of the servicer, due diligence, the types of assets securitized (traditional vs. nontraditional), and accounting/tax considerations (FASIT, REMIC). Case studies are presented. Class will meet Thursday evenings and Fridays; some meetings in New York City. Frank Fabozzi.

MGT 675b/LAW 21367, From TV to IP: Law and Policy of Modern Media. 4 units. The media shape society and markets, but law and policy shape the media. How does the law—statutes, regulation, courts, norms—categorize, promote, suppress, and alter the media, in particular television? Subject matter extends from the early history of television to the future of the Internet. Issues include the politics of regulating the communications sector; the interrelationships of the judiciary, legislature, executive, and regulatory branches of government as applied to this sector; and current issues in TV and Internet policy. Requirements: experience-based study of TV and Internet content and a paper. Enrollment limited. Reed Hundt, Gretchen Rubin.

MGT 676b/F&ES 770b, Scope of the Policy Sciences. 4 units. Emphasizing a systematic and comprehensive approach to the study of policy, this course concentrates on a general sequence of decision comprised of six distinct, interrelated phases of the “life” of a policy or problem. The course has served as a foundation upon which other substantive policy courses and work have been built. Furthermore, it works to integrate theory with practice in a variety of substantive fields. Garry Brewer.

MGT 687b/F&ES 768b, Business and Environment Leadership. 4 units. During the last decade business and environmental leaders began to realize that understanding one another and working together, while unaccustomed and often difficult, offer many tangible benefits. The course focuses on the lives and experiences of such leaders, several of whom pioneered Yale’s joint MBA/MEM degree program. Professional pathways, career development, challenges in the workplace, and many other topics are explored. Emergent opportunities as well as common problems are considered. Specific attention is given to differences that exist in the views, values, and cultures of the business and environmental worlds. Garry Brewer.

MGT 688b/F&ES 812b, Environmental Management and Strategy. 4 units. The course focuses on understanding how adroit environmental management and strategy can enhance business opportunities and reduce environmental impact. It seeks to analyze under what circumstances different competitive approaches are likely to be successful and to increase knowledge of programs, structures, and tools of environmental management. The course combines weekly lectures and class discussions on theory with sessions involving tools and applications. Marian R. Chertow.

MGT 698b, Health Care Finance and Health Economics. 4 units. This course provides the foundation for understanding health care delivery and financing. The first part of the course is didactic, covering fundamentals of health economics and public and private health care finance, with special attention to government provided/government-financed health care. Traditional microeconomic theory is expanded to explain and explore economics of the public sector and how this influences decisions about social insurance. The historical evolution and current structure of health care delivery in the United States and a few representative health systems are described. Following this, special topics include biotechnology, health care cost-effectiveness analysis, expansion and financing of Medicare, telemedicine and health care IT, NFP health care, and financial analysis of publicly traded health care companies. Required course work includes a mid-term examination, individual and group casework (including a final presentation), and class participation. Enrollment limited. Howard Forman.

MGT 808b, Making Decisions with Spreadsheets: An Introduction to Operations Research. 2 or 4 units. 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. Prerequisites: Data I and II, Decision Analysis and Game Theory. Session one or sessions one and two. Lode Li.

MGT 812b, Financial Statement Analysis. 2 units. This course helps students learn basic tools in analyzing financial statements. We cover the following four topics: (1) financial analysis using ratios; (2) equity valuation; (3) assessment of the impact of using alternative accounting methods and exploration of ways to “disentangle” such methods, if possible; (4) credit analysis. We proceed under the framework of a four-step process: business strategy analysis, accounting analysis, forecasting, and valuation. Business strategy analysis establishes the context of the financial reports and suggests important areas for our attention. Accounting analysis describes the extent to which the use of different accounting methods affects reported results. Forecasting combines the results of the business strategy analysis and the accounting analysis to generate predictions, usually of future earnings and cashflows. Valuation converts the forecasts into estimates of variables of interest, such as stock prices or debt ratings. While no accounting methods beyond those contained in MGT 870a and MGT 871b are presented, we make extensive use of the material from those courses. Class time is spent in a combination of lectures and case discussions. Prerequisite: Financial Reporting I. Session two. Ganapathi Narayanamoorthy.

MGT 816b, Strategic Considerations in Managerial Accounting. 2 units. This course continues the study of internal reporting systems with an emphasis on strategic considerations. Topics include employee incentives, compensation contracts, delegation and division performance measurement, and information flow. Session one. Brian Mittendorf.

MGT 818b, Financial Reporting II. 2 units. This course is intended for those interested in enhancing their understanding of corporate financial reporting beyond MGT 871b, Financial Reporting I. The course focuses on selected U.S. and international financial reporting topics and issues in order to reconstruct economic events from information provided in financial statements, understand required and alternative accounting treatments, and develop a framework for analyzing a wide variety of financial reporting issues. Managers issue financial statements to provide information about an entity’s performance and prospects. In providing that information, they choose among alternative accounting methods and establish corporate financial reporting and disclosure policies. Analysts, investors, creditors, and others use financial statements to assess an entity’s current performance and future prospects. Their analysis of financial statements includes a critical assessment of accounting methods and reporting and disclosure policies. The objective of the course is to help the student become an informed issuer or user of financial statement information. An intermediate accounting text; cases and other materials based on actual financial statements; articles; and short lectures are used as a basis for class discussion. Prerequisite: Financial Reporting I. Session two. Herbert Folpe.

MGT 832b, Financial Negotiating. 2 units. This half-term course is similar to MGT 887, but is intended for students who are seeking a Finance concentration. At the center of the course are role-playing group exercises designed to highlight different aspects of negotiating. Exercises are based on financial situations that involve negotiation, such as buying or selling in a market, merging companies, doing salary negotiation, forming coalitions, and so on. In addition to negotiation exercises, students learn negotiation theory through readings and class discussion. Our focus in classroom analysis is on the application of negotiation theory to financial situations. We cover topics of competition, cooperation, strategic choice, communication, power, coalitions, creativity, leadership, ethics, and cultural differences. Since we rely on in-class participation in negotiation exercises, students are required to attend all sessions. Enrollment is limited to twenty-four SOM students planning concentrations in Finance. Sessions one and two. Christopher McCusker.

MGT 833b, Organizational Communication and Influence. 2 units. This course examines the critical factors involved in communication and influence in organizations. It is intended for managers who seek to understand the complexity of conveying strategies and decisions to others. It is also for those who seek to engage in more effective interpersonal communication ranging from face-to-face and group interactions to large audience situations. Effective influence strategies are analyzed by focusing on both pres-entation techniques and the theory behind them. üundamentals of persuasion and influence tactics provide the context for considering such topics as group interaction and influence, cultural and gender differences in communication, and strategies for communicating during conflict. In-class exercises, oral and written presentations, and case discussions provide hands-on illustrations of concepts. Enrollment limited to thirty per section. Session two. Sandra Spataro.

MGT 834b, Managing Cultural Dynamics. 2 units. This half-term course studies how culture can affect business practices. We cover topics of cultural attitudes, dimensions of cultural difference, managing cultural differences, cultural conflict, corporate culture, leading a change in operating culture, and global business ethics. The course format is a mixture of cases, exercises, and discussion. Readings include academic articles as well as those from popular business sources. Enrollment is limited to thirty-two (twenty-four M.B.A. students, with priority given to those seeking a Leadership concentration, and eight graduate students from other programs). Session two. Christopher McCusker.

MGT 842b, Analysis of Financial Policy for Emerging Market Nations. 2 units. This course is a survey of exchange rate and macroeconomic policy undertaken by emerging market nations in the second half of the twentieth century. Readings are taken from the International Monetary Fund reports and from academic journals. The course includes but is not limited to case studies of financial policy in Asia, Latin America, and Russia. Basic knowledge of macroeconomics and international finance is a prerequisite. Session one. David DeRosa.

MGT 853b, Services Marketing: Strategies for Nonprofits and For-Profits. 2 units. Services have long dominated the economies of highly industrialized nations. Even in developing economies, the combination of for-profit, government, and nonprofit service activities often represents a larger contribution to GNP than that of agriculture, natural resource extraction, and manufacturing combined. Yet marketing management has traditionally emphasized manufactured goods. This course explores the role that marketing plays in the successful creation and delivery of services in both nonprofit and for-profit settings. It offers an expanded perspective on marketing, addressing achievement of nonfinancial objectives as well as traditional bottom-line results, and recognizes the need in service environments to integrate the marketing function more closely with operations and human resource management. We consider the nature of customer involvement in real-time service delivery and consumption, study the role of technology in service delivery, evaluate the marketing implications of replacing face-to-face service by self-service and remote contact, review appropriate ways of balancing supply and demand for a highly perishable product, and examine how marketing strategies may be used to attract not just customers but also volunteers, gifts, and other resources. Teaching methods include cases on a broad array of service industries, lectures, and guest speakers. Prerequisite: Marketing Management or permission of the instructor. Session two. Christopher Lovelock.

MGT 874b, Operations Analysis and Strategy. 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 multiplant 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. Session two. Lode Li.

MGT 882b, Politics and Policy in the United States. 2 units. This class provides an overview of the governmental policy-making process in the United States. In the course of examining the factors that influence policy outcomes, we have the opportunity to examine the distinctive elements of the American political system including the role and nature of political parties and interest groups, contemporary electoral politics, the structure and behavior of government bureaucracy, and the importance of the media. Through analysis of current issues in American policy making, this class provides tools to understand political outcomes that have profound consequences for organizations in all sectors. Session two. Jonathan Koppell.

MGT 884b, Leading High-Performance Teams. 2 units. As organizations increasingly turn away from traditional hierarchical structures, teamwork among coworkers has emerged as a critical aspect of success in organizations. This course is intended for managers who seek to understand the complexities of sharing knowledge and tasks with others, and for managers who wish to harness the power of collaboration among those they manage. Class sessions make use of a variety of approaches to teaching and learning, including the case method, simulation exercises, and lectures. With a focus on the many structures supporting teams in organizations, including project teams, networks, work groups, and virtual teams, we cover topics such as group formation and socialization, diversity, creativity, group problem solving and decision making, conflict, and knowledge sharing. Session two. Sandra Spataro.

MGT 887b, Enhancing Negotiation Skills. 2 units. This half-term course studies negotiation skills through theory and practice. At the center of the course are role-playing group exercises in negotiation. Each exercise is designed to highlight a different aspect of negotiating. Exercises are based on business situations that involve negotiation, such as buying or selling in a market, merging companies, doing salary negotiation, working in teams, group decision making, giving performance reviews, and so on. In addition to negotiation exercises, students learn negotiation theory through readings and class discussion. We cover topics of competition, cooperation, strategic choice, communication, power, coalitions, creativity, leadership, ethics, and cultural differences. Since we rely on in-class participation in negotiation exercises, students are required to attend all sessions. Enrollment is limited to thirty-two (twenty-four M.B.A. students, with priority given to those seeking a Leadership concentration, and eight graduate students from other programs). Sessions one and two. Christopher McCusker, Jennifer Mueller.

MGT 997b, State, Law, and Market: Historical Perspectives. 2 units. This class examines the history of law and of business organization from ancient civilizations to the present. The emphasis is on the evolution of legal institutions that govern economic activity. Examples might include (1) the regulation of finance, of the environment, of competition, and of specific products such as milk and oranges; (2) property law ranging from the ownership of land to the ownership of patents and copyright to the ownership of wild buffalo; (3) corporation law ranging from “community responsibility” in the Middle Ages to the origins of the modern business firm; and (4) the law of debt including bankruptcy of individuals, firms, and states. We run the class as a seminar. Each week, we assign readings. We then discuss these as a group the next week. Students are asked to write a series of very short papers based on the assigned readings. The grade is based on the papers. Enrollment limited (half Law School, half SOM). Henry Hansmann and Ben Polak.

Ph.D. Courses for 2002-2003

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

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