Business Strategy Concentration

This course will develop the quantitative skills that are required for any business student. The student will learn key microeconomic principles such as supply and demand, non-quantifiable costs, externalities and general economic thinking. The student will also work with quantitative tools including risk analysis, forecasting techniques, demand analysis, sales and customer data analysis and quality measurement. The course uses Excel as a training ground for encounters with the best and most interesting principles of business economics, financial planning and accounting. The course is designed to teach the skills of building models that allow for scenario analysis or to help inform good decision-making.

This is a first course in corporate finance. The course is designed to introduce students to the concepts and techniques necessary to analyze and implement optimal investment decisions. The course covers the effect of time and uncertainty on decision making. Topics include discounting techniques and applications, stock and bond valuation, diversification and portfolio choice, and capital budgeting.

Students will learn about creativity from a multi-disciplinary perspective, develop confidence in their own flexible thinking abilities, learn how to practice creativity within a business framework, and appreciate how workplace environments affect creativity. Readings, case studies, class exercises, and projects will emphasize the role of applied creativity in areas such as business opportunity recognition, product design, customer service, and innovative management practices.

This course will familiarize the student with the intricacies and special aspects of international marketing both for consumers and those within a business to business setting. Case studies will be used to allow for analysis of business problems and issues.

In this course you will take an active and experiential, lean start-up approach to entrepreneurism. You will learn how entrepreneurism is a basis for developing your professional practice, small business or non-profit. Building on a foundation of earlier courses, you will work both individually and in teams to develop value propositions into innovative and viable business models through the application of business disciplines especially in the areas of marketing, entrepreneurial financial management and operations. You will develop the ability to manage the complete entrepreneurial process from conceptualization, through business modeling, to pre-launch. Learning activities will include case studies, team-based design thinking sessions and both team and individual projects.