Management Foundations

First Year Curriculum

The Management Foundations are covered through courses in 10 disciplines that provide the base for a general management education. Collectively, the foundations courses offer insight into the key functions of management.

ACCT 210. Financial Accounting

In general terms, financial accounting is the measurement of economic activity for decision-making. Financial statements are a key product of this measurement process and an important component of firms' financial reporting activities. In the past few years, financial accounting came to the forefront of the national consciousness as the stock market continued to decline amid faltering investor confidence. The crisis of confidence began with the revelation of accounting irregularities at some of the United States largest companies. However, the implications extended well beyond the effects of individual accounting or company failures: investors seemed to lose confidence in the integrity of the financial system as a whole. The capital markets, whose relative efficiency is based largely on the timely dissemination of relevant and reliable financial information, were at risk. Clearly, the importance of understanding accounting has never been so salient.

The objective of this course is not to train you to become an accountant but rather to help you develop into an informed user of financial statement information. While financial statement users face a wide variety of decisions, they are often interested in understanding the implications of financial statement information for the future cash flows and earnings potential of a firm. We will focus on understanding the mapping between underlying economic events and financial statements, and on understanding how this mapping affects inferences about future profitability. Because annual reports are somewhat formidable, we will spend time familiarizing ourselves with how firms present the information for various accounts in the financial statements, including the footnotes. We also will discuss the role of the various institutions involved in the reporting process. By understanding the environment in which financial reporting takes place you will be in a better position to evaluate critically the disclosures made by firms in published financial statements.

The following learning objectives will be emphasized: (1) familiarity with the transactions businesses engage in, (2) fluency in accounting terminology, (3) understanding the structure that maps transactions into accounting numbers, (4) understanding the rationale for various accounting methods, and (5) awareness of the judgment involved and the discretion allowed in choosing accounting methods, making estimates, and disclosing information in financial statements.

ACCT 212. Managerial Accounting: Base

Managerial accounting refers to the preparation and use of information for internal planning, control, coordination, and performance evaluation purposes. This orientation contrasts with financial accounting where the focus is on accounting disclosures for parties external to the firm.

The majority of the course covers the vocabulary and mechanics of cost accounting, issues involved in the design of an internal accounting system, and the role of accounting in decisions concerning resource allocation and performance measurement. Included in this are discussions of capacity costs, inter-departmental allocations, and activity-based management in manufacturing and service environments. We will pay particular attention to the trade-offs embedded in the choice of internal accounting systems, as well ways in which to attenuate the problems created by these trade-offs.

The second part of the course examines the process of evaluating the performance of individuals, business units and firms. We will study the optimal choice of performance metrics for incentive purposes and the rationale behind the balanced scorecard, as well as the importance of designing appropriate transfer prices for intrafirm transactions.

ACCT 213. Financial Accounting–Accelerated

This course develops students' ability to read, understand, and use corporate financial statements. The course is oriented toward the user of financial accounting data (rather than the preparer) and emphasizes the reconstruction and interpretation of economic events from published accounting reports. The course is geared toward students with some familiarity in dealing with financial statement information and allows for deeper coverage and discussion in class.

ACCT 215. Managerial Accounting: Value-Accelerated

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the concepts and tools of managerial accounting. The first part of the course demonstrates how management can rely on internal accounting information to measure and manage the profitability of individual products and customers. As part of that analysis, we examine alternative costing methods and illustrate how the resulting cost information can be used for decision making. The second part of the course focuses on the role of the internal accounting system in evaluating managerial performance and in coordinating the activities among business units within the firm. Our focus here will be on performance metrics that enable effective decentralization by aligning the objectives of individual business units with the overall corporate goals.

ACCT 311. Global Financial Reporting

This course is designed to enhance students' understanding of current financial reporting issues through a detailed analysis and comparison of U.S. and International Financial Reporting Standards. The course will cover the development of accounting standards, implementation of these standards, and how to interpret output from these standards. The course highlights intermediate and advanced financial reporting topics including consolidation, foreign currency transactions, foreign currency translation, derivatives, hedging, leases, revenue recognition, variable interest entities, and equity compensation. The course also focuses on evaluating emerging financial reporting issues such as proposed financial reporting standards put forth by U.S. or international standard setting agencies. This course should help students better understand the environment governing financial reporting and how firms develop financial statement information within this environment.

ACCT 317. Managerial Accounting: Performance Measurement, Compensation, and Governance

The course will examine the academic and professional controversies surrounding corporate governance and executive compensation. A basic framework will be developed to integrate the many important dimensions of corporate governance in the U.S. and international settings. The institutional features of corporate governance and executive compensation will be documented using the professional business and legal literatures. In addition, the scientific research in accounting, economics, finance, and organizational behavior will be used to provide insights into the measurement and consequences of observed corporate governance and executive compensation choices. After successfully finishing the course, a student should be able to (i) understand the debates about appropriate choices for corporate governance and executive compensation and (ii) critically evaluate the implications of academic and professional research studies on these controversial issues.

ACCT 517. Managerial Accounting: Performance Measurement, Compensation, and Governance

The course will examine the academic and professional controversies surrounding corporate governance and executive compensation. A basic framework will be developed to integrate the many important dimensions of corporate governance in the U.S. and international settings. The institutional features of corporate governance and executive compensation will be documented using the professional business and legal literatures. In addition, the scientific research in accounting, economics, finance, and organizational behavior will be used to provide insights into the measurement and consequences of observed corporate governance and executive compensation choices. After successfully finishing the course, a student should be able to (i) understand the debates about appropriate choices for corporate governance and executive compensation and (ii) critically evaluate the implications of academic and professional research studies on these controversial issues.

FINANCE 341 . Modeling for Investment Management

This course will combine practical and up-to-date investment theory with modeling applications. Understanding beautiful theory, without the ability to apply it, is essentially useless. Conversely, creating state-of-the-art spreadsheets that apply incorrect theory is a waste of time. Here, we try to explicitly combine theory and application.

The course will be divided into 6 modules, or topics. The first day of each module will be a lecture on an investment topic. Also provided is a team modeling project on the topic. The second day of each module will be a lab. The lab day will begin with modeling concepts (tips) designed to help you use Excel to implement the module's investment topic. After the tips are provided, the remainder of the lab day is devoted to teams working on their modeling project and allowing for Q&A. On the third day of each module will be presentations and wrap-up.

HRMGT 280. Human Resource Management

Many managers and organizations now recognize that a critical source of competitive advantage often comes not from having the most ingenious product design, the best marketing strategy, or the most state-of-the-art production technology, but rather from having an effective system for obtaining, mobilizing, and managing the organization's human assets. A number of recent developments including demographic changes in the labor force, rapid technological change, increased global competition, tight labor markets in many sectors, experiments with new organizational arrangements, and public policy attention to work force issues are making human resource management (HRM) increasingly important for senior managers in organizations and for entrepreneurs. Indeed, some commentators contend that in today's economy with such open access to information, technology, capital, and other resources adroit human resource management may be one of the few remaining sustainable sources of competitive advantage.

This course has two central themes: (1) How to think systematically and strategically about aspects of managing the organization's human assets, and (2) What needs to be done to implement these policies and, if appropriate for a given organization, to achieve competitive advantage through people.

HRMGT 302. Incentives and Productivity

This course is designed to teach the student how to use economics to solve practical personnel problems that affect worker productivity. Topics include: selecting the best workers to hire, training workers, turnover, setting compensation strategically, structuring salespersons' commissions, downsizing, using promotions as an incentive mechanism, and other topics. Examples and cases will be presented to demonstrate the importance of using economic techniques to structure human resources programs. The course will appeal most to the student who expects to be a general manager or who hopes to run his or her own business. Although the human resources specialist may benefit from this course, the emphasis will be on decisions that affect personnel, but are made primarily by general managers. The class format is somewhat unusual. Most classes consist of lecture with questions, but two are class workshops. The lecture will present a theoretical development of a topic. The questions discussed during the last part of the lecture period will involve practical business application of the theory presented in lecture. This course is more technical than other human resources courses, but should be accessible to anyone who has successfully completed the economics and statistics courses in the MBA core. Every student is expected to know calculus and basic probability and statistics. Although I will not emphasize the technical aspects on the final exam, the problem sets will require some knowledge of mathematics. To ease your fears, many "poets" have taken variants of this course in the past and have done well.

There will be graded team problem sets, a midterm, and a final exam.

MGMTECON 200. Managerial Economics

This course covers microeconomic concepts relevant to managerial decision making. Topics include: demand and supply analysis; consumer demand theory; production theory; price discrimination; perfect competition; partial equilibrium welfare analysis; externalities and public goods; risk aversion and risk sharing; hidden information and signaling; moral hazard and incentives; game theory; oligopoly; and transaction cost economics.

MGTECON 203. Managerial Economics–Accelerated

MGTECON 203 is the accelerated option in microeconomics for 1st year MBA students. It will cover the usual array of topics, with an emphasis on topics more useful for students of management (although the order in which the topics are covered will be different from that in 200). No previous background in economics is required or expected, but in comparison with MGTECON 200, less time will be spent in class on basic problems. Therefore, students choosing this option should be completely comfortable with calculus and linear algebra. A good diagnostic is to read Sections 3.5 and 3.6 (pp. 57-67) in Kreps, Microeconomics for Managers. If you find this easy, 203 is a good choice. If not, 200 is the right course for you. Students with extensive background in microeconomics should take one of the Advanced Applications options; in particular, MGTECON 203 is NOT a good fit for students who have an undergraduate major in economics.

MGTECON 330. Economics of Organization

This is an advanced applications economics course that applies recent innovations and high-powered tools to organization and general management. MBA1 students must have a strong background in microeconomics to take the course and should consult with their advisors. The course is appropriate for MBA2 students who have taken either Mgtecon 200 or Mgtecon 203. The course objective is to equip managers with an extensive set of analytical and applicable tools for handling the following topics: organization for coordination, designing incentives for moral hazard, monitoring and private information, applications to scope, scale, global management and mergers, principles for allocating decision power, managing supplier relations, downstream controls, franchising and alliances, bargaining, high order reasoning, repeated interactions and reputation, holdups and strategizing with unawareness. These topics will be covered in a combination of lectures and cases.

MKTG 231. Marketing and Competition

The Marketing and Competition core variant will cover both marketing to consumers, using case studies and lectures, and marketing to businesses, using the INDUSTRAT competitive simulation. Class case discussions will focus on key concepts and marketing analyses as well as new perspectives on customer analysis and marketing strategies. The course will include three modules: (1) Analyzing Marketing Opportunities, (2) Developing Marketing Strategies, and (3) New Trends in Marketing Strategy Implementation. A major part of the course will employ the INDUSTRAT competitive simulation. In this simulation, each team, representing a company in 5-firm industry, will have to make a wide range of decisions, such as customer and segment selection, positioning, market research, sales force deployment, R&D, and whether to form alliances with other firms. During INDUSTRAT sessions, teams will discuss the previous period's results and marketing research data to make decisions for the next period.

MKTG 240. Marketing Management

The objectives of this course are to introduce students to the substantive and procedural aspects of marketing management and to sharpen skills for critical analytical thinking and effective communication. Specifically, the goals are to introduce students to marketing strategy and to the elements of marketing analysis: customer analysis, competitor analysis, and company analysis; to familiarize students with the elements of the marketing mix (product strategy, pricing, advertising and promotion, and distribution), and to enhance problem solving and decision-making abilities in these operational areas of marketing; and to provide students with a forum (both written and verbal) for presenting and defending their own recommendations, and for critically examining and discussing the recommendations of others.

MKTG 241. Marketing Strategy and Planning

Marketing Strategy and Planning (M241) will combine discussions and illustrations of key marketing frameworks and concepts with a hands-on application of the principles and tools to a marketing plan to be developed by student teams. The cases and lectures will address frameworks and techniques relating to the creation, capture, communication, and delivery of customer value. Corresponding to the topics covered in class, teams will develop marketing plan components, such as customer analysis, implementing an empirical customer study, positioning, communication strategy and execution, pricing tactics, and so on. Alternative and emerging views of marketing will be examined. The marketing plan sessions will take place in break-out rooms in the library. The mid-term team assignment will involve the development of a loyalty program. The final exam will involve an in-class case analysis.

MKTG 242. Customer Experiences

Two things are critical for any business - having customers and keeping them.

This course provides insights into how these objectives can be achieved by crafting superior customer experiences. Great customer experiences are rarely created within departmental silos as they require understanding all customer touch-points with the organization. This course integrates marketing functions with operations, HR, and strategy to provide simple and powerful frameworks for creating and sustaining superior customer experiences. Students will take a high-level (CEO) perspective to explore: how to scale without sacrificing quality of experience; how to leverage customers competence in producing excellent experiences; how to expand or reinvent a customer experience; and how to recover from customer experiences failures.

MKTG 335. Product Launch

This course will focus on the role of the customer in creating value for the firm. Through case discussions, lectures, and guest speakers, we will learn about customer-related factors that increase a firm's market value. A substantial portion of our discussion will involve customer psychology and what makes customers "tick." The course is appropriate for anyone, but as it is an "advanced" course it will not cover every aspect of marketing in depth as in the base marketing core course. As will be noted in the first day of class, we study customers for the same reason that robbers rob banks: That's where the money is. Both robbers and law-abiding citizens are welcome to enroll.

MKTG 340. Marketing Management–Advanced Application

This course is designed for students who have had prior exposure (either through previous coursework or work experience) to the marketing process and to the basic principles of marketing management. There will be an emphasis on application; i.e., the integration and use of marketing tools and frameworks to address problems of practice in marketing. Possible project modules include: devise a marketing plan for a broad line of consumer products; redesign a customer loyalty program; develop an integrated marketing communications campaign for a new product launch; re-launch a brand; plan and execute a channel expansion strategy.

OIT 245. Modeling for Quantitative Analysis

This course provides basic skills in quantitative modeling. The emphasis is on constructing abstractions of real-world processes, and using the tools of optimization, Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity analysis to generate and interpret recommendations. A variety of applications drawn from revenue management, healthcare, finance and manufacturing are discussed. The instructional medium used is Excel, together with appropriate packages for simulation and optimization.

OIT 247. Modeling for Quantitative Analysis–Accelerated

The course is similar in content and emphasis to OIT 245, but is aimed at students who already have background or demonstrated aptitude for quantitative analysis, and thus are comfortable with a more rapid coverage of the topics, in more depth and breadth.

OIT 258. Technology Management

This course is intended to provide students who do not have significant background in technology with an appreciation for managerial issues related to Informational Technology (IT) within a typical firm, not necessarily in the technology sector. The course discusses how value is delivered by IT solutions, what must be done by a firm to realize this value, and whether an advantage bestowed by technology is sustainable. On the technical side, students are introduced to complexity, reliability, security, and scalability via some common IT solutions. On the organizational side, risks, costs of adoption, difficulties with implementation, and decision architectures enabled by IT are studied. The course is not intended to be a technical primer, although it does touch upon several current technologies.

OIT 261. Technology Concepts for Managers

This course is intended to provide students who do not have significant background in technology with an appreciation for managerial issues related to Informational Technology (IT) within a typical firm, not necessarily in the technology sector. The course discusses how value is delivered by IT solutions, what must be done by a firm to realize this value, and whether an advantage bestowed by technology is sustainable. On the technical side, students are introduced to complexity, reliability, security, and scalability via some common IT solutions. On the organizational side, risks, costs of adoption, difficulties with implementation, and decision architectures enabled by IT are studied. The course is not intended to be a technical primer, although it does touch upon several current technologies.

OIT 262. Operations

This course focuses on basic managerial issues arising in the operations of both manufacturing and service industries. The objectives of the course are to familiarize students with the problems and issues confronting operations managers and to introduce language, conceptual models, and analytical techniques that are broadly applicable in confronting such problems. The spectrum of different process types used to provide goods and services is developed and then examined through methods of process analysis and design.

OIT 265. Data and Decisions

This is the base version of D&D. This course introduces the fundamental concepts and techniques for analyzing risk and formulating sound decisions in uncertain environments. Approximately half of the course focuses on probability theory and decision analysis, including decision trees, decision criteria, the value of information, and simulation techniques. The remainder of the course examines statistical methods for interpreting and analyzing data including sampling concepts, regression analysis, and hypothesis testing. Applications include inventory management, demand analysis, lotteries and gambling, portfolio analysis, insurance, auctions, surveys and opinion polls, environmental contamination, failure analysis and quality control. The course emphasizes analytical techniques and concepts that are broadly applicable to business problems.

OIT 267. Data and Decisions–Accelerated

Data and Decisions - Accelerated is a first-year MBA course in probability, statistics, multiple regression analysis, and decision trees for students with strong quantitative backgrounds. Probability provides the foundation for modeling uncertainties. Statistics provides techniques for interpreting data, permitting managers to use small amounts of information to answer larger questions. Regression analysis provides a method for determining the relationship between a dependent variable and predictor variables. Decision tree analysis consists of quantitative approaches to decision making under uncertainty. Students taking this course need to be comfortable with mathematical notation, algebra, and some calculus. If you are not confident with your quantitative abilities, then you should enroll in OIT 265. Accelerated D&D will cover material covered in OIT 265 faster and in more depth. One main difference is that Accelerated D&D will cover the additional topics of advanced multiple regression analysis (e.g., correction for autocorrelation), discrete dependent variable models, and panel data. A multiple regression group project is required.

OIT 268. Making Data Relevant

Data is everywhere. Firms collect it. Data on customers’ preferences are collected through websites or loyalty programs or cash registers. Data on employees’ traits are collected through in-house databanks or social networking sites. All of us are used to thinking about data. How can you make data relevant to doing your job? How can data analysis serve to increase your competitive advantage over that of others? This class goes beyond graphing data in bar charts or time trends. It makes you think about causal relationships. The examples we use are primarily taken from talent management, because it’s easy to think about our own careers or those of our employees. But the tools covered extend to all contexts, and your project is on an idea of your choosing. The class focuses on the use of regressions to think experimentally. To take the class, you should have covered regression analysis in a former class (such as an econometrics course for economics majors) or be comfortable with learning basic math concepts quickly. You also should understand distributions of data (such as the Bell curve, or normal distribution), but this topic is not covered. There are no required proofs or derivations; you’ve done that as undergraduates. This is about using data: we use cases, examples, Notes written for the class, and a quiz, final exam, and several assignments in which you play with data sets to answer questions. Note that this 4-unit course, if successfully completed, counts for the Data Analysis foundations requirement.

OIT 338. Environmental Science for Managers

This course satisfies the Management Foundations requirement in Modeling for Optimization and Decision Support (MODS), and is the primary core course for the joint MBA - MS in Environment and Resources. For students who lack an undergraduate degree in science or engineering, OIT 338 is challenging but doable; it does not assume knowledge of environmental science or proficiency in quantitative analysis beyond admission requirements for the MBA program. Students will learn the fundamental science of ecosystems, climate and energy systems, by building decision-support models for managing these systems. In so doing, students will develop widely-applicable skills in model representation in a spreadsheet, optimization, and Monte Carlo simulation.

OIT 339. Environmental Science for Managers—Advanced

Fundamental science of ecosystems, climate and energy. Spreadsheet modeling, optimization, and Monte Carlo simulation applied to resource management and environmental policy. Similar to OIT 338, but allocates more class time to environmental/energy science and implications for management and policy, and less class time to fundamentals of modeling/optimization/simulation.

OIT 356. Electronic Business

This course focuses on the intersection of strategy and information technology. It considers how you can take advantage of new technology opportunities and how they change the structure of firms, industries and value chains. Case studies include Salesforce.com, Apple, Google, Netflix, Linden Lab (Second Life), Amazon (The Kindle), Social Games and OpenTable. For a typical class, you will prepare an in-depth case study, and the class discussion will start from the business problems presented by the case study, how one might address them, what is the role and impact of the enabling technologies, and what are some general lessons one can draw beyond the problems presented by the case.

OIT 364. Global Operations

Globalization of businesses has resulted in companies having to manage global networks of suppliers, integrators, contract manufacturers, logistics service providers, distributors, and service support operators in geographically dispersed locations. The customer network is also globally distributed. This course will focus on (1) how global and international companies can overcome the geographical, cultural, and organizational barriers, and leverage the strengths of the network to create values, and (2) how these companies may use different ways to manage operations in different regions to take full advantage of the local strengths and limitations. The course will be based on cases on innovative strategies and tactics used by global and international companies.

OIT 538. Environmental Science for Managers

No Description Available

OIT 539. Environmental Science for Managers—Advanced

No Description Available

OIT 542. Price and Revenue Optimization

This is the Advanced Application option in the menu of courses that satisfy the Management Foundations requirement in Modeling for Optimization and Decision Support (MODS). Three core modeling topics are covered in rapid-review fashion - model representation in a spreadsheet environment, optimization theory, and stochastic models - but primary emphasis is on the application domain described immediately below. OIT 542 is a two-unit course, with nine class sessions plus a final exam.

Systems for price and revenue optimization - also called yield management, dynamic pricing, or revenue management - combine the use of information technology, statistical forecasting, and mathematical optimization to make tactical decisions about pricing and product availability. A familiar example is the passenger airline industry, where a carrier may sell seats on the same flight at many different fares, with fare availability changing as time advances and uncommitted capacity declines. Over the last 25-30 years, revenue optimization practices have transformed the transportation and hospitality industries, where fixed capacity and advance reservations by customers are important structural factors. But model-based, data-driven pricing systems are increasingly common in other industries that have different structures, such as financial services and retail clothing.

In this course students learn about the model structures and modelling techniques that underlie systems for price and revenue optimization. Two topics are given roughly equal emphasis: model-based tactical pricing, including customized pricing and retail markdown management; and classical revenue management, where automated logic is used for booking control (that is, to make yes-or-no decisions in response to booking requests from customers), rather than to set prices explicitly.

OIT 542 is tailored to students who already have command of basic modelling techniques and wish to learn about their application in an important business context. To be specific, a prior college course on optimization modelling is assumed as background. (Typically, such courses focus on linear programming, or linear optimization, with secondary coverage of non-linear programming and discrete optimization.) Various aspects of optimization theory will be covered in quick-review format, along with the basics of spreadsheet model representation and stochastic modelling, in order to standardize terminology and establish certain conventions that facilitate grading. In exceptional cases, for students who have strong math background and high mathematical aptitude but no prior coursework on optimization, the background knowledge assumed in OIT 542 may be acquired through self-study; appropriate study materials will be suggested by the instructor upon request. The course is entirely appropriate for second-year MBA students who have completed either base or accelerated MODS in their first year.

OIT 542 draws on knowledge acquired and skills developed in two other Management Foundations courses that are taken simultaneously: Data and Decisions (OIT 265) and Microeconomics (MGTECON 200 or 203). Students are required to construct and analyze at least one model for every class session.

OIT 562. Supply Chain Management and Technology

Firms in many industries are scrambling to develop innovative ways to move products from raw materials through manufacturing to customers more quickly and efficiently. Some are responding by necessity to competition, both domestically and internationally. Others are capitalizing on the continuing stream of dramatic improvements in information technology. They redesign their supply chains to gather, process, transmit, share, and exploit vast amounts of information quickly and cheaply. Still others are applying the radically different philosophy of seeking a cooperative approach among all the players in the supply chain. Huge improvements have been enjoyed by firms able to optimize over their entire supply chains and figure out how to share the resulting gains while breaking down the traditional adversarial relationships. Some redesign their chains to bypass unneeded stages. Other innovations derive from deregulation and lower tariffs. This course examines many of the recent innovations in this area.

POLECON 230. Strategy Beyond Markets

This course develops techniques and tools to use in firms' strategic interactions beyond the market environment. We'll examine firms' interactions with stakeholders, constituents, and institutions, including interest groups, legislatures, regulatory agencies, courts, international organizations, and the public.

Topics covered in the class include: environmental regulation, intellectual property, antitrust, bank bailouts, health care reform, carried interest in private equity, protectionist trade policies, strategic corporate social responsibility, and beyond market strategy for start-ups. The goal is to develop integrated strategies for optimal firm performance that combine strategies within and beyond markets.

POLECON 231. Strategy Beyond Markets: Challenges and Opportunities in Developing Economies

This course shares significant material with POLECON 230 and the goal of developing integrated strategies for optimal firm performance that combine elements within and beyond markets. POLECON 231 diverges from the base course to delve deeper into issues that are particularly salient for entrepreneurs in emerging and frontier markets. Using a combination of cases from developed and developing countries, we will expand the list of topics considered to include managing political risk, protecting the firm in the face of uncertain and discretionary regulatory environments, and forming strategic partnerships with international donors. The objective is to provide a solid grounding in the techniques explored in 230, while refining skill sets and whetting appetites for investment in higher risk environments.

POLECON 530. Law and Economics for Corporate Strategy

This is an advanced version of the GSB's class on Strategy Beyond Markets. It is intended for students who have substantive experience working with/for governments, activist groups, the media, or heavily-regulated industries, and particularly those students with previous legal experience. The class may also appropriate for students who have academic backgrounds in political science or public policy.

Cases and readings consider specific legal principles (e.g., antitrust, unionization, intellectual property) and how executives can anticipate and take effective action with regards to the threats and opportunities they present. The course will focus on legal doctrine within the United States, but will also consider the legal ramifications of corporate actions with regards to other nations' legal doctrine and international law. By the end of the course, students are expected to acquire not only a thorough understanding of the legal principles covered, but also insight into the appropriate market-based and non-market-based responses.