Sloan Core Courses
The Sloan Master's Program core courses are designed specifically for Sloan Fellows. The program requires 57 units to graduate, 37 of those earned in the required courses. For more information please visit the Sloan Program website.
![[photo - Sloan students]](/photos/students-sloan.jpg)
Developing Leaders for a Changing Global Environment
The Stanford Sloan Program offers a rare opportunity to thoroughly prepare for higher levels of leadership by learning from a brilliant mix of accomplished peers, faculty, and business leaders, all in the unrivaled setting of Stanford University. Video introduction to the Sloan Program (5 minutes).
ACCT 219. Accounting
A characteristic of business is the extensive use of accounting data. The financial accounting course has the general objective of developing students' understanding of the nature, scope, and limitations of accounting information. To achieve this objective the course attempts to: (1) develop students' understanding of the conceptual accounting framework, including the objectives of financial reporting, and (2) develop students' ability to understand and critically evaluate the financial disclosures made by corporations. An issue of particular interest will be the managerial incentive aspects of accounting information and disclosures.
FINANCE 229. Finance
This course covers the foundations of finance with applications in corporate finance and investment management. It discusses many of the major financial decisions made by corporate managers and investors. Essential in many of these decisions is the process of valuation, which will be an important emphasis of the course. Topics include criteria for making investment decisions, valuation of financial assets and liabilities, relationships between risk and return, market efficiency, and the valuation of derivative securities (e.g., options). The course also provides coverage of the major financial instruments issued by corporations including debt, equity, and convertible securities.
GSBGEN 519. Leadership Seminar
The Sloan leadership seminar is focused on developing the leadership knowledge and capacities of Sloan Fellows. It is conducted throughout the year and covers a range of activities. These include formal sessions in which the tasks of leaders and leadership styles are explored. Sloan Fellows have the opportunity to complete a personal preference inventory instrument, which is coupled with team building exercises. Formal sessions are enhanced by presentations from distinguished Stanford faculty with a focus on issues of leadership, power and politics, and other topics of broad relevance. CEOs and Chairmen of major corporations are invited to meet with Sloan Fellows in Top Management Seminars, in which they discuss leadership issues in their own organizations. Sloan Fellows have the opportunity for an informal exchange of views with the speaker and further discussion over dinner.
HRMGMT 289. Human Resource Management
This course provides a framework for understanding and thinking strategically about employment relations and the management of human resources in organizations. The course draws on insights from the social sciences to explore how employment relations are influenced by economic, social, psychological, legal, and cultural forces. Specific topics include: recruitment and selection; performance evaluation; compensation and benefits; promotion; job design; training; layoffs, retention, and turnover; and the human resource implications of various strategies.
MGTECON 209. Economics
The first portion of this course covers business decision making within the firm; behavior of individual markets reacting to supply and demand forces; consequences of alternative market structures and business policies; and interactions between the public and private sectors. Specific topics include supply and demand analysis, consumer behavior, theory of cost and production, pricing and competition, factor pricing, and the concepts of marginal analysis. The second portion covers the macro, or aggregative, aspects of the economy. Specific topics include national income accounts; the determination of the level of aggregate output, employment, and prices; the monetary system, including the effects of monetary policy; fiscal policy; economic growth; and international monetary economics
MKTG 249. Marketing Management
The goal of marketing is to provide value to customers and to recapture some of that value for the firm in the form of profits. The objectives of this course 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 elements of the marketing mix (product strategy, pricing, advertising and promotion, distribution); to examine the process of building, creating and managing two key firm assets (brand equity and customer equity); and to enhance problem solving and decision making abilities in these operational areas.
OB 278. Organizational Behavior
This course is designed to introduce incoming students to the structures and processes that affect group performance as well as some of the common pitfalls associated with working in teams. Topics include understanding team culture, fostering creativity and coordination, making group decisions, and dealing with a variety of personalities. Students will participate in a number of group exercises designed to illustrate principles of team work and to give students practice diagnosing team problems and taking action to improve team performance.
OIT 269. Modeling and Analysis
This course introduces modeling and managerial uses of computers. Three themes are developed: (1) the building, using, and interpretation of computer-based models which aid managers in making decisions under conditions of both uncertainty and certainty; (2) the analysis and interpretation of empirical data for use in computer-based models; and (3) organizational issues in the implementation of decision support systems combining data and models.
POLECON 239. Nonmarket Strategy
This course addresses managerial issues in the social, political, and legal environments of business. Cases and readings emphasize strategies to improve the performance of companies in light of their multiple constituencies. Cases are set in both international and U.S. environments. Topics include integrated strategy, activists and the media, legislation affecting business, regulation and antitrust, intellectual property, international trade policy, and business ethics and corporate social responsibility.
STRAMGT 257. Strategic Leadership
This 9-session course focuses on situations where senior executives must execute strategic action fast because of rapidly changing environmental conditions. The focus of the course is on the approaches successful leaders use to recognize the need for strategic change early, determine which particular approach is likely to be successful, and then implement the change to its conclusion. Leaders in these situations often confront the problem that many people in the organization do not yet recognize the need for change and resist making the personal adjustments required. The course provides these leaders with tools to initiate and execute the changes required to address key strategic challenges: how to capitalize better on the position an organization occupies in its environment, how to reposition the organization relative to its competitors and how to develop and implement a plan to accomplish the required changes successfully.