This course offers students an introduction to basic principles and applications of marketing management. In addition to being guided through the marketing process, students will develop analytical and business skills in preparation for future employment. Market research, consumer behavior, market segmentation, target marketing, brand positioning, distribution channels and service marketing are among the topics discussed. Regular quizzes ensure that students keep up on the reading and remember the core concepts, while a group project gives students the opportunity to apply these concepts to an existing business problem.

BUS_INST 260: Accounting & Business Finance

The focus of this class will be on the understanding, the interpretation and the use of financial information presented in financial statements of companies. A basic understanding of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and assumptions will be introduced, but will not be the main emphasis of the course. However, an understanding of GAAP is important so that students will be able to discern the quality of reported financial results. Students will work through a variety of company financial statements, annual reports, and supplemental data to gain better insights and make intelligent decisions about a company’s performance, value and viability.

BUS_INST 390: Investment Banking

This course focuses on investment banking firm organizational structure, products, risks, earnings, regulations, innovations and competition. The "banking" business (M&A and financings, including equity, bonds, and convertibles), the "sales and trading" business (client-related sales and trading and proprietary trading) and other investment banking businesses will be analyzed in detail. In addition, new, innovative Wall Street securities and advisory products will be reviewed. Finally, investment banking relationships with LBO funds, hedge funds and corporate institutional clients will be explored.

BUS_INST 390: Business of Fashion

Fashion affects each member of society. It represents a daily opportunity to express one's persona. There is an industry that supports that daily choice. How and why does it work? Through a series of readings, group presentations and visits from industry experts, this class will explore the industry's cultural underpinnings and provide an overview of the economics of the industry. Topics will include: body image/beauty; capturing an image; publications/journalism; retailing; fibers and fabrics; designers and managing the creative process; managing/licensing a brand; fragrances; men's clothing; and international competition. This course is not intended to provide a fashion makeover, track trends or identify the next designer. There are some television shows which do an excellent job of that.

Application

BUS_INST 390: Theories of Financial Investing

This course studies the field of investment management for institutional portfolios. It is intended as a combination of modern financial theory and industry practice, giving insight into the investment process used in large foundations, endowments, and pension funds. It covers best practices in risk management, diversification theory, modern portfolio theory, and new issues in investment management. In particular the field of alternative investments namely, hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, and real asset-based investments will be featured.

BUS_INST 390: History of Advertising

This course precedes from the premise that consumer advertising in America today rivals religion as a dominant cultural force, and pursues an historically informed understanding of what that means in our national life. We will survey the evolution of modern advertising practices from the late 19th- through the early 21st-century, examining its changing relationship to the media of print, signage, radio, television, and the Internet, as well as to the emergence of national brands. Along the way we will sample the vast polemical literature generated by advertising's staunchest advocates and fiercest critics.

BUS_INST 390: Managing Wicked Global Innovation Problems

This cross-disciplinary course will explore managing wicked innovation problems. Such problems, which are becoming increasingly common and increasingly urgent, challenge traditional management thinking, assumptions and approaches. "Wicked Problems" are distinguished by having a high level of complexity and even volatility, often with limited data to support analysis and decision-making. Change-resistant legacies and multiple stakeholders with widely-varying agendas add to the challenge. Solutions much deeply consider organizational, cultual, political/policy, development and technology contexts. Wicked problems tend to be highly interconnected and it is often difficult to determine where to begin to address a problem, how to measure progress and when the problem is "solved" in both the long and short term. Remediation efforts may reveal and exacerbate other problems; but action cannot be delayed.

The course will introduce and apply mapping tools evolved with the industry as well as multi-disciplinary perspectives and will work through a series of open-ended interactive cases and exercises. Particular attention will be paid to example national/regional innovation contexts such as can be found in Israel, Brazil, Denmark and across Africa and to consideration of potentially transferable lessons - with particular reference to the healthcare and renewable energy sectors and their interface. After introductory sessions, a major focus will be on group projects with individual group interaction with the instructor. During the quarter, students will be invited to participate in industry-academic workshops and discussion forums with the possibility of presenting project goals, progress and results in international conferences

BUS_INST 394: Sports Marketing in the 21st Century

This course is intended to provide students with a solid foundation of principles of marketing, with application focus on the sports marketing industry. The course will utilize all of the basic aspects of marketing (the 4 P's - Product/Price/Place/Promotion, coupled with target audience demographic/psychographic exploration) as they apply within the business of sport in society. The history of sports marketing will be explored and special emphasis will be placd on future trends, key issues, globalization and many other areas of relevance and value for the students. The overall course agenda will encompass: Principles of Marketing/Application to Sports Marketing,History of Sports Marketing and the Business of Sport in Society, Sponsorship Marketing, Key issues and the current major stories of sports business, Stadiums, arenas and sports venues, Global sports marketing, The phenomenon of Auto Racing/NASCAR, Extreme Sports Marketing/Generation X, Olympic Sports Marketing, How Sports can make a difference (Causes/Charities/Foundations, Future Trends in Sports Marketing)

BUS_INST 394: Financial Markets/Global Society

It can be argued that financial markets have increasingly become an important part of our society. the new marketplace is changing and growing quickly and has taken on a new significance with respect to the Global Economy.

Classes will cover important topical, relevant issues and ideas as they relate to the marketplace and its role within our society. These include evolution of trading, practical solutions and practices, and a detailed analysis of organized markets.

There will be guest speakers such as professional traders, leaders from local commodity exchanges with experience in market development, operations and ethics, and a representative from the business media.

BUS_INST 394: Global Markets: Understanding local cultures to establish global brands. (How to sell a Big Mac® to Italians and a Hummer® to Koreans)

Global markets are products, local markets are people.

McDonald’s, Ford, Kodak, Coca-Cola, Microsoft ... These international giants achieve global presence using a standard business formula, but adapting its execution to local environments.

How to balance the need for standardization, to get efficiency, with the need for localization, to be effective in different markets?

In this course students will discover how companies succeed or fail to apply standard formulas to local situations.

In this course, Global Markets: Understanding local cultures to establish global brands, Professor Cusi will explain how to detect and understand the characteristics that differentiate foreign markets, with special regard to the cultural peculiarities. Understanding cultures and local values is a crucial step in the process for developing effective marketing plans and advertising campaigns.Perceiving cultural differences in foreign countries is particularly important for managers in charge of internationalization a business.

Students will learn, among others concepts, how to deal with the eastern collectivistic cultures, how to consider Italian superstition, which is the better way to address a Japanese customer, why it is not suitable to show off personal success in Finland… In class, the students will be shown commercials from around the world, they will study and discuss some international case histories, like EuroDisney, Ducati Motorcycles, Pringles… and, as a final project, they will be asked to chose a real product and prepare two versions of a commercial: one for the American market and the other for a culturally different country.

It is strongly recommended to enroll in this seminar only after attending some, at least basic, marketing class.

Warning: due to the mature contents of some foreign commercials, this course is not suitable for underage or sensible students.

BUS_INST 394: Contemporary Issues in PR

When “60 Minutes” is knocking on your door asking for a comment, it’s a little too late to be developing your communications strategy. So how should you prepare for that moment – or better yet, avoid it completely? That question, and others like it are examined in Business Institutions 394, Professional Linkage Seminar in Public Relations. Taught by Alan Cubbage, Northwestern’s vice president for university relations, the class takes a look at real-world communication issues and challenge.

In addition to the nuts-and bolts of public relations, the course provides an examination of the various channels used in the integrated marketing communications including advertising, promotion and other tools. Communication management, planning and strategy will be the focus for the course.

Guest lecturers include Chicago newspaper and television editors as well as top PR and advertising professionals. As a result, students learn not only the theory of public relations, but also how it really works in a major metropolitan area.

Alan Cubbage is responsible for Northwestern’s overall communications, including media relations, publications and the University’s Web presence. He has worked extensively with both traditional and new media.

BUS_INST 394: Leadership and Ethics

Leadership, Ethics, and You Who is a leader? What exactly is leadership? Is it someone beautiful, articulate, and oozing with charisma, with a silver tongue that can tame even the most curmudgeonly? Is it a life filled with glamour, glory, adulation, and riches? Or is it perhaps a different journey? Are leaders born or can such qualities be developed? What is the difference between a Lincoln and a Mao, or a Churchill and a Stalin, or a Gandhi and a Hitler, or even Sam Walton and Jeff Skilling? What exactly is ethics and does it have a role in leadership? Is "everyone does it" the basic mantra of life or is there, perhaps, another road? We will wrestle with these kinds of questions. The learning will come mainly from classroom discussions, team presentations, individual papers, and significant reading. Finally, you will need to look within for answers, especially to the question: What kind of a leader do I plan to be? "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves." - Sir Edmund Hillary There is a MANDATORY pre-course class meeting on Tuesday, March 9th at 4:30-5:30pm in 2010 Sheridan in which further details will be provided. Intrigued? Come join us.

BUS_INST 394: Entrepreneurship

This class will not give you everything you need to run out and start your first business. However, it will attempt to expose you to many of the critical elements to becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Starting a business is difficult, all consuming and the odds are against you. This class will also be difficult, time consuming and certainly not a cake-walk. For those of you considering starting your own business or going into a related field it might just be one of the most valuable classes you can take...

We will explore many aspects of new ventures including: evaluating business ideas, the value proposition, writing the business plan, financial modeling, customer acquisition, fund raising, presenting your business plan, picking your management team, structure and capitalization, legal protection (patents, trademarks NDAs, etc).

This class is being modeled after Entrepreneurship 462 which is offered at kellogg. Many of the speakers will be the same speakers that present in the class at kellogg and the workload will be similar to that of a Kellogg class. THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE EASY! But if you are dedicated and put the effort in, you will get many times that back in a fun, engaging class that is taught from the perspective of the business world, not the perspective of the classroom.

Info Setting: November 9th, 4pm. 2010 Sheridan Road.

BUS_INST 394: Analysis of Financial Market Movement

This course focuses primarily on current economic conditions and how actions of the Federal Government, and those taken by the Federal Reserve, affect change in today’s economy. This class has a broad based appeal to people studying various disciplines. The economy is dynamic, changing constantly, and confusing to most of society. This class demystifies the intricacies of current economic policy and explores the foundations that drive our elected and appointed officials.

The temptation would be to say that this class works during periods of economic instability, but offers little insight during more stable times. The reality is that the economy is always in a state of flux to some degree. In recent times, economic times have been relatively stable. This is not to say nothing has happened economically. There has been a stock market crash, an economic boom that lasted an unprecedented ten years, irrational exuberance, insider trading scandals, accounting scandals, wars, and the current developing issues with respect to executives being brought to trial. We have seen the Federal Reserve raise interest rates, and then turn around and lower them to levels not seen in decades. There is always an issue to address and discuss with respect to any snapshot of today’s economy

This class will sparks debate while encompassing the foundations of several schools of economic thought. It begins with the theories of Adam Smith and progresses to current schools of economic thought. This class incorporates opinions into the framework of several theories

BUS_INST 394: The Evolving Third Sector: Lessons in Nonprofit Management This course brings together students from a variety of academic disciplines and leverages their diverse talents in the field to consult nonprofits facing organizational challenges in addressing issues such as poverty, homelessness and education. Bridging the divide between academic experience and civic engagement, teams of five undergraduate students have the opportunity to work on ten-week engagements with nonprofits under the supervision of Kellogg MBA students.

To inform and guide students’ interaction with nonprofits, this course will provide an overview of the nonprofit sector and the growing trends towards greater accountability, transparency and performance management. Students will explore the changing roles and responsibilities of nonprofits, as shaped by both the public and private sector, and they will examine the implications of these trends. The first half of the course will be spent introducing students to the so-called Third Sector and the present political and economic systems that influence how it serves the public good. The second half of the course will be spent examining business strategy and management and their applicability to nonprofits. The overarching goal of the course is to create a foundation of knowledge from which students can draw upon as they work together with community nonprofits. This course is an opportunity to innovate, collaborate, learn and apply a new set of skills and knowledge while impacting the community.

**This class is by application only.

Please see http://www.campuscatalyst.org for more information or to apply online

BUS_INST 394: Creating Excellence in Service

“Creating Excellence in Service” is designed to expose students to the essential aspects of service excellence in business.

Many graduates of Northwestern will go in to Service Businesses with jobs as Doctors, Lawyers and Business Consultants. In these roles, as well as those in leadership positions in major businesses, graduates will require an in-depth study in what truly creates a successful service business. This Course will take students through a wide variety of industries (Medical, Retail, Banking, Airlines and Auto to name a few) and a number of different business situations (steady state, organic growth, growth through merger) to better understand the key elements of delivering excellence in service.

The overall goal is to help each student understand how to create outstanding service in businesses in a wide variety of industries. Our course objectives include: Understanding the essential elements of service. Recognizing that there are elements of customer service which cut across industry lines. Monitoring the service levels a business is offering with the objective of enhancing it where necessary. Analyzing the impact of business transactions (mergers & acquisitions, plans for significant internal growth) on the ability to deliver outstanding customer service. Understanding the impact that Computer Information Systems (High Tech Solutions) can have on positively affecting High Touch Service Levels. Developing a culture of outstanding service in any business organization. Building a team focused on delivering service

BUS_INST 394: Finding Common Value: Mergers and Acquisitions Organizations can increase or decrease in size on their own, for internal reasons. However, they often grow (or shrink) through partnerships with other organizations. General Motors was formed from over eight smaller automotive companies, and may be well on its way to returning to its smaller components. Chicago was formed from many constituent neighborhoods, Evanston from just a few. Northwestern University is in hte process fo incorporating much of what was Seabury Seminary, and just parted ways with Evanston Hospital. How do organizations figure out whether they should join, divide, or restructure themselves to better serve their missions? This class will examine how organizations (primarily in the business context) make these decisions and then carry them out. This will include specific institutional detail mergers and acquisitions, tender offers, taxes, corporate rules, material adverse change and other "outs", antitrust, and accounting. We will also look at broader topics such as dealing with conflict (hostile versus negotiated takeovers), cross-border issues particularly bridging contrasting social and legal systems, settling disputes, and the sociall vital standard of "due dilligence."

COURSES > Current Offerings 2012-13 ** All information is subject to change **

Course Descriptions

COURSES > Current Offerings 2012-13

All information is subject to change