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 390: Arts Management

Arts Management is designed to provide students with an understanding of the issues facing non-profit arts organizations in today's complex, competitive, and financially constrained environment and to present strategies and tactics for effective management. A broad range of arts disciplines will be studies, including museums, theaters, symphony orchestras, and opera and dance companies.

The class addresses such issues as current conditions in the non-profit arts world, the economics of arts organizations, government support of the arts, corporate sponsorships and strategic alliances. Functional areas including management, marketing and audience development, fundraising, budgeting and control will be explored, as will the roles, responsibilities, and perspectives of various stakeholders such as key managers, the board of directors, artists, funders, volunteers, critics and audience members.
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BUS_INST 390: Consumer Behavior

This course examines the roots of Consumer Behavior as taught in Marketing from its origins in Sociology, Psychology, and Social Psychology. Understanding how consumers make choices, form positive or negative attitudes towards various products and brands, process information from advertising, and make their final choices is contingent on developing a solid foundation of the principals discovered and researched in the social sciences. Excellence in the development of corporate strategy is dependent on an understanding of the meaning and role of marketing management. And good marketing management is based on a solid understanding of consumer choice and behavior, which derive from sociological and psychological knowledge of individual and group choice and behavior.

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 392: Arts Mangement Internship Seminar

This seminar builds upon the basic BUS_INST390 course in Arts Management. The central focus of the Seminar is built around a field study project/internship that each student will conduct with an arts organization in the Chicago area. This course provides students with a hands-on experience working with management at an arts organization, during which they can apply principles and strategies learned in the basic course.

The students are expected to work and/or do research on behalf of the arts organization approximately 2 half days per week;their work will be customized according to the needs of that organization. Each project will be arranged by the professor with the goal of providing value at a managerial level to both the student and the arts organization. Students will be in email contact with the professor during the semester.

BUS_INST 392: Internship Seminar

The Spring BIP Internship Seminar: people and Organizations is designed to provide an understanding of the human and organizational contexts in which you will be working and the skills you will need to be productive and successful during your summer internship. The Seminar will put special emphasis on the importance of the organizational context in influencing which individual styles and skills are effective. The course centers on three complementary perspectives of an organization: political, cultural, and strategic. There will be lectures, student led discussions, group projects, movies and speakers. The readings, lectures, movies, and discussions are all designed to help you understand the psychological, sociological, and institutional phenomena that regularly take place in organizations – the less visible forces behind employee and managerial behavior. Finally, towards the end of your summer internship you will be required to write a final research paper. The final paper, which will address a thesis of your choice, should demonstrate an understanding of the organizational culture, social interactions, work practices and individual skills observed at your work site. The Seminar requires the student to participate in a summer internship. Final grade given AFTER final paper is completed-typically late summer. This course is not suitable for graduating seniors (June 2008).

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

McDonalds, Ford, Kodak, Coca-Cola, Microsoft...These companies achieve global presence by adapting a global Business Formula to local environments: Standardization allows efficiency and cost reduction. Localization increases the effectiveness of local competition.

This course will identify the positive and negative outcomes of both strategies by defining a model that can support managers in successfully running their businesses in new environments.

Students will study the differences between American and Italian (and, more generally European) methods of management and business procedures, along with the differences in what constitutes business success.

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

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?

Are leaders born or can such qualities be developed? What is the difference between Lincoln and Mao, or Churchill and Stalin, or Gandhi and 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? What is the ultimate purpose of leadership?

These are the kind of questions we will seek answers to. Be prepared for hard work, team presentations, individual papers, significant reading, and contributing to the class discussion. 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

At the end of it all, you may find this to be a rewarding endeavor as other students have reported. Please note that the first (January 7th) and last (March 18th) classes are mandatory with no exceptions.

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.

BUS_INST 394: Analyzing Financial Data

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: Strategic Decision Making

Strategic Decision Making applies the science of strategy commonly known as Game Theory to examine both decision making and institutional behavior in a competitive business environment. Every day, business institutions face decisions that have elements of both conflict and cooperation with customers, suppliers and competitors, as well as among the managers within the organization itself. Game Theory is a useful tool to predict how these players will likely behave in making decisions.

Starting with the simple simultaneous decisions (decisions where the opponent’s decision is unknown at the time the player’s own decision is made) as explored by John Nash in his famous Prisoner’s Dilemma, the course examines various game models, methods of analysis and collaborative value creation theories to examine real business problems and challenges.

Each week will present a new problem, and apply various methodologies to explore potential strategies by the participants in the business situation. For example: what’s on the mind of management and unions as they go through a collective bargaining process; and, when a casino creates a new Players’ Club (affinity program) how do the gamblers respond? And, each week, a real world player in the game being studied will provide his prospective in a live video interview.

Of equal importance, the course will explore the role of irrational behavior in the study of Strategic Decision Making. Personal advancement, egos, ethics brinkmanship, and risk adverse behavior all taint the purely logical solution. In other words, actual results may vary!

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.