FIN7504 Risk Management

(Formerly Managing Financial and Corporate Risk)
3 Elective Credits

Risk management has risen to a new pre-eminence with firms being exposed to an ever-increasing range of risks. The reasons for this rise, and the techniques and instruments used by risk managers, are the subjects of this course. The course will first cover the concept of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and then analyze the key financial tools used in risk management, such as futures and options. Students will then use their knowledge to manage risk optimally and alter the risk/return characteristics of corporations. The course will apply these tools to risk management cases to cover a whole set of different sectors (airlines, automobiles, IT, etc.). The course will also go into some of the most pressing risks of our time, namely: climate change; diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I); and cybersecurity, as well as risks related to Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) and executive compensation.

Prerequisites: FIN7200 or FIN7800

HUM4612 Rome: Origins of Democracy, Imperialism and Human Rights

4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits

At a moment when democracy is contested around the globe, why not return to the source?

This course invites students to revisit the origins of democracy through interdisciplinary study-philosophy, political theory, history, literature-in Rome, one of the places where it all started (at least for the western world). Significantly, this city/state was also one of the first empires, meaning that the Romans explored, conquered or colonized, and ruled and exploited other geographic territories. This course studies the original principles, processes, and representations of democracy from 1st century Rome, while also considering its role as an empire and linking both to human rights in their modern form.

If democracy aspires to equality and freedom, imperialism is its foil, a centuries-long program of conquest, racial and cultural superiority, and ongoing economic exploitation. Some might argue that the tension between them is precisely responsible for current global social, political, and economic challenges. Paradoxically-or not?-the two are deeply intertwined, and both inform the language and practice of contemporary human rights (for the better and for the worse, alas). Examining their earliest aspirations and most significant historical failures where they actually happened will help us to address the current problem of migration and asylum seeking in Europe as a limit to the "human" envisioned by human rights.

Consider this: We'll climb the Palatine Hill, site of the founding of Rome, while reading Virgil's account of that event in The Aeneid; study Shakespeare's Julius Caesar while visiting the Curia of Pompey, site of the Roman Senate (and, so they say, of Caesar's death); and experience the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica while learning about how the Catholic Church fueled the Roman Empire-and vice versa. We will visit ancient ruins and markers of cultures meditating on what they meant to those who made them, and to us, now, and we will relax along the banks of the Tiber listening to music in the evenings.

All along, we will address the profound questions of power, ideology, law, freedom, obligation, hospitality, cultural contact, and human rights that arise with our journeying. Perhaps most significantly, we will visit sites devoted to the lives and futures of migrants and refugees in Rome, one of Europe's key points of entry, as well as meeting members of non-governmental organizations working on human rights issues stemming from migration and other crises.

While experiencing the city and understanding its shifting identity as historical/tourist site and migration center, we will negotiate its spaces as ones where we can most powerfully witness and test ideas of democracy and rights for ourselves.

Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)

MKT4520 Sales in Action
4 Advanced Management CreditsA key challenge for any sales professional is the ability to communicate value to current and potential customers. While the sales knowledge gained in the traditional sales classroom is fundamental for learning about what needs to be communicated, the traditional classroom stops short of helping students to achieve the "ability" to communicate value. Through this course, students will engage in the practice of selling, receive exposure to how hard salespeople work, and become excited about professional selling as a career (or, alternatively, decide that professional selling is not the best career choice). Thus, this experiential course, Sales in Action, will allow students to observe and participate in sales processes.

Prerequisites: none

MKT7571 Sales in Action
(Formerly Building and Leading Effective Sales Force)

3 CreditsThis course focuses on the management of sales force (i.e., salespeople, business development executives, and customer relationship staff). The course explores the resources (e.g., people, information, and technology) used by firms to initiate and develop long term customer relationships. Given the vital role of sales in several organizations, the course will expose students to the strategic and tactical means with which firms create, control, nurture, and motivate the sales force.

This course complements MBA 9502 (Customer Acquisition and Persuasion). Whereas MBA 9502 focuses on the development of skills needed to excel in selling, this course addresses the leadership roles of Sales Managers, Sales Directors, Chief Revenue Officers, and Sales VPs.
Topics covered typically include sales force structure/sizing, territory design, recruitment/selection, coaching and training, motivation (leadership, compensation, sales contests, and quota management), and performance management.

Prerequisites: MKT7200 or MKT7800

MKT 9505: Sales and Marketing Dynamics within Franchise Systems

1.5 credits

This course will cover and explore the unique dynamics of sales and marketing in franchise systems. This intensive elective course complements EPS7534- Franchising, licensing & distributorship. We will review the fundamentals of franchise business models to set the context for the course and then focus on specific aspects of franchising that presents unique challenges for sales and marketing executives. We will address the implications these challenges have on marketing strategy, brand building, brand extension, sales process, sales pipeline, and revenue management. Topics covered include fundamentals of franchise business models and systems, marketing strategy and implementation in franchise systems, brand building and brand leadership in franchise systems, sales process and pipeline management for recruiting franchisees, aligning B2C and B2B franchise sales to support revenue growth, understanding franchise unit level sales analytics, managing brand conflicts and opportunities in multi-brand franchise operators, managing brands in international franchise systems, marketing channel conflicts, challenges, and opportunities when franchising is combined with other go-to-market channel options, new product development (NPD) and product portfolio management (PPM) for growth-phase franchise systems.

Prerequisites: MKT 7800

OIM6600 Scaling a New Business Within the Enterprise Through Digital
3 Credits (MSAEL Core)Digitized processes and platforms are an essential approach for leaders to scale major projects and initiatives in an organization. Cloud computing enable digital platforms that focus on operations, employee collaboration, customer relationships, and machine-to-machine connections such as the Internet of Things (IoT) to capture, analyze, and share data and insights. Instead of experimenting in an incubation state, the entire organization has to get involved with the innovation process. In this course, we explore how and when to use these digital platforms. This includes not only the rollout of the digital change from an operations and resourcing perspective but understanding who the active and passive champions and resistors are and working with them to drive diffusion. We will also discuss operations challenges and solutions associated with moving from a pilot to full scale production. Finally, the course will expose students to emerging technology enablers (e.g. data visualization, 3D printing, robotics, machine learning, augmented/virtual reality tools) and effectively identify the role they can play in the organization's growth and renewal.

Prerequisites: MOB6600 and EPS6600

OIM3536 Scaling Lean Ventures
4 Advanced Management Credits

Students who took this as MOB3536 cannot take this course

How do you enable an organization to overcome the constraints and risks posed by the nascent & uncertain operating environment found in an entrepreneurial venture? Scaling Lean Ventures is a capstone course for Operations concentrators and elective course for others targeted to 3rd and 4th year undergraduate students with an interest in strategic operations in small to medium sized organizations.

The approach to the course is driven by Lean Principles of Management including "learn by doing". The well-studied Toyota Production System serves us as the root file for many of these principles. Students will be assigned to a high priority project with an organization and will be expected to conceive & implement Lean Start-up principles to relieve the organization of a deeply embedded operating constraint on growth. This is not a consulting experience, but a learn-by-doing partnership for fourteen weeks. The students will be expected to be on site with the partner organizations regularly to make implementation progress.

In addition to their on-site time, the course will have an in-class component. During each in-class session, the students will be exposed to a new TPS concept and discuss how to implement it at their project. The students will also provide and receive feedback from their peers, instructors, and guest lecturers to gain insights on their implementation attempts to-date, thus better understanding their assigned problem and charting a path forward to success.

The partner organizations are from a wide variety of industries, including technology, consumer products, food, legal services, and socially-oriented manufacturing and service companies.

Prerequisites: FME and SME ; Juniors and Seniors status

STR3500: Scaling Strategy: Mastering the Four Stages from Idea to $10 Billion

4 advanced management credits

How do the most successful founders transform their idea into a large, fast-growing company? Scaling Strategy answers this question by investigating three fundamental questions:
- What are the stages through which an organization must evolve to turn a new business idea into a fast-growing public company?
- How can leaders capture the opportunities and overcome the challenges at each of these stages?
- How can CEOs assess their ability to lead their organization through the next stage of scaling?

Scaling Strategy explores these questions through a specific scaling framework developed by Professor Cohan and complemented with the work of other experts in the field of scaling strategy. As described below in Appendix A: Core Scaling Concepts, the course presents and applies concepts such as:

- Four stages of scaling - during which leaders seek to achieve different business objectives that are essential to transforming an idea into a large company;
- Seven scaling levers - the management tools that leader use to achieve these objectives; and
- Scaling quotient - a tool for assessing the company's capabilities - both strengths and improvement opportunities - to hurdle the next scaling stage.

For more information please watch this video: https://babson.instructuremedia.com/embed/d2e3ddbb-d69a-4091-b285-1fe25c344a76

Prerequisite: STR3000

EPS3534 Scholar in Action Experience
2 General CreditsThis two-credit course is designed to help individual students in the Bernon Scholar Program research, draft, and plan, execute, and evaluate a programmatic response to social or community need or concern for which the student is passionate.

This course is accomplished in five parts: exploration of issue, benchmarking and research of existing responses, planning of student's response, execution of that response and the student reflection on efficiency and effectiveness.

Enrollment by Permission Only

NST1090: Science of Sport

4 NST1 Credits

From the first recorded event at the ancient Olympic Games in 760 BC to the present, humans have long been captivated by sports. Humans are competitive by nature, and while sports are thrilling to both watch and play, sports are also a powerful demonstration of science. Every sport from soccer to cricket, baseball to softball, football, swimming and track and field all involve a complex symphony of science, technology, engineering, and math. This course will explore the science that underlies sport, specifically incorporating the traditional scientific disciplines of anatomy and physiology, physics, psychology, biomechanics and math. We will explore the systems of the human body that make it possible for a pitcher to throw a baseball at 100 mph, a marathoner to run 26.2 miles in just under 2 hours or a figure skater to land a quadruple axle. We will explore how science contributes to the limits of human speed, strength and endurance. We have accumulated considerable amount of information that contributes to our understanding of health, the human body and human performance in relation to sport and exercise. We will explore a range of topics from the effects of exercise on heart rate, oxygen consumption, muscle function and fatigue, joint mechanics, metabolism and concussion. Importantly, we will put the concepts we learn in class into practice in the lab and on the field to test them and collect and use data to critically analyze athletic performance and the underlying scientific principles that define it.

Prerequires: None