OPS7200 Technology & Operations Management

2 CreditsTechnology & Operations Management (TOM) - This course introduces students to the fundamental components of a firm's operating systems, be it a mature enterprise or an early stage company. The course introduces the new methods and models to analyze, diagnose and improve operations activities for both manufacturing and service firms. We examine key issues for competitiveness including operations strategy, innovation, product and process design and development, global supply chain management, quality management, and sustainable operations. Developing a strong appreciation for the contribution of technology and operations to a company's market success is an essential element of effective decision-making for entrepreneurs and leaders of all types of organizations.

OIM2001 Technology Operations Management

4 Credits

**This course is equivalent to SME2002. Students who took SME2002 cannot take this course.**

This course focuses on the processes and management systems required for entrepreneurial leaders and managers to successfully test and actualize business strategy. To be effective, leaders must accurately interpret customer value through new product development & service system design. They must create, manage and make investments to improve the conversion of resources into delivered value. Ultimately a venture's Operating Model must conform to the business's objectives and tightly link all activities tailored to its strategy such that the intent and the actions achieve the desired results in an ethical and sustainable manner.

The structure of this course builds the critical thinking skills and introduces the managerial methods needed to become entrepreneurial leaders and managers in all operating environments, independent of industry or scope. Students will discover how the design of operations impacts measured performance and affects customer satisfaction. The course further instructs how the digital modeling of expected results before action is taken leads to improved operational decisions.

Managing operations is vital to every type of organization, for it is only through effective and efficient utilization of resources that an organization can be successful in the long run. This is especially true in a globally-networked economy, when we see that significant competitive advantages accrue to those firms that manage their operations effectively. We define operations in the broadest sense, not confining the focus within the boundaries of the firm but defining the scope to the intentions and activities considered in the supply of goods and services from their conception to their consumption.

In the classroom, students will have case-based learning and hands-on experience to apply operating theories and managerial tools to make well-informed decisions. Students engage in project & group activity and assessment to help supplement individual learning throughout this course.

Prerequisites: FME 1000

PHL4609 Technology, Nature and Values
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsInvestigates the ways in which our increasing technological capabilities have influenced our values and the reciprocal influence of beliefs and conceptual systems upon technological progress.

Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate liberal arts courses (CVA, LVA, HSS, CSP, LTA in any combination)

SEN1315 The Black Body Subjected: The Complexity of Being a Black Man in America

(Senior Instructor: Shatiek Gatlin) Michael Brown. Tamir Rice. Eric Garner. These are few among the many names of Black men who have recently been killed by police officers across the United States. We also can't forget Trayvon Martin, unarmed teenager shot by George Zimmerman. The deaths of these men have sparked a national conversation about race in America, in the era of the first black male President. Conversations have sparked on Babson's campus as well. What made the bodies of these black men subject to such peril, with no charges being brought to their executioners? From what historical realities and hierarchies did ideas associated with being a black man in America emerge? How do Americans act when they encounter a black man who doesn't fulfill the negative stereotypes? This course will explore the complexity and vulnerability of being a black man in America, particularly as it pertains to the origins, perpetuation, and implications of negative stereotypes. We will also consider the intersections of socio-economic class, sexuality, gender, etc. in our seminar conversations. In the seminar we will be reading articles, watching media clips, and fostering conversation using both.

Course Schedule:
Class 1 - Tuesday, January 26
Class 2 - Tuesday, February 2
Class 3 - Tuesday, February 9
Class 4 - TBD. Tuesday February 16 is a Babson Monday so this class date is TBD.
Class 5 - Tuesday, February 23
Class 6 - Senior Seminar Showcase: Tuesday or Wednesday evening, 3/1 or 3/2. Details to be confirmed by first day of class.

SEN1325 The Business of Film(Senior Instructor: Isaiah Williams) Film is an inherently entrepreneurial industry, and leaders within the industry must show not only a keen eye for talent, creativity, and opportunity, but also a firm understanding of traditional business functions. This seminar, taught by a student film producer, will explore the practical business models and language of the U.S. film industry all the way from pitching an idea to selling or distributing a film. Through interactive lectures, case studies, and guest speakers, students will dive into the timeline of producing a film, study successful film producers/studios, read script excerpts, understand modern film finance, and explore the competitive industry landscape. Ultimately, the course goal is to provide students with the necessary foundations to begin thinking about film production and/or starting a studio as viable career option.

Course Schedule:
Class 1 - Wednesday, Jan 30
Class 2 - Wednesday, Feb 6
Class 3 - Wednesday, Feb 13
Class 4 - Wednesday, Feb 20
Class 5 - Wednesday, Feb 27
Class 6/Showcase - Wednesday, March 6

Senior-Led Seminars are free, non-credit courses that are taught by seniors at Babson. Upon successful completion of a seminar, students will receive a grade of non-credit pass (NCP) and the course will appear on your transcript at the end of the semester.

SEN1316 The Business of Luxury Fashion

(Senior Instructor: Sasha Israni) Fashion: an industry that dates back to the beginning of global civilization. Fashion is constantly evolving. In the 1920's Coco Chanel altered women's fashion to incorporate trousers and blazers. In 2016, Kanye West merged his fashion line, Yeezy Season 3, with his music album, The Life of Pablo. Though most observers focus on the constantly changing trends, designs, and media of fashion, there's fast-paced change concurrently occurring behind the scenes. In this course, we will be studying the business of luxury fashion. We will be exploring four specific areas: demand, the supply chain, technology, and sustainability. Through articles, videos, guest speakers, and industry professionals we will explore how luxury fashion works today and brainstorm future possibilities.

Course Schedule:
Class 1 - Wednesday, Feb 1
Class 2 - Wednesday, Feb 8
Class 3 - Wednesday, Feb 15
Class 4 - Wednesday, Feb 22
Class 5 - Wednesday, March 1
Class 6/Showcase - Wednesday, March 8 (6 - 7:30)

Senior-Led Seminars are free, non-credit courses that are taught by seniors at Babson. They are graded non-credit pass or fail (NCP or NCF) and will appear on your transcript at the end of the semester. These courses are made possible by a generous gift of the Donald W. White, Sr. '50 Family.

HUM4615 The City as Text: Mapping Cultural Histories in Barcelona and Madrid
4 Advanced Liberal Arts (Elective Abroad) CreditsProgram fee is paid to Glavin Office - program fee includes: accommodations, breakfast, metro passes in Madrid and Barcelona, airport and train transports in country, program planned meals, and cultural excursions. Not included: tuition, international flight, visa costs, additional meals and personal expenses.

This course is framed as "City as Text" because the city becomes our laboratory and our classroom - an extended text not limited to what is housed in a library; rather we will learn first-hand through direct encounters with each city's public places and often more hidden histories. Approaching these two cities from a design thinking perspective, each day includes explorative mapping of the city as a source and outgrowth of invention and creativity. In this course, we will consider the social and political history of both cities by actively examining the characteristics and innovations of their urban spaces. Why is each city designed as it is? How has it changed, and in response to what factors? We will delve critically into how Barcelona and Madrid have sought to market or "brand" their images, and - delving into the cityscape - what constitutes genuine tradition versus touristic or nationalistic myths. Students will conduct field research in various neighborhoods, using strategies like trendspotting and coolhunting to consider how the use of urban space and its potential are being redefined through restaurants and food markets, art and architecture, fashion and culture, and smart uses of technology. A key part of this course for students will be the opportunity participate in their own choice of what to "read" -- neighborhood mapping; observation decision making; which foods to try; interesting pathways.

Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate liberal arts courses (CVA, LVA, HSS, CSP, LTA in any combination) and admission into the course

LIT4611 East and West: Writings of Trespass
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course explores the captivating and dangerous ways in which writers construct foreign worlds of "East" and "West"-i.e. how they trespass, distort, and dream the border between themselves and other civilizations. From the Argentinian Borges' depictions of Arabian labyrinths to the Syrian Adonis' depictions of New York City alleyways, from the French Baudelaire's meditations on Oriental opium-dens to the Persian Hedayat's meditations on the madmen of Paris, from Camus' staging of the apocalypse in Algeria to Darwish's staging of the apocalypse in the migration of Palestinian refugees to European capitals, we will see how such authors represent unknown and outsider cultures. Ultimately, then, the course will interrogate the experience of radical otherness and its use as a complex force of creativity, consciousness, and imagination.

Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate liberal arts courses (CVA, LVA, HSS, CSP, LTA in any combination)

EPS3536 The Entrepreneurial Innovator
4 Advanced Management CreditsIn the Entrepreneurial Innovator, transdisciplinary teams will identify multiple entrepreneurial innovation opportunities, through user engagement and extensive prototyping, over the course of two separate design sprints. This experimental, hands-on seminar will be held in the Weissman Foundry and offer broad exposure to prototyping processes and capabilities. The seminar is open to 3rd and 4th year Babson, Olin and Wellesley (BOW) community students.

Innovation can be defined as creativity that is new and useful, combining elements of novelty and some compelling utility to an end user or target customer. Entrepreneurship considers ways to generate and monetize innovations, making value-creation profitable and sustainable. Working in transdisciplinary teams, BOW students roll up their sleeves to investigate and define unmet needs and innovation possibilities for two different user groups/customer groups. Participation in the seminar requires an action-orientation, frequent off-campus trips, user engagement, physical prototyping, as well as visual representations of user problems and innovative solutions.

Prerequisites: Open to all Babson, Olin, Wellesley (BOW) community students in their 3rd or 4th
year of study

ECN3625 Economic and Political Integration in the European Union
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Elective CreditsThe European Union is the most important experiment in liberal democracy since the founding of the United States almost three hundred years ago. The question is, will it ultimately succeed in its goals of eliminating trade barriers and increasing political unity in order to promote economic growth and ensure peace. From the "Brexit" movement in the UK, to the rise of right-wing populism in Hungary, Poland and Italy, to the massive influx of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East, the EU faces potentially shattering challenges to its authority and its institutions. Students will learn about the history of the EU, the institutional structures, the democratic nature of decision-making and legislation, the economic foundations of the single market and the impact of adopting a single currency, the Euro. With this knowledge in hand, students will examine the current crises and the future challenges for the success of the European Union experiment.

This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Spring

Prerequisites: (SME2031 or ECN2002) and ECN2000