OIM9526 #CX #XD Innovation
(Formerly MOB9526 #CX #UX #XD)
1.5 Intensive Elective Credits
This course will complement an existing graduate 1.5-credit elective called Strategies for Innovation and Growth. It is also a good complement to the Managing Technological Innovation course. As their titles suggest, the latter course is overwhelmingly focused on technology based products and hi-tech industries while the former is focused on how can large firms can create and sustain innovation and growth activities. This course will complement two existing graduate 1.5-credit electives (1) Leading Innovation @ Gorillas, Chimps & Monkeys and (2) Innovation Processes.
All countries go through life cycles-agriculture, manufacturing, services and knowledge. The majority of the developed world can be considered today to be primarily in the post-service knowledge based industries. Providing services in addition to goods, which were at one time a differentiator for most businesses are more or less commoditized today. Several trends have emerged over the last 15 years: (1) Move from Services to Experiences; (2) Emergence of new Digital and Networked Economies; (3) Information and Knowledge Intense Economies; (4) the rise of the new post-PC industry, also known as the TIME industry, i.e., the convergence of the Telecom, Information, Media and Entertainment industries and (5) new forms of Designing & Delivering Great Customer Experiences. This course explores the innovations that are driving all these trends as primarily applied to a broad section of service industries-Airlines, Retail, Hospitality, Healthcare, Financial, B2B, TIME and even Not-for-Profits.
This course will cover: understanding the customer psychology and perceptions in service interactions; explore concepts, methods and tools to dream, define, design and deliver great customer experiences; innovative strategies to use customer experience as a differentiator; and how the convergence of digital technologies - data, voice & video - is helping firms to engage customers in new and innovative ways.
This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Fall/Spring/Summer
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: OIM9526
- Number of Credits: 1.5
SEN1337 A Crash Course in Surfing
(Student Instructor: Benji Cantera) There are few feelings that compare to the excitement after you catch your first wave, but acquiring the courage to take action can be daunting. In this interactive course, students will learn the basic information needed to not only talk about the surfing industry as a whole, but also embark on their own surfing journey in the future. Students will learn the history and current landscape of the surfing industry, the process of building a surfboard, what makes a good surf break, and the basics on how to surf. Presentations, guest lecturers, and in class hands-on activities will help students gain the confidence needed to take the next step in their lives!
Wednesdays 6:30 - 9:00 pm
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Other
- Course Number: SEN1337
- Number of Credits: 0
ANT4600 Accessing Health? Design, Inequality and the Politics of Place
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
Health outcomes vary widely across the globe: there is a gap of more than 30 years in the life expectancies of the longest-lived and shortest-lived countries. Yet decades' and in some cases centuries' worth of projects to improve health outcomes have faltered. Why, amidst a plethora of potential solutions, do poor health and health inequality persist?
This course investigates the relationship between human health, the places where we live, and the management of health through design and planning. Illness is both a justification for the exercise of power and a consequence of the inequalities that power leaves in its wake. This creates an apparent paradox where expert technologies of biomedicine and planning seem to offer the promise of better lives but also re-inscribe illness in already unhealthy populations. We will examine the fragmented conceptions of the body, community, health, and place that both make these efforts possible and make them unlikely to succeed in achieving health equality.
The course explores the interaction between public health and planning norms and the everyday lives of people on the margin of these projects. We will pay particular attention to questions regarding how race, gender, and disability shape both health and experiences of place in the global South and North. After an overview of the humanistic social sciences' approaches to the relationship between health and place in weeks 1-2, the readings in the first half of the course are organized around top-down projects to create healthier populations and the everyday strategies of resistance that people who find themselves caught up in these projects employ. The readings in the second half of the course explore people's bottom-up efforts to forge a different relationship between place and health, with particular attention to the politics of design.
In this course, students will complete a two-part research project that explores how differently situated social groups seek to change places and their people in pursuit of health. In part one, you will draw on theories explored in this course to examine a "top-down" approach to the production of health. For instance, you might look at a particular city's urban planning policies, the work of a transnational NGO, the management of a forest, or an anti-Zika campaign. In part two, you will explore a "bottom-up" approach to health by documenting people's every day and grassroots practices for keeping or making themselves healthy. This could include but is not limited to guerrilla urbanism, disability activism, techniques of visibility/invisibility as everyday resistance, Black place-making, or food justice. You are not required to locate both parts of the project in the same place, nor are you required to organize both parts of the project around the same health problem. This project is an opportunity for you to explore a topic in which you are genuinely interested-so please let me know if you are feeling like you need some encouragement to choose the "riskier" option.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 intermediate liberal arts (HSS, CSP, LTA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: ANT4600
- Number of Credits: 4
ACC3536 Accounting Analytics
4 Advanced Management CreditsStudents who have taken ACC3545 cannot take this course and vice versa
Data and analytics are being used to assist businesses in becoming more efficient and effective in their decision-making process. This course will improve your ability to critically analyze data in order to make better business decisions and to communicate this information effectively to your audience. Students will learn how to use analytics tools from the lens of a manager, a financial statement user, a tax analyst, an auditor, and a forensic accountant. The course will introduce you to various analytics software products, and provide an opportunity to interact with professionals in the field.
Prerequisites: Junior or Senior Class standing
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Accounting and Law
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: ACC3546
- Number of Credits: 4
PRF1200: Acting Workshop
2 free elective credits
This course will introduce the methods and tools required for stage performance. Through various exercises, games, improvisation, and assignments you will create characters, gain an understanding of theatre terminology, and attempt to find not only meaning but also the performance potential of dramatic literature. Most importantly, you will develop the confidence to approach the craft of acting with the discipline and rigor required for compelling performance.
The art of acting not only requires you to call upon knowledge in history, languages, and literature but also to understand your capabilities physically and vocally. The lessons you will learn this semester in active listening, characterization, vocal capabilities (resonance, range, enunciation, and delivery), collaboration, and bodily awareness are some that you can use in any career and in any field.
Prerequisites: none
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Free Elective (UGrad)
- Course Number: PRF1200
- Number of Credits: 2
ACC4530 Advanced Accounting
4 General CreditsThis course extends the in-depth study of accounting concepts and techniques which began in Intermediate Accounting I and II. Topics include business combinations and consolidation of financial statements, accounting for variable interest entities, translation and remeasurement of foreign currency-denominated financial statements and consolidation of foreign subsidiaries, governmental and not-for-profit accounting and accounting for partnerships.
Prerequisites: ACC3500 & ACC3501 as a pre-requisite
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Accounting and Law
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: ACC4530
- Number of Credits: 4
OIM7502 Advanced Programming for Business Analytics
3 Elective Credits
Python is a general-purpose programming language that has rapidly become one of the most popular languages for data science. Python allows users to quickly and efficiently collect, clean, analyze, visualize and narrate using any kind of data (structured, semi-structured or un-structured); irrespective of how messy the data might be. In this course, students will advance their python skills for data science. Students use a variety of data to learn powerful ways to conduct data analytics and learn helpful data science tools along the way. This will equip students to conduct their own analyses towards the end of the course.
Prerequisites: OIM 6301
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: MSBA Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: OIM7502
- Number of Credits: 3
CSP2002 African American History and Foodways (HIS)
(Formerly CVA2002)
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThe course covers the major periods, movements, and events that have shaped African American history and foodways. These include: the African slave trade; antebellum period; the civil war and reconstruction; World War I and the great migration; Harlem Renaissance and Garveyism; Great Depression; Spanish Civil War and World War II; Civil Rights and Black Power movements; industrialization, the growth of the prison industrial complex, and the _war on drugs_. The course will also include content on African American foodways from the African slave trade to the Black Power movement. Classes discuss the assigned reading with lively student participation. Out-of-class work includes readings, online exams, attending lectures, artistic presentations, and films, as well as independent research.
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: CSP2002
- Number of Credits: 4
POL4601 Africa Rising?
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis interdisciplinary course on contemporary Africa examines political, economic and social developments in the context of the now common mantra "Africa Rising." It takes a historical look at Africa's relations with global development actors and how these have impacted individual states and the entire continent. It includes a comparative analysis of Africa's partnership(s) with the different regions of the world (broadly categorized into East and West, Global South and Global North) and time spans (broadly grouped into colonial and post-colonial). It also examines processes, actors, events and partnerships within independent Africa and how they have contributed to the present state of the continent, which observers have described as rising. The course interrogates this observation. How truly is "Africa rising"? What is the cost of the rise? What does it mean for individuals, states and the entire continent? Why/how does it matter? The course focuses on these (and other important) questions, considering examples from various sectors, events, countries, bilateral and multilateral arrangements with African states and in relation to the rest of the world. It uses a variety of materials including texts, news and journal articles, as well as electronic and internet-based resources.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: POL4601
- Number of Credits: 4
LTA2010 African American Literature
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThis course will introduce students to the African American literary tradition starting with the slave narrative and concluding with contemporary literary production. Along the way, we will consider the move from oral to written literatures, the aesthetic forms created and adapted by African American writers, and the role of African American letters in chronicling and shaping the experience of African American people. Our study will be informed by major historical moments -slavery, reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Great Migration from south to north, the Civil Rights and post-Civil rights eras-and we will read work by writers such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Nella Larsen, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, Gwendolyn Brooks, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison.
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: LTA2010
- Number of Credits: 4
HSS2032 African American History and Foodways
4 Intermediate Liberal ArtsAfrican History and Foodways will cover the major subjects, movements, and events that have shaped Africa since the 1400s. These include African crops and animals, African political institutions and wars, gender, the spread of Islam, slavery, European colonization, and African independence movements. One learns how to publish a blog and create podcast episodes with show notes. Deliverables, regular contributions to class discussions, public speaking, research, and group work are essential course components. Cooking is a part of live classes.
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: HSS2032
- Number of Credits: 4
OIM3565 Agile Experimentation
4 Advanced Management Credits
Business leaders and entrepreneurs should be Agile digital experimenters, capable of innovating by combining available technologies and services into digital experiences. In this course, students will learn about Agile digital entrepreneurship and follow an Agile methodology to conceive and create an internet of things (IoT) solution with a clear value proposition.
Agile Experimentation (AgileEx) is an experiential course in which teams of students use agile methodologies to design and prototype viable innovations combining hardware and software elements. The course involves:
- Practicing Agile project management methodologies and software, and learning how to scale Agile environments from small startups to large organizations
- Designing and building IoT devices with sensors and actuators, and programming hardware (i.e., Arduino microcontrollers)
- Designing digital interfaces (e.g., interactions, app mockups, information flows) with software tools
- Running experiments and surveying customers to test hypotheses and improve the prototype
- Building an innovation that is a feasible and responsible market solution
- Presenting your work in a final pitch that showcases your prototype and its market viability
- Learning about emerging technologies
The course aims to train business graduates who are confident life-long learners of technology, can work in Agile environments, and can participate in the development of innovative and responsible technological solutions.
Prerequisites: SME2012
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: OIM3565
- Number of Credits: 4
OIM7525 Agile Experimentation
1.5 Elective Credits
Agile Experimentation (AgileEx) is an experiential course in which teams of students use agile methodologies to design and prototype viable Internet of Things (IoT) innovations combining hardware and software components. The course involves:
- Practicing Agile/SCRUM project management methodologies and software, and learning how to scale Agile environments from small startups to large organizations
- Designing and building IoT (or wearable) devices with sensors and actuators, and programming hardware (i.e., Arduino boards)
- Designing digital interfaces and processes (e.g., app mockups, process diagrams) with software tools
- Running experiments and surveying customers to test hypotheses and iterate in the development of a prototype
- Building an innovation with a clear value proposition
- Learning about emerging technologies
- Presenting your work in a final pitch that showcases your prototype and its market viability
The course aims to train business graduates who are confident life-long learners of technology, can work in Agile environments, and can participate in the development of innovative technological solutions that integrate hardware and software components.
The course does not require programming, Agile, or software/hardware prototyping experience.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: MSBA Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: OIM7525
- Number of Credits: 1.5
EPS 7509: AI Pioneers: Creating the Future of Business
3 elective credit
This experiential seminar explores the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential for creating new business opportunities. Students will learn about cutting-edge technologies in AI, such as machine learning, computer vision, neural networks, and natural language processing. We will also cover recent developments in the AI industry and the impact of venture capital investment on AI startups. Throughout the course, students will have the opportunity to experiment with AI technologies and develop their own innovative projects. By the end of the course, students will have a deep understanding of the current state of AI and the potential for new business opportunities in this field. This course is ideal for students interested in the intersection of entrepreneurship and technology.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: EPS7509
- Number of Credits: 3
FIN4545 Alternative Investments
4 Advanced Management Credits
This course provides an overview of alternative investments along with several non-traditional investment strategies. It is intended not only for finance and investment professionals, but also for those with an entrepreneurial and disruptor spirit. The course begins with a brief review of traditional investments of publicly traded stocks and bonds along with their limitations and imperfections. Students will then consider alternative investment vehicles such as private equity, venture capital, commodities, income producing real properties, licensing and royalty rights, cryptocurrencies, and social impact investing. We will also consider the move toward ESG investments (environment, social and governance) and their emphasized role in the alternative sphere. Students will analyze case studies involving The Endowment Model for Investing, Fund of Funds, Peer-to-Peer Lending, and Social Impact Investing, culminating in a team based capstone project. The course materials will challenge students to recognize investment anomalies that the marketplace has not recognized. The course will also provide an overview of the material for the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Program (CAIA) professional certification. Students will develop a robust knowledge base for careers in portfolio management, investment product development, compliance, consulting, and risk management.
Prerequisites: SME 2021 or FIN2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: FIN4545
- Number of Credits: 4
LIT4661 American Autobiography
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsAutobiography, always popular, has reached new heights of acclaim in recent years - especially in the United States. Why do readers find it so attractive? Sensationalist, exhibitionist, self-serving, revelatory, probing: while it can be all of this and more, autobiography as a literary genre has its roots in a person's desire for expression and meaning. As its writers explain themselves to the world, they explain the world to themselves, imposing on it their views and causes. Autobiography can demonstrate how history is made in words, not found; how people make sense of their own lives. Reading a cross-section of such works written by authors living in what is now the United States compels us to question simplistic notions of what _America_ stands for, and to rediscover its promises and its meanings in its variety and conflict.
This is an upper-level liberal arts course. Readings range from Benjamin Franklin to the present.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: LIT4661
- Number of Credits: 4
LIT4608 American Romanticism, Realism, and Naturalism
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course is a deep dive into literary works representing three major movements in American literature: Romanticism, Realism, and Naturalism. Romanticism is thematically concerned with nature and the common man, the frontier and immigration. Our study may include Thoreau, Whitman, and Morrison, as well as the genres of the gothic story and the slave narrative. Realism and Naturalism are often understood as reactions to Romanticism and are thematically concerned with man-made reality, objectivity and Darwinian ideas. Our study may include Wharton, Dreiser, and contemporary U.S. fiction.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: LIT4608
- Number of Credits: 4
MOB3507 An Irish Journey: Leadership, Collaboration & Innovation in the Creative Ecosystem in Ireland
4 Advanced Management Credits (Elective Abroad)This course will provide undergraduate students a unique opportunity to experience and examine the current economic, social and political trends in the creative ecosystem in Ireland. We will directly engage and interact with Irish entrepreneurs, business executives, artists, performers, athletes and historians to strive to understand the ways in which creativity and innovation occur, flourish and extend far beyond the boundaries of this relatively small island nation. Our goal will be to immerse ourselves into the creative processes, systems, cultural norms and institutions that have led Ireland to gain the reputation and standing as one of the most innovative economies in the world.
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Management
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: MOB3507
- Number of Credits: 4
OIM7546 Analytical Managers and Organization
3 Blended Credits
This course is designed to teach MBA students what it means to be an analytical manager, and how to build the capabilities required to be a highly analytical organization. It addresses the non-statistical topics in analytical decision-making at the individual level (including framing the problem and communicating the results), which should complement statistically oriented courses at Babson. It also addresses the key factors (in the DELTTA model-data, enterprise, leadership, targets, technology, and analysts) necessary to succeed with analytics at the organizational level. It incorporates new course content specifically relevant to big data and analytics based on it. The course specifically delves into how both large and entrepreneurial organizations are addressing big data and analytics, and focuses in particular on how digital and online firms use and manage analytics. We'll discuss various industries' and functions' use of analytics, but the only one addressed in any depth is web analytics for digitally-oriented businesses.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: OIM7546
- Number of Credits: 3
QTM6600 Analytics for Decision-Makers
1.5 Credits (MSAEL core)Data exploration and data-driven decision making are integral in identifying and validating business opportunities. Depending on the nature of the problem and the institutional context, techniques ranging from classical statistical methods (descriptive and inferential statistics) to more recent advances in big data and tools (Excel, R, Tableau) might provide the greatest utility and deepest insights. In this course, we encounter selection of these techniques and develop our ability to formulate analytics problems in ambiguous contexts, quantify performance of various solutions, and articulate the key results of our analysis to a non-technical audience, including using visualization methods.
Prerequisites: MOB6600 and EPS6600
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: MSAEL (Grad)
- Course Number: QTM6600
- Number of Credits: 1.5
POL 4606: Ancient Athens and the Birth of Political Thought
4 advance liberal arts credits
Pericles famously called Athens the "school of Hellas," emphasizing the city's role as a leader in the Greek world and a hub of art, knowledge, and innovation. This study abroad class in Athens (and beyond) will explore the political thought of ancient Greece through an examination of key texts, archaeological sites, historical monuments, and theatrical performances. Students will engage with the ideas of Athenian philosophers and political leaders, including Plato, Aristotle, and Pericles, and will learn about the development of democracy and empire in Athens. The class will also take day trips to other sites within Greece, including Delphi, Epidaurus, Olympia, as well as the mines at Laurion, Mycenae, and Olympia. We will attend a theatrical performance in ancient Greek (with supertitles in English) at the ancient theater of Epidaurus and take a day trip to Aegina, an island known for its ancient sites - and beautiful beaches! Through a combination of guided tours, lectures, and discussions, students will gain an understanding of the ancient Greek political system and the philosophers who shaped it. Readings, discussions, and writing assignments will be assigned to provide context and background for the sites visited and to help students to develop critical thinking skills and an understanding of the historical, cultural, and political themes that are explored during the tour.​​​​​​​
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: POL4606
- Number of Credits: 4
CSP 2037: Anthropology and Science Fiction: Close Encounters of the Cultural Kind
4 intermediate liberal arts
This course brings together anthropology and science fiction to explore how humans think about, narrate, and contest encounters across difference. Through a combination of scholarly texts, fiction, film, and other works, we will investigate how people in different times and places have made sense of what it means to be human in moments when multiple forms of personhood are present. We will investigate why societies tell stories about encounters with the Other, consider how cross-cultural encounters transform societies and their ways of imagining and managing change, and analyze how the idea of difference has shaped anthropology and science fiction. Students will create original works that reflect on and tell new stories about cross-cultural encounters.
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: CSP2037
- Number of Credits: 4
ANT4605 Anthropology of Law
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
Anthropology of law is a four-credit advanced History and Society course that explores cross-cultural variation within and among legal institutions. Through the medium of ethnography, as well as original primary-source research into court proceedings and legal disputes, we consider how law becomes a mechanism for the maintenance of social order at the same time that it can contribute to social inequity. We will address central questions in the anthropology of law: How does our cultural background influence how we conceptualize justice? What are the consequences of finding oneself between competing legal systems? Our focus will be to examine critically the social and cultural dynamics behind dispute resolution, corporate law, crime, torts, religious law, and international courts, as well as dilemmas around policing and other ways people encounter "the law" in everyday life. Case studies from diverse legal environments in both industrialized and small-scale societies will help place Western law traditions in a comparative, global perspective.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: ANT4605
- Number of Credits: 4
ANT4601 Anthropology of Migration
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
Borders closed. Families torn apart. Refugees crowded into camps. Migrants hiding from authorities. These scenes have become all too common in today's world of increasing displacement, security crackdowns, and closed-door policies. This course introduces students beyond the headlines into the human stories and struggles of migration. We will examine the forces that compel people to leave their homes, the obstacles they face in crossing borders, the challenges of forging new lives in unfamiliar lands. Through ethnographic accounts, migrant narratives, and interactive discussion, we will gain insight into the courage, creativity, and resilience shown by migrants in the face of injustice. Students will gain a holistic perspective on migration by analyzing the historical, social, cultural, political, and economic dynamics that set migration in motion. We will critically investigate issues of identity, race, gender, human rights, and humanitarianism as they relate to migrants and refugees. Students will have opportunities to engage with local migrant communities. Ultimately, this course aims to develop informed global citizens, skilled in building empathy and articulating inclusive policies in contentious debates over migration. Students will gain analytical tools to humanize the headlines and contribute their voices to these defining issues of our time.
Prerequisites: Any Combination of 2 intermediate liberal arts (HSS, LTA, CSP)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: ANT4601
- Number of Credits: 4
CSP2005 Anthropology of Religion
(Formerly CVA2005)
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsAnthropology of religion is a four-credit intermediate History and Society course. From an ethnographic and qualitative perspective, we will explore religious expression around the globe, including the major Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam but also Buddhism, Hinduism, African religions, and lesser-known faiths from small-scale, non-industrialized societies. Emphasis is placed on the analytic categories for understanding religious experiences and the prospects and challenges of cross-cultural comparison. We will adopt the techniques of anthropological inquiry to consider the social forces at work within religious life, including the political, colonial, gendered, and transnational dimensions of worship. Topics of ritual, mythology, witchcraft, magic, and science will guide our exploration of belief and spirituality beyond the formal boundaries of institutional religions. Experiential assignments, including participant observation and interviews with practitioners from unfamiliar spiritual traditions, are combined with in-depth written exercises to strengthen your intercultural and rhetorical competencies.
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: CSP2005
- Number of Credits: 4
QTM3610 Applied Multivariate Statistics
(Formerly QTM2610)
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course extends the modeling tools presented in prior statistics courses and focuses on the application and validation of models developed using real data in the context of finance, economics, and marketing research. Examples of applications include modeling the impact of advertising on sales, admission yields for business schools, patterns of voting behavior and a variety of survey data. This course focuses on implementing data analysis techniques using a statistical software package and interpreting the results in a decision-making environment. Emphasis is placed on understanding the limitations of modeling approaches, as well as the diversity of potential applications in business.
Prerequisites: AQM2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: QTM3610
- Number of Credits: 4
SEN1334 Applying the Creative Cloud
(Student Instructor: Benjamin Stegeman) Any method of augmenting ideas to allow them to become more digestible can set entrepreneurs and other communicators apart from the masses. In this course, students will learn the basics of four Adobe Creative Cloud products--PhotoShop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and After Effects--along with how to apply them to different business settings. Students will learn the fundamentals: product mock-up design using flat art, product commercials, product photo editing, basic animations, and general visual presentation techniques. Although this course covers the fundamentals, all skill levels are welcome. Class sessions will consist of learning and practicing the functions of the software, and students will get hands-on experience by working on a small project.
Wednesdays, 6:30-9:00pm
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Other
- Course Number: SEN1334
- Number of Credits: 0
ARB4650 Arab Culture for Business
(Formerly Business Arabic)
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
This course aims to help students acquire cultural intelligence and develop the tools necessary to learn about business culture of the Arab world and be aware of local traditions and sensitivities. It provides an understanding of Arab business etiquette and culture, and discusses related topics such as travel, dress codes, Islam and business, communication and negotiation styles, attitudes, and hierarchy in the workplace. Students survey countries like UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia …etc. They use diverse forms of authentic and recent media and examine materials from different Arabic newspapers and media sources such as Al-Hayat, Al- Ahram and Al-Jazeera to comprehend practical business issues, cultural values and social etiquette in the Arab world and the Middle East.
The course is taught in English. No prior knowledge of Arabic is needed.
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: ARB4650
- Number of Credits: 4
ARB4640 Arab Cinema and Culture
(Formerly ARB4600)
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course is designed as an advanced-level conversation class, with a strong cultural component. It explores Arab cinema from the colonial period to the present, and provides an in-depth exploration of "cultural identity" and "politics" in the Arab World. Although Egypt is considered the biggest film producer in the Arab world, the course aspires to represent various cinemas across the region, from Morocco and Algeria to Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Palestine, introducing students to notable moments and phenomena in the history of these cinemas. The course will be taught in Arabic and all films will be in Arabic with English subtitle. In addition to film viewings, students will be required to read critical and theoretical articles that pertain to class discussion. These films and readings serve as the basis for debate, discussion and written analysis of issues relevant to the history, culture and politics of the Arab world and the Middle East. Films will be on reserve at Horn Library, and screenings will be scheduled.
Prerequisites: Students need to be at least at a high intermediate level
This course is open to advanced and heritage speakers of Arabic
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: ARB4640
- Number of Credits: 4
ARB4610 Arabic II: Culture, Cuisine and Communication
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
Get ready for a culinary journey around the Arab world!
Arabic 4610 is designed to learn Arabic language and culture through food. It will help you enhance your linguistic and communicative skills by exploring food, traditions and cultural values. It will incorporate hands-on cooking projects and discussions about the significance of food in Arab culture. These projects aim to introduce you to the diverse dialects and rich cultures of the Arab World. They will also help you develop vocabulary, reading and writing, and enhance the spoken skills necessary for a variety of daily life activities such as sharing meals, talking about ethnic foods and favorite cuisines, buying grocery, inviting family and friends for a meal, and ordering at a restaurant. By exploring practices around food, you will observe Arab society and culture while using your senses and curiosity.
Projects might include: cooking at the Foundry, learning recipes, visit a local market, visit local Arab restaurants and/or cafés, learning about the history of Arab cuisine, researching the link between food and festivals, and much more.
Prerequisite: you may sign-up for this class if you have successfully completed ARB2200 or its equivalent, or you are a heritage speaker who can understand Arabic minimally.
Prerequisites: ARB2200
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: ARB4610
- Number of Credits: 4
LTA 2006: Art in Latin America
4 intermediate liberal arts credits
This course presents a panorama of art and culture in Latin America from ancient times to the present. Topics include Pre-Columbian Empires; Spanish Colonial Cities; Revolution, Reform and Modernism; Indigeneity, African diasporas, and Nationalism. Looking through the lens of art and architecture, the course pays special consideration to Latin America's enduring legacies and dynamic processes of change. This is an introductory survey intended for students of all academic and professional interests: no previous art history courses or experience with Latin America necessary.
Prerequisites: (AHS 1000 or FCI 1000) and (RHT1000 or WRT1001)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: LTA2006
- Number of Credits: 4
ART 4605: Art in the Age of Enlightenment
4 advanced liberal arts credits
This class examines the history of art during the Age of Enlightenment (1600-1800), a time marked by revolutions in science, industry, philosophy, and the declaration of human rights. Students will learn about artists who grappled with the image of a changing world, picturing what was before inconceivable: a surgeon publicly dissecting a human body, a former slave turned politician, etcetera. Throughout the semester, students will critically assess how art shaped the founding ideologies of our modern world.
Prerequisites: Any combinations of 2 intermediate liberal arts (HSS, LTA, CSP)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: ART4605
- Number of Credits: 4
OIM 6112: Artificial Intelligence Experimentation
MSEL Course
1.5 credits
Description:
Artificial Intelligence Experimentation is an experiential course where student teams leverage AI to design digital business concepts and apply Agile Product Management. Students will learn key skills, including how to:
1. Develop AI value propositions and business concepts
2. Practice agile product management
3. Prototype AI-related digital interfaces and solutions
4. Conduct experiments and iterate on solutions
The course does not require previous AI, programming, Agile, or software/hardware prototyping experience.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Course Number: OIM6112
- Number of Credits: 1.5
OIM7545 Artificial Intelligence for Business
3 Blended Credits
F2F Meeting Dates TBD
This course introduces students to cognitive technologies (another phrase for "artificial intelligence") and addresses their value and implementation in business. A variety of cognitive tools will be covered, from machine learning to natural language processing to "deep learning." Both the functions performed by these technologies and the business issues they generate-including the roles to be performed by humans in knowledge work processes of the future-will be addressed in the course.
Some instruction is provided by online videos on cognitive technologies. There will be several guest lectures from external experts on various cognitive technologies and management issues. No programming background is required, although students will need to study materials about how cognitive technologies work.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: MSBA Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: OIM7545
- Number of Credits: 3
OIM3580 Artificial Intelligence in Business
4 Advanced Management Credits
This elective is intended to introduce you to a variety of different types of artificial intelligence and to many of the issues involved in their business application. We will cover a variety of AI tools, from machine learning to natural language processing to "deep learning." We will learn about both the functions performed by these technologies and the business issues they generate - including the roles to be performed by humans in organizations of the future.
Some introductory material is provided by online videos on AI in general. We will have several external experts as guest speakers during sessions. No programming or detailed technology background is required, although you should be interested in new technology and will need to study materials about how AI works.
The objective is to equip you to be a manager or professional who makes use of this technology, not a developer of it-or a translator of business requirements to professional data scientists. The course is also intended to encourage some students to go on for more technical training in AI. Specific learning objectives are listed for each session.
Prerequisites: SME2012
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: OIM3580
- Number of Credits: 4
NST1011: Astrobiology
4 foundation liberal arts credits
Introduction to the new science of astrobiology, study of the origin and evolution of life on Earth, and the search for microbial and intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe. Study of the information necessary to make estimates of the probability of extraterrestrial life, what characteristics it might have and how we might expect to communicate with it if it exists.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Foundation Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: NST1011
- Number of Credits: 4
NST2070 Astrobiology and the Emergence of Complex Systems
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThe prospects for simple and intelligent life beyond earth are discussed in terms of planetary science, molecular biology, complexity theory, evolution and thermodynamics. Discussions will focus on the processes leading to the emergence of complex systems as well as the biological and physical interdependencies of life and the environment.
Prerequisites: NST10XX
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: NST2070
- Number of Credits: 4
NST1010 Astronomy
4 CreditsThe evolution and structure of the universe are explained using underlying basic physical principles along with the historical development of our present understanding. We will explore the instruments and data collection techniques used by astronomers and learn how they can be applied to solve problems in other disciplines.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Foundation Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: NST1010
- Number of Credits: 4
ACC4520 Auditing
4 General CreditsThis course examines the interrelation of audit standards, procedures, and internal control techniques with the final auditor's certificate; auditing techniques, statistical sampling methods, and the impact of electronic data processing (EDP) procedures on the auditor.
Prerequisites: ACC3500
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Accounting and Law
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: ACC4520
- Number of Credits: 4
FIN7572 Babson College Fund
3 Elective CreditsThe Babson College Fund is a two-semester course, where selected students manage a portion of the Babson College endowment. The Babson College Fund Office selects undergraduate and graduate students to be analysts and portfolio managers.
By learning the basics of security analysis and portfolio management, it is hoped that students will be prepared to take jobs in the Investment Management and Investment Banking industries post-graduation.
The Program Director and Executives in Residence are committed to helping this pursuit as much as possible. The course also requires that students refine their networking skills and develop a proficiency in the analytical tools available through the Cutler Center to maximize their employment prospects.
Prerequisites: Program Director (Patrick Gregory) Permission
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: MSF Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: FIN7572
- Number of Credits: 3
FIN4521 Babson College Fund I
4 General Elective CreditsThe Babson College Fund is a two-semester course, where selected students manage a portion of the Babson College endowment. The Babson College Fund Office selects undergraduate and graduate students to be analysts and portfolio managers.
By learning the basics of security analysis and portfolio management, it is hoped that students will be prepared to take jobs in the Investment Management and Investment Banking industries post-graduation.
The Program Director and Executives in Residence are committed to helping this pursuit as much as possible. The course also requires that students refine their networking skills and develop a proficiency in the analytical tools available through the Cutler Center to maximize their employment prospects.
Prerequisites: FIN 3520 and Program Director (Patrick Gregory) Permission
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: FIN4520
- Number of Credits: 4
FIN4521 Babson College Fund II
4 General Elective CreditsThe Babson College Fund is a two-semester course, where selected students manage a portion of the Babson College endowment. The Babson College Fund Office selects undergraduate and graduate students to be analysts and portfolio managers.
By learning the basics of security analysis and portfolio management, it is hoped that students will be prepared to take jobs in the Investment Management and Investment Banking industries post-graduation.
The Program Director and Executives in Residence are committed to helping this pursuit as much as possible. The course also requires that students refine their networking skills and develop a proficiency in the analytical tools available through the Cutler Center to maximize their employment prospects.
Prerequisites: FIN 3520 and Program Director (Patrick Gregory) Permission
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: FIN4521
- Number of Credits: 4
MBA7800 Babson Consulting Experience
3 Credits
If you have taken and passed MBA7201, you cannot register for MBA7800, as these two courses are equivalent
During the Fall Semester all MBA students will be enrolled in the Babson Consulting Experience (BCE) and assigned to a team of five to six other one-year students to work on consulting project for a partner organization. Guided by a faculty advisor (who also is the instructor of the course), BCE teams work directly with company representatives to address a real organizational opportunity or challenge and create value-added solutions.
A signature learning experience, BCE gives students an opportunity to deepen their understanding of conceptual and developmental tools learned in the classroom through hands-on applications in messy real-world contexts. Students will sharpen their ability to analyze and frame complex problems, and to effectively present insights and action recommendations, in both oral and written form. Finally, by working in teams and with external organizations, students will have many opportunities to practice the teamwork and leadership skills that they will need as you continue your professional development.
**It is strongly recommended that students take this course after completing a majority of the core courses.**
Prerequisites: Minimum of 12 credits completed
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Management
- Course Number: MBA7800
- Number of Credits: 3
EPS3514 Be the Change
2 General Credits
The course is designed for creative changemakers committed to utilizing their entrepreneurial leadership and global mindset to make a positive social impact and work towards social justice. Students will develop a deeper understanding of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development goals and the issues that exist at the heart of the social problems social entrepreneurs aim to address. Students will explore the moral and ethical questions that face non-profit organizations social enterprises, and social entrepreneurs and learn motivation, approach, and best practices as it applies to social change makers. Students will be equipped with the tools and methods to apply their entrepreneurial mindset to advance equity and social justice and create a response to a social problem they would like to address.
Note: The Natalie Taylor Scholars will use what they create in this course and implement it in the Scholar in Action EPS3534-01.
Prerequisite: FME
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: EPS3514
- Number of Credits: 2
ART1175 Beginning Painting Watercolor and Acrylic
4 General CreditsThis is an introductory level course designed to bring students through basic aspects of drawing in a wide range of media. No previous experience is required. Issues such as line, tone, mark making, gesture form, light sources, figure/ground relationships, and perspective to overall compositions will be addressed separately and in the many ways that they relate to one another in a drawing. Students will draw observationally from life and from their own drawings, learning how to use each of these concepts as tools in order to draw and see more analytically. We will work with a wide range of materials from basic graphite pencils and charcoal to ink washes, conte crayon on gesso treated paper, silverpoint, collage, and printmaking. Slides of various artists' work will be discussed in relation to concepts and processes explored in class. Student work will be discussed in group critiques with full class participation. Students should be committed to expanding their skills and can expect project deadlines. There will be some expense for materials.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Free Elective (UGrad)
- Course Number: ART1175
- Number of Credits: 4
SEN1333 Beyond Babson! Navigating Responsible Adulthood
(Student Instructors: Amalya Khashimova and Kemper Watson) Nothing feels better than being efficient and in control. Acquiring the skills to feel that way, however, can take time, and students are all busy (beavers!). In this interactive course, students will learn strategies to save time and money, and to ensure they look and feel their absolute best as they transition into adult life. Students will learn the basics of dress, cooking, mixology, budgeting, and establishing routines to keep their selves and their spaces crisp. Fellow student experts and real-deal adults will help students gain the confidence to make it on their own!
Wednesdays, 6:30-9:00pm
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Other
- Course Number: SEN1333
- Number of Credits: 0
SEN1341 Beyond the Salesperson: The Future of Automotive Retailing
(Student Instructor: Matthew Safalow) It's 2023, and car dealerships still haven't figured out how to provide the ideal car buying experience. Customers become easily defeated by endless negotiation with salespeople, finance managers, and others. In fact, after members of Congress, car salespeople are ranked as the least trusted professionals in the US. In this course, students will explore the strategies of automotive retailers. We'll learn about electric vehicles, automotive finance, marketing, and sales, and we will hear from guest presenters from automakers and large dealership groups. Ultimately, students will redefine and imagine the future of car buying.
Tuesdays 6:30 - 9:00 pm
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Other
- Course Number: SEN1341
- Number of Credits: 0
SCN3600: Biomimicry Applying Natures Design for Business
4 advanced liberal arts credits
In this course we will investigate the tools and principles of biomimicry, which seek to sustainably solve current challenges by taking inspiration from how nature solves these same problems. Nature provides us with an incredible amount of research and development for effective problem-solving methodologies with the ultimate test for organisms being survival of the fittest. For the past 3.8 billion years, life has evolved strategies that are constantly integrated and optimized to create conditions conducive for life to continue. Successful examples of biomimicry include something as simple as Velcro (imitating burrs that stick to sheep) to cutting edge advancements like a bionic leaf producing hydrogen fuel from sunlight (imitating photosynthesis) and medical grade internal adhesives (imitating how mussels adhere underwater).
In this course we will begin by exploring design principles in biology, chemistry and physics and applying them to specific technological design strategies by asking questions like "How does nature make color?" and "How does nature water-proof something?" Then we will explore ecological design principles to understand how we can use nature's strategies of interconnectedness and cycling as a way to solve problems in businesses and organizations and move toward the circular economy. This course will emphasize the development of skills in critical thinking, synthesis of information, scientific literacy, hand-on exercises, and current topical issues in biomimicry.
Prerequisites: NST1XXX
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: SCN3600
- Number of Credits: 4
SCN 3603: Biotechnology and Innovation
4 advanced liberal arts credits
In Biotechnology and Innovation, students will explore the dynamic intersection of biotechnology and business, focusing on the impact that scientific research has had on the development of new products, services, and startups within the biotech industry. The global biotechnology market, currently valued at approximately $735 billion is predicted to reach over $1.1 trillion by 2026. This course will cover the fundamental scientific aspects of biotechnology and biotechnology entrepreneurship with a focus on the global problems that can be solved using biotechnology innovations. It will explore the pioneering scientific innovations using living cells and their molecules that drive the industry, including breakthroughs in genetic engineering, gene editing, regenerative and personalized medicine, synthetic biology and bioinformatics. Students will analyze how these scientific advancements translate into commercial opportunities. Case studies of successful biotech products and services that have reshaped healthcare, agriculture, food systems, environmental challenges, bioremediation, biofuel production and many other industrial applications will also be explored. This will allow students to gain insight into the processes by which scientific discoveries become marketable solutions. This course will leverage the fact that Massachusetts is the #1 hub of Biotechnology in the world, giving students the opportunity to work with an industry partner to help solve a real-world problem. Students will participate in a semester-long project where they meet with industry stakeholders to analyze a problem and propose actionable solutions. By the end of this course, students will have a thorough understanding of the basic foundational knowledge central to biotechnology, and a better understand how scientific research serves as the foundation of the development and commercialization of biotechnological innovations.
Prerequisites: NST 10%%
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: SCN3603
- Number of Credits: 4
CSP2030 Black American Music
(Formerly CVA2030 African American Music in the U.S.)
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts Credits
This course surveys music created by and about African Americans from the 19th century to the present, including spirituals, gospel, ragtime, blues, jazz, classical, R&B, rock and roll, soul, funk, disco, and rap. The course will emphasize: (1) African origins, and the historical and sociocultural contexts in which African American musical styles developed; (2) nontechnical musical analysis of the works studied; (3) the reciprocal relationships between African American music and other American music; and (4) the ways in which music participates in and shapes our national perceptions of and debates over race. No musical background required.
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: CSP2030
- Number of Credits: 4
OIM3560 Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies
4 Advanced Management Credits
This course is about an exciting new technology called the blockchain. The blockchain is the technology behind bitcoin and other forms of digital cash. In this course, you will learn about the algorithms and protocols that enable blockchain creation, the theory behind and the potential of cryptocurrencies, how blockchains are used to enforce smart contracts, and how many other blockchain applications work.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: OIM3560
- Number of Credits: 4
OIM7565 Blockchain Ventures
1.5 Elective Credits
This course is for students wishing to explore blockchain technology (and specifically NFTs). Kicking off with a review of the technology's initial application, the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, students will gain an understanding of the commercial, technical and public policy fundamentals of blockchain technology, distributed ledgers and smart contracts in both open sourced and private applications. We then will deep dive into the Ethereum ecosystem, where we cover how it works, review 'the merge', and provide case studies of NFTs in gaming, music among other industries. Along the way, we will explore the markets and regulatory landscape for cryptocurrencies, DAOs, coin offerings, other tokens, as well as new forms of financing through crypto. An important distinction will be made between leveraging the technology of Blockchain into a business, and NFTs, which are a specific use of blockchain technology.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: MSBA Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: OIM7565
- Number of Credits: 1.5
SEN1342 Bop to the Top: Practicum in Artist Management
(Student Instructor: Divya Achanta) Baby, to be number one you got to raise the bar. Grind out [your] best, anything it takes to climb the ladder of success. Despite being active consumers of music, many of us do not get the opportunity to be a part of the industry. In this course, students will learn an overview of music-specific concepts tailored to their interests. With an emphasis on artist management, this seminar covers branding, touring, merchandising, and musical career development for singers like Tyler the Creator and Taylor Swift. Students will end with a capstone presentation making career-sustaining recommendations for an independent artist of their choice.
Wednesdays 6:30 - 9:00 pm
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Other
- Course Number: SEN1342
- Number of Credits: 0
MKT4515 Brand Management
4 CreditsBrand Management is an advanced marketing course that will prepare students to lead a brand-centered marketing team in the consumer products/services arena. The emphasis in the course is on marketing plans and day-to-day decision-making. Marketing decisions are usually made in a context of imperfect information, decision models that combine analysis with judgment, and a marketplace that is fast-changing. The course will prepare students to operate successfully in this real-world environment. The concept of _brand equity_ will be a unifying theme throughout.
Prerequisites: SME2011 or MKT2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: MKT4515
- Number of Credits: 4
MKT7572 Brand Management
3 CreditsBrand Management is an advanced marketing course that will prepare students to lead a brand- centered marketing team in the consumer products/services arena. Branding and marketing decisions are usually made in a context of imperfect information, decision models that combine analysis with judgment, and a marketplace that is fast-changing. The emphasis in the course is to explore _what every brand/product manager needs to know_ to operate successfully in this real-world environment. The concept of _brand equity_ is the unique aspect of this course versus other marketing classes and will be a unifying theme throughout. Understanding how to build strong brands is the strategic imperative of the course.
This class will first cover the role market research plays in helping make informed brand decisions. Next, the course will explore key branding concepts and frameworks that lead to effective management of these brands. Finally, the course concludes with applying these key strategic branding concepts to the more tactical aspects of executing a brand's marketing efforts. In this final section of the course, we will devote 4 classes to building brands in the Web 2.0 world.
In addition, given the course's focus on _what every brand/product manager needs to know_, 4-5 contemporary branding experts in key fields, such as branding law and digital/social media, as well as senior marketing executives, will be guests in class, adding their current and relevant branding experiences to the class discussions.
Prerequisites: MKT7200 or MKT7800 or equivalent core
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: MKT7572
- Number of Credits: 3
LAW3573 Building Contracts for New Ventures
4 General Credits
Every business operates in a supply chain in which it buys and sells goods and services. The links to these suppliers and customers are formalized in contracts, which is why all managers should know something about how to read and write a contract. This course will teach you how to do that. We will review basic principles of contract law and apply them in a wide variety of transactions. The course will be writing intensive and will equip you to do on the spot drafting and to understand drafts produced by your counterpart. This skill will enhance your ability to negotiate and structure deals. The foundation law course is a prerequisite, as is a solid ability to write.
Prerequisites: LAW1000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Accounting and Law
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: LAW3573
- Number of Credits: 4
EPS9508: Building a Corporate Innovation Capability: Strategy and Tactics
(Previously Corporate Innovation as a Profession: Designing Innovation Roles)
Corporate Intrapreneurs get by through breaking rules and seeking protection by senior leaders. It doesn't need to be this way. Companies are undertaking much more systematic approaches. To build a capability for truly Strategic Innovation that helps a company disrupt itself before others do, a new set of competencies and supporting management system must be instituted. In this course we will examine the elements of that management system and focus on two aspects that are most pressing in today's companies. The first is strategic, that is, Senior leadership's role in setting direction for and governing Strategic Innovation Initiatives, by defining and committing to Domains of Innovation Intent for the organization. The second is more tactical, and that is the issue of talent management. Leading edge companies are working to design innovation functions that require clearly defined innovation roles. We'll examine emerging roles for the corporate innovator, possible career paths, and newly designed tools for their selection and development.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: EPS9508
- Number of Credits: 3
MOB3523 Building an Inclusive Organization: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging in the Workplace
4 Advanced Management Credits
People in the workplace are constantly interacting with peers, managers, and customers with very different backgrounds and experiences. This course is designed to help students navigate diverse settings more effectively and improve their ability to work within and lead diverse teams to build more inclusive organizations. It also offers students the opportunity to develop their critical thinking on topics such as identity, relationships across difference, bias, and equality of opportunity, and specifically, how these topics relate to organizational issues of equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice. Class sessions will be experiential and discussion based. Readings, self-reflection, guest lecturers, case studies, organizational audits, and a team project will also be emphasized.
For more information: Building an Inclusive Organization
Prerequisites: (FME1000 and FME1001) or (MOB1010 and EPS1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Management
- Level: Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: MOB3523
- Number of Credits: 4
MOB7543 Building Inclusive Organizations
(Formerly Managing in a Diverse Workplace)
3 CreditsThis course focuses on how to build inclusive organizations for enhanced innovation and performance. We will explore this essential topic for today's business world through the lenses of social context, individual leadership, and organizational policy and culture. The course begins by examining the opportunities and challenges to building inclusive organizations. Next, the course takes the personal perspective, considering what entrepreneurial leaders can do to build an inclusive organization. The course concludes with a focus on organizational policies and culture -- and how inclusive workplace practices contribute to positive outcomes. The emphasis throughout the course will be on how building inclusive organizations provides an opportunity for individuals and organizations to develop and thrive. Students will work independently and in learning groups.
For more information click this link: www.kaltura.com/tiny/n728b
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Management
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: MOB7543
- Number of Credits: 3
ECN3645 Business and Economic Policy in Developing Countries
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course discusses the latest research in economics on the two fundamental questions of economic development: 1) why are some countries rich and some poor and what can be done about it, and 2) why are some individuals poor and remain poor for generations, and what can be done to alleviate poverty. In answering these questions, the course introduces students to the economic and political environment in poor countries. Topics include measures of development, economic growth, macroeconomic poverty traps (such as conflict, being landlocked, and low quality of institutions), foreign aid, and microeconomic poverty traps (such as poor nutrition and health, low educational endowments, and incomplete markets). The course introduces empirical strategies in economics to identify causal effect, such as randomized controlled trials, instrumental variable, difference-in-differences and regression discontinuity.
Prerequisites: (SME2031 or ECN2002) and ECN2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Economics
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: ECN3645
- Number of Credits: 4
QTM7800 Business Analytics
2 Credits (Core MBA)If you have taken and passed QTM7200, you cannot register for QTM7800, as these two courses are equivalent
In the BA stream of the course, regression models are used to understand dependence relations and thereby improve the accuracy of predictive modeling. Sensitivity analyses are used to determine which factors drive our decisions, and, thus, determine which factors need to be carefully managed. In the OIM stream of the paired course, strategic tradeoffs are discussed to understand the operations and information models for a variety of settings (e.g., startups, nascent or established organizations) and thereby improve any model by utilizing resources (e.g., physical assets, people, data, digital technologies, markets) and processes for the flow of goods, people and information.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Course Number: QTM7800
- Number of Credits: 2
MSB6300 Business Analytics Field Project
3 Blended CreditsThe course will provide students with the opportunity to reinforce as many as possible of the program's learning goals by guiding and coaching them through the performance of analytical tasks that they can expect to encounter in the workplace following graduation. The course will consist of two principal components:
1. A formal curriculum, delivered in a blended format, that will teach students critical skills needed to plan and execute analytical projects, and then to communicate their results effectively to senior management and other stakeholders; and
2. A consulting project, coached by a faculty member, in which teams of students will perform an analytical task for an outside organization and present their work to executives from that organization.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Other
- Level: MSBA Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: MSB6300
- Number of Credits: 3
LTA2031 Top Performers: Business in American Drama
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsEver since Willy Loman walked on stage with his sample cases in Arthur Miller's 1949 masterpiece Death of a Salesman, it has been thought axiomatic that American playwrights have painted a bleak portrait of sales professionals in particular and businesspeople generally. But a close look at American dramatic treatments of business shows something more complicated. Over the past century American playwrights have located in the world of business and the world of drama a shared preoccupation with the sometimes tricky distinctions between word and act, authenticity and performance, the _real_ and the symbolic. This course will look at a selection of American plays from the early twentieth century to the present, focusing on those plays' treatment of business and economic life. In addition to close scrutiny of dramatic texts and theatrical performances, we will also explore the role of performance in business. In other words, we'll look at both business in American drama and drama in American business. Your performance will be assessed through two papers, a mid-term and a final exam.
This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Fall
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: LTA2031
- Number of Credits: 4
OIM3545 Business Intelligence and Data Analytics
4 Credits
This course is about how organizations, and their employees can successfully collect, evaluate and apply information to become better decision makers. It starts with basic concepts regarding business data needs and ends with hands-on experience using Business Intelligence (BI) tools. It takes a variety of experts to start and run a business - financial, operational, marketing, accounting, human relations, managerial, etc. Each knowledge base requires up-to-date information to plot strategy or keep it on track. Our ability to capture large volumes of data often outstrips our ability to evaluate and apply the data as management information. These are the challenges we will address in this course so that you can become an intelligent gatherer and user of data in your chosen field.
Prerequisites: SME2012 or OIM2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: OIM3545
- Number of Credits: 4
LAW1000 Business Law & Ethics
(Formerly Business Law)
Foundation Requirement
4 Credits
This course provides students, as future business managers and leaders, with broad exposure to important areas of business law and with an introduction to business ethics. Legal and business considerations often are closely related. Students need a good working knowledge of legal and ethical principles in order to succeed in the business world. Law can be used to create and capture value for business activities as well as to mitigate legal and business risks.
Course goal #1 is to enable students to identify when they face legal issues in their professional lives and understand how to find additional information and/or consult intelligently with an attorney about them. Goal #2 is for students to be able to manage a business and its legal environment effectively. This includes understanding the significance of various legal and ethical issues, knowing how to manage and resolve legal disputes, knowing how to effectively structure businesses and deals, learning how to use the law to their advantage, and perhaps even when and how to try to change existing law. Goal #3 is to consider the limitations of the law and the role of ethical business principles and practices in sound decision making. To these ends, students read and analyze legal and ethics materials, apply precedents to new situations, complete group and individual projects, and practice analyzing, thinking, speaking and writing in a logical manner.
Business Law furthers three out of four overall learning goals of the undergraduate program
Collaboration - group projects such as negotiating contracts or conducting risk analyses and developing recommendations Communication - writing-intensive course involving writing assignments (research papers, contracts, analyses) and extensive Socratic dialogue in class through law case method teaching Problem solving - continual application of precedent to analyze fact situations and identify the application of legal principles to resolve the legal dispute in question, as well as the use of law as a larger policy tool to address wider social issues and problems. This course also has learning objectives specific to law and ethics. By the end of the course, students should be able to:
Understand substantive legal rules as well as procedural rules, institutions, and mechanisms; Appreciate the complex relationship between law and ethics; Identify ethical issues commonly arising in business and personal situations and understand and employ an ethical framework to manage these issues; Evaluate the ongoing role of law as a means of channeling human behavior in an interdependent society; Use law as a tool for understanding and solving business and social problems; and Utilize legal reasoning and understand how to make and defend basic legal arguments by drawing upon a broad range of relevant sources of legal authority.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Accounting and Law
- Level: Foundation Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: LAW1000
- Number of Credits: 4
ECN7515 Business Model Innovation to Compete in the Digital Economy
3 Elective Credits
Recent surveys to Top Management Teams show that business model innovation is at the forefront of their thoughts and challenges, both in startups and established companies. This course provides the tools to design and operate innovative business models.
The tools to be learned should help students understand how to think about business model innovation, respond to the entry of disruptive business models, and decide whether the company should operate single or multiple business models. We also analyze business model transformation and innovation in entrepreneurial organizations and how these organizations can use business model innovation to challenge established companies even in mature industries.
Examples of questions to be asked in the course are: How can a startup disrupt industries such as dairy, pharmaceutical, retail, financial, wine, and biotechnology? What are the fundamental issues to consider when designing business models that require different customer groups simultaneously? How to build sustainable models? What are the conditions to implement a business model innovation in an organization? How can the simultaneous operation of more than one business model promote a hard-to-imitate competitive advantage?
Regardless of your intended career path, understanding business models is essential. In investment banking or private equity, you need to understand the "engine" (i.e., the business model) that produces profits. In consulting, you need to solve organizational problems, which is very hard without understanding how the business model works. In industry, regardless of the company, economic sector, and position, you need to understand the context in which you operate and how your actions fit into the firm's policies, assets, and decision-making. In entrepreneurship, business model innovation is a powerful tool to succeed.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Economics
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: ECN7515
- Number of Credits: 3
ECN7575 Business Models, Competitiveness, and the Changing European Environment
3 Elective Abroad CreditsProgram fee is paid to Glavin Office - program fee includes: accommodations, breakfast, ground transportation, program planned meals and cultural excursions. Not included: tuition, international flight, single room supplement (additional $500), visa costs, additional meals and personal expenses.
ECN 7575 explores competitive and strategic dimensions of companies doing business in the European Union (EU) in the context of EU competitiveness, institutions, policies, history and culture. This course studies ways that companies organize and define core competencies to build successful global brands. It further examines emerging trends, opportunities, and challenges for business and business creation in Italy and in the EU. ECN7575 explores how companies adapt and take advantage of business model disruptions, such as changes in technology and EU regulation, in light of current market dynamics. This course is grounded in economic fundamentals of relevant market definition, competitiveness in different geographies, firm behavior and performance, and provides students with opportunities to evaluate how companies position themselves for success in global markets based on their business model and strategic choices.
ECN 7575 is divided into two parts: two on-campus lectures (WebEx available for Blended Learning students) and a week-long site visit to Italy. In Italy, students will visit 5-6 companies to study challenges and opportunities they are facing in the context of the EU, its institutions, and global competition. Past company visits include among others: Amazon, PayPal, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Ducati, Ermenegildo Zegna, Armani, Eataly, Brembo and DHL. In addition, several faculty from Bocconi University will offer lectures and case discussions pertaining to the current developments in the EU and the European Competitiveness court and relate them to relevant company visits. Applications discussed will also include luxury brand management, integrated supply chains, and consequences of specific business model choices for valuation, revenue potential, and brand equity objectives. Last but not least, several activities are planned that will allow students to engage in and embrace Italian history and culture. Past excursions include a night at La Scala, a guided tour of Milan, a viewing of Leonardo DaVinci's The Last Supper, and attending a soccer game at San Siro.
Prerequisites: ECN7200, ECN7201, ECN7500 or ECN7505
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Economics
- Level: MSF Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: ECN7575
- Number of Credits: 3
COM3511 Business Presentations
(Formerly MOB3511)
2 General CreditsIf you took and passed MOB3511, you cannot register for COM3511, as these two courses are equivalent
This is a performance course designed to build upon basic presentation skills and concepts. Focus will be directed toward presentation strategies for informative and persuasive speeches for business settings. Students will present virtual and in-class, high-impact presentations. The course will enforce communication concepts to allow students to become effective critical thinkers as creators and consumers of messages.
Prerequisites: RHT II
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: COM3511
- Number of Credits: 2
COM3500 Business Storytelling
4 Advanced Management Credits
This 4-credit course provides students with the opportunity to research and explore areas of business interest by engaging with and re-telling the stories of entrepreneurs. In this course, students will have the opportunity to learn about an area of entrepreneurial interest directly from entrepreneurs through guest lectures, one-on-one interviews, and secondary research. The goal of this course is to immerse students in the stories of entrepreneurs and to provide them with the business communication competence to retell these stories to a wider business audience.
Students will attend guest lectures by entrepreneurial leaders who will discuss their experiences and provide students with material to help them find and craft effective entrepreneurial stories. Students will develop skills in project planning, interview technique, recording and transcribing, and they will explore the ethical and legal considerations of presenting the stories and ideas of others. Students will complete 4-6 blog posts of varying length and topic to a predetermined business audience. Students will complete shorter activities (background subject research, designing interview protocols, peer review, editing exercises, business audience analysis) to support their business blog portfolio. Students will also consider how digital writing environments help writers address multiple audiences.
The course will culminate in the public presentation of their pieces as part of a digital takeover of one of Babson's storytelling channels.
Prerequisites: SME Courses
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: COM3500
- Number of Credits: 4
ECN7550 Business Strategy and Game Theory 3 Elective Credits This course makes extensive use of Game Theory (in addition to applied economics and other emerging strategic models) to provide a systematic and rigorous approach for formulating winning strategies for creating and capturing value in the context of interdependence and uncertainty. This course will empower you with the knowledge and skills to frame the strategic questions for data analysis and turn data into strategic insight and foresight for agile startups as well as for large corporations. Case studies are used to illustrate successful application of strategies. The teaching method utilizes simulations, gaming, and practical, case-based discussions. Topics include: threats and opportunities in the supply chain, the dynamics of pricing rivalry, entry decisions/entry deterrence, mergers and acquisitions, strategic commitment, negotiating, bidding, and managing innovation for sustaining competitive advantage. Antitrust issues are also addressed.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Economics
- Level: MSBA Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: ECN7550
- Number of Credits: 3
COM3511 Business Presentations
(Formerly MOB3511 Business Presentations)
2 General CreditsStudents who took this as MOB3511 cannot register for this courseThis is a performance course designed to build upon basic presentation skills and concepts. Focus will be directed toward presentation strategies for informative and persuasive speeches for business settings. Students will present virtual and in-class, high-impact presentations. The course will enforce communication concepts to allow students to become effective critical thinkers as creators and consumers of messages.
Prerequisites: RHT1001 or WRT2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: COM3521
- Number of Credits: 2
COM3522 Business Writing
4 Advanced Management Credits
Business Writing is an interdisciplinary writing course designed to improve the business communication competency of undergraduate students. In this course students will gain the tools necessary to produce effective business writing in a variety of multi-modal contexts. Students will read, discuss, and respond to materials that provide historical context for business communication norms and genres and present research-driven strategies for communicating effectively to a variety of audiences. Students will complete practice cases where they will be expected to apply a problem-solving approach to producing audience-driven, goal-oriented business communication genres. These cases will build toward a larger service learning project with an external partner in order to deepen their understanding of business norms and practices.
Prerequisites: MKT2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: COM3522
- Number of Credits: 4
EPS7545 The Entrepreneurial Extension: Buying a Small Business
1.5 CreditsThis course will delve deeply into the challenges, process, and risks of buying a small business. Students will explore the intricacies of planning, evaluating and negotiating to buy a small business from a family-controlled or privately-owned enterprise. All aspects of financing and equity structure alternatives plus the industry peculiarities of acquiring a small business will be explored via cases, discussion, and an individual research paper.
This course is geared specifically to buying a small business and links with EPS7530 (M&A for Entrepreneurs) which focuses on a broad understanding of middle-market company M&A and is geared to students looking to buy a business in the future or students entering the corporate or advisory world.
Prerequisites: None
**It is recommended that students also take EPS7530 (M&A for Entrepreneurs) in order to develop a deep understanding of the M&A process**
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: EPS7545
- Number of Credits: 1.5
EPS7546 Buying a Small Business: The Search Experience
1.5 CreditsThis course compliments EPS 7545 (Buying a Small Business) and EPS 7530 (M&A for Entrepreneurs) by allowing students interested in buying a business the opportunity to conduct a live search under the supervision of their Professor. Enrollment in or successful completion of either of the courses listed above is a prerequisite for this course.
The latter stage of the MBA program is an excellent time to conduct a business search. Students can learn from their experiences, share lessons with fellow students and actually find a serious business acquisition opportunity within a three-month semester.
The course will include group seminars and private sessions with the Professor for planning and review of the individual search plan. Students are expected to spend 30-40 hours during the semester conducting a serious search.
Group seminars will cover the following areas:
- Self Assessment
- Definition of the Search Objectives
- Preparation of a Business Plan for the Search
- Preparation of a Communications and Target Plan
- Opportunity Risk and Opportunity Process
- Strategies for Information, Due Diligence & Negotiations
- Keeping the Deal Alive
- The Closing Process
Prerequisites: Students who enroll in this course must be currently enrolled in EPS7530 or EPS7545 or have completed one of these courses in a prior semester AND also have completed EPS7200 or equivalent core
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: EPS7546
- Number of Credits: 1.5
HIS4616 Cambodia: Rebuilding Culture and Economy After Genocide
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
In this action-oriented seminar students will explore the historical, political, and cultural events that shape Cambodian politics, culture and economy in Cambodia and the Cambodian diaspora today. After a brief historical introduction including the 600 years of Angkor civilization, Buddhism, and French colonialism, we will study the Khmer Rouge genocide (1975-1979) and its aftermath, and the current revival of society, economy, music, film, and dance. Our texts will include histories, memoirs, films, fieldtrips (as possible during Covid-19) and interviews in Lowell, MA - the second largest Cambodian-American community in the U.S. Students may be able to include a service learning component by teaching English online to 7-9th graders in a rural Cambodian school.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: HIS4616
- Number of Credits: 4
FIN7502 Capital Markets
3 Elective CreditsThis course provides a survey of modern capital markets and a framework for understanding their continuing transformation. The course is suitable either for a person looking to make a career in finance or a generalist looking to broaden their knowledge of financial markets. The course begins by studying the fixed income markets, concentrating on Treasury bonds and the determinants of the yield curve. The course also considers certain derivatives, such as options and interest rate swaps. Mortgage markets are studied by analyzing structured mortgage products as well as the role financial intermediaries play in mortgage finance. The course proceeds to consider the causes and the effects of the credit crisis on various markets and intermediaries, including investment and commercial banks, and the shadow banking system. The course then turns to the equity markets. In this section, we first consider corporate control contests, including a takeover of a U.S. firm by foreign bidder. We analyze the market for money management products, including mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and robo-advisers. The course concludes by considering traditional vs. new mechanisms for the trading of stocks, including electronic markets and high frequency trading.
Prerequisites: FIN7200, FIN7800 or MSF Program
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: MSF Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: FIN7502
- Number of Credits: 3
MBA7402 Capstone: Corporate Entrepreneurship
6 CreditsThe Corporate Entrepreneurship capstone course has three learning objectives:
-Integrate and apply accumulated learning experiences since the beginning of the Blended Learning MBA program
-Explore creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship in greater depth-in corporate and in greenfield settings
-Develop a penetrating understanding of the process required to create something of significant value out of almost nothing
Students form teams and develop a business plan based on either a project identified within their companies or a greenfield project.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Other
- Course Number: MBA7402
- Number of Credits: 6
MOB2322 Career Exploration Lab
1 Non-Academic CreditThis course is designed as a companion learning course for students engaged in an internship experience. The goal of the course is to help students enrich their career learning through facilitated analysis and reflection on their work experience. Students will apply key career concepts to their own situations and be challenged to compare and contrast their experience with that of their peers.
NOTE: The format for this course is self-directed over the course of the internship. You are responsible for completing each deliverable on time. Students must have secured an internship prior to registration in the course (internships will not be provided).
Prerequisites: completion of FME
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Other
- Level: Free Elective (UGrad)
- Course Number: MOB2322
- Number of Credits: 1
MOB3531 Career Launch: Internship Experience Lab
2 Advanced Management Credits
This course is open to all students who have secured internships that occur concurrently with the course , and is designed to enrich the internship experience by facilitating deliberate observation, reflection, and integration of learning with the actual workplace internship experience. To achieve this goal, students will complete assignments related to emotional intelligence, communication, teamwork, critical thinking, leadership, professionalism, and career management and relate these topics to their internship experience.
This course offers a unique opportunity for students to explore their roles in organizations while simultaneously building and enhancing their professional competencies. The curriculum is structured to work in lockstep with students' work experience, providing guidance and mentorship to succeed in their internship, explore and assess career readiness, evaluate organizational values and leadership, and practice professional behavior. Learning in this course will include readings, assessments, written reflections, group discussions, peer engagement, and supervisor feedback.
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Prerequisites: (FME 1000) or ( MOB 1010)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Management
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: MOB3531
- Number of Credits: 2
QTM2000 Case Studies in Business Analytics
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThis course builds on the modeling skills acquired in the QTM core with special emphasis on case studies in Business Analytics - the science of iterative exploration of data that can be used to gain insights and optimize business processes. Data visualization and predictive analytics techniques are used to investigate the relationships between items of interest to improve the understanding of complex managerial models with sometimes large data sets to aid decision-making. These techniques and methods are introduced with widely used commercial statistical packages for data mining and predictive analytics, in the context of real-world applications from diverse business areas such as marketing, finance, and operations. Students will gain exposure to a variety of software packages, including R, the most popular open-source package used by analytics practitioners around the world. Topics covered include advanced methods for data visualization, logistic regression, decision tree learning methods, clustering, and association rules. Case studies draw on examples ranging from database marketing to financial forecasting. This course satisfies one of the core requirements towards the new Business Analytics concentration. It may also be used as an advanced liberal arts elective or an elective in the Quantitative Methods or Statistical Modeling concentrations.
Prerequisites: QTM1010 (or QTM2420)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: QTM2000
- Number of Credits: 4
NST2060 Case Studies in Drug Development Systems
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsDrug development is a dynamic, multidisciplinary industry that encompasses the discovery, scientific, clinical and economic assessment of a new compound's safety, efficacy, potential side effects and requires the collaboration and innovation of scientists, chemists, clinicians, statisticians, lawmakers, business leaders and entrepreneurs. Over the last 30 years, the idealized goal of drug discovery has been to identify a specific chemical substance that is highly specific for a single molecular target and arrests or stems the advancement of disease. Although the goal is highly specific and the process seems linear, there are many contributing, and often unforeseen factors that inform drug design, the drug development pipeline and the eventual success or failure of a given drug candidate. In this course, we will take a systems approach to identify and describe all of the contributing elements of identifying, characterizing and bringing a drug to market, to define the physiological, biological, economic and regulatory systems that characterize the process and to outline the social, economic and environmental considerations of a sustainable and productive model for drug development.
Prerequisites: NST10XX (NST 1)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: NST2060
- Number of Credits: 4
NST2020 Case Studies in Ecosystems Management
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsSuccessful businesses must fully appreciate and understand sustainable management strategies for our vital natural resources. Here we will focus on understanding the ecological principles of natural resource management while exploring new strategies for environmental conservation.
Prerequisites: NST10%
This course is not equivalent to HSS2080. Please disregard the note indicating equivalency. The system is not able to correct this at this time.
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: NST2020
- Number of Credits: 4
SEN1348 Celebrity, Scandal, and Success: Behind the Spotlight
Instructor: Chloe Chin
Are you looking for a space where you can talk about celebrity and celebrities? This course is for you! Stars like Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, and Troye Sivan are all part of a much larger story - the narratives of fame, drama, and business that captivate the public. This course unpacks the fascinating world of celebrity culture, where rivalries, scandals, and business ventures collide. Through case studies, we'll explore how and why some stars are lifted up while others are torn down. From public feuds to the contrasting fates of celebrity brands, we'll dive into the narratives that shape public opinion. Through interactive discussions and media analysis, students will dissect the drama, gender dynamics, and power structures that define fame. Together, we'll ask: Why are we so obsessed with celebrity stories, and what do they reveal about success, failure, and ourselves?
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Other
- Course Number: SEN1348
- Number of Credits: 0
SOC4615 Childhood and Youth
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course exercises the sociological imagination in understanding how children are molded by social institutions and interactions, as well as the manner in which children utilize agency to react to, change, and reproduce their own social realities. By examining childhood, students will gain an understanding of how inequalities and opportunities are pervasive shapers of children's realities and adulthood outcomes, from both interpersonal and structural levels. Through in-class discussions and writing assignments, students will explore and critique theories of childhood. Reflecting on the perspectives of children as socialized beings and as social actors, we will analyze the intersecting roles of the family, culture, education, authority, gender, race, social class, and ideology in shaping childhood.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: SOC4615
- Number of Credits: 4
HSS2013 China Today: The Dragon Rises
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThis intermediate history course will introduce you to China's dynamic present within the context of the complex legacy of the Chinese past. We will examine the historical, cultural, political, and economic development of post 1949 China, with brief introductions to relevant aspects of the imperial past. You will gain a nuanced appreciation for the incredible economic growth of China from 1990 to the present, and the concomitant problems of state-society relations, human rights, minority relations, the environment, and the gaps between the rich and the poor and the urban and rural citizens. We will take advantage of Boston's resources through site visits to view Chinese art, undertake a scavenger hunt in Chinatown, and enjoy Chinese food. We will explore China through the use of scholarship, fiction, maps, memoir, art, film, and music.
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: HSS2013
- Number of Credits: 4
CHN2200 Chinese I
4 General CreditsAn introduction to practical and functional knowledge of modern Mandarin Chinese. Emphasis on developing proficiency in fundamental language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing, using basic expressions and sentence patterns. Computer programs for pronunciation, listening comprehension, grammar and writing Chinese characters will be used extensively.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Free Elective (UGrad)
- Course Number: CHN2200
- Number of Credits: 4
CHN4610 Chinese II
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsA continuation of the fall semester, an introduction to practical and functional knowledge of modern Mandarin Chinese. Emphasis on developing proficiency in fundamental language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing, using basic expressions and sentence patterns. Computer programs for pronunciation, listening comprehension, grammar and writing Chinese characters will be used extensively.
Prerequisites: CHN1210 or CHN2200
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: CHN4610
- Number of Credits: 4
NST1070 Climate and Human Health
4 CreditsThis course investigates the interaction between the spheres of natural science and human health. Human activities impact the global climate and the resultant climate change impacts human health, both directly and indirectly. This course focuses on the background of various global health issues and their links to climate using the scientific method and multiple data-driven activities to evaluate research questions. We will also evaluate the integrity of scientific data, assessing reliable sources of information with respect to transparency and scientific bias.
Specific topics covered in this course include the connections between global changes such as sea level and temperature rise with human impacts including increasing climate migration, spread of infectious disease, and threats to food security. We will also investigate connections between industrialized agricultural, fossil fuel use, and the deterioration of water and air quality. Finally, we address the prominent role of environmental racism in the human health and climate connection. In taking this course, students will gain a broader understanding about the long-term effects of their actions, both on themselves as individuals and on other global citizens, and recognize opportunities for individual and systemic changes that result in a more sustainable world.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Foundation Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: NST1070
- Number of Credits: 4
ECN3664 College FED Challenge
2 Advanced Liberal Arts Elective CreditsThis course exposes selected students to a rigorous exploration of advanced macroeconomic and monetary economic concepts, with a special emphasis on the conduct of monetary policy by the U.S. Federal Reserve. During the semester, students will research appropriate economic topics and make policy-oriented presentations. All aspects of the course will emphasize teamwork. The culminating experience of the course will be participation in the College Fed Challenge where students will present a fifteen minute monetary policy recommendation to a panel of local economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The presentation is followed by a 15 minutes question and answer session.
Prerequisites: ECN3615
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Economics
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: ECN3664
- Number of Credits: 2
SEN1338 Color Anarchy!
(Student Instructor: Angie Kalsi) Color is all around us and influences our everyday lives. From the clothes we wear to the way we decorate our living environments, the colors we choose to surround ourselves with greatly influence our mood, our decision-making, and even the opinions of those around us. In this course, students will re-learn what they thought they knew about color. They will be encouraged to challenge their own expectations of what color and design can be. In this course, we will be creating!
Tuesdays 6:30 - 9:00 pm
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Other
- Course Number: SEN1338
- Number of Credits: 0
FLM4671 Comic Form in Film
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course explores the history and theory of comic form as it applies to movies from the silent film era to the present. Beginning with silent comedies and progressing to more recent films, we will consider such topics as comedy's roots in ancient ritual; recurring comic character types and genre conventions; irony, satire, anarchy, and surrealism as comic principles; and dark comedy. Course readings will introduce students to narrative theories, aesthetic and philosophical questions, and analytical models that address the purposes and strategies of comic form.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: FLM4671
- Number of Credits: 4
SEN 1345: Coming of Age Narratives: The Art of TV, Film and Popular Culture
Instructor: Kristina Dang
This seminar will explore the genre of coming-of-age TV shows with themes such as love and sex, gender, substance use, wealth and class, and generational trauma. We will watch shows such as Degrassi, Euphoria, Gossip Girl, Glee, and One Tree Hill. Through engaging lectures and interactive discussions, students will be able to contextualize the TV shows they watch. Additionally, students will contribute to conversations by sharing TV shows they enjoy. By the end of the course, we will have a profound appreciation for the art of visual storytelling and depiction of real-life experiences in pop culture.
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Other
- Course Number: SEN1345
- Number of Credits: 0
COM7503 Communicating and Collaborating in Virtual Teams
3 Elective CreditsIn this fully online course, students will learn how to successfully collaborate and communicate in virtual teams. Students will begin by reading and discussing course readings on organizational and global communication; virtual communication; and theoretical frameworks of the use of AI technologies in order to build a working knowledge of current collaboration technologies and effective communication in different contexts. Using this knowledge as a backdrop, students will explore and analyze the impact that these technologies have on business and communication. Students will apply their communication knowledge to a practical experience with existing virtual collaboration tools through shorter group assignments, guest speakers, interviews with remote workers, and a longer writing and oral presentation final project.
During the course, students will be expected to hold virtual class and group meetings, use and evaluate collaboration and project management tools, reflect on their virtual communication and leadership experiences, lead weekly remote group work, and write a final professional research report analyzing the communicative and collaborative effectiveness of state-of-the-art technology used in today's corporate environment.
In this revamped offering, our Babson students will be paired with Nord University (Norway) students for half of the Spring semester to engage in an exciting VE/COIL project. VE/COIL, which stands for Virtual Exchange/Collaborative Online International Learning, is an emerging global exchange opportunity for students and faculty to collaborate across institutions. Students will complete a consulting project for Yara International, a Norwegian company. In this project, students from Babson will partner with Nord University students virtually in a true global experiential learning environment.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: COM7503
- Number of Credits: 3
MKT3501 Communicating for Consumer Behavior Change
4 Free Elective CreditsIn this course, students learn and draw upon interdisciplinary theories in psychology, marketing and persuasion/influence to explore the nature of behavioral change at the individual, consumer and societal levels. Centered around a major social marketing project, students will test theories of persuasive communication and choice architecture to explore how to use the knowledge of human experience to shape behavior for social good.
Prerequisites: MKT 2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: MKT3501
- Number of Credits: 4
COM3504 Communicating in Global Virtual Teams
(Formerly MOB3504)
4 Advanced Management CreditsIf you took and passed MOB3504, you cannot register for COM3504, as these two courses are equivalent
In this course, students will learn how to successfully engage, collaborate and communicate in global virtual teams. Students will begin by reading and discussing assigned course reading on global communication, virtual collaboration, organizational communication, and writing in groups in preparation for a major cross-institutional global project.
In collaboration with Marshall School of Business at USC, students will participate in the 6-week global Virtual Business Professional (VBP), project, which puts students in diverse international teams using Slack's communication platform to complete a written social media assessment project for Google, Amazon, or Starbucks. At the conclusion of the project, faculty teaching in the program will choose the best report for each company. Google, Amazon, and Starbucks are partnering with the project and a representative from each company will pick one of the three winners.
Students will be expected to hold virtual meetings, use project management tools, create online presentations, and write a final report using state-of-the-art technology used in today's corporate environment. The VBP project runs from approximately week 4 to week 9 of the academic semester. During this time, class work will include discussing experiences working in the project, identifying and considering shared challenges, and engaging with scholarly and popular reading that can help students in the project.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: COM3504
- Number of Credits: 4
POL4645 Comparative Latin American Politics
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
Comparative politics is a core subfield of Political Science and International Relations. The study of comparative politics has a lively and engaging body of scholars who are dedicated to understanding the potentials and limitations of democracy. The field has developed many interesting areas of research focusing on the comparison of political systems, national institutions, gender rights, environmental issues, and economic development.
This is an advanced level course, focused on contemporary Latin American politics. The course begins with an introduction to theories and methods of comparative politics, and a brief overview of basic concepts in political science such as different forms of government, electoral systems, and democratic systems. The course then discusses six central themes in comparative politics in Latin America: Party Systems and Political Representation, Economic Development and Inequality, Environmental Policies, Gender Policies, Regional Migration, and Foreign Relations. In each of these six themes, we will use cases from various Latin American countries for an in-depth discussion.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: POL4645
- Number of Credits: 4
HSS2033 Comparative Politics
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsComparative politics is a field that seeks to understand political dynamics within states and to understand a variety of political phenomena common in many countries. This course will use such cases as Britain, France, Russia, China, Iran, India, and Brazil to look at issues of nationalism, economic policies, institutional design, development, and social change. Comparative Politics is also characterized by a methodology that seeks to illuminate the reasons for similarities and differences across countries and provide some tools to think more critically about various political claims and proposals.
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: HSS2033
- Number of Credits: 4
OIM9530 Competing on Analytics
1.5 Intensive Elective Credits
Meeting Dates TBD
Drop Deadline TBD
McKinsey Global Institute is predicting a shortage of over a million managers and analysts with the analytics know-how to make effective decisions. In this course, you will learn about some of the most important analytics-related trends, how enterprises and entire industries are being transformed by analytics, and how to build a competitive data strategy and team. We will also discuss various approaches and tools for analyzing structured and unstructured data.
To complement our strategy discussion, we will explore some popular business intelligence tools. You will have the opportunity to get "hands-on" with a few of these tools.
The highlight of this course will be an industry-specific team project employing concepts and best practices discussed in class.
Note (1): If you have professional analytics experience, please contact the professor in advance of registering to assure alignment with your interests and needs.
Note (2): You will need a reasonably current PC or Mac. Mac users will need to download an app from the Apple AppStore. Details will be provided in advance of class.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: MSF Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: OIM9530
- Number of Credits: 1.5
OIM3600 Computer Science for Business Students
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
This course, Introduction to Computer Science for Business Students, is designed for business students who are interested in learning about the fundamental concepts of computer science. The course covers a wide range of topics including hardware, the internet, programming in Scratch and Python, basic algorithms, web development using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, SQL, and Flask. In addition, the course also covers important concepts in cybersecurity. Throughout the course, students will work on multiple projects including a final capstone project that integrates and applies the knowledge and skills learned in the previous sessions. Group work and projects are significant elements of the course, as students will have the opportunity to collaborate and learn from each other in a team setting. By the end of the course, students should have a strong foundation in computer science and be able to apply these concepts in a business context.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: OIM3600
- Number of Credits: 4
HUM4620 Constructing and Performing the Self
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsIn Constructing and Performing the Self students will examine and attempt to answer the most fundamental of questions: Who am I? A question this significant cannot be adequately answered by any one approach, thus the course brings together two very different approaches to guide the investigation. Psychological studies of identity marshal the tools and methods of science to develop and test theories that describe and explain the self. Theater studies bring interpretative and aesthetic perspectives to represent and reveal identity. In this course, these two approaches will be purposely inter-mingled: the questions asked and the answers derived will be informed equally by psychology and theater. Students will see, on a daily basis, how each field informs, supports, and speaks to the other. While there are some class sessions and assignments explicitly grounded in only one field to build students' fluency, the major activities of the semester will require both.
Given how personally applicable both psychology and theater are, students' own sense of identity will be the central text in this course. Like Tom in The Glass Menagerie, students are both the main character in their own life stories and also the narrator of them. This course aims for true interdisciplinary integration, and students will be called upon to use and apply the theoretical work as they build and create an original solo performance about a key moment in their lives. Our hope is that by semester's end students will have taken a concrete step forward in understanding and articulating their sense of self and feel comfortable and confident in their ability to perform for a live, public audience.
Students are asked to alternate between four roles in this course: scholar, writer, actor, and critic.
- Scholars consume information in analytical ways and produce new knowledge that is deeply grounded in their foundational knowledge.
- Writers produce new works, both analytical and creative, that take a novel position and support it.
- Actors give life to both old and new characters, conveying their shifting objectives over time to impact an audience.
- Critics evaluate texts (in our case, performances) with a constructive, thoughtful, and respectful approach that brings new insights.
Some days students will only adopt one role, other students will be asked to oscillate between the
them.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: HUM4620
- Number of Credits: 4
MKT7550 Consumer Behavior
3 CreditsIn-depth analysis of factors that affect purchase decisions in the marketplace. Applies behavioral and social science concepts to the study of buyer behavior. Focuses on the use of knowledge of buyer behavior in marketing decisions. Emphasizes theory, application, and ultimate consumer and organizational buyer behavior. Special attention given to exploring and evaluating buyer behavior research, the role of models in explaining behavior, influence of buyer behavior on development of marketing programs, and issues of consumer protection as they affect marketing strategy.
Prerequisites: MKT7200 or MKT7800
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: MKT7550
- Number of Credits: 3
MKT3510 Consumer Insights and Research
(Formerly Marketing Research)
4 General CreditsThis course provides students with hands-on experience with marketing research and analysis. Marketing research is simply an organized way of developing and providing information for decision-making purposes. The quality of information depends on the care exercised at each step of the marketing research process. These steps include problem definition, research design, data collection methods, questionnaire design, measurement, sampling, data analysis, data interpretation. The class will discuss key elements and issues in marketing research including sources of data, data collection techniques and analytical approaches for providing information to be used in managers' decision. The first part of the class will focus on research process and design. In this section students will learn how to formulate a research problem, determine a research design, evaluate methods for data collection and develop instruments for data collection. The second part of the class will focus on how to analyze the data and recommend the appropriate action to management.
Prerequisites: SME2011 or MKT2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: MKT3510
- Number of Credits: 4
MKT3550 Consumer Psychology and Shopper Marketing
(Formerly Consumer Behavior)
4 General CreditsThis interdisciplinary course discusses how the consumer is the focus of the marketing system. Drawing on research from sociology, psychology, strategy and economics, this course focuses on the factors that shape consumer needs and influence buying behavior. The content of the course explores individual behavioral variables (needs, motives, perceptions, attitudes, personality, and learning) and group influences (social groups and culture) as they affect the consumer decision-making process. The objective of the course is to help students understand how to analyze marketing programs, especially the communications mix and market segmentation, to improve consumer satisfaction.
Prerequisites: SME2011 or MKT2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: MKT3550
- Number of Credits: 4
HUM4640 Contagious Cultures: Narrative, Film, Society
(Formerly Literature and Film of Contagion)
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
Wherever you live in the world, it is almost certain that your life has been affected if not profoundly transformed over the past two years. The experience of living through such a vast contagion prompted me to think not about illness (I think we're exhausted by that), but about the spreadability and transmission of all sorts of infectious content. In this course, we will look very little at narratives of actual physical contagions. Instead, we will study contagion-as-metaphor for the expansion of a wide range of ideas and movements that propagate, spread, go viral, catch on, etcetera. Through narrative and film, discussion and debate, we will consider such overt topics as humor, laughter, and fear, but also beliefs, environmental contagion, cheating, social media, scapegoating and cancel culture, hair and fashion styles, protest, hope, and happiness, among other possibilities. Why and how do we aspire to some concepts going "viral," while striving to contain others? How is the speed and profusion of transmission of things other than disease both a positive and a negative aspect of our contemporary world?
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: HUM4640
- Number of Credits: 4
ECN3650 Contemporary Economic Systems
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Elective CreditsAt the heart of contemporary economic debates is the question: what role should government play in the economy? This course provides a framework for understanding the real world implications and outcomes of these debates in the context of economic theories, policies and systems. The course begins with an exploration of the major economic theories as they have emerged through time and the problems each theory has sought to address. The course explores the big ideas in economics from free markets to communism to managed markets, and covers the core debates surrounding the relevance of fiscal, monetary, trade and policy/regulatory policies. The course then uses several policy and country case studies to explore the application of these ideas to pressing issues such as structural unemployment, inequality, civil conflict, climate change and the impacts of trade, focusing as well on the potential role of businesses and entrepreneurs in addressing these issues. Emphasizing fact-based analysis in assessing the goals and outcomes of diverse policies, the course builds critical thinking skills and helps prepare students for leadership roles in a dynamic global business environment.
Prerequisites: (SME2031 or ECN2002) and ECN2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Economics
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: ECN3650
- Number of Credits: 4
LIT4605 Contemporary World Literature: The Writing of the Unreal
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsStudents who have taken VA2036 are not permitted to take LIT4605This course examines contemporary world literature through the specific prism of _the unreal_. Writers from Latin America, the Caribbean, East Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East will be examined in their rich experiments with surrealism, anti-realism, and hyper-realism. Moreover, this course will explore the enigmatic conceptual territories of the dream, the nightmare, the fantasy, the illusion, the hallucination, the mirage, the vision, and the simulation as breakaway zones of the global literary imagination. To achieve this task, we will evaluate authors as diverse as Franz Kafka, Ghada Samman, Haruki Murakami, Clarice Lispector, Jose Saramago, Naguib Mahfouz, Kobo Abe, Juan Rulfo, Vi Khi Nao, and Reinaldo Arenas, interrogating their different approaches to the creation of phantasmatic, strange, and unknown spaces.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: LIT4605
- Number of Credits: 4
EPS7507 Corporate Entrepreneurship
3 Credits Corporations caught up in the web of commoditization and stagnation have come to realize that they need entrepreneurial capabilities to create new platforms of business that will be the promise of the future. Yet overall, these efforts have produced uneven success. Although entrepreneurs in organizations can benefit from the resources, experience, financial assets and networks of the large company, they are constrained by its bureaucratic practices. Recent evidence points to corporate leaders' renewed attention to developing management systems that work with, rather than against intrapreneurs. In this course we will examine various approaches companies have taken to build this organizational capability. We examine five different approaches and consider the shortcomings or each. We will build the rationale for why innovation must become an organizational function if a company truly wishes to compete for the Future. We focus at the organizational level rather than the individual project level, seeking insights about how organizations can institutionalize structures and processes for entrepreneurship, even within a dominant culture of operational excellence that, of necessity, pervades most large established firms.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: EPS7507
- Number of Credits: 3
FIN7516 Corporate Finance: Evaluating Opportunities
(Formerly Strategic Corporate Investment)
3 Elective CreditsIf you have taken and passed FIN7506, you cannot register for FIN7516, as these two courses are equivalent
This course is designed for those interested in evaluating complex long-term strategic investment proposals and valuing firms and subsidiaries for merger and acquisition purposes. Building on the foundation of the finance core, it explores finance theory to identify pitfalls, common mistakes, and best practices in corporate valuation. It expands valuation skills by introducing the equity approach and the adjusted present value (APV) valuation method, the preferred approach when capital structure is changing over time (e.g. in private equity transactions). It also covers the identification and valuation of real options embedded in strategic initiatives.
Prerequisites: FIN7200 or FIN7800
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: MSF Core (Grad),MSF Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: FIN7516
- Number of Credits: 3
FIN7511 Corporate Finance: Raising Capital
(Formerly Financing the Firm)
3 Elective Credits
This course is designed to help students develop analytical and communication tools and skills to build and present financing strategies and manage the right hand side of the balance sheet. It explores the theoretical and practical issues of capital structure design and considers firm financing alternatives, including equity, long-term debt, hybrid securities, leasing, securitization, project finance, and It also examines the processes through which securities are issued and capital is raised, such as angel financing, venture capital and private equity, and public offerings. The course also explores share repurchase, dividend policy, and risk management.
Prerequisites: FIN7200 or FIN7800
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: MSF Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: FIN7511
- Number of Credits: 3
FIN3515 Corporate Financial Management
4 General Elective CreditsThis course is designed for students interested in corporate financial management. Its principal goals are to provide the concepts and techniques required to make long-term investment and financing decisions within the firm. At the end of the course, students will be able to make real asset investment decisions by valuing a proposed investment project or acquisition. Students will also be able to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the appropriateness of a firm's financing policy. Topics covered include alternative valuation methods, estimating cost of capital, real options, capital structure, and corporate payout policy.
Prerequisites: SME2021 or FIN
Recommended: ACC3502
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: FIN3515
- Number of Credits: 4
FIN4510 Corporate Finance Modeling and Decision Tools
4 General CreditsThis course is designed to provide a practical application of corporate finance skills to a variety of analyses commonly performed by investment bank and commercial bank financial analysts. Mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, private equity placements, senior and mezzanine debt issuances, leveraged buyouts, and other common financial transactions will be covered. We will explore the process of each transaction and place heavy emphasis on the role of the financial analyst in analyzing each situation. Students will gather source data and build and apply models typically used in practice by investment banks, commercial banks, and corporate finance consultants. The course is designed for those interested in careers in investment banking, commercial banking, corporate finance consulting, and strategic planning.
Prerequisites: SME2021 or FIN2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: FIN4510
- Number of Credits: 4
FIN4540 Corporate Financial Strategy
4 General Elective CreditsWith the quickening rate of technological, demographic, institutional, and political change and globalization, managers, consultants, and investment bankers face increasingly turbulent and complex business environments. This course investigates the use of financial instruments and strategies to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage and create value. The course explores the relationships among corporate strategy, corporate finance, and financial innovation, and should be of interest to managers who aspire to use financial strategy and tools to support their strategic choices and to those who will be advising corporations on how to achieve their financial goals.
Prerequisites: SME2021
Recommended: ACC3502
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: FIN4540
- Number of Credits: 4
MOB3524: Crafting a Meaningful Career
4 advanced management credits
One reason many of you came to Babson was to launch your careers. This class explores what it means to craft a career that is meaningful and can sustain you over the course of your life. We will also think about what it means to develop the careers of others. In this course, we take an evidence-based, critical approach to designing, evaluating, and updating our careers. We will use concepts you have learned previously in your Babson curriculum - like ET&A and design thinking - and apply them to designing careers, yours and others', so that they can be meaningful and sustainable. The class involves regular journaling, an intensive design workshop, a "hands-on" planning session with Babson CCD, and a final project to reinforce course concepts.
For more information: https://babson.instructuremedia.com/embed/155ca07f-2f36-4998-9d21-589a178ad4b0
Prerequisites: (FME1000 and FME1001) or (EPS1000 and MOB1010)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Management
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: MOB3524
- Number of Credits: 4
MOB7200 Creating and Leading Effective Organizations
2 CreditsCreating and Leading Effective Organizations (CLEO) - This course studies the core issues of entrepreneurial leadership: how to get things done when you can't give orders, how to develop influence and build effective teams and organizations, and how to design and implement management structures and processes for high performance. There will be opportunity for practicing influence, stakeholder analysis and action planning skills.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Management
- Course Number: MOB7200
- Number of Credits: 2
MOB6110 Creating Entrepreneurial Leaders
MSEL Course
3 CreditsCreating You is designed to prepare students for the lifelong process of building and managing their career in a global context. Becoming an entrepreneurial leader is a process of self-discovery and self-creation that is enhanced by time for active experimentation and reflection. This course will guide students through the process of developing their professional identity and foster the skills necessary to navigate the journey after graduation.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Management
- Course Number: MOB6110
- Number of Credits: 3
EPS7503 Creating Epic Organizations
3 Elective CreditsThis course welcomes students who seek an intellectual and professional "sandbox" to pursue "EPIC" opportunities for themselves or for their companies. EPIC opportunities empower you and others to pursue big, bold initiatives, pioneer new technologies, markets, or business models, inspire new solutions to address the UN Global Goals, and require courage to tackle different problems. You will wrestle with managerial and societal issues that call for entrepreneurial leaders to take a stand and chart a new path with EPIC initiatives.
In this course, you will study historical and contemporary examples, role models, and scenarios of EPIC opportunities and pursuits. You will examine both academic research and practical resources to understand the core principles of operating with an EPIC mindset. You will learn a set of EPIC tools to apply immediately in your own ventures, workplace, or careers. You will create an action plan that outlines how you intend to pursue an EPIC opportunity - now or in the future.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: EPS7503
- Number of Credits: 3
***This course will take place for 4 1/2 days over Spring Break. Exact days and times TBA***
OIM3615 Creating Tech-Savvy Entrepreneurs: A Tech Entrepreneurship Boot Camp
2 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
The objective of this boot camp is to create an environment for entrepreneurs learn about the role of technology in entrepreneurial endeavors. The role of technology, specifically, information technology, in the context of entrepreneurship is two-fold. On one side, technology is necessary for the management and execution of the venture. On the other hand, technology may be the very focus of the entrepreneurial venture. For both cases, we believe that entrepreneurs need exposure to the foundational concepts of building a technology product. The boot camp is hence designed to cover such foundation concepts including design thinking, agile management, and code development. The boot camp will help entrepreneurs develop an appreciation for these foundational concepts as well as understand how to leverage these concepts for entrepreneurial success.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: OIM3615
- Number of Credits: 2
SCN3689 Crime Science
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course examines the role that the modern natural sciences play in analyzing physical evidence collected at a crime scene. It begins by defining forensic science and understanding why the government has placed special qualifiers on scientific expert witnesses and their testimony. Students will survey the sciences used in a modern crime lab to understand the principles behind the analyses. Historical and current crimes and their trials as well as a mock crime scene will highlight lecture material. Disciplines that will be covered include Toxicology, Controlled Substances, Arson, DNA, Blood Splatter, Friction Ridge, Ballistics, and Crime Scene Processing.
Prerequisites: NST1
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: SCN3689
- Number of Credits: 4
CSP 2006: Critical Philosophy of Race
4 advanced liberal arts credit
This course will survey the history of philosophy and race and critical philosophies of race. The first half of the course will begin with a study of the use of Aristotle's Politics as it was taken up by 15th and 16th century theologians in the Spanish and Portuguese empires in the context of the colonization of the Americas. We will then look at early modern philosophy and the shift away from theologically based hierarchies to "scientific" analyses of race as they were developed alongside the Enlightenment political values of individual freedom and republicanism as promised in social contract theory. The first half of the course will end with a case study of the international abolitionist movement. The second half of the course will look specifically at the philosophies of race within the United States as a settler colonial nation. We will look at the social construction of "whiteness" as it coalesced around specific labor and property relations, the prison industrial complex, and contemporary decolonial and abolitionist political philosophy.
Prerequisite: WRT1001 and FCI1000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: CSP2006
- Number of Credits: 4
EPS9551 Critical Questions Facing Business Families: A Coaching Retreat
1.5 Intensive Elective CreditsHow do I move from a parent-child to a professional-peer relationship with my parents?
Topics include, how to build relationship capital in the family, living with your family history, understanding the goals for effective communication, developing next stage communication skills, learning to have hard conversations, how to stop acting like a child, how to get your parents to start acting like a peer, giving and taking feedback in the family, creating a self-coaching family team, creating sibling unity, having successful family meetings, and many more.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: EPS9551
- Number of Credits: 1.5
POL4630 Critical Race and Indigenous Studies
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsWhat is race? Who are Indigenous people? What is white supremacy? What is settler colonialism? These questions form the general basis for a class that will bring together Critical Race Studies and Critical Indigenous Studies. A uniting premise of both of these types of "studies" is that race and racial injustice and Indigenous people's claims and experience of marginalization continue to shape political, social, economic, and cultural life. In other words, we do not live in a post-racial or a post-colonial society - white supremacy and settler colonialism persist. This, however, does not end the discussion. Instead, it raises many questions about the history of race as a social and political construct and of the role of Indigenous political struggle and settler colonial rule. This approach also requires us to understand what white supremacy and settler colonialism mean, theoretically and in practice, on their own and in relationship to each other. Along with these concepts, the course will introduce students to such concepts as whiteness as a political identity, the Black radical tradition, the model-minority myth, racial capitalism, intersectionality, queer theory, and many others. Much of the material for the course focuses on the history and present of the U.S. context, but this does not limit the direction the course can take in class discussion and, more importantly, in the papers and projects students produce to fulfill the class requirements.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: POL4630
- Number of Credits: 4
OLN7500 Engineering for Humanity: Helping Elders Age in Place Through Partnerships For Healthy Living (Olin College Spring 2013 Course, specially aimed at 3-College students)Olin College: Engr 2141/AHSE 2141
Instructors: Caitrin Lynch and Ela Ben-Ur
Day/Time: Mondays and Thursdays, 12:30-3 [time can be shifted slightly to accommodate
commute time and lunch; contact the profs]
Do you want to make a positive difference in the lives of older adults in the local
community? We're looking for students with passion to help others and with diverse
backgrounds in arts, humanities, social sciences, business, and/or technical fields. This
innovative, intergenerational course is a partnership between college/graduate students
and local senior citizens. It is co-taught by two Olin College professors with experience in anthropology, design, and mechanical engineering, and will take place at Olin College and in the local communities (home visits and fieldtrips). We will partner Wellesley-Babson-Olin student teams with local senior citizen volunteers, and ultimately the students will design real, implemented solutions to specific everyday problems.
Projects will be customized to meet the needs of the senior citizen partners. Possible projects: students might design a device to help someone who has difficulty reaching up to change a light bulb, something to help hold a newspaper steady with shaky hands, or something to enable someone to get clothes out of a dryer that is difficult to stoop down to reach. The class meets 2x/week; some sessions are devoted to co-design with the client population or to team meetings, other sessions involve guest speakers and fieldtrips, others are for discussion of topics relevant to aging and/or design. No prerequisites; a sense of adventure highly recommended.
More info? See http://e4h.olin.edu/spring2013.html
Questions? Contact Caitrin Lynch clynch@olin.edu
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Other
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: OLN7500
- Number of Credits: 2
EPS3518 Crowdfunding
4 General CreditsThis hands-on workshop gives students the opportunity to plan a crowdfunding campaign for a creative project or entrepreneurial venture. Online crowdfunding builds community around innovative projects by organizing stakeholders and leveraging in-person and online social networks. Goals of crowdfunding include stakeholder alignment, concept testing, product pre-selling and venture de-risking. Students work individually or as part of a team to design a crowdfunding campaign which at students' discretion may be executed following the workshop. Students are expected to meet high standards and the focal point of the course is the production and refinement of a pitch video developed based on stakeholder engagement and opportunity shaping. The course integrates emerging research on crowdfunding and ongoing developments in the industry.
Prerequisites: Students must be at least second semester sophomores.
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: EPS3518
- Number of Credits: 4
QTM3674 Cryptology/Coding/Theory
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsCryptology includes the study of both cryptography, the science of developing _secret codes_ or ciphers for secure and confidential communication, and cryptanalysis, the breaking of ciphers. Coding theory consists of mathematical techniques for detecting and correcting errors that occur during data transmission. These topics are critical to secure and reliable information exchange, with applications ranging from e-commerce to the transmission of photographs from deep space to military operations. Through this exploration into the technical, social, and historical aspects of cryptology and coding theory, students will learn and extensively use basic concepts from number theory, finite field and ring theory, matrix algebra, and the software package GAP. Highlighted topics include the RSA cryptosystem, digital signatures, DES, linear and cyclic codes, and the coding theory based McEliece cryptosystem. This course is suitable for students with one year of university-level mathematics, or the equivalent; it should also be interesting for upperclassman from a variety of majors.
Prerequisites: AQM1000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: QTM3674
- Number of Credits: 4
CSP2051
4 Credits
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: CSP2051
- Number of Credits: 4
CSP2050
4 Credits
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: CSP2050
- Number of Credits: 4
EPS3539: Cultivating Entrepreneurial Youth Leaders
4 Advanced Management Credits
Through the Cultivating Entrepreneurial Youth Leaders course, Babson undergraduate students will learn how they can help middle and high school students develop stronger agency, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and empower young changemakers in Costa Rica. The course provides Babson students with the opportunity to learn key elements of teaching entrepreneurship and serving as coaches for youth, using a proven curriculum developed by Babson's Youth Impact Lab, EPIC (Entrepreneurship Program for Innovators and Changemakers). EPIC is a youth entrepreneurship program that teaches social entrepreneurship skills framed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Global Goals) to youth to increase their resiliency and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. EPIC is designed to help middle school and high school students understand what it means to be a social entrepreneur, empowering them to make positive change in their lives, communities, and the world.
EPIC balances entrepreneurial concepts with social-emotional skills, or "soft skills." This unique combination, framed by the UNSDGs, helps youth develop grit, resiliency, a growth mindset, social awareness, social entrepreneurial intention, critical thinking, and self-reflection skills that can:
- Increase high school graduation rates
- Improve academic achievement
- Strengthen employability
- Raise earning potential
- Decrease mental health issues, drug and alcohol use, incarceration rates
​Prerequisites: (FME1000 and FME 1001) or (MOB1010 and EPS1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: EPS3539
- Number of Credits: 4
CVA2008 Cultural Anthropology
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsIntroduction to Cultural Anthropology is a four credit intermediate History and Society course. The central focus of this course is the phenomenon of culture, that remarkable accomplishment that makes humans unique among all other species. We will use the concept of culture to investigate the question of what it means to be human. A major area of focus will be upon the ways cultural meanings are generated, shared, symbolized, ritualized, contested and altered in the face of different types of challenges. We will also study the relationship of cultural meaning to different economic, kinship and political systems. Throughout the course, as we study a variety of unfamiliar societies, we will continually refer back to our own societies with the goal of looking at our own ways of doing things with a new frame of mind. This frame of mind, or anthropological perspective, searches for the internal logics and constellations of values and beliefs that underpin all societies and subcultures. Central to this course is a succession of small fieldwork projects. This course will particularly strengthen your multicultural and rhetorical competencies
This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Fall
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: CVA2008
- Number of Credits: 4
CSP2008 Cultural Anthropology
(Formerly CVA2008)
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsIntroduction to Cultural Anthropology is a four credit intermediate History and Society course. The central focus of this course is the phenomenon of culture, that remarkable accomplishment that makes humans unique among all other species. We will use the concept of culture to investigate the question of what it means to be human. A major area of focus will be upon the ways cultural meanings are generated, shared, symbolized, ritualized, contested and altered in the face of different types of challenges. We will also study the relationship of cultural meaning to different economic, kinship and political systems. Throughout the course, as we study a variety of unfamiliar societies, we will continually refer back to our own societies with the goal of looking at our own ways of doing things with a new frame of mind. This frame of mind, or anthropological perspective, searches for the internal logics and constellations of values and beliefs that underpin all societies and subcultures. Central to this course is a succession of small fieldwork projects. This course will particularly strengthen your multicultural and rhetorical competencies
This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Fall
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: CSP2008
- Number of Credits: 4
LTA2039 Curiosity in Literature
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsCuriosity contains within it a contradiction; it is our drive to know battling against our fear of the unknown, and it has played a major role in literature for a very long time. In this course, we will read texts that span several continents and centuries as we study curiosity and ask ourselves myriad questions. Why did the definition of curiosity change from negative to positive in the 14th century? Is curiosity hubristic tinkering or social responsibility? How is curiosity valued? Is the valuation of curiosity dependent on what is being sought? Is curiosity linked to gender? Who is rewarded for possessing it? Who is punished? If curiosity killed the cat, why? We will study Greek Myths and Fairy Tales as well as the following authors: John Milton, Christopher Marlowe, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Sigmund Freud, Agatha Christie, Anne Sexton, and Patricia Highsmith. We will also view Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo.
This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Spring
Prerequisites: RHT and AHS
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: LTA2039
- Number of Credits: 4
MKT3574 Customer Acquisition and Persuasion
(Formerly Managing the Sales Process)
4 Advanced Management CreditsCustomer acquisition and retention is the driver of revenue and hence the lifeblood of every company. Therefore, organizations continuously seek people with strong persuasion skills. College graduates often become sales professionals, business development executives, customer relationship managers, or end up in positions that complement these roles. In addition, many entrepreneurs realize, often too late, the critical role of professional selling for the growth and survival of their nascent ventures. This course will equip students with the knowledge and skills to excel in professional selling, business development, and entrepreneurship.
Prerequisites: MKT 2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: MKT3574
- Number of Credits: 4
MBA9502 Customer Acquisition and Persuasion
(Formerly Selling Ideas, Products and Services to Executives)
1.5 CreditsThe growth of business revenue depends directly on a firm's ability to create additional value for
current and potential customers. This course will focus on the professional selling process, to include identifying opportunities, gaining access to and engaging decision makers, asking high gain questions, building long term relationships with decision makers and influencers, presenting winning proposals, handling resistance and objections, completing the sale or obtaining commitments and following up. The course will use the value creation methodology to identify solution options aimed at creating value and enhancing the other party's (e.g., customers) competitiveness. The course will use a number of inputs to share current academic thinking and best practice. Course participants will also be challenged to apply the learning to potential opportunities. The art and science of ethically and effectively convincing another party about self, ideas, solutions, products, services, etc., is an imperative for everyone, whether in family or social settings, profit or not-for-profit ventures. It's a life skill. This course is therefore for everyone.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Other
- Course Number: MBA9502
- Number of Credits: 1.5
OIM3620 Cybersecurity
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
Teaches students the relevance of purpose to and means behind establishing higher security levels for computers and associated networks. The nature of various security breaches including hacker attacks, email worms and computer viruses are explored. Management's responses including policy and procedure creation, risk management assessment and personnel training program design among others are examined. The tools of both security violators and protectors are explored. This course probes deeply into technical aspects of the hardware and software required to support computer networks. The course uses a combination of readings, case studies, class discussion and guest speakers for learning.
Prerequisites: (SME2012 or OIM2000) and (QTM1000 or AQM1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: OIM3620
- Number of Credits: 4
OIM7556 Cybersecurity
1.5 Elective Credits
The course is designed for the next generation managers who need to appreciate both the technical aspects and business impacts of cybersecurity in the enterprise. Different types of security break from a manager's perspective are explored. Students will also learn to design or support cybersecurity initiatives such as a risk management, policy creation, incident response and continuous improvement. The course uses a combination of readings and current events, class discussion and quest speakers for learning.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: MSBA Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: OIM7556
- Number of Credits: 1.5
QTM6110 Data Exploration (Quantitative Methods)
MSEL Course
1.5 CreditsData is valuable when it is used to make good decisions and avoid bad ones. We consider the value of data as a resource by studying how the variety of information available can be displayed, interpreted and communicated. Students will see the different approaches suggested by both traditional statistical methods and the recent advances in big data analytics. The course will emphasize the ways in which managers and entrepreneurs are both producers and consumers of data.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Course Number: QTM6110
- Number of Credits: 1.5
QTM 3600: Data Science Field Project
4 Advanced Liberal arts credits
The course will provide students with the opportunity to reinforce their skills in data science, including but not limited to data acquisition, data preparation/wrangling, exploratory data analysis/visualization, model building, testing, presentation, and deployment by coaching them through a real-world, data-intensive project. The course will consist of two main components:
- A structured curriculum designed to enhance students' data science and analytics skills for implementing analytical projects and effectively communicating their results to management and other stakeholders;
- A consulting project in which student teams will be tasked with solving a real-world problem presented by an external organization or partner, utilizing techniques and methodologies from data science and analytics. Under the supervision of the instructor, student teams will work on the assigned problem throughout the semester, communicating with the external organization/partner during the project and presenting their results periodically throughout the project. Despite being a group project, the workload will demand each student to dedicate significantly more time to the course compared to AQM courses that do not involve work with an external organization/partner.
This course satisfies the Advanced Experiential learning requirement through an extensive project involving an external organization/partner.
Prerequisites: AQM 2000 (QTM 2000 in the older curriculum)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: QTM3600
- Number of Credits: 4
QTM7200 Data, Models and Decisions
2 CreditsData, Models and Decisions (DMD) - This course is concerned with identifying variation, measuring it, and managing it to make informed decisions. Topics include: numerical and graphical description of data, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, regression, decision analysis, and simulation. Applications to Economics, Finance, Marketing, and Operations illustrate the use of these quantitative tools in applied contexts. The course utilizes spreadsheet, statistical, and simulation software.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Course Number: QTM7200
- Number of Credits: 2
STR7509 Decisions, Decisions, Decisions - How Managers Make Good and Bad Choices
3 CreditsMBA students are exposed to a wide variety of concepts and tools which should enable them to make intelligent decisions. However, the decision-making performance of corporate managers, most of them trained in these concepts and tools, is very uneven.
This course will seek to enable a student to understand some key factors that can influence the quality of decision making. Using case examples from both business and government, the course will build on a basic understanding of analysis and decision making to expose participants to the circumstances that can limit the effectiveness of the techniques they have learned and help them understand the challenges they will face as members of leadership teams making complex choices throughout their careers. Students will also learn about the factors involved in providing information for decision-making, and the roles that information technology plays in decision situations.
At the conclusion of the course, students will have an appreciation for the factors they will encounter in leadership roles and the methods they can employ to ensure that they contribute to the making of good decisions. Their exposure to the broad topics presented should also acquaint them with areas which may draw their interest for more intensive study in specific academic disciplines.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Management
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: STR7509
- Number of Credits: 3
HSS2025 Decolonization and Revolution in the 20th Century
4 Intermediate CreditsThe 20th Century is viewed by most historians as the most violent and tempestuous century in human history. In particular, this narrative is largely dominated by the two great wars and the Cold War. However, what made those conflicts so important was not just their impact on Europe and the Western World, but how those conflicts catalyzed mass movements globally. This class examines the history of decolonization and revolution in the 20th Century, and how the world wars and the Cold War impacted processes of nationalism, independence, decolonization and revolution. Starting with the rise of Turkey and the Bolshevik revolution during the first world war, we will then analyze the independence movements that sprouted from the vestiges of the second world war, particularly those of China and India, as well as the emergence of Apartheid in South Africa. We will also explore the impact of the Cold War on revolution and decolonization, especially Vietnam and Algeria. Finally, the course will analyze how more recent revolutions, such as those in Iran and Israel /Palestine, are rooted in longer historical processes which highlight the continuing legacy of Imperialism and revolutionary resistance to imperialism in the contemporary world. The course will use a variety of books, articles, movies, and music to analyze this deep, violent, and often conflicted aspect of human history.
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: HSS2025
- Number of Credits: 4
QTM 3601: Deep Learning in Business
4 advanced liberal arts credits
This course is dedicated to learning a type of artificial intelligence through building neural network models that mimic the human brain to solve complex business problems, which involves a variety of data types like text, image, sequential, etc. The course will build on analytical concepts learned from the AQM2000 (Predictive Business Analytics) course and introduce other unsupervised and self-supervised machine learning concepts in types of neural networks, natural language processes, and reinforcement learning. Each concept contains topics like model building and parameter tuning through optimization, regularization, etc. These advanced topics will be discussed in the context of practical real-world applications such as prediction, classification, image recognition, text analysis, gaming, etc. The implementation of the introduced topics will be carried out in Python programming language.
Prerequisites: AQM 2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: QTM3601
- Number of Credits: 4
FIN7550 Derivatives: Theory and Practice
3 CreditsThis course examines the pricing and use of derivatives in depth. It will cover the mathematical underpinnings of forwards, futures, options, swaps and more exotic derivatives, as well as the practical uses of these derivatives to hedge and manage risk. This course will cover the Black-Scholes option pricing formula, binomial trees and risk-neutral pricing. Applications include financial hedging of foreign exchange risk, commodity risk, and interest rate risk; as well as portfolio immunization techniques.
Prerequisites: FIN7200 or FIN7800
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: MSBA Elective (Grad),MSF Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: FIN7550
- Number of Credits: 3
OIM3517 Design Thinking and Problem Solving for Business Impact
4 Advanced Management Credits
This course enables you to work directly with the senior management at Blount Fine Foods.
Blount Fine Foods is a family-owned and operated manufacturer, marketer, and developer of fresh prepared foods. While best known for soup, the company produces hundreds of premium prepared food products for restaurants, retailers, and club stores nationwide.
Students will have the opportunity to work on new product development across the company. Examples of current product lines include the preparation and delivery of prepackaged food items such as: soups, meal bowls, side dishes, and mac & cheese. The course content will include expanding student knowledge on product lines, capabilities, pricing, consumer preferences as well as their go to market strategy. It is ideal for any students wanting to develop their consulting skills in product development, technology, operations, and management.
Skills learned include tactical approaches (such as project management) and business problem solving models as well as strategic tools and processes (design thinking and competitive assessments). This innovative, action-learning course gives you the opportunity to work with senior leaders at a very successful company using the newest Design Thinking and Problem-Solving methods. There will be a pitch competition at the end of the course.
Prerequisites: FME1000 and FME1001 or EPS1000 and MOB1010
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: OIM3517
- Number of Credits: 4
LTA2075 Design for Living
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsExplores how profoundly our lives are shaped by the designs of graphics we see, objects we use and buildings we move through every day. Students will gain increased understanding of the role good and bad design plays in affecting them and in shaping the world in which they live.
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: LTA2075
- Number of Credits: 4
EPS4515 Affordable Design and Entrepreneurship (ADE)
4 General Credits
Students must be Juniors or Seniors to take this course
This course engages students in community-based, participatory design and action. Teams partner with communities and organizations to achieve positive social and environmental impact with a strong justice framing, working for change in areas like air quality, community development, food processing, global health, and rights and privacy (addressing mass incarceration) over several semesters.
Guided by an experienced faculty advisor, teams make change through design for impact, social entrepreneurship, community organizing, participatory research, political advocacy and other practices. All teams practice social benefit analysis, theory of change, assumption testing, cross-cultural engagement tools, dissemination of innovation methods, and ethical norms.
Students regularly engage stakeholders in inclusive processes, in person and virtually, to observe, strategize, plan, co-design, prototype, test, and implement approaches supported by a significant project budget and student fundraising. There are often opportunities to travel locally, nationally, or internationally to work with partners.
Students are exposed to mindsets and dispositions for working with integrity and responsibility in their stakeholders' contexts through guided exercises, case studies, guest speakers, readings, and reflections. Students learn and apply changemaking practices through project work, and gain essential experience building relationships across difference and developing their own self- and cultural awareness.
This course is part of the BOW collaboration, offered jointly between Babson and Olin, and open to
Wellesley students. Prerequisites: FME1000, Junior standing (students must be juniors or seniors to take the course).
Prerequisites: FME1000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: EPS4515
- Number of Credits: 4
ACC7503 Designing a Business for Profitability
3 Elective CreditsIf you have taken and passed ACC7201, you cannot register for ACC7503, as these two courses are equivalent
This course is focused on the connection between strategy execution and profitability. Students develop skills in quantitatively grounded logical analysis in order to be able to:
- Judge the financial feasibility of plans for launching new businesses or for redesigning existing ones.
- Grow profitable and sustainable ventures.
- Create business models that make money.
- Integrate analytics and Industry 4.0 concepts to make business decisions.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Accounting and Law
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: ACC7503
- Number of Credits: 3
SEN1201 Designing Presentations to Tell Powerful Stories(Senior Instructor: Amy Malinowski) It is approximated that there are more than 30 million PowerPoint presentations made each day. That is a lot of time and resources spent presenting-especially if much of that time is wasted on really awful presentations. To communicate effectively, you first have to identify the audience, then organize a coherent narrative, and finally create and deliver that narrative powerfully both orally and visually. This creative process is often something we make no time for but is crucial if we want to design a presentation that will really resonate. In this course, students will learn the process and technical skills needed to design truly great presentations
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Other
- Course Number: SEN1201
- Number of Credits: 0
SEN1437 Designing Your Babson Life
Instructor: Kylie McCarthy
This is an interactive course designed to help students define their values, access essential resources, and learn from the experiences of others to create an authentic path for their future. Through in-class activities students will:
· define personal values and understand values' impact on decision-making.
· explore ethical decision-making and personal and professional integrity.
· access resources available at the Center for Career Development (CCD).
· study instructor Kylie McCarthy's nonlinear path
· address what to do when failure arises.
We will also have a special guest speaker, Brett Jewkes of AMBSE. By the end of the course, students can expect to have a clearer understanding of their personal values and how to apply them.
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Other
- Course Number: SEN1347
- Number of Credits: 0
LVA2072 Detective Fiction, Noir, and Social Criticism
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThis course explores the uses and genre development of detective fiction and film noir and their functions as social commentary, applying examples from different times and places - in the United States, Latin America, and Europe. What do these works have in common, and what separates them? How do they reflect or interrogate the cultures that produced them? Why has detective fiction (in its various incarnations) remained so popular? We consider revisions of the genre in the so-called "hardboiled" or serial "pulp fiction" of the 1930s and 1940s, as well as its representation in film noir. We analyze later versions of the genre through films such as Chinatown and Blade Runner, and recent alterations in neo-noir films, evaluating them in relation to contemporary culture. Short works by canonical Latin American authors such as Borges and GarcÃa Márquez, among others, provide an introduction to Latin American crime fiction. Through the works of current and popular writers and filmmakers we consider the legacies of dictatorship in Spain and Latin America, and the genre's use in investigating and exposing a conflictive past (or fear of what one might find). We will look at the female detective in varied works. How is she different (if she is?) from her male counterparts? And we examine how detective fiction can function to parody or subvert the possibility of an ordered solution, or the completion of justice.
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: LVA2072
- Number of Credits: 4
LTA2072 Detective Fiction, Noir, and Social Criticism
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThis course explores the uses and genre development of detective fiction and film noir and their functions as social commentary, applying examples from different times and places - in the United States, Latin America, and Europe. What do these works have in common, and what separates them? How do they reflect or interrogate the cultures that produced them? Why has detective fiction (in its various incarnations) remained so popular? We consider revisions of the genre in the so-called "hardboiled" or serial "pulp fiction" of the 1930s and 1940s, as well as its representation in film noir. We analyze later versions of the genre through films such as Chinatown and Blade Runner, and recent alterations in neo-noir films, evaluating them in relation to contemporary culture. Short works by canonical Latin American authors such as Borges and GarcÃa Márquez, among others, provide an introduction to Latin American crime fiction. Through the works of current and popular writers and filmmakers we consider the legacies of dictatorship in Spain and Latin America, and the genre's use in investigating and exposing a conflictive past (or fear of what one might find). We will look at the female detective in varied works. How is she different (if she is?) from her male counterparts? And we examine how detective fiction can function to parody or subvert the possibility of an ordered solution, or the completion of justice.
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: LTA2072
- Number of Credits: 4
MKT3502 Developing Effective Advertising
4 Advanced Management Credits
Developing Effective Advertising is an immersion in "creative thinking" in a "virtual" internship experience in a "virtual" best-of-breed advertising agency where students learn about developing effective advertising alongside some of the most talented and experienced advertising professionals in the industry. The "virtual" ad agency internship experience provides students with "real-world" learning in all aspects of current advertising and firsthand exposure to exciting career paths they may not otherwise encounter in a conventional advertising course.
Students learn about effective advertising by application of concepts, principles and fundamentals vis-Ã -vis lectures, readings, discussions, interactive exercises, case analysis, team projects and featured guest speakers from blue chip advertising agencies and media companies in the U.S., including Google, Cayenne Creative, MullenLowe U.S., NAIL Communications, Mediahub Worldwide, PHD Media, Wheelhouse Executive Recruiters and Babson College.
Students work together in 3 different assigned teams over the course of the semester and are assigned 3 team projects. Students also have individual assignments (readings, discussion board contributions and one mid-term paper) to complete. Methods of assessment is evenly balanced between individual and team assignments.
Prerequisites: MKT 2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: MKT3502
- Number of Credits: 4
MKT4530 Digital Analytics
4 Advanced Management Credits
The consumer buying journey continues to evolve, particularly as consumers become more comfortable and experience the benefits of using digital and mobile platforms to support all facets of the buying process. This rapidly expanding digital ecosystem generates an enormous amount of data. This course will explore how organizations can utilize the latest digital analytics techniques to turn structured and unstructured big data, into extremely valuable customer and marketing insights. This course is designed to complement Babson's Marketing Analytics course and covers entirely different topics and materials specifically focused within the digital sphere.
Students will utilize industry-leading digital analytics tools to collect and analyze consumer data to support decision-making and the development of marketing strategies that are informed by the insights. This includes the use of social media analytics platforms to listen to the voice of the customer, monitor consumer sentiment, and perform a comprehensive share of voice competitor analysis. Students will also use a web analytics platform to learn how to track, segment and measure the online and mobile device usage behaviors of customers and visitors. Students will also learn how to construct digital marketing experiments, perform A/B testing, and measure the ROI of digital campaigns. The course design includes official certifications in each of the digital analytics platforms used in the course.
Prerequisites: SME2011 or MKT2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: MKT4530
- Number of Credits: 4
MKT3515 Digital Marketing
4 General Elective CreditsThis course is intended to prepare students to lead marketing initiatives in digital environments, where companies and professionals are transforming the way to provide value to consumers, and to develop mutually beneficial relationships with them. Lectures, readings, case discussions and project assignments will offer both an integrative management perspective and a comprehensive framework on digital marketing. The course will cover a wide spectrum of topics, including marketing strategic approaches on the Internet, e-CRM, e-marketing research, digital positioning and branding, managing social networks, integrated communications on digital media, new pricing approaches, digital competition, virtual merchandising, and e-commerce strategies. Upon completion of the course, students will have acquired competencies in designing marketing programmes that develop the innovative potential of online consumers and social networks.
Prerequisites: SME2011 or MKT2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: MKT3515
- Number of Credits: 4
MKT7542 Digital Marketing
3 Elective CreditsThis course is designed to serve as both a survey and an applied approach to the field of digital marketing. In this course, we will approach digital marketing from three lenses: owned, paid, and earned media. Owned Media are the digital assets and brand image the firm manages (e.g., websites, social media, blogs, etc.). Paid Media are what the firm pays for to reach consumers using tools such as display ads, email marketing, and search marketing. Earned Media are what the firm gains through customer and community activity (e.g., e-word of mouth, communities, etc.) throughout the Internet. The course will present current trends and strategies on how to use and integrate these three media as well as build basic technical skills needed in the digital space (e.g., adwords advertising, SEO, etc.) Upon completion of the course, students will have an understanding of how to apply various marketing models and strategy to develop a strong digital presence using a variety of marketing content and digital tools. In addition to articles and book chapters to inform our thinking, we will also use case studies, professional certifications, and an online simulation to build a solid base in digital marketing.
Prerequisites: MKT7200 or MKT7800
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: MSBA Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: MKT7542
- Number of Credits: 3
OIM2000 Digital Technology for Entrepreneurs
(Formerly Technology and Business Innovation)
4 Intermediate Management Credits
This course introduces Babson's business students to foundational digital technology concepts, how this technology is used to capture, manage, and create value from data, and the significant role that technology and data play in new product, service, and process innovation.
Participants in the global workplace are increasingly expected to comfortably work with modern technology tools and data. Business leaders will further be expected to leverage the influx of new business models and opportunities as digital, physical, and biological spheres come together in exciting new ways. Related to these changes will be a continuous and ever-expanding deluge of data that needs to be managed, leveraged, and protected by all.
Being tech and data savvy will enable you to build stronger relationships with your customers, partners, and suppliers, and to increase your value in the workplace.
Prerequisites: FME1000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: Intermediate Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: OIM2000
- Number of Credits: 4
OIM7505 Digital Transformation
3 Elective Credits
The digitalization of products, processes, and business models is accelerating the rate of change in every industry and how organizations deliver value. While the majority of organizations report having initiated digital transformation efforts, studies highlight that fewer than 30% of these digital initiatives deliver positive results. However, no single digital transformation strategy applies to every company's situation, as digital transformation depends as much on the business context and organizational design, culture, and talent as it does on digital technologies.
In this course, we will use the case method to explore digital transformation efforts for a number of organizations across a variety of industries, and learn about the emerging technologies (e.g., AI, blockchain, extended reality, robotics) driving their transformation. Students will gain critical-thinking skills, work in groups, learn to apply different perspectives and frameworks to analyze complex business scenarios, and practice communication skills. Case analyses and in-class discussions will be complemented with a digital transformation consulting project.
Prerequisites: OIM7800
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: OIM7505
- Number of Credits: 3
MBA7401 Disruptive Change and Enterprise Transformation
(Formerly Business Model Innovation)
1.5 CreditsIndustry: Rapid changes in science and technology, a great rebalancing if not fundamental resetting of the global social and economic order, the blurring of traditional boundaries between industry sectors, shifting attitudes towards business and globalization, and greater concern for the environment, to name but a few of the major forces disrupting the world around us, are unleashing major tectonic shifts in multiple industries such as agriculture, clothing and apparel, education, energy, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, media and entertainment, mining and excavation, retailing, telecommunications, transportation, utilities, and even government and nonprofits. During the multi-decade span of one's career, a business manager and leader can very reasonably expect to be in the throes of such tectonic shifts at least once if not multiple times and must be prepared not just to survive but energetically thrive. During this 3-day interactive, executive-style workshop, students will learn to make sense of the bigger forces and narrower trends driving ecosystem-wide change, envision alternative scenarios for the future, identify implied strategic imperatives for an incumbent enterprise of their choice, and explore necessary transformations in the enterprise. Student learning will be facilitated by an hand-on, integrative approach that seamlessly weaves together concepts and tools from the MBA core curriculum as well the disciplines of entrepreneurship, innovation, technology, finance, marketing, operations, leadership, strategy, social concern, and sustainability. By way of context for student work and learning, students will be able to choose from any of the following five settings: agriculture, currency and payment systems, fashion and apparel, healthcare, and media.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Other
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: MBA7401
- Number of Credits: 1.5
LIT4604 Documentary Poetry: Engaging Reality
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsHow do contemporary poets engage their work with what's real in the world? How can poetry describe, define, explain, and/or challenge the information, the facts, the multitude of voices that surround and at times overwhelm us? Documentary poetry, an increasingly popular poetic form, engages as its subject matter real events from history, and may apply data from a range of realms: science, economics, literature, politics, psychology, current events, personal life. While documentary poets use this form as a way to think, research, explore, and satisfy curiosity, they are also potentially engaged in modes of inquiry, even skepticism. Thus documentary poems may result in the discovery of alternative approaches to meaning, new ways of understanding and telling stories, even sites of social change and activism. In addition, documentary poets tend to go beyond the traditionally poetic by applying to their poems mixed genres and media, including direct quotations, letters, diaries, court transcripts, medical records, images, testimonials, even embedded graphics. In this course, we will examine the origins of this form and study pivotal poems and poets in its development using work from a recent anthology of documentary poems as well as from several single-author poetry collections by poets Patricia Smith, Claudia Rankine, Tarfia Faizullah, Maggie Nelson, C.D. Wright, and Martha Collins. Students will write short analytical responses and an essay, but they will also craft and share their own original documentary poems as a way of understanding the form and its potential in their own lives for inquiry and discovery.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: LIT4604
- Number of Credits: 4
MBA7501 Doing Business Globally: Highways and Landmines
1.5 Elective CreditsDoing Business Globally: Highways and Landmines (DGB) is a 1.5 credit course that combines Accounting, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, and other disciplines. This course will focus on identifying opportunities, assessing and navigating risks, harvesting rewards, and understanding the economic environment of export countries. It has been developed with the AACSB's following statement in mind: _The shift toward more experiential learning and business engagement will mean that business schools may be seen increasingly as learning laboratories rather than as the traditional classroom learning environment." (AACSB, A Collective Vision for Business Education (https://www.aacsb.edu/vision, 2016) p. 9.)
Among the disciplines and topics for this course will be:
-Accounting: Accounting will focus on allocating income streams, foreign exchange transactions, positions, and exposures, and international tax issues (i.e., both income tax, VAT, and U.S. sales tax),
-Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship will focus on assessing risks, choosing the right export market, common mistakes, competitor analysis, creating and reinforcing value networks, customer support, distributor relationships, financing, focusing on your core, identifying opportunities, logistics, prepping before going global, supplier relationships, supply chain issues, understanding the complexities, customer loyalty, and working capital concerns,
-Economics: International macroeconomics will focus on reading the economic and financial pulse beat of export markets. It will explain the interrelationship among the nation's or currency area's credit market, goods and services market, and foreign exchange market. Among the major macroeconomic performance indicators are real gross domestic product, inflation, unemployment, interest rates, exchange rates, balance of payments, stock market, banking system, government budget balances, foreign direct investment, and environmental quality.
-Finance: Finance will focus on hedging global risks, such as foreign exchange, interest rate, and counterparty exposures.
-Other: Among the other areas we intend to cover are cultural issues, customs' duties and international trade document, e-commerce strategies, insurance, law, legal obstacles, marketing, pricing, regulation, and compliance
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Other
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: MBA7501
- Number of Credits: 1.5
LTA2003 Dramatizing the American Dream (LIT)
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThe American Dream is an indispensable, ubiquitous, and driving notion in this country. Its lure has brought millions of immigrants to our shores, given authors fodder for stories and novels, and allowed advertisers to sell the bigger car, the grander home, the better wardrobe. But what exactly is the American Dream? What are its tenets? Who gets to enjoy it? This course will examine how both male and female playwrights such as Susan Glaspell, Clifford Odets, Lorraine Hansberry, Sam Shepard, and Wendy Wasserstein have answered these questions in their dramatizations of the American Dream. As we study and watch various performances of the American Dream, we will take into account the voice telling the story and question the authority, privilege, and experience of that voice. We will evaluate how the plays speak to the American Dream, to each other, and to us. This course will require two papers, a mid-term and final exam.
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: LTA2003
- Number of Credits: 4
CSP2009 East Asian Cultures
(Formerly CVA2009)
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsWelcome to Cultures and Values 2009, an intermediate level Liberal Arts course which will introduce you to the cultures of East Asia. This course builds on the themes and techniques in the H&S and A&H Foundation courses to analyze our subject using the materials and methodology of history pursued in an interdisciplinary manner. We will focus on the cultures of East Asia, China, Japan, and Korea; with thematic examples from ancient, medieval and modern periods. East Asia is integrated due to location and the influence that China had on the cultures of Japan and Korea. We will begin our study with the major ways of thinking in ancient China-Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, with some consideration of Legalism, and Militarism. The ethical structures, ideas, concepts and vocabulary in part one will inform and be assumed in our study of Japan and Korea. We will next study the uses of Chinese Ethics in Japan and Korea, Shinto in Japan, and Shamanism in Korea. Although these three cultures have elements in common, Japan and Korea developed in unique ways and in no way should be seen as pale imitations of Chinese culture. We begin our study analyzing written (Chinese) classical texts, which became classics throughout East Asia. These are elite cultural documents, but we will also consider their impact on popular culture. The fourth section of the course will consider East Asia as a cultural unit. We will interrogate the cultural constructions of identity and meaning in these cultures and the political and social contexts in which these were found. We will consider the impact of modernization and globalization, and the change and continuity within East Asian cultures. Some attention will be given to the cultural impact from and on the West. We approach this course through readings in philosophy, religion, anthropology, art, literature, film, and music.
This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Spring or Summer
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: CSP2009
- Number of Credits: 4
SCN3602: Eclipses on Earth
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
This course will involve an in-depth exploration of the Sun-Earth-Moon system and how that system results in eclipses. From understanding how the relationship between the Sun, Earth, and Moon generate eclipses, we will discuss the different types of eclipses, and explore the prediction of eclipses. We will consider the historical explanations and uses of eclipses in both the social and scientific realms. We will also examine the history of solar observations to understand safe solar viewing practices. This course is designed to fulfill the advanced experiential component of the curriculum as well. In teams you will work with local teachers and libraries to develop ways of teaching about eclipses to K-12 students and a general audience. You will also assist in developing safe solar viewing plans for your external "clients" on the eclipse day.
Prerequisites: NST 10XX
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: SCN3602
- Number of Credits: 4
SCN3615 Ecology of Animal Behavior
4 Advanced Lib Arts CreditsThe study of the nature, variety and function of the fundamental types of animal behaviors. Communication, habitat selection, predation and antipredator defense, reproductive strategies, tactics and mating systems, and play and social behaviors will be compared and analyzed, and applications to human behavior will be discussed.
Prerequisites: NST10%
% - Wildcard
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: SCN3615
- Number of Credits: 4
ECN3620 Econometrics
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Elective CreditsThis hands-on course is designed to provide students with a comprehensive introduction to the field of Econometrics. The course will be applied in nature and will be directed to undergraduate students that seek to further their understanding of how to use economic and statistical theory to develop economic models and forecast key financial and economic measures of performance while learning to assess the strengths and weaknesses of those models. These techniques can improve corporate financial planning, marketing, sales forecasts, production planning, legal consulting and many other decisions where better predictions in light of uncertainty can reduce costs, raise profits and lead to better decision making.
Prerequisites: (SME2031 or ECN2002)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Economics
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: ECN3620
- Number of Credits: 4
ECN7520 Economic and Financial Forecasting
3 Credits If you have taken and passed QTM9501, you cannot register for ECN7520, as these two courses are equivalent
Do you anticipate making or evaluating economic and business forecasts in your career? This _hands-on_ course provides students a comprehensive introduction to the field of forecasting and econometrics. It covers three main areas of forecasting: basic statistical methods, structural models, and time series models. Throughout the course we will focus on applied examples and use software to forecast key economic and business measures of performance (such as asset pricing, investment risk, interest rates, unemployment rates, industry level and firm level sales, revenues and other variables) while learning to assess the strengths and weaknesses of these forecasts.
These techniques can improve corporate financial planning, marketing, sales forecasts, production planning, and many other decisions where better predictions in light of uncertainty can reduce costs, raise profits and lead to better decision-making.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Economics
- Level: MSF Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: ECN7520
- Number of Credits: 3
ECN7500 Economic Analysis for Business Decisions
3 Elective CreditsIf you have taken and passed ECN7200 you cannot register for ECN7500 as these two courses are equivalent
Running a successful business requires decision-making that is informed by an understanding of the market environment in which the firm operates. Business leaders and entrepreneurs need analytical skills and the ability to anticipate market dynamics if they are going to manage for growth. Economic Analysis for Business Decisions provides students strategic and tactical competencies such as: sizing market demand, identifying market opportunities, differentiating products and services effectively, strategic pricing, cost modeling, determining optimal firm size and identifying sources of market power. With these competencies in hand, students will then develop the ability to determine the best competitive strategies based on a clear understanding of an industry's structure and behavior, and the firm's advantages within the larger market. Students will use game theory to model strategic behavior, consider the firm's responsibilities and the government's role in correcting market failures, and will leave the course with an ability to create business models that will grow stakeholder value.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Economics
- Level: MSBA Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: ECN7500
- Number of Credits: 3
SCN3630 Economics Botany
Advanced Liberal ArtsThis course will investigate the relationship between plants and society. Without plants and plant products humans would be hungry, naked, and lacking oxygen to breath. We will begin by exploring the basics of different plant parts and how plants grow and reproduce. We will then examine plants as sources of food, materials, perfumes, drugs, and medicines. Throughout the course we will discuss the role plants have played in influencing economics, language, politics, and religion. Current topics of particular interest for this course include the debate over genetically engineered crops, the development of new pharmaceutical medicines, the changes in human diet, and the use of plant products in new technologies. This course will emphasize the development of skills in critical thinking, synthesis of information, science literacy, hand-on exercises, and current topical issues in plant biology.
Prerequisites: NST I
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: SCN3630
- Number of Credits: 4
ECN7550 Business Strategy and Game Theory 3 Elective Credits This course makes extensive use of Game Theory (in addition to applied economics and other emerging strategic models) to provide a systematic and rigorous approach for formulating winning strategies for creating and capturing value in the context of interdependence and uncertainty. This course will empower you with the knowledge and skills to frame the strategic questions for data analysis and turn data into strategic insight and foresight for agile startups as well as for large corporations. Case studies are used to illustrate successful application of strategies. The teaching method utilizes simulations, gaming, and practical, case-based discussions. Topics include: threats and opportunities in the supply chain, the dynamics of pricing rivalry, entry decisions/entry deterrence, mergers and acquisitions, strategic commitment, negotiating, bidding, and managing innovation for sustaining competitive advantage. Antitrust issues are also addressed.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Economics
- Level: MSBA Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: ECN7550
- Number of Credits: 3
ECN3663 Economics of Education
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsHuman capital development is a critical and expensive social investment, leading to intense debates about education policies, such as public funding for private schools, access to "free" community college, and college student-loan burdens. We will examine education's critical role in growth, development, equitable outcomes, and economic well-being for individuals and societies. We will apply economic theories, methods, and frameworks to analyze educational problems, considering potential goals of efficiency, adequacy, and equity; to discuss policy context and implications; and to explore innovation in educational settings.
Prerequisites: SME2031 or ECN2002
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Economics
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: ECN3663
- Number of Credits: 4
ECN3671 The Economics of Labor Markets
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Elective CreditsLabor earnings provide over sixty percent of household income in the United States, driving the U.S. economy just as labor drives economies around the globe. The theoretical foundations for analyzing labor demand and supply will be the starting point for examining a range of labor market topics such as human capital investment, wage determination and inequality, the impact of robotics and artificial intelligence on employment, the choice between work and household production, the effect of unions on the labor market, labor mobility and migration, labor market discrimination, and the effects of taxation, regulation, unemployment insurance and other government policies on labor market outcomes.
Prerequisites: SME2031 or ECN2002
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Economics
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: ECN3671
- Number of Credits: 4
EPS8573 Entrepreneurship Intensity Track (EIT)
Regular Speaker: EIR Rich Palmer
****THIS COURSE REQUIRES ACCEPTANCE INTO THE EIT PROGRAM. Registration is manual for students who have been accepted into the program****Students selected for the EIT: Entrepreneurship Intensity Track course will engage in rigorous practice and a reality-based curriculum that includes both classroom and outside class activity. Students will also work with an outside mentor to help them execute on their business concept. As such, the emphasis of the course is not idea conception or creation but execution of an already formed concept from your prior courses and experiences. EIT is focused on developing and enhancing the student's knowledge and experience in order to maximize their prospects for starting a successful business during the course or soon after completion. The course combines readings, discussions, lectures, conceptual tools, and guest speakers, all with an emphasis on the practical steps that students need to get their business up and running. Given this, EIT is not an introductory course focused on the beginning of the entrepreneurial experience, but instead focuses on idea refinement, execution, launch, and growth.
For more information please click here.
Prerequisites: Completion of one of the following courses: EPS7500 or EPS7530 or EPS7545 or EPS7546
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: EPS8573
- Number of Credits: 3
NST1030 Electronics
4 Foundation Liberal Arts CreditsElectronic devices transform the way people work and communicate. This course will focus on understanding the inner workings of those devices to provide a background on what they can and cannot do. We will also explore the impact of resource limitations on electronics, and how electronics can contribute to solving some resource issues.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Foundation Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: NST1030
- Number of Credits: 4
FRN2200 Elementary French for Business Professionals
4 Free Elective Credits
FRN 2200 is a fast-paced beginner course that emphasizes real-world applications of the French language. Through a variety of authentic materials and in-class activities, students develop their reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. Students will explore aspects of French society, such as the fashion industry, the stock exchange, and the country's beloved soccer culture. A project-based class, students will develop business skills in French related to networking, interviewing, marketing, and trading through creating a portfolio that will grow in sequential semesters.
No previous experience with French is needed. This course is not open to native speakers of French.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Free Elective (UGrad)
- Course Number: FRN2200
- Number of Credits: 4
NST1020 Energy and the Environment
4 CreditsAs the world's current energy demand continues to rise, it is critical to understand the causes, impacts, and possible solutions to our current global energy crisis. This course will focus on the technologies associated with renewable forms of energy and their potential for future success.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Foundation Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: NST1020
- Number of Credits: 4
OIM3525 Enterprise 2.0: Building Social Networks to Improve Business Performance
4 Advanced Management Credits
Enterprise 2.0 is the term to describe organizations that use social media technologies (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube), strategies, and business practices that enable emergent collaboration. Many organizations are now interested in capturing, distributing and applying the knowledge of their employees for business benefit. Also, companies need to keep track of knowledge outside of their corporate walls, for example, understanding market trends and being aware of what customers are saying about their products. Ultimately, the goal of Enterprise 2.0 is to break down traditional information silos and allow employees and managers to tap into the right people and expertise when they need it.
In this course we will discuss the current state of the Enterprise 2.0 movement. We will also explore how social collaboration tools (often referred to as social media and Web 2.0) are being used by organizations to leverage the "wisdom of the crowds." Organizations are increasingly using tools such as blogs, wikis, social tagging, and social networking tools to achieve emergent collaboration and to break down information silos. Knowledge workers are also using social technologies to build their personal brand and personal network.
Student projects will emphasize a "hands-on" approach to understanding the latest social technologies. We will use social network analysis (SNA) software, a methodology to analyze the structure of social networks, or the people-to-people connections in organizations. SNA is an increasingly popular application used by both management consultants and internal organizational practices (e.g., knowledge management, IS, HR, R&D) to understand information flows and "influencers" inside and outside a company. Another project will have students create a social media campaign for an organization, including providing metrics on how to evaluate the success of the campaign. We will also experiment with mobile applications, such as location-based services (e.g., Foursquare, SCVNGR) on smartphones.
Prerequisites: FME1000 & FME1001
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: OIM3525
- Number of Credits: 4
OIM7515 Enterprise 2.0 Building Social Networks to Improve Business Performance
3 Credits
Enterprise 2.0 is the term to describe organizations that use social platforms and technologies that enable emergent collaboration. Organizations must now capture, distribute and apply the knowledge of their employees for business benefit. Also, companies need to keep track of knowledge outside of their corporate walls, for example, understanding market trends and being aware of what customers are saying about their products. Ultimately, the goal of Enterprise 2.0 is to break down traditional information silos and allow employees and managers to tap into the right people and expertise when they need it.
In this course we will discuss the current state of the Enterprise 2.0 movement including how it pertains the current reality of hybrid work. The goal is to go "beyond the hype" and provide a science and methodology to measure the value of these social platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, the Metaverse, Microsoft Teams, and Slack. We will explore how social collaboration tools are being used by organizations to identify subject-matter experts, find unstructured knowledge when they need it and to leverage the "wisdom of the crowds" for experimentation and learning.
Student projects will emphasize a "hands-on" approach to understanding the latest social platforms. We will use organizational network analysis (ONA) software, a methodology to analyze the structure of social networks, or the people-to-people connections in organizations. ONA is an increasingly popular application used by both management consultants and internal organizational practices to understand information flows and "influencers" inside and outside a company. We will also explore personal network analysis (PNA) using EgoNet software and social listening platforms, such as NUVI, to understand customer influencers.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: MSBA Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: OIM7515
- Number of Credits: 3
ECN6111 Entrepreneurial Economics
MSEL Course
This course applies economic theory to decisions faced by entrepreneurs such as pricing, investment, data usage, and ethics. A primary focus of this course will be on using data to improve strategic decision making. Students will be encouraged to think about the strategic implications of decisions and to use both theory and data to support, validate, and revise decisions as needed. Entrepreneurial leaders are challenged in the global marketplace to effectively communicate not only the results of analysis but the rationale for decisions. Through both individual and group work, students will conduct market analysis and present the results while also interacting with their peers to provide constructive practical critiques.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Economics
- Course Number: ECN6111
- Number of Credits: 1.5
EPS3551 Entrepreneurial Families
(Formerly Family Entrepreneurship Amplifier)
4 General Elective CreditsIf you come from a family business or have an interest in starting a business with a family member or members, this course is designed for you. The course is like no other offered at Babson or elsewhere in the world. In this course, you will work directly with your family as part of the learning process. Together you will learn about how and why families are responsible for over 75% of global entrepreneurial activity and how your family can be more successful in its entrepreneurial efforts. You will learn about succession, ownership structures, family business strategy, family and business governance, conflict management and communication. You will strengthen your ability to work with your family, build your confidence and increase your family's understanding of the value you can bring to the business. You will also learn from your peers and their families establishing relationships that will endure long after you graduate. If you know that you want to lead the family business, this course will provide a foundation for your future. If you are uncertain about joining the family business, this course will help provide clarity for your decision. If you have no desire to join the family business and prefer creating your own venture or opportunity, this course will help you to leverage the knowledge and resources within your family in order to increase the likelihood of your success.
For more information please watch this video.
Prerequisites: FME or equivalent
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: EPS3551
- Number of Credits: 4
EPS4510 Entrepreneurial Finance
(Formerly EPS3511)
4 General CreditsHow much money should I raise? Who should I raise it from and how? What do I do with the money once I have it? This course focuses on the various aspects of funding and managing entrepreneurial ventures through the various stages of business growth. The class will utilize videos, cases, simulation and experiential learning techniques to explain how to finance the entrepreneurial firm, investment analysis and decision making, and managing company finances through growth, crisis and harvesting. Frequent guests ranging from entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, banking and legal professionals will bring the entrepreneurial experience to life in this course which utilizes the "flipped classroom" methodology of teaching.
Prerequisites: (SME2001 and SME2002 and SME2011 and SME2012 and SME2021 and SME2031) or (ACC2002 and OIM2001 and MKT2000 and OIM2000 and FIN2000 and ECN2002)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: EPS4510
- Number of Credits: 4
MBA7507 Leading Enterprise Change: Entrepreneurial Leadership and Innovation
3 Credits
This course will go deep into the principles of innovation - disruptive, product (Agile), process (Lean), customer experience (Design Thinking), and business model innovations. Participants will learn how key tools like Agile, Lean and Design Thinking become the corner stone of innovation projects and processes that help teams to become more effective and help executives to build an innovation culture. Today, even the most conservative of industries are being pushed to transform themselves towards digital excellence. We will see several examples of firms that have gone through this transformation. Strategy, Innovation, and Culture are inseparable and they are the three key weapons of every entrepreneurial leader confronting ever increasing VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) environments. This course provides the participants a set of strong principles and common language for leading their teams and their enterprises through uncharted terrains. When this course is offered exclusively for firms in the healthcare industry, the case studies and the assignments will be chosen appropriately.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: MBA7507
- Number of Credits: 3
EPS1220 Entrepreneurial Leadership Field Studies
4 Free Elective Credits
This course is designed specifically for Arthur M. Blank School of Entrepreneurial Leadership Scholars (AMBSEL Scholars) and for other Scholars (e.g., Weisman, Presidential, Posse, etc.) by instructor consent.
Entrepreneurial leadership theories and frameworks, considered to be distinct from other forms of leadership, are still at the nascent stage of development. Babson Professor Scott Taylor and his colleagues are currently developing an entrepreneurial leadership model that includes the following constructs: "leader internal clarity", "leader opportunity seeking behavior", "leader outward focus", "follower motivation effect", and "recognizing and exploiting entrepreneurial opportunities". Each of these constructs will be explored by students through discussions of assigned readings and qualitative research in the form of entrepreneur interviews and a case research project which includes a written case and teaching note. Students will develop qualitative research skills (e.g., interview techniques) through in class lectures and asynchronous videos that have already been produced by Professor Shay. The learning-focused activities and assignments, especially the field-based entrepreneur interview and case research project, are designed to enhance student (and the field's) understanding of the unique nature of entrepreneurial leadership and to develop the student's own entrepreneurial leadership skills. Student course deliverables (entrepreneur interview and case study) will provide insights to advance our understanding of entrepreneurial leadership as well as teaching materials for classroom use. The entrepreneur interviews and case studies will be submitted for inclusion in Babson's case resources and possibly for publication in peer-reviewed journals such as Case Research Journal.
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Free Elective (UGrad)
- Course Number: EPS1220
- Number of Credits: 4
EPS3543: Entrepreneurial Opportunities in AI
4 advanced managements credits
This experiential seminar explores the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential for creating new business opportunities. Students will learn about cutting-edge technologies in AI, such as machine learning, computer vision, neural networks, and natural language processing. We will also cover recent developments in the AI industry and the impact of venture capital investment on AI startups. Throughout the course, students will have the opportunity to experiment with AI technologies and develop their own innovative projects. By the end of the course, students will have a deep understanding of the current state of AI and the potential for new business opportunities in this field. This course is ideal for students interested in the intersection of entrepreneurship and technology.
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: EPS3543
- Number of Credits: 4
EPS7800 Entrepreneurship
2 Credits (Core MBA)If you have taken and passed EPS7200, you cannot register for EPS7800, as these two courses are equivalent
Through the Entrepreneurship components of the course, you will explore and practice the concepts of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and how these three concepts come together to create the future. You will examine the importance of creativity in this process, and how it fosters an innovative and entrepreneurial approach to identifying, solving and acting on management challenges. You will build an ET&A toolkit to create and evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities, marshal resources, and form teams driven by creativity, leadership, and smart action. You will explore questions about value exploration and value appropriation - for yourself and for others in society. In sum, this course is a journey through the fuzzy front-end of early-stage entrepreneurial activity. This course is not intended to be a complete overview of entrepreneurship. It makes no effort to deal with all the complex issues of entrepreneurial practice. Topics such as managing growth, franchising, entrepreneurial finance, corporate entrepreneurship, family entrepreneurship, or buying businesses are not covered in the course. Other courses offered during your MBA program go into greater depth in many of these issues. This course is an immersion experience for finding, creating, and evaluating early-stage opportunities for value creation. It also expands your horizons about how to determine what is valuable not only for yourself, but for others across people, organizations, and society in new and creative ways.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Course Number: EPS7800
- Number of Credits: 2
EPS3501 Entrepreneurship and Opportunity
4 General CreditsEPS3501, EPS3502, EPS3503, EPS3530, EPS3508 and EPS4520 are all equivalent courses. Students can take only ONE of these courses.
Before spending time and money on launching a new venture, it is important to understand if you should launch that particular venture. In fact, some of the main causes of new venture failure are the lack of product-market fit and cash flow problems resulting from underestimating the costs of the venture. This course concentrates on identifying and evaluating opportunities for new business to ensure that the venture has the potential to meet the individual entrepreneur's goals. Students will work on venture ideas to learn how to determine if there is a sufficient market, what that market requires to be willing to pay for a solution and what it will take for the entrepreneur to deliver that solution. Students will gain first-hand experience with market and customer research as well as a better understanding of what they need to do to determine if an idea represents a true opportunity for them. Students will leave the class being better able to understand their own personal entrepreneurial capacity and the process and tools that they can use for evaluating any venture idea that they may have in the future. Student teams will conduct both primary and secondary research on a venture idea of their choice.
Prerequisites: (SME2021 or FIN2000) and (SME2011 or MKT2000) and (SME2031 or ECN2002)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: EPS3501
- Number of Credits: 4
EPS7200 Entrepreneurship & Opportunity
2 CreditsEntrepreneurship & Opportunity (E&O) - This course provides an overview of the entrepreneurship method that will enable you to create, identify, assess, shape, and act on opportunities in a variety of contexts and organizations. The method, called Entrepreneurial Thought & Action (ETA), is teachable and learnable, but is not predictable. This is a results-oriented course that emphasizes early action in order to test and refine new venture concepts.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Course Number: EPS7200
- Number of Credits: 2
EPS3513 Entrepreneurship in Fashion
4 CreditsEntrepreneurship in fashion explores the challenges to entrepreneurs in the fashion industry with a view toward understanding opportunities, the changing nature of design to distribution technologies and processes, and the resources required to successfully launch and grow new ventures and corporate innovations. This course will examine past, current, and leading-edge business models while building entrepreneurial thought and action skills in the fashion context to create economic and social value. Students will focus on areas of interest in the fashion industry and design business models around opportunity spaces. The course examines current business cases. Speakers from the fashion industry will be invited to converse with students about experience and opportunities in fashion.
Prerequisites: FME1001
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: EPS3513
- Number of Credits: 4
EPS3509 Entrepreneurship New Ventures in Fashion
4 Elective Abroad CreditsEntrepreneurial leaders in Fashion excel in being innovative and resourceful with respect to creating new designs that capturing customer attention, attracting high quality human and financial capital, and building business partnerships that ensure their products get to market in a timely way. The Fashion business cycle demands that ventures gather timely customer information, make the most of limited resources, and manage uncertainty in changing market conditions. In this course, students will have the opportunity to apply their classroom knowledge and past professional experiences to practice these facets of entrepreneurial leadership in London, England. The course is built around a Design Challenge - including preparation, research and thought about opportunities and the fashion industry and an intense, one-week exercise that invites students to create a solution to address an underserved customer/market niche while visiting leading British companies and cultural attractions.
As a part of the field work associated with the Design Challenge, students will participate in local excursions to leading businesses, start-ups, incubators, design companies, and cultural destinations. You will meet British and Global entrepreneurs, managers, Full-Circle Economy/Environmental leaders, and other experts in fashion design and production. You will also interact with different facets of everyday life in London as you collect information, develop an opportunity, rapidly prototype solutions, and validate your findings. The goal is to provide ample opportunities for you to immerse yourselves in the dynamic London fashion culture and expose yourselves to the design- friendly ways pioneered by British companies and leaders. At the end of the week, student teams will present their solutions to a panel of Fashion Faculty. The course is designed for students who have a strong interest in entrepreneurship, fashion, innovation, fashion technology, or design and wish to participate in a dynamic cross-cultural learning experience.
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: EPS3509
- Number of Credits: 4
EPS6300 Entrepreneurship, Analytics, and Strategy of the Firm
3 Blended CreditsThis course provides an overview of the entrepreneurship method that will enable students to create, identify, assess, shape, and act on opportunities in a variety of contexts and organizations, while also introducing students to the use of analytics throughout the lifecycle of business applications. The method, called Entrepreneurial Thought and Action (ET&A), is teachable and learnable, but is not predictable. This is a results-oriented course that emphasizes early action in order to test and refine new venture concepts. Topics will include: innovation uncertainty in the corporate environment, Design Thinking, Shareholder Value and EVA//Multi Business Strategy in Large Corporations, Industry Analysis, Ecosystems and Competitive Positioning and How Big Companies Make Decisions.
Prerequisites: Admission in to the MSBA program. CAM students should contact Graduate Academic Services to pursue enrollment in this course.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: MSBA Core (Grad)
- Course Number: EPS6300
- Number of Credits: 3
ECN3675 Environmental Economics - Policy and Analysis
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Elective CreditsAvoiding environmental catastrophe in the next century requires that business leaders and policy makers value, both inherently and quantitatively, the impact of production and consumption choices on natural resources and the environment. Students in this course will consider the tension between the resource needs of current versus future generations and will use microeconomic models to analyze non-renewable energy resources, our access to clean water and our ability to control pollution, among other topics. Students will leave this course knowing how to evaluate economic and environmental tradeoffs in the context of the most pressing resource issues, and understanding the impact of potential policies that affect environmental outcomes, including market-based approaches.
Prerequisites: ECN2000 and (SME2031 or ECN2002)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Economics
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: ECN3675
- Number of Credits: 4
CSP2036 Environmental Justice
(Formerly CVA2036)
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts Credits
The objective of this course is to understand, explore, and analyze the inequities and power dynamics associated with many types of environmental (in)justice. Depending on the instructor, the focus may be on waste and consumption; global health; city design etc. in relation to issues of justice. How can we reimagine solutions for environmental justice? By thinking critically about these issues, we will challenge our thinking about environmental justice and why it matters today and in the future.
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: CSP2036
- Number of Credits: 4
LAW 3604: Environmental Law & Policy
4 Advanced liberal arts credits
This course provides an overview of environmental law - and, consistent with Babson's curricular approach, its wider context as it relates to the natural environment, society, and entrepreneurial activity. In terms of core legal content, we will focus on common law principles, federal statutes and regulatory frameworks in the United States, and aspects of other government policy that relate to the natural environment. International frameworks and treaties will be covered. Implementation and enforcement issues will also be investigated, as well as "soft law" approaches such as regulation-by-disclosure.
This course fits Babson's curricular themes such as integrated sustainability. Specifically: this course will endeavor to consider the legal content against the background of existential crises in ecosystems, and with an eye to how legal frameworks either hinder or enable entrepreneurial activity to eliminate harms cause by human activity. We will also consider the legal content as it relates to other sustainability courses, and current cases and controversies in the news.
Prerequisites: LAW 1000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Accounting and Law
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: LAW3604
- Number of Credits: 4
HSS2040 Environmental Politics
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsEnvironmental issues are inherently multidisciplinary. They intersect with a variety of other knowledge areas, such as economics, finance, politics, and sociology. To better understand these interactions, we require the ability to think holistically. This course provides some tools that helps us understand how environmental issues are connected to a wide range of topics. It is designed for business students, and it looks at the many roles played by the private sector in environmental governance. The central part of the course focuses on political challenges related to environmental issues: Who has influence over environmental decisions? How are decisions made? How are natural resources managed? The course is organized in four building blocks: Water-Food-Energy, Environmental Governance and International Relations, Sustainable Development, and Politics of Climate Change. All of them draw on contemporary debates about global environmental politics, and each building block uses case studies to contextualize the topics under discussion.
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: History and Society
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: HSS2040
- Number of Credits: 4
SEN1314 Equine Business Management
(Senior Instructor: Elizabeth Monteith) Students in Equine Business Management will apply principles of Babson's outstanding business education to the equestrian industry. The business of horses is a diverse and historical trade, ripe for innovation that Babson entrepreneurs can provide. In this seminar, we will study competitive governing organizations (such as the United States Equestrian Federation), stables, racing syndicates, and more. Students will also be introduced to many of the equine-related jobs available to business students. No former equine experience is required, just bring your passion and willingness to learn!
Course Schedule:
Class 1 - Wednesday, January 27
Class 2 - Wednesday, February 3
Class 3 - Wednesday, February 10
Class 4 - Wednesday, February 17
Class 5 - Wednesday, February 24
Class 6 - Senior Seminar Showcase: Tuesday or Wednesday evening, 3/1 or 3/2. Details to be confirmed by first day of class.
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Other
- Course Number: SEN1314
- Number of Credits: 0
FIN7503 Equities
3 Elective CreditsThis course will address both theoretical and practical issues that arise in equity analysis and portfolio management. Students will develop a framework for equity investing that includes idea generation, security analysis, valuation techniques (e.g. Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) and relative value analysis (COMPCO)), equity portfolio construction, and performance measurement. Equity valuation and equity portfolio management are as much art as science so the course will focus on the challenges equity professionals face in the pursuit of alpha.
Prerequisites: FIN7200, FIN7800 or MSF program
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: MSF Core (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: FIN7503
- Number of Credits: 3
CSP2001 Introduction to Ethics
(Formerly CVA2001)
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts Credits
Discussions relate morality to the life and circumstances of contemporary society by offering a solid grounding in the major concepts of ethical theory and in the basic skills for analyzing ethical issues and making sound moral judgments.
This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Fall and Spring
Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Intermediate Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: CSP2001
- Number of Credits: 4
OIM7503 Experiment to Scale
3 Elective Credits
Innovators in all industries are searching for ways to bring products and services to market at an even faster pace and to scale. However, companies face a myriad of challenges that make such growth difficult, namely: environmental uncertainty, unquestioned industry standards, and seemingly stagnant organizational cultures. And while ideating and prototyping new ideas becomes more manageable for firms, bringing those ideas to scale is still elusive Experimentation has recently been revered as the way forward to address these challenges. In this course, students will study historical and more recent experimentation techniques from technology and operations management. Students will compare and contrast these techniques and apply them to a project.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Operations and Information Management
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: OIM7503
- Number of Credits: 3
ENG4615 Expository Writing
2 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
This advanced writing course has two main goals. One: reviewing the fundamentals of grammar, style, and voice will help you face future writing situations in the professional world with greater confidence. Two: expanding your repertoire of expressive choices will help you articulate ideas more clearly and will connect you more effectively with intended audiences.
This is an "expository," not a "creative" writing course, with a focus on the tasks of explanation and persuasion, and on the genre of the essay. But it will also push generic boundaries and examine the role of creativity and imagination in non-fiction prose.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: ENG4615
- Number of Credits: 2
EPS9553 Family Business to Next Stage of Growth
1.5 Credits
Meeting Dates TBD
Drop Deadline TBD
Growth is the necessary condition for a trans-generational enterprising family. This course will explore the challenges and complexity of growth in the generational context of the family. The inflection point question, _How do we take the family business to the next stage of growth?_ requires that families discover the _power of f_ in wealth creation. The question of growth raises additional questions for reflection and conversation:
Do you have a compelling multi-generational vision for growth?
What is the difference between an enterprising family and traditional family business?
What are the constraints to growth in your family business?
How does the family context create a unique _entrepreneurship to the power of f_?
What is your _power of f_ familiness advance performance model?
How does your governance support or constrain growth?
How do your planning capabilities support growth?
How do you align the family risk profile for growth?
What do you do if family shareholders don't want to grow (but don't know it)?
How do you establish an ownership strategic options continuum to support growth?
The Inflection Point Question Course is a Friday/Saturday _family retreat_ format that provides personalized coaching to participants based upon their individual family cases - family members are welcome to join students. The Goal is to stimulate deeper personal and professional Reflection…facilitate peer collegial Conversation…set participants up for Collaborative decision making in the family…and lead to an action plan for Execution by the students on their goals.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: EPS9553
- Number of Credits: 1.5
MKT 3503: Fan Behavior
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
This course provides an in-depth analysis of audience behavior in sports and entertainment. Students will learn how to use data analytics to understand fan behavior, preferences, and engagement patterns, and how to develop effective marketing strategies to maximize revenue and fan loyalty.
COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Understand the fundamentals of audience analytics and consumer behavior in sports and entertainment.
2. Learn how to collect, analyze, interpret, and present fan data using various quantitative and qualitative research methods (communication).
3. Develop skills in data visualization, data storytelling, and data-driven decision-making.
4. Explore the latest trends and technologies in audience analytics and consumer behavior in sports and entertainment.
5. Apply the knowledge and skills learned in the course to real-world scenarios (problem solving).
6. Utilize knowledge from this course in an applied project (problem solving).
7. Interact with industry professionals in the areas of audience analytics and consumer behavior in sports and entertainment (collaboration).
Prerequisites: MKT 2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Marketing
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: MKT3503
- Number of Credits: 4
SEN1339 Feeding Yourself in College and Beyond
(Student Instructor: Shalom Mensah) Food is nourishment that we all need, but it can also tell many stories and unite groups of people. This class will supplement your knowledge of cooking, and give you the confidence to get in the kitchen to make yourself an amazing dish that you will be proud of and happy to eat. In addition to being a cooking class, this class is aimed at discussing the ways that each cook can take small steps to incorporate a sustainable approach to their cooking: making stock, composting, and grocery shopping efficiently. Each week, we will eat what we cook. Whether you have never been in the kitchen to make yourself a meal, or you cook everyone once in a while, this is a class for you.
Tuesdays 6:30 - 9:00 pm
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Other
- Course Number: SEN1339
- Number of Credits: 0
HUM4604: Feminish, Gender and Philosophies of Liberation
4 Advanced Liberal Arts credits
This course will overview the history of modern feminist philosophy from the seventeenth century to the present. We will focus on the emergence of feminism within in the context of colonialism, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the development of the modern nation state, and various revolutions. While much of the course will look at international examples and texts, we will also look at the specificities of the feminist movement in the United States from within indigenous struggles for sovereignty, the abolitionist movement, and feminist work specific to Boston. We will also study the emergence of LGBT movements in conversation with feminist struggles, as well as the emergence of transfeminism. The course is broken up into three units: Unit 1 will focus on the history of feminist philosophy and activism; Unit 2 looks at the modern racial and colonial history of gender; and Unit 3 focuses on contemporary abolitionist and decolonial forms of feminism as philosophies of liberation. There will be an in-class mid-term before spring break after we finish Unit 1, and the course will conclude with a final research paper.
Prerequsites: Any Combinations of 2 Intermediate Liberal Arts (HSS, CSP, LTA)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Arts and Humanities
- Level: Advanced Liberal Arts 4600 Requirement (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: HUM4604
- Number of Credits: 4
FIN7800 Finance
2 Credits (Core MBA)If you have taken and passed FIN7200, you cannot register for FIN7800, as these two courses are equivalent
This course provides an introduction to the principles and practices of financial decision making. It introduces the foundation concepts of the time value of money, the valuation of securities, and forecasting. These concepts are used to show how managers can analyze the risk and return of capital investment proposals and identify those projects that are expected to create shareholder value. The concepts also are used to estimate the value of an enterprise for purposes of initial public offering (IPO) and corporate acquisitions. Financial modeling will be at the heart of the course using Excel.
Students are strongly encouraged to complete ACC7800 prior to taking this course.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Finance
- Course Number: FIN7800
- Number of Credits: 2
ACC7577 Finance for Non-Financial Professionals
3 Elective CreditsThis finance course bridges the gap between functional business knowledge and practical financial information. By connecting your company strategy to its financial implications, you increase the value of your organization and become a more effective business leader. Topics covered include: understanding financial statements, using finance to improve decision-making, projecting cashflows, and assessing organizational performance. The curriculum focuses on universal business problems that are specific to your needs, and teaches you how to immediately apply that information in ways that are relevant to your job.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Accounting and Law
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: ACC7577
- Number of Credits: 3
FIN7517 Finance and Sustainability
(Formerly Finance in a World of Changing Values)
3 Elective CreditsThis course extends the rigor of traditional financial theory to the concept of sustainability. There is broad and growing interest in socially conscious, mission, green and/or triple-bottom line investing. The course will concentrate on practical applications through case analysis and supporting theory will be presented through lectures and course notes. The United Nation's Principles of Responsible Investment as well as mainstream certifications, such as the CFA Institute's certificate in ESG and the GARP Sustainability and Climate Risk certificate, will serve as a backdrop for the course. Students will have the opportunity to enhance their understanding of sustainable finance and to apply financial principles for decision-making through discussion, case analysis, and student presentations. In addition, students will be challenged to find their own place in the inevitable future of the field of sustainable finance, whether as an informed observer or as an active participant.
Prerequisites: FIN7200 or FIN7800
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: MSF Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: FIN7517
- Number of Credits: 3
FIN6110 Finance for Entrepreneurs
MSEL Course
1.5 Credits
This course will translate established principles and tools from corporate finance into the entrepreneurial environment. Specific topics include milestones and staging, alternative forms of funding, forecasting for new ventures, financial strategy, and valuation. Through hands on workshops and case studies, students will learn how to negotiate funding terms and establish metrics that will maximize the value of their entrepreneurial investment.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Finance
- Course Number: FIN6110
- Number of Credits: 1.5
FIN7525 Finance for New Ventures
3 Elective CreditsFIN7525 is meant for entrepreneurs and small business owners that want a detailed understanding of the financial implications of strategic decisions as they start and grow their ventures. The focus is on forecasting integrated financial statements, valuation, and deal structure. The course covers equity investment (angels and VCs) from both the entrepreneur's and investor's perspectives, including pre- and post-money value, capitalization tables, dilution, and liquidation preferences. The impact of debt financing on financial statements and returns is also covered. Valuation methods include discounted cash flow, multiples, and the VC method. Risk management techniques incorporating staging, milestones, real options, and simulation are used to better assess uncertainty and then structure transactions to mitigate risk.
Prerequisites: FIN7200 OR FIN7800
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: MSF Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: FIN7525
- Number of Credits: 3
ECN7510 Financial and Macroeconomics Data Analysis
3 Elective CreditsThere are numerous challenges to competently modeling/forecasting financial and macroeconomic variables. Basic statistical analysis may yield misleading results for various reasons including time-varying volatility, structural change, and outliers. Time series data is also often "non-stationary" which, if not addressed, can lead to spurious regression or "nonsense correlations". Analysis of "big data" meanwhile can promote model selection bias where the effects in the final model are overstated. Moreover, the relationship of cause and effect between variables is often two-way, where both variables affect each other. In this class, you will learn several methods to address these problems including: cointegration (to address non-stationarity), vector autoregression (to allow for interdependence between variables), and a machine learning algorithm to conduct unbiased model selection from "big data" while addressing outliers and structural change.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Economics
- Level: MSBA Elective (Grad),MSF Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: ECN7510
- Number of Credits: 3
ACC7800 Financial and Sustainability Reporting
(Formerly Financial Reporting)
2 Credits (Core MBA)If you have taken and passed ACC7200, you cannot register for ACC7800, as these two courses are equivalent
The purpose of this course is to review the concepts surrounding financial and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting and to emphasize the importance of being an informed user of financial and ESG information for any entrepreneurial leader. Whether you are involved in an existing business or starting your own, working in the not-for-profit sector or managing your personal finances, you will need to be able to incorporate financial information into your decision-making process. We will be constructing financial statements, analyzing them across companies and industries, and providing linkages to entrepreneurial and strategic decision making. We will also be exploring how the reporting of ESG factors integrates with financial reports to provide useful information for evaluating risks and the long-term sustainability of a business.
**It is strongly recommended that students complete this course prior to taking FIN7800**
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Accounting and Law
- Course Number: ACC7800
- Number of Credits: 2
FIN6200 Financial Data Analysis and Practice
3 CreditsThis course trains students how to use different data sets for research, how to develop appropriate financial memos and reports for various audiences, and provides some introduction to different aspects of the finance profession. At least four different datasets such as (but not limited to) CRSP, Compustat, Bloomberg, and Capital IQ will be introduced. Students will learn how to access and download data, analyze the data, create reports, and provide written and oral reports to different financial and non-financial audiences. In addition, students will be made aware of professional practices and standards in different financial professions to prepare students for rapid entry into the workplace.
For More Information:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIX4FKDDkbI&feature=youtu.be
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: MSF Core (Grad)
- Course Number: FIN6200
- Number of Credits: 3
FIN3560 Financial Markets and Instruments
4 General Elective Credits
This course provides students with an understanding of many important financial instruments and the financial markets in which they trade. The topics covered include the major financial markets and their associated structures, quantitative techniques for valuing various financial securities and their cash flow streams, and factors affecting interest rates. This course also provides an introduction to derivatives and risk management. Topics include: instruments/markets, bond markets, equity markets, security firms and investment banks, issuing securities, organized exchanges, bond and stock valuation, interest rate determination (term structure), bond duration, foreign exchange, mortgages, risk management, an introduction to derivatives (including options, futures, and swaps), pay off profiles and an introduction to Black-Scholes.
Prerequisites: SME2021 or FIN2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: FIN3560
- Number of Credits: 4
ACC3510 Financial Planning and Cost Control
4 General CreditsExplore cost systems and control for operations in profit and nonprofit organizations, and
budgetary considerations and variance analysis, including their relation to fiscal planning and
administration.
Prerequisites: ACC 2002
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Accounting and Law
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: ACC3510
- Number of Credits: 4
FIN 4508: Financial Planning and Wealth Management
4 advanced management credits
This course will provide an Experiential Learning experience for students in the financial planning and wealth management industry. During the semester students teams will obtain hands-on consulting experience across various projects providing investment solutions, marketing guidance, and other assignments as designed by four financial planning firms. Every effort will be made to have the firms be run by members of the Babson Community. Weekly updates on the project assignment to the instructor will be a requirement of the course.
Prerequisites: One 3000 Level Finance Course
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: FIN4508
- Number of Credits: 4
ACC7200 Financial Reporting
2 CreditsFinancial Reporting (FINACC) - Whether you are starting your own business, working in the not-for-profit sector, managing your personal finances, or working for a large corporation, you will need to be able to incorporate financial information into your decision making process. The purpose of this course is to review the concepts surrounding financial reporting and to emphasize the importance of being an informed user of financial information. Financial reports will also be analyzed across companies, industries, and countries, providing linkages to entrepreneurial and strategic decision making. The course also addresses the ethical responsibility managers have to carry out their fiduciary responsibility to all stakeholders of the company, including the growth in corporate social responsibility reporting and how companies are incorporating this information into their reports and websites.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Accounting and Law
- Course Number: ACC7200
- Number of Credits: 2
ACC3502 Financial Reporting and Analysis
(Formerly Intermediate Accounting for Finance)
General CreditStudents who have taken ACC3500 and/or ACC3501 cannot take ACC3502
This course is especially designed for finance majors who want to become more proficient in the financial accounting skills necessary to effectively read and interpret financial reports. The course is recommended for students interested in careers in financial management and Wall Street. Topics such as inventory, deferred taxes, inter-corporate investments, and pensions will be explored through study of accounting principles, transaction analysis, financial statement disclosure, and through financial statement analysis as it applies to corporate finance, credit analysis, and aspects of investment banking.
Prerequisites: (SME2031 or ECN2002) and (SME2001 or ACC2002)
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Accounting and Law
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: ACC3502
- Number of Credits: 4
QTM3625 Financial Modeling Using Simulation and Optimization with Applications to Finance, Marketing, and Management
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course is an introduction to quantitative techniques that enable marketing, finance, and management professionals to make optimal decisions under uncertainty. While theoretical background for these techniques is provided, the focus is on their applications and mastering software that is widely used in industry, such as Excel, Solver, @RISK, and MATLAB. Topics include simulation of important probability distributions, bootstrapping, random walks, linear and nonlinear optimization. Lectures draw on examples such as asset allocation under different definitions of risk; index tracking; scenario approaches to project and portfolio management; hedging and arbitrage; and derivative pricing.
Prerequisites: AQM2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Mathematics Analytics Science and Technology
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: QTM3625
- Number of Credits: 4
FIN4505 Financial Trading Strategies and Risk Management
4 General CreditsIn this course, students learn to develop and implement institutional (firm-level) financial trading strategies. These strategies are guided by quantitative models that identify, quantify, and manage risks and expected return. In so doing, students learn how to make decisions in an uncertain environment. The course is based on an experiential learning approach, in which trading simulation software provides a platform for delivering learning-by-doing cases. Specific cases covered in the course include: agency trading; principal (liability) trading; algorithmic market making; managing risk capital with value-at-risk; transportation, storage, and production arbitrage in commodity futures markets; and agricultural hedging. The course also covers fundamental concepts in market microstructure, such as bid-ask spreads, price discovery, information asymmetry, liquidity, and inventory risk.
Prerequisites: SME2021 or FIN2000
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: FIN4505
- Number of Credits: 4
FIN7545 Financial Trading Strategies
3 Elective CreditsIn this course, students learn to develop and implement institutional (firm-level) financial trading strategies. These strategies are guided by quantitative models that identify, quantify, and manage risks and expected return. In so doing, students learn how to make decisions in an uncertain environment. The course is based on an experiential learning approach, in which trading simulation software provides a platform for delivering learning-by-doing cases. Specific cases covered in the course include: agency trading; principal (liability) trading; algorithmic market making; managing risk capital with value-at-risk; transportation, storage, and production arbitrage in commodity futures markets; and agricultural hedging. The course also covers fundamental concepts in market microstructure, such as bid-ask spreads, price discovery, information asymmetry, liquidity, and inventory risk.
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: MSBA Elective (Grad),MSF Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: FIN7545
- Number of Credits: 3
FIN3535 Financing and Valuing Sustainability
4 General CreditsThis course will examine the intersection of sustainability, corporate social responsibility and socially responsible investing with the traditional theories and tools of finance. Students will learn to describe the sustainability landscape and then analyze sustainable technologies, strategies, and business models from the perspective of managers, entrepreneurs, and investors. Basic financial tools such as discounted cash flow, capital budgeting, capital structure, and risk/return will be used to evaluate the feasibility and financial implications of sustainable products and practices in a variety of industries and applications. Students will learn how to balance the needs of all stakeholders in organizations to create both financial and social value.
Prerequisites: SME2021 Finance
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: FIN3535
- Number of Credits: 4
EPS7510 Financing Your Entrepreneurial Business
(Formerly Entrepreneurial Finance)
3 CreditsFocuses on raising seed and growth capital from venture capital, business angels, investment banking, and commercial banking sources; and financial problems unique to the small- and medium-sized firm undergoing rapid growth. Examines actual proposals made to venture capital firms, particularly in terms of their financial viability. Course also examines financial management for entrepreneurs over the life of a business project. Includes financing start-ups, financial planning for the nonpublic smaller enterprise, going public, selling out, bankruptcy, sources of capital, and other related topics.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Entrepreneurship
- Level: Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: EPS7510
- Number of Credits: 3
FIN3502 FinTech
4 Advanced Management Credits
The financial services industry is changing rapidly with the emergence of financial technology (FinTech). This course is designed to introduce key financial technology and its applications in financial services. Students will develop a broad and solid understanding of the recent innovations in FinTech, and their benefits and limitations. Students will also have hands-on problem-solving experiences that are useful in the FinTech venture. Ultimately, this course aims to help students identify entrepreneurial opportunities in FinTech and equip them with relevant knowledge and skills. The course will use a mixture of lectures, hands-on programming, case studies, guest speakers, and group projects. This course emphasizes and builds on Entrepreneurial Thought & Action, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the context of the financial services industry.
Learning objectives for this course:
- Understand key financial technology, including artificial intelligence (AI) & machine learning (ML) & natural language processing (NPL), blockchain & cryptocurrency, smart contract & ethereum. Develop relevant programing skills.
- Explore recent innovations in the financial services industry, including payment, credit, capital markets, insurance, SMB, and real estate.
- Assess the value creation of FinTech. Analyze the limitations and challenges of FinTech (e.g., inclusion, regulation)
- Identify entrepreneurial opportunities in the FinTech space. Propose a FinTech startup idea and develop a business plan.
Evaluation of undergraduate program learning goals:
- Collaboration: Students will work in teams to prepare for the final project report and presentation.
- Communication: The course will be highly interactive. Students need to actively participate in case studies and guest lectures. The final project will require students to pitch a startup idea both through a written report and a presentation. The quality of the written project and oral presentation will be used as a key evaluation criterion.
- Problem-Solving: Students will develop problem-solving skills through hands-on programming and assignments, case studies, and final projects. Students will be able to apply knowledge and skills learned from this course to identify real opportunities and challenges in the FinTech industry, propose new startup ideas, and develop business plans.
Prerequisites: SME2021
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: Advanced Management (UGrad)
- Course Number: FIN3502
- Number of Credits: 4
FIN7532 FINTECH
3 Elective Credits
The financial services industry is changing rapidly with the emergence of financial technology (FinTech). This course is designed to introduce key financial technology and its applications in financial services. Students will develop a broad and solid understanding of the recent innovations in FinTech, and their benefits and limitations. Students will also have hands-on problem-solving experiences that are useful in the FinTech venture. Ultimately, this course aims to help students identify entrepreneurial opportunities in FinTech and equip them with relevant knowledge and skills. The course will use a mixture of lectures, case studies, guest speakers, and group projects. This course emphasizes and builds on Entrepreneurial Thought & Action, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the context of the financial services industry.
Prerequisites: None
- Program: Graduate
- Division: Finance
- Level: MSBA Elective (Grad),MSF Elective (Grad),Graduate Elective (Grad)
- Course Number: FIN7532
- Number of Credits: 3
SEN1344: First Impressions: How to Present Your Best Self
Instructor: Nairi Enright 
Have you felt the pressure of having to make a first impression? Have you spent hours recounting your conversation with someone and wishing you could have presented yourself differently? If these two experiences resonate with you, this seminar will prove useful to you and help you gain invaluable skills for communicating with others for the first time. In this course, we will explore the qualities that make a strong first impression in a variety of settings, from interviews to networking events to casual social outings. We will use case studies based on real-life scenarios. Students will practice using effective conversation strategies and reflect on their own interactions in order to feel comfortable and confident as communicators. 
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Other
- Course Number: SEN1344
- Number of Credits: 0
FYS1000 First Year Seminar
1 Credit
This course will challenge students to critically examine important aspects of college student life, such as engaging in scholarly dialogue, becoming a proactive learner, and valuing a diverse and inclusive environment. Students will also be asked to reflect on their own abilities and how they can make an impact on campus and beyond. Additionally, students will develop important relationships with fellow students, peer leaders, faculty, and administrators. Students will earn a grade and one academic credit for their successful participation in this program.
Participation in FYS is a graduation requirement for all Babson students.
- Program: Undergraduate
- Division: Other
- Level: Foundation Liberal Arts (UGrad)
- Course Number: FYS1000
- Number of Credits: 1
FIN7513 Fixed Income (Formerly Fixed Income Portfolio Management)
3 Elective CreditsThis advanced quantitative course is designed for students interested in fixed income portfolio management, as well as students interested in the sales and trading of fixed income securities and their related structured products. Topics covered include: (i) bond pricing and day count conventions; (ii) relative value and yield curve construction; (iii) duration, basis point value, and convexity; (iv) pricing and hedging of interest rate currency swaps; (v) Treasury bond futures, co