ACC6600 Financial Sustainability & Performance Measurement
1.5 Credits (MSAEL Core)In this course, you will develop the quantitative skills and logical analysis required to evaluate the financial feasibility of strategic opportunities such as entering new markets, pursuing new customers, or introducing new products or processes. You will learn the concept of "cost behavior" and how to conduct cost volume profit analysis, or CVP analysis. We will explore relevant costing and ways to use accounting data to analyze alternative courses of action and make better operating decisions. You will learn to build budgets and forecasts and address the question that everyone asks in an organization: "How are we doing?" Finally, you will be introduced to performance management frameworks and financial and non-financial metric development and analysis.

Prerequisites: MOB6600 and EPS6600

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.

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

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.

Prerequisite: None

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, conversion factors, and the concepts of cheapest-to-deliver and implied repo; (vi) the repo (GC and special) market; (vii) credit risk and the pricing of high yield bonds and credit default swaps; and (viii) securitization, mortgage-backed securities, and collateralized mortgage obligations.

Prerequisites: FIN7200 OR FIN7800

EPS9507 Food Entrepreneurship
3 Elective Credits

There is disruption everywhere in food! With challenges due to COVID, there are global food shortages, supply chain interruptions, and innovations in food science that affect how food entrepreneurs identify or create opportunities, launch and grow ventures. Once alternative foods are now mainstream, large food companies are struggling to reinvent themselves and consumers are driving significant change. There is a proliferation of start-ups, food science and technology innovations as well as rising awareness for food priorities, nutrition, education and health.

This experiential elective focuses on the food entrepreneur's journey from idea to launch. We begin with an exploration of your personal passions in the food industry, then examine global megatrends in food where needs, gaps and opportunities are identified. In teams, students will design a new initiative to meet this need/opportunity. Students will engage with food industry experts, consumers and other stakeholders to develop and explore their new initiative as a solution to a food related problem or opportunity. Students will obtain feedback on these initiatives, develop a prototype and experiment with the business model. Resource acquisition strategies and metrics for these new initiatives' food will be developed and investigated. New initiatives may be a program, non-profit, corporate venture or new venture, and can be in any sector related to food- including the following:

• growing (e.g. agriculture, production, nutrition)

• making (e.g. producing food in restaurants, beverages, consumer packaged goods)

• moving (e.g. food services, distribution, shipping, packaging, delivery)

• selling (e.g. wholesaling, marketing, retailing, ecommerce)

• serving (e.g. staffing, feeding, food health)

• disposing (e.g. food waste, packaging, composting)

In addition to working on your own initiatives, students will also co-create solutions to a real-world business problem facing food entrepreneurs who will visit the class. Further, using Babson's Entrepreneurial Thought & Action (ET&A) method, each student will consider the dynamics and interconnectedness of the food industry through a series of individual activities in each of the six food sectors, sharing their experiences and reflections. Be prepared to share family recipes, participate in a "chopped challenge" and measure your food waste. Bring your appetite for learning and food!

EPS7556 Foundations of Family Entrepreneurship

3 CreditsThis course provided a broad overview of topics that are relevant to understanding the nature and dynamics of entrepreneurial families. The course will cover such topics as; defining family entrepreneurship versus family business, identifying the pervasiveness of family entrepreneurship and its economic and social contributions, governance and succession in entrepreneurial families, the management of change and transgenerational value creation, conflict management, and the development and allocation of financial and human assets.

For more information please view this video.

Prerequisites: None

EPS7534 Franchising, Licensing & Distributorship Collaborative Business Models
1.5 Elective CreditsIf you have taken and passed EPS7571, you cannot register for EPS7534, as these two courses are equivalent

This course focuses on the process, challenges and opportunities in franchising, which is a $2T part of the U.S. economy and a multi-trillion dollar market worldwide. _Franchising_ is a very specific term referring to a business that licenses its brand, operating model and provides support to franchisees who pay a number of fees and then invest their own capital to build the corporate brand. The course is practical in approach and touches on a large number of issues in seven weeks. Previous exposure to franchising, M&A or small business is not assumed.

For more information: https://babson.webex.com/webappng/sites/babson/recording/ac84a20eebe8103abbfa005056812cb9/playback

Prerequisites: EPS7200 or EPS7800

OIM7511 Future Lab: Complex Problem Solving for Social Impact
(Formerly MBA7502)
3 Elective Credits

If you took and passed MBA7502, you cannot register for OIM7511, as these two courses are equivalent

Sinan Erzurumlu, Faculty Director at FutureLab & Prof. of Innovation and Ops Mngment
Cheryl Kiser, Executive Director, The Lewis Institute & Babson Social Innovation Lab

FutureLab combines the entrepreneurial mindset and social design principles to engage students, organizations and community to explore pioneering entrepreneurial challenges and create economic and social/environmental progress for selected partner organizations. The FutureLab is a discovery and action-learning lab. It involves experiential learning in service to address challenges in real time and in real contexts. As a FutureLab student partner, you will collaborate with an ensemble of faculty members and partner organizations to explore their challenges and develop solutions for social impact at scale. You should be prepared to engage in an active learning environment and apply principles of complex problem solving for social impact.

Given the increasing preference shown by employers for demonstrated problem solving experience, this lab will provide you with the opportunity to add a very realistic problem solving experience to the portfolio of qualifications on your resumes. We envision regular, ongoing interaction with our partners, with details to be determined in collaboration with these partners. You will gain skills in creativity, critical thinking, innovation, complex problem solving, social change, entrepreneurial leadership and influence. Depending on the demands of the project, you will apply these skills towards framing the problem and co-creating solutions with community and partner organization.

The 14-week lab experience is designed for active learning, experimenting, generating and launching an implementation plan. Student partners of prior semesters addressed various problems, such as improving the efficiency and effectiveness of key patient care processes for a major academic medical center and analyzing the mobility challenges of older adults for governmental organizations. It is important to know that this is a team-based engagement and anticipate the flexible investment of time and effort that high-performance teams and deep work often demands. This Lab requires a high willingness to work in a flexible timeframe and framework. Student partners may be interviewed prior to class by the Lab faculty team.

OIM7512 Future Lab: Design-led Innovation
(Formerly MBA7503)
3 Elective Credits

If you took and passed MBA7503, you cannot register for OIM7512, as these two courses are equivalent

The FutureLab is a discovery and action-learning lab. It involves experiential learning in service to address challenges in real time and in real contexts. As a FutureLab student partner, you will collaborate with an ensemble of faculty members and partner organizations to explore their challenges and develop solutions for social impact at scale. You should be prepared to engage in self-paced team projects in an active learning environment. You will combine the entrepreneurial mindset and apply principles of complex problem solving for social impact.

Given the increasing preference shown by employers for demonstrated problem solving experience, this lab will provide you with the opportunity to add a very realistic problem solving experience to the portfolio of qualifications on your resumes. We envision regular, ongoing interaction with our partners, with details to be determined in collaboration with these partners. You will gain skills in creativity, critical thinking, innovation, complex problem solving, social change, and entrepreneurial leadership and influence. Depending on the demands of the project, you will apply these skills towards framing the problem and co-creating solutions with community and partner organization.
The 14-week lab experience is designed for active learning, experimenting, generating and launching an implementation plan. Student partners of prior semesters addressed various problems, such as improving the efficiency and effectiveness of key patient care processes for a major academic medical center and analyzing the mobility challenges of older adults for governmental organizations. The focus of the Lab is going to be on mobility and connectivity challenges. It is important to know that this is a team-based engagement and anticipate the flexible investment of time and effort that high-performance teams and deep work often demands. This Lab requires a high willingness to work in a flexible time frame and framework. Student partners may be interviewed prior to class by the Lab faculty team.