Course Index

This course supports your success as an effective communicator, innovator and business leader in an age that demands immediacy, authenticity, and transparency. Translating your ideas into successful initiatives requires a communication discipline with the capacity to connect with multiple audiences from diverse cultural, intellectual and professional backgrounds. Strategic Communication introduces the basics of communication strategy and persuasion: audience analysis, communicator credibility, and message construction and delivery. Written and oral presentation assignments derive from cases that focus on communication strategy. Students receive significant feedback and coaching to improve presentation and writing effectiveness. Students will also examine aligning an organization’s message with its business strategy and stakeholder expectations to achieve and maintain a strong reputation.

Accounting reports are an important means of communication with investors. This course focuses on the development analysis and use of these reports. It provides an understanding of what these reports contain, what assumptions and concepts accountants use to prepare them, and why they use those assumptions and concepts. The course uses simple examples to provide students with a clear understanding of accounting concepts. It stresses the ability to apply these concepts to real world cases which by their very nature are complex and ambiguous. In addition to text oriented materials, the classes also include cases so that students can discuss applications of basic concepts, actual financial reports, and news articles. In addition to traditional introductory topics, other topics may include mergers and acquisitions, purchase and pooling, free cash flow, and financial statement analysis.

This course aims to give you insight into how markets work. We will start by studying consumer and firm decision-making and how they interact with each other in markets. We will use tools based on game theory to understand firms’ strategic behavior in various situations. We conclude by analyzing how market conditions impact firm profitability and efficiency.

Microeconomics (as this course’s topic is frequently referred to) is an essential component of an MBA education. First, microeconomics gives us important insights into specific dimensions of optimal firm decision-making, such as pricing and entry and exit. Second, the formal economics perspective on business plays a vital role in other areas of MBA study, such as finance, strategy, and marketing. Some key concepts we will introduce include economic incentives, marginal analysis, opportunity cost, market competition, strategic behavior, and asymmetric information.

Our experience with students is that much of this is intuitive, but much is not, and we hope that the combination of theoretical structure and practical examples will provide you with valuable insights in the years to come.

This introductory finance course provides an overview of the main ideas and tools of analysis used in modern finance. We analyze the core financial decisions made by firms – the investment decision and the financing decision – and their impact on the value of the firm in the financial market. A large emphasis will be placed on how the theoretical concepts can be applied in practice. Topics that will be covered are: time value of money, introduction to valuation and the discounted cash flow (DCF) framework, financial planning and cash flow forecasting, corporate investments and capital budgeting, risk and return and portfolio theory, and capital structure and financial policy.

Organizations of all types face significant challenges. These include the difficulty of coping with highly dynamic business environments, the complexity of managing global enterprises, how to shape a healthy corporate culture, managing politics and conflict between individuals and organizational units, motivating a highly mobile and ever changing workforce, managing and harnessing intellectual capital, and so on. Such challenges and how organizational leaders can deal with them are the subject of this course. 

This course has two major components. The first is “macro” in nature. It focuses on organizational level issues, such as how an organization should be designed to best achieve its goals and how culture and control affect organizational dynamics. The second part is more “micro” in nature. It focuses on employee-related challenges, such as how to get things done in politically sensitive environments, evaluate and reward people, and manage teams. The macro component is concerned with overall organizational performance while the micro component is concerned with managing individual and group effectiveness. And leadership is the linking pin that connects these two. 

This course will introduce you to central theories and frameworks in management and organizational behavior. It will help you to understand how to apply those theories and frameworks to understand and address organizational challenges and problems. An understanding of organizations and their management is important for anyone who plans to work within an organization as career success hinges on one’s ability to accurately read and respond to the organizational context within which one operates. The course will also give you an opportunity to reflect on the skills that are required for being a better manager and leader.

This course provides an overall view of marketing in a customer driven firm, focusing on essential marketing skills needed by successful managers in all business functions. Topics include how individual and organizational consumers make decisions, segment markets, estimate the economic value of customers to the firm, position the firm’s offering, conduct effective marketing research, develop new products and pricing strategies, communicate with consumers, estimate advertising’s effectiveness, and manage relationships with sales force and distribution partners. The course also studies how firms must coordinate these different elements of the marketing mix to ensure that all marketing activities collectively forge a coherent strategy. The importance of combining qualitative and quantitative concepts in effective marketing analysis is also examined. The course uses a combination of lectures, class discussion, and case analysis.

Marketing is a core course and assumes no prior knowledge of marketing. However, there are certain concepts from Firms & Markets that students should have mastered including price elasticity of demand, price discrimination, marginal cost, marginal revenue, efficient scale for production capacity, diminishing returns, utility functions, and utility curves.

This course is designed to inspire you with a positive vision of what business can be, a realistic vision of what it often is, and a roadmap for how to navigate through the hazards and opportunities you will face in your career. You will learn:

• The types of traps that lure business professionals into ethical lapses and criminal behaviors.
• Moral psychology to understand how well-intentioned professionals can get lured into such traps.
• Conceptual frameworks that help you to navigate ethical gray zones with more confidence and better results.
• What characterizes companies with positive ethical values, and why you are better off working for them, or creating them.

You may, if you choose, commit yourself to a standard of professional conduct that will help to make your work more fulfilling and honorable.

This course is designed to achieve an understanding of fundamental notions of data presentation and data analysis and to use statistical thinking in the context of business problems. The course deals with modern methods of data exploration designed to reveal unusual or problematic aspects of databases.

This course studies two related issues. The first is how to gain advantage against competitors in the complex and dynamic global marketplace. Core business strategy themes include how to analyze the business environment, assess resources and capabilities, and choose competitive strategies. The second issue is how to create corporate value through configuring and coordinating multi-business activities. Core corporate strategy themes include analyzing scale and scope, evaluating corporate competencies, managing the multi-business corporation, and choosing corporate strategies.

We use the tools of international macroeconomics to explore the economic environment facing firms operating around the globe. Central issues include the role of economic policy and institutions in the performance of firms and nations; economic indicators and forecasting; employment and unemployment; interest rates, inflation, and monetary policy; global trade in goods and capital; foreign exchange rates; and emerging market crises. These issues are considered from the perspectives of both firms and countries.

The course exemplifies the integration of academic rigor and practical experience by enabling students to address critical issues faced by companies in the UAE and the Gulf. This project-based course serves as a transition point for students to translate theory into professional practice as they work in teams to address a real-world strategic problem, and develop possible solutions to the problem. The main objectives of the course are twofold; students will be 1) introduced to classic and novel consulting and project management tools, and the application of these tools; and 2) meaningfully interact with business leaders and firms through engagements with a range of business sectors, companies, and functional areas. Student teams from varied professional backgrounds, demographics, and skills sets will benefit from the guidance and expertise of a team of faculty, including a faculty supervisor. This first segment of the course will conclude with a mid-point presentation explaining the students’ approach to solving the business challenge, the process and activities undertaken, preliminary results of the analyses conducted, and an action plan for the next steps.

This course builds on the first segment of DBi UAE & the Gulf. In segment II, students will further their knowledge and skills required to efficiently and effectively engage with organizations to solve their team’s business problem. Applying structured management frameworks, as well as consulting strategies and methodologies, students will continue to form, lead, and function as high performing teams, with the goal of delivering top quality results in a relatively short time to their client. In order to support team efforts, this course will provide students with strategies, tools and techniques for creating psychological safety and managing team dynamics. Teams will be supported by their faculty advisement team as they apply their management and leadership competences to accomplish complex tasks, and solve the business challenge. The course will conclude with a team report and final presentations that detail teams’ approach to addressing the problem, results from their analysis, recommendations, and implementation strategies.

This course builds on Part 1 (Modules 1 and 2) by deepening student’s knowledge, skills, and experiences with doing business in the UAE and broader Gulf region. Given prior experience delivering for a client within the region in Part 1, Part 2 will focuses on implementing “lessons learned” from Part 1 into the second consulting project via deliberate self-development exercises for each student to improve as a consultant, teammate, and professional. Students are expected to emerge from Part 2 as: savvy advisors with sophisticated client management and consultative skills; self-aware team members more capable of understanding their unique role in fostering high-performing teams; and wiser, more conversant Gulf-based professionals, whose knowledge of the region is in and of itself a valuable human capital asset. Part 2 thus prepares students to navigate a successful career within the UAE and broader Gulf region

As with Module 1, Module 3 will conclude with a mid-point presentation in which students share their approach to solving a complex business challenge for a client. In addition, students will be expected to commit to individual goals that personalize their learning and further develop their consultative skills, team-member skills, and regional expertise.

This course builds on the third module of DBi UAE & the Gulf and is the last module of the four-module sequence. Similarly to Module 2, in Module 4, teams will be supported by their faculty advisement team as they apply their management and leadership competences to accomplish complex tasks and solve the business challenge for the client. The course will conclude with a team report and final presentation that detail teams’ approach to addressing the problem, results from their analysis, recommendations, and implementation strategies. Finally, after receiving input from all stakeholders, each student will submit a personal reflection capturing their growth and improvement across three areas: 1) consultative skills; 2) team-member skills; and 3) regional expertise.

Doing Business in (DBi) courses enable students to explore how business is conducted in another country or region and help students develop a deeper understanding of the issues, opportunities, and challenges faced by businesses operating there. This intensive “DBi New York” course will include classes, speakers, and cultural visits. These courses are taught in partnership with local organizations, and will be led by local NYU Stern faculty. DBi programs bring Stern students to countries all around the globe and this will be an opportunity for students to engage in experiential learning in New York City.

The DBi Program plays a significant role in Stern’s globally-focused academic positioning and sense of community. Through DBi, students gain an awareness of the kinds of differences one may find when doing business in other parts of the world. These unique, transformative experiences broaden students’ cultural awareness, change their worldviews, and create a lasting sense of community within their cohorts.

This course provides a foundation for understanding the operations of a firm. Our objective by the end of the course is to provide you with the analytical skills and managerial insights necessary to critically analyze a firm’s operations decisions and practices. Such knowledge is important for careers in a variety of areas, including general management, entrepreneurship, investment banking (e.g. business restructurings, mergers and acquisitions), venture capital (e.g. evaluating new business plans) and management consulting (business restructuring improvement).

To be successful, businesses must adapt to a landscape with fewer resources, greater demands for transparency, a warmer climate, and societal challenges. This course will help you develop the knowledge, skills, and perspective you need to understand and address environmental and social challenges in business. You will learn how to manage risk, create competitive advantage, and develop innovative services, products, and processes while building value for society and delivering returns to shareholders.

This course offers a framework for understanding the entrepreneurial process and exposes the student to most problems and issues faced by entrepreneurs who start new ventures. Case study is the principal teaching method supplemented by lectures, a venture planning exercise, and guest speakers. Major objectives are for students to learn how to identify and evaluate market opportunities; develop a venture concept and marketing plan; assess and obtain the required resources; and manage the launch of a new venture.

The Business Analytics specialization area teaches the use of data and models to extract insights and make data driven decisions in business. Students learn how to model such relationships, including but not limited to the impact of advertising on sales, how historical data predict stock returns, and how changes in project task characteristics can influence time to completion.

Sample Specializations:

• Business Analytics

Sample Elective Courses:

• Data Driven Decision Making: Managerial
• Data Science for Business: Managerial
• Dealing with Data
• Regression and Multivariate Data Analysis

Especially Applicable to Careers in Consulting, Analytics, Tech, Finance, and Marketing

This area of specialization offers insight into how financial markets function and provides the necessary knowledge and technical skills for students seeking positions in industry, financial institutions, government, or nonprofit organizations.

Sample Specializations:

• Banking
• Finance
• Financial Instruments and Markets
• FinTech
• Quantitative Finance

Sample Elective Courses:

• Debt Instruments and Markets
• Entrepreneurial Finance
• The Financial Services Industry
• Private Investing and Wealth Management
• Valuation

Especially Applicable to Careers in Finance, Financial Services, Institutional Sales and Trading, Consulting, and Real Estate

This area of specialization helps students develop their leadership potential and their understanding of the strategic challenges, techniques, and burdens associated with growing, competing, and prospering in the marketplace. Students will gain an overall understanding of the management process of both large and small companies, coupled with the individual skills and advanced strategic thinking necessary to serve as senior managers of business units or entire organizations.

Sample Specializations:

• Brand Management
• Leadership and Change Management
• Management
• Strategy

Sample Elective Courses:

• Collaboration, Conflict, and Negotiation
• Global Strategy
• Managing Change
• Sustainability for Competitive Advantage
• Technology Innovation Strategy

Especially Applicable to Careers in Consulting, General Management, Entrepreneurship, Family Business, and Social Enterprise

This area of specialization prepares students to understand and apply the marketing perspective. This involves problem-solving approaches for matching the market mix (products, services, distribution, advertising and pricing) to the demand of market segments, e.g., consumers, within the context of competitors, intermediaries, facilitators, mass media, and government.

Sample Specializations:

• Brand Management
• Digital Marketing
• Marketing

Sample Elective Courses:

• Brand Strategy
• Consumer Behavior
• Data Driven Decision Making: Managerial
• Digital Marketing Fundamentals
• Pricing
• Research for Customer Insights

Especially Applicable to Careers in Consumer Products, Brand Management, Luxury Retail, and Entertainment & Media

This area of specialization equips students with the tools and concepts necessary to identify new business opportunities and implement them, whether in startups or existing companies. Further, it prepares entrepreneurially-minded students with a valuable understanding of what it is like to work in venture capital, private equity, social entrepreneurship, and small businesses. Students will also develop the ability to create, test, and deploy innovative ideas in technology-enabled businesses.

Sample Specializations:

• Entrepreneurship and Innovation
• FinTech
• Management of Technology and Operations
• Tech Product Management

Sample Elective Courses:

• Dealing with Data
• Digital Marketing Fundamentals
• Entrepreneurial Finance
• Foundations of Entrepreneurship
• Tech Product Management
• Technology Innovation Strategy

Especially Applicable to Careers in Entrepreneurship, Product Management, Technology Management, R&D Management