Spring 2020

The Schedule

The  Spring 2020 schedule will be available on The Student Link in mid-September 2019. The Spring 2020 PDF is the most up to date place to find schedule information. Every effort is made to keep schedules accurate in the event of changes due to a switch in staffing, room, or cancellation due to low enrollment. If you sign up for a class that is ultimately cancelled, you will be notified via your BU email account.

New Courses:

• SR801  |  Social Impact: Business, Society, and the Natural Environment  |  Wed 6:30-9:15pm (PEMBA) OR Tue/ Thu 12:30-3:15pm (Mod 4)
  • This course explores the relationship between corporations, society, and the natural environment. Specifically, it examines the ways in which governments, corporations and civil society (fail to) have positive impact and manage issues where the pursuit of private goals is deemed inconsistent with the public interest. There are two modules to the course: (1) The first module examines these issues and the tensions that arise between the different stakeholders. In particular, we will discuss different types of market failures (due to negative externalities, imperfect information, public goods, and market control) and their impact on the natural and social environment. (2) The second module explores how (non-profit and for-profit) organizations can take private actions to mitigate the previously identified market failures and respond to the increasing pressure to address environmental and social issues through the adoption of sustainable business practices. This course is ideal for any student interested in social impact such as corporate social responsibility, environmental sustainability, nonprofit & public management, sustainable finance & responsible investment, social entrepreneurship, global health, and clean technology & sustainable energy. It is open to all full-time MBA and PEMBA students, and it is the foundational course for students in the Social Impact MBA program.

Half-Semester Courses

These new 1.5 credit courses will meet for three full consecutive Saturdays in the Spring 2020 semester.  Since these courses are 1.5 credits, you will need two to be the equivalent of a full elective.  Students may take no more than four half-semester courses during their program.

• OB871  |  Crisis Leadership  |  Sat 8:30am-5pm |  Jan 25, Feb 1 & Feb 8 only
  • Crisis Leadership provides students the opportunity to develop skills needed to address the inevitable adverse conditions that will afflict their businesses, both for-profit and not-for-profit. The course will provide students with the ability to anticipate and identify potential crisis situations before they happen, understand the impact of stresses caused by crisis situations on individual and group decision making, and differentiate appropriate leadership strategies for responding to different types of crises, from routine to high profile life threatening situations. Students will also learn to prioritize and design appropriate responses to address crisis situations as they arise and effectively respond to crisis situations with all constituents: employees, customers, suppliers, communities and investors.

• FE870 | Analysis and Management of Financial Risk |  Sat 8:30am-5pm | Feb 15,  Feb 22 & Feb 29 only
  • This course introduces the analysis and management of risk in the context of financial institutions. The objective of the course is to provide a conceptual framework for thinking about financial risk, covering both theoretical background and practical implementation.

• SI820 | Scaling New Ventures |  Sat 8:30am-5pm | Mar 21, Mar 28 & Apr 4 only
  • The purpose of this class is to increase students’ chances of success in their early-stage ventures by helping them avoid common team-related mistakes. We explore specific dilemmas that founders face—decisions that arrive early on, can be uncomfortable, and that need to be made with minimal information—but that can have far-reaching consequences. Whether the founding team stays together, whether the venture achieves an attractive exit, and the extent to which the founder(s) share in those rewards can all be largely determined by early-stage choices.  We will focus primarily on “people” issues as well as the trade-offs involved with enlisting outside resources to accelerate growth (e.g., VC funding). It is composed of three modules: 1) Assembling the Founding Team, 2) Scaling the Team, and 3) Tradeoffs in Scaling via External Resources.

• ES870 |  The Art of Persuasion  |  Sat 8:30am-5pm | Apr 11, Apr 18 & Apr 25 only
  • Persuasion is essential to success in our professional lives. Whether the goal is to convince one person in a face-to-face meeting, influence a group, sway an organization, or win over the public, the capacity to persuade diverse audiences is key to effective leadership. In this course we will explore a variety of advanced messaging and communication techniques to motivate and influence others. We will cover a range of situations, from delivering an inspiring talk, to communicating within an organization and with the public in a crisis, to holding crucial conversations to resolve conflicts and drive positive outcomes.
• QM875 |  Python for Data Science Bootcamp |  Sat 8:30am-5pm | Jan 25, Feb 1 & Feb 8 only
  • In this bootcamp you will learn the most essential aspects of python programming. The topics are tailored towards data analysis; no prior programming experience is required. We will cover variables, data types and data structures, data frames, conditionals, loops, and functions. We will also cover reading and writing raw files, and the core APIs in analysis and visualization. With the basics under your belt, we will complement it with some of the most popular libraries for data analysis in Python, such as: Pandas and Numpy for data manipulation, Matplotlib and Seaborn for visualization, and Jupyter Notebook for analysis and reporting. These packages will facilitate workflow and enhance the basic Python functionalities; using them, one can effortlessly clean up a dataset, create elaborate plots, analyze and summarize the data, and produce presentable reports. during this module, you solidify your new skills by applying the concepts you have learned to the analysis of several datasets. You will be given the opportunity to live-code during the sessions and troubleshoot your code with your classmates and the instructor. You will walk out of this bootcamp with newly-forged Python coding skills, knowledge of several of the most important data science libraries and tools, and have the resources in hand for learning more.