Courses

• GSM FI 728: Principles of Finance
  Decisions today affect the timing of and uncertainty about future flows of income. Both timing and risk determine the current value of those future flows. This course develops the tools required to analyze these decisions and their interaction within the financial system. Major topics include: (1) saving and investment decisions by households; (2) investment and financing decisions by corporations; and (3) the role of securities markets and financial intermediaries in the economy. Advanced present value analysis is a key topic.
• GSM FI 742: Fixed Income Analysis
  This course covers valuation and portfolio management techniques for fixed income securities. Major topics include: the term structure of interest rates; the measurement and management of price volatility using duration and immunization; credit risk embedded options and option-adjusted spreads; mortgages and prepayment risk; and international bond portfolios.
• GSM FI 748: Derivatives
  Futures and stock options are recognized as important tools of investment and risk reduction. This course covers the theory of futures and option pricing, and develops a framework for analyzing hedging and investment decisions using futures and options. Attention is paid to practical considerations in the use of these investments, especially regarding the institutional features of the market in which the various instruments are traded.
• GSM FI 752: Risk Management
  This course focuses on the application of investment theory to the management of portfolio risk. Major topics include equity risk models, alternative measures of risk (VAR), credit risk and operational risk. Time series modeling and advanced analysis of financial information is also included.
• GSM FI 756: Portfolio ManagemenT
  This is a case course focusing on the use of stocks, bonds and derivatives for the creation and management of investment products. The cases are designed and reviewed by practitioners. They include developing a 401(k) plan, an investment strategy for a high net worth individual and investment policy for a defined benefit plan. Student responsibilities also include supporting management of the SMG Equity Fund. This course explores various asset classes, active management disciplines, tax strategies, portfolio management software (including BARRA) and sample quantitative investment tools. This class includes several outside speakers.
• GSM HM 703: Health Sector Issues and Opportunities
  This course provides a dynamic introduction to the health sector, beginning with the burden and distribution of disease and current patterns of expenditures. While the emphasis will be on the American system, a global context will be developed. The basic elements of insurance and payment, service delivery, and life sciences products will be described, and put in the context of the unique economic structure of the sector. The intense challenges of the sector will be explored, as well as both the ethical issues presented and the opportunities that emerge. Public policy and technological and practice development as drivers of change will be addressed throughout.
• GSM HM 710: Health Service Delivery: Strategies, Solutions and Execution
  This course will provide knowledge and skills needed to develop and implement systems capable of delivering accessible, high quality, efficient health care services. It will draw upon relevant information from disciplinary areas of study including strategy, operations, marketing, finance, law, human resources, quality improvement, and information technology.
• GSM HM 717: Drugs, Devices and Diagnostics: New Challenges, Strategies and Execution
  This course will examine issues and opportunities in life sciences including the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical devices sectors and the life sciences service industry supporting these sectors. The course will investigate who manages these companies and what are the strategies that are used to build successful enterprises. There will be a review of the expertise that is needed in these companies or that must be out-sourced including development, manufacturing, marketing and finance. The principals governing the industry including patent law, regulatory and FDA compliance will be addressed. Formerly titled: Bio-Pharma and Medical Device Companies: Strategies, Solutions and Execution
• GSM HM 801: Bench-to-Bedside: Translating Biomedical Innovation from the Laboratory to the Marketplace
  The subject of the course is the translation of medical technologies into new products and services for the healthcare system. The course begins with a rigorous study of intellectual property, licensing and the core aspects of planning, creating, funding and building new entrepreneurial ventures. Concepts and tools are presented for assessing new technologies and their potential to be the basis for a new entrepreneurial venture. Comparisons will be made of how technologies can be sourced and commercialized out of three very different environments: universities, national laboratories and corporate laboratories. Cross-disciplinary teams of students will be formed which will evaluate translational research projects currently being developed at Boston University and their potential for transformation into a start-up company to commercialize the technology, providing a unique linkage between the scientific research activities of the university and the professional schools. Each week there will be a case study which will discuss examples of both success and failure in technology commercialization. Some of these case studies examine Boston University life sciences spin-out companies, and the founders and CEO?s of these ventures will share their experiences with the class.
• GSM HM 817: Health Information Technology
  This course provides students with the knowledge and skills to evaluate and manage information technology in heath care organizations. In particular it focuses on the role of IT in driving organizational change and supporting quality improvement and elimination of medical errors. Topics include electronic health records, computerized provider order entry, interoperability, management decision support, and provider pay for performance. The perspective of the course is that of the chief information officer (CIO) and other managers and users of health care information systems, not that of the technical specialist. The course will consist of a series of lectures, cases, and discussions - some of which will be led by guest lecturers who are experts in the field of health care information technology and systems. Course requirements include a quiz, a 10-page paper, and a class presentation.
• GSM HM 833: Health Sector Marketing
  This elective provides an in-depth understanding of health sector marketing in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors for both products and services (hospital, managed care and health services of all types, life sciences, pharma and biotech, medical devices, medical software, and so on). The course explores how the tools of marketing (e.g., consumer behavior, pricing, promotion, channels, branding, segmentation, etc.) can be employed in the rapidly changing health sector with particular attention to changing organizational structures, financing, technologies, market demands, laws, channels of distribution, on-line applications, and regulations which require new approaches to marketing. Topics to be addressed include marketing to physicians, DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) Marketing, new product development particularly for pharmaceuticals and medical devices, adoption of medical and service innovations, typical decision making units in the health sector, and social marketing. (The course is still in development so there will likely be more topics added.) The course will have you keep in mind always while making marketing decisions that medicine, in the purest sense, is a profession with an intellectual discipline, a tradition of service, and an ethical code of conduct, and that service to the patient, as individuals and in the aggregate, is foremost in marketing decision making.
• GSM HM 840: Health Sector Consulting
  This is an applied consulting project course. Students enrolled in this course will be divided into teams of 4 students during the first class; the assignment of teams is largely dependent upon having a shared interest in one of the number of prospective consulting projects. Each team will select from a pre-designated list of business development-strategy-marketing consulting projects. Projects in the past have ranged from developing an international pricing strategy for the introduction of a new product by Genzyme to providing a marketing plan for a web-based entrepreneurial venture (a medical website targeted toward providing health care clinicians with products, services and information related to electromyography) to developing a strategy for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to maintain the loyalty of their referring physicians . Client companies/organizations have requested these projects, are paying the school for the privilege of having an MBA team, and are covering all expenses associated with the projects. In return, they anticipate receiving a consulting report from the student team at the end of the semester. The deliverables for this assignment are the consulting report as well as a 30 minute in-class presentation followed by a 10 minute question-and-answer period. The team may also be asked by the client to make a presentation to the client?s management. These projects constitute a way to apply what you are learning in the MBA program to a real health sector management situation; an opportunity to gain experience and broaden your familiarity with health sector organizations with which you have had little or no direct experience; a way for local, regional, and national health sector organizations to benefit from your expertise and hard work in solving a management problem; and a continuing linkage of the Boston University MBA and Health Sector Management Programs to the health sector community.
• GSM IM 836: Competing in High-Growth Economies
  In this course we focus on the management challenges associated with developing strategies and managing the operations of companies whose activities stretch across national boundaries, especially in high-growth and developing economies. Operating in an international rather than a domestic arena presents organizations with many challenges and opportunities. Having a worldwide operations not only gives companies access to new markets and diverse resources, it also opens up new sources of information and knowledge that stimulate future innovation and strategic moves, as well as assessing Corporate roles in social responsibility. With opportunities, however, come challenges that are more complex, diverse, and uncertain than those faced by companies that operate only within a given nation's borders. As a result of taking this course students will acquire new and useful skill,s competencies, an perspectives that will help them as they consider perusing a career in international management.
• GSM IM 845: Asian Field Seminar
  How do we prepare for the emerging opportunities and challenges that China's economic development and Asia's growing presence continue to create? This two-week seminar through six cities in China and Korea provides future global business leaders with an opportunity to contemplate answers to the above question. We visit companies (both multinational and local) competing in this dynamic market, meet governmental officials to hear about policies and implications, learn from local MBA professors about what they see our strengths and weaknesses are, participate in real market activities, and develop global network of knowledge with local MBA students and BU alumni in the region. Through this process, students will deepen their understanding of the unique nature of opportunities and challenges in the region, become more comfortable with the myriads of cultural and communicational details, and explore professional opportunities located in the region.
• GSM IM 851: European Field Seminar
  The European Field Seminar gives students an appreciation of "competing in Europe." The European competitive landscape is changing rapidly. Three Boston-based class sessions introduce students to topics such as the history of the European Union, European Community Law, Member States, European Monetary Union and Competition Policy. During a two week period, the class visits of variety of organizations in Europe to learn about relevant competition issues; students experience first-hand how firms are dealing with them (or should be dealing with them). The wide variety of Sectors covered appeals to a broad segment of the MBA population.
• GSM IM 852: Brazil Field Seminar
  This intensive ten day seminar will provide students with a broad understanding of the ways in which business strategies can create value at the base of the economic pyramid.* Students will gain first hand experience of how businesses, NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and government are using models of social enterprise to address social and economic issues in the fields of health, education and the environment in the context of an emerging market?in this case, Brazil. This study program will include extensive site visits throughout the country to social enterprises, multi-national firms, NGO ventures and government organizations. Students will also hear from a wide variety of Latin American specialists in topic areas. A broad range of topics will be covered including: renewable energy, sustainable development, eco-tourism, new models for providing health and education services to underserved populations, social enterprise, micro-enterprise, corporate social responsibility and public/private partnerships. ? The course will consist of three pre-departure sessions focused on social enterprise, corporate social responsibility and emerging markets. Students are also expected to select an individual research track of interest for the duration of the seminar. ? This course will run from May 25-June 5. This seminar is open to all full time and part time MBA and MS?MBA students. Full time students may register for it as a spring elective; part time students can register for it as they see fit; students graduating in May can register for this class in the Spring and still participate in commencement ceremonies; MS.MBA students may take it in year two. *In global terms, this is the four billion people who live on less than $2 per day. The phrase ?bottom of the pyramid? is used in particular by people developing new models of doing business that deliberately target that market, typically using new technology.
• GSM IM 853: Indian Field Semiar
  This program is designed for MBA students who seek to understand the rapidly changing global forces of the health sector, as they intersect with the dynamics of an emerging country, through the vehicle of experiencing and learning about India. Following a series of meetings in Boston, 20 students will travel through India over twelve days in January 2010, visiting Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. The field study program will include visits to government agencies, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, health sector start-up companies, health centers, research laboratories, and academic research settings. Issues of particular interest include technology and bio-pharma development, effective service delivery with limited resources, the role of entrepreneurial initiative in complex environments, international trade and competition in the health sector, and the potential to leapfrog development in underdeveloped settings. Open to all MBA students.
• GSM IS 706: System Design for Business Networks
  Provides a comprehensive review of the theory and practice of Information Systems Analysis and Design. Students explore the tools and techniques associated with a process, a data-oriented, and an object-oriented view of systems design and evaluate the implications of the emerging technologies of computer-aided software design.
• GSM IS 711: IT Strategies for a Networked Economy
  This case-based course demonstrates the role that information technology plays in shaping business strategy and business models. It provides an overview of the key technologies that are important in today's business environment and introduces organization and management concepts relating to the information technology function. The course also illustrates the relationships between organizational performance and the ability to leverage knowledge assets.
• GSM IS 714: Mastering IT Strategy
  This is a capstone course to integrate the key concepts and approaches to managing IT in modern corporations. Using a set of leading-edge case examples, frameworks, the students will have an opportunity to understand how IT strategy supports current business models while shaping tomorrow's business models. Students will master the intricate challenges of placing IT at the core of modern enterprises. They will have an opportunity to apply their learnings to a company of their choice through a course project.

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