Finance

• GSM FE 721: Finance 1
  The objective of this course is to introduce the students to the theory and practice of corporate finance, and to provide the students with a set of analytical tools necessary to answer the most important questions related to firms' valuation and investment decision making first under certainty and then under uncertainty. The course can be divided into the following three building blocks: valuation, investment decisions, and the relation between risk and return.
• GSM FE 722: Financial Management
  Financial Management examines three sets of problems: 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. 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.
• GSM FE 730: Economics and Management Decisions
  The aim of the course is to present many of the decision problems managers face and to present the economic analysis they need to guide these decisions. In the first half of the course, microeconomic tools are used to structure complicated decision problems about production, pricing, investment, and other strategic issues, address uncertainty through probabilistic forecasts and sequential decisions. An additional goal is to distinguish different market structures and apply competitive strategies using game theory. In the second half, the focus shifts to the study of the national and global economic environments within which companies operate. We identify the drivers of fluctuations in GDP, inflation, interest and exchange rates, and other key features of the economies. Since governments play key roles in determining the fate of economies and companies, the final theme is the rationale for and efficacy of government policy tools.
• GSM FE 810: Finance 2
  This course extends fundamental concepts of corporate finance and asset pricing introduced in the core . The course is required for finance concentrators and prepares them for all finance electives offered in the second year. Corporate finance concepts covered are capital structure decisions, payout policy decisions, and real options. Asset pricing topics include market efficiency, multifactor models for the risk and return, arbitrage pricing theory and contingent claim analysis and its use in valuation and risk management. The concepts are illustrated in practical examples that prepare students for their summer internships.
• GSM FE 815: Competitive Decision Making
  This course explores the strategies of decision-makers in a variety of competitive situations. The main topics include 1) bargaining, negotiation, and arbitration; 2) market competition; 3) competitive bidding; 4) group decisions in organizations; and 5) game theory. In most of these settings, optimal decisions call for cooperation as well as competition. Examples are drawn from a wide variety of managerial settings. [Text, cases and other readings; simulations.]
• GSM FE 820: Corporate Financial Management
  This course provides an in-depth analysis of financial considerations relating to corporate growth. It addresses the settings of financial, or corporate, goals in terms of maximizing shareholders' equity, and relationships among dividend policy, debt levels, capital costs, return on investments, and growth.
• GSM FE 821: Advanced Corporate Finance
  This course is designed for students who are pursuing careers in corporate finance (such as chief financial officer, treasurer, or controller) in an industrial corporation, in the corporate finance department of an investment banking firm or in investment banking. The course provides follow-up on the basic financial frameworks and analytical methods outlined in introductory courses. Three primary areas are covered: risk management; agency, information, and psychology; and real options.
• GSM FE 822: Fixed Income Markets
  This is a course primarily on fixed-income debt securities and markets. Emphasis is placed on the factors that determine bond yields, factors such as the coupon and maturity structure, liquidity, credit risk, and tax status of the security, and on measures of return and risk, statistics such as the yield to maturity, horizon yield, duration, and convexity. We will cover government debt (Treasuries and municipals), corporate bonds (investment-grade and high-yield), agency (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and mortgage-backed debt created via securitization (i.e., collateralized mortgage obligations). We will emphasize how interest rate and credit derivatives are used to manage portfolios of fixed-income securities.
• GSM FE 823: Investments
  This course looks at speculative markets, including organized security markets and exchanges; definitions of securities; relevant tax law and sources of investment information; principles of stock and bond valuation; and security price behavior. Also discussed in this course are problems and models associated with portfolio analysis and management.
• GSM FE 825: Advanced Topics in Investments
  This course is about the theory and practice of integrated wealth and risk management. It is intended for students who plan a career in the financial services. It focuses on building quantitative decision models for individual investors, investment firms, and pension funds. Subjects covered include the framing and quantitative modeling of lifecycle saving, investing, and risk-management decisions, and the design and production of retirement products, and other structured investment contracts to achieve targeted objectives.
• GSM FE 827: International Financial Management
  This course examines the acquisition, investment, management, and conversion of funds in the international context. Other areas of discussion include: foreign exchange exposure and risk, investment decisions, international capital markets and banking, trade financing and tax planning, balance of payments and national goals, and financial planning from a multinational perspective.
• GSM FE 829: Futures, Options and Financial Risk Management
  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, tax and accounting issues and the institutional features of the market in which the various instruments are traded.
• GSM FE 834: Macroeconomics in the Global Environment
  Macroeconomics is the study of the aggregate behavior of global market participants, i.e. consumers, firms, workers, governments, central banks, foreign investors. Decision making by investment bankers, product/sales managers, policy makers, or consumers inevitably rely on an understanding of the main forces driving GDP, inflation, unemployment, interest rates, and exchange rates. Consider these questions: 1.Should new consumer durable products be launched during recessions? 2.Are countries that experience high productivity growth good investment targets? 3.Will interest rates drop if the US government starts buying back its debt? 4.With significant liquidity demands by the US economy from the public sector, the household sector and businesses, what explains the low US interest rates? Are these factors expected to keep interest rates low also in the future? 5.Can the Euro boost productivity in Europe in the medium to long run and what are the competitiveness challenges for US businesses of such changes? 6.What are the economic effects of wars and how should they be financed? These and other issues will come up in the course. The main goal of this course is to provide a coherent framework that you can use to understand economic events as you confront them in your work environment.
• GSM FE 850: Private Equity: Leveraged Buyouts
  Private Equity (PE) has become a major force in the capital markets. This course will expose students to, and de-mystify, the world of PE. The focus will be centered on LBOs and their position in the ?alternative asset? class. Students will learn about the activities of a PE firm including formation, fundraising, investing (including deal structure, terms, due diligence and governance) and exiting. We will also discuss what other industry sectors serve or are affected by PE and who the players are. Case study and class participation will be the primary mode of learning. Course offered jointly with undergraduate course SMG 450.
• GSM FE 918: Doctoral Seminar in Finance
  This doctoral course, is designed to provide students with an introduction to financial economics. This lecture-based course will cover no arbitrage conditions, preferences and risk aversion, portfolio selection, the capital asset pricing model, asset pricing and dynamic asset pricing. In addition to lectures, this class will include readings and assignments. Open to MBA students with faculty member's permission. Must have strong quantitative background and several courses in finance or economics.
• GSM FE 920: Advanced Capital Markets
  This course provides a comprehensive and in-depth treatment of modern asset pricing theories. Extensive use is made of continuous time stochastic processes, stochastic calculus and optimal control. In particular, martingale methods are employed to address the following topics: (i) optimal consumption-portfolio policies and (ii) asset pricing in general equilibrium models. Recent advances involving nonseparable preferences, incomplete information, incomplete markets, constraints and agents diversity will be discussed.
• SMG FE 101: Introduction to Finance
  Required of all SMG freshmen. Pre-req or co-req: SMG SM 131. (2 cr) This course offers a rigorous overview of principles of finance, such as time value of money, interest rates, basic valuation of cash flow streams, and basic stock and bond valuation. It uses a combination of teaching materials including online problem solving and case writing that will help the student through the intensive syllabus. FE 101 and the redesigned FE 323 offer a comprehensive overview of finance to SMG students.
• SMG FE 323: Financial Management
  Junior requirement; component of SMG SM 323, The Cross Functional Core. Introduces students to the themes of financial decision making: valuation and risk management. The focus is on the problems of forecasting, capital budgeting, working capital management, project risk management, and financing in a cross-functional context. A semester-long business-plan project explores the interaction between marketing, operations, management information systems, and finance decisions. The course compares the financial objectives of the manager and the investor. Introduction to the time value of money, securities valuation, portfolio diversification, and the cost of capital.
• SMG FE 427: International Financial Management
  Required for International Management concentrators. Managing financial risk in the global environment. Introduction to foreign exchange markets, spot, forward, futures, options and swaps, and to the international bond and money markets. Discussion of market structure and participants, and main financial instruments. Analyzes and discusses tools of currency risk management.
• SMG FE 429: Futures, Options, and Financial Risk Management
  Covers the theory of futures pricing and option pricing, and applies the theory to develop a framework for analyzing hedging and investment decisions using futures and options. Attention is paid to practical considerations in the use of these instruments, especially in financial risk management.

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