Courses

• QST HM 710: Health Service Delivery: Strategies, Solutions and Execution
  The overarching theme of this course is health care organizational transformation. The course will provide knowledge and skills needed to develop and implement high performing health care systems capable of delivering accessible, high quality, efficient 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.
• QST 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, through the eyes of the CEO. The course will investigate who manages these companies and what are the strategies that are used to build successful enterprises. This course will introduce students to individuals and institutions at every stage of the development cycle from idea generation and start-up fundraising to manufacturing and global expansion. We will specifically look at key elements of strategy and the execution of that strategy by examining companies that have either succeeded or failed, by discussing the pros and cons of different approaches and teasing out the lessons one can derive from leaders in the field and case studies examining their approaches.
• QST 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 university research commercialization including intellectual property, licensing and 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 commercialization. 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 commercialization, 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.
• QST HM 817: Health Information Technology
  This course helps prepare students for positions working in the rapidly growing field of information technology for health care delivery and life sciences organizations. With increasing demands for improved quality and efficiency, information technology has become essential to manage health care organizations and systems. The course will investigate frameworks and methods that can be used to develop digital health technology as well as to evaluate information systems, determine system requirements, facilitate effective use of health informatics, and plan system changes to meet future requirements. The perspective of the course is that of the chief information officer, chief medical information officer, other managers, clinicians, and users of both clinical and administrative health care information systems, not that of the technical specialist.
• QST HM 833: Health Sector Marketing
  This course provides an in-depth understanding of health sector marketing in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors for both products and services (hospital, ACOs, payers, 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, communication, 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 and mobile 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, traditional as well as social media, and social marketing. 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.
• QST HM 840: Health Sector Consulting
  This is an applied consulting project course. Students enrolled in this course will be divided into teams of four 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 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 ten-minute question-and-answer period. The team will also be expected by the client to make a presentation to the client's management. These projects constitute a way for students to apply what they are learning in the MBA program to a real health sector management situation; an opportunity to gain experience and broaden their familiarity with health sector organizations with which they have had little or no direct experience; a way for local, regional, and national health sector organizations to benefit from their 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.
• QST HM 898: Directed Study: Health Care Management
  Graduate-level directed study in Health Care Management. 1, 2, or 3 cr. Application available on the Graduate Program Office website.
• QST HM 998: Directed Study: Health Care Management
  PhD-level directed study in Health Care Management. 1, 2, or 3 cr. Application available on the Graduate Program Office website.
• QST IM 345: International Business Environment
  Required for International Management concentrators. The course explores business across borders and the economic dynamics between countries/regions, including an overview of the international monetary system, international trade and foreign direct investment. The class will discuss the strategies of international business including market entry strategies and the specific issues of international marketing and production along with ethical, cultural, political, and demographic issues for international managers. In particular, the course looks at the emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India and China. We explore the implications of trade-promoting and trade-inhibiting institutions and practices such as the IMF, WTO, NAFTA, and the European Union.
• QST IM 445: Multinational Management
  This is heavily case-based course studying the business strategies of multi- national enterprises, particularly in high-growth and developing economies. Having 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 innovation and operational strategies. Along with opportunities, we also look at the challenges to a more complex, diverse, and uncertain business than those faced by companies who focus primarily in their mature markets or even their own country. This course helps students to acquire skills and perspectives that will help them as they pursue careers with multi-national companies or other opportunities in the global business environment.
• QST IM 498: Directed Study: International Management
  Directed study in International Management. 2 or 4 cr. Application available on Undergraduate Program website.
• QST IM 802: Cont Asn Fld Sm
  
• QST IM 803: Cont Brz Fld Sm
  
• QST 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 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 skills, competencies, and perspectives that will help them as they consider perusing a career in international management.
• QST 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.
• QST 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 a 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.
• QST IM 852: Brazil Field Seminar
  This intensive ten day seminar provides 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 includes extensive site visits throughout the country to social enterprises, multi-national firms, NGO ventures, and government organizations. Students 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 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, and 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.
• QST IM 853: Indian Field Seminar
  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. 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.
• QST IM 885: International Management Field Seminar
  This course will allow students the opportunity to utilize and apply their MBA learning to business work experience. Students will secure their internship in a position related to the MBA degree program. The deliverable of the project is a paper in which the students must address how the position will leverage their MBA career growth and industry analysis. The deliverable will be due upon completion of the internship experience.
• QST IM 890: Prgm Field Work
  

Back to full list of Questrom School of Business