Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the Student Link for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

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  • QST PL 350: The Psychology of Decision Making: Implications for Business and Public Policy
    We provide an introduction to how individuals make decisions, applying the tools of psychology and economics. We will learn to identify common mistakes and biases. Students will have the opportunity to evaluate their own decision- making ability and learn how to make improved decisions. We link each aspect of decision-making studied to current personal finance decision, business problem & public policy issue. This course will improve negotiation ability and prepare students to use social science data to support decisions. The course consists of cases, discussions, lectures & project. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Critical Thinking.
    • Social Inquiry II
    • Critical Thinking
  • QST PL 498: Directed Study in Markets, Public Policy, and Law
    Directed study in Markets and Public Policy. 2 or 4 cr. Application available on Undergraduate Program website
  • QST PL 700: Introduction to Business Law
    This course will survey contemporary issues in selected areas of law and ethics. We will introduce pivotal areas of law, so that students begin to anticipate legal problems, analyze how to avoid them, and realize how legal principles can be employed to add value in their chosen fields. The subjects are torts, contracts, employment law, securities regulation and corporate governance. We expect that this overview of a few disciplines will encourage students to explore other legal topics relevant to their business interests. We will also offer an analytic structure that enables students to identify ethical issues in business, analyze options and make choices consistent with their own values.
  • QST PL 727: Organizations, Markets, and Society
    Understanding and analyzing the core strategic decisions facing businesses in competitive markets. Students will examine how businesses achieve their fundamental goals given the need to produce goods and services efficiently and a market environment reflecting consumer preferences (demand) and the strategies and strengths of competitors. Students will develop analytic skills necessary for understanding core business models and how different models create value for the business as well as the larger society.
  • QST PL 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. 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 important part of the course is to develop an understanding of the external environment in which firms operate by analyzing the implications of market structure, macroeconomic developments and policy, and other forms of public policy toward business.
  • QST PL 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.
  • QST PL 843: Discrimination and Business Law
    Many companies struggle with how to support diverse employees, and the need to do so has become even more urgent in the wake of events like the death of George Floyd. Navigating these issues requires understanding how the lived experiences varies systematically among different ethnic groups, genders, gender identities, and sexual orientation. Successfully addressing inequities and adopting practical solutions necessitates understanding the history of racism, sexism, and other "isms" in America. This course will address these and other relevant issues in the context of the corporate environment. It will cover doctrinal issues regarding the ethical and legal obligations of corporations as it relates to managing discrimination in the workplace (e.g., history of antidiscrimination legislation, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964), but will also delve into some of the more practical aspects of the tools and techniques companies can or should adopt to achieve a more inclusive work environment.
  • QST PL 845: Improving Your Decisions
    The main aim of Improving Your Decisions is to present many of the decision problems managers face and to identify the most effective ways to make sound decisions -- as well as the pitfalls, biases, and mistakes that should be avoided. A key element of the course is to present students with a series of decision challenges: What would you do? In other words, you must come to grips with actual decisions and defend your actions. The assigned readings also convey the most recent research findings in behavioral economics: how individuals and managers actually make decisions. The second half of the course centers on group decision making: how groups with common and not-so-common interests decide. The focus shifts from individual choices to group decisions that embody both competitive and cooperative elements.
  • QST PL 851: Sustainable Energy Business Models and Policies
    The course will feature a series of 13 speakers, each from one area of sustainable energy business, in a discussion that connects the business strategy, business model, public policy and regulatory drivers that affect the business. The areas featured include solar and wind energy, the smart grid, energy efficiency businesses, energy storage, and several others. The goal of the course is to (1) introduce business students to this specialized area and to the range of subjects they will need to learn if they intend to pursue a career in this sector; (2) show students how different sustainable energy companies define their business model to respond to transformations and opportunities in their industry, and how that business model interacts with public policies. Students from outside of Questrom may enroll with permission of instructor, based on knowledge of energy technologies, regulation, and basic energy economics.
  • QST PL 855: The Energy Sector: Structure, Markets, and Regulation
    This course is designed as a multi-dimensional approach to understanding the energy sector. This includes production, development, distribution, financing, and consumption relating to the two distinct sectors - Power Generation and Transportation, both domestically and internationally. For Power Generation, we will explore the fundamentals of Generation, Transmission (G&T), and Distribution as well as major feedstocks, including wind, solar, nuclear, natural gas, and coal. This includes an in-depth discussion of both challenges and opportunities inherent to altering the current system.
  • QST PL 861: Emerging Issues in Business and Law
    You ask your outside lawyer or your company's legal department whether you can undertake some activity without violating the law. You are annoyed when you are told "Well, maybe. It depends". You want a yes-or-no answer, not a game of twenty questions. Why can't your lawyers give you a straight answer? Why do they make everything more complicated? What language are they speaking? Most business people ask these questions. If you do business you cannot avoid dealing with lawyers. You can allow your interactions with lawyers to frustrate you, or you can learn how lawyers think so that you can better manage them. Emerging Issues in Business Law introduces graduate business students to fundamentals of legal analysis by focusing on timely legal problems of particular interest to business. Students develop familiarity with substantive legal principles and leave the course with the ability to recognize legal issues, discuss them intelligently, and understand why the lawyers seem incapable of giving a simple answer. The course uses lectures to provide a common foundation of knowledge. It is primarily discussion based, using a question and answer format to engage students in the process of legal analysis.
  • QST PL 898: Directed Study: Markets, Public Policy, and Law
    Graduate-level directed study in Markets, Public Policy, and Law. 1, 2, or 3 cr. Application available on the Graduate Center website.
  • QST PL 899: Directed Study: Markets, Public Policy, and Law
    Graduate-level directed study in Markets, Public Policy, and Law. 1, 2, or 3 cr. Application available on the Graduate Center website.
  • QST PL 945: Behav Econ Sem
  • QST PL 998: Directed Study: Markets, Public Policy, and Law
    PhD-level directed study in Markets, Public Policy, and Law. 1, 2, or 3 cr. Application available on the Graduate Center website.
  • QST PL 999: Directed Study: Markets, Public Policy, and Law
    PhD-level directed study in Markets, Public Policy, and Law. 1, 2, or 3 cr. Application available on the Graduate Center website.
  • QST QM 221: Probabilistic and Statistical Decision-Making for Management
    Exposes students to the fundamentals of probability, decision analysis, and statistics, and their application to business. Topics include probability, decision analysis, distributions, sampling, estimation, hypothesis testing, and chi-square. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Quantitative Reasoning I.
    • Quantitative Reasoning I
  • QST QM 222: Modeling Business Decisions and Market Outcomes
    Examines the use of economic and statistical tools for making business decisions. The course emphasizes linking data analysis to spreadsheet modeling of decision making. Topics include multiple regression, causal inference, forecasting, demand modeling, and optimization. Case studies apply concepts to practical business problems. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Quantitative Reasoning II.
    • Quantitative Reasoning II
  • QST QM 323: Analytics
    Component of QST SM 323, The Cross Functional Core. Teaches quantitative methods and modeling techniques that will improve the student's ability to make informed decisions in an uncertain world. The two major modules of the course are models for optimal decision-making and decision- making under uncertainty. The first module focuses on methods and predictive models for decision-making; how optimization models are used to identify the best choice; and how choices change in response to changes in the model's parameters (sensitivity analysis). The second module covers the measurement and management of risk and Monte Carlo simulation. Throughout the semester, we will perform hands-on analysis that will improve Excel modeling skills; discuss the ethical use of data analytics; and learn to recognize pitfalls and biases in quantitative decision-making. cr. N
  • QST QM 716: Business Analytics: Data Analysis and Risk
    The overall goal of this course is to improve student ability to learn from data, specifically to 1) assess the validity of conclusions that have been drawn from statistical analyses; 2) recognize the extent to which variation characterizes products and processes, and understand the implications of variation on organizational decisions when interpreting data; and 3) portray, summarize and analyze data to support operational and strategic decisions associated with the core business models. Students will increase their understanding of the use of probabilities to reflect uncertainty; how to interpret data in light of uncertainty to assess risk; and how to build and interpret regression models, which can be used to inform core business and organizational decisions.

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