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Full-Time MBA Elective Course Descriptions

There are two types of electives in the full-time MBA program:

Key Electives: Typically courses in emerging fields in which we have outstanding faculty members. At least 13.5 key elective credits of the program’s 60 total minimum credits are required.

Free Electives: Taken during the summer trimester; large selection to choose from. At least 20 free elective credits of the program’s 60 total minimum credits are required.

Note: Certain key and free electives can be applied towards an optional concentration.

Key Electives

Free Electives 

Note: free elective courses run based on student interest.

Key Electives

Emerging Regions: Central and Eastern Europe-Former Soviet Union (2.0 credits)

The course aims to discuss the foreign direct investment based transition models of the Central European, Baltic and South-Eastern European former socialist states to a market economy, as well as the new economic arrangements in the territory of the former Soviet Union. It discusses the role of the state in conducting a development policy, as well as the context that European integration, and EU membership more specifically, have provided for this development.

In the case of the former SU, it discusses the political economy of the now independent states of the region, as well as their future. In a comparative perspective the course describes the likely success of this model, with reference to previous successful models of catch-up around the globe, such as Ireland or the Asian Tigers, and lately, China.

Main Topics

  • The failure of the Soviet system
  • The underlying fundamental paradigms of transition
  • CEE and the FDI based transition model
  • Slovenia, Croatia and internally oriented transition
  • Russian privatization, oligarchisation, and the development of the undiversified new economy
  • Ukraine and the other former Soviet Republics
  • The future of the economic models
  • International comparisons: The Far East, Ireland, China

Emerging Regions: China (2.0 credits)

Participants to acquire a good understanding of how China became one of the world’s strongest economies during the past 30 years; the opportunities and pitfalls of doing business in and with China; and China’s changing contemporary and future role in the global trade, economic, financial, and political systems.

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Emerging Regions: India (2.0 credits)

This is an introductory course, aimed at exposing students to modern Indian and South Asian society, culture and business through a variety of material. While this class is primarily for students who have no previous familiarity with this subject, those with some experience of it will have the opportunity to find and articulate new ways of approaching and interpreting these regions. The course may be particularly important due to the rising stature and importance of India and more generally, South Asia, in the global economy. Foreign direct investment (FDI), entrepreneurship and innovation related businesses have dramatically increased in these regions. This course will provide an overview of the emerging trends and activities and an opportunity to study them in more detail.

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Entrepreneurship (1.5 credits)

The objective of this course is to equip you with analytical frameworks and tools by which you will be able to successfully evaluate, launch, finance and create new high-growth companies. Special attention will be given to the creation of companies with a strong high-tech focus. Students who successfully complete the course will have hands-on experience in developing business plans and selling and marketing their ideas to external audiences.

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Operations Management (2.0 credits)

Operations management is the design, operation, and improvement of systems. It examines in detail how organizations do things. Understanding how operations impact the firm is important for managers regardless of their field, as operations management is not only concerned with production facilities, but also health care, insurance, hotel management, banking, airlines, etc. Operational issues include purchasing raw materials, controlling and maintaining inventories, and managing capacity. This course in operations management is intended to be a survey of operating practices and models in many industries. Therefore we cover a wide range of topics rather than focus on a few topics with depth.

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Organizational Behavior & Human Resource Management (2.0 credits)

Organizational behavior is the study of how individuals and groups impact the behavior within an organization thus we will focus on the behavioral characteristics of organizational life.

The purpose of this program is to study living organizations from structural, behavioral, human and other important perspectives, to understand how organizations work in practice, how they develop, and how they try to utilize their human resources.

Taking a managerial point of view we examine human and behavioral issues, which co-exist on three levels in organizations:

1. Individual level: motivation, personality, perception, trust and communication.
2. Group level: group dynamics, group structure, conflicts, negotiations, leadership and decision-making.
3. Organizational level: power, organizational and national culture, organizational development, organizational learning.

This course will give you practical management models, tools and methods for analyzing, designing, managing and changing organizations in harmony with situational factors, strategic and operative goals. The aim is not to teach an optimal way of designing and managing organizations: there is no one best way. Instead we provide a general and comprehensive understanding of modern organizations, the challenges they face in general and in the specific region and business where they operate, to highlight related managerial decision alternatives, the logic behind key structural solutions, with a special regard to human factors and human resource management.

Through lectures, cases, readings, discussions, teamwork, assignment papers and presentations you will have the opportunity to integrate conceptual material with your own experience and discuss your ideas with your course partners.

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Resources, Technology and Energy Markets (2.0 credits)

“The growing differential between the rising costs of the old fossil fuel energies and the declining cost of renewable energies is setting the stage for an upheaval of the global economy and the emergence of a new economic paradigm for the twenty-first century.” (Rifkin 2011, 31)

The rising cost of carbon emissions and natural resources require a rethink of business practices. Polluting companies are challenged by lower cost, clean and sustainable businesses. These “clean and green” firms are profiting by reducing risks linked to resource dependency and broader environmental decline. In this new business realm, new technologies are rapidly declining in cost and efficiency gains are generated all with a focus on sustainability. The combined results are a challenge to once dominant firms, particularly in the energy sector. The business landscape of a cleaner and sustainable future is uneven but is no doubt progressing. Students will examine business strategies, government policies, and regulations to understand how companies navigate uncertainty surrounding investment projects. A special focus will be given to the energy industry which requires a long-term investment horizon, provides a key input (and cost) to other industries, and faces pressure from new technological systems. Altogether, students will benefit from a broad understanding of resource dependency, market operations and how sustainable (and successful) businesses mitigate risks associated with climate change.

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Sustainability in Business (2.0 credits)

Society increasingly sees the role of business as a provider of solutions for global challenges, and farsighted companies are responding positively to this opportunity. Corporate social responsibility and sustainable development are now part of the corporate lexicon, but it is becoming increasingly important to articulate how the environmental, social and economic trends may impact the ability of their businesses to generate value. This course, with a mix of theoretical frameworks and case study examples, seeks to explain how businesses can achieve sustainable business models and incorporate the double bottom line (financial success and positive social impact) into their existing and/or new ventures. The management aspects of building such sustainable businesses are multifaceted, and this course also seeks to provide students with an overview and understanding of these issues.

Finally, this course will seek active student participation by involving examples of sustainable business models from student specific countries. The overall goal of the course is to share knowledge among us by including our individual examples in the overall context of global sustainable businesses. 

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Technology, Innovation and the Law (2.0 credits)

New technologies have had a revolutionary impact on the ways of doing business and on the pace of creation, modification and obsolescence of business models. Among other effects, they have dramatically affected the process of building a new venture, the balance between companies’ tangible and intangible assets, and the nature of distribution channels and marketing strategies.

Examples of such epochal changes are everywhere. The fast constitution and growth of start-ups, for example, represents a completely new phenomenon compared with the relatively slow establishment and development of a traditional company. At the same time, the fact that intangible assets of Fortune 500 firms account today for more than 75% of their total value is in sharp contrast with the former 20% they represented in the 1970s. In addition, the advent of the Internet has opened the door for the abandonment of the traditional brick-and-mortar distribution of goods and services, offering a plethora of new market opportunities characterized by low entrance and maintenance costs and by a cross-border and virtually unlimited target of consumers.

While in the past law was considered in the business jargon as a synonym of uncertainty and risk, in this context legal astuteness – defined as the capability to use legal tools as value generator – is more and more recognized as one of the most relevant managerial tools for creating innovative solutions and acquiring competitive advantage. Far from proposing a traditional, static review of business law topics, “Technology, Innovation and the Law” focuses on selected subjects relevant for innovative entrepreneurship, with the aim of helping students to develop such new, pro-active approach to legal issues.

We will start with a brief introduction on the role played by law in the regulation of technology and innovation, and on the importance of learning how to cooperate at best with legal counsels. Then, we will turn to intellectual property rights and their strategic management. After an analysis of the legal problems arising from the cross-border nature of the Internet, we will focus on online contracting and the regulatory framework for e-commerce. Last, we will conclude with an overview of the opportunities offered by law to raise capital for the enterprise or to abandon a no-longer profitable or stimulating entity.

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Transnational Business Context (2.0 credits)

This course is about the transnational business environment (global - macro – mezzo – and micro level) in which the main economic players operate and have to achieve their economic objectives (efficiency, competitiveness, growth, stability, accountability, etc.).

This part of the course is a combination of knowledge deepening, knowledge transfer (disseminating new information through readings, reports, surveys, etc.) and personal skills development. As a result, you will be empowered with the analytical skills and the knowledge required to make comparative analysis that is needed to define the best business strategies in a global economy.

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Free Electives

Collaborating for Green Growth (1.5 credits)

The broad issue of climate change and resulting action to mitigate carbon emissions will change how services and products are produced: understanding the drivers of change and strategies to respond is at the core of this course. An overview is provided of the pressing social and business needs presented by the growing constraint on the Earth’s resources. For companies to become ‘green’ requires collaboration with social and business actors to understand and alter how services are provided and products produced. The results have a broad impact on profits, operations and long-term success. Fostering collaboration and engineering new “green” products and services must overcome internal and external barriers. This course will examine how environmental considerations impact how businesses operate, collaborate, and constrain to foster a new business direction of green growth.

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Company Valuation and Corporate Restructuring (3.0 credits)

This course will equip you with the various valuation techniques used by business consultants and bankers. We will discuss how the various elements in these models are derived, and equally, how our inherent bias and preconceptions cloud the valuation process. We will value a range of real-world companies under different circumstances (private firms, emerging market firms, distressed and restructured firms, etc.) so that participants can grasp the full complexities that underlie each valuation process.

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Design Thinking (3.0 credits)

This is a joint course between professors of CEU Business School and the Hungarian Design University MOME for students of both institutions with a methodology for innovation that combines creative and analytical approaches, and requires collaboration across disciplines. This process — which has been called design thinking — draws on methods from engineering and design, and combines them with ideas from the arts, tools from the social sciences, and insights from the business world. You will learn this process together with your fellow students, and then personalize it, internalize it, and apply it to your own challenges.

Our aim is to learn by doing. We don’t just ask you to solve a problem, we ask you to define what the problem is. In this course, you will start in the field, where you will develop empathy for the people who you will design for, uncovering real human needs you want to address. You will then iterate to develop an unexpected range of possible solutions, and create rough prototypes to take back out into the field and test with real people. Our bias is toward action, followed by reflection on personal discoveries about process.

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Energy Revolution and Eco-Industry (1.5 credits)

New energy technologies are creating a new economic sphere. This class will examine the global growth and impact of renewable energy technologies (RET) and the emerging business of energy efficiency. Leaving behind the fossil fuel age and developing a clean energy and transport system by the year 2050 requires political foresight and strategic insight into technologies and society. This class will explore lean energy technologies and business models in different countries and cultural contexts. Emphasis will be placed on off-grid energy solutions, new transport solutions and key growth regions of China, India and South America. Operating in different cultures and climates will be emphasized. The utilities of today are left behind and the current technological gap in energy and transport are explored to learn how the society of tomorrow integrates low/zero carbon energy and transport technologies.

Learning Themes

  • Price plunge of energy technologies - Why
  • Low tech solutions with high tech approaches
  • Alternative fuels and transport options
  • Innovative business models in developing countries
  • Emerging business models in energy efficiency
  • Business models for dealing with high upfront costs of new technologies
  • Technological and business failures
  • High growth business in low income countries
  • Time and money budgets for the society of tomorrow
  • Government (non-)support

Entrepreneurial Finance I (1.5 credits)

Entrepreneurial Finance discusses financial management and business planning, and introduces the basics of financial modeling and the implications of a firm’s financial strategy. Teaching methods combine financial theory with case studies.

At the conclusion of the course, you should be able to:

  • Understand and apply the principles of working capital management
  • Analyze sources of growth
  • Develop a business plan
  • Develop Excel models for financial decision making
  • Prepare a series of financial forecasts and budgets for businesses
  • Determine the internal and sustainable growth rates for companies
  • Conclude in-depth analysis for large capital budgeting projects
  • Recognize different sources of risk
  • Understand the importance and techniques of risk management

Main Topics

  • Working capital management, operating and cash cycles
  • Financial forecasting using pro forma statements, scenario analysis and budgeting
  • Managing and financing growth in small and large enterprises
  • Business planning
  • Large scale capital budgeting decisions
  • Risk management

Entrepreneurial Finance II (1.5 credits)

The second part of the Entrepreneurial Finance course will prepare you to be competent in the skills of a corporate financial manager and in understanding the impact of finances on the organization and its decision making. This course focuses on the short-term planning and working capital management.

At the conclusion of the course, you should be able to:

  • Understand and apply the principles of working capital management including inventory optimization, trade credit and cash management
  • Prepare a cash-budget and a short-term financial plan
  • Understand the practical implications of short-term project financing

Main Topics

  • Evaluation of a firm's financial performance related to working capital management, operating and cash cycles
  • Working capital management (cash management, inventory and trade credit policies, payment terms to suppliers and short-term debt)
  • Cash-budgeting and short-term planning and financing

Innovation and Intrapreneurship (1.5 credits)

Innovation is permanently innovated: new approaches, new models, new processes emerge regularly and compete with each other. Frequently updated knowledge and special skills are needed to understand what is happening in this field and to adapt and apply new solutions and tools properly. The aim of this course is to provide you with (a) a comprehensive picture of modern innovation management at large companies; (b) a good understanding of models, processes and management solutions for innovation; (c) an opportunity to highlight and develop the specific skills needed, with a special attention on practice and implementation; (d) a forum for sharing ideas and discussions with practicing managers about how they try to mix the strength of a large corporation with the flexibility and innovativeness of a small venture.

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Intellectual Property Law and Management (2.0 credits)

In 1978, the intellectual capital of a company constituted less than 20% of its assets; in 10 years, the share went up to 55%, reaching 70% in 1998. Today, intellectual property rights (IPRs) amount to more than 75% of Fortune 500 firms’ value. Similarly, the market for patent licensing had grown from $15 billion to $100 in a decade, and the same skyrocketing figures characterize the IP litigation/settlement arena.

In less than 30 years, IP has turned from a dusty and boring attorney’s affair to one of the key aspects of strategic management. VCs look at the strength of the IP portfolio to decide whether or not to invest in a start-up. New joint ventures are built around the exchange of IP rights. Aggressive competition among big companies relies more and more on IP litigation. Many SMEs are pushed out from the market because of a short-sighted management of their intellectual capital, while others do not commercialize any product or service, but generate high incomes out of customized IP licensing or “patent-trolling”. The list of examples is various and broad. To make a long story short, it is enough to read newspapers to notice how many innovative business models are founded on the strategic use of patents and trademarks, copyright and industrial designs, trade secrets and know-how. Similarly, it became crystal-clear how small changes in IP management may lead either to a great success or to a gigantic failure.

The aim of our course is to discuss together IP management “from cradle to grave.” For each stage we will focus on the available options, the goals we can target by adopting different decisions and the link between those and our firm’s business strategy. After a brief overview on scope, duration, means of protection of IP rights, we will analyze the different choices connected to the building of an IP portfolio. Then, we will look at the importance of creating an effective inventory, and study how to monitor IP assets, to evaluate them and to manage costs and risks connected to portfolio maintenance. Last, and moving from a static to a dynamic perspective, we will use case studies to discover how companies can capture value out of IP, using tools like litigation, commercialization, licensing and mixed solutions to profit at best from their intellectual capital and R&D investments.

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Leadership and Change Management (3.0 credits)

This course takes the form of a workshop series aimed at familiarizing participants with more advanced concepts of leadership and change management as well as creating learning space for self-discovery and self-development. It is made up of the following elements:

A) Case study-driven sessions focusing on leadership and change management at all levels including at industry-sector, organizational, group-level and individual.

B) Invited guest speakers and practitioners focusing on change and restructuring processes as well as individual coaching and personal growth.

C) An individually driven, on-line simulation game on change management, FLIGBY, which in 2012 won the Gold Medal of the “International Serious Play Awards” in the category of corporate games.

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Managerial Accounting (1.5 credits)

This course focuses on the role of management accounting in a strategic managerial context: support for decision-making and management of performance.

Main Topics

  • Role of the management accountant in strategic planning
  • Cost classification and behavior
  • Relevant information for decision-making
  • Opportunity costs and their use: make or buy decisions, keep or sell
  • Pricing decisions and target costing
  • Budgeting and analysis of variances to budget
  • Setting organizational goals and evaluating performance
  • The balanced scorecard and other measures of performance

 

Marketing Communications (1.5 credits)

Marketing communication is far more than just advertising. Every interaction with the market has an impact on our clients and/or customers. And every impact builds or ruins our precious brand.

This course will help in:

  • Identifying the market influencing promotional opportunities the companies have or would like to have
  • Differentiating the marketing and communication objectives
  • Developing an effective marketing communication plan
  • Choosing tools to evaluate our communications before and after the campaigns

During the course we will go through the ideal phases of marketing communication from the mass media to loyalty programs and CRM, emphasizing the difference between B2B and B2C communication. You will see, analyze and discuss hundreds of examples (press and TV ads, PR campaigns, direct mail).

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Marketing Research (3.0 credits)

The purpose of this course is to help you to develop a managerial appreciation toward marketing research. Attention is sequentially focused on information needs, research design, methods of data collection and the drawing of conclusions through relevant analysis. Integration of the concepts discussed is achieved through a focus on demand measurement, product, advertising, distribution and pricing research. The course is primarily case oriented.

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Public Management (2.0 credits)

This course will provide managers with tools to manage their interactions with governmental agencies. The focus is particularly on emerging/transitional/developing countries as well as on instances when governmental officials are incompetent, corrupt, or abusive. The course is multidisciplinary and defined by the problem — business-government interactions — rather than by an academic field. We will learn how to form and lead an effective lobbying coalition, how to network with public officials without ending up in jail, how to defeat a populist agenda, how to behave when an administrative agency is your customer or business partner, and much more.

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Social Entrepreneurship (1.5 credits)

Social enterprises are dedicated to creating social value by attracting private and public funds to address the challenges of society. They may take the form of a nonprofit, for profit or hybrid organization. These organizations apply business and market principles in their efforts to solve problems not addressed by the private sector and governments. One of the critical tasks of social enterprises is to grow and scale as the consequences of poverty, environmental issues, education, and human injustice are global and systemic. Innovations in the field of social enterprises include social capital markets, techniques to measure social impact, and organizational design.

Social entrepreneurship is a concept that has gained momentum during the past few years. It is a process that applies innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing social problems. It has become an attractive alternative for students who wish to utilize their leadership and managerial skills to address the challenges of the world. According to Dees (2001) social entrepreneurship incorporates the following elements:

 

  • A mission that seeks to create and sustain social value
  • Designing processes for the organization to pursue opportunities to support that mission through innovation, adaptation, and learning
  • Attracting the resources necessary to achieve the mission and sustain the organization while driving efficiency and leveraging existing resources to expand the scope of their service
  • A clear focus on the needs of those being served

 

Taking this into consideration, our class and our time together will be focused on the ideas, process, steps, and strategies required for creating new social ventures. This course focuses on the critical factors associated with successful new venture initiation as well as the preparation of a business plan that can be used to begin operations in a new social enterprise. This course will challenge all of us to confront more advanced issues faced by today’s social entrepreneurs.

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