Results for GSBGEN

GSB students are eligible to report on work experience that is relevant to their core studies under the direction of the Senior Associate Dean responsible for the MBA Program. Registration for this work must be approved by the Director of the MBA Program and is limited to students who present a project which, in judgment of the Advisor, may be undertaken to enhance the material learned in the first year core required courses. It is expected that this research be carried on by the student with a large degree of independence and the expected result is a written report, typically due at the end of the quarter in which the course is taken. Specific assignment details and deadline information will be communicated to enrolled students. Units earned for this course do not meet the requirements needed for graduation.

The major objective of this course is to provide the student with an understanding of the fundamentals of real estate investment. The course covers land economics, market analysis, finance, taxation, investment analysis, investment vehicles, real estate risk, development and urban design. Major land uses are discussed including apartments, retail, office, and industrial. The course is designed for students with limited or no background in real estate.

This course addresses the distinctive challenges and opportunities of launching high-potential new ventures in developing economies. Developing economies are attractive targets for entrepreneurs because many are just starting to move up the growth curve, and they offer low-cost operating environments that can be great development labs for potentially disruptive innovations. They increase in attractiveness when their political institutions stabilize and they become more market-friendly. At the same time, developing economies pose serious challenges. Pioneering entrepreneurs take on significant risks to gain early mover advantages. Specifically, entrepreneurs will not be able to count on the same kind of supportive operating environments that we take for granted in the developed world. They often face cumbersome permit and licensing processes, poorly developed financial and labor markets, problematic import and export procedures, unreliable local supply chains, weak infrastructure, corruption, currency risks, limited investment capital, lack of financial exits and more. This course is designed to help would-be entrepreneurs better understand and prepare for these issues as they pursue the opportunities and address the challenges to start, grow, and harvest their ventures in these environments. The core of the course is a team-based exercise involving the development of a deep understanding of the team's chosen country of focus with respect to the opportunities and challenges for starting a new business. Interested students must come in willing to be team players and do the work necessary to complete this exercise over the full quarter. Each team member's contributions will be assessed by fellow teammates. Students will submit country preferences before the quarter begins and teams will be formed on the first day. The teams will identify what they think would be a high potential opportunity for innovative entrepreneurship in their country that they will evaluate using the country-specific knowledge they've developed. The team will describe, in a final written paper and presentation, the challenges and opportunities in their country using a framework from the recently published World Economic Forum report on "Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Around the Globe and Company Growth Dynamics." The final materials will also include the team's thoughts on the viability of their proposed venture and how it capitalizes on their country's assets and addresses its challenges. A detailed business plan is not required; however, specific recommendations and plans for next steps that would be carried out during a 3 to 6 month field and market research study in the country will be part of the final presentation. In effect, the team will answer the questions: Why do they think this new proposed venture is viable in the specific developing economy given the country's specific opportunities and challenges?; and, What would the group do "in country" to confirm the viability and complete the plans to actually start and grow the business? Based on feedback from instructors and students in the inaugural class last year, some revisions have been incorporated, - more interaction with instructors; fewer case studies; expert guest speakers more focused on a specific topic to share their relevant experiences; a shortened reading list including new notes written on key topics to replace existing readings; and some "flipped" class sessions allowing time for teams to work in class on their projects. Since the course is still evolving, we particularly want to attract students who would enjoy helping further develop the course since this is an arena that begs for new approaches and material. This course will relate to the work being done in SEED, under the theory that healthy entrepreneurship and innovation will improve the overall economy and reduce poverty. Most countries that have successfully grown out of poverty did not do it by focusing only on Bottom of Pyramid (BoP) businesses, but by promoting healthy business growth overall. Helping entrepreneurs build successful new ventures in a developing economy is an essential element of an overall strategy for moving a country out of poverty. BoP businesses have tended to grow slowly, and struggle to raise capital, often being forced to pay low wages, etc. Without complementing these businesses with strong, high-potential, high-growth, profit-making businesses, none of these developing economies are likely to progress economically or eliminate poverty. A prosperous business with a solid plan will help the country, the economy, and ultimately the poor.

Business leaders have marketing strategies, expansion strategies, finance strategies, even exit strategies. Successful leaders, however, also have communication strategies. This course will explore how individuals and organizations can develop and execute effective communication strategies for a variety of business settings.nnnThis course introduces the essentials of communication strategy and persuasion: audience analysis, communicator credibility, message construction and delivery. Deliverables will include written documents and oral presentations and you will present both individually and in a team. You will receive feedback to improve your communication effectiveness. In the final team presentation, your challenge is to craft an oral presentation that will persuade your audience to accept your strategic recommendations. By doing this, you will see why ideas, data and advocacy are combined for a professional, persuasive presentation. nnnThis practical course helps students develop confidence in their speaking and writing through weekly presentations and assignments, lectures and discussions, guest speakers, simulated activities, and videotaped feedback. An important new feature of this course is that a team of external communications coaches work in concert with the professor to ensure that students get rigorous and individualized coaching and feedback.nnnIn this course you will learn to:nnn- Create communication strategies at an individual and organizational levelnn- Develop clearly organized and effective presentations and documentsnn- Diagnose and expand your personal writing and oral delivery style nn- Adapt your delivery style to different material and audiences nn- Enhance oral delivery through effective visual aidsnnnStudents at all levels of comfort and expertise with public speaking and business writing will benefit from this course. In the 2012-2013 academic year this course will only be offered once in the winter and once in the spring term. Waitlists have been long for this course and you're encouraged to keep that in mind as you make your super round selections.

Family-controlled private and public companies are the dominant form of enterprise worldwide. Despite their prominence, teaching and research have traditionally focused on analyzing the widely-held model of the firm. The family business management and valuation course explores the unique challenges and opportunities faced by family firms. The course is taught by Leo Linbeck III, Lecturer since 2005 at the GSB and President and CEO of Aquinas Companies, LLC. The course balances managerial perspectives with general frameworks. The course is intended for four main audiences: (1) Students whose family owns a business. (2) Students who are considering working for a family firm. (3) Students who are interested in acquiring a private firm either directly (search funds, minority investments, etc) or indirectly (private equity, etc). (4) Students who seek to consult or provide professional services to closely held firms or their owners (wealth management solutions, management consulting, etc). The main objectives of this course are three. First, to understand the unique challenges and characteristics of family firms. Second, to provide a coherent and consistent set of tools to evaluate the most relevant decisions faced by family firms. Third, to focus on decision-making. The course uses a combination of case studies, guest speakers, and student presentations to explore the central ideas of the course.nn

Transforming the global energy system to reduce climate change impacts, ensure security of supply, and foster economic development of the world's poorest regions depends on the ability of commercial players to deliver the needed energy at scale. Technological innovation is a necessary but not sufficient condition for this to occur. The complex institutional frameworks that regulate energy markets in the United States and around the world will play a major role in determining the financial viability of firms in the energy sector. In this course we survey the institutional contexts for energy enterprises of all types and consider what kinds of business models work in each setting. We study in detail how markets function for carbon (assessing the advantages and disadvantages of different policy tools and considering in particular California's implementation of A.B. 32); electricity (with extensive discussion of wholesale electricity markets, energy trading, and issues of market power); renewable energy technologies (focusing on ways to manage intermittency and on how renewable energy businesses respond to government incentives); nuclear power (as a case study of how the regulatory process affects investment decisions); oil and natural gas (treating both conventional and unconventional resources and emphasizing the key role of risk management in an industry characterized by uncertainty and high capital requirements); transportation fuels (discussing biofuels incentives, fuel efficiency standards, and other policy tools to lower carbon intensity); and energy for low-income populations, for which affordability and distribution pose special challenges. A primary teaching tool in the course is a game-based simulation of California's electricity markets under cap and trade. Student teams play the role of power companies and compete to maximize return by bidding generation into electricity markets and trading carbon allowances. The objective of the course is to provide a robust intellectual framework for analyzing how a business can most constructively participate in any sector like energy that is heavily affected by government policy. Instructors: nFrank A. Wolak, Director, Program on Energy and Sustainable Development; Mark Thurber, Associate Director, Program on Energy and Sustainable Development

Topics: the worth of college and graduate degrees, and the utilization of highly educated graduates; faculty labor markets, careers, and workload; costs and pricing; discounting, merit aid, and access to higher education; sponsored research; academic medical centers; and technology and productivity. Emphasis is on theoretical frameworks, policy matters, and the concept of higher education as a public good. Stratification by gender, race, and social class.

This course will examine the diverse management challenges facing the sports industry. The course will cover issues at the league level, the team level, the athlete/agent level, and the college level. The diverse constituencies with interests in sports issues (athletes, fans, media companies, advertisers, and legislators to name a few) will be discussed. Sports issues at a global level (the IOC) and both U.S. and outside U.S. will be covered. There will be coverage of evolving business ventures related to the sports industry (such as venture backed sports companies and sports networks). nnA key focus is on how the sports industry is similar to and different from other industries. Key concepts underlying the course are: value creation/value sharing; revenue ecosystem; virtuous circles and vicious circles; disruptive technologies; growth facilitators and growth inhibitors; leveragable assets/inherited liabilities; and entrepreneurship/new product innovations. Over 80% of the sessions typically will include a guest co-lecturer from the sporting industry.

More than one out of every five dollars in the American economy will be spent by the federal government this year. This course will examine how federal spending, taxes, deficits and debt affect the U.S. economy and global financial markets, and how the economy affects the federal budget. We will look inside the federal budget to understand entitlement spending, what causes it to grow so fast, how it could be reformed, and why that's so hard to do. We'll understand where the money goes -- how much goes to infrastructure, education, housing, health care, energy and the environment, parks, scientific research, national defense, and other needs. We'll look at the stimulus vs. austerity debate, both within the U.S. and between the U.S. and Europe. We'll look beyond partisan battle lines and explore various fiscal philosophies that sometimes split the political parties. We'll cover the federal budget process from developing the President's budget to enacting individual spending and tax bills, and discuss process reforms including spending and deficit reduction targets, a balanced budget amendment, and line item veto. We'll cover the major players in the budget debate and understand where the big and small budget decisions are made. We'll look at federal taxation, where the money comes from, how it affects the economy, and how it might be restructured.

Open to all non-law graduate students at the University, this course will provide non-law students an analytical framework for understanding the core concepts of the law and familiarize students with how lawyers analyze and structure their work. This course will be taught by Vice Dean Mark Kelman and Law School faculty in their areas of expertise, with one to two classes devoted to each topic. It will introduce students to some of the foundational principles of law and will review topics such as contracts, litigation, intellectual property, securities and employment law. No previous study of law or legal systems is required and there are no pre-requisites. It will be offered in the Winter 2012-13 quarter (1/8/13 - 3/13/13), with lectures twice weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:30 - 3:00 pm at the Law School. Additional mandatory TA-led discussion sections will be taught on Tuesday and Thursday - students must also attend one of these TA sessions each week. Students will indicate their availability for specific sections on forms passed out at the first lecture. Readings and assignments will be posted to Coursework; there is no textbook. Grading: The class is graded on a pass/fail basis. There will be no final exam, but completion of problem sets on various topics as well as attendance at discussion sections will be used to determine grading. All students must complete 4 problem sets. Two specific problem sets are required of all students and the other assignments can be chosen from a list of available assignments.

Need approval from sponsoring faculty member and GSB Registrar. There is a limit on the number of units in courses of independent study that may be applied toward degree requirements.

Successful leaders understand the power of authentic, memorable communication. nn nnThis course uses the lens of oral communication and presentations, to introduce the essential elements of the strategic communication strategies that make authentic, memorable communication work. nn nnFocusing on oral communication and presentation, we introduce the essentials of communication strategy and persuasion: audience analysis, message construction, communicator credibility, and delivery. nn nnDeliverables include written documents, focusing on individual and team presentations, with students receiving continuous feedback to improve their communication effectiveness, and to sharpen their authentic leadership voice. nn nnThis highly interactive, practical course, is focused on feedback to help students at all levels of communication mastery develop confidence in their speaking and writing. Course includes presentations, assignments, lectures, discussions, simulated activities, in-class feedback, and filmed feedback. nn nnIn this course you will learn to: nn-Recognize strategically effective communication nn-Implement the principles of strategic communication across different platforms nn-Develop clearly organized and effective presentations and documents nn-Diagnose and expand, your personal authentic communication style nn nnSelect the course format that will best meet your needs: autumn term offers a ten week course meeting once a week as well as a two-week immersive experience, in a compressed version of the course that focuses particularly on the three most vital elements of leadership communication and features in-class filming and review of student work in each session. These two formats are again offered in the winter, and in the spring the full term format is offered only. All versions of the course offer the same opportunities for individual and group presentations and feedback. As you make your super round selection, keep in mind that waitlists have been long for this course.

This seminar will explore the nature and role of leadership in organizations. We will examine such questions as (1) What is leadership? (2) Why is it important? (3) What is it that leaders actually do? (4) How do they do it? (5) How are leaders developed? (6) Why do leaders succeed or fail? (7) What about your potential for leadership and your strategy for developing it? nOur primary objective in this seminar is to achieve a deeper understanding of the nature and role of leadership in organizations. Our approach will be to examine a small sample of the literature, together with the amazing story of Ernest Shackleton and his Endurance crew, and then to probe several key questions through lively class discussion. The discussion, informed by the readings and also by our collective experiences, will seek to develop some general principles and observations about leadership - particularly about how you might better develop yourself as a leader.

The health care system accounts for over 18% of US GDP and is one of the fastest growing segments of the economy. This two unit class focuses on the interplay and tension between the main players in the health care field - providers of health care services (individual doctors, group practices, integrated health care systems), payors (insurances companies, employers, consumers, and government), patients, and innovator companies (biopharma, medical device, diagnostics, and health care IT). The course is designed for students with a broad diversity of backgrounds and interests who want to better understand the health care business and system. No prior experience in the health care or medical field is assumed or needed. The focus of the class will be primarily on the US health care system, but there will be limited discussion of non-US systems as well. nnnThe course is divided into five modules: nn1. An overview of the US Health Care System and the interplay between payers, providers, and innovatorsnn2. Provider organization models and incentive structuresnn - The relationship between quality, cost, and accessnn - Integrated systems and fee for service modelsnn - New IT technologies, including electronic data records, and incentives for adoption nn - How the delivery system structure affects technology innovatorsnn3. Innovator business models and issuesnn - Financing and managing new product development and portfolio managementnn - Clinical trial management and gaining regulatory approvalnn - Marketing, communication and sales strategies (both physician and patient communication and sales) to drive product adoption and gain third party reimbursementnn - Business models to drive innovationnn4. New technologies, business opportunities, and business modelsnn - Molecular diagnosticsnn - Stem cells and regenerative medicinenn - Consumer genomicsnn5. Health care system reform nnnThe class will be taught primarily from the perspective of a business person operating a company rather than that of a policy maker, academic, or investor. While there will be a few lectures to provide background and frameworks for course topics, most classes will involve a case discussion and prominent guest speakers from the health care industry. Speakers and panelists in previous years included CEOs and senior executives from Genentech, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, UnitedHealth, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, GE, Safewary, and Genomic Health; venture investors from Venrock and Essex Woodland Health Ventures; and heads of the health care/biotech practices at McKinsey and Goldman Sachs.

An organizational change approach to the development and introduction of new corporate strategies and product lines that have a sustainability benefit. Students will be given the opportunity to work on real-world cases to help them effectively incorporate sustainability strategy into their chosen career path.nnnLearning Objectives: nna. Articulate the sustainability challenges facing today¿s corporation in terms that will make executives receptive to actionnnb. Employ organizational change management techniques to spur environmentally-friendly product and process innovationnnc. Expand the repertoire of techniques for priming the market for new sustainability offeringsnnd. Refine collaboration skills within multi-disciplinary teamsnne. Improve oral and written presentation skills for executive audiencesnnnThis class is appropriate for those seeking positions within large enterprises or business consultancies, or those seeking to refine their thinking on social entrepreneurship.

This course is open only to students participating in the Stanford-Tsinghua Exchange Program and is required of those students. Requirements include researching and reporting on companies to be visited, attending lectures in preparation for the China visit, attending lectures at Tsinghua, and carrying out and reporting on a project with one or more Tsinghua student. Offered Pass/No Pass only. 2 units. Winter quarter.

This seminar examines research on the psychology of judgment and choice. Although the normative issue of how decisions should be made is relevant, the descriptive issue of how decisions are made is the main focus of the course. Topics of discussion include choice, judgment heuristics and biases, decision framing, prospect theory, mental accounting, context effects, task effects, regret, and other topics. The goal of the seminar is twofold: to foster a critical appreciation of existing knowledge in behavioral decision theory, to develop the students' skills in identifying and testing interesting research ideas, and to explore research opportunities for adding to that knowledge.

Doctoral Practicum in Teaching

Doctoral Practicum in Research