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 Assistant Dean 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.

Policy Time is about the policy choices faced by senior American policymakers. Our main perspective is American and executive: decisions faced by the U.S. President, Governors, and their advisors. The lessons can extend to certain international settings as well. We have two main goals:n1. To begin to build your personal policy approach, in which you will figure out how your values translate into real-world policy choices; and 2. To learn what it is like to be a senior policymaker. Each week will cover a different policy topic. Likely topics include immigration reform, economics, whether and when and how companies should take public positions on policy issues, guns and gun control, social media policy challenges, the opioid crisis, and trade and industrial policy. Our exact topic schedule is flexible based in part on current events. This class is heavily participatory and involves a lot of class discussion. You will write 5-10 weekly short memos to explain your choices. This class is for beginners and assumes you have no prior knowledge of policy or politics.

Political gamesmanship, financial crises, and financial innovation come hand-in-hand with real estate finance, which has played a central role in the rise and fall of economies, financial institutions, and the lives of ordinary Americans. This course explores these issues in depth. We examine the past, present, and future of the complex political economy surrounding real estate finance, its impact on markets, and the business challenges and opportunities arising from it, both domestically and abroad, before and after the financial crisis. We then tackle recent trends like the rise of shadow banks, fintech, and proptech. Through a mix of speakers, case studies, and hands-on exercises, we examine the problems these industries are solving and creating.Greg Buchak is an Assistant Professor in the Finance group at Stanford. He received his PhD in financial economics and JD in law from the University of Chicago. His research focuses on the industrial organization of financial intermediation and it¿s consequences in the real estate industry.Chris Mahowald is actively involved in the real estate investment business as the managing partner of RSF Partners, a series of real estate private equity funds totaling over $1 billion in equity. The firm invests across product types throughout the U.S. During his career, he has focused on value investing with deep experience in distressed mortgage debt. He also teaches real estate investment at the GSB (GSBGEN 306: Real Estate Investment).

As AI technology advances at an unprecedented pace, both start-ups and established corporations are racing to harness its potential, aiming to revolutionize every sector with innovative applications. What are these opportunities, and how are these firms creating a sustainable competitive advantage? In this class, the teaching team will guide interactive classroom discussions on adopting AI in business. Guest speakers - CEOs or venture capitalists at the forefront of AI - will tell their stories, offering valuable insights from a myriad of industries and perspectives. The structure for this course will be a combination of: addressing what is different about starting an AI company; asking how AI companies (particularly Generative AI) are being valued and the associated risks; exploring how large companies are rapidly adopting AI; and introducing relevant economic models. Almost all days will have engaging speakers, and 50% of your course grade will be participation, as you interact with them and with your peers. There are two assignments and a group project. The faculty will provide a structured foundation to guide you, and short lectures on a number of topics. Students do not need in-depth technical knowledge of AI; you will be expected to learn the basics along the way, and will be taught about LLM models through examples.

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. This 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. This 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 feature of this course is that there are two faculty members working in concert to ensure that students get rigorous and individualized coaching and feedback. In this course you will learn to: - Create communication strategies at an individual and organizational level - Develop clearly organized and effective presentations and documents - Diagnose and expand your personal writing and oral delivery style - Adapt your delivery style to different material and audiences - Enhance oral delivery through effective visual aids Students at all levels of comfort and expertise with public speaking and business writing will benefit from this course.

Successful leaders have to conceive, author, rebuild, pivot, differentiate, and finally maintain a personal reputation to make a lasting, recognizable and powerful identity. Reputation Management will explore how you can effectively communicate to create, adapt and maintain your personal reputation. Your reputation remains fluid as you navigate your career decisions and interact with different professionals along your journey. The course is designed along three interlocking elements: reputation management literature, relevant case studies, and curated guest speakers. Students will learn the fundamentals of strategic corporate communication and the risk of not managing reputation effectively. These frameworks will be extended with specific case studies to illustrate where individuals, groups, and firms have faced the challenge of managing reputation effectively. We will focus on both traditional and virtual components of communication including the relevancy of online reputation management. Finally we will invite well-known leaders from a range of industries who have built and sustained their reputations, through effective communication. Each leader has had to manage their reputations in the public eye, and alongside their peers, supervisors, and employees. Guests will be invited to discuss their conscious and unplanned strategies of how to successfully communicate the kind of person, leader, innovator, or public figure they strive to be. Students will benefit from a rich blend of frameworks, cases, and speakers enabling them to successfully enter the work force and create their own, personal reputations. Students will create a case study drawn from their own experience (or personal network), of a reputation dilemma. A final assignment requires students to research their own reputation history by projecting what they think their reputation is, creating their own survey for friends, colleagues and employers to take, conduct three interviews about their personal reputation with three individuals who have worked closely with them, and then synthesize all this feedback into a cohesive paper and short video that reflects their authentic work and personal reputation. Throughout the course students will post at least one blog drawn from class concepts and respond to posts by peers in the class.

Recent work on human performance is beginning to unravel biological, neurobiological and psychological factors that separate the best performers from the rest, providing rich insights into how we all can (re)wire our mind and body for manifesting sustained excellence. Adopting the format of a retreat, the thrust of this course is two-fold. First, expose students to neurobiological frameworks, serving as scaffolding for appreciating the importance of practices aimed hacking the body and the mind such as breathing, naps, laughter, fitness, etc. for setting oneself up for peak performance. Second, give students a chance to transform their own body and mind by experimenting with various techniques such as parasympathetic breathing, micro-breaks, the I(Interrupt)-R(Relax)-R(Reframe), the Invisioning-Envisioning series of exercises, etc. Students will be encouraged to monitor their transformation, including regular measurements of their Heart Rate Variability (HRV), a key marker for the emotional resilience and vibrancy that are at the core of manifesting sustained excellence.

Negotiation is a central part of business in the worlds of sports and entertainment. This course will examine negotiation dynamics and key takeaways for general management from multiple different settings where negotiations had an important role--these will include preparing for a negotiation, the negotiation process itself, contractual outcomes of negotiation and their execution and in some cases litigation. The settings will include negotiations over player and actor contracts, negotiations between leagues and players associations, negotiations between investors and movie companies, and negotiations between content providers (both in sports and entertainment) and distribution partners (such as cable stations, international media companies, and online companies such as Netflix). Each of the six sessions is planned to include at least one and in some cases two guests that have had extensive experience in negotiations.

This once-a-week full-quarter workshop will offer techniques and practical in-class exercises for writing better -- better memos, emails, cold-call letters, speeches, feedback for colleagues, news releases, responses to questions from the media and from interviewers, and opinion pieces. Glenn Kramon, an editor who has helped New York Times reporters win 10 Pulitzer Prizes, will teach the course along with accomplished journalists with expertise in powerful, persuasive writing for business. They will provide not only helpful tips but constructive feedback on students' work. They will also share thoughts on how best to work with the news media.

This is a course to help future business leaders understand the policy risks that result from the changing relationship between the United States and China.Driven in part by policy decisions over the past decade in Washington and Beijing, the world built by the West after World War II is changing. Most American policymakers now label the relationship between the U.S. and China as one of strategic competition. They are often less clear on whether this term applies to the governments, the peoples, the businesses based within each country, or the two nation-states. At the same time, these two superpowers also have shared interests. We seek to understand the changing relationships between the U.S. and China, and what both competition and possible cooperation between their governments mean for others. American business leaders may be caught between two governments with conflicting interests. Business leaders in other countries may be caught among three governments: America, China, and their home-country government. This is a course not about China per se, but instead about the interactions between these two superpowers' governments and policies.We will look at the U.S.-China relationship by unpacking and examining distinct elements, devoting 1 or 2 class sessions on each topic.Relying in part on guests with practical expertise in some element of the U.S.-China relationship, our goals are to understand:* The most significant changes in Chinese policy direction in the Xi era;* Changes among Western leaders' policy approaches as they have realized their 50-year-old policy toward China either was wrong or is now out-of-date;* What the strategic competition label might mean and how it could translate into specific policy changes in both countries;* What opportunities exist for cooperation and mutual benefit despite strategic competition;* How China might try to change the post-WWII international rules and organizations;* How leaders of global businesses, in the U.S., China, and other countries, are caught between these two governments;* What decoupling in certain industries might mean; and* Possible ways to think about these issues as the U.S.-China relationship evolves.

Educational institutions are defined by their academic missions and their financial structures. When we refer to public/private or nonprofit/profit sectors, these are shorthand descriptions of the different capital structures that underlie educational organizations. Increasingly, these options - and novel variations on them - exist throughout the education enterprise: in K-12 schools, higher education, and ancillary service providers. In this course we will explore the relationships between academic goals and financial structures, with particular focus on management and decision making in educational organizations.

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.

The course provides future CEOs, CFOs, and investors with the necessary tools for successfully managing financial aspects and investing in entrepreneurial ventures. We cover topics related to both fundraising and ongoing capital management in startups, ranging from early to late stages. We analyze the incentives of all parties in major financial transactions of startups and growing organizations: founders, employees, angels, VCs, corporate investors, and public markets. In addition, we will look at issues of financial management such as KPIs, dashboards, financial reporting, and forecasting.

This course asks you to consider how you will react to challenges that all future leaders are likely to face. Where are you likely to thrive? What will you find most testing? When the pressure is on, how will you balance competing priorities? The lessons you learn in answering these questions are designed to help prepare for and understand how you will behave in future leadership positions. To maximize your learning we will examine case studies, host leaders for Q&As and hold a weekend-long simulation that all students are required to attend. Enrollment is limited to MBA1 and MBA2 students.

GSBGEN 514 - Creating High Potential Ventures in Developing Economies (2 Units) This course addresses the distinctive challenges and opportunities of launching and growing 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 - both founders and members of entrepreneurial teams - 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. GSBGEN 514 is a seminar/discussion format in which students will read about and discuss the key challenges described above and potential solutions. Guests will describe their own startup and investing experiences in developing economies and answer questions. A framework based on the World Economic Forum (WEF) report on "Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Around the Globe and Company Growth Dynamics" will be used to structure the course. Each student will prepare a short write-up as a final assignment on a case chosen from a selection provided by the instructors. Note: Groups of students who want to work as a team to investigate a specific new venture idea in addition to participating in the seminar/discussion sessions should also consider enrolling in GSB534, offered in Spring term.

Successful leaders understand the power of authentic, memorable communication. This 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. Focusing on oral communication and presentation, we introduce the essentials of communication strategy and persuasion: audience analysis, message construction, communicator credibility, and delivery. Deliverables 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. This 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. In this course you will learn to:-Recognize strategically effective communication-Implement the principles of strategic communication across different platforms-Develop clearly organized and effective presentations and documents-Diagnose and expand, your personal authentic communication style.

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 - both founders and members of entrepreneurial teams - 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. GSB534 uses a team-based project to learn about and develop solutions to the key challenges described above and potential solutions. A framework based on the recently published World Economic Forum (WEF) report on "Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Around the Globe and Company Growth Dynamics" will be used to structure the course along with a few lectures and guests who describe their own startup and investing experiences in developing economies and answer questions. The team-based projects are based on students' ideas; classmates will form teams of their choosing to explore a specific country and investigate an idea's viability. Students must come in willing to be team players and do the work necessary to complete this exercise over the full quarter. Teams of AT LEAST 3 STUDENTS EACH will be formed before the start of class or on the first day of class at the latest so students can decide if they want to enroll. The team will describe, in a final presentation, the challenges and opportunities in their country using the WEF framework. The final presentation 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. Students who would prefer to learn more about this subject in a lecture/case discussion format should also enroll in GSB514, offered in Winter term.

What is sustainability? It is not just about air travel, ocean health or reducing plastic waste. It is about rethinking our role as humans and leaders in this ever-changing world and developing a mindset that leads to positive habits and creates strong relationships to nurture our planet. In a world where success is frequently regarded as a stopping point rather than a stepping stone to future endeavors, this mindset is critical to leading a life of purpose and meaning. In this class we invite you to rethink: - a sustainable self, by moving away from focusing on the short-run win associated with attaining a goal to the longer-term benefits associated with continued improvement after the goal has been achieved thereby sustaining healthy habits. - sustainable connections, by helping people feel they are valued members of a winning team on an inspired mission.n- sustainable planet, in small ways that ripple out small communities and the planet; the hope is to create a culture of shared prosperity. The goal of the class is to facilitate dialogue, knowledge exchange, and collaboration among students and guests to create a sustainable toolkit to cultivate positive habits for our future based on a sense of shared prosperity. Lastly, we'll map out how to use time in ways that will help build sustainable lives (calm mind and healthy body), impactful teams and a beautiful planet, so each of our lives will have meaningful, lasting impact in the world.

The skills and attitudes learned as a graduate business student can (with a bit of coaching) be applied to managing one's life. This course will help students think through the 'brand' they want to have, how to modify a personal 'operating system,' how to set achievable goals, and how to: 1) Summarize one's non financial assets/liabilities, 2) Manage a professional career (or careers), 3) Extend themselves into service, political or educational opportunities, 4) Deal with difficult bosses, unresponsive people, job transitions, 5) Turn around an enterprise, 6) Build durable relationships (professional and personal), 7) Overcome challenges (personal and professional), 8) Manage litigation, conflicts, reversals, 9) Negotiate win-win outcomes, 10) Set MAD goals, establish habits, 11) Add value beyond business goods and services, 12) Help aging parents, siblings, 13) Plan for retirement (money, geography, location, activities), 14) Set up traditions, travel, continuing education, etc. 15) Deal with wealth, gifts to children/others/charity, 16) Manage a non-profit (and any number of other challenges our grads face). The course will involve readings, faculty-led discussions, short papers, in-class exercises and role plays. In addition, GSB alums at various stages of life will return to campus to share their journeys and challenges. The final product will be a confidential 'Life Plan.' The course will be offered on a Pass-Fail basis.

Believe it or not, the "Silicon Valley model" is irrelevant to most businesses. Most companies are not started by MBAs; most startups are not funded by VCs; most employees don't work for tech firms; and most firms don't sell out to other businesses or go public. Rather, the vast majority of companies world-wide are started, funded, owned, and governed by families, and these firms create most of the employment in the global economy. Despite the prominence of family firms, most MBA courses focus on the widely-held or Silicon Valley model of the firm. This course explores the challenges and opportunities faced by family businesses. It is co-taught by Leo Linbeck III, Lecturer since 2005 at the GSB and President and CEO of Aquinas Companies, LLC, and Thomas Brenninkmeijer, a leader in his family business of Cofra Holdings AG. This course is an outlier in a world obsessed with tech startups and venture capital; it is a "Minority Report" from the heart of Silicon Valley. 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 or consulting with a private firm either directly (search funds, management consultants, etc) or indirectly (private equity, etc). (4) Students who are sick of only learning about cool, sexy startups and the geniuses who get rich from them. The course uses a combination of case studies, guest speakers, lectures, movies, projects, and reflections to explore the central ideas of the course, which are likely to appear irrelevant to everyone (save the instructors) but are intended to be informative and entertaining. This is a compressed version of GSBGEN 334.

This twice-a-week, half-quarter workshop will offer techniques and practical in-class exercises for writing better -- better memos, emails, feedback for colleagues, news releases, responses to questions from the media and from interviewers, and opinion pieces. Glenn Kramon, an editor who has helped New York Times reporters win 10 Pulitzer Prizes, will teach the course along with accomplished journalists with expertise in powerful, persuasive writing for business. They will provide not only helpful tips but constructive feedback on students' work. They will also share thoughts on how best to work with the news media.

There is increasing scientific consensus that global warming threatens our world. This course explores how the next generation of leaders can use a combination of forward-looking public policy, political power, and financing new technologies to solve this vexing challenge. The course will integrate public policy and politics with finance and real life cases on companies from Impossible Foods to Tesla. The instructor will bring entrepreneurs, regulatory leaders, elected officials and venture capitalists to class to explain how each of these leaders drive change and discuss what obstacles they must overcome in the process. There will be a heavy emphasis on class participation and students will be asked to apply what they've learned in every aspect of their GSB education, from finance and accounting to marketing and organizational behavior. Students will be asked to make their own case on which new technology, piece of legislation, or regulatory mandate will have the greatest impact on solving global warming and what role they see themselves playing in making change.

Learning from those that shaped the space of impact investing. Exploring the business models that scaled or broke in the effort to scale. The goal is to hone the skills of identifying companies that perform in the long term with an integration of social and environmental impact.

The last few years have created significant educational challenges and opportunities, especially given the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI); there has never been a more pressing and urgent need in our history to foster entrepreneurship in education by leveraging new technologies. This course will help you develop the skills and strategies necessary to effectively create and evaluate educational services and education technology startups, much like educators, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and venture capital investors do. Some questions we will discuss include: How do entrepreneurs, educators, and VCs evaluate and grow successful education and edtech startups? Why do most startups in edtech fail, and what are the critical ingredients for success, especially in today's challenging times? What does it take to get venture capital financing in edtech? Why now? Each week will feature a different entrepreneur as a guest speaker; these leaders hail from a variety of innovative for-profit and non-profit startups. As we hear from the speakers, we'll evaluate all aspects of their invention, particularly in the context of AI, distance learning and hybrid learning ecosystems. A fundamental question we'll explore in this course is how educators and technologists can better collaborate to leverage the scale and impact of technology to improve educational equity and access. This course will be taught in person; attendance at each session is required. The maximum capacity is 50 students. Juniors, Seniors and graduate students of all Stanford schools are welcome. Syllabus can be viewed here: https://monsalve.people.stanford.edu/courses-and-seminars

Effective decision making is a critical skill for political and business leaders. Decisions must be made under pressure and often with incomplete information. George Osborne was Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom in the aftermath of the global economic crisis, and this class will study three of the biggest challenges global economic policy makers faced during this time. Students will gain a framework for how senior leaders approach decision making, and will be given the chance to put this into practice. Each class will include a simulation where students are put in the role of a senior policy maker facing a key decision.

Academics must effectively communicate the importance of their research to a wide range of audiences, including colleagues, students, stakeholders, and the general public, as well as in a variety of contexts, from academic conferences and job talks to one-on-one conversations, news interviews, and social media. This highly interactive course is designed to equip PhD students with the skills to confidently present their research and connect with varied audiences. Students will craft an elevator pitch for academic settings, learn how to document and tell the 'story' of their research, develop both stage and screen presence for live and virtual talks, practice responding to Q&A and research critiques, and prepare for media interviews about their research. This class combines best practices from public speaking with elements from related fields, including the art of improv, the science of communication, and narrative journalism.

This course introduces students to the role of theory-based structural econometric models in i) estimating determinants of behavior from revealed preference data, ii) evaluating counterfactual decisions or policies by firms, organizations and/or the government and iii) assessing identification when using descriptive or "model-free" approaches to inference. It begins with discrete choice models applied in consumer choice contexts, then extends those models to consider state-dependence, forward-looking dynamics and equilibrium peer effects. A focus throughout is the role of heterogeneity for both identification and firm decisions. The class also considers simulation-based estimation and empirical pricing or advertising models. The emphasis is on an intuitive understanding and coding and estimation of entry-level models of consumer behavior.