RSM1160 – Business Ethics
Program: Full-Time MBA
This is a foundational course in decision-making. At The Rotman School of Management, we firmly believe that developing a strong sense of ethical judgment is critical to your future success. The study of business ethics is as much a part of management as finance, economics and accounting. Ethics is an ongoing conversation about the choices we make for ourselves and for others. Some of the most difficult and challenging decisions you will face in the future will involve issues of ethics, values and morality. Your choice will not only impact your organization but may have downstream, second and third order consequences for its stakeholders and society at large. If you can recognize the ethical aspects of these decisions and are willing to wrestle more profoundly with their inherent issues, you will be better prepared to make more comprehensive and informed choices.
Program: Morning and Evening MBA
Businesses operate within a complex environment of legal, ethical and governance-related issues. This course focuses on the role that managers play in not only recognizing these issues, but also in resolving them effectively and efficiently. Ethical behaviour starts with management and an organization built on sound principles serves as a benchmark by which all stakeholder interests are measured. Through “active” case analysis, this course will examine ethical decision making and its connection to the principles of good governance.
RSM1165 – Leveraging Diverse Teams
Program: Full-Time MBA
This course presents an overview of theory and research that shows how people can leverage the advantages of diverse teams, while minimizing the challenges. Moreover, it provides you with an opportunity to practice your team skills through exercises, case discussions, interactive lectures, videos, and assignments. By engaging with the course material, you will gain insight into your own behavior on teams and have the chance for self-development; you will learn how to work more effectively in the study teams you will be part of at Rotman; and, going forward, you will be better equipped to participate in and to lead teams in organizations.
RSM1201 – Fundamentals of Strategic Management
Program: Full-Time MBA
Why do some companies consistently outperform their rivals? Understanding the causes of persistent performance differences between firms is the central objective of scholarly research in strategic management. Maximizing the market value of your firm is the central objective of the strategic manager. RSM1201 is designed to bring these objectives together by equipping you with the most sophisticated and up-to-date research-based explanations on the causes of superior firm performance and empowering you to apply this knowledge to make better strategic decisions in the real world.
RSM1210 – Managerial Economics
Program: Morning and Evening MBA; Full-Time MBA
This class focuses on microeconomics and its applications to managerial decisions. You will deal with demand, costs, perfect competition, game theory, oligopoly, agency theory and imperfect information. Managerial economics is fundamental to finance, marketing, strategy, organizational behavior, and nearly every other field of business. It is therefore directly relevant both to your education at the Rotman School and to your career. After completing the course, you should have the tools to apply economic analysis to virtually every aspect of decision making for business
RSM1211 – Economic Environment of Business
Program: Full-Time MBA
An overriding objective of the course is to develop managerial perspectives on macroeconomic and global issues. Students will develop an understanding of aggregate output and cyclical patterns in GDP as well as factors that determine employment, prices, interest rates, and exchange rates. In an increasingly globalized economy, developments globally are intertwined with these questions and must be considered. Therefore, both national and international macroeconomic factors will be covered. The conduct of fiscal and monetary policy will be discussed and an understanding of the drivers of international trade and capital flows will be developed.
Program: Morning and Evening MBA
An overriding objective of the course is to develop managerial perspectives on macroeconomic and global issues. Students will develop an understanding of aggregate output and cyclical patterns in GDP as well as factors that determine employment, prices, interest rates, and exchange rates. In an increasingly globalized economy, developments globally are intertwined with these questions and must be considered. Therefore, both national and international macroeconomic factors will be covered. The conduct of fiscal and monetary policy will be discussed in the context an open economy, and an understanding of the drivers of international trade and capital flows will be developed. Implications for corporate profitability and risk will be highlighted.
RSM1213 – The Practice of Model-Based Decision Making
Program: Full-Time MBA
The Capstone course is based on two learning objectives. First, this course offers an opportunity to comprehensively apply your managerial decision-making skills in a safe environment. The MBA program is designed to enhance your ability to make effective decisions when facing uncertainty and the Capstone experience is an opportunity to practice those abilities. You will encounter the entire spectrum of managerial problem solving in a real-life context — from problem identification through analysis and insight generation to the presentation of recommendations to senior managers. Second, global trends toward digitization, big data, and data analytics are changing the way managerial teams approach the decision-making process. The Capstone course is designed to provide an opportunity to integrate traditional decision-making processes with data analytics, which is becoming a critical factor in all organizations.
You will work in small teams — task force groups — to address real challenges and opportunities currently facing specific organizations. You will design and execute a decision-process as well as present your ideas to senior managers with the ultimate goal of convincing them to take specific actions.
RSM1215 – Decision Making with Models & Data
Program: Full-Time MBA
This course introduces students to using data and models as inputs to business decisions. The notion that problem solving can be improved by the explicit and systematic use of data and models underpins the content throughout your MBA program.
RSM1220 – Financial Accounting and Reporting: A Global Perspective
Program: Full-Time MBA; Morning and Evening MBA
This course provides an introduction to the financial reporting process and financial statements from a user’s perspective. The course focuses on fundamental accounting concepts and principles. Students will learn how the economic transactions of a firm are reported in the financial statements and related disclosures. The goal of the course is to provide students with a set of skills that can be used to read and analyze financial statements and to prepare students for other financial accounting and reporting courses.
RSM1222 – Managerial Accounting
Program: Full-Time MBA
This course emphasises the usefulness of management accounting information for decision-making. Organisations’ internal information systems provide crucial knowledge and guidance for a range of managerial decisions, such as pricing, production, capital budgeting, and marketing. Thus, it is both an extension and complement to other core courses. Furthermore, it is essential for students to understand how management accounting information is created, produced, and disseminated for internal stakeholders and purposes; as opposed to financial accounting information which is intended for external ones. Students will learn how internal accounting systems serve two key purposes: (a) to provide knowledge necessary for planning and making strategic decisions; and (b) to help motivate and monitor people in organisations.
Program: Morning and Evening MBA
We focus on how managers use accounting information to make economic decisions and how accounting information can be used to control employees’ behaviours. The best way to learn material is to gain experience through problem solving. During the course we will spend a substantial amount of time applying the material covered in this class. As such, we rely considerably on scenarios and cases to motivate class discussion.
RSM1231 – Finance I: Global Markets and Valuation
*Note: RSM1231 – Finance I: Global Markets and Valuation is a pre-requisite to RSM1232 – Finance II: Corporate Finance, and must be successfully completed first
Program: Full-Time MBA
Managers in any corporate function should understand how to value basic financial assets such as bonds, stocks, and options. The course will examine how these assets “”should”” be priced and why their actual prices are sometimes not the same because of institutional factors or market frictions. This course will teach key investment concepts and techniques in the fixed income, equity, and options markets. We will study the optimal construction of combinations (portfolios) of securities with a focus on the trade-off between risk and return.
We will emphasize the concepts of capital markets in a real-world setting using real-world problems and examples from financial markets around the world. Students should be aware that finance is inherently quantitative and that many of the important problems must be attacked by theoretical and mathematical methods. The most important mathematical relationships need to be understood by all general managers, not just finance professionals like investment bankers. Students are forewarned that this course will be analytically rigorous.
Program: Morning and Evening MBA
This course covers introductory finance with a focus on capital markets. The study of capital markets includes the valuation of financial securities, most importantly stocks and bonds. The tradeoff between risk and return is an important aspect. We will also spend time on options, as well as topics such as market efficiency and hedging. Corporate finance, which in many ways is the flip side of capital markets, will be stressed in Finance II in the summer term.
RSM1232 – Finance II: Corporate Finance
Pre-requisite: RSM1231 – Finance I: Global Markets and Valuation
Program: Full-Time MBA
This course introduces students to the different concepts and practices of modern corporate finance. We will cover the investment and financing activities of corporations as well as related topics that are expected as foundations for second year electives in finance. Students will learn about real-world investment decision-making tools, capital structure and capital raising activities, corporate payout policy, mergers and acquisitions, and the role of financial institutions & markets in corporate finance.
Program: Morning and Evening MBA
This is a basic course in corporate (business) finance designed to provide the core skills for more advanced work in finance and to provide the overall context of financial decision‐making. Note although the focus is on corporate finance many of the skills are applicable to all entities ranging from individuals to governments and countries. This is a fast paced‐ course and the assumption is that the material covered by Professor White in RSM1231 is still fresh and need not be reviewed in detail. As in any finance course there will be opportunities to practise Excel spreadsheet modelling skills.
RSM1240 – Operations Management
Program: Full-Time MBA
The term “operations” refers to the processes by which organizations convert inputs (e.g., labor, material, knowledge, equipment) into outputs (goods and/or services) for both internal and external markets. In this broad-spectrum course, we will study how to manage these processes. We will view operations through the framework of business processes and discuss process improvement through the management of capacity, throughput, inventory, lead time and quality. We will consider business processes at various levels, from an individual process to an entire supply chain. Within the context of the course, we will discuss several service and manufacturing examples. However, the emphasis of the course will be on the fundamental ideas, principles and tools that are the basis for managing operations in an organization.
Program: Morning and Evening MBA
The term “operations” refers to the processes by which organizations convert inputs (e.g., labor, material, knowledge, equipment) into outputs (goods and/or services) for both internal and external markets. In this broad-spectrum course we will study how to manage these processes. We will study how different business strategies require different operational capabilities and how different operational capabilities support different strategies. We will also study tactical and operational decision-making. We will view operations through the framework of business processes and discuss process improvement through the management of capacity, throughput, inventory, lead time and quality. We will consider business processes at various levels, from an individual process to an entire supply chain. Operations management was initially concerned with manufacturing and supply chain operations. But many of the ideas developed have direct application in service operations such as health care, financial services and restaurant/hotel management. Within the context of the course, we will discuss several manufacturing and non-manufacturing environments, however, the emphasis of the course will be on the fundamental ideas, principles and tools that are the basis for managing operations in an organization.
RSM1250 – Managing Customer Value
Program: Full-Time MBA; Morning and Evening MBA
In this course, we will be taking a strategic approach to marketing. Strategic marketing involves determining which customers your organization should serve, which products and services it should offer them, and how. This course is intended to develop an analytical framework for these decisions. Emphasis will be placed on developing a position in the market place that provides value to customers that is not readily duplicated by competitors.
This course is focused on establishing a framework for creating and managing customer value, and emphasizing the key linkage between customer value and firm value in the long run. The act of managing customer value has several key components. First, it is critical to understand and articulate what customer value is, and how it can be created by the positioning of products and services. Second, it is important to relate this to customer behaviour and specific customer-related actions that the 2 organization can take in order to create and manage value over time. Third, it is important to analyze customer needs in the relevant market context. Finally, it is necessary to apply these ideas in a changing marketplace.
RSM1260 – Leading People in Organizations
Program: Full-Time MBA
This course provides an overview of theory and research on understanding the behaviour of individuals and groups in modern organizations. Through exercises, case discussions, lectures, videos, and assignments, the course will provide you with the opportunity to learn and practice these skills. If you make an effort to learn in this course and familiarize yourself with systematic and scientific knowledge about the psychology of organizational life, you will have an advantage over others who lack this knowledge. This is why executives come back to take courses about leading people more than they do for any other topic: because it is difficult and challenging, and few really know how to do it well.
Program: Morning and Evening MBA
The most rewarding, stressful, and important aspect of organizational life is working with other people. The ability to understand and manage interactions with others is crucial to the rise of an individual’s career and to the functioning of an organization. In organizations, the consequences of “people problems” are often disastrous. The art of working with and leading people involves a myriad of skills, including the abilities to create and sustain motivation, use effective influence tactics, evaluate people and information accurately, communicate effectively, make high quality decisions individually and with others, and manage work teams.
This course provides an overview of theory and research on understanding the behaviour of individuals and groups in modern organizations. Through exercises, case discussions, lectures, videos, and assignments, the course provides you with the opportunity to learn and practice these skills. If you make an effort to learn in this course and familiarize yourself with systematic and scientific knowledge about the psychology of organizational life, you will have an advantage over others who lack this knowledge. This is why executives come back to take courses on leading people more than they do for any other topic: because it is difficult and challenging, and few really know how to do it well.
RSM1282 – Statistics for Management
Program: Full-Time MBA
Today’s managers need to understand data in order to make effective decisions. This course emphasizes the usefulness of data to a variety of business problems. It covers a variety of statistical tools including correlation, inference, and prediction, with an emphasis on regression analysis. This is not a course in “pure” statistics but rather about understanding and effectively using statistical methods and models for managerial decision making. It draws on real life examples and our own experience to provide students with the ability to use data to inform decisions. Building on what you have learned in the Foundations term, we emphasize the difference between what the data say and what the data mean. The objective is for students to leave this course with a better/ an improved understanding of what statistics can (and cannot) do to help their business.
RSM1380 – Applied Management: Placement
OR
RSM1381 – Applied Management: Independent Study
Program: Full-Time MBA
This course constitutes the formal connection between the foundational academic knowledge acquired during core curriculum courses, the professional managerial environment, and the professional growth that students aim to achieve in the managerial environment during their initial professional placement in the program. There are two main components of the course:
- Students reflect on their own professional situation in the context of their placement organization – and endeavor to improve it. This exercise is structured and purposeful. It results in the construction of a framework and learning of tools and practices that support continuing development as a manager.
- Students observe and analyze the business circumstances and practices of their organization, and they connect these observations and analyses to what they learned in Rotman core courses. This exercise is structured and analytical. It results in a plan to improve the student’s value to the organization through knowledge and skills.
RSM2622 – Leadership Development Practicum
*Previously RSM1365
Program: Morning and Evening MBA
The focus of this course is the integration of students’ insights and learnings from MBA offerings and concurrent professional experiences into the effective development of their own leadership disciplines and practices that drive their desired leadership outcomes.
The format of the course will include individual, small and large group work, reflection and awareness exercises, as well as action and experiential learning through immersive simulations. We will leverage many of the curricular and co-curricular professional development offerings available to you as a part of the MBA Programme, including but not limited to SDL mastery sessions, Project Team sessions, 360 degree feedback, peer feedback and personal coaching.
This course is spread across the entire 32 month MBA journey, and should be seen as a ‘red-thread’ through all MBA academic offerings, as well as the students’ concurrent professional experiences. Student learning in this course is not constrained to the limited number of course hours. Rather, the course hours are meant to provide periodic check-ins on developmental progress, as well as carefully designed integration exercises and mechanisms for all the students are learning at school and at work.
The focus of this course is the integration of students’ insights and learnings from MBA offerings and concurrent professional experiences into the effective development of their own leadership disciplines and practices that drive their desired leadership outcomes. The format of the course will include individual, small and large group work, reflection and awareness exercises, as well as action and experiential learning through immersive simulations. We will leverage many of the curricular and co-curricular professional development offerings available to you as a part of the MBA Programme, including but not limited to SDL mastery sessions, Project Team sessions, 360 degree feedback, peer feedback and personal coaching.