Core Courses

Microeconomics is concerned with the behavior of individual consumers and individual firms, acting and interacting in markets and in industry group. The course covers basic topics in intermediate microeconomics. The main objective is to present a set of concepts and analytical techniques that are vital to microeconomic analysis.

This course provides the fundamental methods of statistical analysis. The course introduces the key issues and ideas in statistical inference with the aim that MBA students will grasp the potential of statistics as an essential tool for assisting managers in the process of decision-making. The course will begin with a focus on the basic elements of exploratory and qualitative data analysis followed by thorough introduction to various methods of statistical inference. With this as a foundation, it will proceed to explore the use of a key statistical methodology known as regression analysis for solving business problems, such as the prediction of future sales and the response of the market to price changes. The class presentations and tutorials will include examples that will require students to work on either Excel or statistical software such as SPSS or Stata.

This core course deals with the craft of strategy formulation and implementation that drive competitive organizations. The course provides insight into how to identify and choose a superior competitive position, how to analyze a strategic situation, and finally how to create the organizational context to make the chosen strategy work. As such, the objectives of this course are twofold: 1) to explore conceptual frameworks and models which will assist you with analyzing competitive situation and strategic dilemmas and gain insight into strategic management; 2) to help you acquire experience in dealing with strategic issues. 

In this course we will explore basic concepts involved in the effective management of the behavior of individuals and groups in the organization as well as the behavior of organizations as human systems. Time permitting, in our class sessions together we will focus on a dozen or so themes that sample, but do not exhaust, the issues involved in the management of organizational behavior. They are: individual differences at work; decision-making; work motivation and job design; organizational design; politics, culture, and social networks; work groups and teams; creativity and innovation; employee well-being; employee citizenship and counterproductive work behavior; and leadership. My aim is not to have you memorize theories. Rather, it is to demonstrate how scientifically tested theory can be applied to make sense of an infinite number of managerial situations and problems, and in a large number of cases, serve as a basis upon which to generate reasonable and evidence-based solutions.

With innovation and leadership comes responsibility. This course explores the numerous ethical issues faced by managers and organizations, and provides analytical frameworks as well as the latest findings on human behavior to inform ethical decisions and strategies. Ethics is an ongoing conversation about human interrelationships, therefore ethics is a substantial part of management as finance, accounting and organizational behavior. Readings involve controversial case studies, insights from experimental psychology and economics, and a brief introduction to some relevant philosophy. Through class exercises, rigorous discussion, and directed personal reflection, you will clarify your own ethical stance, think through ethical dilemmas, practice articulating recommendations compellingly, discover the diversity of ethical viewpoints, and find out how to avoid the social and cognitive pitfalls that come in the way of ethical leadership.

This course considers the subject of value creation from an operations (process) management perspective, where operations are broadly defined as the processes by which firms create and deliver value. Operations Management is concerned with the production and delivery of goods and services. It encompasses the design of products and processes, the planning and execution of production, and acquisition and deployment of resources. Successful crafting and execution of operations strategy can provide organizations with strong and sustainable competitive advantage. This course provides a rigorous introduction to the design and management of business processes; its scope is therefore relevant to all types of organizations.

Information technologies (IT) are fast changing the business of business, and insightful executives of leading companies across the world are increasingly leveraging IT to create value and win competitive advantage. Three major trends are causing executives to rethink the role of IT in their firms. Firstly, two decades of investments in enterprise systems have digitized many key business processes.

Secondly, consumers connecting and collaborating in the online and mobile enabled social graph are leaving a rich data trail that has value for business.

Lastly, the Internet of Everything is now a $14 Trillion industry. The above trends have made the strategic management of IT a complex, but potentially differentiating, core business capability. Thus, as forward-thinking chief executives of tomorrow’s businesses, it is essential that you develop an understanding of these trends and the ability to analyze the strategic and economic aspects of leveraging IT for efficiency, innovation and corporate transformation. The course topics will balance the two opposing forces of efficiency and innovation in the context of a globalized environment for the production and consumption of IT.

The purpose of the financial accounting course is to furnish students with a basic understanding of the financial reporting process (and in particular how financial statements are put together). Although the course principally concentrates on the production of financial statements, the aim is not to turn participants into practicing accountants; the philosophy is rather to provide an appreciation of the production process that is sufficiently detailed to give students the ability to successfully analyze a relatively complex set of financial statements. This ability is essential for courses that deal with the analysis and interpretation of company financial statements in various contexts; additionally, in a number of other core courses and several electives, the ability to extract relevant information from accounting data for the purpose of decision-making is an important skill. 

This course covers the basics of finance. There are two major topics—capital budgeting and the capital asset pricing model. We anticipate that the course will be demanding and rigorous, fatiguing and inspirational. Money is fun and important!

This course discusses the field of Marketing from a managerial standpoint. Over the course of this class the “Marketing Language” will be presented through a survey of basic concepts and basic perceptions of Marketing. These basic concepts and perceptions constitute a foundation for possible expansions and analyses in more advanced courses in the field. Discussion of these concepts will be done with an emphasis on the framework of managerial decision-making, particularly decisions relating to the creation of a "marketing plan."

This course introduces students to the concepts, challenges and tools associated with the creation of a new technology venture. The course explores entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship as well as students’ abilities to review venture opportunities. Business model design methodologies are studied and implemented. The components of an effective NTV business plan are reviewed.

The course includes an overview of market structures and concepts which have a strong impact on a wide variety of currentday technology ventures; including: Networks and Network Externalities, Two-Sided Markets, the Chasm, the Bowling-Alley and the Tornado; Selling for Free and ‘The Long Tail.’ Incorporation, financing, valuations, venture capital and deal structures are also discussed.

During the course students are expected to apply the discussed frameworks and methodologies to an early stage technology venture. The course is run in collaboration with TheTime (www.thetime.co.il), a technology incubator with a focus on startups in the areas of telecom, internet, media and entertainment. This allows participants to gain a better feeling of the way theory becomes practice.