Statistics
This course introduces the basic statistical techniques required in the business decision making. Examples in the areas of Finance, Marketing and Management will be used to illustrate the techniques taught. Emphasis will be more on the concept than the theory. The Microsoft Excel package will be used throughout the whole course.
Managing Operations
An introduction to Managing Operations: problems encountered in managing the making of goods and services, and models and techniques for dealing with these problems. The emphasis is on developing analytic insights into a few central models that have proved their usefulness in practice. The ability to develop approximate models for complex situations and to estimate the cost of the approximation is stresses. The strategic issues involved in operations management will also be highlighted. Examples of topics covered include short-term demand forecasting, aggregate production planning, inventory planning and control, assembly line balancing, job shop scheduling, project planning, facility layout, warehouse location, and plant expansion.
Management & Organization
This course is designed to provide the students with a basic understanding of management principles in a modern organization. It will study modern organizational management from four major aspects of planning, organizing, leading and controlling.
Leadership in Organization
This course will examine the various approaches in organizational leadership, with particular focus on those which have received the most attention from leadership scholars and practitioners in the past few years. Trait, behavioural, contingency, charismatic and transformational approaches will be thoroughly analyzed. Through term papers, case studies, lectures, class discussions, experiential exercises, etc., students will be helped to acquire deeper insights into their own leadership styles, and the relationship between leadership and organizational effectiveness.
Marketing Management
This course is devoted to the study of the management of marketing functions, the analysis of external forces affecting marketing decision making, the implementation and control of marketing activities, and an examination of the global impact of marketing. The primary objectives of the course are:
- to expose students to a variety of marketing problems faced by large and small, as well as profit and nonprofit, organizations
- to enable students to identify and analyze marketing issues, and to prepare detailed programs consistent with an organization's financial and managerial resources
- to provide students with an opportunity to conduct in-depth analyses of marketing opportunities and problems, and to design realistic strategies for implementation
- to enable students to recognize planning needs ,and how component strategies should be developed and synthesized in a cohesive marketing program
Advanced Business Communication
The course Advanced Business Communication has been inspired both by current theories of language acquisition and by the requirements of the course participants. The theories, which underpin the course, are that in order to develop linguistic ability, learners have to notice language in context. In addition, that at this level of language, learners need to develop a flexibility with regard to English in order to transfer skills from the first language and from general English to Business English. Finally that in order to use language, learners must integrate and practise all the skills often.The course participants are all adult learners of English of at least an intermediate proficiency in General English. These learners wish to develop their language for use in the specific contexts of business. They have a secondary purpose in that their English must also accommodate the academic study of business theory.
Thus these two strands of theories of language learning and learner requirement have led to the development of a course that is structured thematically so that each unit centres on a different of interest to students of international business. In this way teaching will highlight the specific lexis of business. There will be many opportunities for participants to engage in speaking activities in simulated business situations in the classroom. Furthermore, skills will be integrated through the use of reading and listening material and in the completion of weekly writing tasks.
Corporate Strategy
This course focuses on the work of top management in business organisations. The primary perspective adopted is that of the general manager at the head of a business entity -- the corporation, business, division or plant -- whose main responsibility is the overall success of his or her organisation. The course concentrates on the skills and actions required of the general manager for the development, communication and implementation of strategic organisational choices in the context of complex business situations.
Two related areas comprise the core of the course. The first, strategy formulation, address the goals and objectives of the course, and the means by which these goals and objectives are to be achieved. The second area, strategy implementation, concentrates on how the general manager deploys the organization's resources to implement, control and improve the formulated strategy.
In order to capture the pragmatic, action oriented nature of the general manager's tasks and the complexity of the environment in which he or she operates, part of the course is taught through the case method. In addition, students will be exposed to a range of practitioner or theoretical readings on the subject. Major areas to be covered:
Firm objectives and goals; the concept of strategy; basic industry analysis, generic strategies; firm competencies; corporate strategy and diversification; environmental analysis; strategy and structure; strategy, culture and organisation; strategic leadership; organisational learning; and stakeholder analysis and corporate ethics.
Asia Pacific Business
This course explores the impact of globalisation and modernization on Asian economies. Models of economic development, international trade, foreign direct investment and global multilateral institutions are discussed in the context of their impact on Asia. Patterns of economic development and political and social change in different Asian countries are compared and studied. Modernizing in a globalised world system with simultaneous introductions to both the industrial and information age, presents Asia with challenges that are quite different from those experienced by Europe and the US in a much narrower world-order.
Managerial Economics
This course is about application of basic economic principles to address issues that are important to managers and firms in a competitive and uncertain business environment. In this course, you will learn concepts and tools that are useful to managerial decision-making. As you go through the course, you learn analytical techniques for analyzing a competitive situation Gradually,you can develop skills for identifying managerial issues, formulating alternative plans of action, and making sound business decisions
Quantitative Methods in Management Science
This course includes basic descriptive statistics, statistical inference (estimation and test) and applied statistical methods such as analysis of variance (ANOVA), linear regression and contingency table analysis. It is also included how to use computer software (Excel, SPSS) to analyze data and make inference.
Financial Accounting
This course is for first year MBA students who have not taken a college-level financial accounting class before. It starts with an introduction to accounting concepts and principles, their economic relevance and consequences, and the financial statement and annual reports. It then proceeds to describe the accounting cycle and elaborate on procedures to account for cash and receivables, inventory, fixed assets, liabilities, and stockholders equity. A lecture on financial statement analyses is included at the end of the semester to demonstrate how to use accounting information for performance evaluation and decision making. While the primary emphasis of the textbook is on U.S. practice, financial accounting and reporting practice in China will also be discussed from time to time throughout the semester and as the main theme of the last session of this course.
Financial Management
This course introduces basic concepts and principles of financial management for corporations. Specifically, it presents fundamentals of financial decisions of corporations, including both investment decisions and financing decisions. In investment decisions of corporations, valuation of investment, risk and return will be discussed. In financing decisions, financial market efficiency, capital structure and options are addressed. For better grasp of theories and applications, students will be exposed to a variety of applied cases and problems.
China In Transition: Economy, Politics & Society
One of the China themed courses conducted by the best faculty in PKU on topics that deal with the history and economy of china, particularly in the financial and banking system. Note that these top lecturers include big names like Prof Li Yining and Zhang Weiying who reformed the monetary system and stock market in China.
Business Chinese
For other information on courses in PKU, click here