ELECTIVE MODULES

This module builds an understanding of the economic and political environment of business in the Asia-Pacific region.  The module begins with politics, culture, and institutions, and continues with international trade and finance.  It then applies these principles to doing business in the region from the viewpoint of both domestic and international businesses. The module will include studies of the major regional economies embedded with discussion of relevant functional themes such as business-government relations, social enterprise, and demography.  The functional themes will vary from year to year.

This course will provide students with the necessary tools and economic frameworks to better understand and analyse macroeconomics issues such as economic growth, unemployment, inflation, business cycles, government budget, trade deficit/surplus and financial crisis. This module emphasizes application of the macroeconomic course and analytical frameworks to real life macroeconomic events in the global economy.

In modern business environments, uncertainty and strategic interdependence among rivals surround competitive conducts and conflict interfaces with mutual dependence. Decision making in such situations requires one to take into account the moves and countermoves to be taken by others This course provides a non-cooperative game theoretic framework for analyzing and predicting behaviors and outcomes in such strategic interactions focusing on economic aspects of business conducts. Both fundamental theory and economic applications will be well balanced with managerial implications. Rounds of in-classroom experiments will be performed as well.

Behavioral Economics combines economic and psychological principles to explain observed economic behaviors that violate the rationality assumption and deviate from standard economic prediction. The goal of the course is to equip students with the theory and framework to understand and identify the inconsistency and bounded rationality in choices and actions in business. Finally, in applying behavioral economics to nudge behavioral change, students will have their first exposure to be the choice architect of a real-life situation.

Managers frequently make decisions based on data. However, identifying cause-and-effect relationships is difficult, and mistakes can be expensive. In this course, you will learn and apply basic econometric tools that are used to obtain causal relationships. Major topics include why regressions (or similar methods) might fail, randomized trials, difference-in-differences, and instrumental variables. A large part of the grade in this course will go towards causal analysis of actual data as if you were economic consultants hired by a firm, critically examining such analyses, and distinguishing high from low quality evaluations of data.

Introducing advanced Business Economics topics to students: International Economics, including international trade, international finance, monetary economics and international political economy.

Independent Study Modules (ISMs) are for students with the requisite background to work closely with an instructor on a well-defined project in the respective specialization areas. Students will be exposed to individual-based research and report-writing while tackling a business issue under the guidance of the instructor.

Students, will do an in-depth structured study/project ranging from detail literature survey on a given topic to conducting evaluation exercises on the efficacies of given business practice, economic policy or strategy.

Advanced Independent Study Course (ISMs) are for senior students who are in the BBA and BBA(Acc) honors programs with the requisite background to work closely with an instructor on a well-defined project in the business economics specialization area. Students will hone their research and report- writing skills while tackling a business issue under the guidance of the instructor.

This course examines the strategic decisions new entrepreneurs take in order to start, finance, and guide their businesses. It will explore strategic frameworks that both successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs undertake in order to operate in dynamic and uncertain competitive landscapes. A major tenet of this course is that experimentation plays a central role in entrepreneurial strategy and that correct strategic responses are not always clear. But through analysis of case studies and discussions with guest speakers we will understand how successful entrepreneurs execute decisions that maintain their competitive advantages.

This interdisciplinary course covers ideas on how value is created — by working collaboratively to capitalise on 21st century trends through disruptive and non-disruptive innovation. In addition to a substantive coverage of innovation frameworks and strategic planning tools, this course explores insights from organisational psychology and neuroscience that are useful for teams to improve cognitive diversity & creativity. Case examples include inspiring innovators & creative teams and industries such as technology, finance, entertainment and service sectors. This course is versatile enough for students who intend to contribute in start-up teams, established organisations, R&D, social enter-prises or community-based initiatives.

This module builds on BSE3703: Econometrics for Business I to present more advanced econometric techniques for business and economic analysis.  The module covers: (i) Methods for estimating non-linear econometric models; (ii) Microeconometric workhorse models; and (iii) Time series and forecasting methods.  The module emphasizes hands-on learning of these models and methods, and application to business and economic data analysis.

This course introduces students to digital strategies. Even though companies have been subject to successive shocks such as the industrial and computing revolutions, technology and innovation management has remained critical for their product strategy, differentiation, and competitiveness. Today, however, digital corporations (such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Alibaba, Uber, Netflix, Bitcoin…) are changing this status quo and revolutionizing business. They have few products but many services, and they connect people to one another. This course introduces students to digital strategies and prepares them to think of innovation in a digital context, and export this to their organizations to engage in disruptive transformation.

Advanced Independent Study Modules (ISMs) are for senior students who are in the BBA and BBA(Acc) honours programs with the requisite background to work closely with an instructor on a well-defined project in the business economics specialization area. Students will hone their research and report-writing skills while tackling a business issue under the guidance of the instructor.

Students will acquire research and writing skill. He/she will conduct an academic study into economic issues related to strategies and management of enterprises. The outcome expected for each student is a good academic exercise that contain relevant findings, implications and insights for better business performance. Evidence-based and empirical research will be one of the key outcomes for this module.

Family firms play an important role in all economies, but especially so in Asia, where large family firms often dominate the private sector. This course allows you to understand family firms from the perspective of the owning family, outside professionals working in family firms, business partners, employees of family offices, investors in family firms and policy makers. The topics include strategy, growth, ownership, innovation, governance, professionalisation, and succession patterns in family firms, as well as an investor and policy perspective. The course is open to students from all NUS faculties and to exchange students interested in understanding business in Asia. For students from business families or entrepreneurs building their own firms this course will be particularly relevant as it will provide the knowledge to run and sustain family businesses for generations. For other students, the course will be useful no matter which career you pursue, as you will most likely work with family firms either as your employers, clients, suppliers, or partners.

A key challenge for Singapore and other developed economies is to sustain economic growth. Growth can be based on working harder (more labour, more investment, more resources) or working smarter (raising productivity). Innovation contributes to working smarter — getting more from the same resources.

This module introduces recent research in productivity, innovation, and entrepreneurship, focusing on implications for economic policy and business strategy. The module will be highly interactive and apply multiple disciplines including economics, psychology, and management.

Independent Study Modules (ISMs) are for students with the requisite background to work closely with an instructor on a well-defined project in in the area of Innovation and / or Entrepreneurship. Students will be exposed to individual-based research and report-writing while tackling a business issue under the guidance of the instructor.

The course introduces students to the development of industrial relations and labour laws in Singapore. Students can thus understand why labour relations are the way they are in Singapore. In addition, the course is not purely historical. A substantial part of the course is also aimed at looking at the current legal problems faced by employees and employers in Singapore. This course will be of general relevance to all as students are in all likelihood going to be employees or employers some day.