Global Entrepreneurial Mgmt (MGEM)

An overview of major forces and trends of the world: including but not limited to the economic, political, demographic, and technological forces, and trends in globalized competition and globalized cooperation in business. Of particular interest to this group of students, their deep understanding of such forces and trends should help them to spot meaningful opportunities and threats that would allow fruitful entrepreneurial pursuit.

A broad scale survey of new and emerging technologies, including but not limited to, information and digital technology, material science and nanotechnology, life science and bio-technology, and space technology. To couple with their general understanding and appreciation of these business-opportunity-laden technologies, this group of students should also study different legal protections (or little or no protection) given to patents and other forms of intellectual property in the U.S., in Europe, in Asia, and in the rest of the world. Cases may be used to study how successful companies have managed their creation, protection, exploitation of intellectual property rights globally.

After a tough financial crisis that ended in a very severe economic crisis globally, it makes sense to become well versant in managing the financial assets and liabilities of a company. This includes grasping the complexity of the financial instruments which CFOs now must use in order to maximize the value of a company. Students will deepen their understanding of finance by reviewing Accounting principles, including the introduction of tools and resources to better manage financial issues in the future.

This course focuses on the cultural and ethical aspects of management and business practice. Although EU and other regional and global treaties have reduced many structural barriers, businesses still face various cultural and ethical challenges in different parts of the world. Among other things, this course will expose students to several traditional values systems, such as Christianity, Buddhism, and Confucianism; certain contemporary value systems, such as social welfare system and environmentalism; and social roles of various institutions, such as governments, churches, families, and businesses. This is a foundation course on cross-cultural and ethical issues. A number of functional area courses will expand from this base to address cross-cultural and ethical issues in respective business functional areas.

In this course you will work closely with faculty at IQS as well as with a European company to complete a consulting project, focused on a particular problem identified with the company. This will also include structured time with the faculty sponsor to review the company assignments and with the company, either at their location, or at IQS, working on projects for the company. Successful completion of this course is required by IQS in order to complete the Master in Entrepreneurial Management.

Globalized production and outsourcing have become a norm in business. Assuming these students have already been familiar with general principles and methodologies of operational efficiency and optimization, this course will focus on the challenges associated with country borders. Among other things, this course will examine import/export control, customs inspection and delays, licensing, certification, environmental protection rules, and a whole host of other complications. These factors vary from one country to another and complicates businesses' decision making in their operations management and supply chain management.

This course is designed to inspire and stimulate the entrepreneurial spirit within individuals who are passionate about taking a business idea to market. Business plan is a crucial first step towards the realization of the business venture because a good business plan assists would-be-entrepreneurs to evaluate the marketability and viability of their business ideas and concepts; assists bankers and investors make funding decision based on evaluation of the business plan; and assists business owners assess how well their internal capabilities respond to the demand of the external business environment.

This course will focus on the challenges associated with multiple macro-economic and financial parameters. With multiple currencies and different economic outlooks, businesses still have to develop a series of future cash flow estimates to do capital budgeting. With different costs of capital in different countries, and different risk levels associated with various financial instruments, decision on a global business's capital structure becomes a lot more complex than a pure domestic business. This course will cover all of these aspects of corporate finance.

The course aims to equip potential entrepreneurs with an understanding of the main issues in the management of innovation and technology. It also discusses how technological innovation drives the long-term competitiveness of global organizations. Innovation management, and particularly technological innovation, is inherently uncertain and risky, and most new technologies fail to be transformed into successful products and services. Therefore, the focus of the course is to discuss how firms better manage technology and innovation. Furthermore, the other focus is on critically evaluating the factors for technological innovation, and then developing strategies for managing technological innovations in the competitive global environment.

Not all countries and markets are equally accessible for all businesses. Some countries are more protective than others, some industries are more protected than other industries in certain countries, and some of these protections are more accepted than others under certain bi-lateral or multi-lateral agreements and treaties. Such protections may be in the form of outright ban, quotas, cumbersome application and review processes, local partner requirements, local content requirements, or any other discriminative provisions. This course will examine all sorts of entry barriers in select countries and regions. To counter such barriers, this course will introduce various forms of strategic alliance and partnerships, including but not limited to joint venture, licensing, franchising, management contract, and reciprocal distribution agreement.

This course focuses on applying marketing principles to customer segments in cultural environments other than your own. Studying their needs and preferences, adjusting product attributes to meet their tastes, introducing services that fit their expectations, and other similar customized treatments are effective steps in cross-cultural marketing. Of particular importance, designing and executing a customized and integrated marketing communication program in this context is crucial. As a business expands internationally or penetrates another ethnic consumer segment, promotional messages should be carefully examined and perhaps re-crafted, and communication media be carefully selected to effectively reach the target audience.

This course introduces concepts, tools, methods, and applications of modeling and strategic decision-making in business. Students will develop a working knowledge of quantitative data-driven decision-making approaches. This course is aimed at providing students, as future entrepreneurs and managers, with the set of tools and skills needed to make intelligent and critical use of data in systematic decision making.

Social Entrepreneurship is an emerging and rapidly changing field dedicated to the starting and growing social mission-driven for-profit and nonprofit ventures - that is, organizations that strive to advance social change through innovative solutions. Social Entrepreneurship is more than a set of tools and techniques for starting and growing a social venture. It is a mindset, a way of looking at things that is opportunity focused and creative. It is about passion - doing what you love. It is about creating wealth in all its forms: economic value, social innovation and sustainability, and making a difference in the communities that we serve. This course introduces students to the field of social entrepreneurship-the process of using an entrepreneurial mindset and business skills to create innovative approaches to addressing societal problems. Various concepts and examples of social entrepreneurship (both not-for-profit and for-profit models) are examined through theoretical discussion and case studies.

This course covers a wide range of funding options that support innovative business endeavors. Besides the venture capital model, which is well known for supporting technology innovations in Silicon Valley, this course also examines internal funding sources that support in-house innovation and entrepreneurial endeavors, and the micro-finance model that support entrepreneurial initiatives in rural areas and third world countries. Guests representing both the supplier and the user of the fund in each of these funding models will be invited to give their views.

In this course you will work closely with faculty at LMU as well as with a company located in in Silicon Beach and/or another area, to complete a consulting project, focused on a particular problem identified with the company. This will also include structured time with the faculty sponsor to review the company assignment and with the company, either at their location, or at LMU, working on projects for the company.