Strategic Management Undergraduate Courses

Business Analytics allows us to make sense of what we see in the real world by using data and a systematic approach to solve real problems and make business decisions. This course provides the fundamental concepts and methods needed to understand the emerging role of business analytics in organizations. You will learn how to properly plan an analytics strategy, collect data, analyze the data and report findings through visualizations and storytelling. Having a strong understanding of concepts in this course will give you a strong foundation in all the areas that support analytics and will help you to better position yourself for success in the remainder of the Business Analytics major and beyond.

What is leadership? Which types of leadership are more effective? How do you get entire business units, and the people in them, motivated to do what needs to be done? Can leadership make a difference? We’ll ask and answer these questions while seeking to understand the process by which a person who holds responsibility is able to facilitate unit performance.

Communicating for Impact emphasizes effective self-expression: making you better as a writer and speaker so that you can influence others and improve business outcomes. This course will examine your current writing and speaking abilities, provide you with a clear sense of marketplace standards, and give you the tools to improve your writing and speaking. To achieve these objectives, you will read (and we will discuss) textbook chapters about management communication, case studies about authentic business problems, and other current readings. You will write a number of typical business documents, researching business issues. You will work alone, as well as with others on a writing team, and deliver business presentations. Finally, to achieve the goal of becoming a better writer, you will be tested on the communication process through exams based on textbook readings and other materials presented in class.

A principal challenge for anyone working with ubiquitous data is communicating results of an analysis to stakeholders. This course teaches students the art of clear, effective, and engaging data presentation with attention to the business necessity of translating complex technical subjects into actionable insights for a lay audience. Students will harness the power of storytelling for the strategic benefit of an organization by turning a raw set of data into a compelling message that resonates with an intended audience.

Just days before Christmas in 1999, Toysrus.com realized that it was not going to be able to fulfill tens of thousands of toy orders that it had promised would arrive before Christmas – even though the inventory was on the shelf! Two days before Christmas, top management decided to issue “We’re Sorry” emails to everyone whose package was not shipped. Is this the business decision you would have made? This class will help develop your “corporate street smarts” to leverage your creative and problem-solving skills. Through hands-on techniques and exercises, you’ll learn how to ask the right questions, gather the right data, and use it to improve your judgment and make better decisions.

Regular: Our planet, our technology, our society, and our businesses are changing faster than ever. In 1836 Nathan Rothschild, the richest human in the world, died at age 54 from an infection that would be cured today with an antibiotic for less than one dollar. Today’s iPhone has 100,000 times the processing power of the Apollo 11 moon landing guidance computer. Our world is progressing, but with that progress comes disruption, dissolution, and obsolescence. The Futuring course prepares students for a rapidly changing world by analyzing major trends and issues impacting business and society in the future. Participants are exposed to a variety of futuring tools and methods employed by professional futurists and strategists. These are applied in a semester-long team project exploring a phenomenon of change of their choosing. Through a process of scenario planning, students cultivate a foresight mindset to examine key uncertainties and create alternative futures. Insights on emerging opportunities are developed along with recommendations on how business can positively influence future change and create resilient strategies to enable success in an uncertain future.

Honors: This section is an honors section and satisfies requirements in the Business Scholars program. Our planet, our technology, our society, and our businesses are changing faster than ever. In 1836 Nathan Rothschild, the richest human in the world, died at age 54 from an infection that would be cured today with an antibiotic for less than one dollar. Today’s iPhone has 100,000 times the processing power of the Apollo 11 moon landing guidance computer. Our world is progressing, but with that progress comes disruption, dissolution, and obsolescence. The Futuring course prepares students for a rapidly changing world by analyzing major trends and issues impacting business and society in the future. Participants are exposed to a variety of futuring tools and methods employed by professional futurists and strategists. The accelerated nature of the course allows one to introduce advanced readings from futuring scholars covering topics such as speculative design and causal layered analysis. These are applied in a semester-long team project exploring a phenomenon of change of their choosing. Through a process of scenario planning, students cultivate a foresight mindset to examine in great depth key uncertainties and create alternative futures. Insights on emerging opportunities are developed along with recommendations on how business can positively influence future change and create resilient strategies to enable success in an uncertain future. Additional honors requirements include: greater utilization of peer-reviewed academic research and explicit incorporation of moral implications.

As the challenges and opportunities facing society and businesses grow more complex, and as stakeholders grow more diverse, organizations are increasingly seeking innovative ways to create and capture value. In this course we will explore organization-centered methods of innovation while gaining proficiency in human-centered methods of innovation through an approach known as “design thinking”. Students will work in teams and consult with a client throughout the semester to apply design thinking – a systematic application of ethnographical research, ideation, prototyping, and customer co-creation – to develop innovations grounded in the client user’s current and future needs.

Some of the most dynamic and successful businesses are aspiring to a “double” or “triple bottom line”: profitability, beneficial human impact, and environmental sustainability. This course exposes students to a new and growing trend in leadership, venture creation, product design, and service delivery which uses the basic entrepreneurial template to transform the landscape of both for-profit and not-for-profit ventures.

Design Thinking is grounded in immersing yourself in the challenge at hand to gain empathy for the user. The Innovation & Design Immersion will give students the opportunity to travel to the client sight to conduct ethnographic research and to test and iterate prototypes.

In Applied Impact Consulting (AIC) students work directly with the client to scope projects, manage deliverables, implement solutions, and measure impact. Working as global consultants, students will hone their skills at team building, project management, communication, human-centered design, business model development, and project measurement. Ultimately you will be a part of the team building out an Impact Portfolio to highlight the global impact we as a university are having on the world’s most pressing problems. At the end of the semester, teams formally present their projects to an advisory board in an effort to secure any additional funding needed for sustainable implementation. In addition to managing a live consulting project, participants have the opportunity to engage with a number of industry experts both in the classroom and during the class immersions – both domestically and internationally. Students are given first priority for traveling (if they want to travel – travel is not required) as a part of the Innovation & Design Immersion course (MGTO 35310). Students can elect to participate as a team lead (3-credits) or in an analyst role (1.5-credits).

Applied Impact Consulting is an intensive, 6-credit course that requires extensive client engagement and an immersive travel experience beyond the classroom. Students work directly with the client to scope projects, manage deliverables, implement sustainable solutions, and measure impact. Working as global consultants, students will hone their skills at team building, project management, communication, human-centered design, business model development, and project measurement. Ultimately you will be a part of the team building out an Impact Portfolio to highlight the global impact we as a university are having on the world’s most pressing problems. At the end of the semester, teams formally present their projects to an advisory board in an effort to secure any additional funding needed for sustainable implementation. In addition to managing a live consulting project, participants have the opportunity to engage with a number of industry experts both in the classroom and during the class immersions – both domestically and internationally. In the past students have traveled internationally to Uganda to work directly with a project partner, and to Chicago to work with design thinking firms on their project. Travel expenses are covered by the course. This course is application only.

Some people find joy and fulfillment in their work while others find it unpleasant and barely tolerable. While many people merely speculate on the factors that affect our work lives, we’ll explore solid evidence concerning the key factors that have been found to influence employee attitudes, motivation, and performance. You’ll build awareness of interpersonal dynamics, and gain insights into how to manage the behavior of others more effectively.

Whether you are working for a Fortune 100 company, a dot-com startup, or something in between, it has become increasingly clear that “the people make the place”. We’ll learn how organizations acquire, develop, and maintain high-performing employees. We’ll examine HR systems from a managerial point of view to help you become informed consumers of practices that affect the quality of life in an organization. This should help you manage your own career and provide useful skills as you progress beyond your initial job placement.

Crisis communication is the process of “verbal, visual, and/or written interaction between the organization and its publics (often through the news media) prior to, during, and after the negative occurrence.” Organized by the pre-, during, and post-crisis phases, this course explores the strategies for communicating with various stakeholders and the dynamics of managing a crisis in a digital communication era with an integrated crisis communication plan. Students will examine major scholars and crisis resources, and document their understanding of crisis communication through writing assignments and a crisis simulation. Students will recognize the major concepts and theories of crisis communication, be able to list 3-5 scholars relevant to crisis communication, identify best practices for writing crisis messages, and articulate the meaning and practice of crisis communication for various crisis events.

There is nothing more important than a well-lived life full of meaning and purpose. But how do you ensure you are following your right path? Using the principles of design thinking, students will will embark on an intentional journey of understanding where they are, how to uncover new opportunities, how to test those ideas, and how to ultimately design your ideal journey forward.

International business is conducted with and through people from various cultural backgrounds. Cultural differences, if not understood and bridged, can be significant barriers to the implementation and success of a business venture. We’ll learn how to conduct business across borders and cultures by focusing on the cultural, political, economic and legal environments in which multinational corporations (MNCs) operate.

This course will explore issues, ideas, and trends likely to affect business and society over the next decade. A series of lectures on selected days throughout the semester will feature a wide range of experts on economic demography, biotechnology, religious fundamentalism, oil and peace, futurism and work, natural resources, and more. No examinations or graded assignments. Students must attend all lectures; no unexcused absences. ***This course can be taken more than once, but business students are advised that it can only count once toward the BBA degree.***

The idea that people of religious faith ought to bring their religious values into the workplace, that these values ought to influence the quality of life and important decisions in business, is the premise of this course. Yet what is a good business leader and how does he or she contribute to the common good? How is work spirituality rooted in religion and can it be dissociated from it? What does it mean to say that business is a vocation? What is the Christian understanding of work? What are potential areas of tension in the business world for a person consciously living a spirituality of work? These and other questions are the focus of this course.

The course focuses on issues and challenges faced by business entities comprising the largest and most important segment of our economy – energy. Large, integrated oil and gas producers will be highlighted as well as power generators and transmission companies (primarily regulated oil and gas utilities) and producers of alternative fuels. Energy efficiency and related smart grid initiatives will be explored. The course is a requirement for students choosing the Energy Studies Minor.

This course will use Food and Beverage and Agriculture industries to unpack a wide range of topics to provide a broader view and understanding of the sustainability challenges faced by the companies today, the innovative approaches to address sustainability as they work toward future sustainability goals, and how companies make short/mid/long term business decisions as they strive to make sustainability a part of the company’s values and long-term strategy. A deep dive into the consumer evolving mindset toward sustainability will expose consumer motivations, needs, and “demands” the consumers place on the business and how business can effectively communicate their commitments, track the progress, and communicate back to the consumer to gain their trust.

Effective, ethical business leadership in a global context requires the ability to understand and synthesize inputs from a variety of sources, to discern information from multiple, often conflicting perspectives, and to communicate complex data and information clearly and persuasively to diverse stakeholders. Through reading and writing, discussion, and engagement with classmates and outside experts including international faculty, students will examine the intersections of sustainability and global business, with a focus on the role of business decision making and action in the interrelated areas of sustainable environmental and social impact. The topic is more salient than ever, as communities around the globe ask whether the pandemic and related economic crisis will prompt a new vision for society that focuses on justice and sustainability, or will simply continue to exacerbate existing inequities. The course complements courses on campus that address sustainable development, but differs in its focus on mainstream companies in advanced economies, and their engagement with community stakeholders. Through written work, reading, and exploration of key concepts, the students will work toward their culminating assignment, a research paper that presents an informed perspective on a specific topic of their choosing within the course theme.

In today’s interconnected global economy, there is a growing realization that we must restore public trust in business. Integrating environmental, social, and governance issues into corporate management is the overriding purpose of the United Nations Global Compact and its ten principles. This is the heart of the corporate sustainability movement. The objectives of this course are as follows: To introduce the student to the United Nations Global Compact and why its focus on human rights, labor rights, environmental issues, and corruption is so attractive to the many stakeholders of business: To develop the ability to think clearly about how one integrates environmental, social, and governance issues into corporate management: To develop a sensitivity to the moral and ethical values that enable companies to restore public trust in business:To understand how a number of companies are implementing the principles of the Global Compact by examining case studies:To examine and understand the changing role of business in society

As an Integration course, students successfully completing the class will have fulfilled a University core curriculum requirement. Reflecting an integration of key considerations from the disciplines of Economics and Business Ethics, the course allows students the opportunity to examine the complexities of climate change, public policy, environmental and social sustainability, and impacts on global economies and communities. Economics provides the foundation of knowledge of labor market structure, market failures such as externalities, taxation, migration decisions, discrimination, and income inequality measures. The management approach addresses business in practice, and organizational and societal dimensions of effective and ethical business.  Topics include climate change; resilience and its measures; climate change-driven migration around the world and its impacts on labor markets and the business environment; ethical frameworks for guiding business; stakeholder analysis; environmental justice and the disproportionate effects on communities by socio-economic status, race and gender; and regulation and international agreements. Guest speakers and activities from industry will be incorporated.

This course aims to lift the curtain on the sport industry and provide the student with an understanding of the industry from the standpoint of various stakeholders such as College Athletics, Professional Teams & Leagues, Governing Bodies, Brands and Agencies. The student will also be exposed to a variety of sport industry functions such as sales, marketing, sponsorship, licensing, analytics, technology, media, communications and broadcasting. Finally, the course will highlight the important role sport has played throughout history and in the context of modern society as a vehicle for positive change.

Every year, sports publicly provide us with examples of teams that experience success not because of their talent but because of the team’s ability to perform together in a way that makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts. This class will explore and seek to understand what happens on those teams and how leaders across industries can create the “chemistry” that helps the team get “in the zone”. Through intentional practice and reflection, students will develop and enhance the skills needed to lead their teams in the future: self-awareness, empathy and perspective taking, relationship building, and communication.

A focus of this course is the improvement of students’ moral reasoning and ethical decision-making skills so that they can better recognize, confront and resolve ethical issues that arise in sports. Critical thinking and problem-solving skills will be emphasized and strengthened through the study of cases, personal reflection and in-class discussion, and presentation of current ethical issues in sports.

Supervised, professional experience in the field of sports business with intercollegiate athletics or professional sports associations, firms, leagues, organizations, teams or sports business and entertainment companies to gain experience in areas such as sales, marketing, finance, event management, administration, communication, etc. The student will gain hands-on experience in a variety of areas under the supervision of the professor and the experience sponsor. At the culmination of the semester, students will provide a written report and or presentation on the experience.

This course serves as the foundational course for entrepreneurship minors. Students are introduced to competing definitions of entrepreneurship, its history and role in free market enterprise as an engine of economic growth, wealth creation, and improvement of the human condition; entrepreneurial personality traits and skill sets, and the mechanics of bringing a new product or service to market, including innovation and ideation, technology “push” and market “pull,” disruptive business models, and the elements of feasibility analyses and venture plans.

As the challenges and opportunities facing society and businesses grow more complex, and as stakeholders grow more diverse, organizations are increasingly seeking innovative ways to create and capture value.  In this course we will explore organization-centered methods of innovation while gaining proficiency in human-centered methods of innovation through an approach known as “design thinking”.  Design thinking is an iterative problem-solving process centered on understanding users and their unarticulated needs throughout the journey of product/service interactions. Systematic application of ethnographical research, ideation, prototyping, and customer co-creation lead to innovations grounded in human-centered design, applicable for both intra-preneurship (innovating within an organization) and entrepreneurship. Students will apply design thinking methodologies and innovation tools independently and in teams throughout the course of the semester to gain proficiency in innovation and design thinking tools and techniques.

There is nothing more important than a well-lived life full of meaning and purpose. But how do you ensure you are following your right path? Using the principles of design thinking, students will embark on an intentional journey of understanding where they are, how to uncover new opportunities, how to test those ideas, and how to ultimately design your ideal journey forward.

Every new venture needs money and other resources to begin operation. The best source of money depends upon the nature of your idea and its stage of development. We’ll learn when it is best to go to your family and friends and when it is best to go to banks, angel investors, venture capitalists or other funding groups. Of course, you’ll need to know how to position your proposal, how to perform venture valuation and a bit about the theory of entrepreneurial finance. When you finish this course you will know who to approach to “show you the money” for your deal!

This course will teach students about prototyping processes in manufacturing including CNC, 3-D printing, injection molding, woodworking, and vacuum forming. They will engage with the IDEA Center, gaining first-hand experience with the SolidWorks CAD platform and 3-D printing resources for creating models and rendering of physical prototypes. A technical background is not required, but a maker mindset and curiosity for concept development is encouraged.

Some of the most dynamic and successful businesses are aspiring to a “double” or “triple bottom line”: profitability, beneficial human impact, and environmental sustainability. This course exposes students to a new and growing trend in leadership, venture creation, product design, and service delivery which uses the basic entrepreneurial template to transform the landscape of both for-profit and not-for-profit ventures.

The digital prototyping course will empower students with powerful low code/no code capabilities to fuel entrepreneurial concept development and MVP prototyping in the digital space. Students will engage with experts from the Notre Dame IDEA Center to gain first-hand experience in next generation solutions for app and digital platform development. A technical background is not required, but a maker mindset and curiosity for concept development is encouraged.

There is a saying: No idea survives first contact with the market. For entrepreneurs, the pathway to early customer adoption relies on connecting with potential customers to test assumptions and validate product-market fit in ways that are very different from the strategies used by brands that are large and established. With an emphasis on digital marketing strategies, the Go To Market course will provide hands-on experience in designing and testing market strategies that can generate real evidence to validate early assumptions and generate the reactions necessary for entrepreneurial success.

Idea Discovery lives at the fuzzy front end of the entrepreneurial spectrum. It requires creativity and entrepreneurial foresight that enables innovators to, as Steve Jobs once said, “see around corners”. This course is structured as a lab-format experience in which student teams will conduct multiple exploratory “sprints” to uncover emerging opportunity spaces and imagine conceptual solutions that stretch the boundaries of entrepreneurial thinking. Along the way, students will be exposed to a range of creative geniuses including Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Buckminster Fuller, Walt Disney and others.

Digital tools are eliminating ‘start-up’ barriers and giving storytellers more control over their fates. Aspiring news writers or producers no longer need to work their way up in a legacy company, hoping to someday catch their big break. You could manage a YouTube channel with thousands of subscribers from your dorm room. Some of you probably already do. But how do you monetize such ventures? How do you turn a side project or a cool idea into a career? In “Media Entrepreneurship,” we’ll explore how you can combine your passion and skills – skills cultivated as a student of the liberal arts — to capitalize on media’s exciting new frontier.

The purpose of this course is to inform, introduce and (hopefully) inspire you. You will become Informed about computing-based entrepreneurship case studies across a wide variety of areas: computer software, computer hardware, healthcare technologies, databases, web services, data analytics, and more. You will also become informed about different aspects of the entrepreneurship challenge. You will be introduced to guest speakers who are, or who have been, principals in developing technology, founding companies, running companies, selecting technologies for venture capital investment, etc. As a result, you will hopefully be inspired to consider pursuing computing-based entrepreneurship opportunities.

This course focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship of embryonic ideas and scientific breakthroughs and how to move them from the laboratory to the marketplace – from invention to venture. All entrepreneurial case studies will be focused on science-based and high-technology examples, such as nano-science, energy science, drug discovery, medical diagnostics, sophisticated algorithms, green technology, etc. The class is project-based, where students will develop a high technology business plan based on discoveries and inventions of Notre Dame science faculty. Students will have the flexibility to choose from a variety of topics for their final projects in biology, biochemistry, chemistry, mathematics, physics, or medicine. Individual or team projects are possible depending on preference. Does not count as science credit for majors in the College of Science.

Our planet, our technology, our society, and our businesses are changing faster than ever. In 1836 Nathan Rothschild, the richest human in the world, died at age 54 from an infection that would be cured today with an antibiotic for less than one dollar. Today’s iPhone has 100,000 times the processing power of the Apollo 11 moon landing guidance computer. Our world is progressing, but with that progress comes disruption, dissolution, and obsolescence. The Futuring course prepares students for a rapidly changing world by analyzing major trends and issues impacting business and society in the future. Participants are exposed to a variety of futuring tools and methods employed by professional futurists and strategists. These are applied in a semester-long team project exploring a phenomenon of change of their choosing. Through a process of scenario planning, students cultivate a foresight mindset to examine key uncertainties and create alternative futures. Insights on emerging opportunities are developed along with recommendations on how business can positively influence future change and create resilient strategies to enable success in an uncertain future.

A principal challenge for anyone working with ubiquitous data is communicating results of an analysis to stakeholders. This course teaches students the art of clear, effective, and engaging data presentation with attention to the business necessity of translating complex technical subjects into actionable insights for a lay audience. Students will harness the power of storytelling for the strategic benefit of an organization by turning a raw set of data into a compelling message that resonates with an intended audience.

Alright, so you think you have an idea for a new venture and are looking to explore the path towards launch. This course will give aspiring founders a first-hand experience in building from an idea into a viable business venture, using the proven best practices used by some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs. We’ll learn the first steps one should take that will lead to a successful launch rather than frustration and failure. In this course you will work as a team to define an idea for serving an emerging or unmet market need, work to create and validate a solution to serve this opportunity, and create a business model to justify the investment of resources necessary to launch the venture. Teams will pitch their progress at regular intervals to seasoned professional entrepreneurs and receive direct feedback on the business model fit and viability of the venture. When you finish the course you’ll better understand the discovery and validation steps that can lead to successful venture launch.