Building a Scalable Business

• MTWRF 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Instructor: Faculty
  h-index: 37 Info
• 3 points

Business and Climate Change

Climate science informs us that global emissions of greenhouse gas emissions must be rapidly and dramatically reduced if humanity is to avoid catastrophic climate change. After three centuries of rising emissions, the entire global economy must now decarbonize in the coming three decades. Fortunately, most of the technologies and investment capital necessary to reduce and eventually eliminate emissions exist or are in development, but the urgency to implement those solutions is critical.
This course provides an overview of climate change, its effects on business, and how businesses can (and should) respond. The course covers emissions sources and their impact on climate change, followed by an exploration of the policy landscape, including current legislation, carbon markets, and climate justice. The course then evaluates current and evolving mitigation technologies, reviews the tools of climate finance, and considers strategies for reducing emissions to net zero. Finally, the course introduces the role of businesses in addressing climate change, including net-zero goals, actions they can take to mitigate their impact, and the perspectives of shareholders.
Throughout the course, the business case for climate action is emphasized, highlighting the economic benefits of taking action to address climate change.

• R 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
• M 9 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
• Instructor: Bruce M Usher
  Info
• Instructor: Gernot Wagner
  Wikipedia Info
• Instructor: Parinitha R Sastry
  Info
• 1.5 points

Global Immersion Tech in Africa: Innova

This immersive course explores the dynamic tech landscape of Africa, with a special focus on Nairobi, Kenya. Known as "Silicon Savannah," Nairobi has emerged as a leading hub for innovation, startups, and technological advancement on the continent. The city is renowned for its vibrant tech ecosystem, which includes pioneering initiatives like M-Pesa, the revolutionary mobile money transfer service that has transformed financial inclusion across Africa.

Throughout the course, we will delve into various facets of the African tech scene. We will learn about the historical evolution of technology in Africa and how Nairobi has become a pivotal center for tech innovation. The course will cover a broad spectrum of sectors where technology is making a significant impact, such as financial technology (FinTech), agriculture technology (AgriTech), healthcare technology (HealthTech), and educational technology (EdTech).

The class will compose of a mixture of lectures that provide theoretical foundations and case studies and guest lectures from industry leaders. The in-country portion will have visits to tech hubs, startups, and multinational companies. M-Pesa will not only serves as a case study in the transformative power of mobile technology but also illustrates how African solutions can lead the way in global tech innovation.

The course also aims to address the unique challenges faced by tech startups in Africa, such as regulatory hurdles, infrastructure limitations, and cultural factors affecting tech adoption. The class will allow students to identify and analyze these challenges while exploring the abundant opportunities within the African tech market.

• T 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
• Instructor: Stephan Meier
  h-index: 33 Info
• 3 points

Global Immersion: Consulting and Advisin

GIP: Family Enterprises I

Family enterprises are the most prevalent form of organization worldwide, yet they are also the most complex. Advisors must navigate business-related challenges, ownership issues, and the evolving dynamics of growing families. With an expected transition of $180 trillion in the next decade and $70 trillion already underway, family enterprises are increasingly attractive clients for advisors.

Many advisors mistakenly equate years of practice with competence, overlooking the need for specialized training in family enterprises. Research highlights a troubling misalignment: while family firms prioritize relational concerns as key drivers of business operations, strategy, decision-making, and work roles, advisors often focus on structural and cognitive aspects. This misalignment can lead to ineffective or even damaging outcomes for both the family and the business.

The primary objectives of this course are to identify and build the skills related to the profession of advising family enterprises to increase the potential for creating long-term value for clients and advisors and to create awareness around the biggest risks and mistakes advisors may encounter while advising family enterprises, exploring the concept of
code of ethics
. This course aims to bridge the gap between advisors' general practices and the specific needs of family enterprises by providing specialized education and firsthand cultural experiences.

As culture plays a significant role in shaping the decision-making process of enterprising families, particularly in terms of individualism and collectivism, this class offers a unique opportunity to explore the profound impact of these factors on the identity of such families. By immersing ourselves in Italy, we will witness collectivism in action, gaining invaluable insights into its influence within families and among advisors. Moreover, this international trip provides a platform to experience firsthand the contrasting dynamics of transactional and relational environments, enhancing our understanding of the multifaceted nature of business relationships.

By the end of this course, participants will have explored and experienced the core of advising family enterprises as a profession, including appreciating specific skills, interpersonal and value-based competencies, and concrete behaviors showing professionalism to be better prepared to appreciate and navigate the complexities of family enterprises.

There will be six 90-minute sessions on campus, foll

• M 10:50 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
• Instructor: Gaia Marchisio
  Info
• 3 points

Global Immersion: Lessons from Rwanda on

Global Immersion: Rwanda

Parts of Africa are now some of the most exciting regions of the world for business. A growing number of African countries have achieved steady, high growth rates during the last few decades. A wide range of sectors in these “lion” economies – commodities, tourism, agribusiness, eCommerce, oil and gas, retail, etc. – are buzzing with activity and attention from foreign investors and multinationals.
But how can companies and investors enter and operate efficiently in African countries? What challenges characterize the private sector in Africa, how do they vary with context, and what strategies can firms and organizations adopt to overcome them? Where can new MBAs interested in Africa add the most value?
Rwanda is a wonderful country to explore and address these questions. In 1994, Rwanda suffered a brutal genocide in which nearly 1 million people were killed in a 3-month period. In the years since the genocide, the country has rebuilt with remarkable results. Rwanda is now one of the safest countries in Africa. Rwandans now live side by side in peace, the country’s economy continues to grow rapidly, and Rwanda has made great strides in reducing poverty and increasing entrepreneurship, education, and access to health care. Further, the country has been praised for its handling of the COVID pandemic. Armed with frameworks and analytical tools from management and economics, we will meet with executives in Rwanda to understand the leadership practices, processes, and structures that have led to Rwanda’s remarkable recovery, reconciliation, current peace, and economic growth.
About the Global Immersion Program
Global Immersion Program classes bridge classroom lessons and business practices in another country. These three credit classes meet for half a term in New York prior to a one week visit to the country of focus where students will meet with business executives and government officials while working on team projects. Upon return from the travel portion of the class, students may have one wrap up meeting at Columbia Business School. The 2023-2024 Global Immersion Program fee for most classes is $1950 and provides students with double occupancy lodging, ground transportation and some meals; unless an increased fee is otherwise specified in the course description. It does not cover round-trip international airfare. Attendance both in New York and in-country and regular participation are a crucial part of the learning experience and as such attendance is mandatory. Stud

• T 10:50 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
• Instructor: Modupe Akinola
  Wikipedia h-index: 19 Info
• 3 points

Global Immersion: Philippines:

The Philippines is Asia’s rising tiger. It is among the world’s fastest-growing economies with average annual growth of 6 to 7% per year. After a dip in GDP growth during 2020 due to Covid, the economic growth rebounded to 7.6% during 2022. Average annual GDP per person has risen dramatically over the past two decades, from below US$ 1,000 per person in 2000 to US$ 3,500 by 2022. Philippines is on track to become one-trillion dollar economy by 2033. The central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, is well managed and follows a sound monetary policy. The long-term prospect for the country is contingent upon improvement in governance, reducing income inequality, tackling corruption and a better regulatory environment. After losing its way for the past few decades, Philippines seems to be on the right path. We will develop a strong foundation in understanding Philippines’ history, economy, industry and competitive position, before we visit the country. The Global Immersion Program is structured to create this depth through readings and classroom discussion.
This course will travel to the Philippines March 9-16, 2024. We will spend March 9-14 in Manila, the Philippine’s business hub and March 14-16 in Boracay, one of the world’s best islands. Global Immersion Program classes bridge classroom lessons and business practices in another country. These three credit classes meet for half a term in New York prior to a one week visit to the country of focus where students will meet with business executives and government officials while working on team projects. Upon return from the travel portion of the class, students will have one wrap up meeting at Columbia Business School. The 2023-2024 Global Immersion Program fee for most classes is $1950 and provides students with double occupancy lodging, ground transportation and some meals; unless an increased fee is otherwise specified in the course description. It does not cover roundtrip international airfare. Attendance both in New York and in-country and regular participation are a crucial part of the learning experience and as such attendance is mandatory. Students who miss the first class meeting may be removed from the course. No program fee refunds will be given after the add/drop period has closed. Please visit the Chazen Institute website to learn more about the Global Immersion Program, and visit the Global Immersion Policies page to review policies affecting these courses.

• M 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
• Instructor: Medini Singh
  Info
• 3 points

Global Immersion South Africa:

In the short span of three decades, South Africa has transformed itself into a consequential economic and political power, with membership in the G20 and BRICS, and a dynamically evolving business ecosystem. This forward-looking course will consider the opportunities created by South Africa’s multiple identities, the lingering implications of its particular history, its current challenges, and its position at the intersection of advanced and emerging global markets.
Through a combination of lectures, guest speakers, group projects, and site visits, students will have the opportunity to develop an intimate understanding of South Africa’s business environment and to extract insights and lessons on creating impact in a range of economic landscapes. The course will delve into crucial issues that include South Africa’s ongoing post-apartheid transformation, the role of natural resources in South Africa’s past and future, developments in the country’s burgeoning new-economy sectors, prospects for innovation and entrepreneurship, and the possibilities created by ever-greater integration with the rest of the African continent. With a focus on climate change, sustainable development, and social responsibility, this course will also look at how South African business has made tangible progress in grappling with this combination of triple-bottom-line imperatives. We will meet with a diverse collection of business, labour, government, and community leaders from a wide range of sectors, industries, and organizations. Meetings will include multinationals that have adapted themselves to South Africa’s specificities and home-grown businesses that are taking South Africa to the world. We will also enjoy some of the rich cultural diversity of this textured, multilingual, multi-ethnic society. The class will travel to Johannesburg and Cape Town during March 9–16, 2024.
Faculty
The course will be led and facilitated by Brett House, a Professor of Professional Practice in the Economics Division at Columbia Business School. In 1994, Prof. House taught economics at the University of Cape Town and worked with the University’s Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU) and the South African Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU). Also that year, Prof. House was a voter educator and election monitor with the Institute for Democratic Alternatives in South Africa (IDASA) during South Africa’s first elections under universal suffrage, which brought the ANC and President Nelson Mandela to power. Since then and

• M 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
• Instructor: Brett House
  Info
• 3 points

Global Immersion: Africa's Consumer Mark

Global Immersion: Ghana

Africa’s consumer market has large potentials. Africa is the world’s second-fastest growing region – after emerging Asia according to the African Development Bank Report. About half of the growth of the continent’s GDP growth is due to consumer-facing industries. 1.3 billion people live in Africa and according to the United Nations, the population is expected to increase to 2.5 billion by 2050. The working-class population in Africa is growing by 2.7 percent each year (compared to 1.3 percent in Latin America and 1.2 percent in Southeast Asia). McKinsey projects that by 2025 two-thirds of the estimated 303 million African households will have discretionary income and consumer spending will reach $2.1 trillion. Not surprisingly, many firms and investors are trying to tap into Africa’s consumer market.
This course aims to train students’ global intelligence, i.e. their understanding of specific cultural aspects of different consumer markets by analyzing the potential and challenges of Africa’s consumer markets – using Ghana as a case study. A West African country with 29 million inhabitants, Ghana was one of the fastest growing countries in the world with 8.1 percent GDP growth in 2017. Unfortunately, the economic outlook is less stellar now, but hopefully the country is getting back on track. Ghana is considered one of the safest and most stable countries in sub-Sahara Africa and the country shares similar demographic and consumer characteristics with its neighbors: About half of income earners are young (between 16 and 34 years old) and aware and eager to try new products.
The students will work in groups on a project with an organization in Ghana that is consumer facing. Through work with the Ghana partner firm and interviews with consumers in Ghana, the students should develop ideas that can be turned into feasible solutions for the Ghana partner firms. The firms in Ghana will come from different industries ranging from a beverage producer to a tech platform facilitating the hiring of African coders. The projects are time-consuming, and students are expected to spend a significant amount of time in NY working on those projects. In-country, students will spend about 2-3 days working in Ghana with the partner firm and prepare a presentation to the leadership of those companies. As a return on their hard work, students will get a truly multicultural immersion experience in Africa working on a project.
The course aims at familiarizing students with interview-based customer

• T 10:50 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
• Instructor: Bruce Kogut
  Wikipedia h-index: 65 Info
• 3 points

Global Immersion: Foundations of VC in J

Global Immersion: FVC in

Learning Objectives:
(1) To understand and experience the process of investing in early stage startups and how that differs between the US and Japan
(a) Sourcing deals from the startup ecosystem
(b) Conducting diligence
(c) Valuing startups
(d) Negotiating term sheets (financial and governance terms)
(e) Managing a portfolio post investment
(2) To understand the investing landscape: players and resources
(3) To understand the structural differences between venture capital and angel investing.
This course covers many of the same topics as Foundations of VC and therefore students will not be able to take them both for credit. The course will travel during spring break March 9-16, 2024 to Tokyo, Japan.

Global Immersion Program classes bridge classroom lessons and business practices in another country. These three credit classes meet for half a term in New York prior to a one week visit to the country of focus where students will meet with business executives and government officials while working on team projects. Upon return from the travel portion of the class, students may have one wrap up meeting at Columbia Business School. The 2023-2024 Global Immersion Program fee for all classes is $1950 and provides students with double occupancy lodging, ground transportation and some meals; unless an increased fee is otherwise specified in the course description. It does not cover roundtrip international airfare. Attendance both in New York and in country and regular participation are a crucial part of the learning experience and as such attendance is mandatory. Students who miss the first class meeting may be removed from the course. No program fee refunds will be given after the add/drop period has closed. Please visit the Chazen Institute website to learn more about the Global Immersion Program, and visit the Global Immersion Policies page to review policies affecting these courses.

• W 2:20 p.m.-3:50 p.m.
• Instructor: Angela W Lee
  Info
• 3 points

Business and Society

Business School offers important windows into the functions of business and into ways of conceptualizing challenges and opportunities. It also offers valuable cross-cutting tools for analysis, decisions, and leadership. But there’s more…: Very successful and admired business leaders think even more fundamentally and broadly about the economic, political, and social context of business decision making. They understand that the ‘corporation’ is a legal and social construct, not just an economic construct. Support for business corporations has not been and is not absolute and requires business leaders to examine the role of their business and business generally in the broader society — business and society. In contemporary language, what is the ‘purpose’ of business? For whom should the corporation be run? Answers to these questions and others shape business, business careers, and attitudes toward business.
Addressing such cross-cutting questions requires that we examine the business corporation and its role in society through multiple perspectives. In particular, we will study business and society through the lenses of the evolving business organization,
finance and investors, employees, corporate governance, privacy and big data, social movements, social justice, and climate change. To accomplish these views, we will draw on leading CBS faculty and their ideas. In each case, we will complement these ideas with the
experience of leading business practitioners as teaching partners. The introductory and closing sessions will feature longer conversations with a business leader on the role of business in society. Conducting the course in this way brings both ‘business and society’
and Columbia Business School’s ‘ideas, talent, and network’ to center stage.
You will also be co-creating this course with the teaching team. Your presence, preparation, and participation are vital to a successful class experience. The syllabus presents questions and readings to get you ready for our class discussion and analysis.
All of us on the teaching team look forward to working with you!

• W 2:20 p.m.-5:35 p.m.
• Instructor: R. Glenn Hubbard
  Wikipedia Info
• 1.5 points

(PHD) Research

• 0 points

(PHD) Independent Study

• 3 points

MS Marketing Internship

• 1.5 points

MS INTERNSHIP

• 1.5 points

Marketing Thesis

• 2 points

MS ACCOUNTING INTERNSHIP

• 1.5 points

PHD INTERNSHIP

• 1.5 points