MBA PROGRAMME - CURRICULUM DETAILS

1st Year

Business Communication

Objective: This course builds the basic foundation in oral and written communication skills while developing the art of reading and listening essential for managerial decision-making. Inter-personal communication, negotiation and persuasion skills are developed. The ability to prepare business documents, technical papers and organizational correspondence would be honed using various case studies, exercises, role plays and group assignments.

Content: *Introduction to communication *Barriers to communication *Tools for communication *Formulating, editing and receiving business messages *Communication for persuasion *Negotiation process *Conduct and participation in meetings *Interviews *Making effective oral presentations *Public speaking *Nonverbal communication *Methods of case analysis *Research for documentation *New technologies in communication.

Economic Analysis — Micro

Objective: The objective of this course is to acquaint the students with basic concepts and techniques of microeconomic analysis and their applications to managerial decision-making. Microeconomic analysis explains the behaviors of individual decision-making units such as business firms and consumers. The emphasis is on elucidating how the tools of standard price theory can be employed to formulate a decision problem, establish a decision criterion, generate some of the information required to evaluate the alternative courses of action and finally choose among the alternatives.

Content: *Consumer Behavior and Demand Analysis,* Production Decisions and Cost-Output Relationship, *Pricing under Alternative Market Structure,* Course on Independent Study.

Financial Management

Objective: This course introduces the concepts, tools, and applications of finance to today’s corporate world. It intends to enable the students beginning their study of finance to get a feel of the subject, appreciate it and understand its applications in various decision-making situations. The student is expected to attain a strong foundation of the principles of finance at the end of the course.

Content: *The basic principles of finance *Analytical methods for varied problems in financial management *Concepts in valuation, financial statement analysis, financial forecasting, cost of capital and capital expenditure decisions *An overview of working capital management.

Organizational Behavior

OBJECTIVES: An organization does not really accomplish anything on its own. Plans do not accomplish anything either. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Apart from their own personality attributes people’s efforts in an organization is also influenced by the changes in the economic, technological and social conditions. Organizational Behaviour is a field of study that chronicles the ongoing nature of real organizations, behaviour of individuals working in those organizations and the effects of changing contexts on the employees’ behaviour. This course is designed to impart knowledge and understanding of organizations and help students to develop skills in analyzing organizational situations and solving organizational problems professionally.

Content: * Structure and models of organization. * Organizational culture. * Leadership and power. * Interpersonal relationship. * Group dynamics. * Organizational change and development. 

Quantitative Methods in Management I
Objective: The general objective is to develop mathematical and statistical skills to interpret and analyze data pertaining to fundamental areas of management and to formulate and analyze various managerial situations that are encountered in business environment. The course coverage emphasizes applications of statistics and probability theory.

Content: *Using data to convey meaning *Summary of measures to capture data *Concepts in probability *Introduction to probability distribution, random variables and expectation *Sampling and sampling methods *Sampling distribution *Point and interval estimation *Testing of hypothesis *Analysis of variance *Non-parametric methods *Correlation analysis *Regression lines *Multiple regression and correlation.

Self Awareness & Personal Growth

Objective: In the modern, industrialized, so-called civilized and mechanized society with its “high speed”, “killer instinct” culture, sophisticated living styles and ruthless competitions where everyone is competing against every other person, it is increasingly becoming difficult to lead a simple, sane, stress-free, healthy, happy and peaceful life. This mindless rat-race creates a great amount of tension within and without, which leads to tremendous dissatisfaction and frustration, eventually giving rise to human robots, completely drained of all physical, mental and psychic energy, incapable of undistorted perception and therefore right understanding. Personal Growth or Inner Growth is the only real growth that happens, comes about spontaneously and naturally when all the mental and emotional blocks which hinder inward flowering drops through a process of self-study and self-awareness. All this leads to deep observation and learning about one’s self thereby initiating a process of self-inquiry leading to the awakening of inward perception. Through this course the students are also encouraged to explore the possibilities, ways and means that would help the individual to bring out/unfold his or her hidden potentials and creativity and pave the way for an integrated, harmonious and total human growth and development and spiritual flowering.

Content: *Self-Knowledge *Personality, *Individuality, *Emotional Intelligence, *Darshanam, *Three L’s of Life, *Mental/Emotional blocks to inward flowering, *Human being – nature and evolutionary possibilities, *Mind – nature, content and states, *Karma, *Kleshas, *Pancha Koshas, *Stress-understanding and management, *Yoga-misconceptions, history, theory, practice and application, *Concentration and Meditation, *Spirituality-misconceptions and facts, *Cultural Heritage of India, *Health psychology, *Transpersonal psychology, *Human body, *Nutrition and dietetics, *Mysteries of the Universe, *Selected readings from Bhagavad-Gita, Yoga Sutras, Hitopadesha, Thirukkural and other texts, *Life and teachings of sages, seers and awakened beings, *Ayurveda-an overview, *Stories and anecdotes etc.

Economic Analysis — Macro

Objective: This course provides a comprehensive approach for understanding the basic theoretical framework of macroeconomics. The focus is on the study of tools and techniques of macro-economic analysis and their applications. Essentially the application of macro-economic concepts towards economic policy formulation is emphasized.

Content: *Concepts and importance *National income measurement *Consumption, savings and investment *Multiplier theory *Monetary analysis *Macroeconomic policy *Inflation and unemployment *International linkages.

Financial Accounting

Objective: The course objectives are to provide the student with an understanding of those concepts that are fundamental to accounting, to familiarize them in accountancy along with the preparation and presentation of financial records, and introduce the legal framework of the company. This enables the student to gain knowledge in accounting procedures and apply them to practical problem solving.

Content: Conceptual framework of financial accounting *Asset-equity relationships *Accounting records — theory and practice of measurement of business income *Valuation of assets and methods of depreciation *Financial statements and their construction *Introduction to company accounts *GAAP *Financial statement analysis *Cases and problems.

Behavioural Sciences in Management

OBJECTIVES : An organization is a living organism whose basic component is the individual and dealing effectively with these individuals is what management is all about. Therefore, everyone in the workplace needs to understand, predict and influence behaviour in organizational settings. The course on behavioural sciences in management facilitates a better understanding of human nature that is of relevance to the study of individuals in organizational setup. This course is designed to provide students with a foundation for the further study of organizational behaviour and management subjects at a later stage in the degree program.

Content: * Introduction to Organizational Behaviour, Contributing disciplines, Historical perspective. * Personality, Frameworks, Determinants of personality, personality attributes affecting work. * Attitudes, development and change of attitude, work attitudes. * Emotions, emotional intelligence. * Perception, perceptual process, social perception, attribution theory, impression management. * Learning, theories and principles, behaviour modification. * Motivation, content theories, process theories, contemporary theories. *

Quantitative Methods for Management II

Objective: The overall objective of the course is to develop mathematical skills to model and analyze various complex problems that are encountered in the business environment. It will enable the student to understand the importance of identifying and explicitly stating the objectives, assumptions and constraints in the decision making process. The course acquaints the student in the use of mathematical programming, random processes and optimization techniques to problem formulation and decision-making in various functional areas of management. Applications of operations research and simulation techniques are emphasized. This course will help in building and enhancing the student’s skills in looking at a situation in its totality, changing the conditions under which decisions can be made, and examining the effects of these changes with the help of computers. This course is aimed at helping to realize the importance of finding out technically feasible, reliable, behaviorally appropriate and economically viable solutions to any business problem.

Content: *Linear programming — formulation, computer solution, interpretation and applications
*Transportation models, assignment models and transshipment models *Integer programming *Network models — shortest route problem, minimal spanning tree, maximal flow problem *Data envelopment analysis *Project scheduling — PERT & CPM *Considering time-cost trade- off *Introduction to genetic algorithms & neural networks *Inventory models, queuing models *Computer simulation *Markov process *Forecasting *Multi-criteria decision making — goal programming, analytic hierarchy process (AHP).

Fundamentals of IT & Java Programming

Objective: This course is aimed at giving the students an exposure to the fascinating world of information technology(IT). In today’s world, IT and its applications are permeating into more and more facets of human life. A good grounding in the fundamentals of IT will therefore stand the student in good stead in personal and professional life. In addition, programming in Java is also introduced. Programming is aimed to develop a new way of thinking — gaining an in-depth understanding of the problems, dissecting them and then successfully tackling them. Java has been selected as the programming language because of its ever-increasing popularity due to its wide applicability.

Content: *Fundamentals of IT — introduction to the internet and the world wide web (WWW) *Information technology — an overview of what it is and what are its applications *Computer system types, components, digital signals, microprocessors, input/output devices, storage devices etc. *Introduction to software — operating systems, word processing and DTP, spreadsheet and database applications *Foundations of modern networks — overview of different architectures and protocols *Multimedia *IT applications in business *Personal, social and ethical issues in IT *Java Programming — fundamentals of object oriented programming, features of Java *Overview of Java language — program structure, tokens, statements, Java virtual machine, constants, variables and data types, operators and expressions, decision making and looping, classes, objects and methods, arrays strings and vectors, interfaces *Applet programming, graphics programming.

Economic Environment & Policy

Objective: This course aims at providing a managerial understanding of the process of economic policy formulation, and tries to trace the economic policies followed by India since independence on some major areas like industry, labor, finance, banking, exports, imports etc. The current context of globalization is brought in, and attempt is made to critically examine some of the new policy thrusts and their impact on the Indian economy.

Content: *Role of state in economic development *Agricultural policy *Industrial policy *Trade policy *Foreign capital *Financial sector reforms *Structural adjustment programs *Macroeconomic stabilization policy.

Marketing Management

Objective: This course provides a decision-oriented overview of marketing management. The case and lecture materials will cover a diverse range of marketing contexts and product types. Fields activities have been designed to give students firsthand experience in working with real–life marketing situations and applying concepts learnt in class. Students will learn about key marketing concepts such as the role of company, customer and competition and making decisions relating to segmentation, targeting, positioning and the 4 Ps both in-class as well as through the field activities. Students are encouraged to form study groups to study and prepare for class and enjoy the learning process.

Content: *Fundamental of marketing, *Marketing strategy, *Segmentation and Positioning, *Applying STP, *Marketing environment, *Consumer behavior, *Organizational buyer behavior, * Marketing research, * New products, *Marketing: ethics and society.

Human Resource Management

Objective: This course aims at exposing the students to the complete spectrum of activities required for acquisition of the right human resource for an enterprise and their continued development and progress within the organization, until their eventual separation. Since every manager must make use of human resources, the fact that every manager must be in part a personnel manager is stressed. The other dimensions of collective bargaining processes and different models of management-employee relations are also covered in the course.

Content: *Introduction to human resource management (HRM) *Manpower planning *Recruitment, selection and introduction *Training and development *Performance appraisal *Employee discipline *Salary and Wage administration *Grievance handling *Industrial relations system *Industrial relations laws *Government labor policy *Trade unionism *Collective bargaining *Worker’s participation in management *Trends in industrial relations in India.

Cost Management

Objective: This course focuses on costing. Topics covered include cost planning & control, and cost-benefit analysis for decision-making.

Content: *Basic cost terms & concepts *Job-order costing, process costing and hybrid product costing system *Activity-based costing & cost management system *Activity-based management & the new manufacturing environment *Cost behavior and estimation *Cost-volume-profit analysis *Budgeting, profit-planning & control system *Standard costing & performance measures for new manufacturing environment *Flexible budgets and control of overhead cost *Responsibility accounting & income reporting *Investment center & transfer pricing *Decision making -- relevant costs & benefits *Cost analysis & pricing decisions.

Operations Management I

Objective: This course provides an understanding of business operations. The business operating system may be engaged in manufacture or services, and may refer to any of the functional areas of management. Every functional manager is an operations manager. The manager has certain resources, receives inputs, processes inputs utilizing the resources into goods and services and delivers to customer. This course provides the student an insight that business processes are the integrated operation of organizational functions involving optimizing conflicting multiple goals directed at efficient resource utilization and effective customer satisfaction. The course emphasizes that all business procesess must be driven primarily by quality value generation for the customer.

Content: *Conceptual foundations of the value-driven approach to business operations *Decision making for operations *Processes as building blocks of the business system -- process flowanalysis, business process reengineering (BPR) *Technology and human resources management -- learning organization, organizational design, job design, measurement and incentive programs *Total quality management (TQM) -- frameworks and tools, implementing quality systems.

Management Information Systems/UML & Design Patterns in Java

Objective: The revolution in business caused by the Internet and its related technologies demonstrates that information systems and information technology are essential ingredients for the success of today’s inter-networked business enterprise. Therefore as tomorrow’s managers, entrepreneurs, and business professionals, business students must learn how to use and manage a variety of information technologies to revitalize business processes, improve managerial decision making, and gain competitive advantage. This course demonstrates how the Internet, intranets and extranets, and many other information technologies can give a business a strategic technology platform that supports electronic commerce and enterprise collaboration among the inter-networked enterprises in today’s global business environment. This course also gives a conceptual and practical introduction to the subject of design patterns which is recently emerging as a glimmer of hope for supporting development and re-use of semi-finished software architectures called frameworks. Fundamental to any science or engineering discipline is a common vocabulary for expressing its concepts and a language for relating them together. The goal of design patterns within the software community is to create a body of literature that communicates the “best practice” idioms and solutions that object-oriented design experts apply in order to create systems.

Content: *Introduction to information systems in business, need to study information systems, business’s need for information technology *Fundamentals of information systems, solving business problems with information systems, systems approach to problem solving, developing information system solutions *Managerial overview of computer hardware, end-user and enterprise computing, computer peripherals — input, output, and storage technologies *Managerial overview of computer software, application software -- end-user applications, system software, computer system management *Managerial overview of telecommunications, telecommunications and the inter-networked enterprise, technical telecommunications alternatives *Managerial overview of database management, technical foundations of database management, the internet and electronic commerce, intranets and extranets in business, and enterprise collaboration systems *Business information systems, transaction processing systems, information systems for managerial decision support — management information and decision support systems, and artificial intelligence technologies in business *Information systems for strategic advantage, fundamentals of strategic advantage, strategic application and issues in information technology *Managing IT — enterprise and global management, managing information resources and technology, global information technology management, planning for business change with IT and implementing business change with IT *Security & control issues in information systems and ethical & social challenges of IT.
*Basics of UML and object oriented system design *Patterns -- introduction, pattern origins, generative patterns, pattern envy and pattern ethics *Anti-patterns *Kinds of patterns and kinds of design patterns *Elements of a pattern *Gang of four patterns *GRASP patterns of Craig Larman *Qualities of a pattern *Patterns, rules and creativity *Patterns and algorithms *Patterns and frameworks *Pattern languages *Lab exercises for each of the 23 gang of four patterns in Java.

Marketing Management II

Objective: This is the continuation of the second term course in marketing management and focuses on the four elements of the marketing mix, viz., product, price, place and promotion.

Content: *Developing, testing and launching new products and services *Product life-cycle concept *Managing product lines, brands, and packaging *Management of services business *Pricing strategies and programs *Marketing channels *Management of retailing, wholesaling, and distribution system *Promotion mix concept *Advertising *Sales promotion *Direct marketing *Personal selling *Publicity and public relations *Planning, organizing, implementing, evaluating and controlling marketing programs.

Operations Management II

Objective: This is a continuation of the first course in operations management (OM). This course provides the student with a detailed understanding of the system elements to be considered in the design, planning and execution within the OM system.

Content: *Just-in-time (JIT) system -- objectives, tools, applications *Demand management -- forecasting *Product and process innovation -- manufacturing and services *Services delivery, process types *Supply chain management (SCM) -- make/buy analysis, purchasing, value analysis *Operations planning and control -- aggregate planning, master scheduling *Capacity management -- location, size and input-output control *Inventory management -- classical models, inventory control in services *Materials management -- materials requirements planning (MRP), manufacturing resources planning (MRPII) *Shop-floor control (SFC), scheduling services *Global operations management.

Legal Aspects of Business

Objective: This course seeks to provide the student with a basic awareness of the salient features of important legislation which has a bearing on management of business organizations in the country.

Content: *Constitutional and administrative law *Indian judicial system *Law of contract *Law of partnership *Sale of goods act *Tax law *Negotiable instruments *Company law *Law of intellectual property *Consumer protection law *Economic legislation *Law of insurance *Factories act.

Research Methodology

Objective: This course aims at introducing the basic concepts of research methodology. The course develops relevant techniques and skills for identifying problems, hypotheses and information needs. It further discusses how to systematically collect data, analyze and interpret data.

Content: *Problem analysis and definition *Identification of information needs and information sources *Research design *Data collection approaches *Data analysis and interpretation.

2nd Year

Strategic Management I

Objective: The first part of this course intends providing a foundation on the principles of management and strategy, and introduces the concepts of corporate strategy, business strategy and functional strategies. Then environmental appraisal and organizational appraisal to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for a company are introduced. Tools for environment, industry and business analysis, concepts of competitive forces, and their relation to a firm’s goals, and objectives and policies would be introduced. Cases from Indian and international organizations are extensively used for developing analytical and comprehensive skills for strategic planning. The second part of this course first deals with the concepts of competitive advantage, core competence, sustainability and strategy formulation. The course then concentrates on strategy implementation and control, with emphasis on value chain analysis, PLC models, and planning and functional strategy development. The strategic control systems and their uses and corporate governance would also be introduced in the course.

Content: *Principles of management *Introduction to corporate strategy concepts *Environmental appraisal — concepts and methods *Industry analysis of competitive forces *Organizational appraisal *BCG matrix *Multi-factor analysis *Generic strategy alternatives *Strategic choice and decision-making *Competitive advantage *Market power and productivity *Value chain analysis *Strategic choices *Strategic planning *Five dimensions of strategy implementation *Control system *Corporate governance and sustainability.

International Business

Objective: The course provides an introduction to the area of international business. Cross- border trade in goods, services and assets has globalized the world economy. In this regard, the course focuses on national and business procedures and policies to function effectively in a globalized world economy.

Content: *International trade theory and policy *The motives, benefits and costs of foreign direct investment (FDI) *The international financial environment related to international business *Global business operations in the areas of human resources, marketing, and production management.

Economic Environment & Policy

Objective: This course aims at providing a managerial understanding of the process of economic policy formulation, and tries to trace the economic policies followed by India since independence on some major areas like industry, labor, finance, banking, exports, imports etc. The current context of globalization is brought in, and attempt is made to critically examine some of the new policy thrusts and their impact on the Indian economy.

Content: *Role of state in economic development *Agricultural policy *Industrial policy *Trade policy *Foreign capital *Financial sector reforms *Structural adjustment programs
*Macroeconomic stabilization policy.

Management of Environment

Objective: Growing consciousness and concern towards environmental issues and initiatives of corporate bodies, social organizations, and the state intervention led to pro-environmental business development. Eco-friendly processes, products and services, conservation of natural resources have taken center stage in globalisation of economic forces. Developing and maintaining competitiveness in a market economy required managing environmental concerns for global acceptability. In the process, awareness of the role and significance of natural resources and sensitivity to ecological issues became key success factors for a business organization. The present course tries to build these issues into management education and bring in the much-needed “greening of management education.”

Content: *Sensitization of students to environmental issues and concerns and bring the concept of sustainable development to the fore *Skill development in analysis of environmental trends and business opportunities *Developing pro-environment decision making pursuit *Strategy development and implementation in the context of balancing economic, social and environmental objectives *Attitudinal development in creating a managerial mind-set that would help conserve bio-diversity, nature and prevent genetic pollution of ecosystem.

Managerial Values & Business Ethics

Objective: Business ethics and social responsibility lays a knowledge foundation for decision making, helpful to aspiring managers in building pragmatic attitudes translatable into managerial skills relevant to their work environment. Social transformation based on economic development poses a challenge to business managers in balancing economic return with social justice. The course covers human nature, social needs, optimal resource utilization, bio-conservation, economic growth, political manifesto, visionary management and social audit.

Content: *The timeless human values *Business organization and managerial jobs *Managerial values *Cases in value-based management *Business scenario and competitive passion *Ethical imperatives of business *Cases in business ethics *Managerial leadership *Value-based managerial leadership *Social responsibility of business.

ELECTIVE COURSES:

FINANCE:

FI 01: Investment Analysis & Portfolio Management

Objective: This course aims at developing the analytical and interpretative skills in evaluating different investments using published information.

Content: *Construction, selection, evaluation and revision of portfolios *Bonds, options and futures *International diversification

FI 02: Financial Services & Merchant Banking

Objective: To familiarize the participants with the Indian financial services industry and its operations and the merchant banking activities such as raising capital, venture capital, credit rating, non-banking finance company operations, customer finance, leasing, mutual funds, etc.

Content: *Indian financial service industry *Banking and insurance operations *Merchant banking activities *Capital issue *Underwriting *Pricing of issues *Credit rating *Venture capital *Leasing *Mutual funds *Mergers and takeovers *Money market instruments.

FI 03: Management Control Systems

Objective: This course explores various widely accepted approaches to control of organizations. Later the course focus is narrowed to examine particular issues of control encountered in different types of organizations. Systematic methods to deal with organizational and unit level problems are also emphasized. The course enables the student to acquire knowledge, insights and analytical skills in designing and implementing planning and control systems that execute a firm’s strategies.

Content: *The management control process *Goals, strategies and key variables *Responsibility investment centers *Profit centers — its efficiency and effectiveness *Transfer pricing *Budgeting and budgeting control system *Analyzing and reporting financial performance *Special management control situations.

FI 04: Commercial Bank Management

Objective: The objective of the course is to understand the structure, working and current practice of banks.

Content: *Commercial banking *Bank performance *Asset and liability management *Investment banking *Credit management *International banking.

FI 05: International Financial Management

Objective: This course aims at equipping the student with the knowledge of and applications of the theory and techniques of international financial management in the context of globalization of the economy and business.

Content: *International economic scenario *Balance of payment *Balance of trade *Multi-national corporations (MNC) *Foreign exchange markets and instruments *International working capital management *Foreign investment strategies and regulations.

FI 06: Project Appraisal & Financing

Objective: In India, large sums have been spent on various projects both in the public and private sectors that have contributed to our economic growth. Project Appraisal and Financing have hence become very important areas in the quest for growth. This course intends to introduce the student to the various aspects of project planning, financing appraisal and control with particular emphasis on the appraisal practices of financial institutions and on the various avenues of financing available to promoters today.

Content: *Project planning *Objectives and steps in capital budgeting *Levels of decision-making *Strategic planning *Determining the criteria for selection of projects *Portfolio planning tools *Generation of project ideas *Project rating index *Project analysis *Market and demand analysis *Technical analysis *Financial analysis *Project appraisal and selection: Concepts and criteria *Project cash flows *Cost of capital *Appraisal criteria *Economic Life *Risk analysis *CAPM *Social cost-benefit analysis *NPV method * Project financing methods * Determining the financing*Financial institutions *Offshore financing.

FI 07: Corporate Taxation — Direct

Objective: This course aims at providing students with a working knowledge of the various provisions of the Income and Wealth Tax Acts with specific reference to corporate entities. While seeking to explain the changed judicial attitudes on tax-avoidance, the course also stresses the importance of honest compliance as a basic prerequisite for effective corporate functioning.

Content: *Introduction to the schemes of Income and Wealth Tax *Concept of income and expenditure *Concept of deemed income *Taxation of business profits *Set off and carry forward of losses *Deductions allowed under the Income Tax Act to corporate entities *Concept of capital gains *Taxation of capital gains *Taxation of corporate wealth *Foreign collaborations and double taxation avoidance agreements *Concepts of tax evasion and avoidance *Judicial attitudes on tax avoidance.

FI 08: Corporate Taxation — Indirect

Objective: This course aims at providing students with a working knowledge of Central Sales Tax, and Central Excise and Customs Act. Special Attention would be paid to the procedural aspects of the enactment, and the necessity of complying with procedures would be stressed.

Content: *Central Sales Tax Act *Central Excise Act *Customs Act

FI 09: Working Capital Management

Objective: The course aims at providing students with an in-depth coverage of the various aspects of working capital management. While attention would primarily be focused on giving students a management perspective of working capital, due attention would also be given to the perspective of bankers and other lenders of short term funds, in order to provide students with an integrated view of the subject.

Content: *Introduction to working capital management *Cash and marketable securities management *Cash management modules *Accounts receivable management *Inventory management *Source of working capital funds.

FI 10: Options, Futures & other Derivatives

Objective: This course is designed to introduce to the student theoretical and practical aspects of the market for futures, options and other derivatives. The focus will be on the principles of valuation, risk management and practical problem solving.

Content: *Introduction to derivatives *Futures pricing and hedging *Options and option markets *Options pricing models *Interest rate derivatives *Commodity derivatives and risk management.

FI 11: Advanced Financial Management

Objective: The objective of this course is to familiarize the student with a wide variety of financial decision-making situations focusing on long-term financial management and value creation.

Content: *Managing strategy for value *Capital structure planning *Dividend policy and share valuation *Corporate risk management *Inflation and financial management *Financial management in public sector undertakings *Sick unit rehabilitation *Financial engineering and innovations in financial instruments.

FI 12: Advanced Cost Management

Objective: The main objective of the course is to provide students with a conceptual understanding of the broader external focus of strategic cost management, in contrast to theinternal focus adopted by traditional systems. Modern methods of cost management like activity- based costing and management systems, balanced scorecard, target costing, life cycle costing etc., would be explained in order to enable students to appreciate the role they play in providing more relevant cost performance information to organizations to enable them to create and sustain a competitive advantage.

Content: *Introduction to strategic cost management *Basic cost management concepts *Activity based costing *Strategic cost management concepts *Balanced scorecard *Target costing *Life cycle costing *Theory of constraints *Cost value analysis using ABC *Decision making using ABC * Pricing and profitability analysis.

FI 13: Mergers & Acquisitions

Objective: The objective of this course is to help students understand the strategic rationale behind merger, acquisitions and other forms of corporate restructuring. It also provides the students with a basic framework for valuation of firms.

Content: *Forms of corporate restructuring *Theory of the firm and corporate activity *Merger — the strategic perspective *Mechanics of mergers and acquisitions *Corporate valuation *Regulatory framework *Takeover defenses *Other forms of corporate evaluation

FI 14: Insurance Management

Objective: The objective of this course is to introduce to students the concepts of risk, insurance
& risk management and the various techniques for handling risk. The focus will be on techniques and policies used by organizations and individuals for managing risk.

Content: *Basic concepts in risk management and insurance *Legal principles in risk and insurance *Personal property and liability risks *Commercial property and liability risk *Life and health risk *The insurance industry

FI 15: Global Business Strategy

Objective: The course deals with the strategic and management issues that companies have to face in their conduct of business abroad. A major objective of the course is the examination of strategic plans that multinational companies implement to take advantage of international opportunities and challenges. In this regard, the external environment and the internal situation of the multinational firm are analyzed. Strategies and management issues related to different functional areas of international management are addressed. The course will also consider domestic strategic management issues that can be adapted to international management.

Content: *Strategic analysis of the external environment faced by multinational corporations -- the economic, political, legal, cultural, social and global competitive environments *Global strategic plan -- various strategy formulation approaches and change management strategies *Global strategy implementation *Organizational structure and control for achieving strategic goals *Functional strategies for achieving strategic goals -- global strategies for manufacturing, supply chain, marketing, human resources, finance and information technology functions.

HUMAN RESOURCES

HR 01: Group Dynamics & Team Building

Objective: This course is intended to expose the students to experiential group activities to develop in them attitudes, values and skills required to be effective members of groups or teams, and build and manage high performing work-groups and teams.

Content: The course includes student participation in group processes, lectures, exercises, case studies and readings.

HR 03: Counselling Skills for Managers

Objective: The course is intended to develop knowledge and understanding of the concepts and processes of different types of counselling used in organizations to deal with employee problems, various counselling skills needed to solve employee problems, and attitudes and values required to use counselling skills effectively.

Content: *Counselling -- Definition, objective, and methodology *Counsellor-Counsellee relationship *Types of employee problems requiring counselling *Identifying the problems *The problem-solving cycle *Process of counselling *Counselling skills *Practice of counselling skills.

HR 03: Negotiation

Objective: Management of human resources function involves, among other things, negotiating with stakeholders like trade unions on their various demands. This course aims at making the students familiar with the techniques of negotiation and their role in improving the effectiveness of human resource function in the organization.

Content: *Overview of negotiation *Strategic choices in negotiation *Power and other crucial variables in negotiation *Managing the negotiation process *Negotiation styles *Communication in negotiation *Negotiation simulation *Negotiating within and between groups *Negotiating with labor unions *Negotiating with customers and financiers *Cross-cultural issues in negotiations *International negotiations *Overall negotiation simulation.

HR 04: Advanced Industrial Relations

Objective: This course begins with a discussion of the different theoretical perspectives concerning industrial relations (IR). It then proceeds to examine the different characteristics of the IR system in India and in doing this, it adopts a comparative perspective. The countries whose industrial characteristics are particularly discussed in this context include the U.S.A., U.K., Sweden and Japan. The changes that are visible in the field of IR in India and the emerging issues are also discussed.

Content: *The theoretical perspective on IR *Characteristics of IR systems in India and their variations across different states & industries *Comparison of the features of the IR system in India with those obtaining in some selected industrial countries *Critical policy issues concerning IR in India such as trade union recognition, bargaining structure etc. *Structural adjustment programs and their impact on IR in India and in some selected countries *Role of institutional factors in mediating the external pressures for change in IR and the strategies of the key actors of the IR systems.

HR 05: Labor Legislation in India

Objective: This course will discuss the history of labor legislation in India and also examine the important pieces of legislations relating to welfare, recruitment, training, social security measures, wages and bonus, and industrial relations including trade unions and employment conditions. The course will also deal with the current legislative proposals as well as the impact of labor laws on human resources management.

Content: *History of labor legislation in India *Welfare law like Factory Act *Law relating to recruitment and training such as Apprenticeship Act *Laws relating to social security measures such as Employees State Insurance Act, Provident Fund Act, etc. *Laws relating to wages and bonus such as Minimum Wages Act and Bonus Act *Laws relating to IR such as Industrial Disputes Act, Industrial Employment Standing Orders Act and Trade Union Act *Proposals for changes in labor laws in the wake of changes in Indian economic policy *Impact of labor laws on human resources management *Discussions of important cases.

HR 06: Employee Training and Development

Objective: The course aims at facilitating an understanding of the concepts, methods and strategies for human resource development.

Content: *HRD concept -- its meaning and the way it has developed in India *Goals of HRD *HRD climate *Staffing HRD function *HRD interfaces *HRD strategy and organizational context *HRD sub-systems and their relationships *Issues in managing the HRD system *HRD for workers *HRD in Indian organizations.

HR 07: Human Resource Planning & Development

Objective: With economic liberalization in the country and the resulting changes that are taking place, the need for more effective use of human resources by industrial and business organizations has increased as never before. Consequently the human resource planning and development function in our organizations has become more strategic in nature. This course is intended to expose the student to the realities of the situations with regard to the human resource requirements of our organizations and equip them with the knowledge and skills required for strategic planning and development of their human resources.

Content: *The changing business and organizational scenario *The need for human resource planning and development *Strategic human resource planning — approaches, tools and techniques *Strategic human resource development — approaches, tools and techniques *Role of information technology in human resource planning and development *Human resource audit

HR 08: Employee Performance Management

Objective: Motivation to do their jobs well is there in most employees. Recognition of this reality and creation of conditions in the organization for employees to satisfy their job and employment-related needs are keys to effective management of employee performance in any organization. Appraisal of employee performance serves the employee as the feedback of his/ her performance while helping the management in managing employee performance more effectively. The course exposes the students to tested and proven methodologies for effective employee performance management and appraisal.

Content: *The need for employee performance management and appraisal *Setting employee performance objectives and goals *Technology for measuring and improving employee performance *Creating organizational conditions for improving employee performance *Identifying employee performance gaps and their causes *Employee performance improvement strategies *Improving employee performance *Appraising employee performance *Employee performance management and appraisal audit.

HR 09: Managerial Leadership

Objective: The course is designed to expose the student to the need for, and different approaches to, effective managerial leadership in organizations, and develop in them leadership competencies.

Content: *The importance of managerial leadership in organizations *Studies on leadership *Variety of leaders *Organizational realities and factors influencing leadership *Leadership tasks, patterns, and techniques *Coping with leadership problems *Value-based leadership *Leader as a catalyst for change *Experiential learning in leadership training and group development.

HR 10: Strategic Human Resource Management

Objective: The course discusses the various issues associated with the integration of human resource strategy with business strategy. In this context, it also examines the different normative models that suggest how human resources management policies (particularly regarding recruitment and selection, training and development, performance appraisal and rewards) should fit either the organization’s stage of development or the strategic orientation and management style adopted for its survival and growth. In addition, the course also covers such strategic issues as management of organizational culture and change, selection, performance appraisal and counseling, reward and compensation systems (with particular attention to performance- related pay systems such as merit pay, profit sharing and gain sharing schemes and also pay for knowledge schemes), career management and development, employee-management communication and employee participation. The relevant skills and techniques in these areas are also discussed. Finally, the course exposes the students to the large body of critical literature on strategic human resource management.

Content: *Origin and meaning of strategic human resource management (SHRM) *Different versions of SHRM and their implications *Different issues relating to integration of HR strategy with business strategy *Various perspective models of HR Strategy-Business Strategy integration and their limitations *Key levers used in implementing HR strategy *Management of organizational culture, organizational structure, job design, selection, performance appraisal, reward and compensation systems *Management of career development, employee participation and employee-management communication *Human resource accounting *Implications of SHRM for personnel function *Evidence regarding practice of SHRM *Major criticisms of SHRM.

HR 11:Salary & Wage Administration

Objective: The course aims at familiarizing the students with the different issues associated with salary and wage administration in the corporate sector, public service, and other forms of organizations.

Content: *Compensation issues in modern society and the field of salary and wage administration *Different wage theories and their relevance for wage determination at the micro level *Wage policy in India *Different bases of compensation and employer compensation policy *Different issues associated with job-based pay *Types of performance based pay and its theoretical basis *Skill based pay *Strategic issues involved in wage payment *Different forms of fringe benefits and their administration *Working of different Institutions related to compensation system like Wage Boards and Pay Commissions.

HR 12: Human Resource Accounting

Objective: The course is intended to make the student appreciate the need for accounting of the human resource, the most important resource of any organization, and expose them to various approaches to human resource accounting.

Content: *Human resource programs, costs and values *Human resource accounting -- Concepts and approaches *Human resource audit.

HR13: Managing Organizational Change

Objective: Organizations today are operating in a volatile environment. To cope with rapid changes which are triggered from not only the business environment, which is fiercely competitive, but also from within, organizations are trying to devise a variety of strategies to cope with these changes. In their journey to not only survive and sustain, but also to grow, they are initiating planned changes by re- orienting their systems, structures and processes, and particularly organizational processes. This course is designed to provide the students exposure to some of the strategies that are being adopted by organizations, both in India and abroad to manage change. The students after completing this course should be in a position to appreciate: (i) How organizations go through the process of managing change (ii) Measures or strategies adopted to manage change.

Content: *Background and Definitions of Organisational Change and Related Concepts *Areas and Applications of Organisational Change *Case Studies *Organisational Structure and Management of Change -- Theoretical Issues and Case Applications *Organisational Culture and Management of Change *Organisational Performance Management and Management of Change -- Theoretical Issues and Case Applications *Human Resource Development and The Management of Change *Downsizing and Management of Change *Managing Change in the Indian Context -- Contingency Approaches *Managing the transformation to future work

HR 14: Employee Training and Development

Objective: Employee training and development is an essential and integral part of human resource management of an organization. It is the skillful provision and organization of learning experiences in order to enhance effectiveness and efficiency at the workplace. Training and development, through enhancing knowledge, learning ability and motivation, serves an organization to survive and grow. Employee training and development, therefore, must be a part of a wider strategy for the business aligned with the organization’s overall strategy and policy. The course intends to facilitate the students to learn key issues related to effective training and development; the systematic approach towards training and development; various training techniques and method of evaluation of training.

Content: *Training and development -- different meanings and interpretations, aims, context, dilemmas *Systematic approach towards training *Employee development -- responsibilities and tasks *Learning principles, learning organizations, the value of integrating learning in the workplace, transferring learning in the workplace *Organizing and managing the training and development function *Implication of training *Identifying the training need *Analyzing jobs -- Comprehensive analysis, Key task analysis, Problem-centered analysis, Competency-based analysis *Various techniques used for need assessment *Designing and delivering training *Training methods & styles *Promoting individual and organizational growth -- career development *Evaluating the training -- Reaction, immediate, intermediate and ultimate level evaluation *Analyzing evaluation results.

HR 14: International Human Resources Management

Objective: The course discusses the different aspects of HRM in multinational corporations. And in doing this it adopts a strategic appraoch and thus discusses different issues involved in linking various aspects of HRM to international business strategies.

Content: *Ways IHRM differs from domestic HRM *Characteristics of international business strategy (IBS) *IBS and organizational structure and culture *Theories and models linking IBS and HRM activity patterns *Strategic issues involved in staffing, performance management, training and development, compensation, repatriation and labor relations.

MARKETING

MM 01: Product Policy & Brand Management

Objective: The firm’s capacity to exploit an ever-changing technology and environmental conditions is best reflected by the strength of its product line. The products determine what is sells, whom it sells to, with whom it has to compete and the capital and human resources needed for its success. This course develops an understanding of a competence in dealing with problems relating to product-market strategy formulation, product planning, new product decisions and product management.

Content: *Introduction to product policy and brand management *Product and classification of products *Conceptual issues in product management — market segmentation, positioning, differentiation, new product planning, distribution channels, pricing, advertising planning, sales management and market research *Product market analysis *Introduction to branding theory *The pursuit of differential advantage *Symbols by which we live and buy *Brand positioning, positioning success, and advertisement agencies’ views on positioning *Research techniques for brand positioning *Concept of brand equity *Rules and risks of brand extension, and consumer perception on brand dimensions.

MM 02: Management of Marketing Communications

Objective: This course provides the student with a thorough understanding of the decision process involved in marketing communications. Apart from providing analytical skills for dealing with promotional decisions, the course will also provide an understanding of the conceptual as well as practical aspects of the subject and discuss the theoretical underpinning of these concepts. This is a very useful elective for those who want to build a career in advertising and public relations.

Content: *Introduction to marketing communications *History of marketing communications *Growth of advertising in India *Benefits of advertising *Types of advertising *Advertising organization *Advertising communication process *Objectives of advertising *Introduction to creativity concept *Construction of an advertisement *Developing and appraising advertising messages *Advertising media *Media planning *Development of a media plan *Market identification and media strategy *Budgeting for advertisement programs *Research in advertising *Evaluation of advertising effectiveness and advertising agencies *Economic & social aspects of advertising *Other tools of marketing communications viz., sales promotion, direct marketing, personal selling, and publicity & public relations *Integrated marketing communications.

MM 03: Sales & Distribution Management

Objective: Sales and distribution are two key components of successful strategic marketing. The major topics covered in the sales management component of the course are management of sales people, recruitment and selection of sales people, sales training and designing & organizing a sales system. The major topics covered in the distribution management component of the course are channel management, management of relationships in distribution channels and designing the most appropriate distribution strategy. There will be a special emphasis on how the concepts of sales & distribution management fit with the other components of an overall strategic marketing system. Students will be exposed to specialized cases in the area through which they will enhance their working knowledge of the different concepts in sales management.

MM 04: Consumer Behavior

Objective: The course aims at understanding consumer behavior in the social and cultural setting, its diversity and development, and the role of consumer research and behavioral models. A study of the consumer’s decision-making process, the process of adoption, diffusion of innovation, consumer protection etc., form part of the course.

Content: *Introduction to consumer behavior *Consumers and market segments *Environmental influences on consumer behavior — culture, sub-culture, social class, social groups and family *Personal influence and diffusion of innovations *Individual determinants of consumer behavior — motivation and involvement, information processing, learning & memory and attitudes *Consumer decision process — problem recognition, search and evaluation, purchasing, and post-purchase behavior *Modelling and researching consumerbehavior *Consumerism *Organizational buyer behavior.

MM 05: Services Marketing

Objective: The nature of employment — primarily in the western world and to a large extent outside the West — is changing rapidly with the service sector getting increased importance. Services Marketing is a rapidly developing sub-discipline of marketing. The main objective of this course is to provide exposure to the practical nature of the subject through use of case studies, and the multi-disciplinary nature of the theoretical underpinning to the subject through use of selected reading material. The students undergoing this course will have the opportunity to enhance their knowledge of services marketing principles, and learn to apply these principles to a vast range of commonly used services and to large service organizations like transport, banking, airports, hotels, restaurants, telephone services etc.

Content: *Distinguishing features of a service *Classification of services *Differences between goods and services marketing *Overview of marketing concepts *Planning in services marketing *Managing the services marketing effort *Analyzing and researching services markets *The Service product *Managing the service encounter *Service quality *Management of the human element of the service offer *Pricing of service *Promotion for services *International marketing of services

MM 06: Industrial Marketing

Objective: This course is an introduction to the specialized area of industrial marketing. It provides a view of the unique situations and conditions prevailing in the industrial marketing system where several managerial techniques can be applied. Topics such as the demand for industrial goods, marketing intelligence, components of marketing products — public, service, channel, price and promotion, and marketing control are covered in the context of the industrial marketing system. Through class projects, case discussions and written reports, students are expected to apply their knowledge of marketing skills to the specific situations and conditions existing in the market for industrial products and services.

Content: *Nature and scope of industrial marketing *Industrial procurement and buying behavior *Buyer-seller relationship *Industrial market segmentation *Targeting and positioning *Product strategy and new product development *Developing markets for new industrial products *Pricing strategy *Industrial distribution strategy *Managing the industrial sales force *Industrial marketing communications *Industrial marketing planning.

MM 07: Rural Marketing

Objective: This specialized course in marketing areas intends to open the vistas of marketing for and by rural producers and consumers. The course introduces the dimensions of rural marketing, institutional systems and potential and pitfalls. Some major cases of successful rural marketing in corporate, cooperative and entrepreneurial ventures and their unique strategies would be analyzed to provide a knowledge base for planning and working on rural marketing projects and assignments.

Content: *Rural economy — size, structure and features *Dimensions of agricultural and non- agricultural economy in rural India *Principles of rural marketing *Segmentation for rural marketing *Product pricing and distribution strategies *Value chain management and ruralmarketing communication *New vistas in rural management.

MM 08: International Marketing

Objective: The course will give an introduction to the cultural, political and economic environment within which much of international business takes place. An understanding of the complexities of the environment in which international marketing occurs is fundamental to the understanding of broader concepts. The objective of the course will be to help the student in sharpening decision- making skills and in developing strategies for successful global marketing. Students will be provided with tools to assess international marketing opportunities.

Content: *Introduction to international marketing management *International marketing environment *Planning for international marketing *International marketing organization *International marketing mix *International marketing research *International marketing decisions *International co-ordination and control *International negotiation *International marketing institutions *Ethics in international marketing

MM 09: Retail Management

Objective: For being a successful marketeer in today's marketing environment, it is essential to appreciate the common and unique features of the retail sector and understand the factors which influence successful retail management. Retail management is characterized by rapid changes in its format and practice. This course in retail management is designed to help the student to understand, synthesize and critically evaluate the main decision variables and key change drivers in the retail industry.

Content: *The retail customer *Forms of retails *Retail marketing strategy *Retail marketing mix *Store and non-store retailing *Retail locations *Scientific merchandising *Visual merchandising *Forecasting *Retail inventory management *Service retailing *Retail promotion strategies *Ethics in retailing *Case studies from a variety of product segments like apparel, food, shoes, jewellery, books, music, fashion garments, cosmetics.

MM 10: Customer Relationship Management

Objective: This is a seminar course. The whole course is based on a number of research papers. The objective of the course is to introduce the concept of CRM, its various components, its strengths, and the problems associated with it. The course also stresses on CRM implementation.

Content: *Introduction to CRM & its technology *Different views on CRM *Loyalty vs. relationship *CRM value chain *Sales effectiveness and automation *ROI from CRM *Extended enterprise *Tactical & strategic CRM *Implementing CRM *Why CRM can fail? *Call center paradigm *CRM in India.

MM 11: Managing Technology and Innovation

Objective: This half-course is designed to provide the budding manager with a fundamental understanding of the crucial role of technology in ensuring sustainable enterprise competitiveness and growth. It is time for every Indian manager to get sensitized to the leverages available through proper management of technology. The course on MOT offers basic concepts about what constitutes technology, how technology can give an edge, how to acquire new technology, what price is to be paid and what management should do for absorption and further enhancements of current technologies.

Content: *Introduction to the concepts of technology and technological change *Management of the technology problem *Management of technology acquisition *Technology assessment and forecasting * Strategic management of technology * Technology systems and policy.

MM 12: Strategic Management of e-Business

Objective: The excitement surrounding the Internet’s growth is creating both increased opportunities and uncertainty for business leaders who question the potential impact, viability and usefulness of a broader spectrum of electronic business (EB) technologies. The course explains how the EB technologies fit within a company’s customer-supplier framework by providing guidance to managers trying to develop strategies, marketing plans and improve business processes. In sum, this course combines a technical introduction to EB with critical evaluation of EB strategies and how they relate to a firm’s strategic information management. The major objective of this course is to provide the student with an understanding of the issues and the strategic implications of electronic business. It investigates the many different facets of electronic business, management issues at functional levels, pertinent technologies, the various business strategies and business models.

Content: *Introduction to e-Business and management of e-Business *Functional area issues in e-Business — financial Management issues (related to budgeting, revenue modeling etc.,) operations management issues (related to logistics, purchasing etc.,) human resources management issues (related to CRM, cyber-laws etc.,) marketing management issues (related to marketing mix etc.) *Emerging technologies supporting e-Business viz., data mining, XML and agent technologies *Strategic management of e-Business *Designing, developing and executing an e-Business.

MM 13: Strategic Marketing Management

Objective: The course provides a complete and realistic view of marketing function’s strategic and operational roles in today’s organizations. The main objective of the course is to acquire skills in the areas of analytical and decision-making processes involved in formulating, implementing and controlling a strategic marketing program. This advanced marketing course includes in-depth analysis of customer, competition and environment, market segmentation and targeting, competitive positioning, and strategy implementation and control.

Content: *An overview of marketing strategy *The market-driven organization *Developing the strategic marketing plan *Understanding the consumer *Marketing-mix concept *Product strategies *Pricing strategies *Distribution strategies *Marketing communications strategies *Marketing strategy implementation and control *Global marketing, direct marketing, e- Commerce *Ethical & legal issues.

MM 14: Marketing Research

Objective: This course is in continuation of the core course in research methodology with an emphasis on marketing applications.

Content: *Review of research methodology *Measurement and scales used in marketing research *Sampling techniques *Multiple regression *Partial correlation *Design and analysis of experiments *Discriminant analysis *Factor analysis *Conjoint analysis *Multi-dimensional scaling and clustering.

OPERATIONS

OM 01: Project Management

Objective: This course provides a conceptual formulation for managing projects as opposed to managing operations. It tries to cover the entire body of knowledge as laid down by the Project Management Institute (PMI), USA. The students also acquire PM skills in managing time, costs, and other resources by using PM software. They are also exposed to the use of project appraisal software. Attempts are made to identify the appropriate attitudinal qualities necessary to become a successful project manager.
Content: *The course provides an overview of the life cycle of a project, and discusses different phases of a project and their interfaces, project organization, project management information system, and project evaluation *The course also covers computerized project management systems including time and cost resource management and updating. Computer models of project appraisal are discussed *Students gain a hands-on experience of managing projects on a computer.

OM 02: Decision Support Systems in Operations Management

Objective: Operations is a major source of competitive advantage for a firm. While enterprise- wide solutions may require ERP systems smaller organizations require a more customized approach. In this course the student analyzes cases and problems from everyday situations faced by operations managers and learns about various techniques for solving real business operations problems. The course introduces the student to types of decision support systems that are flexible with regard to problem formulation, require minimum computer sophistication but permit rapid alternative scenario investigations.

Content: *Critical drivers of competitive advantage *Process and response time improvements from process analysis and waiting line analysis *Quality management using SPC and acceptance sampling *Supply chain management — inventory modeling and MRP *Capacity management — forecasting, aggregate planning and network analysis *Cases

OM 03: Logistics & Supply Chain Management

Objective: To provide a clear understanding of the integrated concept of logistics and supply chain management with a view to securing unique competitive advantage for the firm.
Content: *Evolution of logistical thought *Integrated logistics -- management concept *Customer service and integrated logistics *Global logistics *Strategic logistics management. *Management of logistical resources -- information, inventory and transportation *Logistical system design -- positioning, integration theory, planning and design of logistical systems. *Logistical administration -- organization and control.

OM 04: Advanced Statistical Methods for Management

Objective: Statistical methods are an important tool for designing and developing new products and new manufacturing systems, and for improving the quality of existing products and services. The course covers a broad range of modern statistical techniques used in managing production and inventory systems. The techniques find applications in a variety of other problem areas including process control, financial planning, marketing, investment analysis, and distribution planning.

Content: *Models of qualitative choice using survey data — applications to behavioral responses, bond defaults, occupational attainment, and consumer choice *Properties of stationary and non-stationary time series models — applications to inventory investment *Stochastic jump processes, Martingale theory, Brownian motion, and Fractals and Chaos — applications to financial markets, and stock market fluctuations *Solving stochastic differential equations and Kalman filtering — applications to forecasting short-term interest rates, and short-term savings- deposit flows *Introduction to deterministic and stochastic applied optimal control theory — applications to inflation rate control, foreign exchange rate control, and stages of fabrication (SOF) cost control *Other topics depending on individual interest of student.

OM 05: Modeling & Analysis of Manufacturing Systems

Objective: The course provides an advanced treatment of modeling and analysis of manufacturing systems using analytical and experimental methods. We study useful models, modeling approaches to address problems and issues in the management of manufacturing system design and operation. The course presents an advanced view of the relevance for operations management of concepts and tools of topics in core courses such as probability and statistics, operations research, analytical queuing models, and empirical simulation models. Thus the course lays emphasis on the managerial process of deciding what the inside of a manufacturing facility should look like and what it should do. Further it lays the foundation for more advanced study in operations management, and is a prerequisite for the course in advanced operations management. The course content is structured to follow logically the actual flow of material through a production or service facility.

Content: *Assembly lines — reliable serial system *Transfer lines — general serial systems *Shop scheduling — many products *Task assignment and sequencing — travelling salesman problem, integrating machine setup and operations sequencing *Material handling systems — AGVS design and operation *Storage and retrieval systems — warehouse design and operation *Integrating operations — analytical queuing models, networking workstations and buffers *General manufacturing systems — empirical simulation model, simulation analysis outputs *Case studies — applications of multiple models to design and analysis *Introduction to GPSS.

OM 06: Product Design & Development

Objective: The objective of the course is to present a methodology that can be put into practice on the product development process. The methodology provides a concrete approach to solving a product development problem. In this course, a methodology is developed for each specific portion of the product development process and then illustrated by an industrial example or case study. The product design and development course gives the student an appreciation of industrial practice and the roles played by various members of the product development teams. It blends the perspectives of marketing, design, and manufacturing into a single approach to product development.

Content: *Development processes and organizations *Identifying customer needs *Establishing product specifications *Concept generation *Concept selection *Product architecture *Industrial design *Design for manufacturing, *Effective prototyping *Economics of product development projects *Managing product development projects.

OM 07: Manufacturing Planning & Control

Objective: In today’s competitive fast-paced world of manufacturing, every aspect of a company’s operation must be highly responsive to a customer’s needs. In this course the student learns how manufacturing planning and control systems help companies synchronize production with actual demand.

Content: Manufacturing planning and control (MPC) *Material requirements planning *Just-in- time *Capacity planning *Production activity control *Master production scheduling *Production planning *Demand management *Integrated MPC systems *Implementation of MPC systems

OM 08: World Class Manufacturing

Objective: The course objectives are study and skill development in basic concepts and implementation of world-class manufacturing (WCM). For the supplier, customer, labor and management the objective of WCM is to find grounds for mutual gain. Three central tools of WCM are just-in-time (JIT), total quality control (TQC), and cellular manufacturing (CM). The course is primarily case-based covering Japanese companies, North American manufacturers, offshore American-owned plants and Indian manufacturers. Each case takes a formal training approach, and relates how a plant or a company put itself on a course of continual and rapid improvement.

Content: *The WCM concept on ratio analysis of shop floor conditions *The “naturalistic” approach to quality improvement of Ishikawa and Schonberger *Cases — solving implementation problems in various settings (the problems usually have one correct answer)*Topics covered — micro-JIT and ratio analysis, macro effects of micro-JIT, design leverage, setup reduction, kanban, MRP-JIT conversion, total preventive maintenance (TPM) *Managing the transformation.

OM 09: Advanced Quality Planning & Management

Objective: To provide a comprehensive foundation for managing the quality systems design and their use in any organization, with a clear understanding of the strategic linkage between quality and the overall business of the firm.

Content: *Evolution of Quality Thoughts *Organization-wide quality planning *Strategic quality management *Cost of quality *Quality function deployment and the house of quality *Quality by Design and Taguchi Methods *Statistical tools *ISO and other Quality Management Systems * Quality Audit *Current research on quality.

OM 10: Advanced Operations Management

Objective: Capacity, scheduling, and inventory are the three fundamental issues to be addressed by every operations manager. This course deals with the analysis and design, as well as the planning, execution, and control of some key aspects of these three issues in modern advanced manufacturing and service systems. The course focuses on the principles, tools, and techniques that are essential for effectively managing these in the context of overall business plans, automation of operations, and hybrid process systems. The course covers issues arising in planning capacity, the analysis and design of productivity enhancing facilities, and in the push- pull-bottleneck approaches to scheduling operations and inventory control. The tactical issues covered here serve to complement the themes addressed in the strategic operations management course. The course is designed for students contemplating becoming production and operations managers, systems analysts, and management consultants. Further it lays the foundation for more advanced studies in contemporary operations management.

Content: *Evaluating CAD/CAM systems *Computer aided process planning *Flexible manufacturing systems *Planning and control hierarchy *Group technology and group formation *Systematic layout planning *Optimized production technology simulation *JIT and lean manufacturing *Agile manufacturing *Tactical planning and control — closed-loop MRP, components of MRPII, execution with feedback, MPS and CRP *Production activity control, shop floor control systems *Computer integrated manufacturing architecture.

OM 11: Enterprise Resources Planning & Management

Objective: To provide a managerial perspective on ERP systems with its three main pillars -- people, process and technology. Students are expected to gain a thorough understanding of ERP and its relationship with business strategy.

Content: *An executive overview of ERP *Impact of ERP on the firm *Preparing for ERP implementation *Business Process Re-engineering and ERP *ERP Implementation *Managing the risks of ERP implementation * Stages in ERP implementation.

OM 12: Services Operations Management & Strategy

Objective: This course enables the student to develop a holistic view of business as composites of both services and manufacturing. The service encounter — “moments of truth” — is multi- functional in character involving integrating marketing, operations, organizational behavior and human resources management. The course helps the student to understand the implications of this for organization structures, selection, training, and compensation. The student then applies these ideas through completing an organizational project.

Content: *Contributions to strategic management thinking in service quality, customer loyalty/ retention and service mapping *Conceptual frameworks for integrating ideas from functional elements — the strategic service vision, the cycle of failure and the service profit chain *Measuring the individual elements of each framework, the fit between company and its competitive environment and among the internal elements of each strategy *Cases and illustrations.

OM 13: Strategic Operations Management

Objective: Formulating the best strategy for the business organization as a whole requires establishing the basic link between its operations strategy (and the implied process and infrastructure investment and development,) and its markets. This course examines why often this does not happen in organizations. The course studies the formulation and application of a set of ideas, concepts, and tools to provide insights into, and evaluate the business operations’ corporate contribution — through strategic perspectives which go beyond operational performance perspectives. The course seeks to bridge the existing gap between operations and marketing in corporate strategy formulation while recognizing the time dimension of operations and its translation into money. It teaches an analytical approach (a methodology) that avoids giving only prescriptive solutions to the development of operations strategy but can be successfully applied to many companies.

Content: *Productivity — international comparisons *Manufacturing implications of corporate marketing decisions *Hill’s concept of order winners and qualifiers *Process choice *Focused factory *Vertical integration *Manufacturing infrastructure development *Accounting and financial perspectives and manufacturing strategy.

SYSTEMS

SY 01: Object Oriented Software Engineering

Objective: This course covers the management process, methodology and tools that are available to help both the software engineers and project managers in the analysis and design of software projects.

Content: Basic principles — objectives of software engineering, requirements specification and formal techniques and definition *Object oriented analysis (OOA) — domain analysis, generic components of the OOA model, OOA process, object relationship model, and object behavior model *Object oriented design — Design for OO systems, applying UML and patterns for design, system design process and object design process *Basics of software verification and validation -- walkthroughs and testing process specification, software testing strategies *Software automation — CASE tools

SY 02: Software Verification & Validation

Objective: This course seeks to introduce the various aspects of software verification and validation, a very critical phase in the software life cycle. The primary focus is on testing object- oriented systems, which are the order of the day.

Content: *Software testing — definitions, limits of testing, testing OO software, test design and test models, combinatorial models, state machines *Patterns — patterns and testing, test design patterns template, using test design patterns, documenting test cases, suites and plans, classes, reusable components, subsystems, integration, application systems, regression testing *Tools — test automation, assertions, oracles, test harness design *Real time systems — modeling for testability, SVV of mission critical system software *Source level debugging of automatically parallelized code.

SY 03: Software Maintenance & Project Management

Objective: The objective of this course is to impart knowledge about measurement of software quality and its relevance to all phases of software life cycle. The course also aims to impart the necessary software management skills that are imperative to software organizations to attain highest level of capability and maturity.

Content: *Software maintenance -- overview of software maintenance management (SMM) *The state of SMM *TQM for maintenance process *Improvement management and supervisory attitudes toward software maintenance *Systems structure and software maintenance performance. *Design Metrics -- measuring and managing software maintenance *Design complexity measurement and testing *Design stability measures for software productivity and software maintenance *Evaluation and comparison of structural test coverage metrics *Predicting source code complexity at the design stage *Metrics, outlier analysis and the design process *Measuring dynamic program complexity *Benefits and difficulties of maintainability using metrics methodology. *Software project management -- software configuration management *Change management and version control *Risk management of software projects *Effects of reuse on quality, productivity and economics *Re-engineering software configuration management systems *Cost and quality aspects of software maintenance, system structure and software maintenance *Methodologies -- RUP, DSDM.

SY 04: Software Metrics

Objective: The objectives of this course are to communicate the models of and state-of-the-art in software process improvement and the basics of measurement theory, and to give practical guidelines for software process improvement with measurement. The course is taught in three modules.

Content: *Module 1: Software process improvement -- background and motivation, software capability maturity model(CMM), CMM for small enterprises, ISO9000, an overview of PSP and P-CMM *Module 2: Software metrics -- basic measurement theory, product metrics, process metrics, resource metrics *Module 3: SPI in practice -- Factors for success and failure, how to implement software process improvement in an organization.

SY 05: Decision Analysis & Decision Support Systems

Objective: This course acquaints the student with a set of tools for decision analysis. In addition to appreciating the usefulness of decision analysis, the student learns how to use simple techniques for improving one’s own intuitive judgment, apply the tools of decision analysis to aid decision-making under uncertainty, employ decision analytic methods in decision support systems, and understand various psychological & behavioural aspects of information systems. The various components of decision support systems are then introduced. The course enables the student to appreciate how various technologies can aid in enhancing the quality of the decision-making process.

Content: *Introduction to decision analysis, elements of decision problems *Structuring decisions -- decision context, influence diagrams *Decision trees, using precision tree software, decision trees & expected monetary value *Solving influence diagrams, idea of dominance *Sensitivity analysis *Creativity and decision-making *Review of probability theory and probability distributions *Using data -- fitting distribution to data, using data to model relationships *Monte carlo simulation *Introduction to DSS -- Characteristics and capabilities of DSS & DSS components *Classifications of DSS -- Different classification schemes *Psychological and behavioural aspects of information systems -- human information processing, psychological vs. physiological approach, the cognitive process, attention, recognition, the recognition process, holistic approach, and template theory & pandemonium theory of Selfridge *Characteristics of short term memory & long term memory *Group decision support systems -- Decision-making in groups, its characteristics and challenges, the technology of GDSS, the GDSS meeting process, determinants of success. *Decision support systems development -- various approaches, system development lifecycle, prototyping approach, merits and demerits of various approaches *Introduction to genetic algorithms and their applications in decision support. *Introduction to neural networks and their applications in decision support. *Use of rule-based systems and fuzzy logic systems for solving business problems *Use of case-based reasoning to support decisions *DSS in the 21st century.

SY 06: Advanced Tools for Decision Support Systems

Objective: This course will help the student to gain proficiency in applying the various tools available to assist in managerial decision making. Students will understand the different objectives and character of the various available tools and which type of tool to use in which situation.

Content: *The course will include introduction to the tools and the methods of applying them in the areas of finance, human resources, marketing and operations *The tools include Excel, Evolver, Neuralyst, @RISK, Mathematica, various data mining tools etc. *Here is an indicative list of the application areas covered *General — constructing decision trees, finding association rules and cluster analysis *Finance — multi-period capital budgeting, portfolio optimization, project selection, ABC costing system, immunization against interest risk, simulating financial statements, pricing puts and calls, finding value at risk, hedging foreign exchange risk, stock market models and simulation using fractals and wavelets *Human resources — personnel assignment *Marketing — selecting advertising media, market basket analysis, pricing products to maximize profit, differential pricing of models *Operations — workshop scheduling, materials cutting, complicated blending problems, production planning, curve fitting for plant loading, warehouse location planning, multi-rate shipping and inter-warehouse exchanges, assigning shipments to trucks and assigning trains to station stops.

SY 07: Expert Systems & Mobile Agents in Business

Objective: This course seeks to introduce the concepts of expert systems and their design and development methodologies, and tries to integrate these concepts with the agent paradigm to evolve intelligent agents to which the future world is heading.

Content: *General concept and principle of expert systems (ES) *ES applications and domains — languages, shells and tools *ES programming — introduction to ES programming using CLIPS/JESS *Basic principles, pattern matching, rule-based systems, forward and backward chaining and decision trees *Expert decision support systems — hypothetical reasoning and backward induction, temporal reasoning and fuzzy logic. Agents — characteristics and principles of agent technology, different types of agents *Multi- agent systems — characteristics of multi-agent systems, nature of intelligent agents, communication languages (KQML, FIPA,) ontologies, co-ordination and co-operation, delegation and the contract net protocol *Agents in e-Commerce — agents in financial markets, negotiation and decision-making, auction protocols and bidding, bargaining and mobile agents.

SY 08: Object-Oriented Databases & Active Databases

Objective: This course is an advanced course on data management. Concepts in object-oriented database systems will be initially introduced, including object data models, object query language, storage, persistency, and transaction processing. Standards for object data management will also be introduced. An object-oriented database (Jeevan) will be used in the course to help students understand the concepts. A course project is also included in which students develop an object database application

Content: *Introduction, applications *Object data management concepts *Jeevan *Object data management implementation *Oracle object extension, ODMG, SQL3 object extension *OMG and CORBA *EJB *Project demo

SY 09: Operating Systems & Networking

Objective: Operating systems (OS) have earned the reputation of being the most critical software in a computer system. Performance and functionality are key to the usefulness of an OS as these features of the OS set the stage for all the software on a computer. This course tries to explore the issues that arise in the design of the OS, as well as different approaches used to analyze and resolve them. It tries to refine a student’s own model of how a system is defined by taking into due consideration the tradeoffs involved in design issues and decisions.
The other course objective is to introduce networking concepts to students. This follows the syllabus of Cisco Certified Network Associate Program offered by the Cisco Networking Academy
Content: *Introduction to operating systems *Process concepts *Basic synchronization principles *Processor management *Real and virtual storage management *Auxiliary storage management *File management *Device management *Operating systems security *Introduction to Unix, shell programming *Unix & Java *OSI reference model and its functions *Data link and network addresses *Internetworking functions of OSI network layer *Network addressing *Conversion steps of data encapsulation *Different classes of IP addresses (and subnetting) *Functions of TCP/IP network layer protocol *Router elements (RAM, ROM, CDP) *Connection-oriented and connectionless network service *Flow control *Functions of TCP/IP, transport layer protocol *Functions performed by ICMP *Router passwords, identification and banner *Log-in to a router- different mode *CISCO-IOSTM software commands *Dealing with topology changes *Configure IP addresses, verify IP addresses *Add RIP routing protocol *Add IGRP routing protocol *Standard access list to figure IP traffic *Extended access list to filter IP traffic.

SY 10: Advanced Networking

Objective: This course will introduce advanced networking concepts to students. This course also follows the syllabus of Cisco Certified Network Associate Program offered by Cisco.
Content: *IPX address and encapsulation type *Monitor Novell IPX protocol and configure interfaces *LAN segmentation using bridges, routers and switches *Full and half duplex Ethernet operation *Network segmentation using bridges, routers and switches *Features and benefits of fast Ethernet & its limitation *Benefits of virtual LANS *Key frame relay terms & features *Differences between following WAN services, LAPB, Frame Relay, ISDN/LAPD, HDLC, PPP & DDR *Configure frame relay LMI’s, maps and subinterfaces *Frame relay operations in router *ISDN protocols, function groups, reference points and channels.

SY 11: IT Security & Management

Objective: This course is an introduction to methods for defending against cyber threats and damaging use of computer networks. It provides participants with an understanding of the potential legal problems and information security risks triggered by e-mail and Internet connectivity -- and how to defend against exposure to financial loss and employer liability. We will examine computer security risks and network vulnerabilities, for e.g., computer viruses, hacker attacks, e-fraud, theft of proprietary information, human resource/personnel cases, and Internet threats. Cyber security concepts covered in this course focus on hardware and software, as well as the low-tech layers of defense, viz., secure use practices, acceptable use policies (AUP), and employee training. Emphasis is also placed on hacker activities, the legal status of privacy issues, employer due diligence/liability & digital discovery, and computer forensics and electronic records management (ERM).

Content: *Apply software engineering life cycle, use cases, object-oriented analysis techniques including UML, and object-oriented design techniques including design patterns *Analyze and document software system requirements using OOA techniques *Produce clear, consistent, complete documentation of a software system *Use of computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools *Basic software testing techniques *Working effectively as part of a team with members of varying experience and expertise *Time and quality project monitoring techniques *SEI Capability Maturity Model *Safety issues related to software systems.

SY 12: Distributed Computing

Objective: Distributed Programming With Java[tm] Technology provides essential information for building distributed computing solutions. . Component based application development increases development productivity through the encapsulation of business logic into reusable components, which can be used by the entire development organization. This course highlights the technologies and techniques available for distributed application development .At the heart of this specification are JSP, JAVA Servlets, & Enterprise Java Bean (EJB). This course is intended to provide the knowledge necessary to create J2EE complaint EJBs and combine them with other robust enterprise application.

Content: * Introduction to Web & Component Technology. * HTTP and Servlets Basics. * Form processing using Servlets. * Session tracking using Servlets. * JSP directives and syntax. * Sessions in JSP. * Java Beans. * Database Connectivity in JSP. * Developing a simple web based application using JSP. * Introduction to sofia framework. Creating a simple sofia framework application. * Introduction to J2EE and EJB. * Developing a Session Bean. * Developing an Entity Bean. * Integrating both Session and Entity Bean to develop a firm J2EE application

SY 13: Financial Modelling

Objective: Today, the principles of finance are being combined with advanced mathematical structures to form useful financial products, strategies and models that are tested and implemented with the use of advanced quantitative techniques. This cross-functional course intends to equip the students with the necessary knowledge of various tools and the skills for modelling common problems that finance managers face, in order to arrive at feasible solutions that will assist in decision making.

Content: *Financial statement modelling *Capital budgeting *Corporate valuation models *Analysis of leasing *Data envelopment analysis *Discriminant analysis & multiple discriminant analysis *Charting financial data *Portfolio models *Option pricing models *Bond valuation models and duration.