MBA Online

Faculty of Business and Accountancy University of Malaya

Faculty : Business and Accountancy
Department : Finance and Banking
Programme of Study : Bachelor of Business Administration
Bachelor of Accounting
Course Code : CBEB 1110
Course Title : Quantitative Analysis for Business
Credit Hours : 3
Course Pre-requisite(s) /
Minimum Requirement(s) : None
Learning Outcomes : At the end of this course, students should be able to:
1. Relate basic concepts, theories, approaches and mathematical
techniques relevant to business, accounting, economics and
management.
2. Utilize skills in evaluating and interpreting daily problems in
mathematical form and proceed to solve these problems using the
approaches taught in the course.
3. Employ various quantitative methods used in business and appreciate
the potential value creation of it and able to recognise opportunities
for utilizing these tools in real situations.
4. Demonstrate awareness and depth of understanding through the
identification of limitation of approaches adopted and suggest future
action to improve its suitability.
5. Choose and compare the range of quantitative tools in dealing with
complex problems and decide upon its appropriateness.
Synopsis of Course Contents : This course aims to provide students an exposure to the importance of
developing logical and critical thinking especially when faced with
business-related problems. Among topics that will be discussed includes
introduction to algebra, linear and non-linear functions, exponential
functions, differentiation and integration and matrix algebra.
Assessment : Continuous Assessment: 50%
Final Examination : 50%

Networking and Secure Data Transmission

Networking skills are becoming a common competence for successful career as well as language skills and financial skills. How various computers, which individually hold data, are connected so that an organization can use the full resources available for conducting business is a critical part of creating value using technology. This course, starting from the key technologies of the internet and other network services, expands to include new businesses and applications using network services. What impact the recent progress of network services is having on our business and life and what challenges companies offering network services are facing are discussed in this course.

Marketing Management

This course introduces students to marketing decisions, decisions that are born of competition and form the core of business activity, such as: (1) What are we going to sell?
(2) What customers will we target?
(3) How can we convince them of our product’s value?
(4) What price will we charge?
(5) What is our competitive advantage?

The focus in the first part of the course is on the role of marketing in business, the guiding principle of value creation, and marketing analysis.
Analysis covers consumer and institutional buyer behavior, and the role of the market and competitors in marketing strategy, including market segmentation. In the second part of the course, we concentrate on how elements of the marketing mix interact with the environment to create competitive advantage. Topics include product development and positioning, pricing, promotion, advertising, sales and distribution.

Adding Value Through Internet, Mobile, Communications, and Ubiquitous Connectivity - Degree in One-year

Let us be realisitic. The global business environment has been changing dramatically over the last few years. The impact has led to a complete transformation of business itself, literally any kind of business, and the kind of careers it demands.

E-Business, earlier thought of as just buying and selling using the Internet, has become an undeniable reality with applications for all kinds of businesses from banking to human resource optimization, from manufacturing to sales, from medical fields to logistic management, and from transforming education to creating new forms of government administration. A bank CEO today, for example, can monitor his bank’s performance, literally in real time by implementing technologies based on E-Business. A strategically thinking manager then can use the same infrastructure, or enhance it with compatible technology innovations, to provide a host of services to customers that the bank’s competitors never thought of, thus creating completely new revenue streams for the bank.

While the potential of E-Business is literally unlimited, the success of any E-Business initiative depends on strategies and its integration and alignment with the overall business objectives. In our program, “E-Business” means all kinds of IT technologies, along with Internet, Mobile, and other Ubiquitous connectivity innovations, that can be used to create business value.

This warrants the need for professionally trained managers in E-Business, who understand traditional business processes, the convergence of Technology and Business, the new innovations in tecnology, and who can help the new and existing businesses to seamlessly integrate E-Business and technology initiatives to create value. This ability to create value is what we teach in this program!

After carefully studying current business needs, we have added more practical relevance by linking our curriculum with the “IUJ Platforms” which literally tie what we teach in the program with the most advanced technologies from our partner companies. Notable among them is the world’s most advanced Mobile technology from Japan’s IT giants. With a uniquely designed one-year program, well-experienced faculty, an especially designed hi-tech “E-Lab”, coupled with MBA offerings from our top-rated business school, we are best positioned to offer the technology management and E-Business training to you than any school in Japan or in the Asia Pacific region.

ICS , Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy

[Term 4] Brand Management (S. Akutsu) (2009/Term 3&4 (Spring&Summer))

This is an advanced marketing elective course that focuses on the development and implementation of brand management. Managers in charge of a brand(s) face many challenges, such as (1) developing brand strategies that synthesize internal resources and competitive strategy, (2) clarifying brand philosophies, (3) generating and motivating brand identities, (4) understanding the brand images of key customers in depth, (5) communicating brand identities effectively with customers, (6) designing a comprehensive brand architecture, (7) developing and implementing brand building programs, (8) evaluating brand’s value conceptually and quantitatively, and (9) managing brands over time and across cultures.

The goal of this course is to provide students with concepts, theories, models, and methods that will help resolve these challenges. It is complementary to the database-marketing elective as it places more emphasis on concepts and theories, while the database-marketing course stresses empirical methods and quantitative data analysis.
Course Structure

In the first class, the course overview is provided. Fundamental questions concerning brand are discussed such as (1) what is brand, (2) why it is important, (3) to whom it is important, (4) when it is important, (5) where it is important, how to build it, and who should be in charge. Guidelines for the group project are also provided.

Thereafter, the course is structured in three modules. The first module introduces key concepts and models of brand management. In particular, it closely examines different conceptualizations of brand equity and brand identity. Insights and implications each conceptualization conveys, as well as other related concepts, are discussed. A variety of measurement models and scales of brand equity are also introduced.

The second module covers the basic models of brand strategy and branding, as well as their relationships with organizational capabilities and market opportunities. Organizational capabilities of brand building are identified and their roles are discussed. Akutsu and Ishida’s Context Branding Model is introduced as a frame of branding that has been developed and proven in the Japanese and other overseas markets.

The third module covers brand portfolio strategy and other advanced topics of brand strategy and branding. David A. Aaker’s Brand Portfolio Model is introduced and its relation to Context Branding Model is discussed. Other topics include branding nations and branding in Asia.
Teaching Method

While this course consists primarily of case discussions, lectures, videos, and guest speaker sessions are combined to effectively teach both theory and practice. Due to the nature of this advanced elective course, students are expected to enthusiastically prepare for and participate in the class. Students have an opportunity to present the outcome of their group project in a later session.

ICS , Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy

[Term 3] Equity Investments (S. Abe) (2009/Term 3&4 (Spring&Summer))

The equity investor perspective will be the focus of this elective finance course. The emphasis will be applications-oriented with limited exposure to quantitative investment theory. Different investment styles for different risk profiles will be explored with an emphasis on publicly traded stocks. This course will be of interest to students who want to learn more about (1) the equity capital provider side of corporate finance; (2) valuing and investing in publicly traded companies; and, (3) the business of investment management. This course will appeal to students who want to build and preserve their own wealth over time.
Course Structure

Lectured discussions, case studies, and expert speakers.

Topics will include individual company valuation analysis, convertible securities, growth vs. value stocks, fundamental vs. technical analysis, active vs. indexed investing, mutual funds, hedge funds, and behavioral finance. Four outside speakers from the investment management community will bring the real world into the classroom and will give students an opportunity to learn firsthand contrasting investment styles and investment analytics. Their careers are built on successful investing, and they will share with you the excitement, gratification, pressures, and anxieties found at the intersection of risk and return. (All first and second year students will be invited to attend the speaker sessions whether or not you are enrolled in the course.)

ICS , Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy
[Term 2] Accounting & Business Valuation (K. Koga) (2008/Term 1&2 (Fall&Winter))

This course is aimed at MBA candidates who expect at some point in their careers to use financial statements to evaluate the performance of a company and the value of a business. The objective of the course is to provide hands-on experience in financial statement analysis. By the end of the course, you will be able to read firms’ financial statements and also understand how a financial statement can be used to do “fundamental analysis” and equity valuation.

How can we translate “sustainable competitive advantage” into accounting numbers? How about the concepts of “cost leadership” and “core competence”? The course focus is not on the details of accounting rules, but on interpreting strategy from profitability, efficiency, financial health, stability, and so on.
Course Structure

In this course students will be exposed to a comprehensive financial statement analysis and valuation framework that integrates accounting, financial analysis, and valuation.

The first half of the course develops financial statement analysis and an accounting-based valuation framework that integrates accounting numbers and corporate strategy. This will help students understand how strategy is reflected in financial numbers.

In the second half of the course, the fundamental analysis framework will be applied in a variety of business contexts, such as the following:
(1) Valuation of diversification strategy
(2) Valuation of M&A and divestiture
(3) Financial reporting strategy
(4) Financial policies, such as stock repurchase and dividend policy
Teaching Method

The early part of the course will be slide oriented with accounting data. From the midpoint, some cases will be used. Students are expected to analyze financial statement information and prepare case studies thoroughly.

ICS , Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy

[Term 1] Operations Management I (H. Kanno) (2008/Term 1&2 (Fall&Winter))

After graduating from ICS, whatever career you pursue, as a businessperson, you will manage “operations.” Any business is about value creation. To create value, you need to transform “inputs” into “outputs,” and of course, the value of your outputs must be larger than the value of your inputs. Operations management is defined as the management of any activities which transform inputs into outputs. Some people misunderstand that operations management is about manufacturing only — which is not true. For example, any IT business requires sophisticated operations management since the essence of an IT business is the transformation of “raw material” information (inputs) into more “value-added” information (outputs). Similarly, any service business, from restaurants to insurance to bank-counter services, requires sophisticated operations management to transform inputs (materials, information, knowledge, labor, etc.) into outputs (services). This course is designed to help you understand (1) why operations matter, (2) how to frame operation issues, (3) how to design better operating systems, and (4) how to “make it happen” (i.e., how to make the designed operating system actually work), by exposing you to a range of basic concepts and frameworks used for operations management.
Course Structure

You will learn how to manage operations by walking through the following three modules:

Module 1, “Analyzing Operations,” will help you understand various types of operation processes and the analytics to understand them in the context of appropriate controls and performance measures. The examples range from restaurant operation to computer assembly to apparel production. You will also experience simulations of a real world business operation.

Module 2, “Improving and Coordinating Operations,” focuses on systems for improving operations. Since any operation is a system composed of inter-related tasks, coordination among the tasks often becomes an important factor for performance improvement. Coordination goes beyond intra-company. You will also learn basic concepts of inter-company coordination (supply chain management) through simulations.

Module 3, “Make it Happen,” will give you a flavor of the management of the “soft side” of operations management. Sometimes you might find that however perfectly the “hard side” of operations is designed, the operating system does not work, simply due to a lack of consideration of the “soft side.” Most operations are more or less conducted by humans. Simply optimizing the system by mechanical calculation, ignoring “human factors,” may not work. (You will gain deeper understanding of the “soft side” of operations in “Execution Management” an elective course in Term 3.)
Teaching Method

The teaching approach of the course consists of case discussion, simulation, problem sets to be solved by study group. But the primary teaching approach is the case method. You are expected to prepare the case along with the discussion questions and participate actively in class discussion. Case discussions will be supplemented by occasional mini-lectures, in-class mini-exercises, and possibly a presentation by a guest speaker.

ICS , Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy

[Term 1] Corporate Finance (S. Abe) (2008/Term 1&2 (Fall&Winter))

This course is designed to provide both a practical and theoretical introduction to corporate finance. Students will learn how financial theory applies to business decision-making in order to maximize firm value long-term for shareholders. No previous knowledge of finance is required. However, a foundation in financial accounting (balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement) is highly desired. At the end of this course, students will be comfortable with a broad range of corporate finance topics.

Fundamentally, finance involves the allocation of capital, i.e., the flows of capital between capital users and capital providers. Factors considered include size, time, cost (return), and risk. As capital users, companies face two broad financial questions: What investments to make, i.e., how to make good investment decisions; and, how to pay for those investments, i.e., how to make good financing decisions. How companies make these important decisions will be addressed in terms of return and risk. Cost of capital and capital structure of companies will be covered.

The course also will introduce the capital markets and simple financial derivatives. A final module on mergers and acquisitions will explain the strategic rational for M&A. M&A valuation methodologies will be applied.

While financial theory provides a sound platform, students should keep in mind that the actual practice of corporate finance is a dynamic, constantly evolving activity. In particular, global capital markets continue to become more accessible to issuers and investors with myriad innovations at the margin. Change is the constant. This course is your take-off point. Fasten your seat belts and have a good flight.
Course Structure

Specific subject areas will include the concepts of net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), discount rate (r), discounted cash flow (DCF), free cash flow (FCF), the “g” word (growth), capital asset pricing model (CAPM), weighted average cost of capital (WACC), capital markets and initial public offerings (IPOs), equity options, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and leveraged buyouts (LBOs). The overriding course theme will be the maximization of long-term value for the company’s shareholders (owners).
Teaching Method

Lectures with power point slides, case studies, problem set assignments, topical news items, and short videotapes. Class discussion will be encouraged throughout the course.

ECON6035
Political Economy of Economic Policy
General Information
This course studies the relationship between the state and the market economy, especially highlighting the costs and benefits of economic policy interventions. Topics include: the economic value of the rule of law, property rights and institutional change, promoting competition and regulating markets, rules versus discretion in monetary, fiscal and exchange rate policy, and regionalism versus federalism. Selected case materials based on historical and contemporary examples will be used in classroom discussions, including international examples with emphasis on Hong Kong, China and Asia.
ECON6036