Electives

Lecturer: Sir Andrew Likierman, Dean, London Business School

As leader, manager, entrepreneur or analyst, you will need to measure the performance of organisations and judge the success of individual activities. You will also be deciding on, and receiving, performance-related pay. This elective provides a framework to understand the key arguments in the field, ask the right questions and apply practical tools, recognising differences in performance culture across the world.

Lecturer: Eli Talmor, Florin Vasvari

Covers the concepts, techniques, instruments and institutions involved in private equity investment. The course addresses the various segments of private equity, including new venture finance, corporate venture capital and buyouts. Particular attention will be given to the technology sector and to turnarounds, segments which comprise the majority of private equity investing.

The course is structured along five themes: venture capital contracts, valuation, deal processing and dynamics, structure of the private equity market; and harvesting. These themes cover the different stages of investment in a venture firm: from early rounds to the exit stage where the value of the investment is realised. The course contrasts buyout and venture transactions. It also covers the structure, strategy and performance of the private equity firm.

Lecturer: Linda Yeuh

The aim of the course is to give a balanced evaluation of the opportunities and pitfalls for businesses in the main emerging markets of Eastern Europe, Latin America, South East Asia and Africa. A detailed framework will be provided within which to evaluate the risks and gains from doing business in a wide variety of emerging markets.

Lecturer: Jean-Pierre Benoit

This course is an introduction to the methods and results of modern game theory applied to business strategy. The insights gained in this course will help you to forecast and understand the actions of your rivals and to formulate a good strategic response. The focus is on strategic interactions between firms (e.g. product positioning, R&D competition and mergers), within firms (e.g. incentive contracts and bargaining), and between buyers and sellers (e.g. asymmetric information, market design, vertical contracting and licensing).

Lecturer: Richard Portes, Lucrezia Reichlin, Hélène Rey, Andrew Scott

The purpose of this course is to deepen your understanding of the way the global economy is evolving by considering current topical issues. The aim is to give you further experience in economic analysis as well as to provide you with the knowledge of what the global economic environment is likely to be in the five years or so after graduating. The course will provide an understanding of the likely behaviour of financial markets and the general business background as well as the issues facing governments in their policy choices. It will be of interest to those seeking a career in the financial professions, international consulting or those with a general interest in global issues.

Lecturer: Brandon Julio, David Yermack

The main aim of this course is to enable students to apply the theoretical concepts covered in the basic finance courses, to problems in the area of corporate finance with all the complexities that the real world entails. Through cases and discussion of topical issues, the course provides the opportunity to analyse practical financial situations and problems. Cases will be used to motivate the discussion of the gap between rigorous finance theory and its application to practical problems in corporate finance, and the thought process required when faced with this gap.

Lecturer: Stephen Schaefer

Fuelled in part by burgeoning growth in the credit derivatives market, this course will provide an introduction as well as an in-depth understanding of issues in credit risk, its modelling and applications, as well as new developments. The objective is to provide a balance between developing, on one hand, a conceptual framework and, on the other, market understanding and insight. Topics covered include historical default experience and recovery rates, applications of structural models and default-intensity models of credit risk and credit spread options. This course is ideal for anyone interested in credit risk and credit derivatives, with a focus on modelling, valuation and hedging.

Lecturer: Mark Seasholes

The objective of this course is to study the most important theoretical concepts in the field of investment management, to examine whether these theories are supported by empirical evidence, and to identify the practical implications for investment professionals. The course will emphasise topics where research provides an important message for professional management of the investment function. This should be of particular relevance to those working in investment, or seeking to open up career opportunities in asset management. It will also appeal to anyone who is likely to have contact with investors, fund managers, investment consultants or investment organisations.

Lecturer: Suleyman Basak

The objective of this course is to provide students with the necessary skills to value and hedge a wide variety of derivatives contracts. The course presents a systematic, unified approach to the pricing of derivatives and adopts cutting-edge methods throughout. Continuous-time mathematics is developed and employed as the main tool of analysis. The course is necessarily quantitative and symbolically oriented, although practical applications are emphasized.

Lecturer: Suleyman Basak

The objective of this course is to undertake a rigorous study of fixed income securities. The course is quantitatively oriented and requires some background in calculus and statistics. Students will learn how to manage interest rate risk, how to value securities with cash flows that are sensitive to movements in interest rates and how to determine the optimal exercise policy for a variety of embedded options in fixed income securities (e.g. when should a bond be called). The perspective of the course is from the viewpoint of a bond investor or a bond trader, but individuals working in corporate finance need to understand similar material as evaluating an investment in a fixed income security is the mirror image of the problem faced by a corporation in deciding whether or not to issue a bond.

Lecturer: Narayan Naik

The hedge fund industry has grown rapidly over the last decade and is getting recognized as an 'alternative' to the traditional mutual fund investment. University endowments and high net worth individuals have long invested in hedge funds. More recently, European pension funds have also started making significant investments in hedge funds, in spite of the relative lack of transparency, disclosure, liquidity, regulation, capacity etc. The regulatory authorities in Europe are opening up to hedge funds, considering harmonization of regulation; attempts are also being made to bring hedge funds to retail investors. This course will examine the raison d'être behind these developments, the modus operandi of hedge funds, their legal, organizational and operational structures, their risk-return characteristics, their model of aligning the interests of investors and managers, and the likelihood of their success in the future.

Lecturer: Julian Franks, Paolo Volpin

This elective examines several forms of corporate reorganisations, including mergers and acquisitions, reorganisation through workouts and bankruptcy, divisional spin-offs and divestitures, and leveraged buyouts. Students examine the process of managing reorganisation, the role of the investment bank and other specialists, regulation, and cross-country comparisons. The course has a strong conceptual approach, with an emphasis on why mergers and other reorganisations take place, what is their role in the economy, and how do they perform from the viewpoint of shareholders and other parties. There is a strong institutional flavour that will be communicated through papers of a more applied nature. Real case studies and outside speakers provide the applications of the course.

Lecturer: TBC

Derivative instruments such as futures, swaps and options are now an indispensable part of the toolkit of all financial practitioners, from investment managers to corporate financiers. Like all powerful tools, though, they are as easy to misuse as to use. The purpose of this course is to provide students with the necessary skills to enable them to be an informed user of derivatives. Students will acquire a robust conceptual knowledge of the fundamental issues that determine the valuation and behaviour of these instruments, thorough grounding in both the real-world details of the products, and in the models used to analyse them. As mathematical models are central to both the existence and functioning of modern derivatives markets, the course is highly quantitative.

Lecturer: Elroy Dimson, Bob Jenkins

This course provides a tour of the world of investment management, where students will learn about asset management in practice and be better prepared for a career in investment. Topics raised will include what jobs do asset managers and their advisers do and what are the challenges as new ideas are adapted to meet the needs of customers and clients. Students will study the real jobs of analysts, quantitative specialists, strategists, fund managers, distributors, consultants, real-estate and hedge-fund professionals and investment advisors.

Lecturer: Victor Demiguel, Kiriakos Vlahos

The course explores the potential of business modelling in assisting management decision-making. Practical computer workshops and modelling projects aim to increase capability in the use of key modelling tools, e.g. advanced spreadsheets, intelligent systems software, etc. Such business modelling skills are regarded as essential by the leading financial and management consultancy firms.

Lecturer: John Morecroft

Why do so many business strategies fail? Why do so many others fail to produce lasting results? Why do so many businesses and industries suffer from fluctuating sales, earnings and morale? How can we translate our experience and knowledge of one business setting to manage a new or entrepreneurial endeavour?

To answer such questions the course aims to provide solid grounding in the disciplines of feedback systems thinking and systems dynamic modelling. The course enhances your ability to visualise business systems, to take an executive overview of firms and industries, to understand interdependencies and to unravel dynamically complex questions. You will learn how to build and communicate system dynamics models and how to use the modelling process to rehearse strategy with management teams before implementing new policies in the real business.

Lecturer: Kim Warren

The widespread failure of strategic initiatives poses a big challenge for leaders and advisors alike. Bullet-points and 2x2 grids are not enough - a more professional approach to strategic management is urgently required. Strategy Dynamics provides powerful yet practical frameworks to design and sustain performance, whether for commercial or non-profit organisations. This new paradigm, unique to London Business School, but now being offered in other international schools, builds on established strategy concepts, but moves well beyond them - exposing limitations and offering solutions.

Lecturer: Bruce Hardie

Marketing professionals and consultants are charged with a wide variety of responsibilities that require them to have a good understanding of the workings of the market (at both the micro- and macro-level), evaluate the impact of (and therefore demonstrate the value of) past marketing activities, and use these insights in the development of marketing programmes. The objective of this course is to familiarise students with some of the main analytical methods that have now become fundamental to marketing decision-making as well as to high-level marketing and strategy consulting engagements.

Lecturer: Simona Botti

Brand Management is a vital topic for any MBA, and this elective offers students the chance to take one of the most applied and advanced courses on brand management available anywhere in the world. Rather than focus on academic theory, the course takes an extremely managerial viewpoint. Explored are all dimensions of brand management, from defining brands, brand building strategies, brand architecture and extension issues, brand repositioning; these points will have particular focus two special topic areas: luxury brands and retail brands. The course focus ranges from small start-up brands, consumer brands, service brands and B2B brands. The course will be run as an intensive block week course, and will include a variety of teaching methods including guest speakers who are senior branding experts currently engaged in branding issues.

Lecturer: Michael Frese

This is a hands-on course in which exercises, cases, and guest speakers give answers to the following questions: Who leads global businesses, and what skills do they possess? How do today's CEOs see the essential skill set for their successors? What is required to do cross-border business? What essential strengths and weaknesses do you have as a cross-cultural leader and how can you maximize your potential? How can you change organisational culture to suit the needs of a global business?

Lecturer: Margaret Ormiston

The purpose of this course is to help students understand the general principles and processes of effective leadership so that you can lead in a wide variety of situations. The course covers a broad variety of leadership situations and particular attention will be paid not only to leader attributes but to the "leadership" that arises from understanding group processes and the ways in which team members influence one another. Topics covered include understanding more about the nature of leadership, learning what separates successful business executives from their less successful counterparts, and how to develop confidence as a leader. Students who take full advantage of this course will be prepared to lead teams effectively, and the course is relevant for any student pursuing a managerial career.

Lecturer: Richard Jolly

As an increasingly fundamental part of business, change management is a crucial skill for managers, whether the company is large or small, local or transnational. Coming up with the right strategy is only a small part of organisational success - the hardest challenge is in getting key stakeholders and people throughout the organisation to not just implement the strategy, but to own it. This course will build the students understanding of, and practical capability to implement, the many facets of change management and how to plan for and cope with change and its implications.

Lecturers: Gillian Ku, Madan Pillutla, Ena Inesi, Niro Sivanathan

The course is designed to be relevant to the broad spectrum of negotiation problems that are faced by the manager and professional. Students will gain a broad understanding of the central concepts in negotiation, as well as learn and develop strategies for analysing and preparing for negotiations. Students will have the opportunity to practice negotiation skills, receive feedback on individual negotiation problems and improve their ability to analyse the behaviour and motives of individuals, groups, and organisations in competitive situations. The course is suitable for anyone who communicates in their daily interactions with other people, and will be useful to those with interests in brand management, real estate, consulting, entrepreneurship or mergers and acquisitions.

Lecturer: Phanish Puranam

Most large companies, and many quite small ones, are not single businesses but 'groups', comprising a portfolio of more or less separate business units and one or more levels of 'corporate' management. Such portfolios may be apparently 'diverse', spanning several different industries, or more 'focused', with a number of directly parallel business units, or businesses in closely related industry sectors. Whatever the composition of the portfolio, there remains a question as to why it should exist at all, and to what extent it is worth more as a whole than the combined value of its constituent parts. The prime aims of this course are to clarify the nature of corporate, as opposed to business, strategy, and to help students assess corporate strategies and develop superior ones. The course is particularly useful for those intending to become strategy consultants or investment bankers as well as those who plan to work in, and eventually lead, multi-business groups.

Lecturer: John Mullins, Antony Ross, Martyn Williams, Fabio Giusepetti

This course is designed to introduce you to the issues and practices of financing entrepreneurial businesses (start-ups, emerging growth companies, management buy-outs and buy-ins, etc.) The course covers matters regarding raising finance, pricing and structuring financings, and exiting from the points of view of the entrepreneur and of the investor. The course is designed for individuals who want to start, buy or run their own businesses some day; those who want to work in the venture capital industry; those who expect to provide financial or consulting services to entrepreneurial companies; and those who want to learn about personal investing in privately-held companies.

Lecturer: Michael Jacobides

This is an integrated general management course with a strong emphasis on the practical aspects of implementation. The aims of the course are to explore the management issues that arise when a financially-distressed firm needs a radical change to ensure its survival; and to explore the strategies and actions necessary to achieve significant performance improvement within a 12 to 18 month time frame. While the focus is on financially distressed companies, the principles apply to any situation where rapid performance improvement is required.

Lecturer: Rupert Merson, Keith Willey

Managing the Growing Business is an integrative course that concentrates on the general management challenges facing founders or managers in entrepreneurial businesses. To truly understand what entrepreneurship really means, one must get as close as possible to real entrepreneurs and their businesses. Students examine many entrepreneurial businesses so that they can recognise the patterns in business models and management processes, and learn how to manage the risks and convert opportunities.

Lecturer: John Bates

Students will explore how entrepreneurs identify and analyse the commercial feasibility of creative ideas, turn them into products and services, and take these products and services to market. Students will consider some of the most fundamental issues and questions facing creative entrepreneurs, such as the basics of value creation and how they apply to creative businesses. How to cope with demand uncertainty and substantial upfront fixed costs inherent in creative businesses? To what extent is the creative process affected by technological change? Why and how does the culture of creativity matter? How to protect intellectual property? How to finance new creative ventures? How to build capabilities? What marketing pitfalls to avoid? How to expand internationally? In exploring these issues, students will have an opportunity to become acquainted with the management issues in creative ventures and gain an insight into career opportunities in the design, film and television, fashion, advertising, music, computer games, publishing and performing arts sectors.

Lecturer: Michael Davis, Keith Willey

As with New Creative Ventures, students will explore how entrepreneurs identify and analyse the feasibility of innovative technical ideas, turn them into products and services, and take these products and services to market. Where do sources of technological opportunities originate? How are innovations incubated? What do patterns of technological change suggest? Why and how does the culture of innovation matter? How to protect intellectual property? How to finance for new technology ventures? How to build capabilities? What marketing pitfalls to avoid? What partnership options to pursue? How to expand internationally? In exploring these issues, students have an opportunity to become acquainted with leading technologies from various sectors.

Lecturer: John Bates, Rupert Merson, Andy Phillipps
 
The aim of the course is to provide an overview of the process and challenges associated with starting an entirely new business, and to equip students with the skills required to prepare a persuasive business plan, approach prospective investors, and get their business launched. Students gain a clear understanding of methods such as how to assess an entrepreneurial opportunity, what resources are needed to start a new business and the costs and challenges involved; how to produce a sound business plan and raise venture capital and other types of finance. The course provides an ideal springboard for students wishing to give an entrepreneurial bias to their careers, and a number of graduates who have taken the New Venture Development course have gone on to set up their own business while others have pursued careers in venture capital.

Lecturer: Markus Reitzig

Strategic innovation (or the strategy of "breaking the rules") is the discovery of radical new business models in existing industries that grow the market by attracting new consumers. This course helps students to understand how a company can discover a new business model and how it can successfully migrate from its current position to the new. Explored will be why established companies find it so difficult to strategically innovate and what they can do to improve the odds of success, as well as the circumstances under which it makes sense for established companies to strategically innovate.