The Results Are In: Check Out Some of The Most Popular Michigan Ross MBA Courses
From product development to advanced skills with data analytics, the courses Michigan Ross MBA students are lining up to take this year cover a broad range of interdisciplinary topics and skills.
Here are some of the courses that have the most Ross MBA student interest this academic year, and the ones they’ll be talking about long after they graduate:
Mergers, Acquisitions, and Corporate Development (STRAT 682)
This popular course covering how value is created (and destroyed) during corporate mergers and acquisitions is always filled to capacity. In the class, students analyze the mechanisms underlying the value in mergers, acquisitions and corporate restructuring.
Issues are examined from the point of view of a firm contemplating the use of three specific corporate strategy tools: (1) Analytical frameworks to decide on the strategy behind the transactions, and whether and what to acquire; (2) Maximization of the share of value creation potential appropriated by the acquiring firm through opportune behavior during the evaluation, negotiation and internal decision-making processes; and (3) Actions to be taken after the acquisition is completed, in order to ensure that the value creation potential is realized.
Entrepreneurial Turnaround Management (ES 735)
The professor of this popular class has a passion for, and deep experience in, innovation and entrepreneurship. He has made more than 30 investments in start-ups and private-equity-owned companies, and currently serves as an investor and on the boards of directors of three privately-held companies.
The course is led by Jeff Sinclair, a successful business leader with experience serving as CEO and on leadership teams in strategy, operations, and organization for companies across the globe, including those in the technology industry, aerospace and defense, automotive, industrial products, basic materials, consumer goods, and food.
Until 2012 he served as a Senior Partner with a global consulting firm, and he brings all of this expertise to this hands-on course. Students learn to evaluate analysis techniques, prioritization of tasks, communication strategies, strategic repositioning, financial restructuring, and the psychological aspects of troubled situations.
Big Data Management Tools & Techniques (TO 640)
Coding, but for business. This course teaches the basic tools in acquisition, management, and visualization of large data sets. Students learn how to: store, manage, and query databases via SQL; quickly construct insightful visualizations of multi-attribute data using Tableau; use the Python programming language to manage data as well as connect to APIs to efficiently acquire public data.
After taking this course, students will be able to efficiently construct large data sets that source underlying data from multiple sources, and form initial hypotheses based on visualization. The class also includes a hands-on lab where students work with the tools taught in real-world contexts.
Business Leadership in Changing Times (MO 611)
Affectionately called “The CEO Course”, this class is essential for students who wish to develop the skills and insights necessary for dealing with rapid change in business. It focuses on the early recognition of, methods of coping with, ways of learning from, and prevention of critically disruptive situations.
The course features visiting leaders who’ve navigated their companies during these periods of change and difficulty. After hearing from these leaders, teams of students reconstruct cases based on their discussions with the executives, their own readings, and creative thinking skills.
Marketing Engineering and Analytics (MKT 630)
Advancements in behavioral science and big data analytics are transforming marketing practices at breakneck speed. This course treats marketing like the engineering problem it is quickly becoming and focuses on how to actually segment/target customers and optimize and position product attributes. Students learn the kinds of deployable, accessible analytic techniques transforming our current-day marketing practices.
Students identify appropriate options and actions for businesses and products; calibrate costs and expected returns for each option; and choose those with the highest likelihood of achieving business goals.
Integrated Product Development (TO 548)
The course takes students from Ross, the Stamps School of Art & Design, Michigan Engineering, and the School of Information and asks them to work through an integrated exercise of market research, product design, product development, manufacturing, pricing, forecasting, inventory policy, and competition with other products in the same market.
After weeks of work perfecting their prototypes and pitches, student teams compete in an online and in-person trade show where they attempt to earn the most consumer confidence.
In recent years, the challenges for teams have included coming up with products meant to be used with one hand and products that make tiny house living more comfortable and approachable.
This is just a small sampling of the rigorous, impactful courses Michigan Ross MBA students are taking every day. Explore the entire course catalog to view more.
Interested in hearing more about these classes from the students who’ve taken them? We have more than 200 student ambassadors waiting and ready to connect with you and share their experience. Search the database now and find someone who shares your background or interests today.
Matthew Trevor, Senior PR Specialist
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