Download Course Offerings in 2012

COURSE OGGERINGS IN SPRING2012/FALL2012/
http://www.aiu.ac.jp/en/academics/pdf/Course%20Offerings%20in%20AY%202012(2008).pdf
=SPRING / FALL /
ECN 305 Principles of Macroeconomics (3 credits)
Macroeconomics is the study of the aggregate economy, consisting of the government
sector, all the markets, all the buyers and sellers. We study economy-wide phenomena
and issues such as inflation, unemployment, savings, consumption, investment, interest
rate, exchange rate, GDP, business cycles and growth. We will also devote some
attention to international trade and finance, if time allows. All this is in contrast to
microeconomics, in which we study individual markets and the typical behavior of
individual market players. Much of this course will be conceptual and theoretical, and is
concerned with constructing macroeconomic models, although there will be ample
applications and references to the real world. Alongside classroom learning, students
are expected to follow international and Japanese business and economic news
throughout the semester, picking up information from news sources of their own choice.
A familiarity with real world macroeconomic issues will help understand better the
concepts we learn in the classroom.
=SPRING / FALL=
ECN 304 International Business (3 credits)
This is an introductory course in international business. Major topics arenational
differences in political economy and culture, international trade and investment,
international monetary system, international capital markets, foreign exchange rates,
international corporate strategy and structure, and the ‘disciplines’ of business from
international perspectives (manufacturing, materials management, marketing, R&D,
and human resource management). Our view of the global marketplace often will be
from the perspective of Japan. The required textbook for the course is thin but engaging,
combining key concepts in international business with experiential learning in the
classroom. The main part of the text consists of hands-on experiential exercises, projects,
and very short case studies.
=FALL
ECN 310 Accounting (3 credits)
This introductory course in Financial Accounting is designed to give students a solid
foundation upon which to build their formal education or career in business. A majority
of class will be spent on the basic rules and the process of preparing financial
statements, mainly balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flow.
Students will also learn how to analyze the financial statements in terms of profitability,
efficiency, liquidity, and safety.
=SPRING=
ECN 315 Japanese Finance and Practices under Globalization (3 Credits)
Japan’s economy during ‘90s is often referred to “a lost decade.” In fact, it was suffering
from bad loan, which gave negative impacts on economic activities in Japan. Looking
back to the past when Norway and other Scandinavian countries faced the same
problem but they came out of it in a relatively short period of time. In this sense, it could
be argued why Japan took so long to resolve bad loan issues. This question is quite
relevant to the fact that Japan just stared to undertake influences from so-called
“globalization.” This course discusses, particularly from the risk management viewpoint,
these Japan’s financial debt problems in private sector and how the financial
authorities dealt with it, based on the my own experiences of the resolution of LTCB and
NCB.
ECN 330 Corporate Finance (3 credits)
In the beginning of this course, we will study the functions of business organizations
and the financial statements. This part of business knowledge serves as the foundation
of all business decisions. In the second part, we deal with financing issues: what are the
financial instruments through which corporations raise capital. In the case of equity
financing, the major methods include venture capital, IPO, and seasoned offerings. In
the case of debt financing, firms can borrow from banks or issue corporate bonds. We
examine these method’s mechanisms and their impact on the firm value. In the final
part, we discuss investment issues. For example, what are the investment criteria
employed by firms? A good criterion must ensure that projects meeting the criterion
enhance the firm value. As an application, we examine mergers & acquisitions (M&A)
and overseas investment.
ECN 345 Leadership in International Management (3 credits)
In the environment where organizations and teams, whether they are corporations,
public services, or private associations, are facing unceasing changes, activities to
accomplish their purposes and targets are in increasing need of trained leadership.
Through this course, students will methodically understand what leadership is, and by
drawing individually an image of true leadership they will be guided toward developing
the quality required for leadership. On practical side, they will learn the planning
process of mission – vision – strategy – action plan, which is most fundamental in
leading a group, and also some core competencies including, among others,
communication and human relationship management. The course deploys not only
lectures but also group discussions, workouts, public presentations and other active
means whereby students will be able to acquire methodologies which are applied in
western countries as well.
ECN 343 Japanese Business Culture (J) (3 credits)
The course aims at enabling students not only to understand the frameworks and norms
of Japanese business culture as the work environment in which they put themselves but
also to interpret the realities of Japan today by setting an analytical chart of views,
through discussions on a wide range of characteristics of business culture, refering to
historical and social backgrounds and comparison with that of other countries, where
appropriate. Sessions include lectures, in which rich store of episodes and examples are
introduced, and frequent group discussions among the students on selected subjects.
=FALL=
ECN 300 Management Principles and Practice (3 credits)
This course is an introduction to business principles for business and non-business
major students. In other words, I would like to make you BUSINESS LITERATE.
ECN 301 Financial Theories & Applications (3 credits)
In this course we deal with the most fundamental financial theories and their
applications in the real world. The first part starts with the most basic financial concept
- interest compounding: how to calculate the present value and future value of various
patterns of cash flows, and how they are applied in the real world, such as mortgages,
bonds, and stocks. The second part focuses on stock, introducing the theory of portfolio
and Capital Asset Pricing Model, which explains the relationship between risk and
return. Then we introduce derivatives - futures, forwards, and options. We will show
that derivatives are designed as a hedge against the fluctuations in the asset prices.
The last part deals with relatively advanced topics, which can serve a connecting bridge
to advanced courses in finance.
ECN 320 International Trade (3 credits)
The desirability of a liberal system of international trade has been commonplace
economic discourse ever since the classical economists produced the principle of
comparative advantage. Protecting domestic producers against import competition
helps those producers, and hurts the interests of importing nations’consumers, and
hurts the world as a whole. For more than half a century, the world interest has been
defended mainly by global agreement to liberalize trade, and bysuperpowers with
stakes in global prosperity. This course will review international trade theories and
policies. Students will gain understanding of the political, economic and cultural nature
of trade disputes, universality vs. regionalism, and bilateralism. Students interested in
international relations will gain further understanding the complex nature of
international trade relationship among nations.
ECN 322 Economics of Globalization (3 credits)
In this course, we study some on-going issues regarding economic crises in the global
scale with focus on the Asia-Pacific region. First, we review recent crises in advanced
nations, such as the financial crisis, the sovereign debt crisis, the nuclear energy crisis,
etc. Then, we examine their effects on Asian economies, where China and other BRIC
nations are increasing their influence.
ECN 323 Money, Banking and International Finance (3 credits)
The course will focus upon the theoretical and empirical aspects of the role of money,
financial markets and institutions, as well as central banking and their relationship to
economic stability and growth. We will also spend significant amount of time to study
the 2007-2009 world financial crisis that originated in the U.S.
ECN 324 History of Economic Thought (3 credits)
This course explores the history of economic ideas. It is aimed at students who have
completed introductory courses in business, macro and microeconomics, and corporate
finance. It covers the main schools of economic thought: Mercantilist, Physiocratic,
Classical, Marxian, Marginalist, Neoclassical, Keynesian, Chicago, Institutionalist,
Welfare Economics, Game Theory, and the German Historical School as well as the
historical context within which they came into being in order to understand why such
thinking materialized.
ECN 328 Intermediate Microeconomics (3 credits)
In this course, we study microeconomic theory at the intermediate level, based on
introductory microeconomics. We examine how consumers and firms make their choices
in an optimal fashion, leading to demand and supply in the market. Then we analyze
market efficiency and optimality as well as market failures by using graphical and
mathematical tools.
ECN 331 Entrepreneurship (3 credits)
Venture business and entrepreneurship constitute the very foundation of modern
economies. Toyota, Sony, Honda, Panasonic, Kyocera, Mitsui, and Mitsubishi as well as
Microsoft, Apple, and Intel all started out as tiny ventures. However, present-day Japan
seems to be losing entrepreneurial spirit and lags far behind other OECD nations in
terms individual aspirations and track record of starting and cultivating new companies,
which is particularly true in the last few years when the number of IPO’s has declined
dramatically and many major venture capitals are suffering from large losses in Japan.
After the March 11 East Japan Great Earthquakes and Tsunami, plus lingering
radiation threat from the ailing Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear plant disaster in the
Southern Tohoku and Kanto regions this year, Japan will definitely
have to overhaul its entire energy, industrial and economic structure and must see
more ambitious and long-lasting ventures popping up throughout the country to be
started by either Japanese or non-Japanese alike.
The situation in Japan is in stark contrast to the eco-system of Silicon Valley, where
successful ventures and industrial frontiers are constantly emerging. It is time for
Japan to re-engineer its venture eco-system so exciting new companies can once again
emerge and grow, and even replace some of the old-style stodgy existing bureaucratic
big businesses most of which have failed to make substantial progress against the
emerging competitions from Korea and China and other growing countries for the last
decade. The newly emerging ventures should also lead away from 1990’s money and
greed-driven "Bit-Valley" ventures of Shibuya, Tokyo and the "IT-bubble" ventures of
the early 2000’s. Most of these undesirable Japanese startups have already disappeared
or are destined to disappear soon due to their unprofessional, uneducated, and
unethical ways.
The entrepreneurship world is hyper-dynamic. Business models that succeeded just a
couple of years ago are already obsolete. This course teaches essential elements for
successful entrepreneurship, which can be regarded as almost universal,
inductively-extracted key factors for success. During the semester, students will
experience the ‘real world’ of entrepreneurship through eyes and true stories of
successful venture capitalists and CEOs of fast-growing venture businesses who will
visit our class from Tokyo. Their sensational stories about the process of
entrepreneurship – from start-up to going public – are stories that few Japanese ever
experience. Students will also be exposed to a wide range of theories and conceptual
frameworks and will learn practical skills through the analysis of case studies. Groups
of four to six students will be formed and will participate in a business plan competition
to be waged toward the end of the semester. The presentation will be judged by ‘real
world’ entrepreneurs/venture capitalists and the instructor. In the event that there
emerges an exceptionally attractive plan, students may have an opportunity to bring
your dream to the real world through the instructor’s venture capital network.
ECN 332 Business Law (3 credits)
Business Law is an undergraduate course for business students, not law students. The
course is an overview of legal doctrines that are found in most business contexts such
as: contracts, uniform commercial code/sales transactions, business organizations,
employment law issues, business torts, government regulation, and ethics. The legal
principles covered in this course are derived from American law, i.e., constitutional law,
case-law, statutes, and regulations. There will be some comparison between American
law and Japanese law. However, international legal issues will primarily be addressed
within an American legal framework. Students will be expected to make every effort to
comprehend and ultimately apply the relevant rule of law to actual case problems.
ECN 334 Strategic Management (3 credits)
This is an advanced ‘capstone’ course for business majors. The assumption is that
enrolling students have already completed nearly all requirements for a business or
economics major. Ideally, this should be one of the undergraduate student’s last courses
in business or economics studies. An attempt will be made to integrate what students
have learned and are learning in other university courses, particularly in the area of
business and economics.
ECN 335 Leadership: Theory and Applications (3 credits)
(TBA)
ECN 351 Managing Organizations and Human Resources (3 credits)
Anyone will realize that managing organizations and human resources is the essential
role of the management, and whether to succeed or fail in this capacity makes a great
difference and impact on the organizational performance, workers’ lives, and even
society. This course is designed to provide students with broad knowledge about
organization and human resource management (HRM) and to give them keys to cope
with organizational and HRM-related problems in the real business settings. We begin
by focusing on various theories closely linked to organization and HRM from both macro
and micro perspectives. Next, we turn our attention to a wide range of current topics
and issues. Class activities will be a combination of lectures and case study discussions.
Throughout the semester, students will be exposed to both theory and practice with
focus on problem-solving and decision-making. Lectures by guest speakers from
Japanese top leading companies will reinforce your understanding and critical thinking
about the Japanese management styles. Students are expected to make project
presentations at the end of the course.