This quantitative course presents advanced material relevant for portfolio mangagers. First, it examines key elements of portfolio management with an emphasis on risk factors and strategic asset allocation (although tactical asset allocation and strategies designed to exploit apparent violations of market efficiency, etc. will also be discussed). Second, this course discusses implementation and oversight of portfolio strategies, performance evaluation, and practical issues related to hiring and evaluating asset managers. Discussionof these topics will be oftern based on relevant pratical examples and case studies.

This course will introduce students to the tools of machine learning with emphasis on their applications in finance. Students should be comfortable using Python before the course starts. They will also undertake three major machine learning projects (one individual and two in groups) using Python. The course will cover other financial innovations such as blockchain, payment systems, roboadvisors, InsurTech, and RegTech.

The purpose of this course is to improve participants ability to evaluate corporate and international strategies: in particular, the course will introduce participants to theories and methods that can improve management and decision-making in the area of vertical integration, diversification, international expansion, and new business development. The course will also introduce multi-business management tools such as business portfolio matrices.

This course is intended to remove the veil that often shields Directors and Boards from public scrutiny and delve into the intricacies of "governance." The two key principles that governance experts tout as strengths — transparency and accountability cannot be fully appreciated unless we understand the role that Directors and Boards play in organizations.

In the last decades, corporate governance became a popular and increasingly relevant topic. Corporate governance issues — e.g., transparency and efficiency of ownership and group structures, board of directors' composition and effectiveness, and their link with performance — are debated by media, investors, managers, directors, consultants, authorities, politicians, and scholars from different disciplines (e.g., finance, economics, law, management, etc.). Despite this growing interest on the topic, there is not a clear understanding of what the core governance principles are, and how they should be implemented by companies.

The course presents the main corporate governance issues, the two dominant approaches to corporate governance (shareholders' versus stakeholders' views), and the governance mechanisms aimed at addressing these issues. The module helps participants develop: (i) a critical understanding of ownership structures and governance mechanisms in various types of companies; (ii) an ability to correctly design the most appropriate governance mechanisms for different types of ownerships.

The course takes students on a journey from the origins of the sustainable development movement through to the present day including the important global conferences and underlying sustainability principles and practices. We will examine the exponential pace of change being driven by 4th Industrial Revolution technologies and where disruption is happening in value chains. Open innovation is the new normal which is underpinned by speed, collaboration, and failing fast to win big.

Thinking differently from a creative rather than a competitive mindset focuses on customer experiences that are grounded in purpose and values that brings out the best performances in businesses, teams and stakeholder engagement. It also acquires, retains, and grows the best employees, customers, suppliers, and partners. Great leadership and good governance are the foundations of process, structure and organizational strengths that guide sustainable businesses.

The Capstone Project course is designed for two purposes: 1) To assist students to translate the course learnings into concrete applications and behavioural adjustments that will help them be more effective in their jobs, careers, and lives. 2) To assist students to translate comprehensive data, analytical insights, and recommendations into compelling communications that clearly summarize complex ideas into convincing stories and logics.

Middle and senior managers are increasingly responsible for rapidly managing and resolving competing claims for the organization's limited resources (financial and human). Doing so requires advanced capabilities at managing cross-functionally and between business units. Critical, therefore, are the sophisticated leadership and action skills required to translate one's technical knowledge into effective actions in order to implement strategy. Equally important are the "systems" managers must design, maintain, and update in order to facilitate the implementation of the firm's strategy. This is essential to realizing corporate renewal, which ultimately it has to do with making change happen.

Thus, leading change processes is a key to achieve personal and business success. Both parties should be interested in this interplay. Managers, whose careers can benefit being acknowledged as transformation agents, and their respective organizations, since they need to innovate and adjust to market dynamics better than their competitors. The tension toward exploring new sources of revenues and implement continuous improvements in the organization does not happen by chance: it is instilled by leaders that understand the importance of change.

Renewal strategies have to overcome and manage resistances to change. On the surface, people are admired by the notion of "progress," "innovation," and "transformation," but what research and management practice has shown is that resistance and organizational inertia delay projects, slow down the implementation, and dilute the expected benefits of the new strategies. Moreover, many company transformations are today forced by the adoption of large-scale digital technologies that incorporate a different view of how company processes should be handled as well as the interactions between the organization and its environments (e.g., customers and suppliers).

An overriding objective of the course is to develop managerial perspectives on macroeconomic and global issues. Students will develop an understanding of aggregate output and cyclical patterns in GDP as well as factors that determine employment, prices, interest rates, and exchange rates. In an increasingly globalized economy, developments globally are intertwined with these questions and must be considered. Therefore, both national and international macroeconomic factors will be covered. The conduct of fiscal and monetary policy will be discussed. There will be special consideration given to the recession caused by the 2020 pandemic, with a comparison to the 2008 global financial crisis, as well as considerations given to high inflation and the aggressive interest rate hikes pursued by monetary authorities globally. The course also highlights how the emergence of ESG is impacting the strategies deployed by business, and how firms that ignore ESG will be left behind. Brought to the macro level, how firms within countries address ESG issues will have a material impact on the economy's performance.

The course will consist of four modules. The first module (financial analysis) will present a comprehensive framework for ratio analysis where a firm's operations are separated from its financing to better understand the true drivers of profitability and risk. The second module (industry and strategic analysis) will illustrate why it is important to understand industry structure and a company's strategic choices. The third module (accounting analysis) will provide a framework to understand and evaluate a firm's accounting and disclosure choices and provide techniques to adjust financial statements to ensure better comparability. The fourth module (prospective analysis) will discuss techniques for integrated forecasting and will apply the insights from the earlier modules to generate forecasts for a firm. These forecasts will then be used to value a firm.

This course lays the Rotman School foundation for a model-based approach to business problems. This foundation will be laid onto three footings: 1) Understanding the nature and role of models in management thinking; 2) A scientific approach to solving business problems; 3) Analyzing existing models to inform the problem-solving process.

The course will apply some principles from logic, cognitive science, behavioural decision making, and rational choice theory to develop a framework to improve understanding of the thought processes that underlie actions taken by leaders, and the feedback gained from the resulting outcomes that allow leaders to update and refine their thinking. This is a course about thinking.

This course continues from Finance I with a focus on corporate finance. We will study how risk affects expected returns and project valuation. The evaluation of risk and the subsequent required return are central topics, and we will also discuss corporate finance decisions including capital structure and dividends. We will spend time on related topics as time permits.

The course will focus on analyzing M&A and PE deals primarily from the perspective of finance and strategy, integrating issues from economics, accounting, law, and organizational behaviour where appropriate. Successful deal-makers and advisors not only evaluate individual transactions, but also analyze capital market conditions and industry developments. Accordingly, we will examine past and current trends in financial markets and in specific industries, the motivation and comparative advantage of different players in these settings, and factors that can influence them. The course will bring in the perspectives of various key players, such as shareholders and other stock market participants, regulators, management, creditors, and other stakeholders.

This course examines sustainability issues faced by global corporations. Some of these issues reside "within" the organization itself, some are "external" but affect the operating environment and competitive landscape of the firm. All issues are related back to the "Shareholder Value" proposition of the firm that is central to both its Financial Position and its Social License to Operate in free market economies. The course examines issues related to climate change and the transition to a low-carbon economy, as well as other environmental and social topics and how these topics impact global leaders in the business world.

This is a sustainability course with a distinct "finance" lens, but it is not aimed specifically at students with mostly technical finance skills or highly technical finance career goals. There will be a bit of math, but not too much. In the end, it is about creating and protecting "value" in large firms while being conscious and responsive to the need to also create a positive "impact" on the world (or at least minimize any negative impact). A big emphasis is on uncompensated Economic Externalities and how markets and traditional capitalist incentive systems struggle to lead to allocative efficiency and social welfare in these circumstances. A background in sustainability is not required to succeed in this course, but an interest is helpful. The course is a mix of cases and lectures, including discussions and (potentially) guest speakers.