Global Business Certificate Program | Northwestern SPS - Northwestern School of Professional Studies

This course covers accounting issues uniquely confronted by companies involved in international business. The primary focus of the course is to provide an overview of international accounting by drawing on real business problems, economies, and finance in order to understand what is contained in and how to develop and interpret financial reports. The course includes fundamental financial accounting concepts and methods across countries.

This course is conducted completely online. A technology fee will be added to tuition.

This course examines the economic structure, performance and problems of developing nations and emerging markets. Topics will include land use, labor, migration, credit, insurance and famine, with a focus on building students' understanding of the fundamental scholarship, debates and economic methodologies in this area. The course will also discuss development economics as a set of tools and as an evolving discipline in the post-colonial historical context. Students should be comfortable with basic micro- and macroeconomic concepts. Prerequisites: ECON 281, 310-A,-B, 311. Students may benefit from prior coursework in statistics, econometrics, or mathematical economics, though prior work in these areas is not required by prerequisite. Students should have a working understanding of microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, preferably including one quarter of introductory coursework in each area. 

This course will cover many of the basic concepts and facts needed to understand the functioning of international financial markets, including determination of exchange rates, balance of payments, and international asset flows and prices; international transmission of macroeconomic disturbances. Prerequisite: ECON 281, 310-A,-B, or equivalent.

An introductory course covering the basic concepts and models used in finance. Explores the mathematics and spreadsheet modeling techniques used in evaluating various financial assets, including stocks and bonds. Also surveys the risk-return tradeoff in financial markets and how investors gauge risk, as well as the basic concepts of Markowitz's mean-variance portfolio theory. The nature and impact of interest-rate risk on financial institutions is considered, and the duration of a financial asset is introduced in this context. Introduces the efficient market hypothesis and its implications for personal investing and corporate finance.  Prerequisite: While there is not a formal prerequisite for this course, it is helpful for students to have a basic understanding of algebra and statistics, especially concepts such as standard deviation, correlation, covariance and regression. Also, some knowledge of accounting is helpful, such as familiarity with balance sheets, cash flow statements, and income statements.

The focus of this course will be on quantitative tools that are primarily used in the field of finance. In particular, we will put heavy emphasis on the mathematics of interest rates, including the tools used to value common stock and fixed rate bonds. We will discuss how rates of return for these instruments are measured. We will then look at the capital budgeting process and learn how managers determine in which projects to invest a firm’s limited resources. We will also study the probabilistic and statistical tools necessary to understand how investors and financial economists evaluate risk. Primary emphasis will be on an intuitive understanding of portfolio theory and its impact on estimating the expected return on an asset given its systematic risk through use of the Capital Asset Pricing Model. Prerequisite: While there is not a formal prerequisite for this course, it is helpful for students to have a basic understanding of algebra and statistics, especially concepts such as standard deviation, correlation, covariance and regression. Also, some knowledge of accounting is helpful, such as familiarity with balance sheets, cash flow statements, and income statements. The course is conducted completely online. A technology fee will be added to tuition.

This course will examine both international marketing and the effort to market to various cultures within the United States. In both cases, we need to understand what is unique about each market and how the market is influenced by local culture and values. Effective marketing plans and advertising campaigns need to be built upon such understanding. Perceiving cultural differences both in foreign countries and in the American market is particularly important for managers in charge of managing global business or developing a global brand.

This course is an introduction to successfully collaborating to build partnerships and drive solutions through business acumen and judgment to efficiently execute key business drivers of global organizations. The course will cover diverse global issues, including the challenges of cultural differences in a corporation when increasing its global platform and contributing to its core growth strategies, influencing diverse global functional departments, negotiation, leadership, project management, managing risk and building consensus on business opportunities for global companies, advising on global expansion and integrating global businesses. Students should develop the skills and appreciation of effectively contributing to a company's growth and success in an international market with a global perspective.

Leadership of global organizations requires understanding, appreciating and managing the impact of culture and the interplay of cultural patterns in everyday interactions. To be successful, leaders must be able to interpret complex cultural contexts and develop intercultural competence, not only in themselves but in the people they lead and the other organizations they work with. This course is designed to help students identify and explore the essential elements of a global mindset. Students examine the leadership styles of 21st century global leaders as they work collaboratively in teams to develop a unified construct of effective global leadership. This course is part of the Business Leadership year two curriculum. This course is conducted completely online. A technology fee will be added to tuition.