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Impact Courses You Won’t Want to Miss in Fall 2023

Business

FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Base of the Pyramid: Business Innovation and Social Impact (BA/STRAT 445)

Professor: Ted London  |  Credits: 3
Fall 2023

MONDAY SECTION: Mondays | 5:30-8:30pm | Room R2240
Three Thursday “Interactive Lab” sessions (Sept. 7, Nov. 2. & Nov. 16) | 5:30-8:30pm | Room R2240

WEDNESDAY SECTION: Wednesdays | 4:30-7:30pm | Room R0230
Two Friday “Interactive Lab” sessions (Nov. 3. & Nov. 17) | 9:00am-noon | Rooms R1230

FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

Business Strategies for the Base of the Pyramid (BA 612)

Professor: Ted London |  Credits: 2.25
Fall (B) 2023

Tuesday-Thursday | 12:40-2:10pm | Room R2240
Three Friday “Interactive Lab” Sessions (Nov. 3, Nov. 17 & Dec. 1) | 9am-noon | Room R0210

These courses focus on using the power of business to create a more inclusive world, with a particular emphasis on the base of the pyramid (BoP) — the four billion people who earn less than $3,000/year.

New business models in health, energy, housing, technology, agriculture and other impact areas offer the tantalizing promise of ‘doing well by doing good.’ Using a carefully crafted set of case studies, simulations, videos, and readings, we will apply these learnings to better understand successful BoP venture development by companies, social entrepreneurs, and non-profit organizations in Asia, Africa and Latin America.  Weaving together concepts of strategic management, international business, cross-sector collaboration, and poverty alleviation, a key deliverable of the course is to provide students with the strategies, skills, tools, and processes necessary to develop and lead sustainable, scalable enterprises that deliver positive social impacts to the world’s most impoverished citizens.

For more information, please contact Prof. Ted London.

FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

LBLE – Living Business Leadership Experience (BA 656)

Professor: Mike Barger  |  Credits: 3
Fall 2023

FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

LBLE – Living Business Leadership Experience (BA 456)

Professor: Mike Barger  |  Credits: 3
Fall 2023

Living Business Leadership Experience (LBLE) is a 3.0 credit-hour Ross elective course where graduate and upper-level undergraduate students from across the University collaborate to shape, implement, and lead high-impact business initiatives alongside company founders and senior leaders. If you’re interested in learning business by doing business, working in a diverse and cross-functional team, or navigating the complexities of the business environment you’ll soon be part of, this course will give you the chance to develop your leadership skills and learn, from real experience, what it truly takes to become a successful business leader.

Apply Now. To learn more about upcoming Fall 2023 information sessions, email ross-lble@umich.edu.

FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

The Economics of Sustainability (BE 401)

Professor: Tom Lyon  |  Credits: 3
Fall 2023
This course is for undergraduate students in either the Ross School of Business or the Program in the Environment.  The goals of the course are three-fold: 1) to give students a solid foundation in the economics of the environment and sustainability that can be used in consulting, in the business world, in government or in the non-profit sector; 2 to give students the skills to apply economic fundamentals to crucial sustainability issues of climate change and energy policy; and 3) to help students critically assess the business case for sustainability, and the place of sustainability within corporate strategy.  The course has three main sections.  The first develops the basic economic tools for understanding the environment and sustainability, especially discounting and cost/benefit analysis.  The second applies economic analysis to several crucial aspects of the sustainability challenge: protection of renewable resources such as fisheries, the transition to renewable electricity, the transition to sustainable transportation, and climate policy.  The third explores how the foundation of sustainability economics connects to business strategy.  In this section we read a variety of articles from both scholarly and popular sources, and make substantial use of business school case studies.

FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Non-Market Strategy: Shaping the Rules of the Game (BE 555)

Professor: Tom Lyon  |  Credits: 1.5
Fall 2023 (B)
Most business courses teach you how to play the game of business within the rules. This course is about the rules themselves, their creation and their enforcement. This course has four main goals: 1) Create awareness of the broad range of ways in which the non-market environment – especially government policy – affects business. 2) Give an understanding of the process through which business and other groups create and change the rules of the game. 3) Gain a mastery of a set of conceptual tools and frameworks for developing and implementing non-market strategies. 4) Provide opportunities to practice formulating integrated strategies that function skillfully in the non-market arena.

FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

Energy Markets and Energy Politics (BE 527)

Professor: Tom Lyon  |  Credits: 3
Fall 2023
The goal of this course is to give students a solid grasp of the environmental and social impacts of, and the institutions that govern energy use, so that they can play a more effective role in shaping future policy or business decisions. We will begin with basic scientific and technological facts regarding the major uses for and sources of energy. We will then study energy markets (including spot and future markets), and what they are capable of accomplishing; we will also study the ways energy markets may fail. This will lead into an overview of the role of government in influencing energy decisions. The course will wrap up with a series of current policy/business issues such as the transition to electric vehicles, phasing out the use of coal, and building a modern and resilient electric grid.

FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

Equity Analytics (STRAT 615)

Professor: Christopher Rider |  Credits: 2.25
Fall 2023 (B)
Greater sensitivity to societal inequality, combined with an increasingly diverse workforce, has led many managers to ask if their business practices create disparities in opportunity and/or outcomes for employees, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders. Yet, many managers lack the analytical skills to answer such questions. This course addresses that need. Students learn analytical frameworks for identifying “differential treatment” and “disparate impact”, enabling them to analyze equity using real-world data from various contexts. In the classroom or via video, case protagonists and other industry experts will share their real-world experiences with documenting and addressing inequity.

FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Legal Aspects of DEI in the Workplace (BL 415)

Professor: Dana Muir
Credits: 3 | Fall 2023
Most companies recognize that DEI plays a critical role in acquiring and building talent. Further, DEI can be explored in the context of many business school courses. This course concentrates on the sometimes difficult and shifting ways in which the law intersects with DEI. The first half of this course concentrates on the basic legal concepts that are relevant for a consideration of DEI initiatives. It begins with an exploration of legal concepts of equality and remediation of legally-recognized wrongs and a refresher on general non-discrimination law. Other topics in the first half include the history of mandatory and voluntary affirmative action, as well as specific non-discrimination law related to religious observation, disability, and pay equity. The second part of the course considers how the law studied in the first part applies to some specific employment-related practices that are particularly relevant for DEI such as the use of artificial intelligence in pre-interview screening, social media background checks, and grooming and dress codes.

FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

Business in Society (STRAT 680)

Professor: Aneel Karnani
Credits: 1.5 | Fall 2023(A)
The world faces many large problems such as climate change, environmental degradation, global poverty, and inequality. This has led many people to argue that business should take the lead in addressing these problems and fulfill its corporate social responsibility (CSR). At the same time, business is under increasing pressure from activist shareholders to maximize shareholder value. The primary goal of this course is to prepare you to deal with this challenge as a top executive in private or public organization by giving you an opportunity to explore competing views in depth and to work out your own position on them.

FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

Innovation in Global Health Delivery
(STRAT 562/TO 563)

Professor: Ravi Anupindi
Credits: 1.5 | Fall 2023(A)
New business models built around operational efficiency offer tremendous potential to improve people’s health worldwide. This course will examine how innovations in business models, operations, financing and supply chains are allowing far more people to access better quality healthcare. The course draws extensively on real-world case studies and latest research in this field. Class sessions will feature thought leaders from the field of global health delivery and involve lively debates on important topics. Concepts and approaches from strategy, operations, finance, and supply chain management will be used to understand what determines success and failure of businesses that seek to provide healthcare to low income populations.

Read an article on the course from the Center for Global Health Equity.

Sustainability

FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

Higher Education as a Pathway to a Sustainable and Just Future (EAS 501.005)

Professors: Jessica Michel, Michaela Theresia Zint | Credits: 3
Fall 2023
In a world rife with social injustice, economic instability, and environmental uncertainties, higher education has the capacity to serve as a means for social change and to catalyze a future that is more sustainable and thus, more just. But what should higher education teach students about justice, equity,diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) in the context of sustainability education? And how should we assess student learning to hold higher education accountable for cultivating a more sustainable and just future? This class explores the role of higher education institutions as a vehicle of social change by examining curricula through guest speakers from national experts from minority serving institutions and international experts from the global south, as well as curriculum development and assessment exercises.

FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Business, Sustainability, and Justice (OS/ENVIRON 419)

Professor: Sara Soderstrom | Credits: 3
Fall 2023
This seminar will engage with the intersection of business, sustainability, and justice, with a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion & accessibility (DEIA). This course is designed to help students recognize and analyze how businesses’ approaches to sustainability support and/or neglect issues of DEIA. The course offers students an opportunity to develop critical thinking about businesses’ impacts on environmental and social justice. Class sessions will be experiential and discussion-based. Readings, self-reflection, case studies and a final project will also be emphasized. Students will have the opportunity to co-create course discussions as we adapt sessions to align with students’ interests and career goals.

Policy and Law

FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

The Human Trafficking Lab (Problem Solving Initiative)

Professors: Elizabeth Campbell (Law), Bridgette Carr (Law),  Courtney Petersen (Law)
Credits: 3 | Fall 2023
The Human Trafficking Lab is a social justice innovation space where multidisciplinary student teams use design thinking to research, incubate, and build replicable, scalable, and disruptive solutions to reduce vulnerability to trafficking. The Lab’s partnership with the Human Trafficking Clinic helps to ensure the work in the Lab is informed by the lived-experience of survivors of trafficking. The Lab is geared towards creating systems level change at policy, service, and industry levels through collaborative partnerships across sectors.

FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

Slavery and the Built Environment: The Plantation (Problem Solving Initiative)

Professors: Luis deBaca (Law)
Credits: 3 | Fall 2023
In this class, U-M and Yale University will partner to confront the problem of how land use and the regulation of materials supply chains have not only been limited in their ability to confront forced labor but are also shaped by slavery and its legacies. Students from law, architecture, history, policy, business, and other disciplines will develop skills to manage a project, apply problem-solving tools, interview experts, understand historical research methods, and craft solutions that confront the legacies of chattel slavery and its modern expressions.