Babson College Courses

Entrepreneurial Operations: Launching a Startup

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This startup operations course will examine the real-world operational challenges and execution risks associated with getting a new venture started. We will consider start-up ventures in a variety of industries. The course will provide you with a set of steps, frameworks, and tools that can be used to understand the important considerations for building a startup operation from scratch. In each module, the students will be exposed to a different operations-related concept. Lecture notes, readings, and case studies will explore the key operations topics that are important for start-ups. Topics include: The role of Operations in Launching a New VentureDeveloping an Operations MindsetUsing the Value Chain Canvas to document your Startup OperationsOperational Risks and Challenges in Launching a New VentureOperations Metrics for Managing New Venture Performance

Analytics for Decision Making

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Want to know how to avoid bad decisions with data?Making good decisions with data can give you a distinct competitive advantage in business. This statistics and data analysis course will help you understand the fundamental concepts of sound statistical thinking that can be applied in surprisingly wide contexts, sometimes even before there is any data! Key concepts like understanding variation, perceiving relative risk of alternative decisions, and pinpointing sources of variation will be highlighted.These big picture ideas have motivated the development of quantitative models, but in most traditional statistics courses, these concepts get lost behind a wall of little techniques and computations. In this course we keep the focus on the ideas that really matter, and we illustrate them with lively, practical, accessible examples.We will explore questions like: How are traditional statistical methods still relevant in modern analytics applications? How can we avoid common fallacies and misconceptions when approaching quantitative problems? How do we apply statistical methods in predictive applications? How do we gain a better understanding of customer engagement through analytics?This course will be is relevant for anyone eager to have a framework for good decision-making. It will be good preparation for students with a bachelor's degree contemplating graduate study in a business field.Opportunities in analytics are abundant at the moment. Specific techniques or software packages may be helpful in landing first jobs, but those techniques and packages may soon be replaced by something newer and trendier. Understanding the ways in which quantitative models really work, however, is a management level skill that is unlikely to go out of style.This course is part of the Business Principles and Entrepreneurial Thought XSeries.

Fundamentals of Financial Analysis

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Making decisions based on financial data is essential to the success of any company. This accounting and finance Professional Certificate, brought to you by Babson College, the #1 school in Entrepreneurship (U.S. News & World Report), will give learners the foundational accounting and finance skills needed to make critical business decisions.Whether you’re an entrepreneur, in management, or looking to become a financial analyst, this program will help you make informed decisions by teaching you financial fundamentals: terms, metrics, and the pillars of primary financial statements: income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow. You'll learn how to interpret and use the information contained in financial statements to make key operating decisions, evaluate a company’s performance, and create forecasts of profits and cash flow. You will learn how to use ratios to diagnose a company's financial health and apply these concepts and tools to valuation, liquidity and other factors for sound decision-making.

The Entrepreneurial Mindset

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What does it really mean to think entrepreneurially?The entrepreneurial process isn’t only for start-ups, it’s a comprehensive mindset that will teach you to identify, assess, shape, and act on opportunities in a variety of contexts, settings and organizations. In this entrepreneurship course, you will learn to implement the method of Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® (ET&A™) – which will give you a roadmap to create and add value for stakeholders and society.ET&A™ is a tactical, results-oriented process that may be applied to new venture creation as well as to promote innovation within existing organizations – large, small or family owned – and across profit, not for profit and social ventures.The ability to ‘think like an entrepreneur’ and ‘act like an innovator’ are critical skills for success across industries and are proven tools to help distinguish you in the workplace and to accelerate your career.

AI for Leaders

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Research from the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Mckinsey shows that AI will increasingly disrupt what we do, who does it and how all work is done – e.g. humans versus machines. On the positive side, AI is expected to add significant growth and value to the world’s economy for the companies and countries that get it. As such, it is more important than ever that all leaders, managers, executives and board members develop their AI skills to compete and prosper in the AI world. However, most leaders, executives and board members lack the necessary AI education, skills, strategies and tactics to create AI-powered business models with platform and network effects. Further, they don’t understand how AI will impact their customers, employees, investors, operations and product/service offerings. WHATTO EXPECT AI for Leaders features a series of lessons with video lectures, real world case studies, and hands on practice sessions that will help you learn the skills you need to advance your company and career. In addition, you will learn how to leverage today’s AI capabilities to improve your organization’s: a). Customer offerings and interactions, b). Employee engagement and capabilities, c). Operations,d). Competitive positioning, and e). The 7 attributes of AI centered leadership. Finally, our program provides 5 clear steps, which we call PIVOT - that help you and your organization build today’s modern business model – along with a capstone project focused on how you build your own AI powered (autonomous) business model. WHAT THIS COURSE CONTAINS To ensure your success as a leader in the AI world, this course contains: 40+ videosLectures from renowned faculty and business practitionersReal-world case studies25+ exercisesPreeminent articles from world class publications including HBR, Forbes and MITSMRWHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE All leaders, board members, executives and team leaders at all types of organizations and at all levels should take this course. Further if you are looking to rise to a new role in your company, this course will arm you with the tools and techniques you need to drive your career and organization into the world of AI powered platforms and join companies like, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Uber and Airbnb who are at the forefront of this revolution.

Conscious Capitalism

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Research shows that companies that embody the principles of Conscious Capitalism substantially outperform the market over the long term, while simultaneously creating economic and social value for all stakeholders. By learning the theoretical underpinnings and practical implications of this approach to business, you will rethink why your organization exists and acknowledge your company's role in the interdependent global marketplace and ecosystem.In this course, you will critically examine the evidence on the impact of practicing conscious capitalism on the tangible and intangible well-being of all stakeholders. This begins with an in-depth look at the four key tenets of conscious capitalism: higher purpose, stakeholder orientation, conscious leadership, and conscious culture. Through discussions and exercises, you and your global peers will develop an understanding and appreciation for systems thinking, and you'll learn why it is an integral discipline contributing to the practice of Conscious Capitalism. You'll explore ways to transform a conventional business into a conscious business. Finally, you will have the opportunity to practice the fundamental elements of personal transformation that must accompany any effort to implement Conscious Capitalism.

Entrepreneurial Leadership Toolbox

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Entrepreneurial leaders succeed bytaking an opportunity-minded approach to their interactions with colleagues. As the pace of change accelerates and requires leaders to do more with less, smart leaders have realized that results don't simply follow by telling others what to do. Instead, it takes an entrepreneurial leader who understands how to translate opportunity, lead from their strengths, and enroll others in the organization’s work. This course provides a toolbox of key concepts and practices to help you adopt an entrepreneurial mindset as you lead. Leadership is a learned skill. The more you work on it, the bigger your repertoire of skills will be. In this course, you’ll come to understand that the best leaders are always learning! We’ll look at old heroic paradigms of leadership and consider why they may not fit today’s world. We’ll then look at what it takes to lead in a world where everything can’t be known, as well as the skills and behaviors you need to be able to move an idea forward, get others to be part of the effort, and operate successfully. You’ll have an opportunity to reflect on your own strengths, imagine the kind of leader you want to be, and practice keymethods of thinking andacting that helpa leader emerge.

Economics: Consumer Demand

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Demand is a simple yet challenging concept that is essential to understanding how markets function. In this economics course, you will gain a solid understanding of demand, its underlying principles, major determinants and how they are beneficial for individuals, decision makers inside the firm, and policy makers. During your time in this course, you will discover how managers can better understand the impact of pricing changes on units sold, revenue and the relationship between products in order to inform strategic planning. You will learn how many programs and policies are designed to change how individuals and businesses interact in the market and you will gain the tools to identify them. Models of consumer choice and demand will guide you in thinking about how individual incentives change and what the likely impact will be of those changes. All people respond to changing market conditions, but the type and magnitude of those responses can be better understood through the economic model of consumer demand. You will learn how business strategy can benefit from a strong appreciation of elasticity, determinants of demand and how consumers make decisions.

AI and Data Analytics for Business Leaders

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In today's ever-changing business landscape, it is more important than ever for leaders to have an understanding of artificial intelligence and data analytics. AI is expected to drive significant growth and value for the global economy, generated by the companies and countries that leverage it over the coming years. With that in mind, it's critical for leaders, managers, executives, and board members to develop their AI skills and understand how to leverage data to make the right decisions to grow their businesses. This Professional Certificate in AI and Data Analytics, brought to you by Babson College, the #1 school in Entrepreneurship (U.S. News & World Report), will give leaders a basic understanding of AI and how autonomous data can be used to make critical business decisions. The courses in this program will give learners the skills, strategies, and tactics to create AI-powered business models and explain how AI will impact their customers, employees, investors, operations, and product/service offerings.The program will also dive deeper into data analytics to help business leaders understand the fundamental concepts of sound statistical thinking. Key concepts such as understanding variation, perceiving the relative risk of alternative decisions, and pinpointing sources of variation will be highlighted.

Executive Leadership

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In today's world of business, executives must focus on more than near-term results to generate sustained growth. CEOs, founders, entrepreneurs, and executive leaders must think consciously about decision-making to lead their companies to long-term success. This Professional Certificate in executive leadership, brought to you by Babson College, the #1 school in Entrepreneurship (U.S. News & World Report), will teach you how to consciously view strategic challenges, formulate solutions, and take action.Research shows that companies that embody the principles of Conscious Capitalism substantially outperform the market over the long term, while simultaneously creating economic and social value for all stakeholders. This program will teach you the pillars of Conscious Capitalism and how you can implement them while you lead your organization.This program is designed for anyone who has pictured themselves in the corner office, wants to report directly to a CEO, or has the goal of consulting with or advising a CEO. It will give you insight on how to mentor and lead intentionally through the principles of Conscious Capitalism and will expose the path from individual contributor to the top job.

Business Analytics Fundamentals for Leaders

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Analyzing data has now become a necessity for organizations to be successful. Most major employers and businesses are prioritizing candidates with the ability to analyze, understand and articulate analytics. As such, it is critical to build and refresh your data analysis skills, and to master how to effectively apply these skills and add strategic value to your business. This foundational business analytics course will provide you with the hands-on skills and practical knowledge needed to be able to analyze, present findings and make meaningful conclusions about data in a business setting. By the end of this course, you will be able to impress your boss by recognizing, interpreting and summarizing your company's data.Topics include:Data collectionData visualizationsDescriptive statisticsBasic probabilityStatistical inferenceCreating linear modelsBasic linear regression

From Corporate Social Responsibility to Corporate Social Innovation

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The challenges facing our world are increasingly complex and affect corporations, communities, citizens, and the natural environment. For many companies, even those with strong traditions of philanthropy and corporate social responsibility, there is a growing consensus that current models of corporate engagement in society are no longer sufficient. They see that new approaches are needed. Fortunately, the past decade has seen an explosion of interest and development in social innovation—a discipline that employs entrepreneurial knowledge and methods to develop solutions to pressing social issues. This course combines learnings from the real-world experience of business leaders with analysis and practical applications. These leaders,who have developed and led social innovation efforts, share the theories, strategies, and management frameworks that are drivingnew models for business engagement in society. You will learn from firsthand accounts and interaction with key executives who’ve led social innovation initiatives. They hail from leading organizations and brands including, Campbell’s, Dunkin Brands, Verizon, Salesforce.com, FIFCO, Barclays and more. In addition to online interactions, there will be opportunities for in-persontouchpoints for anyone in the Greater Boston area; with the potential for meetups elsewhere in the future. You will learn the key steps and apply the management frameworks to your organization. You will also develop a clear, practical understanding of the process, knowledge, and skills required to develop social innovation efforts. Finally, you'll learn to address key related challenges including business growth, innovation, employee engagement and retention, social impact, and connection to society. This is a course for anyone interested in understanding and acting on the new frontier of Corporate Social Innovation. No matter where you sit inside your company, you’ll be able to apply the lessons from companies in the field to develop the practical steps needed for the specific needs of your organization. This new context is driving companies – large and small – to think beyond Corporate Social Responsibility and to view business opportunities through the lens of social innovation.

Business Analytics Fundamentals

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Data analysis has become critical for success in business. Most major employers are looking for candidates with the ability to analyze, understand, and articulate data analytics.This foundational business analytics course will provide you with the hands-on skills and knowledge to be able to analyze, present findings, and make meaningful conclusions about data in a business setting. By the end of this course, you will be able tooffer valuable insights by recognizing, interpreting, and summarizing your company's data.The course covers key subjects related to businessanalytics including Data Collection, Data Visualizations, Descriptive Statistics, Basic Probability, Statistical Inference, and Creating Linear Models.This course will use real-life datasetsfrom publicly available sources.

Customer Centric Marketing for Entrepreneurs

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It is not uncommon for students, executives and business owners to feel overwhelmed by the myriad of marketing solutions available today. How do you decide if social media, direct sales or perhaps event marketing is right for your business? This course helps you understand how to build a brand and reach your potential and current customers in the most effective and efficient manner. The landscape for marketing (identifying and seizing opportunities for market growth) has changed dramatically over the past decade, making marketing decisions more confusing than ever before. Understanding how to quickly identify true customer needs and then apply the learnings to identify the right marketing approach for your company is critical if you are looking to launch and/or grow a business. In this unique entrepreneurial marketing course, you will gain practical experience by learning how to design a customer-centric marketing campaign for your own business or for an organization that needs marketing support. We will teach you how to better understand your customers’ needs and use this knowledge to develop and launch a marketing campaign that engages consumers and creates traction using the right marketing channels. Your campaign might be an integrated social media program, an event-driven workshop, a sales outreach initiative or something entirely different. You will learn how to view the customer engagement experience through the eyes of your target market to effectively build a strong brand. Finally, you will learn how to evaluate and measure the success of your campaign to ensure you can either repeat successful marketing initiatives that worked or pivot when the campaign does not meet your business growth goals.