• GBUS 8190

    Taxation and Management Decisions
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     Difficulty

     GPA

    Last Taught

    Spring 2024

    This course is about blending finance, tax law, accounting, and strategy in the analyses of high-value-added business decisions. This course is not about: tax compliance (the correct way to file tax returns), tax complexity (finding loopholes), tax minimization (beating Uncle Sam), or tax evasion (filing illegal returns). Students are provided with a framework for evaluating the priority that taxes, which directly or indirectly pervade most business transactions, have in business decisions. Students will explore how taxes affect a variety of fundamental business issues such as forming a company, compensating employees, attracting investors, and positioning worldwide operations. While the topics deal primarily with U.S. income taxes, the course's conceptual framework applies irrespective of time and jurisdiction. Students seeking careers in entrepreneurship, management consulting, investment banking, venture capital, or industry, especially general management, corporate finance, or accounting, will find this course of interest. No prior knowledge of taxation is required. The principal modes of instruction are cases, articles, and the group project that enables each student to tailor the course to address an area of personal interest.

  • GBUS 8203

    Business Ethics through Literature
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     Difficulty

     GPA

    Last Taught

    Spring 2026

    The purpose of this course is to deepen students' understanding of the role of ethics in management. The course builds on the conversations begun in the First Year Business Ethics course and addresses several key themes of interest for contemporary managers.

  • GBUS 8205

    Marketing and Society
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     GPA

    Last Taught

    Spring 2026

    This course explores the influence of marketing on individuals and society more broadly. The course will begin at the individual level by covering the fundamental principles of consumer behavior. The course will conclude by introducing and analyzing pro-social marketing, which involves the application of marketing frameworks and techniques to promote individual and collective well-being.

  • GBUS 8210

    Starting New Ventures
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     Difficulty

     GPA

    Last Taught

    Fall 2025

    The primary objective of the course is to allow students to walk a few steps in the shoes of an entrepreneur while learning how expert entrepreneurs build new ventures that endure. Cases, guest lecturers, and students' project work will allow them to explore financial, legal, interpersonal, and personal challenges likely to be encountered by the independent entrepreneur. This course draws from cognitive science-based research on how expert entrepreneurs think, decide, and act while starting new ventures. Key issues addressed will include risk perception and management, formulation of innovative stakeholder relationships, and the creation of new markets through new ventures. As part of the course, students will be required to come up with a venture idea and take the initial steps in actually starting it. The course is recommended for those interested in initiating a personal venture at some point in their lives working with or consulting for an early stage entrepreneurial team or seeking entry into Darden's Progressive Incubator.

  • GBUS 8240

    Reading Seminar in Management I
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     Difficulty

     GPA

    Last Taught

    Spring 2026

    The purpose of these courses is to expose students to a wide range of ideas about the practices of management from various points of view, both ancient and modern. The examples of management behavior and effectiveness studied range from outstanding to mediocre and from highly ethical to scurrilous. Students are responsible for reading one book a week chosen from the areas of management classics, classics of civilization, or current management thought and then preparing a one-page paper detailing their opinions about the book and any lessons contained therein. Seminar members meet in discussion groups to compare their thoughts and impressions. By practicing critical evaluation of and reflection on the works and engaging each other and faculty in intense, small group discussions of the concepts, students will be prepared to draw on a wide base for ideas when they face the complex and volatile work environment after graduation. The seminar participants include students and faculty from the Darden School along with interested University of Virginia alumni.

  • GBUS 8250

    Reading Seminar in Management II
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     Difficulty

     GPA

    Last Taught

    Spring 2026

    The purpose of these courses is to expose students to a wide range of ideas about the practices of management from various points of view, both ancient and modern. The examples of management behavior and effectiveness studied range from outstanding to mediocre and from highly ethical to scurrilous. Students are responsible for reading one book a week chosen from the areas of management classics, classics of civilization, or current management thought and then preparing a one-page paper detailing their opinions about the book and any lessons contained therein. Seminar members meet in discussion groups to compare their thoughts and impressions. By practicing critical evaluation of and reflection on the works and engaging each other and faculty in intense, small group discussions of the concepts, students will be prepared to draw on a wide base for ideas when they face the complex and volatile work environment after graduation. The seminar participants include students and faculty from the Darden School along with interested University of Virginia alumni.

  • GBUS 8255

    Business of AI Reading Seminar
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     GPA

    Last Taught

    Spring 2026

    This course comprises biographies and company histories that offer insights into the circumstances, personalities, and choices of leaders. The goal will be to reflect on how AI business leaders and your own assessment of the future of AI will affect your career. Weekly discussion sessions will be led by members of the Darden community - faculty, staff, alumnus, or business person - who share a passion for exploring the future of AI in business and its impact on society.

  • GBUS 8260

    The Practice of General Management
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     GPA

    Last Taught

    Fall 2024

    This course addresses numerous concepts, tools, and techniques related to business strategy formulation and execution for both the multidivisional corporation and the focused business. The class studies businesses with varying degrees of diversification classified as focused, diversified within an industry, or diversified across industries. Prerequisites: Restricted to Darden students.

  • GBUS 8265

    Disruptive Strategy: Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise
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     Difficulty

     GPA

    Last Taught

    Spring 2026

    The focus of the course is to learn to use well-researched theories about strategy, innovation, and management to understand why things happen the way they do in businesses, and to predict which tools, strategies, and methods will and will not be effective in the various circumstances in which students find themselves.

  • GBUS 8268

    Leadership and innovation in Education
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     GPA

    Last Taught

    Spring 2026

    This course is to serve as a capstone for the students in the MBA/MED program. In addition, it will be open to any student who is interested in the education space. The focus of the course will be theories and tools for leadership and innovation in K-12 education, and some applications to higher education. The course will deal with how to lead in a world of multiple and often conflicting stakeholders, and in a world where education of children is high.