This course examines the nature and influence of trading in financial markets. Trading is a repeated-play game that usually entails making numerous decisions under conditions of uncertainty. In the course, particular attention is directed to the role of noise in financial markets; cognitive illusions and pitfalls in decision making by market participants; the identification of potentially profitable trades; the development of sound money management skills, arbitrage and quasi-arbitrage transactions; positive feedback trading, back office processing of trades; the management of the trading function; and the development of various expert trading systems. Two mock pit-trading sessions will give students firsthand experience in simulated pit-trading environments and illustrate necessary trading skills. A simulated trading game runs for most of the course. Guest lectures in class from top traders as well as the interviews of top traders in the texts provide diverse perspectives on trading by successful traders.

This course is designed to provide students with a practical understanding of the merger and acquisition marketplace, addressing such topics as why companies grow through acquisitions, how acquisition or merger candidates are analyzed strategically and valued financially, and ultimately, whether and how mergers and acquisitions create value for stakeholders. Takeovers and mergers are a daily fact of life, have evolved into a critical part of every CEO or manager's strategic toolbox, and will most likely affect every person who enters the corporate world at some point in their career. Whether a student chooses to be a senior corporate manager, an M&A practitioner, or merely an informed armchair observer, the course is intended to provide the analytical framework to evaluate an acquisition from a strategic, financial, structural, tactical, legal, and ethical perspective. Students will apply learned content to real business situations, including the opportunity to develop, create, and present an acquisition proposal to an actual corporate client during the class.

Recent droughts and the soaring food prices they trigger underscore that freshwater scarcity will be a major challenge in the 21st century. In spite of reports about imminent water crises, the world is not running out of water. It is especially the very uneven distribution of water, across and within countries, that is a concern. There is a need for improved water management.

This course is based on the assumption that nonprofit organizations benefit individuals and society in numerous ways. It is designed to introduce students to the scope and the diversity of nonprofit organizations, to the unique governance, communications, and financing structures inherent in them, and to the innovative and creative opportunities available in them for well-trained and flexible management professionals.

This course provides students with an introduction to the process of searching for a company, valuing a small business, structuring a deal, negotiating with a seller, completing due diligence, obtaining debt and equity financing, and closing the transaction to become the CEO of their own business.

This course is designed to expose students to advanced quantitative techniques in marketing research. The course deals with how marketers can extract useful information from marketing data for designing marketing strategies. The emphasis in the course is on advanced data analysis relevant for marketing decisions. Topics will include techniques relevant for new product pretests, product line pricing, demand forecasting, market and customer segmentation, allocating resources for advertising and promotion, customer valuation, and evaluating marketing campaign performance. Course content will feature a combination of cases, exercises, lectures, and a group project. The course will use a very hands-on approach and a majority of the topics covered in this course will have direct applicability to those students concentrating in marketing in their future jobs. Students are advised to take the Marketing Intelligence course prior to this course.

In today's competitive business landscape, efficiency and productivity are paramount for success, and the ability to navigate complex operational challenges is critical. The vast array of choices available in decision-making processes often exceeds the capacity of manual analysis, necessitating the use of sophisticated optimization algorithms. This course explores business challenges that can be effectively solved using optimization techniques.

This course will provide foundational skills for managers involved in developing software applications. These skills would be relevant to the future entrepreneur as well as to the future manager within an established company. The applications might be finished products for the end user (e.g., an iPhone app) or they might be internal systems built on vendor platforms (e.g., Salesforce or Oracle deployment).

For the Darden student who wants to increase their creative confidence on software related projects, Software Development is an experiential SY elective that delivers hands-on coding experience for the non-engineer. Unlike online only options like codeacademy, SID offers a Darden compatible format with the hands-on assistance that students need to acquire the necessary skills in a single quarter.

This course is an opportunity for students to learn effective interviewing, talent evaluation, verbal and written communication, marketing skills, and leadership skills. In addition, the course teaches students to interact with a diverse group of people and gain insights into their potential through active listening.