Explore Options; Plan Your MBA Academic Program

and the task of achieving excellence in them requires specialized
analysis frameworks and tools. This course covers a mix
of qualitative and quantitative models that provide the necessary
tools. The class will focus on simple models that should
help you to better understand both the difficulty of managing
and the underlying economics of the service operations being
considered. You will have the opportunity to apply these course
tools in a group service assessment field project.
Prerequisites: Courses in operations management, linear
programming, probability and statistics
OPIM 660 / ESE 508
Information Systems for Managers
Description: The advances achieved in information technologies
and systems (IT&S) — primarily computing and communications
systems — have been, and will continue to be
extraordinary. Consequently, the scope and practical import of
IT&S can hardly be overestimated. “Management Information
Systems (MIS) is the practice of using computer and communication
systems to solve problems in organizations. This
course is designed to provide the essential skills and technology-based
insights needed in order to manage effective problem
solving with information technologies and systems (IT&S),
and to extract the most value from an actual or potential information
system.”
The course is organized around several “hands on” cases or
projects, through which students teams become familiar with
important information technologies, including databases and
the Internet.
Students completing this course will have mastered a basic
understanding of information technology, the fundamentals
of the use of information technology in business, and essential
information technology survival skills.
OPIM 662
Enabling Technologies
Description: This course is about understanding emerging
technology enablers with a goal of stimulating thinking on new
applications for commerce. No prerequisite or technical background
is assumed. The class is self-contained (mainly lecturebased)
and will culminate in a class-driven identification of
novel businesses that exploit these enablers.
No prerequisite or technical background is assumed.
Students with little prior technical background can use the
course to become more technologically informed. Those with
moderate to advanced technical background may find the
course a useful survey of emerging technologies. The course is
recommended for students interested in careers in consulting,
investement banking and venture capital in the tech sector.
Format: Lectures, discussions, assignments, and class
participation.
OPERATIONS AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
OPIM 665 (.5 cu)
Operations Management in Health Care
Description: In an era where health care systems around the
world face rapidly rising costs and quality issues, organizations
large and small are looking into the operational side of health
care for solutions. Likewise, the abundance of unfulfilled needs
in the health care marketplace has led to an array of technology
ventures with innovative new products and services. In
this course, we apply the tools of operations management to
analyze the health care value chain. The course consists of four
modules: (1) the management of productivity, quality, and
variability by care providers; (2) capacity and investment decisions
under uncertainty confronting pharmaceuticals; (3) the
design of health insurance by health plans and the determination
of health benefits by employers; and (4) business ideas and
operations models from the intersection of academic research
and technology ventures. Students will learn from case discussions,
hands-on decision tools, and several distinguished speakers
and alumni from Stanford Hospital & Clinics, Merck, U.S.
Naval Academy, and Deloitte Consulting. No prior exposure
to the health care industry is assumed. The course prepares students
for several career paths including consulting, operations
management, and health care administration and is open to
both first- and second-year MBA students.
Prerequisites: OPIM 611.
OPIM 666 (.5 cu)
Information: Industry Structure
and Competitive Strategy
Description: This course is in the tradition of Operations
courses as exercises in the systematic understanding of complex
systems, rather than in the tools and techniques for understanding
aspects of those systems. It draws upon the most recent
experience in the impact of information technology upon
diverse industries, ranging from securities trading to consumer
packaged goods retailing. It integrates that experience with relevant
theory to develop an approach to information-based
strategies generally, including resurgent interest in strategies for
Commerce. It is not a tools and techniques course; likewise it
is not a technology or an implementation course. It provides a
focused and modern complement to strategic planning.
The increase in consumer informedness is changing consumer
behavior in a wide range of situations. Customers find the least
expensive alternative in categories of little importance to them,
while finding the perfect match with their wants and needs,
cravings and longings, in categories they find salient. Online
trust is a strong determinant of shopping behavior and will
continue to be. Likewise, the increase in information available
to firms, and the increasing variety of strategies available for
the use of information — from dynamic repricing to online
distribution, from labor productivity enhancements to labor
arbitrage and outsourcing — requires a dramatic revision of
managerial mental models of their competitive options.
Revising mental models and enhancing mental agility are
both essential to executive leadership, rather that mere conservation
and management, in today’s environment of rapid and
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