Graduate Curriculum Committee - zicklin : school of business - CUNY

ZICKLIN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS 

FACULTY MEETING, May 19, 2011 

PROPOSALS FROM THE GRADUATE CURRICULUM COMMITTEE 

1. Stan Ross Department of Accountancy 

• New flexible core course: ACC 9125 Fundamentals of Managerial Accounting 

2. Bert W. Wasserman Department of Economics and Finance 

• New required core course: ECO 9xxx Fundamentals of Microeconomics 

• New flexible core course: ECO 9xxx Fundamentals of Macroeconomics 

• Letter of Intent to establish an Executive MS in Financial Risk Management 

3. Department of Management 

• New required core course: MGT 9702 Service Operations I 

• New flexible core course: MGT 9704 Service Operations II 

• Changes in existing courses (changes in prerequisites): 

o MGT 9710 Quantitative Analysis for Service Management 

o MGT 9740 Sustainability in Supply Chains and Operations 

• Changes in MBA – Management (Concentration in Operations Management) 

major 

4. Department of Statistics and Computer Information Systems 

• New required core course: CIS 9001 Information Systems for Managers I 

• New flexible core course: CIS 9002 Information Systems for Managers II – 

Managing and Harnessing Technology 

• New elective course: CIS 9xxx Sustainability and IT 

• Changes in MBA – Information Systems major


RECOMMENDATION TO GRADUATE CURRICULUM COMMITTEE 

Stan Ross Department of Accountancy, February 1, 2011 

PART A: Academic Matters, Section AII: New Courses 

New course to be offered by the Stan Ross Department of Accountancy 

AII.10.1 ACC 9125 Fundamentals of Managerial Accounting 

This course introduces students to the use of accounting information for internal planning, analysis, and decision-making. The main 

objective of the course is to equip our MBA students with the knowledge to understand, evaluate, and act upon the many financial and 

non-financial reports used in managing modern firms. The course emphasizes that managing the modern firm requires financial and 

non-financial information about the firm’s products, processes, assets, and customers. This information is a key input into a wide 

range of analytical tools to support decisions: analyzing profitability of various products, managing product-line portfolios, setting 

prices, measuring and managing profitability of customers, making operational and strategic decisions, evaluating investments, 

investigating efficiency, and so on. Using numerous case studies, the course will explore the following key topics: multiple objectives 

of management-accounting systems; direct and absorption costing; activity-based costing; customer-profitability analysis; costvolume-profit 

analysis; relevant costs, opportunity costs, and business decision analysis. 1.5 hours, 1.5 credits. Prerequisite: ACC 

9110 or ACC 9112. Not open to students who have completed ACC 9115 or ACC 9811. 

EXPLANATION: This course has been taught as a 2 credit course in the past. With the curriculum change in our MBA program, it is 

now one of the optional courses within the core. The syllabus has been modified to fit into the new time table. The course will be 

offered in fall and summer and is expected to enroll 80 students per section. 

Approved by the Stan Ross Department of Accountancy Faculty, February 14, 2011. Syllabus attached.


Baruch College, CUNY 

ACC 9125. FUNDAMENTALS OF MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING 

Professor: 

Office: 

Email: 

Phone: 

Office Hours: 

Course Overview 

This course explores the use of accounting information for internal planning, analysis, and 

decision-making. 

Managing and evaluating the modern firm requires financial and non-financial information 

about the firm’s products, processes, assets, and customers. This information is a key input 

into a wide range of analytical tools to support decisions: analyzing profitability of various 

products, managing product-line portfolios, setting prices, measuring and managing 

profitability of customers, making operational and strategic decisions, evaluating investments, 

investigating efficiency, and so on. 

The focus of this course is on information generated by internal accounting systems. Along 

the way, we will discover that many companies have not provided their managers with useful 

information. These managers have to rely on information systems designed years ago for very 

different business processes and with very different technologies. We will take a look at a 

number of pitfalls that these systems can induce and at the dangers in using these systems to 

make business decisions. We will also investigate some modern ideas in how an 

organization’s information system should be designed. 

To attain the right level of understanding, you will need to be familiar with the mechanics of 

the many techniques used to prepare management reports. But the emphasis in this course is 

very much on interpretation, evaluation, and decision-making. 

Course Learning Objectives 

As the result of course cases, reading, lectures, and discussions, students will be able to: 

• Indicate how internal reporting affects managerial decisions; 

• Illustrate how managerial decisions affect firm profits and value;

• Distinguish among the major approaches used in practice to produce internal financial 

reports; 

• Appraise the “traditional” managerial-reporting systems; 

• Evaluate the common mistakes managers make when using these traditional systems; 

• Analyze several modern reporting innovations; 

• Judge the major advantages and disadvantages of these several modern reporting 

innovations; 

• Weigh the value impacts of decisions when relying on incomplete information; 

• Integrate various ideas from finance, marketing, and operations in interpreting firms’ 

reporting systems; 

• Present their analysis of firms’ reporting systems in writing and in class discussions; 

• Indicate the ethical implications of various managerial decisions. 

MBA Program Learning Goals 

This course formally addresses the following MBA Program Learning Goals: 

• Communication; 

• Quantitative Analysis; 

• Knowledge Integration; 

• Ethical Awareness. 

Class Meetings 

In each class, we focus on the management aspects of the topic. To prepare for class, you 

should go through the readings and prepare the case questions (for classes where we discuss 

cases). 

Case discussion will take up approximately half of the course. A mix of lectures, cases, and 

discussions provides an interactive learning environment allowing for greater understanding of 

the managerial implications of reporting-system design and use. 

Students will be active participants in case discussions, providing summaries of issues, 

analyses, and recommendations. This involves the preparation of the case and reading 

assignments before class and the active sharing of your insights during class.

Each student should carefully prepare the assigned case and be ready to be called on to present 

their analysis or to comment on others' analyses. You are encouraged to prepare for cases in 

teams. 

Grading 

The course grade will be based on class participation, one closed-book midterm, and a closedbook 

final examination: 

• Class participation 10%; 

• Midterm 40%; 

• Final examination 50%. 

Class participation. The grade for class participation will depend on the quality of your 

interaction and participation in class discussions. 

Midterm. There will be one in-class, closed-book midterm. 

Final exam. The final exam will be cumulative and closed-book. 

Teaching Materials 

The required textbook is a custom text based on Managerial Accounting, by Garrison, Noreen, 

and Brewer, 13 th edition, 2009. The custom text contains the relevant chapter from the 

Garrison-Noreen-Brewer text; it also contains two copyrighted cases we will cover in the 

course. 

Grading Policy 

• There will be no make-up midterm examinations under any circumstances. If you miss 

the midterm because of a medical or family emergency, you will need to provide 

documentation; in this case, the weight of the midterm will be added to the weight of the 

final (i.e., the course grade will be based 10% on participation and 90% on the final 

exam). 

• The weights, in “Grading” above, are identical for everyone. It is not possible to make up 

for poor performance by doing extra work. 

• Any form of cheating will be reported to the Dean of Students and will result in failure in 

the course and possible suspension from the College. See the statement on Baruch 

College’s policy on Academic Honesty below.

• After the midterm, you have one week from the time your exam paper is returned to you 

to review the exam for any errors in grading. All requests for re-grading must be 

submitted in writing. 

Students with Disabilities 

Students with disabilities may receive assistance and accommodation of various sorts to enable 

them to participate fully in courses at Baruch. To establish the accommodations appropriate for 

each student, please confidentially alert me to your needs as soon as possible and contact the 

Office of Services for Students with Disabilities, part of the Division of Student Development 

and Counseling. For more information, contact Ms. Barbara Sirois, Director of this office in VC 

2-271 or at 646-312-4590. 

Academic Honesty 

I fully support Baruch College's policy on Academic Honesty, which states, in part: 

“Academic dishonesty is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Cheating, forgery, plagiarism 

and collusion in dishonest acts undermine the college's educational mission and the students' 

personal and intellectual growth. Baruch students are expected to bear individual responsibility 

for their work, to learn the rules and definitions that underlie the practice of academic integrity, 

and to uphold its ideals. Ignorance of the rules is not an acceptable excuse for disobeying them. 

Any student who attempts to compromise or devalue the academic process will be sanctioned.” 

Academic sanctions in this class will range from an F on the assignment to an F in this course. 

Also, any form of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Students; this could result 

in a suspension from the College. 

Additional information and definitions can be found at 

http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_honesty.html 

Course Outline 

Part I. Estimating and managing costs and revenues. 

Sessions 1 and 2. Introduction to the course. Internal reporting 

systems: theory and practice.

Topics • Course objectives. 

• What is management accounting and why do we need it? 

• Management accounting, strategy, and value. 

• Multiple objectives of managerial-information systems. 

• The flow of costs in service and manufacturing companies. 

• Direct and absorption costing; normal costing. 

Textbook 

Chapter 1, pages 1-12 (take a quick glance through this background info); 

Chapter 2, pages 31-54 (make sure you understand the terminology – we will 

use it throughout the course). 

Self-study 

Problems 

Exercises 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5; Problems 2-16, 2-18. 

Session 

Plan 

Unlike financial accounting, managerial accounting is not subject to 

governmental or legal requirements. Firms design their information systems to 

suit very specific purposes. Consequently, there are as many information systems 

as there are firms. 

Complexity of the modern firm requires managers to rely on aggregated reports, 

both to make decisions and to manage costs. You must understand how these 

reports are prepared in order to use them. This requires you to comprehend how 

information is aggregated and presented. This is the main topic of the session. 

We will also discuss the “big picture” of the course, course objectives, and key 

dates in the course. 

Sessions 3 and 4. Information systems and process complexity. 

Seligram ETO case. 

Topics • Cost estimation and cost management. 

• Two-stage structure of costing systems. 

• Selection of allocation bases. 

• Failure of “traditional” costing systems.

• Ethical issues: captive internal service providers and other cost centers. 

Prepare 

Case study Seligram, Inc.: Electronic Testing Operations. Address the following 

questions: 

1. How has ETO’s competitive environment changed? 

2. What caused the existing system at ETO to fail? 

3. Calculate the reported costs of the five components described as computed by 

a. the existing system; 

b. the system proposed by the accounting manager; 

c. the system proposed by the consultant. 

4. Which system is preferable? Why? 

5. Would you treat the new machine as a separate cost center or as part of the 

main test room? Why? Compute the first-year overhead rate for the new 

machine if it were treated as a separate cost center. 

Session 

Plan 

We will start examining the issues of reporting-system design affecting an 

organization’s strategy and performance. The information system at Seligram is 

an extremely common one in practice. As many as 60% of publicly-traded firms 

rely on similar systems in the majority of their operations. Smaller firms are far 

more likely to use these “traditional” systems. 

We will take a look at what is wrong with the information system, what 

dysfunctional behavior it can induce, and some proposed solutions. 

Sessions 5 and 6. Measuring and managing the costs of capacity 

resources. SMT case. 

Topics • Costs of capacity resources. 

• Allocating capacity costs using practical and budgeted capacity utilization. 

• The “death spiral” – dangerous reporting-system-induced phenomenon in 

cyclical industries. 

Prepare 

Case study Surface Mount Technology. Address the following questions: 

1. OH rates for Sunnyvale Line 6 were $360 in 2008 and $375 in 2009. How are

these OH rates computed by SMT? 

2. Compute the OH rates for Sunnyvale Line 6 for 2007, 2010, and 2011. Why 

are the rates fluctuating so much? What are the fundamental economic 

changes causing these fluctuations? 

3. Using SMT’s bidding algorithm, prepare a bid analysis for the Motorola 

request if the bid is analyzed (i) in 2010; (ii) in 2011. 

Do you expect these bids to succeed? 

4. What is likely to happen to OH rates (and, thus, our bids) in the future? 

5. Take a look at Project HP-HDC-32 (this is new information, not in the 

case). This long-term contract with a major customer involves the assembly 

of 10,000 control boards per year on one of the state-of-the-art surface-mount 

assembly lines (like Sunnyvale Line 6). 

The contract requires the customer to pay us $107 per board. The directmaterial 

content is $1.32; the direct-labor content is $0.31. The processing 

requirements are 0.2 hours per board. 

Compute the unit and total profitability of this relationship in 2009 and in 

2011 (labor, materials, and processing requirements remain the same). 

Comment. 

Session 

Plan 

We will spend the majority of the sessions discussing the SMT case and some 

modern enhancements to SMT’s reporting system. 

Sessions 7 and 8. Activity-based costing. Coffee Services 

Company case. 

Topics • Activity-based costing. 

• Differences from and advantages over “traditional” costing systems. 

• Hierarchy of activities. 

• Translating activity-based costing into improved profitability. 

• Implementation of modern cost-management systems. 

Textbook Chapter 8, pages 307-331, 333-334.

Prepare 

Coffee Services Company case. See the questions in the case. 

Self-study 

Problems 

Exercises 8-1, 8-7, 8-15; and the review problem on pages 334-336. 

Session 

Plan 

We will begin our discussion of activity-based costing (ABC) and activity-based 

management (ABM). These information-system tools have become generally 

accepted as the solutions to many of the problems of “traditional” costing systems. 

However, there is no general agreement about how ABC and ABM should be 

implemented for a given firm. Even more problematically, there is no general 

agreement about what an economic model of the firm must include to qualify for 

the title activity-based. 

We will investigate exactly how ABC and ABM differ from the “traditional” 

systems. We will also look at what the activity-based models have to offer firms. 

Along the way, we’ll focus on several disadvantages of the “modern” systems. 

Session 9. Midterm 

The midterm exam covers materials from sessions 1-8. 

Sessions 10 and 11. Estimating and managing customer 

profitability. The Infinity Bank (A) case. 

Topics • Analyzing and managing customer profitability. 

• Ethical issues: dealing with unprofitable customers. 

Read 

1. Calmetta Coleman, “Banks Cozy Up to Customers,” The Wall Street Journal 

26 April 2001. 

2. Matthew Swibel, “Where Money Doesn’t Talk,” Forbes 24 May 2004. 

3. Tom Richebacher, “The Art of Customer Profitability Analysis” 

http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=45096

Prepare 

Case study Infinity Bank (A). Address the following questions: 

1. Summarize Infinity Bank’s competitive environment. What are the major 

issues facing the bank? How has the bank performed in 1998-2003? 

2. What were the conclusions of the product-profitability project? What were 

the surprises? 

3. What are the potential advantages of the “supermarket” strategy? What are 

the potential disadvantages of the strategy? 

4. What are the objectives of customer-profitability analysis (at Infinity and in 

general)? What does it add to the product-profitability system? Is it 

important? How should Philippa Smith’s customer-profitability pilot study be 

improved / extended? 

5. What were the conclusions of Philippa Smith’s customer-profitability pilot 

study? What were the major sources of variation in customer profitability? 

6. Examine the customer-profitability database. Construct a graph to 

communicate the profitability of the 2,205 customers in the Weighted Sample 

sheet, ranked from best to worst. 

7. Given the customer-profitability analysis, does the “supermarket” strategy 

make sense? 

8. How should the customer-profitability information be used? What should we 

do about the large number of unprofitable customers? 

9. Overall, what are your recommendations for Infinity Bank’s managers? 

NOTE: See the course web page for Excel spreadsheet with case data. 

Session 

Plan 

We will devote these sessions to the discussion of the Infinity Bank case and 

customer-profitability analysis. 

Part II. Tactical and Strategic Decisions. 

Sessions 12 and 13. Introduction to business decisions: costvolume-profit 

analysis. 

Topics • Variable and fixed costs. 

• The profit equation. 

• The break-even point. 

• The relevant range of analysis. 

• General cost-volume-profit analysis.

Textbook Chapter 5 (pages 188-200, 210-211). 

Chapter 6 (pages 233-251, Assumptions of CVP Analysis on page 258). 

Self-study 

Problems 

Exercise 6-11; Problems 6-26, 6-31. 

Session 

Plan 

We will discuss the managerial-accounting tool frequently used (and misused) in 

practice – cost-volume-profit analysis. 

Session 14. Business decisions: relevant costs and relevant 

revenues. 

Topics • Relevant costs and relevant revenues. 

• Opportunity costs. 

• Asset-related costs. 

• Routine and non-routine business decisions. 

• Strategic considerations. 

Textbook Chapter 13 (pages 578-598, 602-603). 

Self-study 

Problems 

Exercises 13-4, 13-14; Problems 13-18, 13-25; Case 13-28. 

Session 

Plan 

We will begin this meeting with a concise lecture on relevant-cost and relevantrevenue 

analysis. We will do a number of examples, focusing on the following 

question: how do we use various management reports to extract data and analyze 

implications of decisions?



Bert W. Wasserman Department of Economics and Finance, December 8, 2010 

PART A: 

Academic Matters, Section AII: New Courses 

New course to be offered by the Bert W. Wasserman Department of Economics and Finance 

AII.10.1 

ECO 97xx: Fundamentals of Microeconomics 

Given the complexities of management decision making in the economic environment the course is structured to provide 

the student with a broad appreciation of how scarce resources are allocated in a properly functioning economy. The course 

leads the students through analysis of issues such as demand dynamics, price determination, the cost function, industry 

output and business strategies. Other topics include how management operates in competitive markets, how firms make 

their output decisions and how these two directions interact to determine the price level and quantity of output produced. 

Students are lead in discussions of pros and cons of government intervention, and industrial organizations such as 

monopolies and oligopolies. 1.5 hours, 1.5 credits. Prerequisite: None. Students are expected to have basic mathematics 

skills including algebra and geometry. Not open to students who have completed ECO 9708. 

EXPLANATION: This is a required core course for M.B.A. students and will be offered at least once a semester. The expected 

enrollment will be 65 students per section. 

Approved by the Bert W. Wasserman Department of Economics and Finance, December 6, 2010. Syllabus/Course Information sheet 

attached.

ECO 97xx Fundamentals of Microeconomics 

MBA Program Learning Goals: 

Communication 

Ethical Awareness 

Quantitative Analysis 

Course Learning Objectives: 

In the completion of this course you will be able to: 

1. Differentiate between critical business concepts including; 

• The operation of competition and competitive markets in the allocation of 

scarce resources. 

• The nature and components of the costs of production. 

• The tension among efficiency, equity expectations, and politics. 

• The tensions between Local government and International economic 

policies. 

2. Analyze the: 

• Integration of various economic parts of the firm. 

• Weighing accuracy, objectivity, and relevance of economic data being 

applied to the situation being analyzed 

• Allocation of economic resources. 

• Development and quantification of alternatives solutions to existing 

problems. 

3. Effectively communicate through oral and written form to present your ideas 

and arguments through; 

• Discussing in class text readings or/relevant current events. 

• Writing a compelling Research Paper incorporating an economic proposal. 

4. Analyze and present views on the interaction of legal, social, and ethical 

responsibilities of economic stewardship as both an agent of the firm and an 

individual within the context of; 

• Objective standards of conduct. 

• Transparency of conduct. 

• Apparent and actual conflicts of interests. 

• Delegation of authority.

Purpose: This course is offered as part of the Baruch M.B.A. program by the 

Department of Economics and Finance. Given the complexities of management 

decision making in the economic environment the course is structured to provide 

the student with a broad appreciation of how scarce resources are allocated in a 

properly functioning economy. The course will permit the analysis of issues such as 

demand dynamics, price determination, the cost function, industry output and 

business strategies. In the course of learning microeconomics, you will study how 

management operates in competitive markets, how firms make their output 

decisions, and how these two directions interact to determine the price level and 

quantity of output produced. We will also discuss issues such as government 

intervention, and industrial organizations such as monopolies and oligopolies. 

Requirements: You are expected to have basic skills in mathematics including 

algebra and geometry. Course work will comprise one or two chapters of readings 

for each class as the basis of class discussion. There will be a midterm exam 

counting 25% of the course grade, and a final exam counting 25%. Each week a 3 

x 5 card with two questions on the assigned reading is required. Question cards and 

the consequential discussions in Class participation will count 20%. A Course Group 

Project to be presented during the final sessions will count for 30%. Regular 

reading of the Economist, The Wall Street Journal or similar newspapers and 

familiarity with current economic events and issues is strongly emphasized. 

Students are encouraged to use the Internet sites suggested and other sites, as 

appropriate to amplify their readings. 

Question Cards: Should pose at least two original questions each week with 

specific citations to the text readings and relevant current events. Questions that 

aim to stimulate intelligent class discussion about economic, financial, or analytical 

aspects of the texts, or that seek explanation of difficult passages, will receive the 

highest marks. 

Course Group Project: Management is continually required to present in reports 

and proposals its analytical views to governing boards, committees and regulating 

bodies. The class will self-select or be assigned into groups to research, analyze 

prepare and present an approved topic in such a presentation using the tools of 

economic analysis. Each group will be self-governing in this Project and will share 

equally in the grade for the success of the Course Group Project Presentation. The 

Project will be judged by the quality of research, analysis as well as its persuasion 

and the quality of consequential discussion of the class. 

Texts: 

1. Michael R. Baye - Managerial Economics and Business 

Strategy 7 th McGraw-Hill Irwin Publishing, Boston, MA; (2009). 

ISBN: 0-07-337579-6 

2. Michael C. Jensen - A Theory Of The Firm, Harvard (2000), 

ISBN:0- 67401229-1 

3. Readings: Additional sources will be made available.

Internet: Text: 

http://www.mhhe.com/economics/baye4 

Course: http://.baruch.cuny.edu. 

Other: http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/ ; http://www.economist.com. 

Honesty: Academic dishonesty is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. 

Cheating, forgery, plagiarism, and collusion in dishonest acts undermine the 

college's educational mission and the students' personal and intellectual growth. 

Baruch students are expected to bear individual responsibility for their work, to 

learn the rules and definitions that underlie the practice of academic integrity, and 

to uphold its ideals. Ignorance of the rules is not an acceptable excuse for 

disobeying them. Any student who attempts to compromise or devalue the 

academic process will be sanctioned. 

Schedule 

WEEK TOPIC and Discussions ASSIGNMENTS 

1. 

Introduction: Syllabus, Requirements, 

Baye - Pages 1-27 

Administration, Group Project Guidelines. 

2. 

Market Forces; Demand and Supply, and Baye - Pages 35-65. 

Equilibrium 

Jensen- Chpts. 1-3 

3. 

Quantitative Demand Analysis; Price Baye – pages 73-92; 

Elasticities, Consumer Behavior 117-137. 

Baye - pages 156-177 

4. 

Preliminary Group 

Production Processes; Minimal Unit Cost. 

Topic and Biblio. 

Due 

5. 

The Cost Function and Economies of 

Scale 

Baye -Pages 177-191 

6. The Nature of Industry; Market Structure Baye- Pages 235-254 

7. 

Managing in Competitive Markets, 

Monopolistic competition Review 

Baye -Pages 265-303 

8. -- - Exam #1 -- 

Oligopoly, Collusion, Game Theory, 

9. Pricing, Market Power and Business 

Strategies 

10. 

Government in the Market Place; Anti- 

Trust and Regulation 

11. ----College Closed---- 

12. 

Management Motivation and 

Compensation 

Baye -Pages 315-330; 

352-371;397- 

426;475-500. 

Baye - Pages 509- 38. 

Jensen Pages 83-91; 

205-249

13. Group Project Presentations 

14. Group Project Presentations -Review- 

---EXAM #2---



Bert W. Wasserman Department of Economics and Finance, December 8, 2010 

PART A: 


New course to be offered by the Bert W. Wasserman Department of Economics and Finance 

AII.10.1 

ECO 97xx: Fundamentals of Macroeconomics 

This course in macroeconomics provides the student with a broad appreciation of the concepts and methodology of macroeconomics 

as a context for the technical managerial curriculum. This course examines national output and income; equilibrium in the economy; 

employment and prices; fiscal, monetary and industrial policy formulation and their related issues of economic theory. This course 

will view macroeconomics through the lens of the American political economy and its global impact. Students will be expected to 

present and discuss the readings and current macroeconomic events and the public discourse concerning those events. It will be 

geared to students with an adequate background in economics and an appreciation of the American economy, and is designed to 

further their skills and knowledge in integrating economics and finance into their portfolio of analytical, communication and 

presentation skills. 1.5 credits, 1.5 hours. Prerequisite: None. Students are expected to have basic mathematics skills including 

algebra and geometry. Not open to students who have completed ECO 9709. 

EXPLANATION: The course is a choice within the new MBA flexible core curriculum and will be offered at least once a semester. 

The expected enrollment is 65 students per section. 

Approved by the Bert W. Wasserman Department of Economics and Finance, December 6, 2010. Syllabus/Course Information sheet 

attached.

ECO 97XX 

Fundamentals of Macroeconomics 

MBA Program Learning Goals: 

Communication 

Ethical Awareness 

Quantitative Analysis 


In the completion of this course you will be able to: 

1. Describe in detail the meaning of; 

• National output and income and how economists use them. 

• Fiscal and monetary policy and how they are used to manage the 

economy. 

• Economic equilibrium and how it is achieved 

• Local government policy and International economic policies and how they 

can work in unison or be in conflict. 

2. Analyze the: 

• Economic models of linkages across various aspects of the economy. 

• Weighing accuracy, objectivity, and relevance of economic data being 

applied to the situation being analyzed. 

• Allocation of economic resources. 

• Projected impact of suggested economic policies. 

3. Effectively communicate through oral and written form your ideas and 

arguments through: 

• Discussing in class text readings or/relevant current events. 

• Writing a compelling Research Paper incorporating an economic proposal. 

4. Analyze and present views on the interaction of legal, social, and ethical 

responsibilities of economic stewardship by both the central bank and those 

business entities through which policy is implemented within the context of; 

• Transparency of goals 

• Transparency of conduct. 

• Apparent and actual conflicts of interests. 

• Delegation of authority.

Purpose: This course is offered as part of the Baruch M.B.A. program by the 

Department of Economics and Finance. Given the complexities of management 

decision making in the economic environment the course is structured to provide 

the student with a broad appreciation of how scarce resources are allocated in a 

properly functioning economy. The course will permit the analysis of issues such as 

demand dynamics, price determination, the cost function, industry output and 

business strategies. In the course of learning microeconomics, you will study how 

management operates in competitive markets, how firms make their output 

decisions, and how these two directions interact to determine the price level and 

quantity of output produced. We will also discuss issues such as government 

intervention, and industrial organizations such as monopolies and oligopolies. 

Requirements: You are expected to have basic skills in mathematics including 

algebra and geometry. Course work will comprise one or two chapters of readings 

for each class as the basis of class discussion. There will be a midterm exam 

counting 25% of the course grade, and a final exam counting 25%. Each week a 3 

x 5 card with two questions on the assigned reading is required. Question cards and 

the consequential discussions in Class participation will count 20%. A Course Group 

Project to be presented during the final sessions will count for 30%. Regular 

reading of the Economist, The Wall Street Journal or similar newspapers and 

familiarity with current economic events and issues is strongly emphasized. 

Students are encouraged to use the Internet sites suggested and other sites, as 

appropriate to amplify their readings. 

Question Cards: Should pose at least two original questions each week with 

specific citations to the text readings and relevant current events. Questions that 

aim to stimulate intelligent class discussion about economic, financial, or analytical 

aspects of the texts, or that seek explanation of difficult passages, will receive the 

highest marks. 

Course Group Project: Management is continually required to present in reports 

and proposals its analytical views to governing boards, committees and regulating 

bodies. The class will self-select or be assigned into groups to research, analyze 

prepare and present an approved topic in such a presentation using the tools of 

economic analysis. Each group will be self-governing in this Project and will share 

equally in the grade for the success of the Course Group Project Presentation. The 

Project will be judged by the quality of research, analysis as well as its persuasion 

and the quality of consequential discussion of the class. 

Texts: 

1. N. Gregory Mankiw – Principals of Macroeconomics 5 th ED. 

South-Western Cengage Learning, 2009. ISBN: -13: 9780324589993 

Internet: Text: 

http://www.cengage.com/esouthwesstern/mankiw5 

Course: http://.baruch.cuny.edu.

Other: http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/ ; http://www.economist.com. 

Honesty: Academic dishonesty is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. 

Cheating, forgery, plagiarism, and collusion in dishonest acts undermine the 

college's educational mission and the students' personal and intellectual growth. 

Baruch students are expected to bear individual responsibility for their work, to 

learn the rules and definitions that underlie the practice of academic integrity, and 

to uphold its ideals. Ignorance of the rules is not an acceptable excuse for 

disobeying them. Any student who attempts to compromise or devalue the 

academic process will be sanctioned. 

WEEK/DAY TOPIC and Discussions ASSIGNMENTS 

1./ DAY OF WEEK 

2./DAY OF WEEK 

3./ DAY OF WEEK 

Introduction 

Syllabus, Administration & Review 

Measuring Output and Income Ethical 

issues of data misrepresentation 

Production, Growth, Global Markets 

and the Financial system 

Chapters 1-4 

Chapters 10 and 11 

Chapters 12 and 13. 

4./ DAY OF WEEK Finance, Ethics & Financial Analysis Chapter 14 

5. / DAY OF WEEK The Monetary system Chapter 16 

6. / DAY OF WEEK Money Growth and Inflation Chapter 17 

7. / DAY OF WEEK Labor Markets and Unemployment Chapter 15 

8. / DAY OF WEEK -- - Exam #1 -- 


Aggregation and the Trade-Off 

inflation vs. Unemployment 

Chapters 20 and 22 

10./DAY OF WEEK Macroeconomics of Open Economies Chapters 18 and 19 

11./DAY OF WEEK Monetary and Fiscal Policy Chapter 21 

12./DAY OF WEEK Keynes vs. Chicago Chapter 23 


Group Project Presentations


Group Project Presentations & Review 

DAY OF WEEK TBA ---EXAM #2---



Department of Management, April 10, 2011 

PART A: 


New course to be offered by the Department of Management 

AII.10.1 

MGT 9702 Service Operations I 

Service Operations I is a broad-based introductory course designed to help students recognize the strategic role of operational 

decision-making, the importance of sound operations management principles in all business functions, and the managerial levers that 

enable competitive positioning of firms. The class is structured around the complex and challenging mandate many managers face 

today: reducing the cost of providing services, improving service levels and customer retention, increasing the pace of new service and 

product innovation and deployment, and improving quality of the services, while operating with reduced budgets and lower 

headcount. Students will learn the fundamentals of designing service delivery systems, managing business process flows, forecasting 

demand, structuring supply chains; improving quality using state-of-the-art methods, and implementing change using project 

management techniques. This course is part of the required MBA core curriculum, and pre-requisite for Operations Management 

major courses. 1.5 hours, 1.5 credits. Prerequisite: STA 9708. Not open to students who have completed MGT 9700. 

EXPLANATION: This course is offered to support the revised MBA core curriculum, replacing the existing MGT 9700 as a required 

course in the current core program. The material covered in this course represents the first of two parts the existing MGT 9700 

currently covers. The intent of the course is to provide the context in which operational decisions are made, and their relevance to a 

company’s competitive position. The course will be offered every semester and is expected to enroll 65 students per section. 

Approved by the Department of Management Curriculum Committee; April 11, 2011. Syllabus attached.

COURSE INFORMATION SHEET 

Course Title: Service Operations I 

Course Number: MGT 9702 

Course Description: 

Service Operations I is a broad-based introductory course designed to help students recognize the 

strategic role of operational decision-making, the importance of sound operations management 

principles in all business functions, and the managerial levers that enable competitive positioning 

of firms. The class is structured around the complex and challenging mandate many managers 

face today: reducing the cost of services to consumers, improving service levels and customer 

retention, increasing the pace of new service and product innovation and deployment, and 

improving quality of the services, while operating with reduced budgets and lower headcount. 

Students will learn the fundamentals of designing service delivery systems, managing business 

process flows, forecasting demand, structuring supply chains, improving quality using state-ofthe-art 

methods, and implementing change using project management techniques. This course is 

part of the required MBA core curriculum, and pre-requisite for Operations Management major 

courses. 

Course Overview: 

This course cuts across a variety of organizations, identifying fundamental levers in Operations 

Management that allow students to understand the importance of continuously improving and 

updating processes through Lean, Six Sigma, and Total Quality Management methods; matching 

supply with demand via the forecasting function, inventory management principles, and global 

supply chain management; managing the capacity of service delivery systems through constraint 

management and yield management techniques. Hands-on simulation exercises, case studies, and 

games, accompanied by interactive lectures, enable students to understand the relationships 

among the operational levers and their combinatorial impact on performance targets. The course 

provides a pathway to pursue the OM discipline in greater depth. 

Course Learning Goals 

By the end of the semester, students who have taken MGT 9702 should be able to do the 

following: 

1. Identify the integral role of operations in every business function. 

2. Recognize and classify basic operational trade-offs among cost, quality, and customer 

service levels. 

3. Analyze business processes and recommend operational improvements. 

4. Describe and evaluate the relationships among operational levers and their impact on 

performance. 

5. Define operational risks and design coping strategies for managing supply chains.

6. Explain the role and relevance of Corporate Social Responsibility, and sustainability in 

operations. 

MBA Learning Goals Addressed in this Course: The Zicklin School of Business has adopted 

eight common educational aims for its MBA Program. This course will address the following 

learning goals in a significant manner: 

1. Communication: Students will be effective oral and written communicators as leadership 

and teamwork in business is dependent on developing shared meaning and commitment to 

action fostered through communication. 

2. Global Awareness: Students will be sensitive to differences in perspectives, institutions, 

and practices among business people from around the world as our global economy puts a 

premium on global business relationships. 

3. Teamwork and Leadership: Students will develop skills that permit them to function 

effectively in teams and be given opportunities to experience, understand, and develop their 

competencies as leaders. 

4. Information Literacy: Students will develop effective information literacy skills. This 

includes: framing research questions; accessing and evaluating sources; and using 

information ethically and legally. 

5. Knowledge Integration: Students will have working knowledge off all functional areas in 

business and apply them in a holistic, analytical, and integrative manner to effectively 

understand and recommend solutions to business problems. 

6. Quantitative Analysis: Students will effectively use quantitative techniques to describe and 

analyze business phenomena and help develop solutions to business problems. 

Text and Course Materials: 

a. Required 

• Custom Textbook: ISBN:###### (Contains selected chapters from Krajewski, Ritzman 

and Malhotra (KRM), 2009, Operations Management, 9 th ed., Prentice Hall; Simchi-Levy, 

Designing and managing the supply chain, Prentice Hall; selected case studies.) 

• The Goal, E. Goldratt, North River Press (1992 or 2004 editions) 

• MyOMLab Online Quiz Registration Packet 

• Littlefield Labs Simulation Registration packet 

• HBS Root Beer Simulation Game Registration packet 

b. Recommended 

• Critical Chain, E. Goldratt, North River Press (any edition) 

• Isn’t it Obvious?, E. Goldratt, North River Press (any edition)

Grading: 

Midterm: 20% 

Online Quizzes: 20% 

Assignments: 20% 

Final: 30% 

Participation: 10%

Schedule: 

Meet Date Topics Assignments 

1 Unit: Operations Strategy and Competitiveness Reading: 

Topic(s): Introduction 

KRM chapter 1 

Learning Objectives: 

• History and development of OM 

• OM objectives and goals 

• Functions of OM and OM practitioners 

2 Unit: Operations Strategy and Competitiveness 

Topic(s): Process Strategy 

Reading: 

KRM chapter 3 


• Four major process decision areas 

• Relationships between processes and service 

design 

• Process reengineering 

• Integration of processes for competitiveness 

3 Unit: Yield Management 

Topic(s): Capacity allocation and pricing decisions 


• Understanding service inventories 

• Pricing policies and demand management 

• Substitution effects of demand and supply 

4 Unit: Supply Chain Management 

Topic(s): Supply Chain Design (SCD) 


• Understanding flows in a global supply chain 

• SCD and firm performance 

• Frameworks for SCD 

• Tools for SCD 




• Tools for SCD 

• Risk assessment 

• Sustainability in SCD 

• Value partitioning in SCM 

• CSR in Sourcing 

• Ethical issues in SCM 

Reading: 

Metters, CH 10 

Blackboard intro pack 

Lemonade Stand Simulation 

http://www.coolmathgames.com/ 

lemonade/ 

http://www.lemonadestandgame. 

com/ 

Reading: Simchi-Levy 

CH 7: Coordinated product and 

supply chain design; 

Distribution strategies 

Chapter 3: Network planning 

Hands-on class experience 

Beer game 

Risk Pooling 


CH 6: Supply chain integration 

CH 5: The value of information 

(bullwhip) 

CH 9: Procurement and 

outsourcing strategies 

CH 10: Global logistics and risk 

management


Topic(s): Contracts and performance metrics 


• Synchronizing supply with demand – demand 

management, inventory and ordering models 

• Managing risk 

7 Midterm exam 

8 Unit: Process Management 

Topic(s): Process Analysis 


• Understanding the importance of process flow 

charts and service blue prints 

• Identifying the metrics for process evaluation 

• Recognizing the keys to effective process 

management 


Topic(s): Forecasting Process Demand 


• Explaining the role of the forecasting function 

in service operations 

• Understanding the difference between 

judgmental and quantitative forecasting 

techniques 

• Executing moving-average-based forecasting 

methods (e.g., simple moving average, 

exponential smoothing) 

• Integrating forecasting with capacity planning 


Topic(s): Constraint Management 


• Identify bottlenecks 

• Understand the link between capacity 

constraints and financial measures 

• Describe how to manage constraints in 

service operations 


Topic(s): Constraint Management, Lean Processes 


• Understanding how lean systems facilitate 

continuous improvement methods 

• Identifying the 8 types of waste in any 

service system 

• Recognizing how value stream analysis 

eliminates waste and improves processes 

• Appreciating the Toyota Production System 

• Integrating the lessons of Littlefield 

Laboratories: the complications of managing 

simultaneously demand, perishable and 

nonperishable inventory, forecasting, capacity 

and contracting. 


Chapter 2: Inventory 

management and risk pooling 

Reading: 

KRM chapter 4, Littlefield Labs 

simulation overview 

Pre-class quiz: chapter 4 

Reading: KRM chapter 13 (pp. 

462-473 only), case study 

(TBD) 


Simulation: Littlefield Labs 

begins 

Reading: The Goal, KRM 

chapter 7 


Deliverable: The Goal write-up 

Simulation: 

Littlefield Lab ends 

Reading: 

KRM CH 8, “Decoding DNA of 

TPS” 


Deliverable: Littlefield Labs 

write-up (date TBA)

12 Unit: Operations Change Management 

Topic(s): Project Management 


• Understand the core concepts and 

components of a Project Charter 

• Develop an appreciation for managing 

outcomes and milestones vs managing people 

• Discuss Issues and Challenges with managing 

projects, including the administration of 

contracts, roles and responsibilities, as well 

as managing implementation risks 

• Apply key components of a Project 

Management Framework (esp. WBS in a 

Project Plan and Project Team Organization) 

to the Mustang Case 


Topic(s): Project Management 


• Understand critical project constraints (scope, 

time and resources) 

• Develop Estimating Factors and a Project 

Estimate (for the Mustang Case) 

• Learn CPM / PERT and their role in Planning 

Projects 

• Develop an understanding of Project Tracking 

and Monitoring (EVM, Status Reporting) 


Topic(s): Quality Management 

• Understand TQM philosophy and core 

concepts of Six Sigma 

• Develop an appreciation for the Six Sigma 

Methodology and a sample analytical tool 

used to manage a Six Sigma process 

• Introduce the core concept of SPC 

• Discuss 4 key Questions related to the 

Reading Material 

Reading: 

KRM CH2 

Critical Chain, 

KRM: PERT Mustang case 


Reading: 

KRM CH2 

Deliverable: Project Plan 

Reading: 

KRM CH2 

“Made in U.S.A.: A 

Renaissance in Quality” – 

Joseph M. Juran 

Supporting Material: 

Six Sigma at Caterpillar (Video 

Clip – in-class) 

15 Final Exam 

Web-based Pre-class Quiz Schedule: 

Chapter 

KRM 1, 3 

S-L 3, 7 

S-L 5, 6 

KRM 4 

KRM 13 

KRM 8 

KRM 7 

KRM 2 

KRM 5 

Quiz 

Name 

Quiz1: Operations Strategy 

Quiz2: Supply Chain design 

Quiz3: Supply Chain Integration 

Quiz4: Process Analysis 

Quiz5: Forecasting 

Quiz6: Lean Systems 

Quiz7: Constraint Management 

Quiz8: Project Management 

Quiz9: Quality Management 

# of Q Time 

Allowed 

Date/Time 

Available 

Date/Time 

Closed

Name of Instructor: [various] 

Department: Department of Management, VC9-240 

Phone: (646) 312-xxxx 

Office: 9-xxx (Vertical Campus) 

Office Hours: D,D,hh-hh. You do not need an appointment to meet with the instructor during 

scheduled office hours. If the Department of Management is closed, please call the instructor to 

arrange for entry. If the scheduled office hours do not work for you, please contact the instructor 

to make an appointment for a mutually convenient time. 

E-Mail: ______._______@baruch.cuny.edu 

Blackboard 

Students must regularly check the Blackboard page for this class, as this will be the instructor’s 

primary mechanism for communicating with students regarding assignments and scheduling 

matters. It is your responsibility to access Blackboard to retrieve these materials and 

information. 

Standards of Professional Conduct: 

Classroom Behavior 

• The classroom is a professional environment. You should treat everyone present with respect 

and courtesy. 

• Do not disturb the class with the use of cell phones or other electronic devices. This rule 

includes texting, which can be quite distracting. Laptop computers may be used for notetaking 

only. 

Communicating with the Instructor 

• An e-mail written to a professor (like an e-mail to a work supervisor or business colleague) 

should be considered professional correspondence and should be written accordingly. It 

should be in grammatically correct, formal English, spell-checked, and have a subject line 

that properly identifies the subject of the e-mail. 

• All e-mail communication from the professor to the students will be sent to the student’s 

official Baruch e-mail account. It is, therefore, important that students regularly check their 

Baruch email accounts. 

Attendance and Class Participation 

Active learning is encouraged, which means that the instructor will avoid lecturing and instead 

encourage class participation and student engagement. All students are expected to be present 

and on time at each session and to participate regularly in class discussions. Students will be 

evaluated on the basis of the frequency and quality of their contributions to class discussion.

Academic Integrity: 

Baruch College’s Policy on Academic Dishonesty can be found on the college website at 

http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_honesty.html. I fully support this policy, 

which states, in part: 

Academic dishonesty is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Cheating, forgery, plagiarism 

and collusion in dishonest acts undermine the college’s educational mission and the students' 

personal and intellectual growth. Baruch students are expected to bear individual 

responsibility for their work, to learn the rules and definitions that underlie the practice of 

academic integrity, and to uphold its ideals. Ignorance of the rules is not an acceptable excuse 

for disobeying them. Any student who attempts to compromise or devalue the academic 

process will be sanctioned. 

The Baruch College website goes on to explain the concept of plagiarism as follows: 

Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research or writing as your own: 

• Copying another person’s actual words without the use of quotation marks and footnotes. 

• Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledging 

them. 

• Using information that is not considered common knowledge without acknowledging the 

source. 

• Failure to acknowledge collaborators on homework and laboratory assignments. 

The Library has a plagiarism tutorial on its website. I strongly suggest that you complete the 

tutorial: http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/help/plagiarism/Index.htm. 

IF YOU ARE STILL IN DOUBT, DON’T DO IT! 

Any act of plagiarism or academic dishonesty with regards to your work in this course will 

result in a failing grade in the course. Furthermore, a full report of any academic 

dishonesty or plagiarism will be made to the appropriate College authorities.




PART A: 


New course to be offered by the Department of Management 

AII.10.1 

MGT 9704 Service Operations II 

This course builds upon its precursor, MGT 9702, Service Operations I, providing students with the appropriate tools and techniques 

to make operational decisions for improving business processes and service quality, planning and managing capacity, and designing 

and managing efficient and responsive supply chains. The goal of the course is to familiarize students with the use of decision tools 

that are applicable to universal business processes such as customer relationship management, order fulfillment, supply and logistics 

fulfillment, quality improvements, and capacity management in service-focused businesses. 

1.5 hours, 1.5 credits. Prerequisite: MGT 9702. Not open to students who have completed MGT 9700. 

EXPLANATION: This course is a continuation of MGT 9702, covering tools and techniques that are applied to operational decision 

contexts. The material covered in this course represents the second of two parts the existing MGT 9700 currently covers. It is intended 

to present analysis-based solution methodologies to the decision problems presented in MGT 9702. It is required of all Operations 

Management majors and provides the analytical foundations, which the OM major courses build upon. The course will be offered 

every semester and is expected to enroll 65 students per section. 


COURSE INFORMATION SHEET 

Course Title: Service Operations II: Operational Decision making 

Course Number: MGT 9704 


This course builds upon its precursor, MGT 9702, Service Operations I, providing students with 

the appropriate tools and techniques to make operational decisions for improving business 

processes and service quality, planning and managing capacity, and designing and managing 

efficient and responsive supply chains. The goal of the course is to familiarize students with the 

use of decision tools that are applicable to universal business processes such as customer 

relationship management, order fulfillment, supply and logistics fulfillment, quality 

improvements, and capacity management in service-focused businesses. 

Course Overview: 

This course introduces students to structured decision-making methodologies in complex 

operational environments. Specific focus areas include designing supply chains that seek to 

balance customer service risk exposure, and inventory costs; improving customer service 

experiences while optimizing service staff; scheduling service deliveries to maximize availability 

at minimum costs; managing projects that deliver fully on time and within scope commitments 

while staying within budgets; designing business processes to achieve efficiencies and reducing 

waste; managing and controlling quality to achieve consistency and eliminate waste. Case 

studies, in-class mini-cases, hands-on exercises, computer simulations and spreadsheet modeling, 

use of quantitative analysis methodologies comprise the tools with which students are exposed to 

operational decision-making environments. 



following: 

1. Evaluate components of a supply chain network, and manage them effectively through a 

judicious balance of customer service levels, inventories, distribution and risk. 

2. Analyze and design customer service systems involving direct customer contact. 

3. Examine, evaluate, design and re-arrange core business processes to improve customer 

satisfaction, through the generation and sequencing of value-added tasks, and the 

identification and elimination of non-value-added activities 

4. Apply basic forecasting methods and tools to incorporate predictable changes in customer 

demand patterns for goods and services 

5. Critically evaluate business tradeoffs, risks, and sustainability concerns in making 

operational decisions. 

6. Recognize and match appropriate analytical tools to different types of operational 

decision analysis. 



learning goals in a significant manner:

1. Communication: Students will be effective oral and written communicators as leadership 

and teamwork in business is dependent on developing shared meaning and commitment to 

action fostered through communication. 

2. Global Awareness: Students will be sensitive to differences in perspectives, institutions, 

and practices among business people from around the world as our global economy puts a 

premium on global business relationships. 

3. Teamwork and Leadership: Students will develop skills that permit them to function 



4. Information Literacy: Students will develop effective information literacy skills. This 

includes: framing research questions; accessing and evaluating sources; and using 

information ethically and legally. 

5. Knowledge Integration: Students will have working knowledge off all functional areas in 



6. Quantitative Analysis: Students will effectively use quantitative techniques to describe and 


Name of Instructor: [various] 

Department: Department of Management, VC9-240 

Phone: (646) 312-3625 

Office: 9-240 (Vertical Campus) 

Office Hours: D,D,hh-hh. You do not need an appointment to meet with the instructor during 

scheduled office hours. If the Department of Management is closed, please call the instructor to 

arrange for entry. If the scheduled office hours do not work for you, please contact the instructor 

to make an appointment for a mutually convenient time. 

E-Mail: ______._______@baruch.cuny.edu 

Text and Course Materials: 

• Custom text ISBN #: __________ ; constructed from: 

o Simchi-Levy., Designing and managing the supply chain, Prentice Hall 

o Krajewski / Ritzman / Malhotra, Operations Management, Prentice Hall 

• Metters, et. Al. Successful Service Operations Management 2ed, publicly available & on 

Blackboard 

• Myron Hlynka’s, http://web2.uwindsor.ca/math/hlynka/qfaq.html

• Maister, D.H. 1985. “The Psychology of Waiting Lines” in The Service Encounter, edited by 

J.A. Czepiel et al., Lexington Books, pp. 113-123. 

• Katz, Larson and Larson. 1991. “Prescription for the Waiting-in-Line Blues: Entertain, 

Enlighten, and Enlarge.” Sloan Management Review, 32(2), pp. 44-53. 

• HBS Case “Denver International Airport” 

Grading: 

Midterm: 20% 

Assignments: 40% 

Final: 30% 

Participation: 10% 

Schedule: 

Meet Date Topics Assignments 

1 Topics: Introduction & Service Design Principles 

2 


• Understand the service design attributes 

• Understand the elements of customer experience 

• Interface between front and back-office processes 

Reading: Metters 2 nd Ed 

CH 5, 6,7 (Blackboard) 

3 Topic: Forecasting 


4 

• Trend adjustments 

• Seasonality 

• Error Tracking 




• Distribution planning models 

• Network optimization 

• Facility/warehouse location models 


Topic(s): Supply Chain Design (SCD contd.) 


• Supply chain contracts (with numbers) 

• Inventory management: Periodic and 

Continuous models 

7 

• Ethical concerns in SCM 

8 Midterm exam 


Topic: Introduction to Waiting Line Systems 


• Psychological aspects of queue design 

• Structural properties of queueing systems 

• Single-server queueing systems: the M/M/1 

model 

Reading: KRM CH13 

Reading: 

Simchi-Levy 

CH 3: Network planning 

CH 7: Distribution 

strategies 

Metters: CH 14 


CH 2: Inventory 

management and risk 

pooling 

CH4: Supply Contracts 

Reading: 

• KRM Suppl. C 

• “FAQ on Queueing 

Theory: ‘queueing’ or 

‘queuing’?” [1] 

• “The Psychology of 

Waiting Lines” [2] 

• “Prescription for the 

Waiting-in-Line Blues: 

Entertain, Enlighten, 

and Enlarge” [3]


Topic: Performance Analysis of Queueing Systems 


• Multiple server queues: the M/M/S model 

• The performance analysis metrics of a queue 


Topics: Little’s Law and Queueing System Design 


• Value of Little’s Law in analyzing process flows 

• The optimal number of servers: (a) economic 

perspective and (b) service-level perspective 


Topic: Quality Management 

• Six Sigma DMAIC Methodology and Analytical 

Tools for Six Sigma 

• SPC Control Charts (p-Charts, X-bar and R 

charts) 


Topic: Project Management 

• Apply a Project Management Framework to 

the HBS Case 

• Develop a Risk Management Plan 

• Develop Estimating Factors and Project 

Estimates 


Topic: Project Management 

• Develop CPM with Three Activity Time 

Estimates and Time-Cost Models 

• Develop a Baseline Project Plan 

• Develop a Project Tracking Template using 

EVM 

15 Final Exam 

Reading: KRM Suppl. C 

Assignment 1: NYPD Patrol 

System Case Study 

Reading: KRM CH 4 & 5 

Reading: KRM CH 2; 

Teaching Note 

(Blackboard) 

Assignment 3: HBS Case – 

“Denver International 

Airport” 

Assignment 3: HBS Case – 

“Denver International 

Airport” 

Deliverable: Project 

Management Toolkit 

Blackboard 

Students must regularly check the Blackboard page for this class, as this will be the 

instructor’s primary mechanism for communicating with students regarding assignments 

and scheduling matters. 

It is your responsibility to access Blackboard to retrieve these materials. If you do not 

have computer and Internet access that allows you to reach Blackboard, please contact a 

classmate for the assignments. Do not email the instructor for assignments. 

Standards of Professional Conduct: 

Classroom Behavior 

• The classroom is a professional environment. You should treat everyone present with respect 

and courtesy. 

• Do not disturb the class with the use of cell phones or other electronic devices. This rule 

includes texting, which can be quite distracting. Laptop computers may be used for notetaking 

only. 

Communicating with the Instructor

• An e-mail written to a professor (like an e-mail to a work supervisor or business colleague) 

should be considered professional correspondence and should be written accordingly. It 

should be in grammatically correct, formal English, spell-checked, and have a subject line 

that properly identifies the subject of the e-mail. 

• All e-mail communication from the professor to the students will be sent to the student’s 

official Baruch e-mail account. It is, therefore, important that students regularly check their 

Baruch email accounts. 

Attendance and Class Participation 

Active learning is encouraged, which means that the instructor will avoid lecturing and instead 

encourage class participation and student engagement. All students are expected to be present 

and on time at each session and to participate regularly in class discussions. Students will be 

evaluated on the basis of the frequency and quality of their contributions to class discussion. 





Academic dishonesty is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Cheating, forgery, 

plagiarism and collusion in dishonest acts undermine the college’s educational mission and 

the students' personal and intellectual growth. Baruch students are expected to bear 

individual responsibility for their work, to learn the rules and definitions that underlie the 

practice of academic integrity, and to uphold its ideals. Ignorance of the rules is not an 

acceptable excuse for disobeying them. Any student who attempts to compromise or 

devalue the academic process will be sanctioned. 



• Copying another person’s actual words without the use of quotation marks and 

footnotes. 

• Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without 

acknowledging them. 

• Using information that is not considered common knowledge without acknowledging 

the source. 











PART A: Routine Academic Matters, Section AIV: Changes in Course Number, Title, Description, Credits, Hours, Co- or 

Pre-requisites 

AIV.10.1 

Change in Prerequisite 

FROM/TO: MGT 9710 Quantitative Analysis for Service Management 

Intended to help managers deal with issues in modern operations planning by exposing them to the analytical and practical approaches 

that are finding increased emphasis in a primarily service-dominated industry. Topics to be examined include demand management 

and forecasting, capacity and staff planning, workforce scheduling, distribution and inventory management, and quality management. 

Emphasis will be placed on assessing the proper use and fit of these applications in actual systems in an organizational environment. 

3 hours, 3 credits. Prerequisite: MGT 9700 or MGT 9704. 

EXPLANATION: In conformance with the newly created MGT 9702 and 9704 courses to replace MGT 9700. 


The Bernard M. Baruch College 

Department of Management 

MGT 9710 

Quantitative Analysis for Service Management 

Dr. Lie-Fern Hsu 

Office: Room 9-284 

Phone: (646) 312-3656 

e-mail: Lie-Fern.Hsu@baruch.cuny.edu 

Office Hours: M,W 5:05 PM – 5:55 PM 

______ 

Text: Barry Render, Ralph M Stair, and Michael Hanna, Quantitative Analysis for Management, 

10 th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2009. 


This course is intended to help managers deal with issues in modern operations planning by 

exposing them to the analytical and practical approaches that are finding increased emphasis in a 

primarily service-dominated industry. Topics to be examined include demand management and 

forecasting, capacity and staff planning, workforce scheduling, distribution and inventory 

management, and quality management. Emphasis will be placed on assessing the proper use and 

fit of these applications in actual systems in an organizational environment. 

Course Learning Goals 


following: 

1. Describe the trade-off curves for the cost of waiting time and cost of service, understand the 

three parts of a queuing system: the calling population, the queue itself, and the service 

facility; describe the basic queuing system configurations, understand the assumptions of the 

common waiting line models, analyze a variety of operating characteristics of waiting lines, 

and design and manage service processes that focus on customer waiting and service 

delivery costs. 

2. Understand the importance of inventory control and ABC analysis; use the economic order 

quantity to determine how much to order; compute the reorder point in determining when to 

order more inventory; handle inventory problems to allow back orders, quantity discounts or 

non-instantaneous receipt; understand the use of safety stock; discuss enterprise resource 

planning systems; and design and manage inventory policies that balance the costs of 

availability and inventory holding costs. 

3. Understand and know when to use various families of forecasting models, analyze and 

compare the quantitative forecasting models, and design and implement forecasting systems 

for retail environments. 

4. Model a wide variety of medium to large Linear Programming (LP) problems, understand 

major LP application areas, including marketing, production, labor scheduling, fuel 

blending, transportation, and finance; and plan workforces and manage service capacity to 

meet customer demand for services.

5. Structure LP problems for the transportation and transshipment models, solve facility 

location and other application problems with transportation models, and design distribution 

systems to minimize logistics costs. 

6. Define the quality of a product or service, develop four types of control charts: x-bar, R, p, 

and c; understand the basic theoretical underpinnings of statistical quality control including 

the central limit theorem, and design and manage quality assurance systems to satisfy 

customer expectations. 



learning goals in a significant manner: 

Communication: Students will be effective oral and written communicators as leadership and 

teamwork in business is dependent on developing shared meaning and commitment to action 

fostered through communication. 

Ethical Awareness: Students will be sensitive to ethical issues in business, understand the 

importance of behavior and their responsibilities as business people to uphold ethical principles 

in their dealings. 

Teamwork and Leadership: Students will develop skills that permit them to function 



Knowledge Integration: Students will have working knowledge off all functional areas in 



Intellectual Competence in a Field of Study: Students will have the opportunity to develop a 

specialized intellectual competence in at least one business discipline to support post degree 

employment aims. 

Quantitative Analysis: Students will effectively use quantitative techniques to describe and 


Schedule: 

Meet Date Topics 

1 - 3 Topic: Management of Demand in Waiting 

Reading Requirements 

Chapter 14 


• Waiting Line decision Problems 

• The Behavior in a Queue 

• Basic Structure of Waiting Line systems 

• Waiting Line Models 

• Performance Measurement of Waiting Line 

Models 

• Cost Analysis of Waiting Line Systems 

4 Student Presentations and Discussions on

• Case Study: Saveway Supermarkets 

• Case Study: Renaissance Clinic 

5-8 Topic: Inventory Management 

Chapter 6 


• Major Functions of Inventory 

• Inventory Costs 

• Independent versus Dependent Demand 

• Inventory Systems for Independent 

Demand Items: Fixed Order Quantity 

Systems & Fixed Order period Systems 

• Inventory Models for Fixed Order Quantity 

Systems: 

Model I: Basic Economic Order Quantity 

(EOQ) Model II: EOQ with Back Orders 

Model III: EOQ with Gradual Deliveries 

(Productions) 

Model IV: EOQ with Quantity Discounts 

• Order Point and Safety Stock determined 

by a desired service level 

• Order Point and Safety Stock based on 

minimum total cost criterion 

• Single Period Inventory Problems 

• Inventory Models for Fixed Order Period 

Systems 

• Depend Demand Inventory Systems 

• ABC Classification of Materials 

9 Student Presentations and Discussions on 

10 1st Examination 

• Case Study: Professional Video 

Management 

• Case Study: TexMex Foods 

11 - 

13 

Topics covered: Management of Demand in 

Waiting & Inventory Management 

Topic: Forecasting 


Chapter 5

• Types of Forecasting models 

• Components of Demand 

• Time Series Forecasting (Simple moving 

Average, Weighted Moving Average, 

Exponential smoothing, Regression) 

• Regression (Simple Regression, Seasonal 

Index, Multiple Regression) 


• Case Study: Kwik Lube 

• Case Study: Aquatrix Corporation 

15- 

18 

Topic: Capacity Planning and Workforce 

Scheduling 


• Linear Programming (LP) Problems 

• Properties of LPs 

• Guidelines for Model Formulation 

• LP Solutions 

• Slack and Surplus Variables 

• Sunk Cost and Relevant Cost 

• Sensitivity Analysis 

• Range of Optimality and 100% Rule 

• Shadow Price 

• Dual Price 

• Range of Feasibility and 100% Rule 

• Reduced Cost 

• Capacity Planning Examples 

• Labor Planning Examples 

Chapters 7, 8, 9 


20 2nd Examination 

• Case Study: Red Brand Canners 

• Case Study: Chase Manhattan Bank 

21- 

23 

Topics covered: Forecasting & Capacity Planning 

and Workforce Scheduling 

Topic: Distribution Planning Chapters 10


• Transportation Simplex Method 

• Transportation Model - Maximization 

Problem 

• Transshipment Problems 


• Case Study: Andrew-Carter, Inc. 

• Case Study: Custom Vans, Inc. 

25- 

27 

Topic: Quality Management 


• Definitions of Quality 

• Why is Quality Important? 

• Total Quality Control 

• The Role of Inspection in Quality Control 

• Inspection of Attributes versus Variables 

• Acceptance Sampling and Process Control 

• Control Charts for Variables 

• CONTROL Charts for Attributes 

• Single Sampling Plan 

• Double Sampling Plan 

• Sequential Sampling Plan 

• Operating Characteristic Curve 

• Acceptance Sampling by Attributes 

• Acceptance Sampling by Variables 

• Average Outgoing Quality 

Chapter 17 


• Case Study: Hydrolock, Inc. 

• Case Study: Bayfield Mud Company 

3rd Examination 

Grading 

Class Participation 10% 

Homework Assignments / Presentations 30%

Examination #1 20% 



Course Policy 

1. No make-up exams except bona-fide documented emergencies. 

2. This is a short and intensive course and it is absolutely necessary to avoid absences. If 

any absence is unavoidable, you are responsible for making up any work you miss due to 

the absence, and you must be sure to obtain full class notes from a classmate. A second 

absence will need a valid written excuse. More absences will result in a grade penalty. 





Academic dishonesty is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Cheating, forgery, plagiarism 

and collusion in dishonest acts undermine the college’s educational mission and the students' 

personal and intellectual growth. Baruch students are expected to bear individual 

responsibility for their work, to learn the rules and definitions that underlie the practice of 

academic integrity, and to uphold its ideals. Ignorance of the rules is not an acceptable excuse 

for disobeying them. Any student who attempts to compromise or devalue the academic 

process will be sanctioned. 



• Copying another person’s actual words without the use of quotation marks and footnotes. 

• Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledging 

them. 

• Using information that is not considered common knowledge without acknowledging the 

source. 











PART A: Routine Academic Matters, Section AIV: Changes in Course Number, Title, Description, Credits, Hours, Co- or 

Pre-requisites 

AIV.10.1 

Change in Prerequisite 

FROM/TO: MGT 9740 Sustainability in Supply Chains and Operations 

The purpose of this course is to provide an understanding of environmental and social sustainability issues in managing global and 

domestic supply chains. It will introduce the students – through a series of case studies, projects, and guest lectures from industry 

leaders – to the most important concepts of sustainability within the end-to-end supply chain. Students will investigate building an 

operations strategy for sustainability, the economic value of sustainable operations, sustainable product 

design/packaging/manufacturing, managing a sustainable supply chain, social responsibility in the supply chain, building a “green” 

information technologies infrastructure to support operations, green logistics and reverse logistics, and modern standards for 

measuring and certifying sustainable operations. 3 hours, 3 credits. Prerequisite: MGT 9700 or MGT 9702. 

EXPLANATION: In conformance with the newly created MGT 9702 and 9704 courses to replace MGT 9700, the prerequisite is 

changed to MGT 9700 or MGT 9702 only. 


SYLLABUS 

Course Information 

MGT 9740 Sustainability in Supply Chains and Operations 

Instructor: Attilio Bellman, PhD 

Department: Management 

Office: 2-240 Vertical Campus 

Course Description 

This purpose of this course is to provide an understanding of environmental social sustainability 

issues in managing global supply chains. It will introduce the students—through a series of case 

studies, projects, and guest lectures from industry leaders—to the most important concepts of 

sustainability within the end-to-end supply chain. Students will investigate building an 

operations strategy for sustainability, the economic value of sustainable operations, sustainable 

product design and manufacturing, managing a sustainable supply chain, social responsibility in 

the supply chain, building a “green” information technologies infrastructure to support 

operations, reverse logistics, and modern standards for measuring and certifying sustainable 

operations. 

Learning Objectives 

After completing this course, the student will be able: 

• Define “sustainability” in operations and supply chain management and discuss the 

different ways sustainability may influence operations. 

• Identify and develop business models that take sustainability into account in delivering 

services as well as developing and producing products. 

• Analyze examples of global sustainable business practices and discuss the benefits and 

challenges of practices in terms of operations effectiveness and customer requirements. 

• Use tools that bring objectivity to the measurement, comparison and verification of 

sustainable operations. 

 

MBA Learning Goals Addressed in This Course 

 

• Teamwork and Leadership: Case analyses and presentations are group based.

Leadership is a common theme in most case studies, especially regarding sustainability 

ethics and decision-making. 

• Ethical Awareness: Major themes about ethics permeate the course and the case studies 

in particular (see summary of cases below). These fall into two broad categories: (i) the 

tradeoffs in sustaining the environment vs. sustaining profits (and/or minimizing 

operational costs) and (ii) social responsibility issues in global supply chains. 

• Communication: Students will make case presentations and participate actively in case 

discussions. 

• Knowledge Integration: Integration will come directly from case-based teaching. 

Examples include sustainable service, product and process design; managing a 

sustainable supply chain, building a “green IT” infrastructure; bringing sustainability to 

customers. 

• Global Awareness: More than half the case studies investigate issues in global supply 

chains (e.g., social issues, cultural differences, regional and international regulations, 

managing sustainability and bringing sustainability to customers). 

• Quantitative analysis: Due to the need to measure, certify and optimize for 

sustainability, quantitative reasoning skills will be used throughout the course. 

 

 

Course Schedule and Outline 

Unit I 

Class 1 

Introduction: Issues in Sustainable Supply Chains 

Conceptual foundations: Define sustainability; Describe sustainability in 

operations and supply chains; Overview of issues and trends in sustainable 

operations and sustainable supply chain. What are sustainable operations? How 

does a sustainable supply chain function? How can companies make their supply 

chain sustainable? Why is sustainability important to companies and consumers? 

Analytical toolbox: Tools to measure and analyze sustainability initiatives, costs, 

risks, and outcomes. Revenue and cost capturing metrics, total cost computation, 

quantifying qualitative benefits, Carbon footprinting, break-even analysis for 

sustainable projects. 

Legal framework: Laws and regulations at home and in key countries (BRIC, 

Europe). Government appraisal systems and degree of implementation on the 

ground. 

Ethics and sustainability: Ethical dilemmas and how companies have responded 

to high cost, low revenue, non-mandatory situations. 

Quantifiable 

Benefits 

Cost of Sustainability 

High Low 

High Acceptable Desirable 

Low Dilemma No harm

Class 2 

Unit II 

Social responsibility in supply chains. Case discussion: “IKEA’s Global 

Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor,” by C.A. Bartlett, V. 

Dessain, A. Sjoman, Harvard Case 9-906-414, 14-Nov-2006. 

Building an Operations Strategy for Sustainability: How do companies define 

what sustainability means to them and how sustainability in operations influences 

their bottom line? Should companies determine how to incorporate sustainability 

into their services and product strategy and how they can leverage sustainability 

as a competitive advantage? 

Class 3 Case Discussion: “Wal-Mart's Sustainability Strategy,” by L. Denand and E. 

Plambeck, Stanford Case OIT-71, 30-Sept-2009. What percent of environmental 

improvement opportunities are within Wal-Mart’s supply chain? How are 

suppliers addressing these opportunities? How is Wal-Mart is opening up to 

environmental nonprofits and reducing impacts profitably? What are Wal-Mart’s 

sustainable value networks and what’s required for effective strategy? How are 

they measuring environmental performance and using the results with associates, 

suppliers, customers, policy makers and the public? How is Wal-Mart trying to 

bring sustainability into supply logistics? 

“The Wal-Mart Supplier Sustainability Assessment” (based on Wal-Mart 

public documents and presentations). How is Wal-Mart working with their 

suppliers to increase energy/fuel efficiency and utilize renewable energy sources 

in their operations and throughout the supply chain? How is Wal-Mart planning 

to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and yet improve its bottom line? 

Class 4 

Carbon Disclosure Project Supply Chain: In many sectors such as retail, 

information technology and fast-moving consumer goods, supply chain emissions 

from activities such as processing, packaging and transportation often exceed 

those arising from an individual company’s own operations. The Carbon 

Disclosure Project extends awareness of an organization’s carbon footprint, 

moving beyond the measurement of direct greenhouse gas emissions to include 

climate change risks and opportunities across the supply chain. 

Class 5 

Case Discussion: “Sustainability and Competitive Advantage” by M. Berns et 

al., Sloan Management Review, Fall 2009, 51(1), pp. 19-26. “Forget how 

business is affecting sustainability ... how is sustainability affecting business? The 

first annual Business of Sustainability Survey and interview project has answers.” 

Class 6 Case Discussion: “Scandinavian Airlines: The Green Engine Decision” by J. 

Lynes, Ivey Case 909M28, 11-June-2009. “Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) is an 

innovator of strategic environmental management ... This case study is part of a 

larger study that was conducted between 2002 and 2005 on the motivations for 

environmental commitment at SAS. This green engine case study looks at the 

airline’s determination to invest in the best available environmental technology 

for its new fleet of aircraft.” 

Class 7 

Case Discussion: “GE's Imagination Breakthroughs: The Evo Project” by 

C.A. Bartlett, B.J. Hall, and N.S. Bennett, Harvard Case 9-907-048, 30-June-

2008. Executives must decide what to recommend to GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt 

regarding an innovative hybrid diesel-electric locomotive development program 

(“Evo”) that experiences continual battery cost/performance problems and lack 

of commercial viability. One executive “argues that it represents an important 

and disruptive [green] technology that could change the competitive game going 

forward.” 

Class 8 

Class 9 

Unit III 

Case Discussion: “Toyota Motor Corp.: Launching Prius” by F.L. Reinhardt, 

D.A. Yao, and M. Egawa, Harvard Case 9-706-458, 7-Dec-2006. “Although 

students will know that Toyota decided to launch the Prius and that the car is now 

regarded as a success, it was far from clear at the time … exactly how the product 

ought to be launched, and very few students will know the circumstances of the 

product introduction (positioning, volume, and price) on which the success of the 

introduction depended.” 

Guest Speaker: Sustainability Strategy at Company NNNNNN 

Sustainable Service, Product and Process Design: We will review how firms 

describe and distinguish product, service and process designs and then show how 

sustainability can start with the design of a product or a service and continue with 

how a product is manufactured or a service is delivered. 

Class 10 Case Discussion: “Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China” by M. 

Shao and G. Carroll, Stanford Case SI-110, 16-Jan-2009. Maria Yee Inc. 

struggles with cost competiveness, logistics, developing a reliable green supply 

chain, and getting consumers to appreciate/value the ecological benefits of their 

furniture. 

Class 11 

Class 12 

Case Discussion: “Cradle-to-Cradle [C2C] Design at Herman Miller: Moving 

Toward Environmental Sustainability” by D. Lee and L. Bony, Harvard Case 

9-607-003, 16-Dec-2009. How can Herman Miller capture first-mover advantage 

from a strategic environmental initiative through operational excellence? What is 

required to get suppliers to comply with the C2C protocol? Should Herman 

Miller share know-how to accelerate adoption of environmentally beneficial 

practices by competitors? 

Case Discussion: “Lean and Green: The Move to Environmentally Conscious 

Manufacturing” by R. Florida, California Management Review, Fall 1996, 

39(1), pp. 80-105. “This article examines the relationship between advanced 

production practices and innovative approaches to environmentally conscious 

manufacturing. It argues that adoption of manufacturing process innovations 

creates incentives for adoption of environmentally conscious manufacturing 

strategies.” 

Class 13 Case Discussion: “Plantar S.A. (Brazil): The Value of Carbon Assets” by J. 

Zerio and M.A. Conejero, Thunderbird Case TB0011, 28-Aug-2009. “[W]hat was 

the true value of a ton of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere? How 

would market prices be set? Who would be the major players in the international 

market place? Given the … time frame of the project—28 years—what would be 

the appropriate Internal Rate of Return? … What would be the real ecological 

impact of the project? What methodologies would need to be followed?”

Unit IV 

Class 14 

Class 15 

Class 16 

Class 17 

Class 18 

Class 19 

Class 20 

Managing a Sustainable Supply Chain: Once a firm considers how 

sustainability should be embedded into its operations and supply chain strategy, 

such strategy must be executed. We will analyze how some companies deploy 

operations in a sustainable way. 

Lecture – Introduction of Final Project Research Topics and Team Assignments 

Case Discussion: “McDonald's Corp.: Managing a Sustainable Supply Chain” 

by R.A. Goldberg and J.D. Yagan, Harvard Case 9-907-414, 16-Apr-2007. 

“McDonald’s Europe was targeted by Greenpeace in a public campaign against 

Amazon deforestation caused by soya farming. … McDonald’s worked with 

Greenpeace, Cargill, and the Brazilian soya industry to find a solution… [and] 

was charged with developing the ‘strategies and tools’ necessary to build on the 

Brazilian soya success and move closer to the vision of a sustainable supply 

chain.” 

Case Discussion: “Starbucks Corporation: Building a Sustainable Supply 

Chain” by S. Duda et al., Stanford Case GS-54, May 2007. “If Starbucks was 

able to overcome the implementation issues that it faced, C.A.F.E. Practices 

could go a long way towards improving the sustainability of its coffee supply 

chain while at the same time improving Starbucks’ image as a socially 

responsible corporation.” 

Case Discussion: “Green Rubber: The Revolution of the Rubber Recycling 

Business” by C.H.L. Woo, Asia Case Research Center, Univ. of Hong Kong, 

Case HKU835, 2009. The CEO “envisages Green Rubber becoming a global 

trademark for most rubber-based products, the way ‘Intel Inside’ has for 

computers. … [T]he company’s biggest challenge will be to convince consumers 

and rubber-product manufacturers of the importance of recycling and that 

recycled products are as good as virgin rubber. … How can GRG achieve 

sustainability in the long run with its environmentally conscious and 

commercially driven innovation?” 

**Mid-term exam** - New Service Design Exercise. 

Case Discussion: “The European Recycling Platform: Promoting Competition 

in E-Waste Recycling” by M. Shao and H. Lee, Stanford Case GS-67, 28-Aug- 

2009. 

OR 

“From Garbage to Goods: Successful Remanufacturing Systems and Skills” 

by G. Ferrer and D.C. Whybark, Business Horizons, Nov-Dec 2000, pp. 55-64. 

Guest Speaker: RecycleBank 

“At RecycleBank, we are defining and building the 21 st -century economy. It is a 

place where communities, companies and individuals are financially rewarded 

for positive green actions that create economic efficiencies. We started in 2005 by 

financially rewarding households for the amount that they recycle, because 

recycling enabled us to the connect with every home in every neighborhood. We 

are now expanding our service to financially reward people for additional green 

actions that include using solar and wind power, using water efficiently, riding

public transportation, and buying products that are manufactured from recycled 

content.” 

Unit V 

Building a “Green IT” Infrastructure: The IT infrastructure is a consideration 

in supporting data to manage a company’s operations and supply chain. Managing 

IT in a sustainable way can play a role in a company’s sustainability strategy. 

Class 21 Case Discussion: “Green IT Matters at Wipro Ltd.” by R. Chandrasekhar and I. 

Bose, Asia Case Research Center, Univ. of Hong Kong, Case HKU875, 2009. 

“The case provides an opportunity … to examine three issues related to Wipro’s 

Green IT strategy: Green IT strategy formulation, Green IT strategy execution 

and Green IT strategy evaluation.” 

Class 22 

Class 23 

Unit VI 

Class 24 

Class 25 

Unit VII 

Class 26 

Class 27 

Class 28 

Case Discussion: “The Real Green IT Machine” by B. Allen, Darden Case 

UV1338, 20-Mar-2009. A short case that uses quantitative analysis to support 

economic decision-making regarding the design of a bank’s next “green” data 

center. 

Guest Speaker: Green IT 

Bringing Sustainability to Customers: What value do consumers place on 

purchasing products that were designed, manufactured and distributed in a 

sustainable way? What is government’s role in providing incentives for such 

distribution systems? 

Case Discussion: “From Plague to Paradigm: Designing Sustainable Retail 

Environments” by S. Bishop and Dana Cho, Rotman Magazine, Spring 2008, pp. 

56-61. “Considering a shopper’s context is the key to understanding their 

motivations and making green products and services relevant to them.” 

Case Discussion: “Toyota: Driving the Mainstream Market to Purchase 

Hybrid” by J. Saperstein and J. Nelson, Ivey Case 904A03, 3-Feb-2004. “As 

Toyota’s focus on hybrid-electric technology is evolving from one product to the 

full line of vehicles, the company’s challenge is to develop consumer attitude and 

purchase intent, from an early adopter, niche market model into universal 

mainstream acceptance.” 

Oral Presentations and Final Projects 

Begin oral presentations of final projects 

Oral presentations of final projects 

Finish oral presentations of final projects 

 

Course Expectations

Assignments: If you are not in class when an assignment is scheduled to be handed in, you must 

email the assignment to me prior to the relevant class period. If you miss a class, you are 

required to get notes and other relevant information discussed during class from one of your 

classmates. If you have any questions after you review the notes, you should schedule a time to 

meet with me. 

1. Readings: Students must read the assigned portions of the text as well as any additional 

readings posted on Blackboard or provided in a course packet. From time to time, I may 

provide you with additional readings or give you in class quizzes or exercises on the 

readings. 

2. Homework Assignments: In addition to the assigned readings which are essential for 

classroom discussion, you will turn in three (3) case analysis papers. I will provide a 

hand-out with the questions to be addressed in your analysis. 

3. Mid-Term Exam: As a general rule, there will not be any make-up exams given for the 

mid-term exams. Mid-term exams will be given in class and are closed book exams. 

(Exceptions for serious illness with advance notice to the professor prior to the time of 

exam administration and written doctor notes will be considered.) The mid-term exam for 

this class will be an in-class team analysis which may include mini-cases where you will 

need to apply the theories that you have learned in the readings to a hypothetical business 

case. 

4. Final Project: There will be a written final research project, which has an individual and 

team component. You will also make an oral presentation on your paper in class with 

your team member(s). I will provide more detail for this project and a list of suggested 

topics. There will be interim deadlines for this final project to ensure your steady 

progress over the semester. 

Use of Blackboard: Additional material, including specific readings, handouts, problems, or 

exercises will be posted on Blackboard throughout the semester. It is your responsibility to 

access Blackboard to retrieve these materials. If you do not have computer and Internet access 

that allows you to reach Blackboard, please speak to me so that we can arrange for you to get 

course materials. 

Use of Other Technology: Thou shalt be innovative in using technology in your education. 

Thou shalt not tweet, mail, call, text, digit, live feed, surf, read, or indulge in any other 

multimedia communication during class time, unless and only when it is relevant to class 

material and content. All e-mail communication from the professor to the students will be sent to 

the student’s official Baruch e-mail account. 

Grading: Your final grade for this course will be computed as follows: 

Class Contribution 25% 

Homework: (N short papers) 20% 

Mid-Term Exam:(essays/mini-cases) 20%

Final Research Project:(oral and written reports) 35% 

It is of fundamental importance that the students come too class very well prepared on the case 

study to be discussed. Students must read the 

case study and come to 

class ready 

for an in-depth 

discussion of the case 

study. Class contribution accountss for 25% of f the final grade. Each student 

will be directly involved in case discussions. 

Students should read 

the Zicklin School of Business Written and Oral Communication 

Assessment Criteria, located in the Syllabus section of this course’s Blackboard site. Students are 

additionally expected 

to adhere to writing standards described in The 

Little, Brown Writing 

Handbook, (10 th edition) by Fowler and Aaron. 

Materials: 

1. Case Book (required): Paper copies of all case studies that require a royalty is available 

for purchase from University Readers, San Diego, CA. Orderr online at 

www.univers 

sityreaders.com/students 

by following these steps: 

Delivery is 1 to 4 business days. Cost is approx. $70. 

2. Additional Readings (required): Items from above reading list that do not require a 

royalty (e.g., articles, corporate documents) will be available for download from the 

Baruch Newman Library’s electronicc reserve system. See the 

course Blackboard site 

for 

details.

3. Other Resources (optional): The professor will post on Blackboard a list of additional 

books, articles, and videos which may be of interest to you, or may serve as a resource for 

your final project. 

Recording Policy: There is no audio/video recording of class sessions without prior approval by 

the instructor. 

Class Contribution: One-fourth of your overall grade is based on your class contribution. In a 

case-based instructional environment, an important way that you learn is through discussions 

with each other. To promote this, at the end of each class your contribution will be assessed on a 

scale from 0 to 4, based on the following: 

4 = Student added value to the lesson. Contributions indicate not only strong preparation 

for class, but comments were also added significant value to discussions. 

3 = Student contributed in class, and contributions either added value or indicated 

preparation by the student, but not necessarily both. 

2 = Student contributed to class, but contributions failed to show preparation or failed to 

add value. 

1 = Student attended class, but did not speak; no basis to know if student was prepared. 

0 = Student absent from class. 

Academic Integrity: Students are expected to know and adhere to the Baruch College 

Academic Honesty Policy, found at 

http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_honesty.html. It states, inter alia, that 

Academic dishonesty is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Cheating, forgery, 

plagiarism and collusion in dishonest acts undermine the college's educational mission 

and the students' personal and intellectual growth. Baruch students are expected to bear 

individual responsibility for their work, to learn the rules and definitions that underlie the 

practice of academic integrity, and to uphold its ideals. Ignorance of the rules is not an 

acceptable excuse for disobeying them. Any student who attempts to compromise or 

devalue the academic process will be sanctioned. 

I fully support Baruch College’s policy on Academic Honesty. Academic sanctions in this class 

will range from an F on the assignment to an F in the course. A report of suspected academic 

dishonesty will be sent to the Office of the Dean of Students.


RECOMMENDATION TO ZICKLIN GRADUATE CURRICULUM COMMITTEE 

Department of Management, May 11, 2011 

Part A: Academic Matters, Section AI: Changes in a Degree Program 

AI.10.1 MBA in Operations Management (Concentration in Operations Management) (HEGIS CODE: 0506.00, 

PROGRAM CODE: 01922 ): Changes in courses in concentration 

FROM: Courses in Major (12 credits) 

Required: Credits 

MGT 9500 Management Science 3 

MGT 9710 Quantitative Analysis for Service Management 3 

MGT 9720 Service Management Strategies 3 

Choose one course from: 

MGT 9560 Management Information Systems 3 

MGT 9730 Project Management: Strategic Design and Implementation 3 

MGT 9740 Sustainability in Supply Chains and Operations 3 

TO: Courses in Major (15 Credits) 

Flexible Core Courses Required for Management (Concentration in Operations Management) Majors 

ACC 9125 Managerial Accounting a 1.5 

MGT 9704 Service Operations Management II b 1.5 

Note: ACC 9125 and MGT 9704 will apply towards the maximum 18 credits that a student can take in their 

MBA major. 

continued


AI.10.1 MBA in Operations Management (Concentration in Operations Management) (HEGIS CODE: 0506.00, 

PROGRAM CODE: 01922 ): Changes in courses in concentration 

Required: Credits 

MGT 9500 Management Science 3 

MGT 9710 Quantitative Analysis for Service Management 3 

MGT 9720 Service Management Strategies 3 

Choose one course from: 

MGT 9560 Management Information Systems 3 

MGT 9730 Project Management: Strategic Design and Implementation 3 

MGT 9740 Sustainability in Supply Chains and Operations 3 

OPR 9730 Simulation Modeling and Analysis 3 

EXPLANATION: 

a Managerial ACCT 9125 provides the toolset for analyzing fixed and variable costs, product costs, investment decisions, and 

budgetary planning. In addition, coverage of variance analysis, transfer pricing and activity-based costing is indispensible for making 

operating decisions in any business environment and this body knowledge cannot be provided in OM courses that constitute the major. 

b MGT 9704 provides the essential foundation for making decisions that are based on tools and techniques that facilitate productivity 

improvement and operational efficiency. In addition, this requirement establishes a 3-credit basis upon which the major will be built, 

consistent with all other MBA concentrations in the ZSB. 

c OPR 9730 provides a valuable tool set in simulation modeling that is relevant and useful in analyzing current operational business 

processes and evaluating improvement alternatives. 

Approved by the Department of Management Curriculum Committee; May 11, 2011.



Department of Statistics and Computer Information Systems, April, 2011 

PART A: 


New course to be offered by the Department of Statistics and Computer Information Systems 

AII.10.1 

CIS 9001: Information Systems for Managers I 

This course focuses on examining the role of Information Systems (IS) in organizations. Relationship between information systems, 

competitive advantage, and organizational change are examined. The course focuses primarily on two components: (1) IS strategy, 

and (2) Information Technology (IT) infrastructure. The course emphasizes the role of alignment between an organization’s business 

and IS strategies. The course introduces basic components of IT infrastructure, highlighting the relationship between these 

components and IS strategy. Case studies are used to reinforce the importance of Information Systems in organizations. 1.5 hours, 1.5 

credits. Prerequisites: None. Not open to students who have completed CIS 9000. 

EXPLANATION: This course is offered as part of the recently revised Baruch MBA program core curriculum. It will be offered every 

semester and is expected to enroll 65 students per section. 

Approved by the Department of Statistics and Computer Information Systems on March 15, 2011. Syllabus attached.

Instructor: 

Department: CIS 

E-Mail: 

CIS 9001 – Information Systems for Managers I 

Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, CUNY 

Syllabus 

Office: Room 

Phone: 

1. Course Description 

This course focuses on examining the role of Information Systems (IS) in organizations. 

Relationship between information systems, competitive advantage, and organizational change are examined. 

The course focuses primarily on two components: (1) IS strategy, and (2) Information Technology (IT) 

infrastructure. The course emphasizes the role of alignment between an organization’s business and IS 

strategies. The course introduces basic components of IT infrastructure, highlighting the relationship between 

these components and IS strategy. Case studies are used to reinforce the importance of Information Systems 

in organizations. 

2. Learning Goals and Objectives 

o Oral communication 

• Students will be able to articulate orally the role and importance of information technology in 

business 

o Written communication 

• Students will be able to prepare written reports that analyze the role and importance of 

information technology in business 

o 

Information literacy 

• Students will be able to draw from appropriate sources that are relevant to examining 

Information Technology’s role in business and use the information drawn from such sources 

suitably in developing their analyses. 

o Technology literacy 2 

• Students will be able to articulate the capabilities and limitations of information technology 

• Students will be able to analyze the relationship between IT and business strategy 

• Students will be able to articulate the managerial challenges in and solutions for implementing 

and using IT systems 

o 

o 

o 

o 

Ethical awareness 

• Students will be able to analyze the role of ethics in deploying IT systems 

Global awareness 

• Students will be able to articulate the global role of Information Technology in shaping 

businesses 

Knowledge integration 

• Students will be able to integrate several business disciplines and theories in analyzing the 

impact of IT on business 

Teamwork and leadership 

• Students will develop experience in working in teams and in using the opportunity provided in 

taking leadership roles

3. Course Material/Readings 

Required Textbooks: 

• Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology—Version 1.1, by John 

Gallaugher, Jul 2010, ISBN 13: 978-0-9823618-1-8, ISBN 13 Color: 978-1-936126-21-7. 

• Adventures of an IT Leader, by Robert D. Austin, Richard L. Nolan, and Shannon O'Donnell, 

Harvard Business Press (April 21, 2009), ISBN-10: 142214660X, ISBN-13: 978-1422146606. 

Cases: Cases that are needed for this course are identified on the schedule page. 

4. Grading 

Mid-term exam 30% 

Final exam 30% 

Case write-ups 15% 

Project report 15% 

Class participation 10% 

5. Course Website 

All course material, including the syllabus, schedule, assignment instructions, announcements, will 

be posted on blackboard. You are expected to check the course website on blackboard at least twice a week. 

6. Case analyses 

• Case analyses should be completed in teams of 4-5 students each. 

• Each group will prepare written analyses for two cases. 

• Cases will be assigned to student teams by the instructor. 

• Each team member is required to contribute his/her fair share of work for each deliverable that 

requires teamwork. The instructor reserves the right to ask for percentage of work contribution 

by each team member for all deliverables. 

• Please refer to detailed instructions provided on blackboard for preparing case write-ups. 

• Each student should come to class prepared to analyze and discuss the case (the schedule page 

identifies when cases are scheduled to be discussed). 

7. Project 

The course project should be completed in teams of 4-5 students each. These are usually the same 

teams that are created for case analyses. The project involves preparing a report on a topic relevant to the 

course. Refer to blackboard for detailed instructions for the project. 

8. Class Participation 

Students will be expected to develop compelling ideas and articulate them well in the classroom. Your 

class participation grade will depend on the substantive contributions and insights you bring to the 

discussion. Assigned readings should be read before each class session so that you are well prepared to 

discuss relevant issues and questions. 

Class participation is especially critical during case discussions. You will be expected to thoroughly 

prepare for and actively participate in each case discussion. I will randomly call on students to discuss and 

answer questions about the case.

9. Academic Integrity Statement 

The CIS Department fully supports Baruch College's policy on Academic Honesty, which states, in 

part: "Academic dishonesty is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Cheating, forgery, plagiarism, and 

collusion in dishonest acts undermine the college's educational mission and the students' personal and 

intellectual growth. Baruch students are expected to bear individual responsibility for their work and to 

uphold the ideal of academic integrity. Any student who attempts to compromise or devalue the academic 

process will be sanctioned." Additional information can be found at 

http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_honesty.html. Deliverables that are required to be 

completed individually should not involve collaboration with other students. Deliverables that are required 

to be completed in a team should not involve collaboration across teams. Unauthorized collaborative work 

will result in appropriate disciplinary action. Academic sanctions in this class will range from a grade of F on 

the assignment to a grade of F in the course. A report of suspected academic dishonesty will be sent to the 

Office of the Dean of Students. 

10. Course Coordinator 

Prof. Michael Palley 

E-mail: mpalley@baruch.cuny.edu 

Phone: 646.312.3362 

Office: B11-229 

Please note that this syllabus is subject to change.

Class Outline 

Week Topics Sub-topics Readings 

IS Strategy 

1. Introduction 

to IS 

• What is IS? 

• IT Interaction model 

2. IS Strategy • Alignment with business strategy 

• IT-enabled value chain 

• Porter’s five forces model and IT 

• Resource-based view and IT 

3. IS Strategy • Virtual integration 

• Supply chain management, JIT 

• Commoditization of IT 

• IT-enabled innovations 

• Syllabus 

• G-1 

• “The IT Interaction Model: An Overview”, by Silver, Markus & 

Beath 

• G-1 

4. CASE: Zara • Supply chain management • G-2 

5. IS Strategy • Cost and value of IT 

• IT asset classes 

• Organizational ambidexterity and IT 

6. CASE: 

Netflix 

• Supply chain management 

• Managing customer relationship 

• Long tail 

• G-2 

• “The Power of Virtual Integration: An Interview with Dell 

Computer’s Michael Dell” by Joan Magretta, Harvard Business 

Review 

• “IT Doesn’t Matter”, by Carr, HBS 

• G-3 

• A-4, 5, 8 

• “Generating Premium Return on Your IT Investments”, Weill and 

Aral, MIT Sloan Management Review 

• “The Ambidextrous Organization”, by O’Reilly and Tushman, 

Harvard Business Review 

G-4

Week Topics Sub-topics Readings 

Information Technology Management 

7. IT Infrastructure • Hardware 

• Moore’s law 

• Technology for the bottom of the pyramid 

• Emerging technologies 

8. Midterm exam 

9. IT Infrastructure • Software 

• Cloud computing 

• Open source software 

10. IT Infrastructure • Evolution of IT 

11. IT Infrastructure • Networking 

• Internet architecture 

• Mobile computing 

12. IT Infrastructure • IT project risks 

• Build vs. buy vs. rent 

• Systems development process 

13. CASE: Jharna Software – 

The move to agile methods 

• Agile vs. traditional development 

G-5 

G-9 

G-10 

G-12 

A 6, 7, 14 

“The one minute risk assessment tool” by Tiwana and 

Keil, Communications of the ACM 

“Myths and paradoxes in Japanese IT offshoring” by 

Tiwana et al., Communications of the ACM 

HBS 

14. IT Infrastructure • Database management G-11 

Final Exam




PART A: 



AII.10.1 

CIS 9002: Information Systems for Managers II—Managing and Harnessing Technology 

This course examines how organizations can leverage information technologies to create business value. The course is relevant to all 

business majors. With a central focus on Information Systems (IS) strategy, the course examines how organizations can harness 

innovation and emerging technologies to support business goals. Case studies are used to emphasize practical applications. This is the 

second of a sequence of two courses that introduce students to Information Systems strategy. 1.5 hours, 1.5 credits. Prerequisite: 

CIS9001. Not open to students who have completed CIS 9000. 

EXPLANATION: This course is offered as part of the “flexible core” offerings in the recently revised Baruch MBA program core 

curriculum. It will be offered every semester and is expected to enroll 65 students per section. 

Approved by the Department of Statistics and Computer Information Systems on March 15, 2011. Syllabus attached.

CIS 9002--Information Systems for Managers II: Managing and Harnessing Technology 


Syllabus 

Instructor: 

Department: CIS 

E-Mail: 

Office: Room 

Phone: 

1. Course Description 

This course examines how organizations can leverage information technologies to create business value. The 

course is relevant to all business majors. With a central focus on Information Systems (IS) strategy, the 

course examines how organizations can harness innovation and emerging technologies to support business 

goals. Case studies are used to emphasize practical applications. This is the second of a sequence of two 

courses that introduce students to Information Systems strategy. 

2. Learning Goals and Objectives 

- Information and Technology Literacy: 

• Students will be able to analyze the impact of current developments in information technologies 

on business strategy 

• Students will be able to articulate the managerial challenges involved in providing IT services in 

organizations 

- Global Awareness: 

• Students will be able to evaluate the opportunities presented by IT for businesses to compete on a 

global scale 

- Communication: 

• Students will be able to illustrate their arguments in written reports and oral presentations by 

analyzing business case studies related to Information Systems in organizations 

- Ethical Awareness: 

• Students will assess ethical considerations regarding the use of IT in organizations on issues such 

as privacy, data security, and technology-based competitive tactics. 

3. Course Material/Readings 


• Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology—Version 1.1, by John 

Gallaugher, Jul 2010, ISBN 13: 978-0-9823618-1-8, ISBN 13 Color: 978-1-936126-21-7. 

• Adventures of an IT Leader, by Robert D. Austin, Richard L. Nolan, and Shannon O'Donnell, 

Harvard Business Press (April 21, 2009), ISBN-10: 142214660X, ISBN-13: 978-1422146606. 

Cases: Cases that are needed for this course are identified on the schedule page. 

4. Grading 

Mid-term exam 30% 

Final exam 30% 

Case write-ups 15% 

Project report 15% 

Class participation 10% 

5.Course Website 

All course material, including the syllabus, schedule, assignment instructions, announcements, will 

be posted on blackboard. You are expected to check the course website on blackboard at least twice a week.

6. Case analyses 

• Case analyses should be completed in teams of 4-5 students each. 

• Each group will prepare written analyses for two cases. 

• Cases will be assigned to student teams by the instructor. 

• Each team member is required to contribute his/her fair share of work for each deliverable that 

requires teamwork. The instructor reserves the right to ask for percentage of work contribution 

by each team member for all deliverables. 

• Please refer to detailed instructions provided on blackboard for preparing case write-ups. 

• Each student should come to class prepared to analyze and discuss the case (the schedule page 

identifies when cases are scheduled to be discussed). 

7.Project 

The course project should be completed in teams of 4-5 students each. These are usually the same 

teams that are created for case analyses. The project involves preparing a report on a topic relevant to the 

course and making a presentation. Refer to blackboard for detailed instructions for the project. 

8.Class Participation 

Students will be expected to develop compelling ideas and articulate them well in the classroom. Your 

class participation grade will depend on the substantive contributions and insights you bring to the 

discussion. Assigned readings should be read before each class session so that you are well prepared to 

discuss relevant issues and questions. 

Class participation is especially critical during case discussions. You will be expected to thoroughly 

prepare for and actively participate in each case discussion. I will randomly call on students to discuss and 

answer questions about the case. 

9.Academic Integrity Statement 

The CIS Department fully supports Baruch College's policy on Academic Honesty, which states, in 

part: "Academic dishonesty is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Cheating, forgery, plagiarism, and 

collusion in dishonest acts undermine the college's educational mission and the students' personal and 

intellectual growth. Baruch students are expected to bear individual responsibility for their work and to 

uphold the ideal of academic integrity. Any student who attempts to compromise or devalue the academic 

process will be sanctioned." Additional information can be found at 






Office of the Dean of Students. 

10.Course Coordinator 

Prof. Michael Palley 

E-mail: mpalley@baruch.cuny.edu 

Phone: 646.312.3362 

Office: B11-229 

Please note that this syllabus is subject to change.

Managing Emerging IS Issues and 

Technologies 

Managing Digital 

Platforms 

Week Sub-topics Readings 

1 Introduction Managing with Technology A-1, 2, 3 

2 Commoditization of Business Processes Standardization of Business Processes 

Pressures towards Commoditization 

When to Standardize (Taking Competitive Strategy into Account)? 

Case: Standardization and Innovation 

3 Introduction to Offshoring and 

Outsourcing 

4 Managing New Technologies and 

Vendors 

5 

Emerging Technologies I 

Difference between Offshoring and Outsourcing 

Control and Coordination Issues 

Backsourcing 

Managing Outsourcing: Ethical Considerations 

Case: Emerging Technology 

Case: Vendor Partnering 

Shifting Alliances: Competition and Collaboration 

Open Source Software 

Emerging Wireless Technologies 

Mobile Computing 

Trends in Business Intelligence 

6 Emerging Technologies II Cloud computing, Utility and Grid Computing 

Software as a Service (SaaS), Virtualization 

When Regulation Lags Technology: Thin Line Between the Legal and 

the Ethical 

7 

8 

9 

10 

Introduction to Digital Platforms I 

Introduction to Digital Platforms I 

Managing Digital Platforms 

Search and online advertising 

Network Effects 

One-sided, Two-sided and Multi-sided platforms 

Managing Partners/Competitors in Digital Platforms 

Case Analysis: Google Android 

Comparing Technology Strategies and Tactics of Google, Microsoft 

and Apple in the Mobile Market 

Social Graphs 

Facebook as a Platform 

Understanding and Leveraging Search Engines 

Introduction to Online Advertising 

A-16 

Notes 

A-13; A-14 

G-10.1-10.5 

HBS 

G-10.6-10.11 

G-6 

HBS 

G-8 

A-13 

G-14

11 

IS Governance I 

Understanding the case for IS Value 

Case: IT Priorities 

Case: IT and the Board of Directors 

A-8, 9 

Other Critical Issues 

12 

13 

14 

IS Governance II 

IS Security 

IS Privacy 

IT Service Management: What Managers should know about ITIL 

IT Audit, Regulatory and Ethical issues 

Common Security Threats (Social Engineering, Software 

Weaknesses, Network vulnerabilities) 

Security Solutions; Emerging Threats 

Case: IVK: Crisis and Damage 

Information Aggregation Industry: Opportunities and Concerns 

Online Information Privacy Vs Offline Information Privacy 

Privacy Threats and Solutions 

Disclosure and Legal Liability Issues: Ethics and the Law 

Case: ChoicePoint 

Notes 

G13 

A-10. A-11 

WSJ: What They 

Know 

HBS 

Notes 

Final Exam




PART A: 



AII.10.1 

CIS 9xxx: Sustainability and IT 

This course examines the relationship between Information Technology and sustainability. Students will be introduced to different 

theories and practices pertaining to business, Information Technology, and sustainability. The course examines both ‘greening of IT’ 

and ‘greening by IT’. Greening of IT refers to the impact of information systems on the environment including challenges such as 

carbon footprint of information systems and e-waste. Greening by IT refers to IT-enabled solutions that focus on reducing green-house 

gas emissions. 3 hours, 3 credits. Prerequisites: None. 

EXPLANATION: The course will be offered once a year. It is expected to enroll approximately 35 students. This course was offered 

as a special topics course during spring 2011 and attracted an enrollment of 33 students. The mean enrollment of graduate courses 

offered by the Department of Statistics and Computer Information Systems was 30. 

Approved by the Department of Statistics and Computer Information Systems Faculty, March 15, 2011. Syllabus attached.

CIS 9xxx: Sustainability and IT 


Instructor: 

Department: 

E-Mail: 

Office: NVC 

Phone: 

Office Hours: 

1.Course Description 

This course examines the relationship between Information Technology and sustainability. Students will be 

introduced to different theories and practices pertaining to business, Information Technology, and 

sustainability. The course examines both ‘greening of IT’ and ‘greening by IT’. Greening of IT refers to the 

impact of information systems on the environment including challenges such as carbon footprint of 

information systems and e-waste. Greening by IT refers to IT-enabled solutions that focus on reducing greenhouse 

gas emissions. 

2.Learning Objectives 

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: 

• Analyze the impact of IT on the environment 

• Assess the business value of green IT 

• Examine the relationship between IT, sustainability, and business strategy 

• Assess energy needs of IT 

• Identify challenges in reducing the environmental impact of IT 

• Develop solutions that will help reduce environmental impact of IT 

• Suggest the use of IT solutions to reduce green-house gas emissions 

• Assess the impact of and discuss solutions to address issues related to e-waste 

3.Learning Goals Addressed 

MBA Learning Goals 

• Information and Technology literacy: In examining the relationship between Information 

Technology and sustainability, the course presents IT-based solutions to address 

challenges to sustainability. Students will be able to develop recommendations for ITbased 

solutions to address sustainability challenges. 

• Ethical awareness: The course raises ethical awareness by presenting issues that require 

ethical decision making (such as electronic waste and its adverse health impact). 

• Communication, Teamwork, and leadership: The course requires the completion of a 

project that involves student presentations and development of a written report that 

involves group work. 

• Global awareness: Presenting the challenges in sustainability pertaining to Information 

Technology as a global issue rather than a localized issue (by including examples and case 

studies that involve multiple stakeholders distributed globally), the course raises global 

awareness. 

• Information Literacy: The course requires students to prepare written reports as part of 

their project. The project involves performing library research. Students should be able to 

select appropriate sources, examine the credibility of the sources, search for relevant 

publications, and draw upon those publications to develop their analyses in their projects. 

• Knowledge integration: The course expects students to integrate knowledge from various 

business disciplines, including other areas of Information systems in analyzing concepts 

pertaining to sustainability and IT.

Sustainability Program Learning Goals 

• The mutuality of community and business needs: The course examines the relationship 

between both environmental and social sustainability and Information Technology. 

Through examples and case studies, the course emphasizes the critical role that IT can 

potentially play in enabling or inhibiting both areas of sustainability. 

• Environmental, social and governance issues: The course focuses on organizational issues 

involved in implementing both environmental and social sustainability issues pertaining to 

Information Technology. 

• Best practices of sustainable firms: The course presents various solutions that have been 

identified in practice, that focus on reducing IT infrastructure’s carbon footprint and in 

using IT to reduce carbon footprint of other business functions. 

4.Course Material/Readings 


1. Lawrence Webber and Michael Wallace, “Green Tech: How to Plan and Implement Sustainable IT 

Solutions,” AMACOM, 2009, ISBN-10: 081441446X/ISBN-13: 978-0814414460. 

2. Thomas L. Friedman, “Hot, Flat, and Crowded 2.0: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It 

Can Renew America”, Picador, 2009, ISBN-10: 0312428928/ ISBN-13: 978-0312428921. 

Recommended Books: 

1. Toby Velte, Anthony Velte, Robert Elsenpeter, “Green IT: Reduce Your Information System's 

Environmental Impact While Adding to the Bottom Line”, McGraw-Hill Osborne Media, 2008, 

ISBN-10: 0071599231/ISBN-13: 978-0071599238 (available as an e-book through our library). 

2. Gary Hird, “Green IT in Practice: How One Company is Approaching the Greening of its IT,” IT 

Governance, 2008, ISBN:9781905356614 (available as an e-book through our library). 

3. Greg Schulz, “The Green and Virtual Data Center,” Auerbach Publications, 2009, 

ISBN:9781420086669 (available as an e-book through our library). 

4. George Spafford, “The Governance of Green IT: The Role of Processes in Reducing Data Center 

Energy Requirements,” IT Governance, 2008, ISBN:9781905356744 (available as an e-book through 

our library). 

Articles: 

Journal and trade press articles relevant to green IT will be provided during the course of the semester as part 

of the list of readings. Links to such articles will be provided in the schedule page accessible through 

blackboard and/or via the E-Reserve page at our library. 

Cases: 

The course schedule lists several cases that the students are expected to purchase directly from the case 

publisher, read ahead of the class session when the case is scheduled to be discussed, and discuss in class. 

5.Course Deliverables and Grade Distribution 

Deliverables 

Points 

Project report + presentation 400 

Case analyses 200 

Final Exam 200 

Participation (Class discussion + Wiki) 200 

TOTAL 1000

6.General Course Policies 

6.1 Case analyses and Project 

All case analyses and the project are completed in teams of four students each. Due dates shown in 

the course schedule will be strictly enforced. Late submissions will not be accepted. If you miss any classes 

during which we complete any partial work on any of the deliverables, you will lose the points for the parts 

you missed. 

Links to instructions for all deliverables will be available through blackboard. Unless otherwise 

stated, all deliverables will be submitted through the ‘Assignments’ section in blackboard (no printed 

copies). Each team member is required to contribute his/her fair share of work for each deliverable that 

requires teamwork. The instructor reserves the right to ask for percentage of work contribution by each team 

member for all deliverables. Work distribution should be done within each team for each deliverable rather 

than across deliverables. In other words, team members should contribute equally towards the development 

of each of the deliverables listed in this syllabus. 

6.2 Class Participation, Attendance and Student performance 

Students are expected to attend all classes. If one or more classes are missed, it is the student's 

responsibility to determine the specific material covered during their absence and make the necessary 

arrangements for making up what is missed. Class discussion is strongly encouraged. Your class 

participation grade will depend on how much you contribute to in-class discussions. No direct credit shall be 

awarded just for attendance. Assigned readings should be read before each class session. This course 

requires continuous commitment of students both inside and outside of the classroom. 

Case analysis and discussions are a critical component of the course. Students are expected to read the 

cases before the corresponding class sessions and be well prepared to discuss the cases in class. In addition to 

participating in in-class discussions, students are also expected to contribute to the course Wiki. Instructions 

for contributing to the Wiki will be provided on blackboard. 

Please note that this syllabus is subject to change. Changes will be notified through blackboard. 

6.3 Academic Integrity Statement 

The CIS Department fully supports Baruch College's policy on Academic Honesty, which states, in part: 

"Academic dishonesty is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Cheating, forgery, plagiarism, and collusion 

in dishonest acts undermine the college's educational mission and the students' personal and intellectual 

growth. Baruch students are expected to bear individual responsibility for their work and to uphold the ideal 

of academic integrity. Any student who attempts to compromise or devalue the academic process will be 

sanctioned." Additional information can be found at 






Office of the Dean of Students.

Tentative Schedule 

Week Topics and Links to Slides Readings Deliverables/milestones 

1. Course Introduction 

What is sustainability and why is it important? 

“Green IT: More than a three percent solution?” 

Stephen Ruth, IEEE Internet Computing, July/August 

2009 

2. Making the business case for Green IT 

**CASE: “Green IT matters at Wipro LTD”, Indranil 

Bose & R. Chandrasekhar, Asia Case Research Centre, 

The University of Hong Kong, 2009. 

3. Climate change and its impact: Role of IT 

“My IT carbon footprint”, Kirk W. Cameron, IEEE 

Computer, November 2009. 

4. Basics about energy 

Business of Green 

“Competitive Environmental Strategies: When does it 

pay to be green?” Renato Orsato, California 

Management Review, 48(2), 2006. 

“Why sustainability is now the key driver of innovation” 

Ram Nidumolu, C. K. Prahalad, M. R. Rangaswami, 

Harvard Business Review, September 2009. 

“Smart appliances learning to save power grid”, 

MSNBC.com, November 26, 2007. 

5. Standards, regulations, and initiatives 

“America’s Green Strategy”, Michael Porter (in Business 

and the Environment, (eds.) Richard Welford and 

Richard Starkey, Taylor and Francis, 1996. 

“Green Rankings: The 2009 List”, Newsweek 

“Negotiators at climate talks face deep set of fault lines”, 

Tom Zeller, New York Times, December 5, 2009. 

6. **CASE: Corporate Greenhouse Gas Accounting: 

Carbon Footprint Analysis, Case: UVA-ENT-0113, 

Darden Business Publishing, 2009 

**CASE: Carbon credit markets, Case: UVA-F-1583, 

Darden Business Publishing, 2009. 

7. Global view 

“China builds high wall to guard energy industry” New 

York Times, July 13, 2009. 

“China racing ahead of US in the drive to go solar”, 

New York Times, August 24, 2009. 

Syllabus 

WW 1 

F 1 & 2 

E-Reserve 

WW 3 

ACRC 

F 5, 6, & 7 

E-Reserve 

WW 4, 5, 6 

F 9, 10, & 11 

E-Reserve 

WW 2 

F 12 

F 3, 4, 8, & 13 

8. Virtualization WW 10 

Student profile 

Team member List 

Project conception (initial report) 

Case analysis reports 

9. Green data centers 

“HP rethinks energy”, Forbes, August 17, 2009. 

WW 11



“Novel way to cool data centers passes first test”, 

ComputerWorld, September 10, 2009. 

“Feds hand out $47million in grants for green data 

centers”, Jeffrey Burt, e-Week.com, January 6, 2010. 

10. Greening with IT: IT solutions to reduce carbon footprint 

Green supply chain 

United Nations Environment Program 

“Energy scoreboards: Designed for the home”, New 

York Times, February 27, 2010. 

“Tagging Technology to Track Trash”, Jonathan Fildes, 

BBC News, July 14, 2009. 

“Researchers track 3000 pieces of Seattle trash”, The 

Seattle Times, September 13, 2009. 

“Climate wizard”, The Engineer, December 17, 2009. 

“University of Minnesota computer scientists to help 

track global climate change through new data mining 

tools”, University of Minnesota, December 15, 2009. 

11. Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid 

**CASE: E+Co and Tecnosol, Department of Corporate 

Strategy and International Business, University of 

Michigan. 

E-waste 

Ethical considerations in managing electronic waste 

“Smuggling Europe’s waste to poorer countries”, 

September 26, 2009, New York Times. 

**CASE: The European Recycling Platform: Promoting 

Competition in E-Waste Recycling, Case: GS67-PDF- 

ENG, Harvard Business Publishing, 2009. 

12. Research in Green IT 

“Assessing Green IT Initiatives Using the Balanced 

Scorecard,” Radhika Jain, Raquel Benbunan-Fich, and 

Kannan Mohan, IEEE IT Professional (forthcoming). 

“Unpacking Green IT: A Review of the Existing 

Literature,” Stoney Brooks, Xuequn Wang, and Saonee 

Sarker, Americas Conference on Information Systems, 

2010. 

“Identifying Green IT Leaders with Financial and 

Environmental Performance Indicators,” Yong Seog 

Kim and Myung Ko, Americas Conference on 

Information Systems, 2010. 

“Green Business and Online Price Premiums: Will 

Consumers Pay More to Purchase from Environmentally 

Friendly Technology Companies,” Robert D. St. Louis 

and Joseph A. Cazier, Americas Conference on 

Information Systems, 2010. 

WW 7, 12, 14 

WW 8, 9 

HBS 

E-Reserve 

13. Project presentations



14. Project presentations 

15. Final Exam 

Acronyms used above: 

WW – Chapters from Webber and Wallace 

F – Chapters from Friedman 

Darden – Case from Darden Business Publishing, University of Virginia 

HBS – Case from Harvard Business Publishing 

ACRC – Asia Case Research Center, The University of Hong Kong


RECOMMENDATION TO ZICKLIN GRADUATE CURRICULUM COMMITTEE 

Department of Statistics and Computer Information Systems 

March 15, 2011 


AI.10.1 MBA in Information Systems (HEGIS CODE: 070100, PROGRAM CODE: 01936): Changes in 

courses in major 

FROM: Courses in Major (12 credits) 

Information Technologies Courses (6 credits) Credits 

Choose two of the following Information Technologies courses: 

CIS 9340 Principles of Database Management Systems 3 

CIS 9444 e-Business Principles and Technologies * 3 

CIS 9350 Networks and Telecommunications 3 

CIS 9490 Systems Analysis and Design 3 

CIS 9550 Emerging Trends in Information Technologies * 3 

CIS 9556: Risk Management Systems 3 

CIS 9590 Information Systems Development Project 3 

CIS 9771 Special Topics in Information Technologies 3 

Information Systems Strategy Courses (6 credits) 

Choose two of the following Information Systems Strategy courses: 

CIS 9230 Globalization and Technology + 3 


CIS 9550 Emerging Trends in Information Technologies * 3 

CIS 9555 Information Technology in Financial Markets 3 


CIS 9700 Integrating Information Technology and Business Processes 3 

CIS 9775 Special Topics in Information Systems Strategy 3 

Students are welcome to construct an alternate program of 9000-Level CIS courses with the permission of the CIS graduate advisor. 

+ CIS 9230 is also on the list of international business elective choices. 

* Course may be used as either an ‘Information Technologies’ course or an ‘Information Systems Strategy’ course.




TO: Courses in Major (13.5 credits) 

Flexible Core Course Required for IS majors (1.5 credits) Credits 

CIS 9002 Information Systems for Managers II 1.5 

Note: CIS 9002 will apply towards the maximum 18 credits that students can take in their major. 

Information Technologies Courses (6 credits) 

Choose two of the following Information Technologies courses: 

CIS 9340 Principles of Database Management Systems 3 


CIS 9350 Networks and Telecommunications 3 

CIS 9467 Business Modeling with Spreadsheets 3 

CIS 9480: Information Technology Project Management 3 

CIS 9490 Systems Analysis and Design 3 

CIS 9556: Risk Management Systems * 3 

CIS 9590 Information Systems Development Project 3 

CIS 9771 Special Topics in Information Technologies 3 

Information Systems Strategy Courses (6 credits) 

Choose two of the following Information Systems Strategy courses: 

CIS 9230 Globalization and Technology 3 


CIS 9555 Information Technology in Financial Markets 3 


CIS 9700 Integrating Information Technology and Business Processes 3 

CIS 9xxx Sustainability and IT 3 

CIS 9775 Special Topics in Information Systems Strategy 3 

Students are welcome to construct an alternate program of 9000-Level CIS courses with the permission of the CIS graduate advisor. 

* Course may be used as either an ‘Information Technologies’ course or an ‘Information Systems Strategy’ course.




EXPLANATION: This change conforms to the new MBA program adopted by the Zicklin School of Business in Spring 2010, plus 

updates the course offerings from the Department of Statistics and Computer Information Systems: 

Required Course: We are requiring CIS 9002 Information Systems for Managers II as a ‘flexible core’ course for MBA/IS majors. 

This is to ensure that IS majors take three credits of foundation material in IS, which is consistent with the MBA requirements of the 

other major business disciplines. 

Electives: We have modified the elective offerings of the program: 

• We have dropped CIS 9550 Emerging Trends in Information Technologies because it is redundant; CIS 9771 Special Topics in 

Information Technologies and CIS 9775 Special Topics in Information Systems Strategy serve the same purpose; 

• We have added two existing courses to the list of electives. These courses have been either revised or created since the last 

time the MBA/IS was revised, but were not added to the MBA at the time of the course adoptions: CIS 9467 Business 

Modeling with Spreadsheets, and CIS 9480: Information Technology Project Management; 

• We are adding a brand new course, CIS9xxx: Sustainability and IT, to the choice of electives. 

Approved by the Department of Statistics and Computer Information Systems, March 15, 2011.

Graduate Curriculum Committee - zicklin : school of business - CUNY

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