Tim Nguyen

Introduction to Business and Enterprise
This course provides students who have little to no background in business with a broad overview of business and enterprise in the economy. Students will learn about types of enterprises and a functional framework for understanding a business, including strategy, finance, production, and marketing. This framework will be used to analyze various businesses and non-profits, exploring the advantages and disadvantages of various structures. The course will give overviews of accounting and entrepreneurship, and explore policy and philosophical debates about the morality of for-profit business and the need for corporate responsibility. 3 hrs. lect.

Business Ethics
Capitalism and competitive markets are often considered the most efficient system of simultaneously maximizing private wealth and public good. In the real world, however, truly competitive markets do not exist. Imperfect markets have been made to work efficiently while protecting public good through systems of public intervention, i.e., laws and regulations, and voluntary self-restraint by business organizations in response to societal expectations. In this class we will consider the role of ethics in business, with students analyzing the process by which ethical norms and strongly held moral beliefs guide the conduct of economically driven business organizations. Students will reflect on business managers’ responsibility to their owners, i.e., shareholders, other stakeholders, and society-at-large. 3 hrs. lect./dsc

The Diverse Workplace: Gender, Race and the Modern Corporation
Knowing why and how to harness the power of human difference to facilitate human flourishing is a critical competency for leaders. In this course we will learn about the challenges and opportunities of diversity. This course has three components. First, students will explore ways humans can advance in the modern workplace and how the roles of people of all genders must evolve in order to do so. The second component centers on the issue of race in and at the organization/corporation (for-profit and not-for-profit). And the third component relates to how workplace diversity is a valuable and strategic asset to the modern corporation. Students will learn that organizations, too, are social actors. As such, issues of gender and race shape organizations and their ability to obtain cultural, political, and material resources they need to survive—the organizing process. 3 hrs. lect.

Finance, Regulation, and Policy
With recent financial scandals and crises, an important question is whether the finance industry should be regulated and should undergo further policy reforms. Many scholars and policy experts contend that the current system is simply not designed to make policy choices on behalf of the public. In this course we will explore current financial innovations (e.g., mutual funds, hedge funds, securitizations, cryptocurrencies, just to name a few) and potential policy options in order to protect “Main Street” from “Wall Street”. Additionally, we will explore the manner in which modern finance has grown out of powerful theories, both mathematical and psychological. 3 hrs. lect.

Management, Enterprise, and Business
What does it mean to lead or manage a business, non-profit or any other enterprise, and how does one go about doing it? Drawing on different management theories, this course will explore games and "tactics" deployed by organizations. We will leverage basic industrial organization frameworks from economics (eg. hold-outs, switch costs, network effects, economies of scope, etc) to decipher organizational behavior. In addition, we will review case studies of organizations facing serious management challenges and explore how those challenges could be addressed (INTD0120 or by waiver).

Creating New Enterprises To Solve Significant Problems: For-Profit and Social Entrepreneurship
In this class students will explore how entrepreneurial innovators solve significant problems by creating new enterprises, and how these new organizations impact our society. In today’s society, entrepreneurship seems ubiquitous. At times, it appears that entrepreneurs can do no wrong. At other times, they are depicted as over-optimistic fools. Such polar characterizations may sell magazines, but they do not capture what entrepreneurship is, which involves a more complex and interesting story— in both for-profit and social entrepreneurship environments. Students will explore entrepreneurship in depth with the goal of penetrating the popular veneer and uncovering the essence of starting and growing new enterprises designed to solve significant societal problems.

Capitalism & Its Criticisms
In this course we will explore the concept of capitalism and how it carries variegated meanings, which spans a wide range of societies and differing relationships between economic, political, and civic institutions within them. Students will have the opportunity to examine various forms and perspectives of capitalism which include contraband capitalism, racial capitalism, gendered capitalism, and scientific capitalism. We will also track how conceptions of capitalism have changed over time and globally. Primary and secondary works from the field of history, law, economics, philosophy, religion, and sociology will be incorporated to carry out the goal of the course which is to provide tools and perspectives that help students engage thoughtfully in these debates and to extend them into application in their own roles as engaged citizen, corporate, nonprofit, public, and entrepreneurial leaders.

Advanced Topics in Business & Enterprise Seminar
In this seminar, we will explore advance topics in finance, organizations, management science, law and business, marketing, and decision theory. Typically, the theme of the seminar will rotate yearly with odd years being finance oriented and even years being management science or leadership-oriented topics. For AY23, we will explore the quantitative topic of venture capital and private equity. The course will focus on the following four areas: business valuation, financing, private and venture capital industry, and exit. Class discussion, short lectures, individual research projects, and oral presentations will inform student learning experience. (INTD 0120: Intro to Business & Enterprise and INTD 0217: Intro to Finance, or with Instructor Approval)

Nonprofits & Civil Society
Nonprofit and civil society organizations of all types play a crucial and growing role in the economy. According to the National Center for Charitable Statistics, there are more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the United States today. According to the Global Journal, there are more than 10 million nongovernmental organizations worldwide. As the nonprofit sector has grown in scope and size, both domestically and internationally, the boundaries between for-profit, governmental, and charitable organizations have become intertwined. In this course we will learn about the economics, history, governance, law, and structure relating to the nonprofit sector (also known as the Third Sector).