Course Directory
Business Plan Project
In this, the program’s second intermodular course, students working in teams devise and develop a promising business idea. Each team then presents its idea to the instructor and the class as a whole, who provide a constructive critique. Integrating class suggestions and applying the frameworks, models and tools studied in the program to date, teams work their ideas into formal business plans. This process begins once the Europe module ends, requiring team members to collaborate at a distance, as they would if engaged in a real project with a global team of partners. The business plans produced in this course often result in very real, exciting business opportunities.
A part of the North American Module.
Business Statistics/Operational Management
From productivity to product quality, statistics can provide managers with essential insights into organizational performance and identify which levers lead to positive change. This course addresses how statistics can be used to meet many day-to-day business challenges. It focuses on key stages of statistical analysis: (a) definition of the managerial problem; (b) statistical formulation of the problem; (c) data collection; (d) data analysis; (e) conclusions about the statistical problem; and (f) what light this analysis sheds on the managerial problem. In the latter stages of the course, students are asked to apply their learning to an actual challenge currently faced by their company. In the past, this exercise has sometimes led to five- and six-figure savings for the companies in question.
A part of the Foundation Module.
Corporate Governance
Governance has emerged as one of the most pressing issues facing complex business organizations today. This course addresses governance from a global perspective exploring its situational, strategic and managerial dimensions. Participants gain insight into such matters as adapting practices to suit specific national contexts, building a critical but constructive culture of trust and evaluating success at the board level.
A part of the European Module.
Corporate Leadership
What is the difference between managing and leading? What are the distinctions among political, directive and values-driven leadership? Through specific examples and case discussions, Corporate Leadership addresses these questions in relation to the daily dilemmas of managing in the real world. Students gain new insights into a variety of leadership approaches, reflecting in particular on how personality can influence leadership style.
A part of the North American Module.
Corporate Strategy
Working with a variety of practical tools and high-level frameworks, Corporate Strategy fosters better strategic decision making, enhancing the participant’s capacities to make sound real-world, real-time decisions in complex business environments. The course focuses on the situations of major companies active in local and North American markets. It provides students with a unique opportunity to meet with the CEOs of some of Canada’s largest companies. These meetings typically involve frank and open discussions of the CEO’s experience developing and implementing strategy. Students broaden their understanding of the North American business environment while sharpening their decision-making skills.
A part of the North American Module.
Doing Business in China: From the Outside In
Focusing on China, the emerging giant of Asian business, Doing Business in Asia examines the Chinese business environment through a variety of briefings and field visits. Short classroom briefings acquaint students with Chinese business from a value chain perspective. Thereafter company visits and briefings are arranged at sites in Hong Kong, Southern China and Shanghai. Engaging in both observation and discussion, students experience Chinese business at work first hand.
A part of the China Module.
Doing Business in Europe: Case Studies
Doing Business in Europe mainly consists of field visits to actual businesses where students receive briefings from, and engage in discussions with, local managers. The course provides an unparalleled opportunity for students to deepen their understanding of the European business environment, a central component of the global economy.
A part of the European Module.
Doing Business in North America: Capstone Project
The Capstone Project is a team-based consulting project inviting participants to apply the learning and insights acquired during their entire Omnium experience. Students learn about some of the unique characteristics of the North American business environment by developing a strategic plan for a company in a particular business sector. Canada’s consumer retail and residential mortgage industries have been the focus of Capstone projects in the past. After conducting an industry analysis and meeting with the senior management of an individual company in the sector, students develop a set of specific business recommendations. At the end of the module, each group presents the results of their analysis to the senior management of their company (on several occasions in the past, the CEO has attended).
A part of the North American Module.
Doing Business in Brazil: Your Day – Your Way
Your Day — Your Way presents Omnium participants with an opportunity to test their ingenuity and persistence, learn about the workings of Brazil’s informal economy and develop contacts with a Brazilian company. Having arranged themselves into study groups, students must identify and contact a firm in Brazil for the purpose of arranging a site visit. This exercise alone provides valuable insights into Brazilian business culture. During the site visit itself, students are expected to investigate the key challenges faced by the firm and how managers are addressing them. They must also, in particular, raise (with considerable tact) the issue of Brazil’s informal economy. How are managers dealing with it? What have their experiences been? At the end of the course, each group, in its turn, briefs the class and submits a written report to the instructor.
A part of the Brazil Module.
International Risk Management
Global firms doing business in emerging economies face significant challenges and risks. Participants will learn complementary approaches – drawn from theories of political economy and risk management – to assess, measure and mitigate these risks, including the application of various techniques to frequent scenarios.
A part of the European Module.
International Finance
Participants analyze international differences in financial thinking, methods for evaluating business plans and projects in a global context and such key issues internal to international organizations as product costing. They learn how to judge financial performance globally, how to evaluate the viability of globally oriented plans and projects, and how to apply costing concepts practically.
A part of the China Module.
Global Marketing
The marketing function is primary to the ultimate goal of every organization – to create value for the customers and thereby for itself. Global Marketing considers how customers and their needs are defined and how competitive strategy is developed. Students develop a thorough understanding of positioning statements and the marketing mix, before applying these frameworks to cases from a wide array of verticals and contexts.
A part of the India Module.
Global Strategic Management
Navigating in a field of growing complexity and risk is proving increasingly challenging for professional general managers. Global Strategic Management makes substantial use of cases and articles to connect theory with application. Addressing core concepts, the course builds on a comprehensive and coherent framework to create an integrated approach to relating and applying diverse streams of strategic management research and practice. This framework draws together “four-plus-one” critical areas of strategy: initiating the process, defining strategic positioning, delivering value and leading change—plus performance management.
A part of the Foundation Module.
International Accounting 1
Accounting is an essential link between business activities and decision making. International Accounting 1 introduces participants to financial and managerial accounting for international companies, especially larger multi-national companies. The main focus will be on the interpretation of financial information and annual reports. It examines how accounting systems are structured, the parts of the financial statements (balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, notes, etc) and what information can be provided to such decision makers as investors, creditors, customers and suppliers.
A part of the India Module.
International Accounting 2
International Accounting provides insight into the diversity and complexity of financial accounting practices in various countries around the world. It shows how differences in the world’s multifarious reporting systems reflect distinctive national developments, histories and social characteristics. Participants emerge better able to interpret the financial position and the results of operations of internationally active corporations.
A part of the European Module.
Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance addresses the essential components of corporate finance and of the mergers and acquisitions process. After examining both corporate finance theory and practice, participants graduate to a study of such central M&A issues as valuation, structuring and negotiation. Key legal and tax considerations are also explored.
A part of the North American Module.
Macroeconomics and the Political Environment (Economics 2)
In what context are major managerial decisions made? How well is it understood? Macroeconomics and the Political Economy examines the determinants of aggregate economic activity in modern open economies. Applying a simple but effective model of micro economies both large and small, the course analyzes important economic issues, including free trade, monetary policy, fiscal policy and inflation.
A part of the India Module.
Microeconomics (Economics 1)
An integrated study of markets and their role in the rational allocation of scarce resources, microeconomics addresses the impacts of key variables (prices and incomes) on the decisions of economic agents (consumers/workers, firms and governments). Participants acquire a thorough understanding of global economic conditions and policies equipping them to make better-informed decisions.
A part of the Brazil Module.
Negotiating in a Global Environment
While negotiating skills have always been highly valued, their value increases exponentially in complex global contexts. Based on thoroughly tested concepts adapted to the international business arena, Negotiating in a Global Environment teaches effective negotiating for global enterprises. Participants learn by engaging in simulated negotiation sessions designed to highlight important issues in global business and cross-cultural negotiating.
A part of the Brazil Module.
Organizational Leadership
How do you organize and motivate the human capital of the firm, manage social networks and alliances, and execute strategic change? Organizational Leadership explores some of the theories, skills and tools needed to solve organizational problems and to influence the actions of individuals and groups within the firm. It focuses on the management issues that a leader needs to understand when building the high-performing global organization.
A part of the Foundation Module.
Professional Responsibilities (Business Ethics)
What role should ethics play in the conduct of business? How do cultural considerations bear on the issue? Professional Responsibility and Business Ethics address these questions with specific reference to the business environment in the People’s Republic of China. Investigating the relationship of ethics to success and culture to ethics, this course equips participants to tackle the thorny ethical issues associated with doing business in China and other culturally distinctive nations.
A part of the China Module.
Technology Innovation
Taking an interactive approach, Technology Innovation explores the impact of new information technologies on business processes. Students are presented with new concepts in IT and process innovations and asked to consider the implications for their own companies or for a hypothetical company situation.
A part of the China Module.
Intermodular Courses
Intermodular Course: Growth Project
This first intermodular project addresses the determinants of growth—how it’s created and how it can be sustained. Students conduct a comprehensive analysis of their own company, assessing its ability to devise and implement growth strategies. Assuming the role of company leader, they develop a detailed strategic plan based on their insights into their company and the application of concepts acquired in the Global Strategic Management course. All work, including company benchmarking, is self-directed.
A part of the India Module.
Seminars
Seminar: Cross-Cultural Communications
Cross-cultural communications helps participants understand cultural differences and equips them to work more effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds. It approaches cultural difference as a source of potential benefit to the organization.
A part of the Foundation Module.
Seminar: Decision Making
If anything, leadership means accepting the responsibility of making decisions. But how do you decide wisely under real-life business pressures and distractions? For individuals as well as for teams, Decision Making offers a systematic and trenchant analysis of the dos and don’ts of sound business decision making.
A part of the Foundation Module.
Seminar: Emotional Intelligence & Leadership Development
Exceptional leadership involves more than pure rationality. It also requires emotional intelligence (EI)—the innate capacity to think through your feelings and through your sensitivity to the feelings of others. After conducting an emotional intelligence inventory (the BarOn EQ-i), students generate a personal EQ-i Leadership Report identifying specific leadership strengths and weaknesses. A leadership action plan is then drawn up mapping the road to acquiring and honing key leadership skills.
A part of the Foundation Module.
Seminar: Leadership & Career Management
Career success will depend on how aware managers are of their strengths and on knowing where, and in what role, they can perform most effectively. This seminar will help participants develop a career plan that involves deepening their self-awareness and learning effective methods of networking.
A seminar as part of the North American Module.
Seminar: Logic Works
Communicating effectively is an essential management skill. A manager must, at different times, communicate a vision, motivate a sales force or convince a board. Logic Works provides participants with the necessary tools for making cases that are clear, memorable and compelling.
A part of the Foundation Module.
Seminar: Relationship Management
You don’t have to agree with Jean-Paul Sartre that "hell is other people" to accept that relationships can cause difficulty in business as much as in personal life. Relationship Management examines the role of communication in resolving conflict. It provides a step-by-step approach to managing "difficult conversations" effectively.
A part of the Foundation Module.
Seminar: Team Building
Working in teams with people of diverse nationalities and backgrounds is a necessary condition of doing business internationally and an essential component of the Omnium program. Team Building prepares students for the group work they will be required to undertake during in-company consulting projects and team-based assignments. Drawing on the insights learned from self-assessments such as the Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Inventory (EQ-i) and the cross-cultural communication seminar, participants are introduced to a structured approach to developing and leading effective teams.
A part of the Foundation Module.
