The Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania must reserve the right to make changes affecting policies, fees, curricula, or any other matters announced here.
While the School endeavors to offer as many of the courses as possible, not all courses are offered every semester or even every year. It is important to check with individual departments prior to scheduling classes to determine the availability of courses for any given semester.
MGMT 900: Economic Foundations in Management (1.0 cu)
This course examines some of the central questions in management with economic approaches as a starting point, but with an eye to links to behavioral perspectives on these same questions. It is not a substitute for a traditional microeconomics course. Economics concerns itself with goal directed behavior of individuals interacting in a competitive context. We adopt that general orientation but recognize that goal directed action need not take the form of maximizing behavior and that competitive processes do not typically equilibrate instantaneously. The substantive focus is on the firm as a productive entity. Among the sorts of questions we explore are the following: What underlies a firm’s capabilities? How does individual knowledge aggregate to form collective capabilities? What do these perspectives on firms say about the scope of a firm’s activities, both horizontally (diversification) and vertically (buy-supply relationships)? We also explore what our understanding of firms says about market dynamics and industry evolution, particularly in the context of technological change. A central property of firms, as with any organization, is the interdependent nature of activity within them. Thus, understanding firms as “systems” is quite important. Among the issues we explore in this regard are the following. Organizational “systems” have internal structure, in particular elements of hierarchy and modularity. Even putting aside the question of individual goals and objectives and how they may aggregate, the question of organizational goal is non-trivial. To say that a firm’s objective is to maximize profits is not terribly operational. How does such an overarching objective get decomposed to link to the actual operating activities of individual subunits, including individuals themselves. Recently, there has been some interesting work that links the valuation process of financial markets to firm behavior. Financial markets are not only a reflection of firm value, but may guide firms’ initiatives in systematic ways.
MGMT 918/919: Personnel Economics A/B (0.5 cu each)
These courses offer an overview of current topics both theoretically and methodologically on the issues surrounding workplace incentives. The course starts off with a review of econometrics and the principal-agent model. Starting from that we review recent trends in theory to address social preferences, intertemporal inconsistencies, peer effects, self-discipline, and various other behavioral responses. There is also a substantial focus on the empirical analysis of incentive phenomena with a detailed introduction to field experiments as a research method. Students will be asked to write referee reports of current papers in the first half of the course. In the second half the main assignment consists in the preparation of a research protocol on an empirical topic.
MGMT 920: Seminar in Human Resources Research (0.5 cu)
This class is designed to give students an overview of the fundamental topics and arguments in the area of employment, how different social science paradigms consider employment topics, and some of the new and emerging approaches to this topic.
MGMT 925: Seminar in Corporate Strategy (0.5 cu)
This course explores current research on corporate strategy. Over the past two decades, research in the area of corporate strategy has evolved considerably. The fundamental focus of the field has been on sources of competitive advantage at the level of the firm, and the process of building and maintaining competitive advantage. In this class, we explore current research articles that best represent the development of rent-generating resources at the level of the firm. Topics addressed include the concept of strategy, research on the evolution of firm capabilities, competitive interaction, top management teams and strategy formation, and changes in firm scope through acquisitions, divestitures and alliances.
MGMT 926: Corporate Transactions & Strategy (0.5 cu)
This course explores current research on firm boundaries and scope. Issues of firm boundaries and scope have received much attention in the strategic management field over the past twenty years. Theoretical frameworks explaining firm boundaries have been proposed, and empirical research on key success factors within particular boundary choices has flourished. Firm scope is one of the long-standing domains of research in strategic management that is still drawing substantial attention. While certain core perspectives have academic and empirical support, there is much debate and many new research questions to examine, particularly in a global context. In this class, we explore current research articles that best represent the research. Topics addressed include corporate diversification, choices between modes of market entry, key success factors in acquisitions and alliances, and impact of diversification on innovation.
MGMT 932: Pro-Seminar in Management (1.0 cu)
This topic of this course varies by instructor and year.
MGMT 933: Psychological & Sociological Foundations of Research in Management (1.0 cu)
This course, required of all first year doctoral students in management and open to other Penn students with permission, provides an introduction to the psychological and sociological roots of management theory and research. The course is predicated on the belief that to be effective as a contemporary management scholar one needs a background in “the classics.” Therefore, we will be reading selected classics from the fields of psychology and sociology in their original unexpurgated form during this semester.
MGMT 935: Network Theory & Applications (0.5 cu)
This course explores network analysis models and their applications to organizational phenomena. By examining the structure of relations among actors, network approaches seek to explain variations in beliefs, behaviors, and outcomes. The beauty of network analysis is its underlying mathematical nature-network ideas and measures apply equally well at micro and macro levels of analysis. In this course, then, we will read and discuss articles both at the micro level (where the network actors are individuals within organizations) and at the macro level (where the network actors are organizations within larger communities) that utilize network constructs such as cohesion, structural equivalence, centrality, autonomy, and cliques. There may also be demonstrations of network software to assist you with empirical analyses.
MGMT 937: Entrepreneurship Research Seminar (0.5 cu)
The seminar seeks to expose students to theoretical and empirical perspectives on entrepreneurship research. We will focus on the main questions that define the field and attempt to critically examine how, using a range of methodologies, researchers have approached these questions. As we review the literature, we will seek to identify promising research areas in Entrepreneurship. In addition to addressing the content of the received literature, we will examine the process of crafting research papers in Entrepreneurship and getting them published in top tier journals. Towards that end we will characterize the key elements of high impact papers and review the development process of such studies.
MGMT 938: Family Business Research (0.5 cu)
Family firms differ in a number of ways from non-family firms. These differences may result in differential behavior by, and performance of, family firms versus non-family firms. Although family-controlled firms make up the vast majority of businesses around the world, academic research in this space is sparse. The seminar seeks to expose students to theoretical and empirical perspectives on family businesses. Throughout the course, we will focus on the ownership, control, and management issues that set family firms apart. We will focus on the main issues faced by families and their firms, and attempt to critically examine how, using a range of methodologies, researchers have approached these issues. As we review the literature, we will seek to identify promising research areas, which may be of interest to you in the context of your dissertation research. In addition to addressing the content of the received literature, we will examine the process of crafting research papers and getting them published in top tier journals. Towards that end, we will characterize the key elements of high-impact papers and review the development process of such studies.
MGMT 951: Seminar in Micro-Organizational Behavior (0.5 cu)
The purpose of this course is to examine and understand theory and empirical research in the field of micro-organizational behavior and to increase our understanding of people’s behavior in organizations. We will do this in two ways. We will first cover a blend of classic and contemporary literature so that we can appreciate the prevailing theories and findings in various areas of micro-organizational behavior. However, for each topic we will then try to go beyond the existing literature. We will work to increase our understanding by re-framing the research variables, altering the perspective, bringing in new theory, and comparing levels of analysis.
MGMT 952: Seminar in Macro-Organizational Behavior (0.5 cu)
A critical review and analysis of contemporary theory and research on complex organization structure, process, and performance. Weekly faculty and student presentations and discussions will include detailed treatments of organization design, change, and reorganization, as well as inter-organizational relationships. Opportunities are provided to develop diagnostic and research skills in specialized topics the student may select.
MGMT 953: Seminar in Research Methods (1.0 cu)
This is an introductory doctoral seminar on research methods in management. We will examine basic issues involved in conducting empirical research for publication in scholarly management journals. We will start by discussing the framing of research questions, theory development, the initial choices involved in research design, and basic concerns in empirical testing. We will then consider these issues in the context of different modes of empirical research (including experimental, survey, qualitative, archival, and simulation). We will discuss readings that address the underlying fundamentals of these modes as well studies that illustrate how management scholars have used them in their work. Please note that we will not address data analysis techniques in detail, as this material is covered in other courses, e.g., MGMT970. While the primary purpose of the course is to provide an overview of research methods in the broad field of management, selected readings will also serve to introduce some of the wide range of methods used in Wharton’s Management Department in particular. The course requirements are intended to provide you with opportunities to develop your own research ideas and abilities, as well as to engage with the current literature.
MGMT 955: Foundations in Multinational Management (0.5 cu)
The goal of the course is to provide you with a foundation in some of the major research areas that underpin the study of Multinational Management. International Business (and the study of MNCs) is an interdisciplinary field. As such, our survey of the seminal articles in the field will span a number of different theoretical and empirical approaches (i.e., economic, managerial, organizational and institutional). Much of our seminar discussions will focus on identifying and developing interesting research questions raised by this interdisciplinary literature, which offers many opportunities for systematic empirical study.
MGMT 957: Seminar in Emotions in Organizations (0.5 cu)
A relatively new research area within organizational behavior, the study of emotions in organizations is spreading within the organizational behavior field. We examine existing knowledge of emotions in organizational life and identify possible future venues of research. We will begin by examining the nature of emotions in general, and the overarching importance of emotions to organizations. We will then examine specific content areas in which emotions are currently studied in organizational behavior research. We will examine affect as a topic in its own right, and as a tool within which to examine other organizational research domain. By the end of this course, you will gain familiarity with the psychological underpinnings of the affective construct as well as its implications for organizational scholarship and practical organizational outcomes.
MGMT 958: Advanced Topics in Macro-Organizational Theory (0.5 cu)
This course is a seminar in organization theory surveying three important current themes or topics.: (1) social networks and status, (2) institutional theory and the emergence/decline of categories, and (3) organizational demography I have selected a portfolio of recent papers that is representative, but obviously not exhaustive, for these three streams of work thus furnishing a contemporary state of the art. The readings for each week never exceed a nominal four or five but differ considerably in abstraction, complexity, word count and difficulty. Although the seminar is focused in the area of organization theory, the underlying theoretical ideas are general enough to have applicability in other domains of social science. Students of strategy, international management, operation and information management, and entrepreneurship should find value in this course.
MGMT 959: Seminar in Multinational Management (0.5 cu)
This course builds on the foundational material presented in MGMT 955 with a deeper focus on current research examining organizational choices of multinational firms seeking to maximize their performance including the choice of market to enter, entry mode, exit, mechanisms for monitoring and knowledge transfer as well as international personnel policies and the design of global teams. The particular challenges and opportunities of doing business in emerging markets and for firms emanating in those markets are prominent featured.
MGMT 960: Institutions and Multinational Management (0.5 cu)
This course builds on the foundational material presented in MGMT 955 with a deeper focus on current research examining institutional influences on multinational management. These include informational cues provided by peer firms that influence strategic decisions under uncertainty as well as political and social pressures emanating from the host country environment or from global civil society. We will examine not only strategic responses in the market environment but also influence strategies of multinational and domestic firms that seek to alter the institutional environment in which they operate.
MGMT 961: Advanced Topics in Micro-Organizational Behavior (0.5 cu)
The purpose of this course is to explore key concepts and research programs in the field of micro-organizational behavior. We will do this in two ways. We will cover a blend of classic and contemporary literature so that we can appreciate the prevailing theories and findings in various subfields. However, for each topic we will also go beyond the existing literature. We will work to increase our understanding by re-framing key variables, altering perspectives, bringing in new theories, and comparing levels of analysis.
MGMT 962/963: Multinational Firms in the Global Economy A/B (0.5 cu)
This is a graduate course focusing on the empirical aspects of multinational firms and international trade. We will focus on a variety of issues that are related to the multinational firm, beginning with trends in multinational activity, then moving to both horizontal and vertical theories of the multinational firm. The topics will include the following: patterns in the expansion of multinational firms, horizontal and vertical multinational firms, the linkages between openness and growth, trade orientation and firm performance, and labor markets and multinational firms. The last section on labor markets and multinational firms will review the evidence on offshoring and multinationals and the implications for the US labor market, as well as new evidence on corporate social responsibility and the multinational firm. The goal of this course is to familiarize graduate students with doing empirical work on multinational firms in the global economy, by reviewing the recent as well as older literature on this topic. Econometrics and statistical techniques for doing empirical work in international trade will also be discussed. The main requirement for the course will be a paper. Students may choose a topic of their choice in the area of multinational firms in the global economy.
MGMT 970: Applied Methods for Management Research (1.0 cu)
Students taking the course will be introduced to the seminal readings on a given method, have a hands-on discussion regarding their application often using a paper and dataset of the faculty member leading the discussion. The goal of the course is to make participants more informed users and reviewers of a wide variety of methodological approaches to Management research.
MGMT 999 Independent Study
In-depth independent study in an area of special interest to the student, to be arranged with a faculty member in that field.