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Dr. P.V. Viswanath |
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EBS/TOULON : Managerial Finance Spring 2011Classes will meet in room W614 on the New York campus
Course ObjectivesThe primary objective of this course is to provide the student with an introduction to finance theory and practice, so that s/he can apply it in the different areas of business management. In addition, this course should enable the student to decide whether to proceed with more advanced study of finance. Although the course will be self-contained, optimally, the student should also read the business section of newspapers or business newspapers like the Wall Street Journal on a regular basis. Class meetings will be an opportunity to discuss the issues raised in the relevant textbook chapters, and to engage in exercises designed to improve understanding of finance concepts. Students can also obtain information on companies and on financial markets from the Internet. Useful software for this purpose can be found at the G-PACT Room (Global Portfolio Analysis Center; W404). When you have completed this course successfully, you will be familiar with:
When you have completed the course successfully, you should be able to do the following (time permitting):
Course Text
Once you buy access to MyFinanceLab in on of the ways indicated above, you need to go to http://www.myfinancelab.com/getstarted/register.shtml to register and access to the learning materials that I have customized for the course. For details on how to access this course on MyFinanceLab, click here. The first step, however, is to read all the assigned chapters of the book thoroughly, if critically. You should read each text-book chapter before we begin it, while we are working through it, and also after we complete it; as discussed above, class sessions are meant to complement the text, rather than substitute for it. Also make sure to read the powerpoint slides for each chapter; links to these can be found from the Class Schedule. Computer Use and E-mail Policy:You should obtain a Pace e-mail address as soon as possible, so that I can send you e-mail. Any student's Pace e-mail address can be obtained by going to http://appserv.pace.edu/WhitePages/Students.cfm or by going to the main Pace Home Page and clicking on White Pages from the IntraPace section towards the bottom of the page (the default password is the student’s Pace Identification Number). More information about e-mail address, etc. can be obtained from the DoIT website and clicking on Computer from the left-hand side menu panel. Even if you have another e-mail address where you wish to get your e-mail, you should still get a Pace e-mail address. Once you have your Pace e-mail account and password, you can go to the Pace University Student E-Mail Server at http://stmail.pace.edu and have your e-mail forwarded to your preferred e-mail address. You can find information on how to have your mail automatically forwarded at the DoIT website. The only way that I can communicate with you is through your Pace e-mail account. So please get your Pace account information as soon as possible. Check your e-mail and the EBS-Toulon website on a regular basis. This will enable you to get the maximum from the course. I am available for consultation by e-mail at pviswanath@pace.edu. I check my e-mail practically every day, and, in most cases, you should get a speedy response to any questions. We will also be using Blackboard as a gateway for some aspects of the course. Please log in to Blackboard at the earliest opportunity. Blackboard login procedures can be found on the appropriate Blackboard site. Essentially, your login ID for Blackboard will be your email ID, and your password will be your 9-digit social security number. Course RequirementsClass Attendance and ParticipationClass attendance is mandatory. This is for two reasons: one, I believe that you will understand the material much better if you attend the class sessions; two, modifications to the class schedule will be announced in class and/or on the BlackBoard website. Also, on occasion, I conduct classroom exercises, give short quizzes, or assign additional work. If you miss a class session during which we have such a classroom exercise, or additional work is assigned, your grade will be adversely affected for this reason as well. (Of course, it goes without saying that missing quizzes will affect your grade adversely.) In any case, you should consult fellow students on what was done during the class time that you missed, and collect handouts for that day's session. You should also bring a calculator to all class meetings. I also require that you read the Wall Street Journal and/or the business section of the New York Times on a regular basis. Some exam questions will be based on current newspaper and magazine articles that are related to course material. Hence you should cultivate and improve your ability to read newspaper articles critically. If you do not already subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, you can do so online from the MBA 648 Home Page. There are two other reasons why you should try to attend as regularly as possible. One, classroom participation will help your grade. By participation, I mean answering questions and making intelligent comments. Two, we will sometime do learning exercises in class; doing them can help you substantially in understanding the material. I often also give credit for participation in these classroom exercises. Working with TeamsYou should form teams consisting of 4 or 5 students as soon as possible and definitely not past the end of the first week -- deadlines will start piling up, and you will lose valuable points. If your team consists less than 4 students, I may assign you enough students to bring up your number to 4. You should also designate a team co-ordinator. The team co-ordinator is not necessarily the team leader, unless you choose him/her to be a team leader. The position is simply for convenience so that I only deal with one person per team. Most assignments, unless specifically indicated otherwise, will be team assignments and must be submitted by the team co-ordinator on behalf of the team. Give your team a name and send it to me along with the team composition. Discussion Group Participation:The Discussion Group is an important part of the course. You will be given articles to read and react to. At the bottom of the article, you will generally find some comments/questions at the bottom of the article; however, you should not treat these questions as requiring "answers" necessarily. Rather treat them as my thoughts and simply comment on the issues raised by the article or by the information contained in the article. Even if you are reacting to my thoughts, the structure of your posting should not in the form of an "answer" to my questions. I will deduct points if you ignore this requirement! Postings must be made according to the schedule indicated on the calendar. Postings will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
There will be several discussion group forums. However, the first one is simply called CyberCafe and is a venue for us to meet each other. Please post as soon as possible. This will also be an easy to way to start earning points towards your grade! The other discussion group(s) will be more content-based. Since there are a large number of students in this course, I have arbitrarily divided the students into two groups. You will, therefore, posting in a group with about twelve other students. Please read everybody's posting and reply to them. Look at the discussion group every couple of days, at least, as long as it is alive (which will be for a month or so) and keep the discussion vigorous. TutoringThe Tutoring Center, located on the 2nd floor, 41 Park Row, offers free tutoring to all Pace University students. Spring 2011 hours for MBA 648 are: Monday 12:00—7:30 No appointment is necessary, but students should check the schedules posted in the center or call 212-346-1329 for any changes. Along with their questions, they should come prepared with their course materials. For more information, please contact John P. Cleveland, the Center Director at 212-346-1407 Academic IntegrityStudents must accept the responsibility to be honest and to respect ethical standards in meeting their academic assignments and requirements. Integrity in academic life requires that students demonstrate intellectual and academic achievement independent of all assistance except that authorized by the instructor. The use of an outside source in any academic paper, report or submission for academic credit without the appropriate acknowledgement is plagiarism. It is also academically dishonest to submit anything in electronic form as one's own that is the work, either fully or in part, of someone else. It is unethical to present as one's own work, the ideas, words or representations of another without the proper indication of the source. Therefore, it is the student's responsibility to give credit to any quotation, idea or data borrowed from an outside source. Students who fail to meet the responsibility for academic integrity subject themselves to sanctions ranging from a reduction in grade or failure in the assignment or course in which the offense occurred to suspension, dismissal or expulsion from the University. If you need more information on how to avoid plagiarism, you can find it on the Library's website. Any student taking this course is presumed to agree to abide by the school policy on academic integrity, as described on page L-52 of the Graduate Catalog. Please obtain a copy of the catalog and familiarize yourself with the policy. Disability PolicySchool policy regarding disabilities is described on page L-56 of the Graduate Catalog. You can contact the disabilities coordinator at 212-346-1526. Information can also be found on the University webpage. AssignmentsAssignments are a critical part of the course. The main purpose of these assignments is to make sure that you understand the material, and to prepare you for the exams. The deadlines are indicated on the Course TimeTable; if the deadline passes, you will lose points so you are advised to do them on time. I may assign additional assignments -- these assignments should be turned in by email unless otherwise instructed. ExamsThere will normally be a midterm exam and a final; any modifications to this will be announced in class. Exams are usually closed book, but I will allow you to bring in one 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper containing only formulas -- nothing else (two sides). More details on the nature of the exams can be found on the FAQ page. If you miss an exam without being excused, I cannot give you any credit for that exam. University policy allows make-ups only for serious personal illness or death in the family, for which documentation may be required. You can look at past exams and solutions on my website; however, the actual format of the exams this term will differ substantially from those of other exams. Please bring your own calculators to the exams; PDAs, however, are not allowed. Get in touch with me regarding any question you may have regarding the exams, or the course in general. Short QuizzesThere may, in addition, be short quizzes. Media ArticlesOn my webpages, you will find recent media articles. From time to time, I will add to this list. There are several reasons why you should look regularly at these pages.
The password, necessary to access the Media Articles section, will be announced in class and can also be found at the Blackboard website. In case of emergency, you can contact me for the password. If you have difficulty in accessing the site and you're using Internet Explorer, you may want to try the following fix:
Go to Tools on the Main menu, then choose Internet Options. Then choose Security; after that select Trusted Sites. Then click on sites and add "http://webpage.pace.edu/pviswanath" (make sure that you have unchecked the "Require Server Verification for all sites in this zone"). Grades
Note that the minimum and maximum quantitative scores for plus and minus refinements to the letter grades will be at my discretion. These will be partly determined by the distribution of student scores within each letter grade category. I place a high value on effort; at my discretion, I will raise your grade one notch if I feel that you have tried hard to satisfy all the requirements of the course. Prerequisites:Students must have satisfied the prerequisite for this course, viz. MBA 624. MBA 628 is recommended, but not required. I will presume complete familiarity with all topics taught in these courses. Data CardsOn the index card handed out in class, please fill in the information requested below. Make sure to number the item that you are responding to. Leave space on the top right hand side for a photograph.
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