Elective Courses
November 7, 2023 2025-10-21 17:12Elective Courses
Part-time MBA Elective Courses

Selected elective courses offered locally from other taught Masters Programmes of the Faculty, including Master of Accounting, Master of Economics, Master of Finance, Master of Science in Business Analytics, Master of Science in Marketing, Master of Global Management, Master of Finance in Financial Technology, and/or Master of Climate Governance and Risk Management (At most two electives from this category)
MBA Course Exemption
Elective courses
Five theme areas 
for the elective courses pool
All of our elective courses will be categorised into five major theme areas. Such categorisation will be provided to students so that they can have a clearer picture of what electives to study to fulfil their career aspirations.
Business Tech and Innovation
- AI in Financial Services: Leading Change in the Digital Era
- Artificial Intelligence for Business Leaders
- Big Data Consumer Analytics
- Business Intelligence and Big Data
- FinTech and Innovation in Financial Services
- Web 3 Applications, Investment and Development
Strategy and Consulting
- Advanced Negotiation
- Culture and Creative Transformation: Art, Culture, Commerce Integration and Strategic Value
- Doing Business in the Multipolar World
- Entrepreneurial Incubation Lab
- Entrepreneurship and Ventures
- Future Industry Immersion Study
- Innovating Healthcare
- Insights and Lessons – Reflections of a CEO
- International Field Project
- Managing Black Swans
- Management Consulting for Consultants and Managers
- Online Business Strategy
- Strategy in a Digital World
Marketing and General Management
- Advanced Negotiation
- Culture and Creative Transformation: Art, Culture, Commerce Integration and Strategic Value
- Decoding Branding in the New Era
- Digital Marketing Strategy
- Global Marketing Management
- Hit Business: Blockbuster, Technology, and Innovation
- Integrated Marketing Strategy: Social Media, Content and Brand
- Managing Black Swans
- Strategic Human Resource Management
- Supply Chain Management
Finance
- Advanced Corporate Finance
- AI in Financial Services: Leading Change in the Digital Era
- Business Valuation
- Corporate Fund-Raising Initiatives in the Chinese Equity Market
- Derivatives and Structured Finance
- Entrepreneurial Finance: Valuing, Financing, and Exiting Startups
- ESG, Sustainable Finance and Impact Investing
- FinTech and Innovation in Financial Services
- Investments and Asset Allocation
- Integrated Wealth Planning: Family Office and Asset Allocation
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Real Estate Finance
- Renewable Energy Finance
- Simulation Trading: Bridging Theory and Real-world Trading
- Venture Capital and Private Equity
- Web 3 Applications, Investment and Development
Managing in China & Asia
- Leadership Development in the Chinese Classics
- Legal Environment in Asia
Elective Courses
Advanced Corporate Finance
This course consists of three parts. Part I covers financing needs and capital structure. Part II develops tools needed for valuing investment projects and companies. Part III deals with the concepts of options and derivatives and their applications in corporate finance and risk management. The topics to be covered include: Capital Structure: Theory and Practice, Cost of Capital, Valuation: WACC versus APV, Dividend Policy, Convertible Debt, Options, Risk Management, Real Options for Valuation, and Strategic Decisions.
Advanced Negotiation
This course aims at providing a systematic introduction of concepts, theories and practices in negotiation, familiarising the students with different types of negotiations, and equipping them with toolkits of effective negotiation strategies that can be applied to various business and management contexts. The course introduces the nature and types of conflict, mechanism of conflict escalation and de-escalation, and conflict resolution styles. It follows with the discussion of the characteristics of interest-based negotiation and negotiation strategies. Differentiation will be drawn between distributive and integrative negotiation strategies, and between structured vs. non-structured negotiation contexts. The course also covers various cognitive and affective elements of negotiation that contribute to the success or failure of the practice. Specifically, students will learn cognitive biases, framing, building trust, handling difficult counterparties, power and persuasion, negotiation ethics, and third-party intervention. Some topics will be covered in the context of cross-cultural negotiation and computer-mediated negotiation to cater to the needs of today’s international business environment.
AI in Financial Services: Leading Change in the Digital Era
This course provides MBA students with a comprehensive understanding of AI and its transformative impact on the financial services sector. Through lectures, guest speakers from leading financial institutions, AI startups, industry associations, and consulting firms, and group projects, students will explore how AI is reshaping banking, insurance, asset and wealth management, and related functions. The course also emphasizes real-world applications, industry trends (e.g., GenAI, Agentic AI), and the strategic and operational implications of AI adoption for executives in this important sector where Hong Kong holds a leading position globally and regionally.
Artificial Intelligence for Business Leaders
This course aims to provide students with an overview of the main branches of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as well as explore use cases and practical business implementation within different industries and technologies to better understand the coming AI Human-centric revolution. Students will be able to identify and leverage AI to enhance and/or disrupt business models and whole industries while keeping in mind social and ethical dimensions for the greater good of the world. The course is also intended to aid the thinking and personal development of students so that they are better able to adapt to the future job market and shape the societal systems of tomorrow.
Big Data Consumer Analytics
This course looks to introduce students to the various methods and strategies to make sense of data. We will cover topics including advanced and Big Data predictive analytics, machine and deep learning, text mining and analysis, image and video analysis, and geospatial and mobility analytics. Students will have real hands-on practice exercises with these methods, learn how to generate insights from large and unstructured data, and build an understanding of its strategic relevance in creating sustainable competitive advantage. The course will also bridge these technical methods with social sciences and consumer behaviour. We will cover a number of case studies, with an emphasis on Asia, in sundry industries including retailing and e-commerce, advertising, FinTech and retail financial sectors, telecommunication, and transportation and smart nations. Finally, we will discuss the interwoven dependencies on the legal frameworks with Big Data, including issues relating to privacy, regulations, rights, consumer reactions and adherence to data legislation in different markets.
Business Intelligence and Big Data
With the rapid advances in information technologies, a massive amount of data, often known as “big data” is being generated at an unprecedented speed. There are ample opportunities for business organisations to gain managerial and strategic insights by gathering, cleaning, and analysing this data, a process known as “business intelligence.” The purpose of this course is to introduce a basic understanding of what business intelligence and big data are and how they can be applied to make intelligent business decisions and strategies. This course focuses on both the technical aspects and managerial aspects of business intelligence and big data analysis.
Business Valuation
This course is designed to help students conduct valuation using financial statements. The course introduces concepts, tools, and skills used for analysing financial statements. Topics cover strategy, accounting, and financial analysis; forecasting financial performance; valuation theory and practice; as well as business valuation in a private equity setting. Students will have the opportunity to apply the concepts and skills in analysing financial statements and valuing real companies in the course. This course will be useful for students who are interested in firms’ valuation, and particularly for those interested in finance and entrepreneurship.
Corporate Fund-Raising Initiatives in the Chinese Equity Market
This course is systematically designed to focus on the dynamics of China’s capital market. By integrating the lecturer’s extensive industry experience and real-world cases, it covers practical contexts such as China’s A-share markets, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and overseas listing mechanisms (e.g., ADRs). Updated content including the Shanghai STAR Market, weighted-voting structures, and post-2023 regulatory reforms (e.g., SPAC rule updates, PCAOB audit impacts) is incorporated to reflect the evolving landscape of Chinese equity financing.
Culture and Creative Transformation: Art, Culture, Commerce Integration and Strategic Value
In-depth understandings of the cultural and creative industry present a significant challenge to participants worldwide due to its dynamic characteristics. However, the industry is also highly compelling due to its emotional values indispensable to human society. This course aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the industry’s nature (i.e. fundamentals and interrelationships of art, culture and commerce), industry and business model transformation, and how strategic value is created in capital markets from both storytelling and valuation perspectives.
Decoding Branding in the New Era
This course combines the most critical theories as well as the most current marketing topics, including branding in the digital age, emergence of disruptive brands, brand management during economic turmoil, CSR and sustainability, big data and big branding, the art and science of branding, and Post COVID-19 branding insights, etc. With the increasing importance of the China market to any organisation, this course will also analyse the latest market development in China and how brand-owners can better prepare themselves to seize the substantial business opportunities in China. Throughout the course, the concept of branding will be thoroughly examined holistically.
Derivatives and Structured Finance
This course provides an in-depth exploration of derivatives and structured finance products. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the various types of derivatives, their use in risk management and investment strategies, as well as the mechanics of structuring and pricing complex financial instruments. Key topics include forward contracts, futures, options, swaps, credit derivatives, securitization, and collateralized debt obligations.
Doing Business in the Multipolar World
The shift to a multipolar world is entailing more complexity for business strategies but also increases opportunities for companies which can adapt and lead in this environment effectively. Beyond the traditional success factors of multinational companies, now the management needs an improved and more holistically set of knowledge, competencies, and skills. Therefore, the course covers the following: navigating multipolar alliances, managing international partnerships and joint ventures, regulatory compliance, managing the higher number of stakeholders, conflict resolution, resilience, geopolitical awareness, and risk management. Beyond these management competencies, also personal development to strengthen the ability to function as a global manager plays a role in this course, as well as diplomacy and negotiation skills in a global setting.
Digital Marketing Strategy
The digital economy has fundamentally altered the nature of and the scope of business and marketing practice, consumption, and society at large. This course provides fundamental knowledge on the developments in digital marketing and provides students a strategy toolkit by decomposing developments and applications in digital marketing into three fundamental dimensions; time, space, and connections. Substantive topics include: digital advertising, leveraging data assets to create value/win in the marketplace, social network analysis, social media, mobile marketing, mobility and location data/services, digital platforms and channels, and digital consumer behavior. In exploring these concepts, applications, and strategies this course aims to teach students how to create value from digital data and compete as the business landscape becomes increasingly digitalized, informatized, and technological.
Entrepreneurial Finance: Valuing, Financing, and Exiting Startups
This course is designed for students who plan to get involved with new ventures at some point their careers – either as a founder, employee, advisor, or investor. The course is also appropriate for students interested in a broader view of the financial landscape for young firms.
The course covers all stages of the venture life cycle – startup, valuation, financing, and exit from a finance perspective. It deals with topics such as deal structuring, incentives, valuation, and business models. There will be a focus on financing models such as angel financing, venture capital, corporate venture capital, bank debt, and receivables financing and how they are matched to the startup lifecycle.
Entrepreneurial Incubation Lab
Understanding and building entrepreneurial skills have become critical for both business founders as well as future business leaders. Hong Kong is among the top startup hubs globally and the HKU MBA programme is collaborating with Cyberport Academy, part of Hong Kong’s largest startup incubation hub, to enable our students to experience the entire startup journey right from ideation to validation and startup pitch. This course will equip them with the tools to launch their own business and drive entrepreneurial initiatives in their companies.
Entrepreneurship and Ventures
This course aims to provide an overview of the entrepreneurship process by focusing on new venture creation from idea generation, building a compelling business model and opportunity recognition to managing new business start-ups and dealing with venture capitalists. Students will learn how to develop business models that create new value for customers in a start-up venture and will also learn about the values, management, marketing, and financial skills that are most often associated with successful entrepreneurial activity. Students then discover and evaluate opportunities, develop possible business models and prepare a venture plan.
ESG, Sustainable Finance and Impact Investing
This course provides an overview of financial instruments and activities that are critical for sustainable, climate-resilient worldwide economic development. It covers topics such as green bonds and sustainability-linked bonds, which are important constituents of the green and sustainable finance markets. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings are discussed through cases and examples. Active ownership and impact investing through which institutional investors engage corporations to achieve positive ESG outcomes consistent with Paris Agreement are explained. Government regulations and industry best practices for ESG disclosures and reporting are elaborated.
FinTech and Innovation in Financial Services
This course equips students with the knowledge to appreciate and navigate the transformative impact of fintech. Students will gain a foundational understanding of underlying technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence, blockchain, etc.) and explore their real-world applications, business models, and potential opportunities to drive innovation across industries. A unique aspect of the course are the in-class guest speakers that will share their experiences as entrepreneurs and leaders. Learning from such speakers and about the business applications of new technologies, students will also develop additional insights about their own respective career paths.
Future Industry Immersion Study
This course introduces the economic, corporate and cultural environment of major innovation cities in China. It also helps students understand industrial ecosystems in China’s economic hubs, analyze the impact of national policies, examine innovation in technology and traditional industries, and develop cultural intelligence for business in major innovation cities in China.
Global Marketing Management
This course is designed for students looking to deepen their understanding of how to develop marketing strategies through implementation across global markets. Examining the challenges of entering and operating effectively across international markets, this course covers international marketing objectives, strategies and policies, market selection, distribution channel decisions and management, international marketing mix approaches appropriate to individual markets, and systems of the international marketing organisation, planning, and control.
Hit Business: Blockbuster, Technology, and Innovation
A “hit product” refers to a product that enjoys immediate and substantial popularity. This course dives deep into the phenomenal success of hit business. We will explore the factors contributing to the success of hit products, including effective marketing, a unique selling proposition, and psychology of consuming hit products. More importantly, we will reveal the blockbuster strategy that have been widely used in creative industries (e.g. music, sports, and films), discuss in depth how the technology and innovations have shaped and challenged the hit business, and generalize the insights into other industries, such as retailing and social media.
Innovating Healthcare
This multidisciplinary course provides an overview of the evolution, structure and current issues in the health care sector, and the innovation challenges created by system complexity, technology advancement, and growing diverse needs. It examines the unique features of health care as a product, and the changing relationships between patients, providers, insurers, bioscience, employers, and government. Moreover, this course will explore new ecosystem at the crossroad of biotechnology digital technology, fintech, and new health care delivery model. This course will offer useful introduction to students interested in health insurance, hospital, pharmaceutical, medical device, investment in health care, or starting a new venture in health care.
Insights and Lessons – Reflections of a CEO
The course instructor was a CEO who has transformed four major organizations in Hong Kong, namely, Dragonair, Ocean Park, Cathay Pacific Airways and Hang Lung Properties. This course highlights the practical lessons and experiences accumulated in his 42-year career. Students will share the experiences and obtain a better understanding of the top-level business and strategy issues.
Integrated Marketing Strategy: Social Media, Content and Brand
Designed as a transformative elective for MBA students, this course deepens understanding of Integrated Marketing Strategy: Social Media, Content, and Brand within an AI-driven digital landscape. While social media marketing, content creation, and brand leadership each encompass vast domains, this course empowers participants to synthesize these disciplines into a cohesive, strategic framework, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Through a dynamic blend of interactive case studies, hands-on workshops, ideation exercises, and strategic group presentations, students will dissect real-world successes and failures, harness marketing tools for innovation, and craft integrated marketing strategies that amplify engagement, strengthen brand equity, and deliver measurable impact. This elective equips future leaders with the critical insights and actionable skills to navigate the complexities of modern marketing, empowering them to drive innovation and excel in a globally competitive environment.
Integrated Wealth Planning: Family Office and Asset Allocation
This course offers an in-depth exploration of integrated wealth planning, with a specialized focus on family office operations and global asset allocation strategies. It delves into the theoretical foundations of portfolio management and risk assessment across diverse asset classes, while emphasizing practical approaches to constructing and optimizing portfolios for high-net-worth individuals and family offices.
The curriculum also highlights the central role of asset management in family office operations, particularly its unique significance for family succession planning—encompassing wealth preservation, intergenerational transfer, and alignment of family values with investment strategies. It contrasts family office asset management with institutional approaches, addressing key differences in risk tolerance, investment horizons, and non-financial objectives such as legacy building.
New content on alternative investment classes—including private equity (PE), digital assets (e.g., cryptocurrencies, NFTs), and art collections—is integrated to reflect the diverse portfolios of high-net-worth families. This equips students to analyze and manage complex wealth structures in global markets, with a focus on the specialized needs of family offices of all sizes.
International Field Project
With shifting global economic patterns, the knowledge and field experience in different countries and economic regions is inevitable to be successful on an international and local scale. The international field project is a practical course, which proceeds by visiting companies and institutions to learn about businesses and public services and collect data which serves as a basis for course work. It also gives a cultural perspective and encourages observing international differences in markets, objectives, and operations. Classroom teaching, prereading literature and reviewing current events lay the foundation, but the main pedagogic concept is to analyse companies and institutions visited and extract lessons learned. This can mean the application of best practices back home, the assessment of opportunities for Chinese companies in the visited counties, and how to build closer professional and personal ties. Ideally, students already have a sound knowledge of professional practices and some core MBA curriculum subjects, so they can apply and calibrate this in a new context and realities outside the classroom. Further, global contexts will be discussed and the relation to trade agreements and initiatives such as the “One Belt, One Road Initiative”.
*International Field Project is an elective course for Part-time students
Investments and Asset Allocation
This class is aimed to cover the basics of investments and modern portfolio theory and extend this to complex issues of asset allocation including alternative assets. Thus, this course covers a mixture of traditional assets (stocks, bonds, etc.) and alternative assets (hedge funds, private equities, private credit, etc.) and how to allocate between them.
Leadership Development in the Chinese Classics
This course aspires to dive back into ancient wisdoms within the Chinese classics to examine the fundamental guidelines for developing leadership skills. It aims to compare 1) the leadership now and where it will go in the future, 2) the basic qualities we are looking for, 3) the need to face a multifaceted and pluralistic world. These wisdom and values may be perceived as “old” fashion, however, exploring Chineseness incorporated within “China in the World” will bring to light leadership behaviours currently being practiced to be aligned with values within the Chinese classics.
Legal Environment in Asia
This course will provide each student with a solid legal foundation, especially in an Asian context. It is an international business law course specifically designed for students who are or hope to become managers and executives in Asia. We will discuss broad legal principles and how they affect business today, analysing several cross-border business transactions and court cases. The format of the course is similar to a graduate seminar, requiring students to be well prepared and participate actively in class.
Management Consulting for Consultants and Managers
This course is targeted to MBA Candidates and future business executives. It is meant to explain what consulting is, what consultants do, how to practically prepare for a consulting career and decide on what type of consulting to practice. It is also meant for future business executives to better understand what consultants bring to a company and how to best use them. This course will also put a particular emphasis on preparing students for the interview process, which is specific to consulting firms (e.g., several “Case Interviews” in 2-3 rounds): process itself, types of cases, useful frameworks and approaches, skills sought after by Consulting firms, etc., with actual cases discussed in class, and case preparation expected outside classes as well.
Managing Black Swans
This course aims to help business leaders and policy makers to improve their decision making under extreme uncertainty. It synthesizes the recent research on Black Swan events and develops ideas and tools for managing them. It will deal with the following questions. What are Black Swan events? How do they affect investment, business and society? What can we do to make better decisions in the world full of Black Swan events?
Mergers and Acquisitions
This course is designed to develop a solid understanding of commonly discussed and applied issues in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The topics covered in this course include the M&A process, methods of valuing a target firm, valuing synergies, the form of payment and financing, assessing highly leveraged transactions, governance in M&A, and M&A negotiations. M&A cases will be used in discussing these topics. By going through analyses and discussions of real-life M&As, students will gain experience in the application of financial theories and techniques to evaluate M&A decisions and transactions.
Online Business Strategy
This course is designed to allow students of all levels to become familiar with the fundamental role of technological advancements in today’s business environments. As technology becomes increasingly integrated into business processes, managers and leaders alike must be able to understand and communicate the enabling potential of these tools. This course provides an introductory training for such purposes. Topics of this course cover the fundamental challenges faced by businesses operating in the online environment, new opportunities and threats arising from social media, and strategic considerations in offering web-based services and information goods.
Real Estate Finance
The objective of this course is to develop an analytical framework by which students can make sound real estate investment decisions. The main emphases of the course are theory, concept-building, financial modelling, and practical application. In particular, class discussions will cover the following areas in real estate: Real estate markets and investments, appraisals, and development, Institutional aspects of real estate finance, Mortgage Markets, Mortgage-Backed Securities, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), Real Estate Transactions, Valuation of Land, Valuation of Income Producing Properties, and Redevelopment of Real Estate.
Renewable Energy Finance
The goal of this course is to provide students an introduction to the topic of renewable energy finance and develop the concepts and practical tools that are essential in this field. The course contains lectures, problem solving exercises, cases, and academic paper reading. Lectures and exercises are used to develop the basic skills, academic paper reading deepens the understanding, and case analyses improves the decision-making ability under complex real-world situations. The course will be case intensive and requires a substantial amount of reading and discussions. The course assumes that students already have a good knowledge and understanding about basic finance concepts, such as net present value and investment valuation.
Simulation Trading: Bridging Theory and Real-world Trading
Knowledge is derived from experience. Simulation of real-world experience is an effective and profound teaching method to facilitate understanding of knowledge. The course would use simulation software program to have students concretely experience secondary markets, both equities and FICC, to gain working knowledge of the fundamentals how today’s secondary markets work. The experience will be precious for professional careers, personal wealth investment or government policy making.
Strategic Human Resource Management
Strategic human resource management (HRM) aims to maximize the value of human capital with a wide range of tools, such as the design of business models, performance measures, compensation systems, and workplace rules. This course covers the content knowledge in the following topics: (1) how to use people factors to upgrade the business models in the digital economy era, (2) how to use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to enhance human productivity and firm performance, (3) how to select a person who will perform well and stay long, (4) how to design compensation structures for organizations and design monetary and non-monetary incentives for individuals, and (5) how to gamify the workplace with a human-focused, rather than a function-focused mindset, etc. The course offers a lot of interactive opportunities to apply what we learned to solve problems in different case scenarios.
Strategy in a Digital World
This course aims to recast strategy for today’s ever-changing digital world. As companies respond to this changing world, clearly changing strategy is vital. However, changes in the ways companies conceptualize strategy and opportunity will often enable/require a company to innovate to take advantage of these new opportunities. During this course, the students will explore four types of innovation available to a firm: product, process, service, and management.
Also, the changing perspectives on strategy and innovation will be interweaved throughout the course, because new digital technologies often change the existing rules of the game and thus require firms to innovate. In particular, understanding the strategic impact on new technologies which can have on a business (possibilities include destroying, shifting, or creating value) is one of the key skills that a general manager must possess in today’s corporations. With this new understanding, new perspectives on strategy and innovation will arise.
Supply Chain Management
This course focuses on the systems approach to the planning, analysis, design, development, and evaluation of supply chain and logistics management. You will not be learning dry, abstract concepts or theories, but will be given practical situations and case studies from a number of industries to stimulate your thinking for solutions in the analysis of your own organisation’s supply chain operation. The learning contents are designed to be comprehensive and illuminative. If you are merely a consumer or customer, this study will help make you more perceptive and more understanding of the constraints and strengths of supply chain management.
Venture Capital and Private Equity
Private Equity (PE), including Venture Capital (VC), has become an increasingly important asset class for most institutional investors. This course shall focus on the most recent developments in the PEVC industry and also provide an overview to students. This course shall examine how PE and VC work, mitigate risks, and generate returns and it will also discuss the processes ranging from screening to exiting deals. The objective of the course is for students to gain deep knowledge of PEVC from not only case studies and model simulations, but also experiential learning similar to that of field PEVC professionals through students’ team collaboration to experience the art of negotiating and closing deals, which aims to mimic the real-world situation.
Web 3 Applications, Investment and Development
This course is designed to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the dynamic and rapidly evolving world of Web 3. Through the comprehensive course design, it aims to immerse students in the depths of this revolutionary ecosystem. It provides an unparalleled exploration of the Web 3 universe, blending theoretical knowledge with practical insights into the sector’s explosive growth and boundless potential. This course will also provide a thorough evaluation of the regulations and policies influencing the Web 3 ecosystem’s evolution. Students will explore how global financial centers, such as Hong Kong, are adopting Web 3 through initiatives like Web 3 and Real-World Asset (RWA) task forces, as well as the licensing of cryptocurrency exchanges. They will also investigate the approaches of U.S. legislative and government bodies towards crypto regulations. As a result, students will be equipped with the essential skills to navigate this complex and rapidly growing sector effectively.
Advanced Corporate Finance
This course consists of three parts. Part I covers financing needs and capital structure. Part II develops tools needed for valuing investment projects and companies. Part III deals with the concepts of options and derivatives and their applications in corporate finance and risk management. The topics to be covered include: Capital Structure: Theory and Practice, Cost of Capital, Valuation: WACC versus APV, Dividend Policy, Convertible Debt, Options, Risk Management, Real Options for Valuation, and Strategic Decisions.
Big Data Consumer Analytics
This course looks to introduce students to the various methods and strategies to make sense of data. We will cover topics including advanced and Big Data predictive analytics, machine and deep learning, text mining and analysis, image and video analysis, and geospatial and mobility analytics. Students will have real hands-on practice exercises with these methods, learn how to generate insights from large and unstructured data, and build an understanding of its strategic relevance in creating sustainable competitive advantage. The course will also bridge these technical methods with social sciences and consumer behaviour. We will cover a number of case studies, with an emphasis on Asia, in sundry industries including retailing and e-commerce, advertising, FinTech and retail financial sectors, telecommunication, and transportation and smart nations. Finally, we will discuss the interwoven dependencies on the legal frameworks with Big Data, including issues relating to privacy, regulations, rights, consumer reactions and adherence to data legislation in different markets.
China Business Environment
This course examines the challenges and opportunities that a rising and rapidly changing China has provided for various business corporations, i.e. Chinese state-owned enterprises, China’s private enterprises, and foreign invested or foreign multinational enterprises. It focuses on distinct aspects of the Chinese business environment that companies must address if they are to succeed in one of the world’s most important and misunderstood markets. The course will focus on the Chinese political / governmental system that influences the economy, the major initiatives that might provide opportunities for business, and the international relations that may complicate business for both Chinese and non-Chinese companies. In addition to a range of background documents on China and its economy, we will also use cases on China’s state-owned enterprises, China’s private enterprises, and foreign enterprises operating in China to identify the distinct challenges and opportunities that different types of firms face in China.
Derivatives and Structured Finance
The major objective of this course is to promote an in-depth understanding of basic derivative products and structured finance instruments. This course provides students with a framework (1) to understand the fundamental concepts of derivative products (forward and futures, options, swaps) and structured finance instruments (CDOs, CDS, ELNs and other structured products), (2) to develop the necessary skills used in valuing derivative contracts, and (3) to understand a wide variety of issues related to risk management and investment decisions using derivatives and structured products.
Entrepreneurial Incubation Lab
Understanding and building entrepreneurial skills have become critical for both business founders as well as future business leaders. Hong Kong is among the top startup hubs globally and the HKU MBA programme is collaborating with Cyberport Academy, part of Hong Kong’s largest startup incubation hub, to enable our students to experience the entire startup journey right from ideation to validation and startup pitch. This course will equip them with the tools to launch their own business and drive entrepreneurial initiatives in their companies.
Global Marketing Management
This course is designed for students looking to deepen their understanding of how to develop marketing strategies through implementation across global markets. Examining the challenges of entering and operating effectively across international markets, this course covers international marketing objectives, strategies and policies, market selection, distribution channel decisions and management, international marketing mix approaches appropriate to individual markets, and systems of the international marketing organisation, planning, and control.
Investments and Asset Allocation
This class is aimed to cover the basics of investments and modern portfolio theory and extend this to complex issues of asset allocation including alternative assets. Thus, this course covers a mixture of traditional assets (stocks, bonds, etc.) and alternative assets (hedge funds, private equities, private credit, etc.) and how to allocate between them.
Managing Black Swans
This course aims to help business leaders and policy makers to improve their decision making under extreme uncertainty. It synthesizes the recent research on Black Swan events and develops ideas and tools for managing them. It will deal with the following questions. What are Black Swan events? How do they affect investment, business and society? What can we do to make better decisions in the world full of Black Swan events?
Online Business Strategy
This course is designed to allow students of all levels to become familiar with the fundamental role of technological advancements in today’s business environments. As technology becomes increasingly integrated into business processes, managers and leaders alike must be able to understand and communicate the enabling potential of these tools. This course provides an introductory training for such purposes. Topics of this course cover the fundamental challenges faced by businesses operating in the online environment, new opportunities and threats arising from social media, and strategic considerations in offering web-based services and information goods.
Renewable Energy Finance
The goal of this course is to provide students an introduction to the topic of renewable energy finance and develop the concepts and practical tools that are essential in this field. The course contains lectures, problem solving exercises, cases, and academic paper reading. Lectures and exercises are used to develop the basic skills, academic paper reading deepens the understanding, and case analyses improves the decision-making ability under complex real-world situations. The course will be case intensive and requires a substantial amount of reading and discussions. The course assumes that students already have a good knowledge and understanding about basic finance concepts, such as net present value and investment valuation.
Turnaround Management and Corporate Resilience
This course is designed to train you to design and execute turn around initiatives for companies in crisis and bring them back to a sustainable economic path. It covers all aspects of rescue and restructuring in a practical and hands on approach. The course has the main objective to gain the ability to design and execute turn around initiatives for companies in crisis. It is targeting executives and their advisors who are in charge of major corporate restructurings.
Advanced Negotiation
This course aims at providing a systematic introduction of concepts, theories and practices in negotiation, familiarising the students with different types of negotiations, and equipping them with toolkits of effective negotiation strategies that can be applied to various business and management contexts. The course introduces the nature and types of conflict, mechanism of conflict escalation and de-escalation, and conflict resolution styles. It follows with the discussion of the characteristics of interest-based negotiation and negotiation strategies. Differentiation will be drawn between distributive and integrative negotiation strategies, and between structured vs. non-structured negotiation contexts. The course also covers various cognitive and affective elements of negotiation that contribute to the success or failure of the practice. Specifically, students will learn cognitive biases, framing, building trust, handling difficult counterparties, power and persuasion, negotiation ethics, and third-party intervention. Some topics will be covered in the context of cross-cultural negotiation and computer-mediated negotiation to cater to the needs of today’s international business environment.
Business Intelligence and Big Data
With the rapid advances in information technologies, a massive amount of data, often known as “big data” is being generated at an unprecedented speed. There are ample opportunities for business organisations to gain managerial and strategic insights by gathering, cleaning, and analysing this data, a process known as “business intelligence.” The purpose of this course is to introduce a basic understanding of what business intelligence and big data are and how they can be applied to make intelligent business decisions and strategies. This course focuses on both the technical aspects and managerial aspects of business intelligence and big data analysis.
Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility
This course is to provide a multi-faceted overview of the characteristics and unique challenges of governance strategy and practices in Asia. Corporate governance topics include the institutional environment, corporate ownership, family-and state-owned enterprises, board of directors, and corporate transparency. Moreover, the topics of social responsibility, nonprofit organisations, and social enterprises will be discussed in-depth to bring this course to a forward-looking conclusion.
Disrupting Business Models with Blockchain
This course will be a practical guide to the technology, helping the student to discern realistic implementation versus the hype and fiction that sometimes surrounds the technology due to its cryptocurrency roots. It will focus on existing successful enterprise use cases, but also cover emerging concepts (DeFi, NFTs, DAOs) that business leaders should be aware of and how they might leverage the innovations. The course will interweave this theory and use cases with a series of guest lectures from people working in various areas of the industry.
Entrepreneurship and Ventures
This course aims to provide an overview of the entrepreneurship process by focusing on new venture creation from idea generation, building a compelling business model and opportunity recognition to managing new business start-ups and dealing with venture capitalists. Students will learn how to develop business models that create new value for customers in a start-up venture and will also learn about the values, management, marketing, and financial skills that are most often associated with successful entrepreneurial activity. Students then discover and evaluate opportunities, develop possible business models and prepare a venture plan.
Legal Environment in Asia
This course will provide each student with a solid legal foundation, especially in an Asian context. It is an international business law course specifically designed for students who are or hope to become managers and executives in Asia. We will discuss broad legal principles and how they affect business today, analysing several cross-border business transactions and court cases. The format of the course is similar to a graduate seminar, requiring students to be well prepared and participate actively in class.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Operations Analytics
This course introduces the concepts of operations management and the application of analytical techniques in solving problems an organisation faces in its operations. Operations of an organisation concern the management of the processes which convert inputs into outputs. Effective operations management involves managing people, equipment, and other resources. This course will provide students with the analytical tools needed to understand and articulate the impact of an organisation’s processes and the ability to continuously improve these processes. By introducing rigorous analytical methods and theories, this course demonstrates ways to apply structured thinking to loosely defined real-life operations processes.
Strategic Human Resource Management
Strategic human resource management (HRM) aims to maximize the value of human capital with a wide range of tools, such as the design of business models, performance measures, compensation systems, and workplace rules. This course covers the content knowledge in the following topics: (1) how to use people factors to upgrade the business models in the digital economy era, (2) how to use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to enhance human productivity and firm performance, (3) how to select a person who will perform well and stay long, (4) how to design compensation structures for organizations and design monetary and non-monetary incentives for individuals, and (5) how to gamify the workplace with a human-focused, rather than a function-focused mindset, etc. The course offers a lot of interactive opportunities to apply what we learned to solve problems in different case scenarios.
Venture Capital and Private Equity
Private Equity (PE), including Venture Capital (VC), has become an increasingly important asset class for most institutional investors. This course shall focus on the most recent developments in the PEVC industry and also provide an overview to students. This course shall examine how PE and VC work, mitigate risks, and generate returns and it will also discuss the processes ranging from screening to exiting deals. The objective of the course is for students to gain deep knowledge of PEVC from not only case studies and model simulations, but also experiential learning similar to that of field PEVC professionals through students’ team collaboration to experience the art of negotiating and closing deals, which aims to mimic the real-world situation.
Artificial Intelligence for Business Leaders
This course aims to provide students with an overview of the main branches of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as well as explore use cases and practical business implementation within different industries and technologies to better understand the coming AI Human-centric revolution. Students will be able to identify and leverage AI to enhance and/or disrupt business models and whole industries while keeping in mind social and ethical dimensions for the greater good of the world. The course is also intended to aid the thinking and personal development of students so that they are better able to adapt to the future job market and shape the societal systems of tomorrow.
Business Valuation
This course is designed to help students conduct valuation using financial statements. The course introduces concepts, tools, and skills used for analysing financial statements. Topics cover strategy, accounting, and financial analysis; forecasting financial performance; valuation theory and practice; as well as business valuation in a private equity setting. Students will have the opportunity to apply the concepts and skills in analysing financial statements and valuing real companies in the course. This course will be useful for students who are interested in firms’ valuation, and particularly for those interested in finance and entrepreneurship.
Decoding Branding in the New Era
This course combines the most critical theories as well as the most current marketing topics, including branding in the digital age, emergence of disruptive brands, brand management during economic turmoil, CSR and sustainability, big data and big branding, the art and science of branding, and Post COVID-19 branding insights, etc. With the increasing importance of the China market to any organisation, this course will also analyse the latest market development in China and how brand-owners can better prepare themselves to seize the substantial business opportunities in China. Throughout the course, the concept of branding will be thoroughly examined holistically.
Effective ESG – Assessing, Advising & Leading
The goal for the course will be for participants to form their own evidenced based mental model of what they believe effective ESG is. This course will in turn prepare each participant to use their mental models of effective ESG to assess, advise and lead organizations in this subject. The development gained from this course will be relevant to a wide range of future careers and not limited to those who intend to specialize in ESG.
ESG, Sustainable Finance and Impact Investing
This course provides an overview of financial instruments and activities that are critical for sustainable, climate-resilient worldwide economic development. It covers topics such as green bonds and sustainability-linked bonds, which are important constituents of the green and sustainable finance markets. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings are discussed through cases and examples. Active ownership and impact investing through which institutional investors engage corporations to achieve positive ESG outcomes consistent with Paris Agreement are explained. Government regulations and industry best practices for ESG disclosures and reporting are elaborated.
International Field Project
With shifting global economic patterns, the knowledge and field experience in different countries and economic regions is inevitable to be successful on an international and local scale. The international field project is a practical course, which proceeds by visiting companies and institutions to learn about businesses and public services and collect data which serves as a basis for course work. It also gives a cultural perspective and encourages observing international differences in markets, objectives, and operations. Classroom teaching, prereading literature and reviewing current events lay the foundation, but the main pedagogic concept is to analyse companies and institutions visited and extract lessons learned. This can mean the application of best practices back home, the assessment of opportunities for Chinese companies in the visited counties, and how to build closer professional and personal ties. Ideally, students already have a sound knowledge of professional practices and some core MBA curriculum subjects, so they can apply and calibrate this in a new context and realities outside the classroom. Further, global contexts will be discussed and the relation to trade agreements and initiatives such as the “One Belt, One Road Initiative”.
*International Field Project is an elective course for Part-time students
Management Consulting for Consultants and Managers
This course is targeted to MBA Candidates and future business executives. It is meant to explain what consulting is, what consultants do, how to practically prepare for a consulting career and decide on what type of consulting to practice. It is also meant for future business executives to better understand what consultants bring to a company and how to best use them. This course will also put a particular emphasis on preparing students for the interview process, which is specific to consulting firms (e.g., several “Case Interviews” in 2-3 rounds): process itself, types of cases, useful frameworks and approaches, skills sought after by Consulting firms, etc., with actual cases discussed in class, and case preparation expected outside classes as well.
Multinational Enterprises Strategy
This course is designed to broaden students’ understanding of the issues related to the management of multinational enterprises. The emphasis is on the global business environment and its impacts on multinational enterprises’ strategy, structure, and functions. First, the course discusses the political, economic, and cultural environments in which multinational enterprises operate. Second, it examines the strategy and organisation of multinational enterprises, including entry strategies, international alliances, organisation structures, and control in multinational enterprises. Third, it examines the management of people in multinational enterprises, including motivation and decision-making in the international context.
Real Estate Finance
The objective of this course is to develop an analytical framework by which students can make sound real estate investment decisions. The main emphases of the course are theory, concept-building, financial modelling, and practical application. In particular, class discussions will cover the following areas in real estate: Real estate markets and investments, appraisals, and development, Institutional aspects of real estate finance, Mortgage Markets, Mortgage-Backed Securities, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), Real Estate Transactions, Valuation of Land, Valuation of Income Producing Properties, and Redevelopment of Real Estate.
Supply Chain Management
This course focuses on the systems approach to the planning, analysis, design, development, and evaluation of supply chain and logistics management. You will not be learning dry, abstract concepts or theories, but will be given practical situations and case studies from a number of industries to stimulate your thinking for solutions in the analysis of your own organisation’s supply chain operation. The learning contents are designed to be comprehensive and illuminative. If you are merely a consumer or customer, this study will help make you more perceptive and more understanding of the constraints and strengths of supply chain management.
Web 3 Applications, Investment and Development
This course is designed to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the dynamic and rapidly evolving world of Web 3. With our comprehensive course design, we will immerse students in the depths of this revolutionary digital ecosystem. This course offers an unparalleled exploration of the Web 3 universe, providing a blend of theoretical knowledge and practical insights into the explosive growth and boundless potential of this cutting-edge sector.
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 



