Lee Kong Chian School of Business

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Describe basic societal concepts and frameworks on sustainability and be able to guide a corporate's sustainability-based product and/or service design with these frameworks.
• Conduct a strategic and/or market assessment for a specific product, including the manner of orientation (towards sustainability) of selected consumer markets (including overseas ones). This may include conducting qualitative and secondary research on potential customers.
• Identify and solve a problem of how corporations can become more sustainable by innovating to meet consumer needs. Specifically, design a value proposition via design thinking for a selected customer segment, including the devising of a strategy to improve the product's acceptance by the firm's potential customers and its broader market.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Analyze the power and impact of global and local challenges related to digital disruption and demographic change on business and society in general;
• Explain the importance of collaborative transformative leadership in addressing some of these complex issues head on in an integrated, interdisciplinary and novel manner, bringing about transformational, out-of-the box solutions;
• Appreciate what it takes in terms of design thinking to propose user-centred solutions, that create real value for stakeholders of participating client organizations;
• Articulate how selected leadership concepts such as transformational, collaborative leadership approaches can propel innovative problem solutions;
• Reflect effectively about their own leadership outlook and the acquisition of 21th century skills such as collaborative intelligence, through impactful and innovative SMU-X projects

By the end of this course, students will be able to do the following:
Leadership:

• Appreciate the value of experience and action-based learning that integrates understanding of major leadership paradigms and leadership theories from an inter-disciplinary perspective
• Engage analytical, problem-solving & reasoning skills to critically appraise various theories and perspectives of leadership
• Apply the various leadership traits and behavior as well as different leadership style such as charismatic & transformational leadership, principles of stewardship & servant leadership, collaborative, authentic leadership and other such recent leadership approaches in a VUCA world
• Appreciate being open-minded & sensitive to individual differences and embrace uncertainties
• Understand how leaders can set or influence the ethical tone by applying Kohlberg's model of moral development
• Learn more about leadership through their group project work, class activities, readings, etc.

Teams and Groups:

• Understand major theories and perspectives of group dynamics and group leadership
• Learn more about teamwork processes through working on a real-life group project with an industry or community partner
• Throughout the group project students will learn to collaborate and employ innovative skills in using their expertise, knowledge to contribute to the needs of the partnering industry or community based organization
• Understand different methods of communication and appreciate how to effectively communicate and manage conflict, if any, and learn to overcome challenges within their respective group as well as with their respective external stakeholders
• Develop a detailed work schedule and strategies among teams, and understand how to form, lead and manage work teams
• Acquire some level of resilience through self-directed and group-directed learning that includes embracing uncertainties, overcoming challenges, etc.

Academic and Professional Capabilities:

• Understand and gain qualitative fieldwork skills such as how to conduct interviews and carry out a needs analysis or survey in an ethical manner
• Formalizing report writing with integrity and honesty

The overall objective of this module is to equip students with core knowledge of appreciating what it takes to plan, design, build and sustain (mega) cities that are innovative and sustainable and to know the challenges of successfully 'selling' new smart city concepts amidst increasing competition in this field.

By the end of this course, students will be able to appreciate the following 4 areas:

• Taxonomy of Innovative & Sustainable Cities
  • Describe the core characteristics of a Smart City and respective concepts
  • Explain the unique characteristics of each component and how it adds value to innovative and sustainable (smart) cities
• Design of Innovative & Sustainable Cities
  • Understand the planning and design principles of Innovative & Sustainable Cities
  • Explain the workings of each component of Innovative & Sustainable Cities
• In-depth study of selected (Mega) Cities
  • Be familiar with the challenges of selected mega cities around the globe and understand how the smart city concept can add value in terms of livability Commercialisation of the Smart City Concept
  • Appreciate the challenges in successfully commercializing smart city concepts and applications
  • Know some of the key players in the Singapore context which are involved in this service sector and establish network contacts

Note: Central to this course is a SMU-X group project that takes the form of an action-based and experiential assignment, where student groups work with a partner organization with the aim of achieving innovative solutions for the organization. Based on this experiential learning, students will gain acquire practical Smart City-related competencies.

At the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Describe how sustainable investing is defined and implemented by companies and investors across regions and asset classes
• Identify and describe traditional and “new” alternative investments, including size, growth, performance and profitability of asset classes, as well as common investment strategies
• Understand issues of due diligence, including key characteristics such as liquidity, scale, transparency, performance, fees and risk
• Assess the suitability of sustainable investing and alternatives to different classes of investors, and how products fit within an institutional investment framework
• Understand how to create sustainability-aware portfolios reflecting the tradeoffs between financial returns and sustainability
• Make informed decisions about allocation to sustainable investment strategies and alternative investments, including alternative investments with a sustainability tilt
• Incorporate concepts from FNCE6023 and previous courses into effective project solutions for corporate partners, delivered through written materials and presentations

The primary aim of this course is to learn new skills and tools that will provide students with important quantitative acumen for understanding consumer analytics.

The primary aim of this course is to learn new skills and tools that will provide students with important quantitative acumen for understanding consumer analytics.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Develop a collaborative design thinking mindset that enables them to explore and communicate complex problems they face at the workplace;
• Critically evaluate a solution by reframing the problem, changing perspectives, or redefining the constraints by continuously iterating “How Might We?” questions;
• Integrate storytelling into a human-centered approach to problem-solving by engaging the audience and considering time in the solution narrative;
• Construct key user-centered design briefs, statements, and framework documents that reflect empathy with the user needs or a challenge; and
• Design and test simple prototypes that reflect the user’s needs and invite further iterations.

The primary aim of this course is to learn new skills and tools that will provide students with important quantitative acumen for understanding consumer analytics.

At the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Describe how sustainable investing is defined and implemented by companies and investors across regions and asset classes
• Identify and describe traditional and “new” alternative investments, including size, growth, performance and profitability of asset classes, as well as common investment strategies
• Understand issues of due diligence, including key characteristics such as liquidity, scale, transparency, performance, fees and risk
• Assess the suitability of sustainable investing and alternatives to different classes of investors, and how products fit within an institutional investment framework
• Understand how to create sustainability-aware portfolios reflecting the tradeoffs between financial returns and sustainability
• Make informed decisions about allocation to sustainable investment strategies and alternative investments, including alternative investments with a sustainability tilt
• Incorporate concepts from FNCE6023 and previous courses into effective project solutions for corporate partners, delivered through written materials and presentations