By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Explain the key principles of storytelling for brands and organizations.
- Create authentic, engaging stories for various audiences and media.
- Unearth the consumer, brand and cultural insights that form the basis of good stories.
- Develop their creativity.
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.
In collaboration with an industry partner, this course seeks to
(a) provide an understanding of the theoretical and empirical work on studies of older adults and relevant areas (e.g., global ageing phenomenon, major theories of aging, ageism, retirement, concept of social connectedness, active and successful aging, social policies, economics of ageing, ethical issues in ageing) conducted to date by scholars in gerontology;
(b) address issues (e.g., interdisciplinary collaboration to address societal impact of an aging population) at the individual, organizational and national level that might enhance or hamper social connectedness.
(c) engage SMU students in collaborative project proposals to solve client-centered problems related to designing community space to help older adults stay socially connected and enjoy a meaningful and enriching life.
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Analyze the power and impact of global and local challenges related to the nexus of 'digital disruption, demographic change and age diversity' on business and society in general;
- Explain the importance of collaborative transformative leadership in developing and implementing practical solutions which address some of these complex issues head on in an integrated, interdisciplinary and novel manner;
- Appreciate what it takes in terms of design thinking, business model development and innovation strategies to propose practical solutions that create real value for relevant 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 way forward in terms of good self-leadership on the basis of an enhanced self-awareness enabled through the deployment of a relevant assessment instrument (with a focus on personal leadership development through feedback and coaching) as well as the (playful and project-based) acquisition of 21th century skills such as collaborative intelligence through impactful and innovative SMU-X projects.
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:
a. 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
b. 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
c. 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
d. 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
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Apply design methodologies to designs "things".
- Develop an understanding of how businesses can be "designed" using the same design methodologies in order to implement the designed "things".
- Develop an appreciation of how to create designs for broader and varying contexts, that is, to be sensitive to human, societal needs and the physical environment.
Students will be trained in Six Sigma to the level of Greenbelt and will achieve certification of their Green Belt status by SMU. After taking this course, students will be able to:
- Explain the different elements of Six Sigma Deployment, including the change and leadership components necessary
- Explain the basics of LEAN improvement methods including simple value-stream mapping and identification of process waste
- Define, lead and manage small to medium-size process improvement projects using the DMAIC (Design, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) and DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) methods
- Identify and apply appropriate six-sigma and project management tools to effectively improve processes
- Operate within teams and within organizations to drive effective process improvements
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Describe the foundations of sustainability, including the Sustainable Development Goals
- Explain the drivers of, and barriers to, sustainability for corporations, both in Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) industries
- Describe sustainability attributes of different Asian markets, and make targeted market-entry recommendations for a specific product
- Explain a real-world supply chain and specific sustainability opportunities within
- Conduct thorough research on customers to understand their needs and pain points
- Segment customers according to needs, pain-points, and sustainability journeys
- Develop a value proposition, based on a platform of sustainability, for a selected customer segment
- Develop a marketing tool kit to help customers increase their onward sales
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Assess a business problem and/or opportunity from the current business environment, including new and untapped markets
- Design interdisciplinary solutions to address the business challenge or future opportunities by considering strategy, marketing, operations, organization, finance, and communication
- Reason critically through the solution process with appropriate modes of analysis
- Describe the solution's implementation plans and processes with regard to the firm's existing strategy, market, and organization
- Apply a variety of approaches to engage with busy business executives to obtain guidance and information, as well as, secure their buy-in to your ideas
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Develop mock prototypes of their products or services
- Understand who are "lead users" or "early-evangelist" consumers
- Develop networking strategy to reach "lead users" or "early-evangelist" consumers
- Develop simultaneous trials to get feedback from "lead users" or "early-evangelist" consumers
- Understand the drivers of roles and incentives for a new business team
- Know when to pivot a new business idea
- Understand how to outline a business and revenue model for an early stage idea
- Present their market-validated new business idea to external audience on social funding platforms like Kickstarter as well as present their business idea to investors and industry experts
