Teaching Interests:
My teaching interests revolve around Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Change Management, and the behavioral aspects of Project-based Management. I approach management from a behavioral stance, rather than from the analysis of processes and procedures, and It is therefore inevitable that my concentration is on people, rather than tools and techniques.
As an ex-banker, I have considerable experience in the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises, and in the analysis and evaluation of Business Plans. This experience feeds into my entrepreneurship and innovation teaching. I was also a Project Manager within the banking sector, managing behavioral, cultural, and technical change projects for a large UK based banking group. This experience informs my change management teaching, and also my work with students on the ‘softer’ and more behavioral aspects of managing within a project domain.
Current Classroom Teaching:
AD643 – ‘Project Communications Management’
To succeed in project management, you must be a strong leader and an effective communicator. This course examines the current philosophies of leadership as applied to project management and identifies various styles of communication and conflict resolution. Through case studies and various exercises, you will develop enhanced leadership, communication, conflict management, and negotiation skills.
This course has just been updated to reflect some of the more contemporary emerging issues in PM, including resolving ambiguity and complexity, and the growth of improvisational activity within the project domain. Many of my current research interests and findings are also reflected in the evolving content of this course.
AD740 – ‘Planning and Operating New Ventures’
This course presents the principal tasks and challenges involved in the identification and development of new business ventures (“entrepreneurship”) and develops students’ abilities to make informed decisions in these areas. There is a particular focus on ventures developed to address emerging needs and opportunities or to exploit innovations in either technology (e.g. computers or biotechnology) or business processes (e.g. new capabilities such as the modern telecommunications and shipping have created opportunities for improved services in such areas as health care delivery, entertainment and consumer retailing – e.g. think e-commerce and internet sites like Amazon, Google, or match.com, or overnight document production and delivery). Such innovation based companies have been shown to create the majority of new economic growth and jobs.
The relation between financial and business strategies is also addressed, especially the arguments for and against the incremental financial “bootstrapping” of company growth versus less conservative well capitalized rapid rollouts (so called “building companies in real time” to stake out their market territory even before building products). The course also looks at how these strategic choices vary according to such factors as stage of market adoption and technology development, and the dramatic differences from year to year in the availability of investment capital for early stage companies.
The course is intended to be relevant to: students considering entrepreneurship as a career option at some point in their lives, either by starting or joining a new company in any of a number of business roles, or alternatively by creating new units in existing corporations (“intrapreneurship”) and/or in non-profit and public organizations as a way of facilitating innovative activities. Students are not presumed to have a technical, or financial background, but rather an interest in using innovation and venture creation to create value, and the desire to learn from the materials assigned.
Key Topics: Traditional areas of the entrepreneurship process, including: marketing and opportunity analysis; business planning; the roles of “angel” and institutional/ venture capital finance, investment bankers, and public markets; developing credibility and attractiveness to investors; finding and motivating team members; lining up outside professional resources; sales channels and distribution; and “exit” or harvesting strategies to achieve wealth for the founders, employees, and investors via public offerings or acquisition by another company.
Follow this link to download an example of the Course Outline for this course, but bear in mind that these courses are being constantly updated, so future course content may not follow this exact outline. This outline may not reflect the current texts or editions of those texts that are required for the course. Please email me on sleyb@bu.edu for a copy of the latest syllabus and textbook details if you need this.
AD741 – ‘Developing New Products and Services’
This course exposes the global challenge of innovation and how marketing issues directly impact the success of new product/service design and introduction. They will examine the difficult task of determining a firm’s internal competitive advantages and external environmental considerations in relationship to the consumer’s shifting needs and wants. The course focuses on the complex marketing issues involved with generating creative solutions to an increasingly demanding marketplace.
There is a significant amount of case-based analysis in this course, and it deals with complex and important concepts that are vital to the success of the modern organization.
Follow this link to download an example of the Course Outline for this course, but bear in mind that these courses are being constantly updated, so future course content may not follow this exact outline. This outline may not reflect the current texts or editions of those texts that are required for the course Please email me on sleyb@bu.edu for a copy of the latest syllabus and textbook details if you need this.
MG503 – ‘Business In a Changing Society’
This course examines the management process and the social environment in which organizations of all types operate. It includes a broad discussion of management’s responsibilities to customers, stockholders and society, as well as the ethics of management. This is a topical course, and will look at governance and ethical operation of organizations, issues of sustainability, and the interests and priorities of the various stakeholders in modern organizations.
Follow this link to download an example of the Course Outline for this course, but bear in mind that these courses are being constantly updated, so future course content may not follow this exact outline. This outline may not reflect the current texts or editions of those texts that are required for the course Please email me on sleyb@bu.edu for a copy of the latest syllabus and textbook details if you need this.
I also teach MOD3 – ‘Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Global Competitiveness’ on the BU/CEU program at Universidad CEU San Pablo in Madrid, Spain. and I administer and teach on the joint Warwick Business School/BU ‘Strategic Advantage’ class at BU.
Current Online Teaching:
AD642 OL – ‘Program and Project Management’
The course examines the concepts and applied techniques for cost effective management of both long-term development programs and projects. Project management principles and methodology are provided with special focus on planning, controlling, and coordinating individual and group efforts. Key topics of focus include overview of modern project management, organization strategy and project selection, defining a project and developing a project plan and scheduling resources, project risk analysis, work breakdown structures, and project networks. MS Project will be introduced in this course to provide hands-on practical skills with the above topics. Mastery of key tools and concepts introduced in this course provides a significant competitive advantage in the marketplace.
AD643 OL – ‘Project Communications Management’
To succeed in project management, you must be a strong leader and an effective communicator. This course examines the current philosophies of leadership as applied to project management and identifies various styles of communication and conflict resolution. Through case studies and various exercises, you will develop enhanced leadership, communication, conflict management, and negotiation skills.
This course has just been updated to reflect some of the more contemporary emerging issues in PM, including resolving ambiguity and complexity, and the growth of improvisational activity within the project domain. Many of my current research interests and findings are also reflected in the evolving content of this course.
AD741 OL – ‘Innovation Processes: Developing New Products & Services’
Addresses the specifics of new product and service development and fostering innovation and technology to increase performance. Topics include generating and screening initial ideas; assessing user needs and interests; forecasting results; launching, and improving products and programs; bringing innovation to commercial reality.
More to come here… Page in development
