AUCS 130 -- Understanding the Dynamics and Environment of the World of Business
Seeking a course which will not only broaden your intellectual horizons but will also equip you with functional skills to assist in coping after graduation with daunting career challenges in the global workplace? Be you high-tech of high-culture or mediumbrow or even technophobe, all paths of academic knowledge invariably converge in the competitive business system of postmodern America. It thus behooves the visionary collegian to prepare for this inevitability. This AUC course introduces the student to the scope, structure and content of what are termed the quadrille disciplines of marketing. It also briefly traces the historical evolution of the American business system, explores branches of the legal system relevant to the conduct of business operations, and overviews the institutional governance frameworks of American enterprise. More than that, the course uses the Harvard Business School case approach to choreograph far-ranging mentor-participant discussions of many societal issues that currently impact corporate America: smoking in the workplace, affirmative action, product safety, tort reform, sexism, technological implosion and so on. Lastly, there is a competitive exercise which is designed to foster the latent entrepreneurial instincts of all students who nurture a vision of inventing and commercializing an Eureka-stature product.