Introduction
Science Based Business (SBB) Fundamentals is a 10-week full time course for graduate Science students who
wish or consider to pursue a career outside the domain of (fundamental) scientific research;
pursue a career in scientific research but wish to broaden their horizon e.g. having in mind later career opportunities that may require knowledge of fundamental business principles and training of managerial skills.
The course introduces business principles and managerial skills with a focus on their application in science-based organizations. It has been set up based on what alumni and managers of science-based organizations perceive to be most important for science students.
Who can join this course?
The course is open to all MSc students from the Faculty of Science and to MSc students in the Biomedical Sciences program of LUMC.
Course goal and objective
The goal of the course is that upon graduation, students will be better able to find an organization and get a suitable position to start their career and be better able to function in a business environment.
The objective is that students will have sufficient insights, knowledge and skills in some of the fundamentals of business, and in particular also business that is science-based, to be able to reach that goal.
Course content
The programme starts with a week of introductory lectures and a business game followed by lectures, work groups and assignments in the areas of:
Innovation
Strategic Marketing Management,
Financial Management,
Project Management.
Teaching method and participation
The core of this course consists of “practicals” in the form of both individual and group assignments (case analysis, essay and report writing), case discussions, presentations, etc. These “practicals” are linked to and deal with the formal knowledge which is in the books, readers and notes you need to study. A typical day involves reading a case, analyzing it, also based on knowledge provided in articles and books, with your group preparing an answer (short essay or powerpoint presentation) to deal with the case issues and then finally a full group case discussion conducted by the lecturer who will also elaborae further on the formal knowledge you can extract from the case.
In the final weeks, as part of a team you will prepare and present a business case and project charter.
Because the “practicals” are the basis for the learning in this course, participation in all sessions is mandatory.
Course schedule
This course is organized twice, starting August 31, 2015 and February 1, 2016.
This is a FULL Time course (15 EC in 10 weeks time). Also, it it very much a hands-on course with lots of group work. So most of the days there is something to do that cannot be delayed or involves working together with fellow students. In general, you will have one day in the week off, which is reserverd for self-study. This may be subject to change but only if that is unavoidable, e.g. because of serious schedule issues of lecturers on the course.
Exams and Grading
There are four formal tests which all need to be passed to get a grade for the course. Part of the grade is also assessment of the group work, case preparation, participation in case discussions and the final report and presentation to be delivered. The (relative) grading of this course is based on a weighted average of the grades of all these tests and assignments.
Coordinator
Dr. H. Jousma (programme director) and drs. G. Degenaars (programme coordinator), info@sbb.leidenuniv.nl
Literature
Mandatory literature:
Winer, R.S.: Marketing management. 4th Edition. Pearson Prentice Hall, ISBN-13: 9780130387929.
Brealey R.A., Myers S.C. and A.J Marcus: Fundamentals of Corporate Finance. 7th edition, McGraw-Hill, ISBN-13: 9780071314749.
Harvard Business Essentials: Managing Projects Large and Small: The Fundamental Skills to Deliver on Cost and Time
by Harvard Business School Press (Compiler), Harvard Business Review (Editor)Additional material: readers, cases, lecture hand-outs, articles.
Blackboard
For each SBB Fundamentals course a separate blackboard space is created in which the students are enrolled by the course coordinator. Lecture notes, assignments, important announcements etc can be found there.
Application
Please note: For this course, it is not possible to register via USIS. Please register through our jot form.
Please note: Early application may be useful as the courses will have a limited capacity.
Organization
More information about Science Based Business can be found at our website