COMM 101 - Business Fundamentals

This course is designed to provide a broad introduction to the field of business and to orient students to the study and expectations of the Sauder School of Business. Business is a fast moving, exciting field of study that is a major part of your daily life. This course will illustrate the importance of diverse topics in business, including finance, accounting, marketing, strategic decision making and human resource management. Through this course, students will develop fundamental business knowledge and skills applicable to all specializations within business. The overall purpose is to provide students with a "big picture" understanding of how the different disciplines of business combine in planning and decision making before students proceed to more specialized single-subject courses. You will be exposed to a number of different professors and styles. Often there will be two professors in the class at the same time, and you will start to see the tensions and potential synergies between functional areas, just as managers in organizations do.

Learning objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

• build a knowledge map of the fundamental characteristics of, and relationships between, the different disciplines of commerce.
• apply working knowledge of the fundamentals of each of the main disciplines of commerce to resolve a basic, real world problem.
• assess business situations, linking key concepts and diagnosing the effectiveness of decisions, at a basic level.
• analyze various business situations and recognize when to ask questions and what to ask.
• understand and know when to apply basic analytical frameworks (e.g., SWOT, breakeven analysis, etc.) to a business problem.
• deliver a professional business presentation upon completion of a team project.
• work effectively in a team to achieve a specified outcome.
• assess one's own learning style and explain how best to manage one's own learning in school and business.
• make informed decisions about future academic and professional careers through exposure to all the commerce disciplines and the development of basic business skills.
• setup, research and write a business-focused blog.
• examine an organization"s strengths and limitations, core competencies, and key success factors.