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Courses | MIT SDM

EDUCATION

Courses
Required Courses
System Architecture (January and fall terms) System architects respond to user needs, define and allocate functionality, decompose the system and define interfaces. This course gives students a way to approach a synthetic view of system architecture. Discussions touch upon the allocation of functionality and its projection on organizational functionality; the analysis of complexity and methods of decomposition and reintegration; as well as flexible product platforms and the trades between optimality and reusability. Industrial speakers and faculty will present examples from various fields. Heuristic and formal methods will be presented. This course provides an integrative forum for SDM students. Systems Engineering (summer term) Systems engineers flow down requirements to detailed elements, integrate elements and verify system performance. This course concentrates on the technical elements of systems engineering necessary for dealing with products. Multidisciplinary activities lead to requirements analysis, design trades and integrated productprocess development. These activities are complemented by current best manufacturing practices and design for cost principles. Structured methods, decision analysis and quality engineering foundations are exercised. System and Project Management (fall term) System and project management ensures technical progress toward objectives, proper deployment and conservation of human and financial resources, and achievement of cost and schedule targets. C ourse topics include technology, cost, scheduling project planning and control; structuring performance measures and metrics; technical teams and project management; information technology support of teams; and process control.

Foundation Courses
Engineering Risk-Benefit Analysis (spring term) This course deals with analysis risk assessment, decision and costbenefit analysis, and fault-tree methods for describing and making decisions about the societal risks (nuclear power, dams, carcinogens, transport and disposal of hazardous materials) associated with large engineering projects. Students are asked to balance risks and benefits in situations involving human safety, environmental hazards and financial uncertainties. Presentations center on major risk assessment and the public decision-making processes associated with them.

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Systems Optimization (spring term)

Courses | MIT SDM

This is an application-oriented introduction to systems optimization that focuses on understanding system tradeoffs. The course introduces modeling methodology (linear, integer and nonlinear programming) and simulation methods, with applications in production planning and scheduling, inventory planning and supply contracts, logistics network design, facility sizing and capacity expansion, yield management, electronic trading and finance. The Human Side of Technology (January) Focuses on the organization of the future, identifying its characteristics and exploring the implications for living in, managing and leading such an organization. The course also focuses on skills such as negotiating, cross-cultural communication and teamwork. Students will examine the creation of the structures needed within the firm and the alliances, learning and change practices needed to maintain global performance. Financial and Managerial Accounting (summer term) An intensive introduction to the preparation and interpretation of financial information for investors (external users) and managers (internal users) and to the use of financial instruments to support system and project creation. Adopts a decision-maker perspective on accounting and finance. Operations and Supply Chain Management (summer term) C lass will be a mix of lectures, case discussions and applications. The course objectives are to develop modeling skills and to provide new concepts and problem-solving tools applicable to the design and planning of supply chains as well as manufacturing systems. Innovation in the Marketplace (spring term) Introduces concepts and skills needed to manage the marketing function. Topics include marketing strategy, competitive analysis, consumer behavior, new product development, marketing research and the marketing mix-advertising, promotion, personal selling, distribution and pricing. Product Design and Development (spring term) C overs modern tools and methods for product design and development. The cornerstone is a project in which teams of management, engineering and industrial design students conceive, design and prototype a physical product. C lass sessions employ cases and hands-on exercises to reinforce the key ideas. Topics include product planning, identifying customer needs, concept generation, product architecture, industrial design, concept design and design for manufacturing. Technology Strategy (spring term) Provides a series of strategic frameworks for managing hightechnology businesses. Emphasis on the development and application of conceptual models that clarify the interactions between competition, patterns of technological and market change, and the structure and development of internal firm capabilities.

Leadership Courses
The leadership curriculum is an integral component of SDM. The

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Courses | MIT SDM

program offers a wide range of required and elective courses designed to ground fellows in theory, concept, and experiential learning. Leadership The Missing Link (no permanent course number) Taught by Shalom Saar, this course covers the "classroom" component of the leadership curriculum. Its purpose is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of concept, theory, and the assumptions underlying their behavior. SLaM-Lab (no permanent course number) SDM fellows work in small teams one day per week with top management of a high-tech business on a relevant, real-world systems and management challenge that is of real concern to the host company. Innovation Teams SDM fellows work in teams to develop commercialization strategies for innovative research projects generated in MIT laboratories. Projects cover critical aspects of commercialization, from selecting the target application and market for the technology to developing an intellectual property strategy and performing a competitive analysis. Global Entrepreneurship Lab: Emerging Markets (no permanent course number) Enables teams of students to work with the top management of global start-ups and gain experience in running, and consulting to, a new enterprise outside the United States. Teams of science, engineering, and management students participate actively one day a week on-site with the top management of high tech start-ups in order to gain experience in starting and running a new venture. Student projects focus on one urgent aspect of the start-up, such as selection of target market, design of market-entry strategy, or choice of sales approach to initial customers. Leadership Lab: Leading Sustainable Systems This course addresses key sustainability challenges faced by business and society, exploring alternative ways to view organizations that draw attention to cross-boundary interdependencies and help leaders at all levels develop their capacity to collaborate for systemic change. Students develop the skills to help people surface and reflect on mental models and practices that keep organizations stuck in unproductive system dynamics. Next-Lab (no permanent course number) NextLab is a hands-on technology development and business case design course in which multi-disciplinary student teams collaborate with industry partners, field experts, NextLab alumni, and students from universities worldwide to deploy ground-breaking platforms of smartphone technologies that address challenges of global significance. For more information about many of these courses, visit MIT's OpenC ourseWare.

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Courses | MIT SDM

2010 Syste m De sign and Manage m e nt Progra m , Massachuse tts Institute of Te chnology

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