Spring, 2011 at McCombs is over now. The semester went by too quickly. We started the semester the day after MLK Day. I'd broken my big toe at Barsana Dham on the morning of the first day of class and was in a lot of pain. What a way to start the semester!
Professor May set the stage on the first day of class by communicating how rigorous the Accounting class would be. He was true to his word. His class was challenging, exciting, and required a lot of hard work -- just the way I like it. While I found some of the Accounting concepts and lectures difficult to understand, I thoroughly enjoyed the class. I can now analyze a company's financial statements, better understand business news in the Wall Street Journal, and appreciate how and why executives manage inventory, capital leases, sales returns, allowance for bad debts, and COCI accounts to influence financial statements. I also got introduced to the concepts of valuations of a business -- book value, fair value (liquidation value), and going concern value of a business. When a company reports goodwill on its balance sheet, I now know that it is a going concern premium the company paid for acquiring another company! Professor May said I did well in his class, and he rewarded me with an appropriate grade.
The second class for the spring semester was Economics. It is perhaps my favorite class so far at McCombs. Professor Brandal made the class interesting with his high energy and his entertaining, yet, simple teaching style. He was an entertainer, a story teller, a bit whimsical, and unconventional professor. The class started with the concepts of micro economics. We studied supply and demand curves, how changes in price cause movements along supply and demand curves, how factors other than price shift supply and demand curves, concepts of substitutes and complements, elastic and inelastic demands, and how as a manager I should convince customers there are no substitutes (in their mind) for my products or services. We then studied concepts of utility and indifference curves and how as managers we should focus on maximizing our customers' utility. The micro-economics class continued with concepts of economic cost, which is made up of accounting cost and opportunity cost. As a manager, I need to consider fixed cost, variable cost, total cost, and average total cost. The big takeaway was to produce output at the level where marginal benefit is equal to marginal cost. The most interesting part of the micro class was the study of four different market structures -- perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic, and oligopoly -- and what strategies managers should follow in competing in those markets. We studied the concept of game theory, in the context of oligopoly market, dominant strategy, nash equilibrium, and different strategies for one-shot and repeated simultaneous and sequential games.
During the second half of the semester, we studied macro economic concepts. We learned the concepts of aggregate demand, aggregate supply, GDP and how to measure it, concept of inflation and how to measure it, Keynesian theories and modern theories on how to address unemployment, inflation, recession, and depression using monetary and fiscal policies. The macroeconomics concepts were complex and fascinating. I hope I get a chance to use these concepts as a manager in my career.
During the last part of the semester, we covered global economy using the concepts of foreign exchange rates, their impact on economy, the need to have stable exchange rates in the short run, and the dangers of trying to fix exchange rates in the long run.
Besides school, I also made progress on the job front during the semester. After nearly six months of unemployment, I started working at Thermo. I am very fortunate to be working again. The spring semester tested my time management skill to balance both school and work load. At times, I felt that I had no time to breathe! The semester was that hectic. The spring semester seemed shorter than the fall and seemed to go by quickly. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the semester.
Once the semester was over, I moved to Round Rock. After living in Austin for nearly 13 years, I found it little hard to leave the city. But, I am learning to be more flexible these days! I am slowly adjusting to my new life in Round Rock and can't wait to see what lies ahead.
Professor May set the stage on the first day of class by communicating how rigorous the Accounting class would be. He was true to his word. His class was challenging, exciting, and required a lot of hard work -- just the way I like it. While I found some of the Accounting concepts and lectures difficult to understand, I thoroughly enjoyed the class. I can now analyze a company's financial statements, better understand business news in the Wall Street Journal, and appreciate how and why executives manage inventory, capital leases, sales returns, allowance for bad debts, and COCI accounts to influence financial statements. I also got introduced to the concepts of valuations of a business -- book value, fair value (liquidation value), and going concern value of a business. When a company reports goodwill on its balance sheet, I now know that it is a going concern premium the company paid for acquiring another company! Professor May said I did well in his class, and he rewarded me with an appropriate grade.
The second class for the spring semester was Economics. It is perhaps my favorite class so far at McCombs. Professor Brandal made the class interesting with his high energy and his entertaining, yet, simple teaching style. He was an entertainer, a story teller, a bit whimsical, and unconventional professor. The class started with the concepts of micro economics. We studied supply and demand curves, how changes in price cause movements along supply and demand curves, how factors other than price shift supply and demand curves, concepts of substitutes and complements, elastic and inelastic demands, and how as a manager I should convince customers there are no substitutes (in their mind) for my products or services. We then studied concepts of utility and indifference curves and how as managers we should focus on maximizing our customers' utility. The micro-economics class continued with concepts of economic cost, which is made up of accounting cost and opportunity cost. As a manager, I need to consider fixed cost, variable cost, total cost, and average total cost. The big takeaway was to produce output at the level where marginal benefit is equal to marginal cost. The most interesting part of the micro class was the study of four different market structures -- perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic, and oligopoly -- and what strategies managers should follow in competing in those markets. We studied the concept of game theory, in the context of oligopoly market, dominant strategy, nash equilibrium, and different strategies for one-shot and repeated simultaneous and sequential games.
During the second half of the semester, we studied macro economic concepts. We learned the concepts of aggregate demand, aggregate supply, GDP and how to measure it, concept of inflation and how to measure it, Keynesian theories and modern theories on how to address unemployment, inflation, recession, and depression using monetary and fiscal policies. The macroeconomics concepts were complex and fascinating. I hope I get a chance to use these concepts as a manager in my career.
During the last part of the semester, we covered global economy using the concepts of foreign exchange rates, their impact on economy, the need to have stable exchange rates in the short run, and the dangers of trying to fix exchange rates in the long run.
Besides school, I also made progress on the job front during the semester. After nearly six months of unemployment, I started working at Thermo. I am very fortunate to be working again. The spring semester tested my time management skill to balance both school and work load. At times, I felt that I had no time to breathe! The semester was that hectic. The spring semester seemed shorter than the fall and seemed to go by quickly. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the semester.
Once the semester was over, I moved to Round Rock. After living in Austin for nearly 13 years, I found it little hard to leave the city. But, I am learning to be more flexible these days! I am slowly adjusting to my new life in Round Rock and can't wait to see what lies ahead.
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