Curriculum
CBS has the most robust retail course offerings across the top business schools in the US. In addition, CBS offers more specific courses around luxury compared to other business schools.
Please note that course offerings and faculty may change year to year. The courses listed below have been confirmed to contain content pertinent to retail and luxury. For the most accurate information, please visit the Columbia Business School course catalog.
✧RETAIL FUNDAMENTALS
The course intends to present a baseline of retail industry concepts and practices. The subject matter will be relevant for all channels of retail, ranging from budget to luxury. The class will welcome guest speakers representing a myriad of retailing experiences throughout the semester.
✧FRONTIERS IN RETAILING
This course aims to help students develop an understanding of some basic frameworks to analyze retail, identify broad societal trends, and project their impact into the future. The course will delve into each topic through relevant cases and discussions, and the lecture will be followed by guest speakers such as the CEOs of Macy’s, Saks, and Warby Parker.
✧OMNI-CHANNEL RETAILING
The course aims to provide a holistic view of omnichannel retailing, merchandising, and retail strategy/analytics. The course will teach students how retailers create omnichannel shopping experiences, the role of the merchant, retail metrics, and how to use data to predict future sales and trends. The course is mostly case-based discussions and some guest speakers.
Marketing
Advanced Marketing Strategy: Development & Execution
The course aims to prepare students to make critical strategic marketing decisions within the modern corporation. It is designed to help develop the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to create and implement a marketing strategy. Students will receive hands-on experience through a capstone project with a real company.
Brand Management in the Digital Age
The course introduces principles of brand management as practiced within the industry today. There will be discussions of how great marketing is driven by an understanding of consumer segmentation, brand positioning, distinct product benefits, and relevant in-market execution. The course utilizes core readings and cases such as Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Glossier.
Branding in the Arts
The course exposes students to how the arts industry (music, visual arts, theatre) addresses current branding and marketing challenges while maintaining their traditions. Students will examine current practices in different industries through lectures and discussions as well as through guest presentations from prominent speakers. Past guests have included professionals from the MET, Lincoln Center, as well as Union Square Hospitality.
Building Internet Businesses for Consumers Markets
The course analyses key established themes relevant to building successful internet businesses for consumer markets. The course utilizes lecture, case discussions, as well as guest presentations from prominent speakers. Past guests have included User Growth & Engagement Manager at Google as well as the Poshmark founder and CEO.
Creation of a Retail Enterprise (Master Class)
The course traces the path of a retail enterprise from ideation to implementation and discussion topics include merchandising, marketing, systems design, and store development. Frequent guest speakers include executives from retail startups, department stores, and technology firms.
Data Science for Marketing Managers
The course is designed for students who want to learn how to manage data scientists and data-science projects. The course connects real-world data on consumers and firms to decision-making and marketing management. It will cover cases to illustrate applications of data in marketing.
Digital Marketing
The course will help students develop a systematic understanding of digital marketing by learning certain concepts and tools whose applicability will endure even as technologies change. The course will invest a significant amount of time on outcome and effectiveness measurement methods and campaign evaluation metrics.
Marketing of Luxury Products (Application only)
The course addresses the unique properties, opportunities, and challenges of the luxury industry. The course structure includes presentations by faculty and industry executives, discussions, and a team project. Students will work in teams to solve three actual projects created exclusively for the class by Chanel, Audemars Piguet, and Cartier.
Premium Brand Strategy
This course will help students understand and assess a brand’s strategy and how to develop strategies that elevate brands in the eyes of the customer. The course will cover a broad range of industries, from Luxury to B2B, and will also cover aspects of product design, communications, and growth strategies.
Pricing Strategies
The course prepares students to address both strategic and tactical pricing issues and to identify profit-boosting changes in pricing practices across a range of industries.
Strategic Consumer Insights
The course focuses on the generation of sustainable customer insights for B2C companies. The course will equip students with concepts and tools to become disciplined discoverers of strategic insights. Students will have the opportunity to work on a real-life project submitted by a client company. previous company clients include Coca-Cola, Macy’s, and ESPN.
The Business of Aesthetics and Experiences
The course examines the properties that define aesthetic businesses and the unique set of opportunities and challenges they present. The course is targeted towards students considering careers in sectors and companies whose value is in part based on their ability to deliver aesthetic value. The course is taught through a combination of readings, field projects, and guest speakers.
The Luxury Approach
The course examines the challenges and opportunities in the luxury industry by studying multiple aspects of the business. To address such issues, the class works with a leading brand in a project created exclusively for the course. At the end of the course, students will present their findings to the company’s executives.
Operations
Operations Strategy
The course examines approaches for achieving operational competitiveness in a service business and introduces several tools for analyzing service operations. The course addresses both strategic analysis and operational decision-making through cases from sectors such as healthcare, banking, and retail stores.
Supply Chain Management
The course covers the major issues in supply chain management, including structuring chains to reduce cost, commonly used inventory models, logistics planning, and supplier contracts.
The Analytics Advantage
The course focuses on how analytics have generated value in a broad range of industries. Each class is taught by a different faculty member with specific subject matter expertise and will focus on one specific and its transformation through the use of analytics. The course focuses on how analytics can be used to drive value
Accounting
Financial Planning & Analysis
The course explores the use of financial information for internal planning, analysis, and decision-making. The course aims to help equip students with the knowledge to understand, evaluate, and act upon both financial and non-financial reports used in managing modern firms.