South Korea (June - July)

MGT395Y0 Special Topics: Business Modelling and Global Organizations

This course introduces business modeling with a global organizational context in mind. Through the lens of both developing and analyzing disruptive business models, students will gain an appreciation of how business models can help an organization both start and transform its business and provide a competitive edge. The course starts with an introduction to a business model framework as well as an introduction to global for-profit corporations, not-for-profit corporations, and government organizations. Different types of industry organizations are subsequently studied through the review and analysis of Annual Reports (disclosure of financial and operating activities) and the application of the business model framework. Ultimately, the purpose of the course is to introduce students to how important, complex, and interconnected a global organization's business model can be. A core component of this course is collaborative in nature with group work and presentations.

Prerequisites: None
Breadth Requirement = Society and its Institutions (3)
CR/NCR option: Eligible 
MGT395Y0 - 2026 Draft Course Outline 

Note: Rotman Commerce students may take this course and it will count as the equivalent of an RSM course towards their degree/program requirements. However, if Rotman Commerce students opt for CR/NCR, the course cannot count towards their program requirements, including the 8.0 RSM requirement. It would simply be an elective towards the 20.0 credit degree requirement

Applies towards: Focus in International Business (U of T Global Scholar): Requirement 2

Course Format and Academic Field Trips

MGT395Y0 is an intensive full-year course delivered within an intensive schedule. Students should expect substantial group work, presentations, organizational analysis, and preparation connected to the course’s academic field experiences.

Tentative field trips may include organizational, institutional, and industry visits in Seoul, as well as an overnight academic field trip to the southern region of South Korea. The overnight itinerary may include several cities and a combination of industrial, organizational, and cultural visits.

Some field-trip days may last approximately 9 to 10 hours, depending on transportation and host availability.

Students should expect university-residence accommodation in Seoul and modest, shared hotel accommodation during the overnight field trip. Facilities and amenities may differ from Canadian university residences and commercial hotels.

All field trips, organizations, accommodations, dates, and costs remain subject to confirmation.

Instructor

Amy Kwan, PhD, MMPA, CPA, is a professional accountant and part-time lecturer in accounting at University of Toronto Rotman School of Management. Amy's primary areas of teaching interest are in Management Accounting and Information Systems and Technology. Amy has over 10 years of applied industry experience in various areas of business which included leading businesses through enterprise resource planning implementations and integrations, directed a finance operations team of 25 employees, content management, audit and assurance, marketing, and project management. Amy was the co-author of the textbook "Auditing: An International Approach: 8th Canadian Edition." She earned her Bachelor of Science from York University, Master of Management and Professional Accounting from the Rotman School of Management, and her Doctorate from the University of Toronto.

CSC396Y0 Designing Systems for Real World Problems

Human-centred design focuses on creating systems and technological solutions that respond to real human needs. Studying in Seoul will give students an opportunity to explore unfamiliar environments, examine how people interact with technology and public services, and develop new perspectives on their own designs.

Students will work in multidisciplinary groups to identify a real-world problem and develop a technological solution through an iterative user-centred design process. They will explore the problem space, conduct research with a target audience, identify user needs and system requirements, develop low- and high-fidelity prototypes, and evaluate their designs through usability testing. The course culminates in a final design, supporting documentation, and a group presentation. There is no final exam.

This is an intensive full-year course compressed into a four-week program in Seoul. Students should expect substantial written work, presentations, group assignments, and project work before and during the program. Some preparatory classes and assignments will take place online before departure.

Prerequisite: Any half-course in Computer Science
Breadth Requirement: The Physical and Mathematical Universes, Category 5

CSC396Y Syllabus Nov3.26 B.pdf

Field Trips, Tentative

Proposed academic visits include a guided historical and design-focused tour of Seoul; a two-day overnight trip to Ulsan and Busan; NAVER 1784; KAIST’s Human-Computer Interaction laboratories and the National Science Museum; and the Samsung Innovation Museum. Additional technology, transportation, robotics, or artificial-intelligence-related visits may be incorporated, subject to availability and confirmation.

All proposed visits, dates, hosts, and activities remain subject to availability, operational feasibility, and final approval.

Instructor

Ilona Posner is a User Experience consultant, educator, and coach with more than 30 years of experience in Human-Computer Interaction, usability, and User Experience Design. Her consulting work has included organizations and startups in technology, finance, telecommunications, healthcare, transportation, and education.

She has taught project-based User Experience courses since 2000 at the University of Toronto, OCAD University, and the Canadian Film Centre’s Media Lab. She also teaches User Experience certification courses for Human Factors International and develops customized industry training. She has volunteered with TorCHI, the Toronto chapter of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction, and has organized student design competitions at international conferences. She holds a master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Toronto.

The 2027 program will be the first delivery of CSC396Y0 in Seoul following previous Summer Abroad offerings in Berlin.