Oxford Summer Courses

16 Turl St, Oxford, OX1 3DH

www.oxfordsummercourses.com

OXFORD SUMMER COURSES IN INDIA – BUSINESS &

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Tutor Profile

Luka Katic is a doctoral student of Oxford

University, a scientist and an economist. As an
experienced tutor of multiple disciplines he
believes that economic problems often require
an interdisciplinary approach in order to be
properly understood and solved. Due to his
diverse academic background, Luka teaches
economics, business, sociology, psychology,
and genetics. He tutored undergraduate
students of Oxford University at St Anne’s, St
Hilda’s and Hertford College, and
furthermore, teaches for various Oxford
tutorial colleges, preparing students for
applying to Oxford. Besides a Master’s degree in Economics and a Master’s in Cognitive
Science, Luka has studied and conducted research in neuroscience and neurophysiology.
Currently, he is completing the final DPhil (PhD) year of at University of Oxford’s
Department of Experience Psychology. Luka has won the De Breyne scholarship, Keble
College, Oxford University and the Faith Ivens-Franklin Award. As a student of Cognitive
Science at the University of Vienna he won a Scholarship as one of the best students of the
University. He is a dedicated rower for Keble College, Oxford.

Course Introduction
This course will equip you with the fundamental skills needed to be a successful
entrepreneur. You will examine how ideas are made reality in a global trading environment,
and the external forces and necessities which mould ideas on their way to success. Learn
from key theorists and top case studies to establish a framework for your own
entrepreneurial endeavours.

Course Outline

Day 1
What is Business?
 Understanding the nature and purpose of business
 Different business forms
 Issues in understanding different business forms
 Understanding that businesses operate within an external environment
Book presentation: Peters, T. J., Waterman, R. H., & Jones, I. (1982). In search of excellence: Lessons from
America's best-run companies.

Oxford Summer Courses Limited. Registered in England and Wales Number: 08011543
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Day 2
Managers, leadership and decision-making
 What managers do
 Types of management and leadership styles and their effectiveness
 Understanding management decision-making
 Decision trees
 Opportunity cost
 Understanding the role and importance of stakeholders
Book presentation: Hashemi, S., & Hashemi, B. (2004). Anyone Can Do It: Building Coffee Republic from
Our Kitchen Table-57 Real-Life Laws on Entrepreneurship. John Wiley & Sons.

Day 3
Decision-making to improve marketing performance
 Marketing and decision-making
 Marketing and competitiveness
 Setting marketing objectives
 Understanding markets
 Market research and sampling
 The interpretation of marketing data
 Price and income elasticity of demand
 Market data and analysis
Book presentation: Levitt, S. D., & Dubner, S. J. (2010). Freakonomics (Vol. 61). Sperling & Kupfer editori.

Day 4
Market positioning
 Segmentation, targeting and positioning
 Niche and mass marketing
 Marketing mix: 7Ps
 Product decisions: product life cycle and product portfolio
 Pricing decisions
 Place and promotion decisions
 Integrating the marketing mix
Book presentation: Arbinger Institute. (2010). Leadership and self-deception: Getting out of the box. Berrett-
Koehler Publishers.

Day 5
Decision-making to improve operational performance
 Setting operational objectives
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 Efficiency and labour productivity

 Lean production
 Capacity utilisation
 Technology and operational efficiency
 Analysing operational performance
 Improving quality
 Managing supply chains
 Managing inventory
 Decision-making to improve operational performance
Book presentation: Covey Stephen, R. (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Simon & Shuster,
USA.

Day 6
Day trip
Day 7
Decision-making to improve financial performance
 Financial objectives
 Calculating revenue, costs and profit
 Break-even analysis
 Cash flow management
 Budgets and budgeting
 Profit and how to increase
 Cash flow versus profit
 Sources of finance
 Decision-making to improve financial performance
Book presentation: Schwartz, H. (2008). Predictably Irrational: the hidden forces that shape our decisions.
Business Economics, 43(4), 69-72.

Day 8
Decision-making to improve human resource performance
 Setting human resource objectives
 Motivation and engagement in theory
 Motivation and engagement in practice
 Improving organisational design
 Managing the human resource flow
 Improving employer–employee relations
 Analysing human resource performance
 Decision-making and improved HR performance
Book presentation: Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Macmillan

Day 9
Final wrap-up
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 Behavioural economics, economic games (prisoner dilemma, ultimatum game)

 Cognitive biases
 Heuristics
 Conformity & Obedience
 Ethics of deception (priming)
 Hot topics:
 Muhammad Yunus and microfinance
 The 2008 Crisis – Big Short
 Bernie Sanders’ tuition free programme: cost/benefit analysis
 Martin Shkreli – HIV cure price increased by 5556 percent
 The refugee problem

Day 10
Presentation skills and final preparation
Final presentations

Thematic Workshop
Students will model their business ideas and “employ” peers from other subjects to take on
roles in their company. Mixed teams of students will work to present both the best
functioning company and most attractive business idea to a panel of potential investors.