Business Impact from Coursera

In this course, you will learn how to apply financial principles and analyses to make strategic decisions that drive business growth, enhance operational efficiency, and maximize shareholder value. You will apply these concepts by engaging in strategic decision-making exercises and completing assessments that link financial insights to business outcomes.

This course is ideal for non-financial managers or professionals who seek to enhance their financial acumen to make better business decisions. No prior experience in finance is required. However, a basic understanding of business operations and strategic thinking will be beneficial.

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Syllabus

Course Overview

In this module, you will receive a course overview, learn about your instructor's background, and have an opportunity to introduce yourself and meet your peers.

Delivering Business Impact

In this module, you will learn how to apply financial principles and analyses to make strategic decisions that drive business growth, enhance operational efficiency, and maximize shareholder value.

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Applies financial principles and analyses to strategic decisions, which is useful for professionals seeking to drive business growth and maximize shareholder value

Requires a basic understanding of business operations and strategic thinking, which may necessitate additional preparation for some learners

Presented by Duke University, which is known for its business school and research in finance and management

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Business Impact with these activities:

Review Basic Accounting Principles

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Reviewing basic accounting principles will provide a solid foundation for understanding the financial concepts discussed in the course.

Browse courses on Financial Accounting

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Review key accounting terms and definitions.
Practice creating basic financial statements.
Work through sample accounting problems.

Read 'Finance for Non-Financial Managers'

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Reading this book will provide a comprehensive overview of financial principles, helping you understand the language of finance and make better business decisions.

View Melania on Amazon

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Read the book, focusing on chapters relevant to your role.
Take notes on key concepts and examples.
Reflect on how these concepts apply to your work.

Read 'Financial Intelligence for IT Professionals'

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Reading this book will help you understand how financial principles apply to real-world business scenarios, particularly in IT, enhancing your ability to make impactful decisions.

View Putting Knowledge to Work on Amazon

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Read the book, focusing on chapters relevant to your role.
Take notes on key concepts and examples.
Reflect on how these concepts apply to your work.

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Create a Presentation on a Financial Metric

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Creating a presentation will help you solidify your understanding of a specific financial metric and communicate its importance to others.

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Choose a financial metric (e.g., ROI, EBITDA, etc.).
Research the metric and its applications.
Create a presentation explaining the metric and its significance.
Present your findings to your peers or colleagues.

Participate in a Financial Analysis Study Group

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Collaborating with peers will help you solidify your understanding of financial concepts and learn from different perspectives.

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Form a study group with other students.
Review course materials and discuss challenging concepts.
Work through practice problems together.
Share insights and perspectives on real-world business scenarios.

Analyze a Public Company's Financial Statements

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Analyzing a real company's financial statements will provide hands-on experience in applying the concepts learned in the course.

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Choose a publicly traded company to analyze.
Download their annual report (10-K) from the SEC website.
Analyze their income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.
Calculate key financial ratios and interpret their meaning.

Develop a Business Case for a New Project

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Creating a business case will allow you to apply financial analysis techniques to justify a potential investment, demonstrating your understanding of business impact.

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Identify a potential project or investment opportunity.
Estimate the costs and benefits of the project.
Calculate the net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR).
Write a business case document summarizing your analysis and recommendations.

Career center

Learners who complete Business Impact will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur starts and manages their own business, requiring a diverse skill set including financial management and strategic decision-making. This course is beneficial for an entrepreneur as it teaches the application of financial principles to drive business growth, enhance operational efficiency, and maximize shareholder value. Those seeking to start a business will be well-served by this course's focus on strategic decision-making exercises, which will help them to link financial insights directly to business outcomes, crucial for business success. The course helps build a foundation in managing the financial aspects of a business.

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Strategic Planner

The role of a strategic planner is to help organizations develop long-term plans that achieve their mission and vision. This course is particularly beneficial as it centers on enhancing decision-making skills, specifically in the context of financial principles and their impact on business outcomes. By learning to apply financial analyses to strategic decisions, a strategic planner will be better equipped to guide companies toward initiatives that promote growth, efficiency, and value. Furthermore, the course's focus on linking financial insights to business outcomes will allow a planner to measure the success of various long-term plans.

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Business Analyst

The primary responsibility of a business analyst is to identify opportunities for improvement and implement data-driven solutions to business challenges. This course is beneficial as it covers the application of financial principles for strategic decisions, which is key to a business analyst's role. This course directly develops the ability to analyze financial data and understand business outcomes, allowing an analyst a crucial means to measure the impact of recommended changes. A focus on efficient operations and enhanced shareholder value are helpful aspects of this course for a business analyst.

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General Manager

A general manager oversees all aspects of a business unit or organization, requiring a broad understanding of operations, finance, and strategy. This course provides a beneficial foundation as it allows one to apply financial principles to make strategic decisions that enhance business growth and operational efficiency. The course's focus on linking financial insights with business results is essential for a general manager in measuring performance and making informed decisions. This course will help a general manager in directing their business to maximize shareholder value.

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Chief Executive Officer

A chief executive officer is the highest ranking executive in an organization, responsible for all business decisions and the overall success of the company. This course helps build a foundation in understanding how financial principles and analyses drive strategic decision-making, which is essential for a chief executive officer. This course helps guide the kinds of decisions that influence business growth and operational efficiency at the highest level of leadership. The course's exercises, which link financial insights to business outcomes, are invaluable for anyone in this role.

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Management Consultant

A management consultant works with organizations to identify problems, propose solutions, and implement changes that enhance performance. This course helps build a foundation in understanding how financial principles and analyses affect business growth and operational efficiency, which is crucial for a management consultant to effectively advise clients. The course's focus on strategic decision-making exercises is directly applicable to the kind of work a consultant performs when developing and evaluating strategies to maximize shareholder value for client businesses. The course will allow you to apply financial insights to business outcomes, a highly valuable skill.

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Product Manager

A product manager is responsible for the strategy, roadmap, and execution of a product, ensuring that it meets customer needs and business objectives. This course emphasizes the application of financial principles to drive business growth and maximize shareholder value, crucial aspects of the product manager role. This course will be useful to product managers as they evaluate the financial viability of product features, prioritize initiatives with a focus on financial outcomes, and make strategic decisions that lead to business growth. Furthermore, the strategic decision-making exercises in the course will be quite relevant to this role.

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Project Manager

A project manager oversees the planning, execution, and completion of specific projects to ensure they are delivered on time, within budget, and meet their intended goals. Learning to apply financial principles and analyses to strategic decisions in this course is helpful as project managers need to make resource allocation decisions based on costs and benefits. The course's strategic decision-making exercises help a future project manager in planning projects that drive business growth while maximizing shareholder value. Understanding the link between financial insights and business outcomes is also helpful in this role.

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Financial Analyst

A financial analyst prepares financial reports, conducts analyses, and makes recommendations to guide investments and financial strategies. This course will help build a foundation for this role as it will allow the application of financial principles and analyses to strategic business decisions. This course provides a non-financial professional with the ability to connect financial insights to business growth and efficiency, which is directly helpful for a financial analyst when identifying and making recommendations. The course's focus on linking financial insights to business outcomes will be helpful.

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Sales Manager

A sales manager leads a sales team to achieve sales targets and contribute to overall company revenue goals. This course can help a sales manager understand the connection between sales activities and financial outcomes. The exploration in this course of how financial principles and analysis drive business growth is relevant to a sales manager who must work towards maximizing sales revenue and contributing to overall shareholder value. The focus on strategic decision making will also be useful in understanding how to allocate sales resources and make strategic decisions.

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Business Development Manager

A business development manager identifies and pursues new business opportunities to drive revenue and expand the organization's market presence. This course may be useful because it will help build a foundation in understanding how financial strategies directly impact business growth, which is crucial for a business development manager to make informed decisions. The course's focus on strategic exercises and connecting financial insights to business outcomes will support the role and help a manager to identify and recommend only profitable business opportunities. A business development manager will need these skills.

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Operations Manager

An operations manager ensures that organizational processes run smoothly and efficiently, overseeing the day-to-day activities to meet business goals. This course may be useful as it provides a strong basis for improving operational efficiency, a critical skill for operations managers. The course's focus on applying financial principles to strategic decisions, which impact the allocation of resources, is useful to this role in optimizing business operations. The course's exercises on linking financial insights to business outcomes may also be beneficial.

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Chief Operating Officer

A chief operating officer is responsible for the daily operations of a company, ensuring its processes run smoothly and efficiently. This course may be useful as it allows one to apply financial principles to enhance operational efficiency, a core concern for a chief operating officer. By helping one learn to make strategic decisions that drive business growth and maximize shareholder value, this course provides a benefit from a financial perspective. This will allow a chief operating officer to better understand the impact of operations on strategic financial goals.

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Market Research Analyst

A market research analyst assesses market trends and consumer behavior to inform business strategies and decisions. This course may be useful as it develops the ability to apply financial principles to improve business outcomes and efficiencies, which a market research analyst might use to recommend marketing spending. The course's strategic decision-making exercises will assist a market research analyst in understanding how business strategies can be linked to financial results, making their recommendations more impactful. The course connects business decisions with financial outcomes.

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Investment Analyst

An investment analyst researches and analyzes investment opportunities, advising clients or their firm on potential investments. This course may be useful as it covers the application of financial principles to inform strategic decisions, a critical component of investment analysis. By introducing the link between financial insights and business results, this course helps to build a foundation in understanding the financial underpinnings of business success. This course may be helpful in making informed investment recommendations, even though it does not specifically teach investment management.

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Business Impact

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