Rotman Commerce - Special Topics Courses
- Content in any given year will depend on the instructor.
- Enrolment is restricted to Rotman Commerce students.
- To take a 400-series course, 14.0+ credits are required; and for a 300-series, 9.0+ credits are required; except when otherwise indicated in the course descriptions below
- Course descriptions may be found following the listings
Fall-Term 2025
RSM310H1F – One-to-One Marketing
RSM314H1F – ESG and Sustainability Accounting
RSM317H1F – Text Mining and Natural Language Processing
RSM406H1F – Corporation 360
RSM413H1F – Digital and Social Media Marketing
RSM414H1F – Marketing of Services
RSM416H1F – Generative AI for Data-Driven Management
RSM417H1F – Supply Chain Consulting
RSM418H1F – Progress: or How Big Things Get Done
Winter-Term 2026
RSM210H1S – Communicating for Impact
RSM313H1S – GenAI.Biz: Large Language Agents
RSM315H1S – Taxation for Business Professionals
RSM318H1S – Business Operations for Sustainability
RSM407H1S – Clean Energy: Policy Context and Business Opportunity
RSM408H1S – Real Estate Development
RSM410H1S – FinTech
RSM412H1S – Global History of Banking
RSM415H1S – Strategic Decisions in Operations
RSM419H1S – Chinese Markets and Investment
RSM210H1S – Communicating for Impact
Instructor: Alexandra Motut
Prerequisite: Completion of the Rotman Commerce Guaranteed Admission requirements.
May be applied to the following focuses: None
Breadth Requirement: BR 2
Students learn oral communication skills in both casual and formal professional settings (i.e. from coffee chats to boardroom presentations): we cover the core elements of audience, message structure and delivery for a variety of professional communication contexts, both individually and in groups, with visual aids (slides) and without. We will also address aspects of professionalism including email and digital communication, etiquette, and intercultural awareness. Course methods emphasize low-stakes practice, feedback (including peer feedback), and personal reflection. Course format includes lectures and some asynchronous content, with a heavy emphasis on in-class practice and application of learning to promote skill development.
RSM310H1F – One-To-One Marketing
Instructor: Dan Richards
Prerequisite: 9.0+ Credits; RSM250H1 (Please note that this course is open to 3rd and 4th year students)
May be applied to the following Focuses: Marketing Focus
Breadth Requirement: BR 2
Do you want to communicate more effectively?
In One to One Marketing, you’ll learn how to succeed in face to face and written communication with classmates, with employers and with customers. This course does this in two ways. First it will help you understand the most current research and best practices on common forms of communication:
• Business writing – emails, memos, proposals and reports
• Formal stand-up presentations, including responding to questions
• One on one and small group conversations
• Networking – how to build and maintain a robust network that will help you get the right job and then get things done on the job and advance your career
• One you start working full time, how to build and improve relationships with colleagues and managers
Second, One to One Marketing will help you apply the class concepts about effective persuasion to your day to day interactions, by helping you create new habits to communicate more effectively. To help you learn, each class will discuss lessons from videos of successful CEOs and we’ll also use role plays, individual and group presentations and biweekly journals. You’ll also have weekly meetings with a small group of classmates with whom you’ll complete short weekly assignments and practice the concepts you learn in class. One to One Marketing was developed for Rotman’s MBA program by Dan Richards, who was voted Best Professor by the graduating MBA class. The course emerged when he saw some of his MBA students who were extremely strong technically but who struggled to communicate effectively. Since it was first offered in 2018, One to One Marketing has received outstanding feedback in student evaluations.
RSM313H1S – GenAI.Biz: Large Language Agents
Instructor: Mihnea Moldoveanu
Prerequisite: CSC108H1
Recommended Preparation: RSM338H1 or RSM358H1
May be applied to the following focuses: Data Science in Business
Breadth Requirements: BR 2
Students will analyze and reverse engineer existing and emerging business applications of Large Language Agents, ranging from client narrative, interaction, comment or reaction analysis and summarization (Amazon) to cross channel optimization of sales processes (Shopify) to personal(ized) banking assistants (JP Morgan Chase, WealthSimple) to virtual executive trainers, coaches and interview assistants (IU University) and code generators (RBC, Google). Students will learn how to program/pattern/design GenAI agents via natural language and Python scripts to solve useful problems across business functions and roles. They will learn to analyze human tasks in terms of how augmentable and automatable they are by agents that make use of LLM’s. They will design, test and refine agents that perform computational and inferential tasks (extractive/abstractive summarization, data pre-processing, hypothesis generation and testing, predictive and causal model building, calibration and testing, etc) as well as interactive tasks of communication, dialogue and co-reasoning tasks (virtual coaches, mentors, tutors, evaluators, feedback providers, meeting summarizers/annotators, etc).
RSM314H1F – ESG and Sustainability Accounting
Instructor: Elisa Zuliani
Prerequisite: 9.0+ Credits; RSM222H1 (Please note that this course is open to 3rd and 4th year students)
May be applied to the following Focuses: Financial Statement Analysis
Breadth Requirement: BR 3
The course focuses on corporate sustainability accounting and reporting. The course will focus on frameworks for developing corporate environment, social and governance (ESG) performance metrics. Trends and quality assurance of sustainability reporting will be discussed.
Learning outcomes include:
1. Appreciate the evolution of accounting for sustainability
2. Understand how to measure, report, and interpret various ESG factors
3. Identify the material sustainability concerns affecting a business and the adoption of non-financial disclosure.
4. Describe and critically evaluate the methodologies underlying popular corporate sustainability rating systems and the adoption of voluntary disclosure.
RSM315H1S – Taxation for Business Professionals
Instructor: TBA
Prerequisite: 9.0+ Credits; RSM219H1, RSM230H1 (Please note that this course is open to 3rd and 4th year students)
May be applied to the following Focus: Financial Statement Analysis; Finance
Breadth Requirement: BR 3
Description: Taxes are a compulsory fee imposed by governments on individuals and businesses. All business professionals can benefit from understanding the tax system so that they can considered taxes in their decisions and maximize after tax returns. This course is designed to develop your ability to identify, understand, and evaluate tax-planning opportunities. The course will provide a high-level overview of the income tax system and how it impacts business and investment decisions. The material will focus on tax planning concepts and the effect of taxes on decision making, rather than detailed tax rules and legal research (i.e., this is a class designed for all business professionals, not simply future tax professionals). We will begin by developing a conceptual framework for evaluating how tax rules affect financial decisions. We will then apply the framework to various types of financial decisions. Specific topics include investing, registered savings vehicles, compensation planning, international tax issues, capital structure, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, and financial statement analysis.
RSM317H1F – Text Mining and Natural Language Processing
Instructor: Gerhard Trippen
Prerequisite: 9.0+ Credits
May be applied to the following Focus: Data Science in Business
Breadth Requirement: BR 3
This course will introduce the students to a diverse collection text mining techniques and natural language processing using machine learning. These techniques are often aimed at identifying and quantifying various structures in the text data to answer business problems and provide managerial insights. Model validation and effective communication of model-based results will be stressed. The course will employ a “white-box” methodology, which emphasizes an understanding of the algorithmic and statistical model structures and how they apply to text analysis. Following leading industry standards, the course will use Python to apply a number of different algorithms to real-world big text data.
RSM318H1S – Business Operations for Sustainability
Instructor: Gonzalo Romero
Prerequisite: RSM270H1
May be applied to the following focuses: International Business; Managing in Diverse Economies
Breadth Requirements: BR 3
This course will help you:
If when you look at major global challenges, you think that there are business opportunities (not just charity) among their solutions.
* If you suspect that maximizing return on invested capital is compatible with environmental and social responsibility, but you want to understand how.
* If you need space and support to figure out how to align your values and sense of mission with your career.
* If someday you want to design processes for companies, industries and economic systems that are socially and environmentally sustainable.
Instructor: Stefan Dimitriadis
Prerequisite: 9.0+ Credits; RSM392H1 (Please note that this course is open to 3rd and 4th year students)
May be applied to the following Focus: Strategy and Innovation; Managing in Diverse Economies; Leadership in Organizations
Breadth Requirement: BR 3
Businesses are increasingly called upon to help solve major global challenges like climate change, political polarization, social and income inequality, and global pandemics. How can businesses contribute to tackling these problems while also fulfilling their mission of creating and capturing value for their shareholders? The objective of this course is to use core concepts from strategy and management theory, along with cutting edge research, to explore this question. We will analyze firms from many perspectives (360 degrees), revealing that firms affect a broad range of stakeholders. We will discuss how profits are not always compatible with the interests of those stakeholders and how firms can manage these tensions by making trade-offs. This will lead to discussions of the role of leadership in managing those tensions and groups of stakeholders.
RSM407H1S – Clean Energy: Policy Context and Business Opportunity
Instructor: Ken Corts
Prerequisite: ECO204Y1Y/ECO206Y1Y; Completion of 14.0 Credits
May be applied to the following focuses: Strategy and Innovation
Breadth Requirements: BR 3
This is a course about building successful energy businesses by deploying renewable and lower-carbon energy technologies in the context of the current carbon-focused energy policy environment. The lens is a combination of economics (especially with respect to understanding the logic and effects of policy interventions in the energy sector) and strategy.
RSM408H1S – Real Estate Development
Instructor: TBA
Co-requisite: RSM332H1; Completion of 14.0 Credits
Recommended Preparation: RSM483H1 and RSM484H1
May be applied to the following focuses: None
Breadth Requirements: BR 3
This course provides students with a comprehensive understanding of real estate development. Students will develop a wide range of financial and economic tools. Topics include residential and commercial real estate development, financial feasibility modelling, construction and permanent mortgage financing, current and forecast market conditions for major property types, as well as the analysis of valuation, options, risk, and liquidity. Academic lectures are supplemented by a series of current market case discussions.
Instructor: TBA
Prerequisite: Completion of 14.0 Credits; RSM333H1
May be applied to the following focuses: Finance, Strategy and Innovation
Breadth Requirements: BR 3
FinTech, the application of information technology to finance, is rapidly changing the landscape of financial services. The purpose of this course is two-fold 1) to provide you knowledge and skills needed to understand various FinTech innovations, 2) to prepare you for careers in the technology space, particularly those focused on financial services. The course is geared towards management students and does not require engineering or computer science knowledge; the focus is on finance concepts, economic frameworks, the institutions, and social and regulatory implications. The course will be mainly qualitative with emphasis on economic insights. Topics covered include digital banking, payment, insuretech, P2P lending, robo-advising, real estate fintech, etc. We will introduce concepts from economics, such as network effects, coordination frictions, information asymmetry, disintermediation, and decentralization. We will also draw knowledge from strategy, law, marketing, and computer science. You will gain experience in analyzing cases of real companies and pitching new FinTech startup ideas.
This course is mainly case-based and requires active student participation.
RSM412H1S – Global History of Banking
Instructor: Claire Celerier
Prerequisite: Completion of 14.0 Credits
May be applied to the following focuses: Finance
Breadth Requirements: BR 3
This course integrates economics and history to explore the evolution and functioning of banks, their interactions with capital markets, their fragilities, and their regulations. We will trace the history of banking from its origins to the present day, with a focus on the U.S., Canada, China, and Europe. By examining the core principles of banking, its evolution, and banking crises across different historical periods and societies, this course offers key insights into the foundations of the modern financial system, and a clearer perspective on the complexities of today’s financial world.
RSM413H1F – Digital and Social Media Marketing
Instructor: Aleem Visram
Prerequisite: 9.0+ Credits; RSM250H1 (Please note that this course is open to 3rd and 4th year students)
May be applied to the following Focus: Marketing
Breadth Requirement: BR 3
Social media and digital marketing is changing society, changing the nature of marketing, and changing the way that business is conducted and managed. In this course, students explore the role of digital marketing in the life of the marketer and business manager. It begins with a detailed understanding of the origins, forms, and uses of social media. It expands into an examination and hands-on methods for researching and understanding social and digital media. The course then overviews the various uses and forms of digital marketing, ranging from consumer advocacy and word of mouth to content marketing to the effective and ineffective use of different social media platforms for business. The course features an applied student final group project where the students will prepare and present their social and digital media recommendations and plan to company representatives.
In this course, we explore the strategic role of social media and digital marketing in business and management. The learning objectives of this course are: (1) to introduce Rotman Commerce students to the managerial use of social media, and digital marketing (2) to explore the principles of its strategic use (3) to learn through case study and exercise how to face the strategic and tactical challenges involved in applications of social media and digital marketing.
By the end of the course, students will:
- be able to leverage digital advertising and social media to better communicate with customers
- know how to respond to customers through new digital marketing tools as they arise
- measure how digital marketing activities affect company performance
- be able to leverage Google Analytics, Facebook/ Instagram, LinkedIn, Tik Tok, YouTube and other online advertising platforms
- understand how trends like social and mobile media affect company strategies
- develop marketing plans for new products and services that take advantage of social media and digital marketing tools
RSM414H1F – Marketing of Services
Instructor: Inez Blackburn
Prerequisite: RSM350H1 Completion of 14.0 Credits
May be applied to the following focuses: Marketing
Breadth Requirements: BR 3
This course tackles the distinct challenges faced by service industry giants—banks, restaurants, airlines, hotels, and insurance companies—while emphasizing the critical importance of marketing in driving success within the service sector. You’ll discover cutting-edge marketing strategies that service-based companies employ to boost customer loyalty, maximize lifetime value, and outpace their competitors in an increasingly competitive landscape.
Students will engage in experiential learning with guest speakers to craft comprehensive marketing plans. This course will deliver insights and skills needed to thrive in the fast-paced, ever-changing world of service marketing, where anticipating customer needs and providing unparalleled service and value.
RSM415H1S – Strategic Decisions in Operations
Instructor: Vahid Roshanaei
Prerequisite: 9.0+ Credits; and RSM270H1 (Please note that this course is open to 3rd and 4th year students)
May be applied to the following Focus: Strategy and Innovation
Breadth Requirement: BR 3
This course provides a comprehensive framework and a set of analytical tools to analyze, evaluate, and optimize the strategic asset and process decisions involved in configuring a firm’s Operating Strategy. The emphasis is on making value-creating decisions that are firmly grounded in operational realities. Using Harvard Business Case Studies spanning tourism and hospitality, manufacturing, aviation, consulting, and asset-light business model design, this course also builds solid foundations for careers in consulting, international business, strategy, data science (with an emphasis on prescriptive analytics), and operations management. This course also incorporates case studies that challenge students to design operations strategies that are tightly aligned with other key functional strategies.
Specifically, students will learn that a firm’s Operating System—comprised of its Assets and Processes—must be uniquely designed to support its business model and competitive strategy.
Key topics include:
- Asset Decisions: capacity sizing, expansion strategies, flexibility, and location selection
- Process Decisions: strategic position defensibility, global and strategic sourcing, dynamic pricing and revenue management, smart technology and digital automation, innovation management, and operational risk management
The course extensively leverages Excel Solver as the primary software and Python (as a supplementary tool for data science students) to make strategic operations decisions that have far-reaching and lasting competitive impact.
The knowledge and skills acquired in this course will also prepare students for interviews with leading companies—such as Amazon, Walmart, and Coca-Cola—that are heavily investing in optimizing their assets and processes. These firms increasingly seek experts who can make data-driven decisions in the face of global uncertainties and geopolitical disruptions
RSM416H1F – Generative AI for Data-Driven Management
Instructor: Gerhard Trippen
Prerequisite: CSC108H1; Completion of 14.0 Credits
Recommended Preparation: RSM371H1
May be applied to the following focuses: Data Science in Business
Breadth Requirements: BR 3
This course offers an in-depth introduction to Generative AI and Large Language Models like ChatGPT, GPT-4o, and Claude. Students will explore the historical development of these models, distinguish between encoder-only and decoder-only LLMs, and critically assess their capabilities and limitations. The course also covers efficient prompting techniques, designing applications that require fine-tuning or proprietary database access, and the latest trends in multimodal AI, ethical AI considerations, and model optimization. Students will learn about the impact of Generative AI on business strategy and data-driven decision-making, with practical insights into platforms like Hugging Face for model hosting and collaboration.
RSM417H1F – Supply Chain Consulting (Name Changed 2025/04/02, formerly called “Supply Chain Analytics”)
Instructor: Paul Jan
Prerequisite: 9.0+ Credits; RSM270H1 (Please note that this course is open to 3rd and 4th year students)
May be applied to the following Focus: Strategy and Innovation; Data Science in Business
Breadth Requirements: BR 3
RSM417 is a practicum (consulting-like) course. You can think of this as a mini-consulting supply chain course where you will get to sole real-world problems with real data and talk with stakeholders from the partnering company. This year, we will work with Maple Leaf Food to study/investigate the supply chain for a few product categories. As students, you will interact with people working at Maple Leaf to learn about their supply chain, investigate potential issues, perform analysis on their supply chain data, and propose recommendations based on analytic insights. There is the possibility for you to present the final recommendation to the VP of supply chain!
This is an excellent opportunity to see how a supply chain is run at a world-class company, how to conduct a consulting project, and, best of all, to have a substantial real-world experience you can share with prospective employers in your interviews!
Please email me (paul.jan@rotman.utoronto.ca) if you have any questions about this course, and I look forward to seeing you this fall!
You can find a video about the course here: Course Promotional Video
Course Info Graphic: RSM417H1 Infographic
RSM418H1F – Progress: or How Big Things Get Done
Instructor: Kevin Bryan
Prerequisite: Completion of 14.0 Credits
Recommended Preparation: RSM392H1
May be applied to the following focuses: Strategy and Innovation
Breadth Requirements: BR 3
Why do rare organizations, in rare places, at rare times, get big things done? From the Industrial Revolution to the agricultural Green Revolution to the modern development of Silicon Valley and AI, we will use economic theory, sociology, philosophy, and the history of technology to understand how managers and policymakers can drive “progress”. This course involves substantial reading from across disciplines, active course discussion, and a term paper with original research.
RSM419H1S – Chinese Markets and Investments
Instructor: Hai Lu
Prerequisite: 9.0+ Credits Required
May be applied to the following focuses: Financial Statement Analysis; International Business; Managing in Diverse Economies
Breadth Requirements: BR 3
This course is designed to help students gain insights into Chinese institutions that can facilitate investment decisions in China. The course begins by introducing a stakeholder approach to understanding Chinese markets and highlighting the major differences relative to the capital markets in developed countries. It covers the behaviors and incentives of important market participants such as the government, managers, investors, analysts, and China’s position in the world. Topics include insider trading, financial market transparency, frauds, ESG, Investment in AI, joint-venture and cross-listing firms, etc… Even though the course mainly focuses on China and its institutions, the theories and cases covered are also applicable to understanding international, especially other emerging, markets.
