MBA PROGRAMME CONTENT

• Shows how an organisation can achieve excellence through its people, processes and activities, and how self-assessment - the regular and systematic review of an organisation - often represents the start of the journey to business success.

• Introduces the major theoretical and practical approaches including, management and organisation of multinational companies; globalisation and industry structure and strategy in the global environment.
• Explores the key issues in cross-cultural management and the interaction of culture and corporate activity in different business systems.
• International Marketing
• Examines the nature and composition of the international marketplace and the implications for marketing strategy when organisations operate beyond national boundaries, including the impact of culture on consumption and consumer behaviour, and standardisation versus adaptation.

• Examines how knowledge is created and communicated both within and across organisations and considers applications of knowledge management, such as the sharing of product development expertise, improving competitor intelligence and the dissemination of best practice.

• Examines the quality of individual and group decision making and the ways in which decision making may be enhanced through the development of decision-making skills and the use of decision-aiding techniques. Covers decision theory, intuitive decision making and negotiation.

• Considers the two primary phases (strategic and tactical) in the process of management of major projects, exploring the link between project strategy and corporate strategy, and the value that may be added to a business through the strategic management of a portfolio or programme of projects.

• Investigates innovative entrepreneurship and new business models, introducing a variety of views on entrepreneurship and developing the student’s entrepreneurial behaviours or processes.

• Develops students’ understanding of the key characteristics of the consultancy industry and of its market; the challenges in organising and managing management consultancy firms; and the distinguishing features of successful consultancy projects.

• Explores key concepts, models and stimulus for globalization, in particular exporting.  
• Examines the nature and composition of the export marketplace and the implications for marketing strategy and decision making when organisations operate beyond their national boundaries.

• Provides a thorough understanding of the modern sales function within a strategic context, covering effective sales management practices in a variety of industry sectors.
• Introduces the development of a strategic sales plan and assesses the challenges of implementing and controlling sales strategies.

• Explores the meanings of leadership and change and its changing role in contemporary business.
• Introduces different models and recent theories of leadership and change management skills, including traditional approaches and tools for thinking that will aid analysis and reflection.

• To develop knowledge and understanding about the interconnected systems required to bring about a sustainable planet, and the role of, and challenge to business in this context.
• To develop knowledge and understanding of the relationships among science, business and society.
• To develop an appreciation of the significant features of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainable Development and an understanding of the wider concepts of Responsible Management

This unit aims to develop the students’ critical faculties by inviting them to examine the challenges to business offered by adopting strategies encompassing Corporate Social Responsibility, and by looking critically at existing structures of Corporate Governance.

The module content is organised to provide, first, an overview of business ethics and corporate responsibility and then, focus on the application of ethics to specific areas of business, such as international management, Human Resource Management, advertising and corporate reporting.  The module will use concepts from the ethics literature such as responsibility, duty, accountability, respect, justice, fairness, truth and trust as a lens through which to consider the behaviour of business and the relationship between business and society.  The syllabus will cover:

• The Application of Ethics to Business and to Business Strategy and Corporate Responsibility    
• The Extent of Corporate Ethical Responsibilities
• HRM and Ethics           
• Corporate responsibility for the supply chain
• The Ethics of Advertising
• Ethical Issues in International business  
• Business regulation and the financial crisis        

• To introduce the key ideas, theories and concepts in the domain of systems thinking
• To apply these theories and ideas to a variety of problems in a range of application domains
• To gain an appreciation of how both theory and practice can be improved with systems thinking
• To understand how these ideas may have more impact on practice and policy

• The lectures will cover -History of systems thinking, Socio-technical systems theory, Soft systems analysis, Principles of systems thinking, Applications of a systems framework

To provide a sound theoretical and empirical basis to an understanding of the international financial system, international financial institutions, concepts of risk exposure and management (hedging) in financial markets.

• The development and nature of financial systems

• The role of central banks, financial regulation - potential and problems

• Theories of exchange rate determination, managing exchange rate risk, risk and return in financial markets, hedging in financial markets using financial derivatives.