Master of Business Administration MBA

Course content

What you will study on the Master of Business Administration ?

The course covers six major management themes which comprise the following - human enterprise, strategy dynamics, products and processes, finance and economics, customer focus and management perspectives. You will be involved in a two day team building and leadership course within the first three weeks and join fellow full-time students in an international residential field trip.

Strategy concerns those actions that determine whether an organisation survives, prospers or dies, and our focus in this course is on understanding the strategy process to understand how firms achieve and sustain competitive advantage. Successful strategy design and implementation requires an understanding of the firm s external environment and its internal resources and capabilities. It also requires an integrated view of the firm that spans functional areas such as operations, marketing, and finance and, as such, this course will build on and integrate learning from other MBA modules. A central aim of this course is to achieve a balance between theory and practice and to use strategic tools to address the level of complexity and uncertainty facing organisations.

This module focuses upon people and their performance in a variety of contexts. The module aims to: - identify areas of overlap between management and leadership and to investigate the competences and behaviours associated with management and leadership; - develop leadership behaviours that will enable students to manage performance as well as lead change to improve organisational performance; - illustrate how the processes of contemporary Human Resource Management support organisational performance; - explore the key elements of the HR Cycle resourcing, managing performance, developing and rewarding performance .

One of the central features of modern management is its location in a fluctuating intellectual context, in which theories, practices, thought and values continue to evolve new understandings of the management task. This module embeds the knowledge and skills developed in other modules in this ever-changing context. It therefore contributes to fulfilment of the key aims of the programme as a whole, most notably the aim that successful participants will be equipped to operate effectively in the modern corporate environment, and to contribute to the evolution of different priorities and practices. The module deals primarily with values - of enterprise, of social responsibility, and of cultural diversity - and the manner in which professionals can help the implementation of these in organisations, whether via consultancy, entrepreneurial activity or via internal leadership. Issues such as social responsibility, managing with diversity, managing across cultures and, above all, the way in which the programme's two key themes of enterprise and consultancy are elaborated in organisations are therefore the prime areas of the module. The intention, though, is to ensure that this module retains a cutting-edge element. This therefore implies that as the corporate environment develops - and thus too the values we apply to organisations and the different ways in which these are reflected in practices will develop - so the content of this module will evolve to ensure that graduates of the programme will re-enter the marketplace fully equipped to engage with current managerial imperatives.

Marketing is fundamental to every society and a significant part of our lives, even though we may not always be aware of it. Marketing management is a creative activity that involves satisfying customer needs and desires. This includes selecting markets to compete in, and making an integrated set of decisions about product and service design, pricing, distribution channels, advertising, branding, and promotions. This module aims to explain and define the discipline of marketing and its key concepts, and explore the use of conceptual frameworks for understanding marketing phenomenon. You will perform financial calculations and integrate them into decision making and conduct analysis of consumer need, company capabilities, and competitive positioning to build a growth strategy. You will apply, in a risk-free environment, the strategic concepts of marketing and to test real strategies in a modelled competitive space using a simulation.

The aim of this module is to offer in-depth exploration of the operations function, emphasising those issues that contribute to business performance; to relate business theory and practice, including the integration of participants professional experience.

Financial and economic factors affect organisations in many ways. This module aims to provide knowledge, skills and a theoretical understanding in a number of strategic aspects of financial management and economics and how they affect commercial organisations. It also examines the interrelationships between key factors in the economic environment, evaluating the impact of shifts and changes in these factors on organisational decision-making and performance. The inter-connections between the economic and financial environment are also explored.

This module provides students with a means of developing further and integrating the skills and knowledge gained on the MBA by application to a substantial applied project related to consultancy or entrepreneurship. The aim is for students to develop a project in relation to a specific organizational issue or problem. It enables students to demonstrate proficiency in relation to the scope of the relevant issue s identified, consider relevant literature relating to the project, collect and apply data, consider the financial implications including any cost/benefit analysis in relation to justifying specific recommendations as well as consider any other relevant implementation issues.

This module provides students with a means of developing further the skills and knowledge gained on the MBA, by application to a specific organizational issue or problem. It enables students to demonstrate proficiency in the design of a business enhancement project, application of appropriate methods of investigation, management of the change process, and maintenance of leadership and vision in the face of the vicissitudes of business realities. It is a pre-requisite for this module that the individual have successfully completed and submitted their Project Proposal as part of the Research Methods module.

You can find more information about this course in the programme specification. Module and programme information is indicative and may be subject to change.