Applied Corporate Brand Management MSc (Brunel Business School)

The MSc consists of both compulsory and optional modules, a typical selection can be found below. Modules can vary from year to year, but these offer a good idea of what we teach.

Compulsory

Corporate Branding Theory and Issues

The module aims to provide a critical understanding of corporate branding theory through an examination of key theoretical frameworks. Stakeholder theory, as well as models of corporate brand management and building brand equity will be reviewed to enable this understanding. The module aims to explore extant theory on the application of corporate brand management tools in a wide range of business contexts.

Applied Corporate Branding

The module focuses on applying corporate branding theory to practice. It examines issues such as brand positioning and brand architecture, managing retailers’ own brands, managing luxury brands, crafting new branding strategy, building brand equity, brand recovery, corporate rebranding, co-branding and corporate branding and new media through a critical discussion of ten relevant case studies. The module aims to provide students with critical skills in the evaluation of current cases / strategies of contemporary corporate brands and with professional skills in the application of theory in practice. The course will benefit by the selective involvement of practitioners in providing qualitative feedback on case analysis.

Strategic Corporate Brand Management and Consulting

The course focuses on strategic corporate brand management and consulting and deals with the applied aspects of the territory (the management of change in corporate branding contexts). It examines key normative models such as corporate brand alignment and the six conventions of corporate brand management among others and will examine the strategic nature of corporate brand management in the context of mergers, acquisitions, takeovers and franchise arrangements. The course will consider issues relating to the shared ownership and management of corporate brands and to corporate brand architecture. The roles, activities and approaches adopted by corporate brand consultancies will also be examined. The course will benefit by the involvement of practitioners who will be consulted in the development of the topic of the assessment and will be present in student presentations.

Strategic Corporate Marketing

This module focuses on corporate marketing. It examines the philosophy and management of corporate marketing at the strategic level and considers its historiography. The dimensions of the corporate marketing mix are examined in the context of key, corporate-level constructs/theories relating to corporate branding, corporate identityorganisational identity, corporate communicationscorporate image and reputation, stakeholder theory along with corporate social responsibility.

Marketing Communications

This module aims to help the students understand the process, theory, social impact and ethics of Marketing Communications. It demonstrates the importance of being aware of the role of each element of Marketing Communications. It introduces students to the key terms and concepts associated with marketing communications whilst establishing a thorough grounding in its critical and theoretic aspects.

Understanding Business and Management Research

The module is based on the dominant role of both quantitative and qualitative methods in management research. It focuses on the need to enable the understanding of research reports and use this information to improve the quality of work, decision-making, and the understanding of complex management problems. The latter will be instrumental in applying existing management theory and research to practical management problems as action researchers.

The specific aims are:

• To provide a balanced view of social science and business research methods enabling a critical understanding of research information.

Dissertation

A research-based dissertation is an integral element of the programme to which considerable importance is attached. Students are required to base their dissertation on empirical research into a management problem or issue of their choice (subject to approval). Dissertations are supervised by full-time members of the academic staff of the school who have a wide range of research interests and expertise. The dissertation must be submitted by the end of the academic year during which a student completes all of the taught modules of the course.

Students may undertake a project in collaboration with branding firms as part of their consultancy-based dissertation option. Examples include projects that are concerned with measuring corporate image or ascertaining the brand success of a chosen corporation.

Optional

Global Diversity Management

To get insight into Global Diversity Management by examining how organizations plan, coordinate and implement a set of management strategies, policies, initiatives such as training and development activities that seek to accommodate diverse sets of social and individual backgrounds, interests, beliefs, values and ways of work in organizations with international, multinational, global and transnational workforces and operations.

International Business Ethics and Corporate Governance

This module focuses on business ethics, sustainability and corporate governance in the international context. Both areas will be addressed from the perspective of the dual ‘business’ models of the shareholder and the stakeholder approaches. Further the broader societal impacts of business activities will be considered in-depth. The full range of businesses will be considered – from large corporations through to SMEs. Empirical studies will be used to apply the theoretical resources of moral philosophy, CSR, sustainability and corporate governance.

Consumer Behaviour

To provide students with a critical understanding of 'consumer behaviour' as an investigative discipline informing individual and marketing decisions. Attention will be paid to the external, situational and internal influences, including psychological, social, cultural and economic factors that impact consumer behaviour in personal buying situations and the complexity of the Decision-Making Unit and process.

International Management

The module has six main aims. These are to:

• Examine the important trends impacting international business and the major developing players in the international economy.

• Explore the issues and challenges of managing in an international environment and with reference to particular countries and regions.

• Understand the nature and forms of interaction between an international organisation, managerial decisions and the external environment, especially the effects of globalisation upon MNCs in both developed and developing countries.

• Facilitate understanding of the theories and concepts of international management and to use them to diagnose and solve managerial problems.

• Equip students with the analytical tools, techniques and models of negotiations, communication, and conflict resolution in international contexts.

• Explore the theories and concepts relating to the management of human resources in international context.

Entrepreneurship

This module introduces entrepreneurship as a field of study and as a framework of analysis. It focuses on the nature of entrepreneurship and its importance in society. In particular the module examines:

• The person, through the analysis and understanding of the psychological and behavioural characteristics of the entrepreneurs. This is achieved by examining and reflecting upon the major theories in the field (psychological theory and cognitive theory).

• The process – through the review and analysis of the main approaches to entrepreneurship. In addition, the module shows how entrepreneurship unfolds in a wide range of contexts.

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Students undertake a project in collaboration with branding firms as part of their consultancy-based dissertation option.