Business Administration MBA

This module provides an introduction to the theory and practice of financial accounting and reporting, management accounting and finance. Both commercial and not-for-profit organisations will be considered.

Financial reporting is the process of presenting financial (and other) information to a range of stakeholders in order to ensure appropriate accountability and stewardship. You will be encouraged to consider the need for integrity in financial accounting and reporting, and the potential limitations of regulation and standards.

Management accounting is concerned with the preparation and presentation of accounting information to aid managers in their jobs of planning, decision making and control. New and traditional management accounting techniques are analysed in the context of a changing management context with its emphasis on strategy, costing and performance metrics. The content of the module is aimed primarily at managers and not accountants.

The finance section emphasises two of the major financial decisions, the investment decision and the financing decision - where the money comes from and how it is best used within the organisation.  

In the mixed economy, society's productive resources are allocated by a mixture of planning (government and firms) and decentralised decision making (individuals and markets).

The module provides an introduction to the economic analysis of resource allocation at the level of individual consumers, firms, markets and the overall economy to show how these alternative economic principles can be used to promote the optimal allocation of resources for society as a whole.

This module explores key contemporary issues in organisational behaviour and the management of people in diverse and dynamic contexts. The topics covered will include employee motivation, leadership and working in teams, power and politics, conflict, change, culture, inclusion and contemporary challenges for an emerging industrial age.

The module offers an overview of the nature and practice of marketing at both the strategic and tactical levels. You will be introduced to a variety of conceptual frameworks and will be expected to apply them in relation to case study companies and your own business experience.

Key themes to be addressed include:

• the nature and role of marketing and marketing management
• connecting with customers and building strong brands
• shaping and managing the marketing offering
• communicating and delivering value

The module provides a thorough grounding in concepts and principles that are essential for the successful management of operations in contemporary organisations. Module topics include:

• the role of the operations function and the major variables in managing operations
• project management concepts and methods
• service operations management, including service systems design and queuing systems
• quality concepts and the management of quality
• supply chain management concepts including material and information flows, supply chain dynamics, forecasting, sales and operations planning
• lean thinking and lean concepts and process excellence

This module examines the process of strategic management, focusing on the nature of strategy formulation and implementation. The analysis of strategy concepts and case study examples will be used to develop awareness of the factors that must be considered in strategic decision-making. Topics include:

• strategic vision and mission, environmental and industry analysis
• generic strategies
• core competence
• growth and diversification
• internationalisation and the execution of strategy

Theorists and policy makers now understand the link between entrepreneurial activity and economic development, and creativity and innovation underpin all successful entrepreneurship.

Successful entrepreneurship is characterised by a set of identifiable skills that are useful in any domain, and these skills are best developed in an integrative and engaged environment, where theory can be practically applied. This module will use the Ingenuity creative problem solving model to integrate the content and simulate the entrepreneurial environment.

The module's focus will be on generating, evaluating and selling innovative ideas in a team context. Whilst led by academics, practitioner engagement will be central to the module's successful delivery. This will be achieved through a combination of guest lectures and mentoring by experienced entrepreneurs.

This module integrates and reflects upon the interdisciplinary nature of the programme and challenges your understanding and application of the material presented on the core modules.

This is undertaken by focusing on the role of different business stakeholders in achieving economic and environmental sustainability - through an examination of their possibly contradicting and contradictory objectives, values and decision-making processes.

We have a wide range of practitioners featuring in the module. You will have to present and defend your integrated sustainable strategy to a real board, consisting of practitioners with experience of board membership. You will also run a real media conference consisting of journalists from the press.

All MBA students complete a management project, giving them the opportunity to put theory into practice. You spend up to six months on a management project exploring current business issues and applying the theories and techniques learned during your MBA to resolve them.

You have three options. Either:

• apply for a project with a real business (company-based management project)
• do a desk-based project
• write a business plan

The specific topic is subject to an approval process. Course members enrolled on a specific MBA variant must undertake a Management Project related to their named variant.

This module examines ethical issues and dilemmas, covering a range of complex and controversial problems relating to business in a global economy. The main concepts and theories underpinning the business ethics field will be introduced, and you shall have the opportunity to apply these to business situations.

More specifically, the module explores pertinent issues of human rights, globalisation and sustainable development, and places these within different philosophical and cultural perspectives. The module also explores the role of professionals from an ethical perspective, and situates these explorations within a political-economic framework.

This module explores the role of Business Intelligence (BI) in transforming the way companies strategise and organise for change to induce sustainable growth and innovation, new organisational forms, and intellectual property.

BI is prevalently relevant to the digital economy. Being digitally fluent is a must to lead and manage, and to respond to changes in competition and markets.

The module examines the ethical and practical justifications for the idea that companies should operate in the interests of shareholders and also the counter arguments in favour of a stakeholder perspective.

The module then deals in turn with the major financial decisions made in organisations (capital budgeting, capital structure, dividends, mergers, working capital). Decisions are analysed first in the context of well functioning capital markets. Capital market imperfections and behavioural biases on the part of managers and investors are then considered.

This module provides an introduction to decision theory and the theory of games with particular emphasis on the application to business problems and managerial decision making. Participants are introduced to the main concepts and tools of the theory and the techniques of practical analysis of business ecision problems.

In addition, the module covers the main theoretical insights these approaches have produced into competition and conflict as well as co-operation and pro-social behaviour between economic and business decision makers.

This module covers the following:

• What is Innovation Management? - definitions and models of the process
• Innovation Strategy - the national and competitive environment; innovation processes within multinational firms; innovation processes within large public sector organisations; the systems of innovation specific to small high technology firms
• Management techniques for innovation - shared vision, effective team working and a creative climate
• Learning from Markets - marketing technological and complex products and learning through alliances
• Integration of Approaches - Key themes, learning to manage and measure innovation and through the group presentations - Appraisal of innovation management within different organisations

This module aims to introduce contemporary business practice in an international context through a mixture of classroom learning and field visits to organisations in the destination country. The module also aims to enable you to reflect on the application of theory to practical business management issues.

The module further aims to enhance your understanding of the international dimensions to business in terms of other national corporate and consumer cultures and business environments.

The module will include the following topics:

• The meaning, nature and evolution of the field of leadership in an organisational, social, environmental and multi-cultural context
• Critical issues in leadership, including how leaders are selected, development tools that are available, and issues of evaluation - leadership development, styles, motivations and competencies
• Leadership skills for building teams and securing involvement and participation - working collaboratively, ethically and effectively to support a partnership approach to leadership and management development
• Leadership and strategic change - the key roles that leaders play in creating visions and strategies and the implementation of leadership and management strategies to meet current and future organisational demands
• Leadership and sustainable strategic management
• Leading change - how leaders influence and persuade others and the key challenges that organisations and individual managers face

The module covers:

• Programme management: issues, theory and approaches
• Project planning: estimating and budgeting - developing solutions
• Project modelling solutions
• Project management maturity

This module covers the following sessions:

1. What is a market? A service ecosystem approach to understanding markets
2. Organisational buying behaviour and market structures
3. How do markets work? Creating and shaping new markets and maintaining market dynamics
4. Market relations and sustainable competitive advantage
5. Forming business networks: business network partnership attraction
6. Business-to-Business marketing strategies
7. Innovation in business networks
8. Managing business networks: communication, coordination and learning in business networks
9. Strategic market relations in the digital world
10. Branding and building loyalty: value co-creation in network partnerships

Business start-ups, second stage financing and management buy-outs are all encompassed by Venture Capital and Private Equity. The module looks at the variety of uses of this type of finance and the growing number of sources available. Structures of deals, analysis and preparation of business plans, exit rates and assessing the entrepreneur are all covered in this module.