Programme themes

The Loughborough MBA is focused on developing knowledge, skills and insights against six key themes:

  • Purposeful leadership: The leaders of tomorrow need to navigate a fast-moving commercial environment with agility, skill and integrity, getting the best out of their people and setting strategic direction. Purposeful Leadership incorporates three core modules: Leading Strategic Change; Leading Organisations and People; and Sustainability and Responsible Business Practice.
  • Performance management: Understanding the key disciplines which underpin Performance Management is vital for organisations, ensuring that strategic objectives are delivered effectively. Performance Management incorporates three core modules: Accounting, Finance and Economic Management; Business Analytics; and Operations and Project Management.
  • Value creation: What made an organisation successful in the past won’t be sufficient to seize future opportunities in an increasingly digital world. Value Creation incorporates three core modules: Strategic Marketing, Digital Economy and Enterprise, and Innovation Management, where students can work on a live business project aimed at commercialising new technologies.
  • Explore and discover: As part of the programme, you will be able to further develop your MBA experience by undertaking one of three electives: Managing the Global Firm, AI and Data-Driven Decision Making, or (if selected) Advanced Management, which offer you the chance to develop critical, adaptive and strategic thinking capabilities. 
  • The Capstone Challenge: Bring together and apply your new knowledge, skills and insights in a practical context. You will be able to choose between three project-based modules: a Business Administration Project, a Consultancy Project, or a Work Based Learning Project (internship pathway only).
  • AI and Data-Driven Decision Making: Prepare for the AI-enabled future of business with a module dedicated to strategic understanding of how AI, analytics, and data ecosystems are reshaping managerial decision-making, organisational design, and competitive advantage. 

Please note, if you elect to apply for the Advanced Management optional module, you will be required to attend the European Summer School of Advanced Management. This is an optional, external opportunity with additional essential costs associated with choosing to attend the ESSAM residential, which are not included in the tuition fees for the MBA programme and will be your responsibility to pay.

Compulsory modules

The aims of this module are to:

  • Develop an understanding of the changing nature of the practice and processes of strategic management.
  • Develop skills in the area of strategic analysis, the development of strategic options and change management.
  • Increase skills in building agile and collaborative cultures which gain buy-in for change initiatives.
  • Develop skills to influence upwards and outwards.
  • Encourage an openness to new ideas and an awareness that in many situations there is a range of alternatives which should be evaluated.

This module aims to:

  • Provide a theoretical and practical introduction to contemporary perspectives on leadership in organisational context.
  • Closely examine psychological focus on leaders’ characteristics and behaviour.
  • Address leadership roles in different forms and structures of organisation.
  • Consider institutional and cultural factors affecting organisational leadership.
  • Explore contemporary approaches to people management.
  • Address international issues with a focus on multinational companies (MNCs).
  • Provide participants with a richer understanding of issues associated with the management of human resources with organisations.
  • Help students apply leadership theory to their own workplace and individual behaviour.

On this module, students will:

  • Be introduced to the concepts of responsible business using a variety of different business models looking at the way in which they tackle complex societal problems.
  • Analyse real-life case studies from different parts of the world.
  • Learn about the challenges of balancing responsible, sustainable and social objectives along with financial goals.
  • Identify different approaches to generating social and environmental impact.
  • Develop a better understanding of how responsible business and corporate sustainability can work in tandem.

The aims of this module are to:

  • Provide participants with the knowledge and skills necessary for an understanding of financial management and its impact on decision-making in a variety of organisational contexts.
  • Develop the ability to analyse and interpret organisational performance.
  • Expose participants to a range of issues surrounding accounting for sustainability.
  • Equip students with an understanding of economic concepts and models appropriate to business decision-making.

MBA with internship pathway only

The aims of this module are to:

  • Develop a working knowledge of the standard processes and methods used in business and management research.
  • Give students the experience of executing a negotiated, practically-based research study in a work place setting.
  • Integrate ideas from the taught MBA programme into this problem-solving context.

Optional modules

One-year full-time MBA pathway only

The aims of this module are to:

  • Develop a working knowledge of the standard processes and methods used in business and management research.
  • Give students the experience of executing a previously designed, practically-based research study on an aspect of management of their choice.
  • Integrate ideas from the taught MBA programme into this problem-solving context.

The aims of this module are:

  • To apply discipline-specific knowledge covered in the MBA programme to a real-world problem/situation.
  • To undertake business consultancy across the entire lifecycle of a project from inception to delivery.
  • To develop consulting skills, including those related to academic research, such as effective communication with the company, choosing appropriate theories/frameworks and effectively collecting and using data as needed.

Compulsory modules

The aims of this module are:

  • To develop an understanding of the role of business analytics in an organisation.
  • To develop an awareness of big data and understanding of the assumptions and limitations of modelling methods, including ethical issues.
  • To develop an awareness of a range of analytical methods to improve decision making in organisations.

The aims of this module are to:

  • Provide students with an understanding of the ways in which organisations manage their operations.
  • Provide a critical understanding of the role of a project manager in a wide variety of industrial and commercial applications.
  • Provide a critical understanding of the project planning and control techniques and human resource management methodologies available to project managers.
  • Build and develop operations and project management skills that can be applied to organisational situations.

The aims of this module are:

  • To provide participants with an understanding of the introductory principles and concepts relating to marketing, and to the management of the marketing mix.
  • To explore strategic marketing issues.

The aims of this module are to: 

  • Provide a conceptual understanding of the digital firm as one that exploits ownership and processes of data in order to achieve strategic market advantage and prominence.
  • Identify the implications of data and information for firm design and scope.
  • Provide understanding of how Artificial Intelligence works and its characteristics as a novel form of cognition.
  • Exemplify and explain the systemic consequences of information and why these make digital firms problematic to society.
  • Provide conceptual understanding of media forms and their relevance to information, and then further to business and society.

The aims of this module are to:

  • Introduce the concepts of innovation, entrepreneurship theory, and commercialisation.
  • Enable participants to utilise a detailed risk analysis tool to evaluate a commercial opportunity.
  • Explore the implementation of a new product/service or process, whilst understanding the constraints under which many firms operate, with an emphasis on SMEs and start-up businesses.
  • Enable students to apply the algorithm to real business opportunities in a consultancy capacity.

MBA with internship pathway only

The aims of this module are to:

  • Develop a working knowledge of the standard processes and methods used in business and management research.
  • Give students the experience of executing a negotiated, practically-based research study in a work place setting.
  • Integrate ideas from the taught MBA programme into this problem-solving context.

Optional modules

One-year full-time MBA pathway only

The aims of this module are to:

  • Develop a working knowledge of the standard processes and methods used in business and management research.
  • Give students the experience of executing a previously designed, practically-based research study on an aspect of management of their choice.
  • Integrate ideas from the taught MBA programme into this problem-solving context.

The aims of this module are:

  • To apply discipline-specific knowledge covered in the MBA programme to a real-world problem/situation.
  • To undertake business consultancy across the entire lifecycle of a project from inception to delivery.
  • To develop consulting skills, including those related to academic research, such as effective communication with the company, choosing appropriate theories/frameworks and effectively collecting and using data as needed.

Compulsory modules

The aims of this module are to:

  • Introduce the concepts of innovation, entrepreneurship theory, and commercialisation.
  • Enable participants to utilise a detailed risk analysis tool to evaluate a commercial opportunity.
  • Explore the implementation of a new product/service or process, whilst understanding the constraints under which many firms operate, with an emphasis on SMEs and start-up businesses.
  • Enable students to apply the algorithm to real business opportunities in a consultancy capacity.

MBA with internship pathway only

The aims of this module are to:

  • Develop a working knowledge of the standard processes and methods used in business and management research.
  • Give students the experience of executing a negotiated, practically-based research study in a work place setting.
  • Integrate ideas from the taught MBA programme into this problem-solving context.

This module aims to give students a work based learning experience that allows them to apply the skills learned on the taught part of the MBA programme as well as their pre-existing skills and experience in a management environment.

Those taking our two-year full-time MBA with internship pathway will typically commence their 45-52 week professional internship after all teaching has finished during the summer semester.

Optional modules

The aims of this module are to:

  • Provide awareness of the diverse economic, legal, political, social, cultural and technological contexts in which organisations operate on a global scale.
  • Develop knowledge and understanding in international business and strategy theory and managerial practice, in a range of international contexts.
  • Explore the specific implications for managerial practice, financial management, marketing and innovation efforts to develop a rich understanding of the complexities of managing global firms.
  • Develop knowledge of the different approaches that can be taken when managing firms in a global context.

The aim of this module is to develop an understanding of the changing nature of the practice and processes of strategic management and other advanced management topics as organisations operate in an increasingly internationalised business environment.

The aims of this module are to:

  • Develop a critical understanding of strategy and strategic management in the context of AI-enabled and data-driven organisations.
  • Examine how artificial intelligence and advanced analytics reshape competitive advantage, organisational design, and value creation.
  • Explore and evaluate frameworks used to assess AI opportunities, strategic options, and innovation pathways.
  • Develop capability in analysing internal and external environments where AI, automation, and data ecosystems influence industry dynamics.
  • Understand the governance, risk, regulatory, and ethical implications of AI deployment in organisational decision-making.

One-year full-time MBA pathway only

The aims of this module are to:

  • Develop a working knowledge of the standard processes and methods used in business and management research.
  • Give students the experience of executing a previously designed, practically-based research study on an aspect of management of their choice.
  • Integrate ideas from the taught MBA programme into this problem-solving context.

The aims of this module are:

  • To apply discipline-specific knowledge covered in the MBA programme to a real-world problem/situation.
  • To undertake business consultancy across the entire lifecycle of a project from inception to delivery.
  • To develop consulting skills, including those related to academic research, such as effective communication with the company, choosing appropriate theories/frameworks and effectively collecting and using data as needed.