MSc International Business degree

This module will introduce you to issues relating to managing people at work in an international context. You will develop your expertise in evaluating the challenges and opportunities of human resource management (HRM) in a rapidly changing global context and deepen your understanding of cultural differences and your cross cultural competence.

Topics studied may include:

• models of cultural differences
• communication and interaction between people of different cultures
• international human resource management
• contemporary issues and challenges facing managers and employees working across countries.

This module wil analyse the global business environment, the risks facing international companies doing business in emerging market economies and the main supra-national international business institutions.

Topics studied may include:

• Supra-national business institutions:
  • World Trade Organisation (WTO)
  • International Monetary Fund (IMF)
  • World Bank
• national and organisational cultural environments
• national institutional environments
• country risk
• firm-level business environments:
  • product strategies
  • foreign market entry
  • internal organisational design
  • corporate governance
• global sourcing strategies.

This module will give you an in-depth knowledge of the innovation process, its importance to the economy and an understanding of the factors affecting its success. You will also explore the academic theories of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial behaviour and how these relate to the innovation process.

Topics studied may include:

• the innovation process and its importance to the economy
• factors affecting the success of the innovation process, including intellectual property management, project planning and post implementation monitoring
• management of the innovation process
• the link between innovation and entrepreneurship
• innovations in marketing
• entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial behaviour in marketing organisations.

This module will assess the role that outsourcing and offshoring play in shaping business and IT strategy in a global context. It will develop your understanding of the challenges organisations face when outsourcing or offshoring and allow you to become familiar with key practical outsourcing and offshoring frameworks. The module will also give you hands-on experience in executing an outsourcing/offshoring project.

Topics studied may include:

• an overview of the global sourcing marketplace
• sourcing models: what and when to outsource/offshore
• country attractiveness for sourcing
• client perspective:
  • vendor selection strategy
  • retained management capabilities
• supplier core capabilities and strategies
• leveraging knowledge and expertise
• the IT outsourcing lifecycle and the transition phase governance of outsourcing projects
• emerging issues in sourcing.

This two-semester module will encourage you to take ownership of your personal learning and development. You will improve your capabilities in the area of literature searching, referencing, academic writing and critical analysis for academic research and develop your understanding of the needs of organisations in the international business environment, including the methods of recruitment used by global organisations. The module will also give you the skills to develop your own body of evidence of your demonstration of management competencies.

Topics studied may include:

• literature searching using reputable sources
• Harvard referencing for business and management
• management competencies and the requirements of organisations
• the current business environment and trends in the labour market
• skills identification and promotion throughout the job application process
• interpersonal skills and team working
• human behaviour and body language.

This two-semester module will encourage you to take ownership of your personal learning and development. You will improve your capabilities in the area of literature searching, referencing, academic writing and critical analysis for academic research and develop your understanding of the needs of organisations in the international business environment, including the methods of recruitment used by global organisations. The module will also give you the skills to develop your own body of evidence of your demonstration of management competencies.

Topics studied may include:

• literature searching using reputable sources
• Harvard referencing for business and management
• management competencies and the requirements of organisations
• the current business environment and trends in the labour market
• skills identification and promotion throughout the job application process
• interpersonal skills and team working
• human behaviour and body language.

This module will consolidate your learning from semesters one and two by enabling you to develop the skills you need to analyse a given industry.

Topics covered may include:

• generic approaches to industry and external environment analysis
• theoretical concepts and tools of analysis of the remote and operating environment (eg PESTEL analysis, DEEPLIST, Porter's five forces and market segment analysis), identifying its impact on an industry or sector
• use of secondary sources of data and publicly available material.

This module wil build on your prior international business knowledge and develop your understanding of the science and complexity of international business negotiations. You will investigate the role of strategy, cultural dynamics, emotions and power asymmetries in negotiated outcomes and gain knowledge of conceptual tools in international negotiations theory and apply them to effectively engage in solving international business negotiation problems.

Topics studied may include:

• the nature and complexity of international business negotiations
• theories of international negotiations
• game theoretical models in negotiation analysis
• international business negotiations strategies
• face-to-face and computer mediated negotiations
• emotions in negotiations
• communication
• cross-cultural negotiations and cultural intelligence
• business case studies
• simulations.

This module will provide an in-depth understanding of international virtual team research and practice. You will develop skills of collaborating in international, virtual teams and develop expertise in critically analysing international business problems.

Topics studied may include:

• models and methods of international team building, current research on virtual teamwork
• using electronic communication media effectively
• scheduling and coordinating activities across countries and time zones
• dealing with strategic moments in the virtual collaboration.

This module introduces you to the social entrepreneurship phenomenon and the ways in which it tackles complex societal problems. You will analyse real-life case studies from different parts of the world, learn about the entrepreneurial challenges of balancing social objectives and financial goals, and identify different approaches to generating social impact.

The module also helps you develop a better understanding of how social entrepreneurship and community social responsibility (CSR) can work in tandem.

This module will explore:

• social entrepreneur profiles
• case studies of global, social enterprises, community asset mapping, social value proposition and the impact of development goals
• the role and influence of government, community, cooperatives and wider alliances in addressing poverty
• social business frameworks using human centred design and triple bottom line principles
• sustainable and traditional funding sources
• the challenges of managing multiple stakeholder relationships and governance issues
• evaluation and impact measurement tools.

This module will develop your understanding of theories of entrepreneurship in a post-conflict context, including the opportunities and challenges present in post-conflict spaces and how they differ from orthodox environments. The module will enable you to engage empathically with local contexts, promoting a better understanding of other places, and will illustrate and critique the range of harms that can occur when using orthodox representations of innovative business practices in these contexts.

This module will frame international entrepreneurship and post-conflict environments in its wider neo-liberal context. It will also explore types of intervention, technologies of entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, corruption, gendered interventions.

This module will assess the role financial technologies (fintech) and their applications play in global markets. It will allow you to develop a deeper understanding of fintech business models from a digital innovation perspective and explore and evaluate the ethical and developmental impacts of fintech innovations.

Topics studied may include:

• the digital transformation of banking, capital markets, insurance services and financial regulation
• key actors in the fintech world:
  • tech companies
  • financial and insurance incumbents
  • policymakers and regulators
  • users of financial services
• main business areas of the fintech sector:
  • money and payments
  • lending and borrowing
  • savings and investments
  • insurance
• core technologies:
  • big data analytics
  • artificial intelligence
  • peer-to-peer systems
  • blockchain networks
  • biometrics
  • social media platforms
• fintech entrepreneurship:
  • searching and selecting fintech ideas
  • orchestrating strategies in the fintech environment
• fintech cases in advanced and emerging markets
• fintech and financial inclusion
• ethics and the developmental impacts of fintech.

This module will introduce and develop the key principles of enterprise resource planning (ERP), along with the fundamental concepts of supply chain management (SCM) in the context of ERP. It will provide an understanding of the role of ERP systems in the effective management of organisational processes and give you hands-on experience of SAP, an industry standard ERP software.

Topics studied may include:

• ERP-enabled supply chain management and materials requirements planning
• international supply chain issues
• inventory management
• logistics strategy, including ethical issues
• enterprise integration
• ERP concepts, tools and techniques
• ERP-enabled accounting, control and marketing
• the role and use of SAP software in support of business processes.

This module will give you an understanding of the role of global logistics and supply chain management within various business contexts. It will identify and analyse the complexities and uncertainties affecting global supply chains, thereby giving you a critical appreciation of the emerging trends and concepts in logistics and supply chain management.

Topics studied may include:

• basic concepts of logistics and supply chain management
• supply chain strategies, and lean and agile supply chains
• procurement and outsourcing
• managing the global supply chain
• supply chain relationships
• the role of logistics in supply chain management
• transportation and distribution management
• the role of technology in supply chain management
• performance measurement and evaluation
• supply chain vulnerability, risk and resilience
• sustainable logistics and supply chain systems
• emerging trends: new supply chain designs and ethical issues.

This module will give you an in-depth knowledge of the digital marketing and social media platforms and applications. You will also explore the underlying academic theories of marketing, business and consumer behaviour and how these relate to the application of digital marketing in the real world.

Module content covers digital marketing and social media, looking at the challenges and opportunities these new concepts bring to marketers. It also examines the virtual market place, digital marketing platforms and media channels, and how these are used as part of marketing strategies, as well as issues associated with integration, content marketing and the commercial applications of social media.

Instead of pursuing the modules listed in option one, you may instead take an approved course of study (taught in English) at an overseas partner university. You will undertake assessed work equivalent to 60 credits, as required by our School of Business and Economics. The module 'Personal Development for Study and Employability' will be continued online during the semester abroad.

We currently have partner institutions in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Taiwan and India.

This module will give you an understanding of the concepts involved in global strategic management and its application in the private and public sectors. You will also develop skills in the area of strategic analysis, the development of strategic options and the implementation of strategy.

Topics studied may include:

• the concepts of global strategy and strategic management
• environmental analysis and strategic positioning
• strategic capability
• corporate governance
• business and corporate level strategy
• strategic evaluation
• strategy implementation
• global strategic leadership
• organisational structure and design
• the cultural context
• business ethics and corporate responsibility
• managing strategic change.

This module will encourage openness to new ideas and an awareness that in many situations there is a range of alternatives which should be evaluated. You will be provided with a working knowledge and clear understanding of internal and external challenges of international business, and the conceptual basis of international business and decision-making, and you will enhance your ability to communicate with and within different cultures.

Topics studied may include:

• business and management issues in the international context
• differences in managerial styles reflected in intercultural interaction and decision-making
• how cross-border transactions need to be based on topics of differences in national and business culture
• why the global manager has to adapt to various business concepts and frameworks of the mind.