MSc Management degree

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 introduce you to the range of alternative techniques and strategies for managing people at work and will develop your expertise in evaluating the different techniques and strategies in varied circumstances.

Topics studied may include:

• the nature of human resource management
• performance and reward
• recruitment and selection
• training and development
• organisational culture
• international perspectives
• ethical perspectives.

This module will give you a broad understanding of the basic concepts in accounting and financial management with an emphasis on decision making. It will develop your technical and analytical skills in aspects of accounting and financial management and you will be equiped with the financial awareness needed for further study in business and management.

Topics studied may include:

• the nature of accounting and financial management
• an introduction to published financial statements
• analysing the financial strengths and weaknesses of an organisation within its competitive environment
• an introduction to management accounting, planning and decision making
• financial management, longer term decision making and investment appraisal.

This module examines the principles of marketing, from theoretical and practical perspectives. It will enable you to develop an understanding of applied marketing and build a solid foundation in the subject.

Topics studied may include:

• marketing environment
• marketing planning process
• segmentation, targeting and positioning
• marketing orientation, organisational and consumer buyer behaviour
• the marketing information system
• the marketing mix.

This module will introduce the fundamental concepts and techniques of operations management and illustrate its application in organisations in both the manufacturing and service industries.

Topics covered may include:

• an introduction to operations management
• processes, layout and location
• quality management and improvement
• materials management
• capacity
• scheduling and loading
• operations strategy
• supply chain management
• control and management systems (eg Lean and ERP)
• performance measurement
• international and ethical aspects of operations.

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 provide you with an understanding of the role and importance of information systems in organisations, integrating the various core components of your master's programme and reinforcing the concept of management as an integrated multi-disciplinary activity.

Topics studied may include:

• general introduction to information systems in organisations
• critical evaluation of possible applications of new and emerging technologies within a variety of organisational and economic contexts
• exploration of the strategic role of information systems in organisations, organisation and leadership, the trend towards systems integration, and the outsourcing of systems activities
• elaboration on the activity of designing information systems in the context of dynamic change
• specification of requirements and the involvement of stakeholders in this activity
• exploration of the management and benefits of information systems.

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 will provide you with an understanding of the key concepts and core issues in international marketing, building on your knowledge of basic marketing. You will develop decision-making skills for the successful formulation, implementation and control of international marketing programmes, and enhance communication and team-working skills.

Topics studied may include:

• the nature of international marketing decision-making
• globalisation
• the international marketing environment: international marketing research
• market selection and entry strategies
• standardisation/adaptation of marketing mix
• organisation and control of international marketing operations.

This module will present a range of issues affecting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It will assess the economic contribution of the SME sector, decribe growth patterns and modles and explore the development of government policy towards SMEs.

Topics studied may include:

• the small business sector and start-ups
• entrepreneurs and owner-managers
• elements of business plans for SMEs
• strategy and growth in SMEs
• growth models for SMEs
• the financing and financial management of SMEs
• management strategies in small firms
• UK government policy towards SMEs
• contemporary issues in the small firm sector
• idea generation and evaluation
• SMEs and innovation.

This module will give you an understanding of the various approaches to business forecasting and explore their use in practice with standard packages. You will develop your ability to interpret numerical information and gain skills in the analysis and modelling of management situations, as well as a sophisticated approach to the evaluation of alternatives in complex scenarios.

Module content will explore time series analysis and begins with decomposition and regression-based forecasting methods before extending the approaches into ARIMA methods. The factors affecting the choice of method are also explored.

This module will introduce you to a range of behavioural and organisational concepts which provide the basis for the management of human resources. You will also develop an awareness and clear understanding of how people work individually, in groups and within organisations.

Topics studied may include:

• an introduction and history of work psychology
• individual differences (eg personality and intelligence)
• attitudes at work
• stress and well-being
• leadership
• positive psychology
• new forms of working
• creativity and innovation.

This module will introduce and develop the key principles of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and 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 builds on the foundation provided by the Marketing in the Organisation module in semester one and develops the knowledge and skills needed for a career as a brand manager. It will present the key principles, theories and practices of brand management through experiential learning. The topics covered will build and strengthen your understanding of brand management with the creation of a portfolio of theory and practical examples.

This module builds on your understanding of marketing and develops a critical appreciation of the role of marketing communications (as both a concept and process) in the success of marketing strategies. There is a particular emphasis on the theory which underlines marketing communications to provide you with the essential background to understand consumers, the communications planning process and the communications mix.

Topics covered may include:

• an introduction to marketing communications
• integrating marketing communications
• advertising
• sponsorship
• public relations, sales promotion and social media marketing.

This module will allow you to develop skills in assessing the strategic direction of competing companies and evaluating the strategic pathway of a selected company.

Topics studied may include:

• strategic fit
• analysis of basis of competitive advantage
• resource-based view (RBV)
• knowledge-based view (KBV)
• dynamic strategic capability
• network theory
• strategic choices
• strategic methods (make, buy and ally)
• internationalisation strategies and evaluation in the context of host countries
• evaluation criteria
• international diversification and firm performance
• SWOT analysis.

This module will give you a critical understanding of the concepts involved in global strategic management and its application in the private and public sectors. You will also develop your skills in 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.