Master of Business Administration (with optional Placement/Project year) MBA

This module integrates advanced leadership theories with ethical management strategies, emphasizing the practical skills needed to address complex organizational challenges. It cultivates ethical decision-making, shapes accountable leadership practices, and fosters sustainable and value-driven organisational cultures.

This module provides a critical overview of the core areas of marketing for organisations. It covers key concepts such as customer value, market analysis, and strategic marketing planning.

Students will explore key factors shaping the marketing environment, target marketing and consumer buyer behaviour, the importance and role of positioning and integrated marketing communications with an emphasis on the development and rationale for developing strong brands. Students will also examine the contemporary marketing challenges facing organisations students and how to evaluate marketing strategy.

This module equips students with adequate financial knowledge of corporate finance including investing, financing and dividend decisions in an organisational context. It aims to achieve the following objectives:-

1-To enable students to explore and develop an understanding of the theoretical techniques, concepts and methods employed in finance
2- To develop the ability to apply the theoretical to the practical, through the analysis of data and application of relevant techniques in the context of a variety of organisations
3- To evaluate and develop a critical and reflective awareness of the importance of the application of finance to decision making within organisations

Indicative contents include but are not limited to:

• Financial accounting – financial reporting/statements/corporate financing/financial control techniques/cash flow management
• Management and cost accounting – operational/implementation/strategic financial decision making/performance measurement
• Investment decisions – appraisal/risk/financing/capital rationing/strategy/acquisitions/rationing/strategy/acquisitions and mergers
• Value based management – shareholder value/valuation/ethical issues

This module is designed to aid students develop core knowledge and skills aligned to strategic management, and that students will be able to: 

1. Understand the vocabulary of strategy and develop an appreciation of the main areas of study in corporate strategy: including the need to appreciate issues of ethics and information management in formulating corporate strategy.
2. Critically evaluate the practical issues and problems of corporate strategy as applied to an organisational context: including appreciation of the significance and sources of competitive advantage.
3. Explore both the rational and creative approaches to the development of successful corporate strategy in an organisational context.
4. Appreciate and develop an understanding of the way in which organisational structures, processes, information systems and the management of relationships, are important in organising for strategic success.

Indicative contents include but are not limited to:

• Understanding strategy: introducing strategy, characteristics of strategic decisions, levels of strategy, vocabulary of strategy, strategic management in different contexts.
• Analysing resources and capabilities: external and internal audit, managing strategic information, customer and competitor analysis, understanding industries and markets, sources of competitive advantage, strategic capability.
• Expectations and purposes: stakeholder expectations, business ethics and social responsibility, communicating organisational purposes values mission statements objectives.
• Strategic choice: directions and methods of development, strategic alliances, competitive strategies, managing risk.
• Strategy development and implementation: managing change, managing performance.

The module aims to analyse and develop understanding of a range of creative problem solving skills and apply them to a specific business case study, and that students will be able to: 

1. Understanding "wicked" problems 
2. Introduction to hard, soft, and creative tools, techniques and methods
3. Developing creative thinking skills for managers
4. Application of creative management thinking to provide innovative solutions to organisational problems
5. Evaluating the innovative solution to a soft management problems

A course of individual study and research project in accordance with established research principles involving the completion of a Management Research Project, usually in the form of a dissertation. 

The module is designed to enable learners to:

• Be able to identify & justify a Business research "real world" problems, evaluate, and apply appropriate research methods to address the research problem.
• Design and implement a management research project using methodologies and methods appropriate to
  research questions and objectives
• Analyse and report business/management research findings to meet academic and practitioner needs
• Demonstrate critical reflection on the research process, managerial implications and alignment with future study.
• Demonstrate the application of knowledge and skills to plan a substantial management research project.
• Assess and evaluate potential ethical and practical challenges to conducting a management research project.
• Provide students with the skills to develop the work from an existing research proposal into a piece of rigorous management research or an organisation-specific project using secondary or primary data as negotiated with their supervisor
• To provide students with the skills to write up an extended piece of research, demonstrating academic rigour, including consideration of methodological and ethical issues associated with the programme of academic research or the organisation specific project
• To enhance students' project planning, presentation, critical reflection, and analysis skills
• To support students with the opportunity, and the enabling mechanisms to support their development towards
  independent learning.

Indicative content includes, but is not limited to:

• The nature, extent and purposes of management research
• Management research paradigms
• Research strategies
• Research designs, methods and approaches
• Research quality standards: establishing validity, reliability and generalisability
• Sampling and Research instrument design
• Research ethics
• Research Data Management: collection, organisation and analysis
• Managing a dissertation research project