MA Management Pathway Elective Modules

Students on the MA pathways can choose a number of elective modules from any pathway to complement their respective core and specialist modules.

Electives currently on offer are as follows:

International Marketing Electives

Human Resource Management Electives

International Business Electives

Entrepreneurial Management Electives

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING ELECTIVES

Copywriting for International Marketers [MKT459] [Fall semester only]

The module aims to give students an overview of what constitutes good marketing copy; to enable them to write their own copy; to brief marketing agencies and freelance copywriters; to enable them to effectively critique other peoples’ copy from a position of knowledge; and to help students to get their point across more clearly in any kind of written communication.

Luxury Marketing [MKT456] [Fall semester only]

The module provides a rigorous outline for the effective marketing of luxury brands and examines the differences between the marketing of luxury branded products and services and mass marketed products.
The module also addresses the limitations and difficulties for luxury brands of target marketing and segmentation and considers the need to sustain status whilst achieving profitability. It will enable students to apply this knowledge to real life situations within the retail, manufacturing and service sectors and will enable students to understand the importance of marketing of luxury products and services.

International Services Marketing [MKT462] [Spring semester only]

The module aims to enable students to demonstrate the key differences between the international marketing of goods and the international marketing of services; to identify, evaluate and apply the marketing mix elements to the international services sector; to debate the key issues and challenges of marketing services across international borders; and to critique relevant academic theory on services marketing in an international context.

Small Firms in International Marketing [MKT461] [Spring semester only]

This module allows students to understand the place of small firms in the global economy. Students will analyse and evaluate the globalisation process of the SME and the contrasting management and decision making activities of the SME and the larger business. Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of the particular problems facing small firms in the international marketing context and apply marketing strategies and tactics suitable for their survival and growth. Students will produce credible analytical research reports about small firms and their international marketing opportunities and develop appropriate international marketing plans that consider the size and resources of the smaller business.

Political Marketing [MKT457] [Fall semester only]

This module provides students with an understanding of the electoral campaigning process, the governmental campaigning process, lobbying and its relationship with strategic marketing and specific insights into the practicalities of media production, polling and fundraising. Students will learn how marketing techniques can be used in a non-conventional environment and builds upon concepts of not-for-profit marketing including fundraising and the use of volunteers as a resource. This module examines communication with voters in detail and would also be of interest to anyone wishing to pursue a career in advertising or public relations.

Internet and Direct Marketing [MKT463] [Spring semester only]

The module aims to help students understand, critically evaluate and apply the conceptual frameworks theories and approaches contemporaneous to direct and internet marketing in practical business situations. The course will enable students to both appreciate and harness the key benefits of relationship marketing, combining them with the immense marketing power that ITC can bring to bear on identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer needs, maximising the lifetime value of desirable customers and customer segments across on and offline channels
This course aims to provide students with the tools to cope in marketing in the digital age. It focuses on the management of marketing and marketing communications within the relationship and direct marketing paradigm and will equip them to manage effectively integrated direct interactive and digital marketing strategies. The broad aim of the course will be to apply this approach to marketing communications to real world marketing problems through the use of a major case study.

International Law [MKT458] [Fall semester only]

This module surveys trends and practices that are part of the process of adjudication across national boundaries. Students study the relationships among countries as these affect individuals and business organisations attempting to operate internationally. Students are exposed to a broad array of international business issues and their legal implications. Students develop an awareness of how to apply sound legal concepts to international business transactions through this module.

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT ELECTIVES

Industrial Relations in an International Context [HRM456] [Fall semester only]

This module has been designed to establish an informed view on industrial relations issues and practices in an international context through engagement with the key literature and exploration of contemporary challenges. The module is intended to complement generalist management foundations and provides a specialist overview of contemporary industrial relations, concentrating on the relationships and interactions between employers and employees. This module covers the study and practice of collective bargaining, trade unionism, and labour-management relations within a global setting. The focus of this module is with the intricacies and the dynamism involved in managing the relationships that exist between industrial relations actors, particularly within a global context.

Reward Management [HRM457] [Fall semester only]

TBC

Understanding Personality and Organisational Psychology [HRM458] [Spring semester only]

Research has indicated that the root cause of staff turnover in organisations is primarily due to a break-down in the interpersonal relations between colleagues within organisations; more specifically, between managers and their subordinates.
This elective module will investigate the basis to personality, the nature of work, the future working environment, emotional intelligence, awareness and empathy. These will contribute to the construction of individual development plans for each student along with the construction of a competency matrix as an output from the module. This module will incorporate the concept of reflective learning and its application across other modules within the degree programme as a whole.

Coaching [HRM459] [Spring semester only]

Coaching has been gathering recognition and momentum as a powerful development tool for over a decade now and, according to the Coaching Academy, a coaching culture has developed in the UK. This module has been designed to provide students with the basic tools and techniques so that as coaches they may be able to make a difference to other people’s lives. This module will help give students the basic skills they will need in order to help others reach their goals through coaching. These skills can be used to enhance their personal relationships as well as working relationships. They will be able to tackle diverse issues from financial matters to family, health or personal issues.

Small Business Mentoring [HRM461] [Spring semester only]

This module has been devised around the mentoring initiative from Park Royal Partnership. The rationale of this was for Senior Executives within Park Royal to promote ethical, responsible business practices to entrepreneurs running SMEs. The module has been designed to provide students with the basic tools and techniques that they need to act as effective business mentors.
The knowledge acquired by managers, executives or entrepreneurs is often not transferred to the appropriate people within organisations. Thus there is a ‘knowledge gap’ which not only stifles growth but can result in organisations losing their competitive advantage. The purpose of this module is to develop within an academic framework an understanding and a range of mentoring techniques necessary for the transferral of knowledge. Evidence in acquiring and utilising these skills is through a measured assessment. This will be based on the outcomes of the programme but related specifically to the individual mentoring experience. Participants must complete a specially formed agreement and be interviewed by the Module leader before starting the mentoring process.

Course Design [HRM462] [Fall semester only]

This module, combined with the Training Theory and Assessment module, is intended for those who wish to branch out into soft skills and behaviour-based training or integrate this into their current subject expertise.

The main aim of the module is to provide a thorough insight into the skills needed to set up and deliver soft skills training. It focuses on providing a complete understanding of the importance of an interactive experiential approach towards a range of disciplines in the workplace, business and management in order to develop and promote effective behaviour. Students will also focus on the skills needed in coaching and consultancy and will look at how to design and adapt programmes for different environments.

Training Theory and Assessment [HRM463] [Spring semester only]

This module, combined with Course Design, is for those who wish to branch out into soft skills and behaviour-based training or integrate this into their current subject expertise. It is intended to give a robust foundation of the theory and methodology of experiential learning and the context for this in delivering soft skills training. It focuses on providing a thorough understanding of the importance of an interactive experiential approach towards a range of disciplines in order to develop and promote effective behaviour in the workplace.

The emphasis on the delivery of in-company training means it is also important for students to understand the Emotional Intelligence Competence Framework as well as other relevant sources and tools that underpin how people behave. Students will also focus on designing and assessing learners’ development and knowledge through the development and marking of a variety of student-created assessment points.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ELECTIVES

Technology and International Business [INB456] [Fall semester only]

As both an enabling factor and as a source of competitive advantage, technology and innovation are central to the growth of international business and to the success or failure of individual firms. In an increasingly globalized world, where competitors may be half-way around the world as easily as around the corner, understanding the role of technology in international business has become an essential skill for everyone – be they in manufacturing, services, finance or government.

Doing Business in China [INB457] [Fall semester only]

This module aims to develop the students' awareness and understanding of Chinese business behaviour and work ethic by looking at the philosophical, social, and linguistic influences which help to shape them. The module aims to be pragmatic and does not only inform and analyse the intricacies of the Chinese business culture, values and etiquettes, but also provide hands-on discussion and exercises which aim to develop the students' awareness of how business operates in that socio-cultural environment. At the end of the module the student should possess basic awareness and skills on how one can function and manage most effectively and efficiently, and be able to adapt in order to deal with various possible issues or scenarios.

European Institutions [INB458] [Spring semester only]

This module will cover the principal issues of security, political economy, democracy, Europe-wide institutions, climate change, demographic developments, environmental policies, energy supply and conservation. In addition there will be a focus on the nature of the single market within the expanding continent as goods, people, services and capital move freely between participating states. For the managers of the future, the ways of doing business are changing significantly as companies develop new European strategies and management skills, and need to recruit, train and retain people in different forms of employment. National membership of the eurozone – and its future as a monetary and economic union – has also become critical to the success and failure of many European firms.

International Supply Chains [INB459] [Spring semester only]

This module seeks to equip students with the skills to understand and make managerial decisions of an advanced nature regarding the competitive value and cost control of a company’s supply chain.

The Politics of International Trade [INB461] [Spring semester only]

This module focuses specifically on trade- related concerns that are encompassing an ever widening and complex set of issues in the twenty first century. To achieve this aim, the module content has been organised into three parts. In part one, changing configurations in the international trading system in the twentieth and twenty first centuries are examined. In part two, organisations charged with managing trade relations at international and regional levels are examined. The World Trade Organisation, regional trading blocs and newly formed cross-regional alliances are regarded to be particularly important. In part three, concerns adversely impacting upon prospects for stability and prosperity in the current international trade order are examined.

ENTREPRENEURIAL MANAGEMENT ELECTIVES

Family Business [EMG464] [Spring semester only]

The module will explore and analyse family business continuity challenges and best management, family, and governance practices for leading family-owned businesses. The focus is on pragmatic, action-oriented, management, governance, and family/business leadership skills. The course will be taught primarily through live and written cases, discussions, lectures, and a study/consultation experience with a family business.

Strategy Dynamics for Entrepreneurship Design [EMG463] [Spring semester only]

In this module students will learn how to understand and model the relationships between resources and capabilities and associated other variables to explain the performance of a business system over time.

International Trade for Young Business [EMG461] [Fall semester only]

This is a module ‘for’ rather than ‘about’ managing foreign trade operations. This module addresses the need for entrepreneurs and managers of start-ups, as other SMEs, to be thoroughly conversant with international trade procedures and their effective management.

Private Equity and Venture Capital [EMG465] [Spring semester only]

The aims of the module are to provide clarity, specificity and valuation. Students will learn how to apply the basic rules and techniques of finance to specific cases, and how to manage the particular challenges posed in a private equity scenario. The real art of private equity investing comes in the valuation of potential investments. Every person involved in the investment process will have different views about its value, and different ways of deriving that value. Understanding these different perspectives is the most important skill, or instinct, to acquire in private equity—even more important than the many various valuation techniques. Also, new techniques are evolving to accommodate some of the more inadequate practices of the past and these will be examined and assessed in their appropriate contexts.

Selling [EMG462] [Fall semester only]

This module aims to help students acquire core sales skills which will serve them well throughout their business lives. This module has a highly practical focus – students will learn how to sell a product or service, how to sell themselves, how to sell a business start up plan or an existing business. It will challenge the way students influence others and will provide them with a sustainable and transferable skill.

Page last updated 12/14/2011