By the end of this programme, you should be able to:
- Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of marketing theory
- Analyse strategic market behaviour
- Understand the principles and responsibilities of other management functions, including human resources, accounting and finance
- Show a real awareness and understanding of contemporary global business issues
On a more practical level, you will be able to:
- Apply relevant techniques to identify and exploit market opportunities
- Devise appropriate marketing objectives around customer acquisition and retention
- Plan and execute research projects
- Effectively communicate results at whatever level is appropriate to the audience
This course delivers a good balance between academic and vocational content. Emphasis is on delivering a good grounding in marketing and management theory, whilst also preparing you for a successful career.
It also cultivates the intellectual capacity to enable you to continue to develop and keep pace with a changing business environment.
Modules for this course include:
Enterprise and Entrepreneurial Management and International Business Strategy
Module Description:
This module will integrate the knowledge surrounding entrepreneurship (including behaviours and skills) and the factors which affect the general business behaviour in a constantly changing global environment.
Firstly, this module will involve developing an understanding of the key elements of designing and running the entrepreneurial organisation, such as managing people and other stakeholders, raising finance and managing money, creating profile and generating awareness, selling, and taking either products or services to market.
Thereafter, review the processes associated with entrepreneurial management including: creativity and innovation; managing and leading an entrepreneurial venture; networking and building relationships critical to the development of the organisation; sense making and sense giving related to the competitive positioning of the organisation; commercialising ideas within different entrepreneurial contexts including protecting intellectual property; and the abilities and skills required to sustain and grow an entrepreneurial organisation.
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the key stages in developing an entrepreneurial venture, from idea generation to commercialisation
- Identify and assess the challenges and opportunities associated with designing and running an entrepreneurial venture
- Analyse the personal traits and behaviours required to design and run an entrepreneurial venture
- Critically appraise their own level of knowledge, learning and understanding
- Identify and assess the factors which affect general business behaviour in a constantly changing global environment
- Appreciate the complex nature of policy decisions which often confront businesses and governments in a dynamic environment
- Apply economic analysis to current business related controversies and topics which often dominate the business press
- Interpret information from a range of economic and business sources
Assessment:
The module will be assessed, via two written assignments of 3,000 words each, highlighting the two business streams of the module and a 30 minute presentation with a minimum of 20 Slides and respective speaker’s notes.
Systems, Operations, Performance and Team Management
Module Description:
The module introduces students to understand the role of systems and operations management and its integration into efficient and effective running of business, important role of teams in organisations and their impact upon individual, team and organisational performance.
The module begins by focusing on understanding soft systems approach of SSM to systems development, which will be used to analyse and define business requirements. Moreover, people and management issues will be reviewed with emphasis on communication, teamwork and effective leadership. Here, a practical approach will be used to give the students a good understanding of good business practice within the global organisation.
Secondly, it is focused on making students understand the value of building strong inter‐personal and relationship skills, working with others one‐to‐one and in group and team environments, where the students are made to understand this with a practical example.
Moreover, using case studies; the module will develop the students' awareness and understanding of the impact of high performing teams on organisational success, which will be set against a real/simulated strategic learning context that helps both the understanding and practice of developing a 'team mindset' for a contextualised, dynamic and superior student experience.
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
- Assess the role of systems and operations management in an organisation and its integration within the business
- Examine the main issues involved in quality management and business excellence
- Analyse the people and management issues in organisations
- Evaluate the role of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) in analysing and defining business requirements
- Evaluate the main ideas and principles governing inter‐personal relationships
- Understand and apply the principles of group dynamics, behaviour and facilitation in diverse group and team based contexts
- Apply organisational behaviour and learning theory to the business context
- Critically analyse the factors influencing individual behaviour in teams
- Demonstrate effective management practice and behavioural skills in a team environment to generate personal and organisational performance
Assessment:
The module will be assessed via a 3,000 word written assignment and a 30 minute presentation with a minimum of 20 slides.
Understanding Customers and their Behaviour
Module Description:
The main aim of this module is to help students understand consumer behaviour in business‐to-consumer (B2C) markets.
Thus, the module will focus on behaviour of consumers and the psychological and environmental influences. Here, the influences will be explored with an emphasis on a behavioural sciences perspective by examining the following areas; attention, perception, memory, learning, attitude, motivation, socio-cultural influences, lifestyle perspectives and the consumer decision making process.
Moreover, the role of marketing will be constantly discussed demonstrating the importance of the customers in effective consumer marketing.
Furthermore, a range of theoretical perspectives will be discussed and applied to practical examples demonstrating the relationship between theory and practice in a market environment. Here, new perspectives in the study of consumer behaviour such as neuro‐marketing will be explored as well.
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
Understand the psychological and environmental variables that influence consumer behaviour
Understand the consumer decision making process
Understand the relationship between consumer behaviour and the marketing concepts with regard to shaping the marketing activities
Understand and apply consumer behaviour to analyse the development and implementation of marketing activities
Assessment:
The module will be assessed via a 3,000 word written assignment on a topic related to the module.
International Marketing
This module is designed to provide students with an understanding of marketing from an international perspective. The increased access to new markets across the world means that both opportunities and threats face marketers in the global context.
Overcoming cultural issues remains a key challenge, along with the ability to communicate effectively to perhaps a very different target audience. Although the module examines a range of case examples and international markets, special attention is given to the Chinese market.
Rapid economic growth, hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games, government support and WTO accession means China is an attractive market to many potential investors. However, it still remains a largely unknown market. Given the huge number of multinational firms now operating in China, e.g. Siemens, Ikea, McDonalds' and BP, many employers now expect international marketers to have knowledge outside Europe.
The lectures will therefore enable students to analyse marketing issues in an international context by providing a range of theoretical frameworks and practical examples.
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
Demonstrate a full understanding of the environmental challenges facing international marketers
Show how an international marketing mix can be applied to real case examples
Distinguish between the range of market entry methods
Construct an international marketing plan
Assessment:
The module will be assessed via a 3,000 word written assignment on a topic related to the module.
Marketing Consultancy
This module will give students the opportunity to undertake an in-depth marketing project for a client organisation or to undertake a case study consultancy project. Students will work in groups and be given a live project for which they will be expected to work towards a solution to some 'need' that the client and students will have identified.
The course lecturer will act as a consultant/facilitator and be available to advise the student group(s) at the times indicated on the timetable and at any other time as necessary, this being agreed with the group leaders. The project will entail the students visiting the organisation and discussing problem areas identified by clients of the organisation. A specific marketing 'need' will be identified, agreed between the student consultants and the client and a solution.
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
Recognise and critically evaluate the advantages to be gained by working together in groups on a 'live' time constrained project and be aware of the difficulties and problems this will involve
Explore and evaluate the business and marketing information needed when working with outside clients on a live marketing project
Demonstrate information collection, classification, prioritisation and analysis skills as well as problem identification skills and be able to relate this to marketing theories and concepts
Working as a group, present a commercially credible proposal to an outside client, using an oral as well as a written presentation or to the lecturer consultant for the marketing simulation
Assessment:
The module will be assessed via a 2,000 word group assignment (weighting 60%) and a 30 minute presentation (weighting 40%) on a topic related to the module.
Sustainable Management Futures
This module is a core module on all of AIBS Pathways. It is a capstone module that takes a futures perspective on management, organisations and the changing nature of business and enterprise models. It is both a forward looking and integrative module that aims to bring together our students understanding of the evolving context of sustainable management.
The module takes a dimensions based view of the notion of sustainable management futures by introducing the 'people, planet and profit lenses' for understanding sustainable management. Our aim is to introduce students to the idea and value of developing a 'futures mindset' from a number of perspectives, including ethical and entrepreneurial; tolerant and innovative; and responsible and responsive.
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
Develop an understanding of the complexity of the dynamics concerning sustainable management in its three dimensions: planet, people and profit
Critically evaluate individual and organisational actions and behaviour against a framework for sustainable management practices
Examine the various types of corporate 'failures' and evaluate the policy responses available together with the case for sustainable management
Apply sustainability theories and principles to case study examples of business behaviour reflecting on our role as citizens, social actors, managers, leaders and human beings responding to the challenges of sustainability
Assessment:
The module will be assessed via a 3,000 word assignment around a relevant case study.
Undergraduate Major Project
The Major Project module allows students to engage in a substantial piece of individual research and/or product development work on a selected topic within the broad business and management field, as appropriate to their interests and background. The project topic will be assessed for suitability to ensure sufficient academic challenge and satisfactory supervision by an academic member of staff.
The chosen topic will require the student to identify/formulate problems and issues, conduct literature reviews, evaluate information, investigate and adopt suitable development methodologies, determine solutions, develop hardware, software and/or media artefacts as appropriate, process data, critically appraise and present their findings using a variety of media. One of the main focuses for the design of this module has been the further development of relevant employability and professional skills.
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
Choose and define the scope of an appropriate area for structured investigation/design/development
Collect, organise, understand and interpret information from a variety of appropriate resources, acting autonomously, with minimal supervision
Identify, select and justify the use of appropriate techniques, methods and development strategies
Critically evaluate evidence to justify and support conclusions/recommendations
Communicate effectively in a form appropriate to the topic chosen and audience identified, and produce detailed and coherent work
Assessment:
The module will be assessed via a 10,000 word Report.
Organisational Transformation in Practice
This module provides the opportunity for students to engage with the leadership and organisational challenges of major transformational change in organisations, communities and societies. This is presented through case examples to illustrate the nature of the attitude, values and behavioural change issues required for successful employee engagement in an organisation's change agenda.
In the management and leadership field much is written and discussed about behaviour, skills and talents, belief systems, values, identity (both in personal terms and as 'brand' in the context of organisations), vision and purpose. Using various tools, for example IHD's 7 Element Framework, students will be encouraged to make sense of each of these ideas and the inter-relationship between them. This will be set against a real/simulated strategic learning context.
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
Understand the values and leadership behaviours that create the modern enterprise and equip individuals to manage/lead in globally transformational contexts
Develop a robust understanding of leadership and change management within the context of organisational transformation
Utilise the 7 Element framework as a diagnostic tool to evaluate leadership capability in a team or organisation
Demonstrate an ability to reflect upon one's own management development journey against the context of employability in global and transformational settings of the future
Assessment:
The module will be assessed via a 3,000 word portfolio.
Retail Marketing
The module applies core marketing principles in a retail context and develops specialist knowledge of the retail industry from a marketing perspective. There are clear links to other business curriculum areas: marketing management, consumer behaviour, human resources, operations management and economics. Retailers are never far from the news and their marketing activities are equally visible to students of retail marketing and to consumers.
This makes for an exciting and rewarding area of study as the module examines the fast moving nature of the retail environment and the increasingly difficult task retail marketers face in connecting with consumers in a crowded and competitive market place. Retail marketing is explored through a combination of lectures and a seminar programme where key issues are addressed through discussion of case study material drawn from the popular and professional press, retailer 'in-house' publications and traditional and contemporary academic literature.
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
Critically analyse core marketing principles and how they are applied in retail marketing
Make an in-depth comparison of marketing mixes and strategies in the context of national and international retail operations
Critically evaluate key variables affecting the future of retail marketing
Assessment:
The module will be assessed via a 3,000 word assignment.
Strategic Management Analysis
The module is designed to provide students with a holistic view of an organisation's strategic position and thus the ability to appreciate the importance of strategic decisions at all levels of the business. Its primary aim is to provide a vehicle for considering issues which cut across the functional boundaries of business organisations and which require multi-disciplinary skills in the solution.
The module is concerned with the strategic analysis of organisations with regard to their competitive positioning, their strategic fit with their environment and their management style and culture. This analysis will form the platform for reviewing strategic options in response to the competitive environment and for considering aspects involved in implementing such strategic options.
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of strategic resource capabilities of business organisations (including culture and finance), the organisations' strengths and weaknesses and their impact upon organisational dynamics
Demonstrate an understanding of the nature and dynamics of the competitive environment in which business organisations operate, with particular focus on environmental threats and opportunities
Undertake a detailed analysis and evaluation of the resource capability and competitive environment of business organisations, with particular focus on the strategic fit of such organisations
Interpret that detailed analysis correctly and then report and present those findings in an appropriate manner
Assessment:
The module will be assessed via a 3,000 word assignment. |
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