International Executive MBA

This course explores contemporary issues surrounding the internal environment of organizations. Topics include: organizational and individual effectiveness, organizational culture, leadership, introducing and managing change (especially in view of changing technologies and globalization), the use of teams/groups, organizational restructuring, changing employment relationships, and the diversity of the workforce.

Hours of Total Learning: 125

Total Contact Hours: 25

Self-study Hours: 96

Supervised Placement and Practice Hours: n/a

Assessment Hours: 4

Learning Outcomes

Competences:

• Understand the impact of current organizational trends on the workplace and manage the opportunities and threats they may pose.
• Match individual competencies and personalities to job requirements and be able to implement strategies to increase performance, motivation and organizational commitment
• Identify and implement strategies to manage workplace stress
• Implement rational choice decision processes
• Understand the factors that influence team effectiveness
• Choose the appropriate influencing tactic and employ appropriate different leadership styles
• Employ different styles of conflict management
• Create appropriate/ effective organizational structures; identify strategies to strengthen organizational culture and outline conditions for effective and sustain change programs

Knowledge:

• Organizational behavior trends such as: globalization, workplace diversity, evolving employment relationships, virtual work, work place values and ethics. Individual behavior including values, personality, perceptions, emotions and motivation
• Work-related Stress and Stress Management
• Decision making and creativity
• Team Dynamics
• The communication process, communication barriers and active listening
• Influence in the workplace and effective leadership styles
• The conflict process and conflict management.
• Organizational structure, culture and the change process

Skills:

• Identify types and drivers of individual behavior and personality dimensions and understand how needs, cognitions and emotions influence attitudes and behaviors
• Outline stress process and identify different types of stressors in the workplace
• Outline the model of team effectiveness and the team development process
• Use rational choice decision process and the creative process
• Use insights from the communication process diagram to improve communication and identify barriers of communication.
• Describe bases of power and summarize types of influencing strategies. Differentiate between various leadership models
• Identify sources of organizational conflict and utilize interpersonal styles of conflict management.
• Identify various types of organizational structures; outlining the elements of organizational culture and its role in corporate performance and understanding the dynamics of organizational change

The course begins by reviewing basic accounting theory and principles and then explores how these are used by managers i.e., decision makers for planning and controlling.  Topics include activity-based costing, evaluation of divisional performance, standard cost variances.  This course is intended for the consumers of accounting data.

Hours of Total Learning: 125

Total Contact Hours: 25

Self-study Hours: 96

Supervised Placement and Practice Hours: n/a

Assessment Hours: 4

Learning Outcomes

Competences

• Make business decisions based on financial reports
• Use CVP to decide what products to manufacture or sell, what pricing policy to follow or what facilities to acquire
• Be able to track and measure various types of costs using Job Cost Sheets
• Use Absorption and Variable Costing methods for decision making
• Supplement traditional costing methods with activity-based costing.
• Improve decision-making through analysis of costs by means of differential analysis
• Make decisions concerning cash outlays on projects that have long-term implications

Knowledge

• Financial Statement Components, Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Statement of Cash Flows
• The role of managerial accounting in planning, controlling and decision making
• Summary of types of cost classifications
• Interrelationships among cost, volume and profit
• Job-Order Costing and flow of costs
• Absorption Costing versus Variable Costing
• Activity Based Costing ABC
• Differential Analysis
• Capital Budgeting
• Creation and use of a master budget and flexible budgets

Skills

• Make interpretations from financial statement data
• Understand how accounting information is used in the management process
• Assign costs to cost objects, financial reporting and predicting cost behavior
• Conduct CVP analysis
• Able to distinguish types of manufacturing costs
• Use different Costing Methods for internal and external decision making
• Understand Activity-Based Costing and how it differs from a traditional costing system; Assign overhead costs to activity cost pools; Compute activity rates for cost pools
• Identify relevant and irrelevant costs and benefits in a decision, prepare make of buy analysis
• Use payback method, net present value methods, internal rate of return method and simple rate of return method

This course introduces the student to the practice of research in academics and business application.  It examines the research process, providing practical advice and insights. The course reviews important quantitative and qualitative research methods, with an emphasis on statistical methods.

Topics covered include: hypothesis formulation and theory construction, data collection techniques and regression analysis.  Finally, it covers topics such as writing literature reviews and research proposals, research design, and ethical issues in research.

Hours of Total Learning: 125

Total Contact Hours: 25

Self-study Hours: 96

Supervised Placement and Practice Hours: n/a

Assessment Hours: 4

Learning Outcomes

Competences

• Make the right choices as a researcher after the communication approach has been chosen – communication approach, methods and factors, error minimization
• Use and develop measurement instruments: going through the preliminaries that make for successful surveys (development, categories, objectives, pretesting)
• Integrated Understanding of how the various stages of and steps within the research process work together to complete a research project and what decisions are made behind the scenes of a research project.

Knowledge

• Understand research foundations and fundamentals and the research process (research and analytics, language, process overview)
• Research Design (tasks, relationships, descriptors); Sampling Design (tasks, premises, accuracy and precision, methods and techniques); Data Collection Design: Qualitative and Observation Research (nature and purpose, business decisions, methods, responsibility of the interviewer, strengths and weaknesses, designs)
• Collection and Preparation of Data: implement measurements and understand the nature of hypothesis testing and measured of association
• Basics of business statistics and principles of descriptive Statistics
• Descriptive Statistics methods, probability and probability models, random variables, sampling distributions, experimental design and analysis of variance; experimental design and analysis of variance – terminology and concepts, understand effects

Skills

• Clarify the Research Question (question hierarchy, exploration, valuation, budget justification)
• Data Collection Design: apply the most widely accepted experiment designs (steps, validity, designs, advantages and disadvantages)
• Apply Research Insights and state of the art recommendations – understand how to develop effective measurement questions and effects of changes in business and technology
• Calculate and interpret confidence intervals; Setup and perform hypothesis testing; Recognize, describe and compare statistical inferences

This course is a comprehensive introduction into corporate finance, presenting essential finance concepts, including accounting statements, security markets, interest rates, taxes, risk analysis, time value of money and the basics of security valuation.  The course shows students how financial managers help maximize their firms’ values by improving decisions in such areas as capital budgeting, choice of capital structure, and working capital management.

Hours of Total Learning: 125

Total Contact Hours: 25

Self-study Hours: 96

Supervised Placement and Practice Hours: n/a

Assessment Hours: 4

Learning Outcomes

Competences

• Determine the value of fixed income securities and equity securities
• Evaluate Capital Budgeting decisions
• Assess the impact of capital budgeting and capital structure decisions on financial performance and cost of capital
• Evaluate credit and interest rate risk.

Knowledge

• Valuation Concepts and Calculations
• Analysis of Financial Statements
• Time Value of Money
• Capital Budgeting
• Capital Structure
• Risk Assessment using statistical concepts

Skills

• Employ various techniques for the valuation of bonds, equity securities, projects, etc. (including: discounted dividend approaches, yield to maturity and yield to call methods). Students know terms such as: par value, coupon rate, current yield.
• Read and analyze balance sheets, income statements, statement of cash flows. Students will also be able to construct and use Financial Ratios (e.g. liquidity, profitability, market valuation, long-term solvency, efficiency)
• Solve problems involving Present Value and Future Value for both individual sums of money and annuities. They know how to correctly solve for the valuation of the cash streams.
• Know payback method, discounted payback method, NPV and IRR methods for valuating projects. They can set up the flow of payments or income, correctly identify the timing associated with various cash flows, identify which method provides which data, etc.
• Know how to use Weighted Average Cost of Capital method to establish a hurdle rate for the firm.

The course is an introduction to the issues surrounding human resources and the complex relationship between management and employees. Students examine human behaviour.  They are presented with effective human resource management practices that are aimed at promoting employee well-being and improving the productive efficiency of the company.  Topics include: recruiting and selection, staffing, development and performance appraisal of human resources.  Also discussed are topics such as labour management-relations and ethics.

Hours of Total Learning: 125

Total Contact Hours: 25

Self-study Hours: 96

Supervised Placement and Practice Hours: n/a

Assessment Hours: 4

Learning Outcomes

Competences

• Identify the effect of globalization on HRM
• Relate HR strategies to business strategies
• Apply performance management tools and processes to align individual objectives with company goals
• Develop human capital strategies within global organizations

Knowledge

• Theories and Models of HRM practices
• Role of ethics and legal in HRM practices
• Equal Opportunity and Staffing considerations
• Job Design and Analysis
• Recruitment Process and Resources
• Training and Development issues
• Compensation Systems and Pay Structures

Skills

• Attract talent through effective recruitment strategies
• Forecast HR Supply and Demand
• Identify, develop and retain talent
• Create Job Descriptions and Specification through effective Job Analysis
• Understand the roles of virtual teams
• Forecast human resource needs for domestic and global organizations
• Assess training needs, design and delivery training

The objective of this course is to expose students to the field of Marketing, its the marketing process, its core functions, and the vital role it plays in business.   Students will explore the elements of the Marketing Mix, i.e., learn the components of a Marketing Plan including: Environmental Marketing Research, Consumer Behaviour, Marketing Research, Product Management, Promotion, Channels of Distribution and Pricing.  A focus will be on placed on the role of Marketing within a larger Strategic framework.

Hours of Total Learning: 125

Total Contact Hours: 25

Self-study Hours: 96

Supervised Placement and Practice Hours: n/a

Assessment Hours: 4

Learning Outcomes

Competences

• Make accurate pricing and product decisions and select appropriate promotion, distribution Channels.
• Create global marketing campaign
• Assess the social and cultural environments for a given product/service

Knowledge

• The Marketing Mix: Price, Promotion, Place and Product
• Marketing Plans
• Consumer Buying Behavior
• Marketing Research
• Product Management
• Promotion
• Channels of Distribution
• Pricing Techniques
• Standardized and localized strategies
• Global strategy: Segmentation, targeting and positioning
• Global marketing channels and physical distribution

Skills

• Identify and select target markets for specific products
• Make accurate pricing and product decisions and select appropriate promotion, distribution Channels.
• Develop a complete Marketing Plan
• Perform Market Research
• Understanding brand and product decisions

This course examines the organization, planning, and controlling of projects and provides practical knowledge on managing project scope, schedule and resources. Topics include project life cycle, work breakdown structure, network diagrams, scheduling techniques, and resource allocation decisions.

Hours of Total Learning: 125

Total Contact Hours: 25

Self-study Hours: 96

Supervised Placement and Practice Hours: n/a

Assessment Hours: 4

Learning Outcomes

Competences

• Establish the importance of projects in implementing organizational strategy
• Understand the implications of organizational culture for organizing projects
• Establish the linkage between WBS and the project network
• Recognize risks associated with projects and plan accordingly

Knowledge

• The organization and management of projects (within dedicated teams, matrix organizations, etc.)
• Five steps of Project Definition
• The Risk Management Process & Program Evaluation Review Technique
• Estimating Project times and costs
• Project Networks and Work Packages; Activity-on-Node Fundamentals
• Resource Scheduling and Resource Allocation Methods incl. CCPM
• Five-Stage Team Development Process & Elements of High Performing Teams

Skills

• To define a project and differentiate projects from routine operations
• To manage a Project Portfolio, balance the portfolio for risks and to define and use financial and non-financial selection criteria.
• To organize projects within functional organizations, as dedicated teams and within matrix arrangements and to create the right project management structure.
• Define a Project (scope, priorities, Work Breakdown Structure, WBS integration and coding for Information Systems)
• Estimate and control Times, Cost and Resources
• Constructing Project Networks & Network Computations
• Assess Risk and develop an appropriate response strategy.
• Schedule Resources and Assign Project Work & Time Phased Budgets

In this course students learn how to use economic principles as analytical tools for managers, enabling them to make more informed production and pricing decisions.  Students also learn how different market structures affect business performance and strategy.  Topics include: demand and forecasting, production and cost, pricing and output decisions, and market structures.

Hours of Total Learning: 125

Total Contact Hours: 25

Self-study Hours: 96

Supervised Placement and Practice Hours: n/a

Assessment Hours: 4

Learning Outcomes

Competences

• Apply supply and demand analysis as a qualitative forecasting tool to see the “big picture” in competitive markets.
• Understand the drivers of consumer behavior to market products and services effectively
• Understand the factors involved in production and their relationship in profit maximization to support managerial decisions.
• Identify an industry as perfectly competitive, a monopoly, monopolistically competitive, or an oligopoly to inform business strategy

Knowledge

• Key terms and models of Microeconomics
• The laws of demand and supply and the price mechanism.
• Quantitative Demand Analysis (demand, elasticities and total revenues)
• Consumer Behavior (e.g. consumer preferences, Impact of changes in prices and income, leisure choice framework)
• The Production Process and Costs (ways of measuring the productivity, costs, production decisions, profit maximization)
• Market structures and the nature of industry (e.g. market concentrations, mergers, Herfindahl-Hirschman index)
• Managing in Competitive, Monopolistic, and Monopolistically Competitive Markets (conditions, sources of power, demand and revenue, impact of long-run adjustments, marginal cost and supply curve).
• Basic Oligopoly Models (decision making, operational conditions) and pricing strategies for firms with market power
• Introduction to Game Theory
• The Economics of Information (risk management, auctions)
• Advanced Topics in Business Strategy (limit pricing, predatory pricing, lessen competition)

Skills

• Analyze the sustainability of an industry’s profits. Apply present value analysis to make decisions and value assets. Apply marginal analysis to determine the optimal level of a managerial control variable.
• Apply various elasticities of demand as a quantitative tool to forecast changes in revenues, prices, and/or units sold.
• Derive an individual’s demand curve from indifference curve analysis and market demand from a group of individuals’ demands.
• Calculate input demand and the cost-minimizing combination of inputs; Calculate a cost function; Calculate average and marginal costs
• Determine the profit-maximizing price and output. Calculate the optimal output of a firm.
• Apply reaction (or best-response) functions to identify optimal decisions and likely competitor responses in oligopoly settings
• Determine profit-maximizing prices in environments where a business enjoys market power
• Calculate the profit-maximizing output and price in an environment of uncertainty.
• Assess whether a firm’s profits can be enhanced by changing the timing of decisions or the order of strategic moves, and whether doing so creates first- or second-mover advantages

This course introduces students to the issues, strategies, and relationships involved in sales & business development activities. Students become acquainted with managing a sales force and helping them sell. Special emphasis is placed on developing a sales force program, managing strategic account relationships, team development, diversity in the work force, sales force automation, problem-solving skills and financial issues.

Hours of Total Learning: 125

Total Contact Hours: 25

Self-study Hours: 96

Supervised Placement and Practice Hours: n/a

Assessment Hours: 4

Learning Outcomes

Competences

• Manage customer accounts
• Develop a salesforce
• Manage a team of sales professionals
• Nurture diversity in the workforce
• Use technologies for sales force automation
• Troubleshooting financial issues in sales
• Negotiate with clients

Knowledge

• Role of personal selling within marketing
• Creating value with a relationship strategy
• Sustaining a current customer base
• Business development in the international settings
• Distributive Negotiation (Harvard Style)
• The Business Model Canvas approach

Skills

• Make an effective sales pitch
• Gain essential CRM skills
• Carry out sales negotiations
• Deliver post sales customer service
• Use research to identify business development opportunities
• Assess company´s innovation potential
• Able to negotiate win-win agreements
• Draft a Business Model

In this course, students are confronted with the complexities of doing business on a global scale.  Focus is placed on the effects and demands on business operations and strategy when engaging in international trade.  The topic is explored from a multi-faceted perspective involving: economic, political, legal, monetary and ethical issues.

Hours of Total Learning: 125

Total Contact Hours: 25

Self-study Hours: 96

Supervised Placement and Practice Hours: n/a

Assessment Hours: 4

Learning Outcomes

Competences

• Evaluate international trade environment
• Chart out product, price, promotion and distribution strategies for foreign markets
• Anticipate and respond effectively to trade agreements
• Assess the risks and rewards of foreign market entry
• Study global competitiveness of a firm

Knowledge

• The international trade system
• Multilateral and regional trade negotiations and agreements
• International social, cultural, political, economic, and technology developments
• Business strategies and structures for global competitiveness
• Drivers of globalization and regionalization
• Roles of agencies like WTO, IMF, World Bank, NATO, OECD, OPEC, etc.

Skills

• Analyze trade policy
• Analyze tariff and non-tariff barriers that may influence a new venture
• Troubleshoot issues in export-import movements
• Identify appropriate sources for trade decision support
• Determine competitive advantage and the bases of it.
• Evaluate national-cultural differences and come up with appropriate managerial styles
• Determine the merits of outsourcing decisions

The course provides learners with a global overview of systematic planning, design, operation, control and improvement of business processes within manufacturing and service industries.  Leading industry examples and case studies are applied to integrate real world learning with theoretical understanding of key concepts for operations and supply chain management.  Major Operations Management issues such as: quality management and control, capacity management, plant location, layout and design, production planning and scheduling, supply chain management, and inventory management are covered.

Hours of Total Learning: 125

Total Contact Hours: 25

Self-study Hours: 96

Supervised Placement and Practice Hours: n/a

Assessment Hours: 4

Learning Outcomes

Competences

• Understand the competitive dimensions of operations and supply chain strategy
• Assess components of Operations Management and how to apply them at the workplace to improve value chain efficiency
• Understand concepts of Operations Management as strategies for effective performance improvement.
• Explain the impact of economies of scale on the capacity of the firm
• Understand the principles of Global Supply Chain Management and key success elements to manage supply chain performance
• Understand the principles of Global Supply Chain Management and key success elements to manage supply chain performance

Knowledge

• Product Development Processes for manufacturing and service products
• Quality Function Deployment
• The concept of capacity and how to manage it
• Learning Curves
• Three basic types of processes: Serial Flow Process. Parallel Processes, Logistics Processes
• Job Design for worker selection and motivation
• Designing production processes – Production Process Mapping
• The characteristics of Service Processes
• Total Quality Management & ISO
• Project Management and Critical Path for projects
• The importance of Sourcing Decisions and Third-Party Logistics provider
• Production Pull Systems
• Supply Chain Design
• ERP Systems (Enterprise Resource Planning Systems)
• Basic Components of Demand: Average, trend, seasonal and random variation
• Sales and Operations Planning and how it coordinates manufacturing, logistics, service and marketing plans
• Yield Management
• Types of Inventory system logic and fixed-order quantity versus fixed-time period models to determine safety stock when there is a variability in demand.
• Material Requirements Planning (MRP)

Skills

• Apply the principles of JIT and Leann Management applied to both manufacturing and service organizations.
• Align design with the desires of the customer by using quality function deployment (QFD)
• Managing Capacity
• Flow Chart processes and Production Process Mapping
• Tying worker performance to incentive pay
• Construct a Service Blueprint
• Explain the define, measure, analyse, improve, and control (DMAIC) quality improvement processes
• Conduct location selection process using Excel Solver and Factor-Rating Systems

The course presents the framework of the strategic management process through which managers shape the company’s long-term competitive advantage.  The course pursues three specific objectives: first, to expose students to the ideas and work of relevant thinkers in the field of strategic management; second, to make students establish connections between those ideas; finally, to apply those ideas to their own, real-life cases. As a result, the course serves as a capstone course for the program, integrating many of the themes studied in previous courses.

Hours of Total Learning: 125

Total Contact Hours: 25

Self-study Hours: 96

Supervised Placement and Practice Hours: n/a

Assessment Hours: 4

Learning Outcomes

Competences

• Think strategically about a company, its present business position, its long-term direction, its resources and competitive capabilities, the caliber of its strategy, and its opportunities for gaining sustainable competitive advantage.
• Know how and why ethical principles, core values, and socially responsible management practices matter greatly in the conduct of a company’s business.
• Apply appropriate analytical techniques to a given business problem, generate and compare alternatives, and develop a solution
• Build up organizational resources and capabilities to support strategic objectives

Knowledge

• Hands-on experience in crafting business strategy, reasoning carefully about strategic options, using what-if analysis to evaluate action alternatives, and making sound strategic decisions.
• Analytical tools for competitive analysis e.g.; Porter’s Five Forces, Use of SWOT, Dynamic Capabilities, Value Chain Analysis, Benchmarking and Competitive Strength Assessments to appraise the company’s, cost position and value proposition vis-à-vis its rivals
• Five Generic Competitive Strategies: (Low-Cost Provider, Broad Differentiation, Best-Cost Provider, Focused Differentiation, Focused Low Cost)
• Strengthening a Company’s Competitive Position through various strategic options (e.g. Blue-Ocean Strategies, First Mover Advantages and Disadvantages, etc.)
• To integrate the knowledge gained in earlier core courses in the business school curriculum, show how the various pieces of the business puzzle fit together, and demonstrate why the different parts of a business need to be managed in strategic harmony for the organization to operate in winning fashion.

Skills

• Conduct strategic analysis in a variety of industries and competitive situations
• Understand of the competitive challenges of a global market environment.
• Use of analytical tools and competition models (e.g. Porter’s Five Forces etc.) to conduct competitive analysis
• Understand and adapt to the changing business, political and social environments.
• Synthesize and apply cross-functional approaches to analyze, formulate, and implement business and corporate level strategies.
• Analyze and evaluate business operations and processes to align them with strategic objectives
• Develop powers of managerial judgment to understand and reflect on the ethical dimensions of business decisions
• Develop and build critical resources and capabilities to support strategic objectives

The IEMBA master thesis provides students with the opportunity to undertake substantial original, independent research, on particular topics of interest.  . Based on the skills and knowledge developed in the Research Methodology course, together with theoretical knowledge gained from previous courses in the program, students develop their abilities in research design, data collection, analysis and critical interpretation, and apply these to the investigation of a problem or issue within their area of engagement.

Hours of Total Learning: 750

Total Contact Hours: 100

Self-study Hours: 630

Supervised Placement and Practice Hours: n/a

Assessment Hours: 20

Learning Outcomes

Competences

• Utilise established research techniques, methodologies and sources to create or interpret knowledge at the forefront of knowledge in the chosen area of research
• Absorb, critically evaluate, apply and build on existing knowledge in a systematic manner within the chosen topic to maximise the benefits derived from a research project at the forefront of knowledge

Knowledge

• Demonstrate in-depth understanding and insight of the topic of their research following a critical analysis of the available literature
• Demonstrate an ability to formulate researchable questions and design an appropriate strategy to investigate those questions
• Evidence an awareness of new areas for investigation, new problems and/or new or alternative applications or methodological approaches
• Identify and propose modifications to existing knowledge structures and theoretical frameworks

Skills

• Demonstrate self-direction and originality in completing an advanced level research project contributing to the forefront of a particular field, with minimal supervision
• Demonstrate a logical and scientific approach to problem resolution as required for effective completion of a research based project at the forefront of knowledge in their chosen topic of research
• Communicate and defend the rationale, methods, findings and conclusions of the research project, through the production of a comprehensive, clearly written report accessible to both specialist and non-specialist audiences
• Critically evaluate the processes utilised for the project and propose further areas of research generated from the work conducted in the thesis