MSc Business & Finance

Compulsory on the Dissertation route, this module with equip you with the necessary tools to conduct independent empirical research in finance.

In particular, the module touches on various topics that are relevant for writing the final dissertation. This includes a) an in-depth look at the relevant research methodologies in empirical finance, b) training in programming and quantitative analysis, and c) introduction to various data sources available at or through WBS.

This module will provide you with the theoretical foundations, appropriately supported by real-life examples, to help understand how global business works today.

Anyone who picks up a newspaper or watch the news on television or radio or social media will immediately understand the importance of global business and how it has become central to decisions made by governments and their regulators - the trade conflict between the US and China, all the problems for global businesses (as well as the people of the UK and Europe) arising out of Brexit and the potential disruption to global supply chains for companies as diverse as car manufacturers and financial services.

Furthermore, environmental crises and disruptions come in various forms: economic recessions, disease outbreaks, as well as terrorist attacks – many of which cannot be easily predicted and impose numerous non-trivial costs on firms, particularly MNEs due to their multi-market exposures. At the same time, MNEs are accused of behaving irresponsibly in their quest for global market growth, which is likely to impose further costs on these firms.

By the end of the module, you will be able to dig deep into these news headlines and gain real insight into the issues in order to discuss how MNEs can build sustainable business models in today’s global business environment.

Technology has led to a proliferation of social media channels. These channels enable peer-to-peer communication as well as providing brands with many more ways to reach their customers, have relevant conversations with them, and listen to what matters to them. This module develops an understanding of how brand managers can access and use social media channels as part of their marketing strategy in order to build brand presence and maintain relevance in the life of their customers.

Through this module you will develop a greater understanding of the fast growing, changing world of social media channels and their relevance to customers, brands and the firm. The module aims to develop an appreciation of how the firm’s integrated marketing communications, brand management, and content management strategies are impacted by social media channels, and to examine the strategic opportunities and challenges these present.

Specific objectives of the module include:

• Understanding the role of social media in achieving the objectives of the firm's integrated marketing communications strategy.
• Understanding the significance of a content management strategy, including selecting and combining appropriate social media tools for stages of the customer journey.
• Linking social media into the marketing mix, including understanding their relevance in developing product, place, and service decisions.
• Understanding how to use social media as a tool for insight into changing customer needs
• Recognising the advantages and pitfalls of earned media including brand communities, viral marketing, and PR crises.

This module studies issues and questions that the financial community is concerned with around announcements of mergers and acquisitions, value consequences of M&A transactions for both target and acquirer shareholders, sources of value creation, and the selling process.

This module provides systematic understanding of relevant knowledge about key risk factors that firms might face and how firms can reduce their risk using various financial instruments.

Gain an introduction to the psychology of human judgement and decision making. This field provides the foundation for understanding the decision-making processes involved in financial markets. The module encourages you to: see how the insights from this work can help understand the origins of rational and irrationality in financial decision makers and financial markets; improve your own financial decision-making; gain a broader understanding of decision-making throughout the finance industry.

The main module aim is to build on your knowledge of the global economic and business environment and link this to strategies for managing in changing global contexts.  Key questions are:  How do changes in this environment affect the ways in which companies do business and managers manage across borders:  How should firms and individual managers respond (in theory)?  How can they respond (in practice)?

Topics will include: the drivers and processes of internationalisation, cross-cultural management challenges, the assessment of overseas investment opportunities and the specific challenges of emerging markets.

This module aims to develop a greater understanding of how to foster an innovative work environment. In this module the role of the leader will be examined as he/she facilitates innovative ventures by identifying and defining problems worth pursuing (where potential payoffs justify risks), creating a context that allows for multiple parties to work together in generating viable ideas (those with a chance of successful implementation) and managing the context of idea development and fielding – to ensure that viable ideas are likely to be adopted in the marketplace. This module also aims to understand how to develop leaders for innovation.

 It is further aimed to develop an understanding into issues such as:

•  Why is innovation important (especially now)?
•  What makes a leader more or less successful at leading for innovation?
•  What is the role of the team in the innovation process?
•  How might leading for innovation vary by domain (i.e. IT, marketing, etc)?
•  How can crowdsourcing be used to foster innovation?

There are two specific features about project management theory which make it a slightly different type of subject to most other academic modules. Firstly, the subject has its origins in large-scale, complex operations. This means that a large proportion of the published theory concerns the planning and control aspects of the management of such processes. Secondly, most of the concepts were developed in the heyday of the 1960s, where a lot of activity was taking place in the aerospace, defence and construction sectors. This means that most of the basic literature is reasonably old and technically focused.

In the modern context, project management methods are now used for a much wider variety of applications including change management, Third World development programmes and IT-based projects. As a consequence, this module aims to span a range of sectors and be as multi-disciplinary as possible. The planning and control aspects of the module occupy only about 20% of the total time available.

You will:

1. Develop an understanding of current project and programme management approaches and to make comparisons with your own organisation.
2. Develop sensitivity to different project environments and to make comparisons and conclusions about them.
3. Increase your understanding of commercial and behavioural issues in the management of projects.
4. Provide experience of handling project management problems in a simulation setting.

On this module you will focus on the social, environmental and ethical issues that affect the leadership and management of the for-profit, government and voluntary sectors. You'll learn to recognise ethical dilemmas involved in the range of individual, organisational and corporate responses, and identify the implications of these for your personal decision making and choices.

The objectives of this module are to:

• Provide students with an appreciation of the roles of design within a business context
• Develop in students a good understanding of the contribution design can make to innovation and organisational success
• Critically examine various innovation and design approaches and processes, and the scope and content of design in both product and service contexts
• Provide insights into the functions and contributions of professional designers
• Discuss the emergence of 'design thinking' and its importance to business
• Explore the issues related to the management of cross-functional teams
• Examine the impact that design and designers can make on organisational performance.

If you select the Dissertation route you will work with an allocated academic supervisor and research a topic relating to Business & Finance. This route will enable you to test and apply the techniques and theories you have learned throughout your MSc year. The module is assessed by a 6,000 word formal dissertation. 

In total you will study eight compulsory modules and one optional module, and complete a dissertation and a Research Methodology module

Incorporating an innovative and exciting team business simulation, you’ll gain an understanding of each business function through a series of real-world play activities, and learn to evaluate business performance through various functional dimensions.

You’ll replicate how a team would work together in a real business, giving you a chance to put all of the learning from your MSc year into practice. Following the simulation you will complete an Individual Reflection and a Business Analysis.

If you select the dissertation route, Research Methodology becomes a compulsory module for you and it gives you the academic skills to confidently approach your dissertation topic. The focus is on epistemological foundations, the design of a research project, the preparation for and execution of valid and reliable business research (whether qualitative or quantitative), and on the writing up and presentation of research results.

You will:

• receive training on analytical approaches and research techniques widely used in Finance and Accounting
• be taught basic programming skills in Matlab and STATA                                    
• receive training on how to use the various datasets available                               
• receive formal guidelines on how to structure research projects (writing a literature review, conceptualization and construction of hypotheses and research questions).