MSc Management

The principle aims of the module are to:

• Gain with a practical and theoretical understanding of how the financial services industry has been transformed through the adoption and use of digital innovation and information technologies
• Familiarise yourself with the key technical, procedural, and business aspects of relevant financial technologies and FinTech innovations
• Get with the right mix of technical and business skills to manage IT change in a highly complex and distributed but also competitive setting in finance
• Learn how recent developments in fintech, paytech, regtech, and insuretech (e.g. open banking, blockchain and shared ledger technologies, cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, security, etc.) will affect the future of finance.

Through a combination of interactive lectures, class discussions, case studies, readings and guest lectures, you will gain insights into the practical steps needed to initiate, develop and implement new corporate ventures within established corporations. 
You will learn how to design and implement a compelling strategy which promotes corporate entrepreneurship and the generation of new ideas within an existing organisation, leading to improved profitability and an enhanced competitive position.
 

This module gives participants theoretical and practical knowledge about applying Artificial Intelligence in real-world business and managerial environments. Participants will explore the different types of Artificial Intelligence, they will discover how they are developed, they will discuss their implication on jobs and tasks and tackle the ethical and environmental challenges associated with it.

From the shop-floor to the boardroom, the ways individuals and teams employ digital technology to execute strategy can make the difference between success and failure. Using the latest strategy learning techniques used in leading firms and consultancies (business simulations, interactive workshops, live video case studies, apprentice-style challenges), this module will take you on a learning journey. At the end of the module, through analysis and immersion in real-life strategy situations, you will develop a toolkit to help you grow as a competent strategist and deal with agile transformations. These skills are essential for a career in consultancy or strategy roles.

This module will:

• Allow you to critically discuss a selection of current issues in digital strategy and agile transformation
• Enhance your critical thinking and creativity in individual and group settings
• Develop your skills in analysing complex, real-life strategic problems.

This module focuses on how digital technologies enable organisations to offer digital services that aim at improving customer experience as well as firm performance. The module assumes no prior knowledge of technology and prepares you to engage with technology-related conversations (e.g., designing a new digital service) at the modern workplace. 

The module has three themes. The first theme is gaining competitive advantage using a digital business strategy and covers concepts such as motivations for digital transformation. The second theme provides an overview of what today’s managers need to know about the advantages and disadvantages of cutting-edge technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality, internet of things (IoT), cloud computing, social media, and data analytics. The last theme focuses on the lifecycle of digital service provision, covering key concepts such as technology selection and sourcing, agile implementation, and risk management

This module will enable you to understand the fundamental need for finance in entrepreneurial companies, the flow of capital around entrepreneurial young companies and how to execute a practical fundraising strategy for a start-up.

Please note the structure of this module is subject to approval and may change. 

Entrepreneurship is a comprehensive mindset that enables people to identify, evaluate, and act on opportunities in a variety of contexts, settings and organisations – it’s not just about starting new businesses.

This module will help you develop an entrepreneurial mindset, attitude and skillset – the necessary hallmarks of successful value creators.

Through a combination of lectures, case studies, readings, guest lectures, brainstorming and creativity exercises, you will learn how to research, identify and develop entrepreneurial opportunities, engage in problem-solving, and evolve your critical thinking. You will gain insights into the practical steps needed to establish a new business venture.

By giving you the chance to research and prepare a crowdfunding pitch, we encourage you to gain more insights into the practical steps needed to establish a new business venture and enable value creation.

Please note the structure of this module is subject to approval and may change. 

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 introduces you to the theory and practice of conducting business analytics projects. It adopts a business analytics methodology which enables you to (a) analyse a complex business situation, (b) identify high value opportunities for business analytics and (c) deliver an effective business analytics project. The module adopts an experiential learning philosophy by giving you a guided and mentored experience of conducting a realistic consulting project.

The module aims to provide training in applying data science methods to contemporary economic problems by looking at case studies. Specifically, the module aims to give you the opportunity to conduct a data science project using economic data. You will discover how to replicate and extend a data science case. The module aims to give the appropriate grounding in economic analysis, while developing your research and communication skills.

A formative group exercise will be set whereby groups will be given data and asked to conduct a statistical analysis of the economic problem. This will serve as a "dummy run" for the individual assignment, and there will be in-class feedback.

Businesses today have unprecedented access to information about their customers. However, many businesses fail to use this information to generate meaningful insights about the behaviour of their customers. The consequence is that these businesses fail to exploit opportunities for value creation, and improving their financial performance. This module is inspired by the idea that 'It's not the size of the data, it's how you use it'.

Hence, the principal aim of this module is to challenge students' thinking about the appropriate and inappropriate use of customer data for strategic decision-making. Using real-world cases as context for data analyses, we will discuss good and bad practices for how to derive meaningful insights from data. Examples include comparing data for different groups of customers, finding clusters of customers, and how to analyse relationships between different types of customer data.

Students will not only improve their theoretical understanding of empirical methods, but will also learn how to apply these methods in the widely-used software R. Once these insights have been generated, it is also important to know how to use graphical representations of these insights for story-telling in business presentations. Accordingly, this module will also place great emphasis on good practices in the context of presentations with data.

The aims of the module are to:

1) Introduce students to the principles, theories and research underlying the academic disciplines concerning the behaviour, leadership and management of people and organisations (Organisational Behaviour, OB and Human Resource Management, HRM) at four levels of analysis: individual, group, organisational and societal.

2) Develop a critical appreciation of the behavioural and social sciences as they relate to the study of behaviour in organisations.

3) Introduce students to a critical understanding of the practice of management, leadership and people management in particular.

4) Provide students with structured opportunities to practice applying OB and HRM principles, theories and research to analyse and solve organisational problems.

Strategic human resource management is concerned with the creation of value through the management of human and social capital in organisations. The value of HRM is realised when the capacities and motives of individuals, and groups are directed towards the strategic objectives of the organisation. The aim of the module is to provide you with a deep understanding of this strategic role of human capital management and the tools with which to analyse and manage it.

We will consider what it means to align the HR function with strategic objectives. We will ask whether all human capital is equally valuable. We will debate the extent to which human capital and its associated outcomes are quantifiable in a meaningful way. We will examine whether HRM can support both efficiency and flexibility at the same time. Ultimately, the class will provide a range of models and tools for managing human capital in a strategic way.

Want to put your theory into practice? This module offers a unique opportunity to gain first-hand experience at a company of your choosing, be that in the UK or overseas. 

Optimise your critical evaluation skills as you appraise and reflect upon your experience. Understand your successes, why they worked out and how they could be improved further should you ever repeat the process. Analyse your more challenging moments - how and why problems arose, and how they can be avoided or mitigated in the future.

Your placement will last between four and twelve weeks, and will take place any time after the course’s international elective modules conclude in May, with a dissertation to be submitted in September.

Exposure to the global economy brings new ideas, technologies, and management practices to a business. Whether looking to build a new plant, sell to a new market or find global business partners, exploiting opportunities in new markets or regions poses fresh challenges.

Many of those challenges arise from the different business environment that's present in countries around the world. What does an understanding of economics tell us about which countries and regions will see markets develop quickly in the medium term? Which governments act in ways that pose macroeconomic risks and which do not? How can resources and intellectual property be managed effectively? Which economic theories offer strategies to foster talent and help staff respond to new opportunities?

The patterns of world trade and the responses of governments have always been in constant flux. Businesses can't rely on traditional markets in the medium- to long-term. The pandemic has disturbed even the recently-established patterns of global economic growth. Strategic business decisions require an appreciation of the economic thinking that underpins these new patterns of growth and the changes in international finance that support them.

This module will provide real world examples and case studies to illustrate how economic thinking helps businesses make the most of new opportunities, while managing the risks associated with expansion into new markets and regions.

The module has been developed for business and management students across the WBS MSc portfolio and draws on ideas and research from macroeconomics, microeconomics, international finance, business strategy and development economics. No previous experience of economic analysis is required.

How does culture impact business practice? This module offers the opportunity to study abroad with one of our international partners. Previous partners have included HEC Paris, IE Madrid and University of Cape Town

Discover how local areas value and utilise their sustainable resources, and how the political, social and economic climate of a country can mould and shape their business strategy.

Develop your critical thinking skills as you apply your learnings to real-world topic examples such as luxury brand management, digital innovation, design thinking and big data.

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.

Through this module you’ll be introduced to a range of debates that are central to the human resource management and employment relations field, including the 'high commitment' models of human resource management. It will also provide you with an in-depth insight into a number of the specific HR practice areas, including: recruitment and selection; training and development; job design and teamworking, pay and rewards; unions and HRM, and equal opportunities and diversity management.

During this module you will:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the development of human resource management as a field of study
• Critically appreciate the contribution made by each of the core disciplines (e.g. sociology, psychology, law, economics)
• Analyse specific human resource management problems in their wider social context
• Understand, evaluate, and marshal critical social science research on human resource management
• Extrapolate from existing research and scholarship to identify new or revised approaches to human resource practice
• Demonstrate advanced study skills including written communication, location and retrieval of relevant reading from library stock and electronic resources, using information technology, and employing appropriate quantitative methods.

Understand the wider institutional location of business activity within the polity and the society. The module puts particular emphasis on corporations’ responsibilities in global society and discusses key governance issues related to this agenda. Firms will be seen as both 'takers' and 'givers' of governance and regulation in a variety of formal and informal ways. The module is not a traditional course in business ethics but explores the influence of the non-market environment on businesses’ strategies and operational practices and will confront some 'critical issues' topics.

To be effective in modern organisations requires an understanding of the dynamics of digital work. This module will equip you s with a broad understanding of the tools and organisational arrangements driving this shift towards digital working, and provide you with the techniques and frameworks to operate effectively in this more dynamic and fluid work environment.

The module reviews major trends and changes in the workplace arising from the increased adoption of digital tools to support work practices in modern organisations. It reviews major drivers of adoption of these tools and the emergence of new dynamics of interactions and patterns of work.

This is a spring term module option. The module will show you how to mine gargantuan amounts of data and analyse it to produce something of practical benefit from which businesses and Governments can benefit. See the press release here.

Assessment - Coursework Exercises 20% / Individual Assignment 80%

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.

This module introduces you to the ways in which economists and psychologists have used behavioural theories and experimental methods to provide extensions to, or alternatives to, the conventional economic wisdom described in the first term module Fundamentals of Economic Behaviour. It will examine recent cutting-edge research, and consider the implications of that research for individual decision making, the operation of markets and public sector policy making.

This module will provide you with an overview of how today's firms use digital marketing practices to achieve their business objectives, giving theoretical and practical subject knowledge and understanding, cognitive and methodological skills, and social/soft skills.

You can expect to cover similar topics to those in the indicative syllabus: Introduction to Digital Marketing, Website Design, Social Media, Digital Platforms and Tech Giants, Digital Advertising and SEO, Emerging Trends, Analytics and Integrated Marketing, Big Data, Data Science, and Digital Marketing.

The module aims to providing training on methods that aid decision making when managers face an uncertain future. The module covers methods for short-term and long-term forecasting of product demand and macroeconomic variables. The module discusses how forecasting aids decision-making.

Get an introduction to the principles of Corporate Finance and learn how the basic tools and techniques of modern finance theory can be applied to analyse and improve the investment and financing decisions of the firm.

Indicative themes include:

• Financial calculus
• Financial markets
• Valuing bonds
• Valuing stocks
• Portfolio choice and diversification
• The capital asset pricing model
• Capital budgeting
• NPV in action
• Market efficiency
• Financing and capital structure
• Payout policy
• Corporate risk management.

You'll synthesise, apply and extend the knowledge you have gained in the taught component of your course in this 6,000 word dissertation.

The investigation of a contemporary research topic will help to develop your theoretical and practical understanding of current problems in your pathway area, as well as your research and communication skills. Emphasis will be placed on taking a critical approach to the assumptions of prior literature and the methodologies you adopt to address your research question.