Examine the foundations of business
The first term will immerse you in modern enterprise – from the economic theory of the firm, to the valuation of businesses and the choice of strategy and management skills. The goal of these core courses and those in the second term is to provide a breadth and depth of knowledge that will allow you to approach any business situation with confidence and understanding.
Core courses offered to students on full time MBA are:
Finance I: lays out the foundations of finance with a particular emphasis on financial decisions taken by firms. The course begins with a discussion of financial criteria for firms’ capital budgeting decisions. It then moves on to develop a framework for risk assessment and evaluation, leading on to discussion of the Capital Asset Pricing Model and the applications of this model to firms’ risky investment decisions. Finally, the course discusses financial options and develops a valuation framework for this class of derivative instruments.
Decision science: enhances the participant's ability to apply modern technology and statistical methods to decision-making. It is a practical course, which uses computer software to illustrate how to apply the methodologies introduced. The course is multidisciplinary with links to accounting, economics, finance, marketing and operations management.
Financial reporting: provides an understanding of how modern financial reporting practices are supposed to function theoretically from technical and institutional viewpoints, and evaluates how and to what extent the roles of financial reporting are achieved in practice. The course also explores recent developments of reporting, disclosure discourses and prepares for future changes in a fast-changing, global and socially-conscious business environment.
Strategy I: is concerned with the long-term success of the organisation as a whole. The course considers both the strategy of individual business units - competitive strategy - and the nature of strategy for the multibusiness firm - corporate strategy. The course enables participants to analyse key issues in strategic decision-making situations, raises awareness of process as well as analytical issues in strategic decision-making and develops the capacity to argue and support proposals in strategic decision-making situations.
Managerial economics applies the principles of microeconomics to business decisions. Microeconomics studies the behaviour and interaction of producers, consumers and other economic agents. In this course, the focus is on the choices of firms and the implications for the evolution of industries. The course covers the fundamental building blocks of supply and demand, competition and monopoly as well as focusing in some detail on the important managerial topics of pricing and strategic interaction between firms. Two more advanced topics from modern microeconomics that are of particular interest to today's managers, incentives and auctions, will also be covered in this course.
Developing effective managers ties concrete organisational situations to essential theories and effective management practices. The complexity of analysis will increase gradually, beginning with what affects the behaviour of individuals and groups, and concluding by looking at the essential behaviours and skills required for leading organisations.
Operations management provides an introduction to the key concepts of operations management and development, and an understanding of their relevance to organisational effectiveness and business success.