Full-time MBA Electives

The course aims to equip you with the skills set you need in order to recognize financial and strategy related situations you will come across in your professional lives as advisors or managers.

You will focus on some strategic decisions made by healthy and distressed companies, particularly: raising capital from angels, venture capitalists, initial public offerings and seasoned equity offerings, corporate restructuring and bankruptcy. You will be encouraged to view these as ''real life'' situations. The course includes a presentation and discussion of the concepts but also a set of case studies. In order to extract the greatest value, you will be required to prepare and discuss the cases in class.

Learning outcomes

• Understand deal mechanics and structuring issues
• Understand the impact of financial decisions on corporate strategy
• Apply valuation skills.

The course aims to give you an understanding of strategy and  what a business model is, how they work and how organisations can strategically mobilise business models to create long term advantage.

You will be provided with a set of perspectives (and associated tools) that contain well- articulated academic thinking on corporate strategy and business models in a globalizing and increasingly digital environment.

Content outline

• The Logic of Business Models and the Fit between Business Models and Strategic Thinking
• Cognitive Processes and the Mind of the Chief Executive
• Managerial Action, Politics and Strategy Implementation

This module aims to help you develop hands-on expertise in applied financial analysis; developing both general skills as well as those specific to certain sectors in finance. It also helps to integrate and extend learnings gathered in previous modules (such as financial reporting, financial statement analysis and corporate valuation) without posing any strict pre-requisites to take this elective.

You will benefit from taking this elective if you are expecting to work directly with financial information in Excel, or to supervise those doing this kind of work.

Content outline

• Microsoft Excel best practices for maximizing speed and efficiency when working with financial information
• Key Excel tools for budgeting and project appraisal
• Structuring a corporate forecast model based on best practice techniques used by investment professionals
• Using a corporate forecast model for equity valuation and transaction analysis (M&A and LBO)
• Sensitivity analysis and scenario analysis
• Checking financial information in Excel: error-checking and stress-testing techniques.

Learning outcomes

• Understanding how practitioners utilise Excel for financial analysis
• Learn how financial techniques for project and investment appraisal are applied in practice
• Link your knowledge of accounting / financial reporting to the practice of building a budget and a corporate forecast model
• Understand the limitations of applied financial analysis in Excel and the most common pitfalls.

Behavioural Finance is a hot topic among academics as well as practitioners. The main paradigm in Finance is that the financial markets are efficient. Thus the main assumption behind the valuation models we teach is that the financial decision makers are rational. Behavioural finance introduces work in the psychology of decision making in finance and argues that human nature is prone to bias and this can be extended to financial decision making. Once we move away from the idea that market participants are rational and are able to process knowledge logically then the efficient market hypothesis cannot hold true in its purest form.

The module aims to introduce you to the key insights from research in “behavioural finance”.  This name itself is quite broad with different books emphasising different aspects. In this module we will take a very broad approach and will use ideas from psychology, philosophy, neuroeconomics, game theory and decision theory to show that humans are not rational creatures in the way we like to think we are and that our brain which evolved over time is better equipped to deal with survival than rational, emotionless choices.

The course will be lecture based but very interactive.  Information will be presented and attendees will need to vote or enter their selections based on information given.  The ideas in class will not be purely finance driven but the biased responses which will be derived will be analysed and then set in the context of financial decisions in the area of stockmarket investing, project decisions and also in our daily lives.

Learning outcomes

• Recognise and understand the major issues in behavioural finance. These include biases, which frequently occur in financial decision-making such as optimism, mental framing, over-reaction, trend-chasing, conservatism and anchoring of expectations.
• Appreciate the practical understanding of cognitive psychology in a financial domain
• Appreciate modern theory of finance on asset valuation.
• Appreciate the experience of practitioners on the use of modern finance theory and related problems/possible solutions.

To help you to understand the economic contribution that advertising can make to an organisation and the extent to which advertising can provide companies with a substantive source of differentiation.

To demonstrate what advertising communications can achieve for a company and its offerings both in the short and long term.  This entails analysing the specific financial contribution can make and more generally how advertising can influence customer choice. In particular, the course looks at the influence of branding and how advertising can contribute to building brands.

Learning outcomes

• Evaluate what advertising can (and has) achieved for a given organisation. For instance the economic contribution that advertising/branding has made to companies such as BMW and Coca-Cola.
• Understand what brands are and why branding is so important.
• How organisations can create effective advertising.
• Critically evaluate advertising campaigns against the stated objectives.
• Understand the importance of advertising in achieving differentiation, namely establishing perceived quality.

How to compete in rapidly changing markets that are influenced by disruptive digital technologies?

In a world where digital technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Big-Data analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Robotics Automation, Block chain – appear to be changing the competitive dynamics of industries; managers and future business leaders need to understand how to skilfully surf these waves of digital technologies – first separating weak signals from noise and then turning them as a source of momentum to gain competitive advantage!

This module focuses on four levels of analysis, each dealing with topics of competition and digital technologies. It starts with topics related to the paths individual decision-makers take to scan, try, and adopt digital technologies followed by an analysis of organisational designs to build digitally savvy enterprises. Then we discuss how organisations use technology as a competitive edge by experimenting and scaling –using lean methodology, and conclude with deep-dives in contemporary topics in digital technologies such as decision making using big-data analytics, artificial intelligence, and automation.

Learning outcomes

• To enable participants to develop skills in ‘thinking digitally’ and defining business problems for digital solutions.
• To build knowledge of the latest concepts in organisational design, managerial decision making, development of ecosystems, and establishment of digital markets.
• To enable participants to develop a working understanding of the latest disruptive digital technologies, a framework to experiment with these technologies, and current debates in the policy environment.

This elective aims to meet the needs of three groups of students who will have different needs, namely, those thinking of becoming management consultants and/or toying with the idea of starting their own consulting business, or specialists/professionals who wish to advise/intervene in organisations as internal consultants. Visiting speakers from consulting firms, internal consultants, and purchasers of consultancy services, will deliver a variety of practical perspectives to ensure the interplay of theory and practice.

Learning outcomes

• Know and understand the management consulting industry (global, European, national)
• Understand institutional theory in the context of consulting.
• Understand guru theory and fashion setting
• Understand theories relating to the consulting process; dynamics of consultant- client relationships; consultants' roles and skills; client responsibilities; consulting methodologies, tools and concepts; strategy and management of consultancy firms.
• Understand guidelines on choosing and using consultants.
• Differentiate internal consultants and consulting - advantages/ disadvantages, strengths and weaknesses, in comparison with external consultants. Issues of objectivity and independence. Guidelines on marketing an internal consultancy unit
• Identify issues in assessing and evaluating consultants, consulting, consultancy - intangibles and identification and measurement.

This module will provide you with a knowledge and understanding of the strong connections  between effective ongoing corporate restructuring, strategic and operational performance and enterprise value. You will be asked to consider various corporate restructuring options and approaches which can be taken by organisations in differing circumstances, for example distress restructuring, strategic splits, strategic alliances and refinancing etc. You will also review and consider the ethical and moral imperatives of corporate restructuring in the current environment.

The aim of this module is to provide you with an understanding of the methods and approaches to corporate restructuring and their relevance in differing circumstances. This includes developing an understanding of the rationale for corporate restructuring and its links with corporate finance, strategy and value creation. You will understand how corporate restructuring can contribute to corporate survival, growth, performance and value.

Learning outcomes

• The rationale and major drivers for corporate restructuring
• Restructuring frameworks
  • Asset reorganisation
  • Financial reorganisation
  • Ownership
• Interaction with strategic development and performance
• Valuation and measurement issues
• Capital and funding structures
• Leverage impacts
• Cooperative restructuring  
  • Joint ventures -
  • Strategic Alliances
• Distress restructuring
• Internal corporate restructuring
  • Market driven
  • Performance driven
• Restructuring in the current environment
• Ethical and moral imperatives in corporate restructuring

The aim of this module is to equip you with a comprehensive understanding of the potential impact of climate change on companies, with a focus on those transactions and importantly the due diligence stage.

You will learn about the different components of climate change and how to approach these components during strategy development and implementation, the impact on the valuation in the diligence phase and finally how to ensure there’s no value leakage. We will look at this from both a seller and buyer perspective during the sales/exit stage of the transaction.

You will learn to recognise and understand the different stages in a transaction, from strategy through to the approach towards climate change in all stages of a deal including the potential impact on valuation in these transactions, negotiation, and the decision making process in relation to other components in the diligence/transaction process. Finally, you will learn  how to apply this in practice through case studies.

Learning outcomes

• Recognise the impact of climate change on an organisation (strategy).
• Articulate the impact of climate change in pricing and valuation (applying finance techniques learned in the MBA core modules).
• Analyse the role of transactions (buying and selling assets / companies) in the transformation of companies related to climate.
• Explain the need for transaction professionals to understand the impact of Climate change.
• Articulate your knowledge and understanding of the different models, frameworks, approaches and decision making process.
• Demonstrate that you have developed sufficient knowledge of the range of climate change frameworks so that effective advice can be given to senior management for the development and implementation of relevant strategic objectives.
• Apply various diligence and valuation frameworks to systematically identify, assess and evaluate, and provide recommendations to the issues faced in climate change diligence.
• Assess and analyse the climate change issues in a range of situations and contexts (ie sales, buy, exit and improvement before exit).
• Apply tools and techniques required to work effectively within a teamon these topics.
• Demonstrate appreciation and understanding of the value of a systematic and interdisciplinary approach to the impact of climate change decision making.
• Show how to integrate climate change in the practice of diligence in transactions.
• Discuss the importance of being tolerant of disagreement, and of open and sensitive to diversity in business, cultures and people.

This module, provides clarity on the definition of digital marketing. It describes the structural properties across which digital and electronic resources can differ and reviews some wider considerations in the development of digital marketing strategy.

An important part of digital marketing is social media, both in terms of interaction avenues for customers as well as new and evolving native advertising platforms. We discuss how the approach to digital marketing has evolved from accumulating to selecting traffic.

Learning outcomes

• Demonstrate a critical understanding of a marketing model for the internet—digital marketing strategy.
• Evaluate the role of digital media and social media in the marketing mix and how it is challenging established marketing theories
• Demonstrate a conceptual understanding of the necessary steps for a successful internet campaign.
• Critically evaluate when and how digital and social media marketing can be best integrated into a marketing mix.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the differences between advertising, native advertising, and influencer marketing.
• Be equipped to keep an interaction going online.

This module will build on your knowledge and teach you to apply it to specific, real-life business problems. The challenge, that will be your consulting project, will come from the Entrepreneurship Fund (CEF) or from its portfolio companies. If it is a portfolio company, the firm you work with may be a high growth start-up. Your client may be looking to you to add value by developing important market research around sourcing new revenues, developing business structures for start-ups, marketing products and services or identifying future investment opportunities. You will need to consider how to apply many of the business and management models and techniques that you have learned in earlier modules.

Having completed the consulting project you will have a greater understanding of the kinds of problems that businesses face, and how consultants try to identify potential solutions to these challenges. You will be able to draw upon your knowledge of having completed this process with potential future employees.

Learning outcomes

• Apply your MBA learning to real business development issues of a venture capital fund or its portfolio companies
• You will need to observe and reflect on your knowledge, experience, and the data and knowledge you gain from your project company in order to respond to question(s) or tasks as set by the company.
• Demonstrate how to scope a consulting project and clearly identify what can and can’t be done within the time-frame and other constraints
• Apply theories and methodologies learned in the first term of the MBA in a practical way
• Analyse the business problem using appropriate research methodologies from different disciplines
• Source and collect data about market trends, potential competitors, alternative solutions, and other information relevant to your consulting project
• Use the time efficiently to meet as a group, and coordinate a plan for undertaking research and reporting back.

This module provides a working knowledge of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), both from a corporate strategy and investing perspective and offers the opportunity to apply these concepts through a team-based case study which simulates the key aspects of working to formulate an ESG strategy for a company. Emphasis is hands-on learning, allowing you to apply theoretical concepts to real life situations.

Content outline

The module covers ESG issues from a 360-degree perspective, exploring how expectations beyond financial returns are affecting capital market allocations and in turn influencing strategic decisions at company or project level.  Although the focus is on mature economies, considerations about emerging and frontier markets will also be covered. It alternates lectures and team work on a case study.

Learning outcomes

• Provide a rounded understanding of the complexities underpinning ESG decisions, appropriate for the level of the MBA
• Scope an ESG strategy for a company, taking into considerations also expectations and requirements of other market participants
• Analyse and solve the business case using appropriate research methodologies from different disciplines
• Apply theories and methodologies learned during the MBA
• Work as a team, using time efficiently and prioritising on the basis of the resources available and constraints of the project

Digital technologies such as distributed ledgers, machine learning, big data, artificial intelligence are revolutionizing the finance and insurance industries. This module provides insights on the current state of the fintech and insurtech ecosystems - hereafter referred to as Fintechs - and on the likely potential developments, both in terms of “disruption” of the legacy financial service industries and in terms of cooperation, or “synthesis”, with incumbent players.

Questions that will be addressed include: will Fintechs dominate the finance and insurance industries? Or, will banks, financial institutions and insurance learn how to leapfrog Fintechs and or cooperate with them? Under what circumstances? How?

Throughout the module, all questions will be discussed vis-à-vis the potential regulatory developments and the social trade-offs including the ones about privacy, freedoms, law-enforcement, inclusion and diversity.

Content outline

• Current state of the fintech ecosystem, near-term opportunities and long-term trends in fintech innovation
• Current state of the insurtech ecosystem, near-term opportunities and long-term trends in insurtech innovation
• Incumbent responses to FintechsEmerging trends in Fintechs/incumbent cooperation
• Fintechs developments in China

The module aims to provide knowledge and practical tools for the management of innovation and entrepreneurship, which are crucial organisational processes bringing new products, services and technology from a mind or a lab to the market.

Innovation and entrepreneurship are multidisciplinary activities involving strategy, R&D, marketing and project management. In practice, managers face a number of complex issues simultaneously.

Learning outcomes

• Understand the new product development process (How do organisations introduce new products? How is the idea developed and processed? Who talks to whom inside the company? How do we manage successful product development projects)?
• Have a good feel for technology management (How can we organise and fund R&D? What is the role and practice of patenting and licensing? How can we sell and/or buy technology?)
• Understand the distinguishing characteristics of innovative organisations (regarding external communications, leadership, strategy, creativity and structure).
• Be introduced to issues regarding the launch and the post-launch marketing campaign supporting new products and services.
• Understand how to launch and to finance a HIGH-GROWTH, innovative business

In a modern, globalised economic system, companies need to understand the risks that they face related to overseas operations, how those risks might be measured and mitigated and how international financial markets work. Multinational companies also need to understand whether exchange rate arrangements adopted by nations are robust or vulnerable to attack and whether a country’s trade deficits or external debt obligations are sustainable, as these factors influence the likelihood of sharp exchange rate movements.

The focus of this module is to develop your understanding of the issues above, making you a more effective analyst of international financial decisions and a more effective manager of exchange rate risk.

Content Outline

• Foreign exchange markets and an overview of international monetary systems
• Measuring and managing risk from transactions in foreign currencies
• Measuring companies’ economic exposure to exchange rate fluctuations
• Why exchange rates move. Models of exchange rate determination
• How governments manage exchange rates and implications for monetary policy.
• Modern evidence and perspectives on international capital flows, balance of payments surpluses/deficits and global imbalances

In recent years there has been a trend towards globalisation. That has impacted on all financial decisions and has necessitated the understanding of international financial markets.

This module provides you with an understanding of the international financial environment in which businesses operate and looks at the way businesses source, manage and invest funds.

Content outline

You will get an understanding of the structure and functions of foreign exchange markets, and of the international financial environment, in order to reach optimal financial decisions. In particular:

1. The objectives of international financial management.
2. The architecture of the international financial system
3. The nature of exchange rates and exchange rate regimes
4. Corporate foreign exchange risk management
5. Sourcing funds internationally
6. Financing working capital and foreign subsidiaries
7. Intra-company financial dealings
8. The relationship between international finance and other disciplines

Learning outcomes:

• Understand the development and shape of the international financial infrastructure
• Have knowledge of international sources of corporate funding and their characteristics
• Understand the nature of the management & investment of corporate funds internationally
• Understand financial management in the context of international business generally.

Practice and theory rarely mirror each other.  Whilst students learn a lot in the classroom during core courses about theory, there is always a need to develop good practice and rehearse the theory as it is applied in reality.

This module aims to bring investment management and strategic level asset allocation into real life, encouraging you to rehearse skills that will be important in your future careers.

The course aims to bring financial theory and investment practice together. It aims to engage you in discussion about the fundamental concepts of traditional finance and challenge this against the observed behaviour of investors. 
It will explore and educate you in both how and why, in practice, different investment funds and approaches are put together and illustrate why investors should critically analyse and understand their own needs before setting their investment strategy.

Learning outcomes

• Differentiate types of investors and their liability models
• Understand different investment strategies and approaches
• Have an understanding of both major and alternative asset classes
• Understand the parts played in asset allocation by correlation and returns expectations
• Work with confidence within the investment management industry
• Consider the social and financial costs and benefits of financial decisions

Through the lens of different sectors, this module presents the leadership implications of AI and industry 4.0. It is designed to help students understand the significant macroeconomic trends and its implications on industry. It focuses on the emerging leadership skills, competencies, and knowledge that are required to thrive in Industry 4.0 that is driven by AI-based systems.

The module is self-contained, but it relies on information delivered in the core modules on Technologies and Innovation and Strategy. No prior experience with AI or Machine Learning is required. The teaching material is based on use cases that are updated every year and some examples may include the following industries; finance, healthcare, education, manufacturing.

Learning outcomes

• To evaluate and explain the macro-trends in AI and Industry 4.0
• To assess the leadership implications
• To debate the economic implications for automation
• To create innovation strategies for organizations
• To develop a personal leadership agenda
• To evaluate and manage complex ethical and social issues
• To interpret projects from different perspectives within a business context
• Awareness about the limitations of different perspectives
• Communication approaches for various audiences.

The managerial decision making elective is both reflective and challenging. It explores how you make decisions, how others may make them and how you can make better and more effective choices with those around you.

This elective focuses on you, your decision making and how you can make more valuable decisions. You will learn about the two crucial elements of effective decisions: the quality of them and the commitment to make them work. The outcome of the elective is:

• A better understanding of your current way of thinking and approaching problems
• A deeper understanding of how others make decisions and how you can influence both the process, quality and output of group decisions
• An understanding of how organisational culture, structure and nationality brings new challenges to our approach to decision making

Learning outcomes:

• To cultivate intuitive judgemental and decision making skills
• To use a wide range of performance media for business problem solving.
• A better understanding of your current way of thinking and approaching problems
• A deeper understanding of how others make decisions and how you can influence both the process, quality and output of group decisions
• An understanding of how organisational culture, structure and nationality brings new challenges to our approach to decision making

This elective focuses on strategy implementation and specifically planned strategic change as opposed to emergent change or change that comes about in organisation due to constant realignment and organisational learning. The particular aim is to explore organisations which set-out to undertake a step change, either in a pro-active manner in recognition of the need for pre-emptive change given potential threats that may arise in the future, or in a re-active manner in response to an immediate need, such as a direct competitive threat.

For planned strategies to become a reality, rather than dusty reports on shelves, strategists need to be able to link strategic thinking through to action. This in turn requires us to integrate the different streams of work on strategic change from a strategy and a strategic HRM perspective. With its focus on managing strategic change, the elective aims to give you an overview of different theories on strategic change, but also to introduce you to some practical frameworks that can be applied in organisations to deliver strategic change.

Learning outcomes

• Appreciation of the issues facing change agents when managing complex change
• Appreciation of the need for context sensitive approaches to strategic change rather than the application of simplistic "ten step recipes"
• Understanding and practical grasp of tools and frameworks that can help with the design of context sensitive change
• Understanding of the issues involved in transition management
• Understanding your own strengths and weaknesses as a Change Leader
• Appreciation of the skills required of change agents if they are to deliver change successfully.

This course focuses on the topics you need to know for a world where M&A is an integral part of the strategic and financial business landscape.  It takes a global perspective, not focussed on any one market or industry although the course spends more time discussing the financial services industry.

The aim of the course is to familiarise you with various aspects of M&A in order to be able to:

• Understand the role of M&A in the life of a corporation
• Understand how to apply valuation techniques learned elsewhere
• Be familiar with the various techniques used in the different stages of a merger or an acquisition (including post-merger issues)
• Understand the alternatives to M&A

This is a multidisciplinary course that takes a general management and strategic approach to M&A, but necessarily incorporates the financial, organisational / individual behaviour and legal / regulatory aspects of M&A as well.

Learning outcomes

• Become comfortable, if not fluent, in the topic of Mergers & Acquisitions.
• Have an understanding of the blend of strategic and financial concepts applied to M&A.
• Full recognition of the impact on organisations and people of corporate restructurings.

Negotiations, both simple and complex, are a fundamental characteristic of the way “business is done”, across all sectors, cultures and markets. Success in negotiation is therefore a critical enabler of business success and value creation. But what does success mean, what factors enable / inhibit it and how can we lay the groundwork to delivering successful outcomes to complex negotiations?

The aim of this module is to provide a framework to structure the negotiation process, and a focused insight to some of the key issues – psychological, cultural and political – that underly the negotiation process.

The module will be structured around a complex case study: as part of a negotiating team, you will develop your negotiating strategy (understanding the interests & objectives of your stakeholders but also discovering / eliciting the interests & objectives of your negotiating partners, and dynamically structuring tactics to achieve the best possible outcome); you will learn how negotiation can be dysfunctional, through the biases and psychological short-cuts we bring to the table as negotiators, but also a failure to appreciate cultural nuances or to address the inherent flaws in group decision making; you will develop an appreciation of how to define and discover value, and to identify the risk that seeking the best outcome may result in a poorer overall result (the Prisoner’s Dilemma); finally, you will develop an approach that puts the emphasis on operationalizing for value, not merely negotiating a deal.

The module will be supported by 1-2 guest lecturers, sharing their practical experiences of complex negotiations and the approaches they take. We will also look at contemporary, high-profile situations to help bring the issues and principles to life.

The principal learning outcome is to provide a conceptual framework to support you as a negotiator going forward, to create a foundation for success in negotiation. This will include some exploration of your personal negotiation style to enable awareness of the inherent strengths you bring to the negotiation table, how best to deploy them and how to mitigate / develop areas for improvement – whether in a professional or personal situation (touching on the differences between acting as an “agent” versus negotiating for your own ends).

Content outline

Through several min-cases and one complex negotiation simulation case, developed through the case, supported by class discussion, we will cover the following key topics:

• A framework for negotiation – preparation, value discovery, operationalization for value creation
• Analysing the situation, identifying objectives and interests, developing negotiation strategies
• Understanding the effect of culture on negotiation
• Unconscious bias and the art of persuasion / influence
• Value discovery and the difference between value and price
• Group decision making & ethical behaviour in negotiation
• Negotiation as a Game – the Prisoner’s Dilemma and the Tragedy of the Commons
• Operationalization of value creation – laying the groundwork and managing the stakeholde

The core case study is based on the lecturer’s experience and will cover the process of creating a foundation for value creation in an M&A scenario. You will work in small groups, each group representing a key stakeholder group in the process (e.g. buyside shareholders, buyside management, buyside deal team, sellside shareholders, sellside management) to explore how “win-win-win” outcomes satisfying multiple and diverse interests / objectives can (or cannot…) be realized through a process of linked negotiations.

The aim of this module is to provide students with knowledge of the need for innovation and all aspects of the new venture creation process including feasibility testing, marketing financial forecasting and securing finance. At the end, the participant will be able to produce a comprehensive business plan covering the first three years of the commercialisation of their business idea.

Learning outcomes

• To understand the entrepreneurial environment
• Identify triggers and barriers to entrepreneurship
• Recognise the innovation process
• Understand the importance of small firms to the economy
• Now the appropriate business models for commercialisation of business idea
• Learn financial forecasting
• Discover sources of funding and the investment process
• Find the correct IP protection for a company
• Create a business planning process.

Private Equity is already regarded as a mainstream discipline within the investment community in North America, and is rapidly becoming so in Europe. However, it is radically different from other asset classes studied at Masters level (for example, bonds and quoted equity markets) and requires very different skills and disciplines, a knowledge of which will be essential to tomorrow’s investors.

To impart a thorough understanding of how private equity functions as an asset class, what are the different sub-classes which it contains, how its returns are earned, and how these may be measured and analysed.

Learning outcomes:

• Be able to model and analyse buyout returns
• Be able to model and analyse venture returns
• Have a thorough understanding of the drivers of returns in the different private equity categories
• Be able to segment PE funds by size, sector, stage and geography
• Know how to plan and implement a PE fund programme
• Be familiar with the main documentation used in the PE industry
• Consider the ethical implications of the PE model.

This four-day immersive module aims to expose you to practical tactics in order to scale your venture.  This course is for start-up founders and senior managers who have achieved product-market fit and seek to lead the rapid growth and change in their organisations.

Through a combination of hands-on workshops, case studies, role playing, lectures by faculty and expert entrepreneurs, you will acquire a deep and critical understanding of the main areas that will deliver tangible results and ensure the future of your company.

Learning outcomes

• Understand why and how ventures scale up
• Gain exposure to scale up tactics
• Understand how to manage transitions
• Understand the innovation process while growing
• Apply MBA learning and skills to scale up issues.

The purpose of this elective is to explore, demonstrate and explain the storytelling techniques used by successful companies and executives such as the late Steve Jobs to influence internal and external audiences. Contemporary managers need these skills for diverse business situations, including addressing company meetings, advertising their business, corporate presentations, brand management, strategic planning and sales presentations. Attendees will be shown that successful corporations such as 3M, Xerox, IBM, NASA, Intel and Apple actively use storytelling techniques to explore and communicate complex management issues. Microsoft has its own story-telling department and a dedicated Director of Storytelling.

3M replaced its traditional business-planning process with one focused on story telling, and Oracle has adopted a programme to enhance its sales process through creating engaging product stories known as “story-selling”. With a focus on using storytelling as a business tool, this elective will give an overview of different theories of storytelling in a business environment. Students will be introduced to practical frameworks and toolkits that can be applied in organisations to enhance communication across business disciplines.

By the end of the elective students will be able to apply their theoretical knowledge to a corporate and entrepreneurial environment using storytelling as an effective business tool.

Learning outcomes

• An appreciation of the different theories of storytelling in business
• Knowledge of pyramid thinking and other tools on how to create and structure stories to demonstrate that storytelling is not an art but can be applied as a modern business tool
• An understanding of tools and frameworks that can help with the design and implementation of storytelling
• Knowledge of the four stories each company has to have in their repertoire
• An understanding of the issues involved in building stories and using them in a corporate environment

Data science tools are increasingly regarded as a lever to achieve a competitive advantage position. However, the adoption of these tools poses peculiar challenges to business leaders, who need to connect established strategic analysis frameworks, with a solid understanding of the data science approach.

This module helps business leaders in mobilising modern data science tools in order to explore, evaluate, and communicate strategic courses of actions. This is possible by adopting a practical, problem-solving stance. Particularly, participants will be exposed to (i) concrete examples that illustrate how to integrate strategic analysis and data science tools; and (ii) a library of concrete business cases.

The entire module is delivered in a powerful, point-and-click data science software (e.g., Exploratory-R).

Learning outcomes

• Assess the challenges and limitations of analytics tools
• Capture the essential features of adopting analytics methodologies during the digital transformation process
• Assess the effectiveness of communicating the implementation of strategic decisions
• Create innovative strategies to create digital competition advance
• Formulate corporate strategies to integrate data science tools into business processes
• Evaluate and manage complex ethical and social issues when adopting analytics tools
• Communicate the analytics-based strategical decisions to various audiences

In the past two decades professional service firms have emerged as some of the most rapidly growing, profitable, and powerful organisations in the global economy. Consulting firms and investment banks are now listed as Fortune 500 companies; accounting firms and law firms have pioneered the development of the global professional partnership; and advertising agencies have become exemplars at managing creative, knowledge-based workers across complex international projects.

Professional service firms pose distinctive challenges for the people who work within them. As such, conventional management models are of only limited value in understanding and analysing the complex interpersonal and organisational dynamics that operate within these firms. This course will help you to understand these firms in depth and help you to navigate your way more effectively within them. It will also introduce you to leading edge research being conducted by the Centre for Professional Service Firms.

Learning outcomes

• Manage professionals, how to perform a functional role effectively within a PSF
• Manage knowledge and develop new practices, how to manage client relationships
• Exercise leadership at all levels within a PSF
• Grow a PSF from start-up, how to manage subsequent growth and global expansion
• Address the challenges currently confronting the professions and PSFs
• Manage mergers and large scale change management projects, how to deal with being involved in them
• Exploit the benefits and address the problems associated with different models of governance and ownership

The module covers various aspects of supply chain finance, including trade credit, working capital management, cash conversion cycle and risk management. The module aims to provide you with a profound understanding of the role of finance and risk management in supply chains, including the specific techniques that are used by industry, banks and investors.

Learning outcomes

• Conceptualise and evaluate the current problems and/or new insights in supply chain finance and risk management
• Define supply chain finance problems from different perspectives, including suppliers and retailers
• Assess the different types of structure that can be used to finance trade over short, medium or long-term periods
• Evaluate the solutions available for financing specific goods and/or products as they move from origin to destination along the supply chain
• Identify key supply chain risks and assess risk mitigation strategies

In this module, you will explore in detail the concepts that underlie private client and institutional wealth management as well as the governance framework that practitioners follow.  The module places emphasis on active management, where the investment manager seeks to render higher performance than the markets, as against passive management where the objective is to replicate market performance.

Learning outcomes

• Have a good understanding of the variety of firms that provide wealth management services to private individuals and institutions and of their internal structure and governance
• You should be able to analyse why and how different firms are structured depending on the characteristics of their wealth management offer
• Have a grasp of the various concepts behind active investment management
• Based on the characteristics, investment goals and risk profile of both retail and institutional clients, you should be able to argue in favour of suitable investment portfolios and create appropriate models
• Obtain an understanding of the need for sound internal governance procedures and learn how regulation seeks to promote corporate and individual practitioner behaviour so as to safeguard the interests of clients
• You should be able to articulate why certain behaviours that run counter to sound governance may result in detriment to the client, the firm, or even the sound functioning of the industry as a whole
• Obtain a solid overview of private client and institutional investment and of the ramifications on which the industry is based and upon which it is likely to develop
• Evaluate informed choices as to the sectors within wealth management where your interests and aptitudes should be directed
• Understand the difficult choices that practitioners must make when regulatory constraints and/or limits in corporate resources restrict the scope of activity
• Ensuring the clients’ best interests may conflict with the profit motive of practitioners and their perception of how to achieve personal advancement.  Lax internal procedures and governance oversight may lead to investment practices that confer unfair and illegal advantage to practitioners.  The industry is also subject to criminal activity in the laundering of illicit funds.   Key to long term sustained success in the industry is the need continuously to ponder and judge these and other ethical issues involved in the practice of wealth management