Provides the essential skills and knowledge required for studying at postgraduate level. The module is designed to support study in the programme’s other modules and to develop transferable skills useful for a manager.

Learning to Learn at Masters Level
Learning to learn and research 
• Learning to learn
• Reading and note taking
• Research skills and avoiding plagiarism

Higher Order Academic Skills
Developing higher order academic skills at masters level
• Talking and listening
• Working in groups
• Creativity and problem solving

Management Skills
Practical management skills 
• Time and stress management
• Project management

Achieving at Assessment
Understanding and developing higher order skills for academic assessment at masters level
• Presentations
• Writing effective essays
• Report writing 
• Examination techniques

Considers the effective use of information and knowledge by managers in organisations and the technology which is used to manage, capture and derive information and knowledge.

Information Management
The role of systems in organisations and how to manage information effectively for competitive advantage  
• Introduction to systems and information
• Information systems strategy
• Information systems strategy planning
• Strategic information tools and strategic advantage

Managing Knowledge
Strategies for managing knowledge effectively for competitive advantage 
• Organisational knowledge
• Leveraging knowledge strategy

E-Organisations
Technology, strategy and techniques for successful development and implementation of electronic business 
• Nomenclature of contemporary information and communications technology (ICT)
• E-Commerce and E-Business
• Planning E-Strategy
• E-Security

Beyond “E” … 
Communities of knowledge and virtual organisations
• Managing E-Knowledge
• Virtual organisations and communities … K-Organisations

Covers of a wide range of contemporary issues in strategic marketing with a particular focus on the international cultural dimension.

Cultural Diversity and the Implications for International Marketing
The cultural variable
• Time and space interactions, mindsets and behaviours
   Cross-cultural consumer behaviour
   Local consumerism and the globalisation of consumers
   The convergence of the marketing environments
• Regional convergence – European Union, Eastern Europe, East Asia

Preparing and updating the International Marketing Strategy
Cross cultural marketing research*
• (*Will include approved access to the website of a Global Advertising Agency based in the UK)
   Intercultural marketing strategy
• Costs, production, transportability
• Globalisation of competition and strategies
• International market segmentation

Complexities of the International Marketing Mix - Product / Price / Place 
Product Policies
• Adaption versus standardisation
• Products versus service
• Symbolism
• National image – product origin and brand names

International Pricing
• Bargaining, quality versus price, pricing tactics
• Pricing versus competition and regulation

International Distribution and Sales Promotion
• Japanese methods
• Determining foreign distribution channels
• Direct and Internet marketing
• International sales promotion techniques

Complexities of the International Marketing Mix  - Intercultural Communications
Intercultural Marketing Communications
• High versus low context cultures
• Non verbal communication
• Ethnocentrism and stereotypes  e-commerce

Intercultural Marketing Communications 2
• Advertising and cultural advertising strategy
• Brand USA
• Social marketing worldwide – third world charitable/ awareness marketing campaigns

Intercultural Marketing Communications 3
• Personal selling, networking, PR
• Bribery – the ethical stance in international marketing
• Intercultural marketing communications
• People, trust and tasks
• National styles of business negotiation

Considers the responsibility of managers for the financial resources under their control and introduces control and management techniques.

Introduction
• The nature of accounting
• Financial versus management accounting
• Basic accounting practices
- Simple book keeping
- Double entry
• Profit versus cash
- Accruals and prepayments

Sources of Funds
• The nature and status of organisations
• Sources of funds
• The importance of control over cash flow

Financial Reporting to external stakeholders
• The balance sheet
- Content and format
• The profit and loss account
- Content and format
• Their interrelationship
• Key elements of balance sheet and profit and loss account
• A cash flow statement
• The board report
• Ethical issues

Assessment of Financial Performance
• Ratio analysis
- Investor ratios
- Management ratios
• Horizontal and vertical techniques

Management Control: Theories and Models
• Theories and models
- First steps, Arnold et al
- A cybernetic approach
- The human factor
- Informal control systems, culture, etc.

Strategic Control Issues
• The special needs of top management
• An example, the balanced scorecard
• Strategic partnerships, accounting and reporting requirements

The Nature of Costs
• Fixed and variable costs
• Direct and indirect costs
• Cost-volume-profit analysis, the concept of break even

Calculation and Use of Full Cost Techniques
• Absorption costing
- Allocation and apportionment
- Recovery of overheads
- Strengths and weaknesses
• Activity Based Costing (ABC)

Accounting in Support of Decision Making
• Marginal costing
• Make or buy-in decisions
• Discontinue activities

Budgeting
• Budgets
- Cash or accruals?
- Budget setting and revision
- Reporting
- Variance analysis
• Standard costing techniques

Capital Investment
• The importance of capital investment appraisal
• Simple cost/benefit analysis
• Discounted cash flow (DCF)
• Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
• Accounting Rate of Return (ARR)

Examines some of the contemporary themes associated with managing people. A thematic approach to the subject develops an awareness of the concepts and theory that underpin organisational behaviour and human resource management.

The Psychological Contract  and Life in the Workplace
• Conceptualising people, processes and organisations
• Assessing the new psychological contract
• Employee commitment

HRM Strategy and its ‘Fit’ to Organisational Goals 
• Theoretical building blocks (assumptions) of Human Resource Management (HRM)
• The development and spread of HRM -  rhetoric or reality
• Designing HRM Policies and interventions 

Recruitment
• Strategic significance of recruitment and selection
• Attracting candidates
• Pre-assessment of candidates

Selection
• Reliability and validity in selection
• The limitation of interviews
• Psychometric assessment
• Selection centres

Flexibility and Fragmentation at Work
• Patterns of employment
• Flexing the workforce

Managing Learning at Work
• The learning manager
• Coaching

Managing Human Performance
• From performance appraisal to performance management
• Performance management: objectives, processes and outcomes 

Managing Employee Reward
• Theories of motivation and reward
• Reward in context  
• Flexing the benefits package 

Managing Employee Voice
• Conflict and cooperation in employee relations
• From industrial democracy to employee involvement 

Affective Well-being
• Defining and measuring affective well-being
• Examining the importance of managing the work-home interface

Managing Teams in Organisations
• Team processes
• Team structures
• Virtual teams

Ethics and Workplace Diversity
• The meaning and dimensions of workplace diversity
• The business benefits of workplace diversity
• The links between workplace diversity and good people management practice

Develops the knowledge and skills needed by both senior management and for further academic research including: critical and creative thinking, complex problem solving, decision-making and research skills.

Introduction to Research Methods
Research philosophy and principles 
• Ontology and epistemology
• Scientific versus phenomenological research
• Deductive versus inductive research

Selecting and Designing a Research Topic 
Strategies for designing a piece of management research 
• Choosing a research topic
• Research strategy
• Research design

Developing a Research Proposal
How to develop a robust research proposal for a piece of management research

Critical Reading and Writing
Developing the skills for critical reading of extant research and how to write critically
• Searching and reviewing the literature
• The use of critique and argument in research
• Developing a conceptual framework

Ethics and Using Secondary Data
The importance of ethics in management research and how to use secondary data effectively
• Research ethics
• Secondary data

Primary Research Methods
Choosing and applying appropriate research methods 

• Qualitative research methods
a. Interviews
b. Questionnaires
c. Focus groups
d. Surveys
e. Observation

• Quantitative research methods
a. Designing and undertaking statistical analysis of data

• Layout and flow design
• Process technology
• HR issues and job design

Data Analysis
• Qualitative data analysis
• Quantitative data analysis  

Writing Up … 
Approaching the write-up of the report
• Presentation of findings
• Framework and layout of the dissertation

Focuses upon strategic analysis by utilising a set of analytical techniques for understanding better, and so influencing, a company’s position in its actual and potential marketplace.

Overview of Strategic Management 
• Introducing the concepts: why is strategic management important?
• Vocabulary of strategy 
• The basics of strategy and strategic management 
• The strategic management process 
• Approaches to strategy formulation 
• Deliberate and emergent strategies  
• Strategic management in different contexts
• Evaluating the concept of strategic management, strategic thinking 
• Understanding the competitive environment

Analysing Resources, Capabilities and Core Competencies
• Assessing opportunities and threats : doing an external analysis 
• Assessing strengths and weaknesses :  doing an internal analysis 
• Expectations and purposes
• Stakeholder analysis, expectations and organisational purpose 
• Organisational vision, mission statements

The Foundations of Competitive Strategy
• The need for a clear and understood foundation, generic or basic position 
• Understanding sources of competitive advantage: the need to be able to establish a unique position
• Strategic choice: when to compete and when to cooperate 

Strategy Formulation and Implementation
• The strategy making process within an organisation 
• Different steps in the formulation of strategy 
• Role of strategic planning in strategy making 
• Strategy evaluation, selection and implementation 
• Causes of failure 
• Monitoring strategic performance 
• Strategic change
• Business ethics and corporate responsibility

Develops an understanding and the ability to critically appraise decision-making relating to operations management in both the manufacturing and services sector.

Operations and Strategy
The strategic role of operations in organisations and how this links to business strategy 
• Introduction to operations management
• Strategic thinking for operations
• Operations strategy planning

Design Issues 
Strategies operations design issues for competitive advantage 
• Product and process design
• Supply chain network design
• Layout and flow design
• Process technology
• Human Resource (HR) issues and job design

Quality and Control
Strategic decisions relating to quality and the need for planning and control of strategic operations 
• Quality in strategic operations
• Planning and control: capacity and inventory
• Planning and control: Supply chain and projects

Challenges for the Future …  
Pervasive issues in strategic operations management
• To include topics such as: sustainability, globalisation, corporate social responsibility,
  diversity and innovation, creativity, knowledge and risk management