MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA)
Duration: 18 Months
Awarding Body: University of Finance & Management in Bialystok
The offer is addressed to the management of companies and institutions. The knowledge and skills acquired during the course will allow students to obtain a high level of managerial qualifications, which will facilitate their professional development and enhance career prospects. The MBA programme is designed to stimulate students’ intellectual development and teach them not only how to analyse economic phenomena and draw adequate conclusions, but also how to make rational decisions. It will prepare them to act as leaders.
Entrance requirements:
In order to be eligible to register for the MBA applicants must satisfy the following requirements:
Academic
A second class honours degree, or the equivalent, from a university or other institution acceptable to the University of London together with a good GMAT score
or
A first degree from a university or other institution acceptable to the University of London together with a good GMAT score. Three years’ work experience will normally be required
or
A professional qualification together with a good GMAT score. Three years’ work experience will normally be required.
Other
English language requirement
All applicants must have an advanced level of ability to work in English, and students may be required to pass, or to have passed within the last five years.
Minimum PC requirement
Students must have access to the Internet and meet the following minimum computer specification:
· Pentium class 600MHz PC (or higher)
· 64Mb RAM (or higher)
· Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000 or XP (with latest service packs installed)
· Full-duplex sound card and speakers
· 28.8 kbps modem dial-up (or higher)
· Internet Explorer 5.5 (or higher)
· Cookies must be enabled
Progression Opportunities:
The Masters programme is a full-time 18 months course. Every year consists of four semesters with an extra two semester dedicated on project. Each semester consists of two modules. The Masters includes a project, which every student has to undertake, and spend considerable time and effort on it. The project has to be completed in the forth semester. Necessary project lectures are provided.
Programme outline:
9 modules (7 core modules, plus either 1 specialisation or two electives, plus a compulsory research project)
Seven compulsory core modules:
PLUS either one specialisation chosen from:
OR two electives chosen from:
PLUS a compulsory Research project:
Notes:
- Not all modules will necessarily be available in every year.
- In any one-year, students may study and be examined in a minimum of one new module and a maximum of five new modules.
Syllabus:
Managing people and organisations
This module provides students with the opportunity to develop a strong conceptual framework for analysing organisations and managing people. Topics covered include: corporate effectiveness and efficiency within the changing organisational environment; managing people; motivating and rewarding; managing conflict; the management of culture; change management; the design of work and decision making.
The module is designed to give guidance in the practice of managing but to underpin such guidance by drawing on theoretical and research work derived from the social sciences. The module makes extensive use of both experiential exercises and case study material while also encouraging students to draw upon their own managerial experience.
Managing processes and products
This module aims to equip you with the knowledge to analyse and the skills to improve the performance of the processes, products and services of your business or organisation. The key themes are process analysis and re-design, performance measurement and benchmarking, quality management and continuous improvement, project management and implementing change, new product and service development, and exploiting technological and organisational innovation. The approach adopted is based on conceptual frameworks and analytical models derived from the latest management science or operations research. The insights and tools acquired are equally relevant to private and public, manufacturing and service organisations.
Information systems management
For many years the role of computers has been growing in importance, in terms of business impact, capital investment and costs. Recently these changes have accelerated, particularly with regard to the growth in e-commerce. Information technology (IT), and the Information Systems (IS) it supports, have become strategic resources with the potential to affect competitive positioning and organisational effectiveness. IS, including the Internet, now do more than automate transactions. They can transform industries and products, and be key determents in determining the success or failure of organisations, As a result IT and IS are no longer solely the concern of IT professionals. Managing IT and IS well is a core competence for modern organisations. Increasingly the business world asks for managers who understand the business impacts of IS and at the same time have a broad awareness of the implications of technology.
The course is in two parts. The first deals with IT’s strategic impact; the second deals with how IT should be managed.
Part 1 considers why IT is strategic and how it can affect competition. The objective is to clarify the business impact of IS and show the relevance of various competitive frameworks. This part will answer questions such as: in what ways are IS strategic How does IS transform processes and organisational relationships? How can an IT strategy be developed?
Part 2 deals with the management of IT. The objective is to review the knowledge and methods needed to manage IT as a business resource. This part will include consideration of emerging technologies. Although this is a management rather than technical course, new technologies can have major impacts on business. This part will answer questions such as how can organisations evaluate IT investments? What business benefits can IT bring? How can IS be developed and implemented?
This course will provide concepts and frameworks to sharpen managers’ thinking, as well as provide practical guidance via case studies. Major current developments, for example e-commerce and the internet, will be an integral part of the whole course.
Economics for business
The course develops an economic interpretation of the business world. It is divided into two parts, reflecting the nature of the economic forces that managers need to understand.
The first part deals with the interaction of firms in the market. It develops models of competition, based on the resource constraints and market opportunities currently available and analyses the conditions required for sustained profitability. Concepts such as supply and demand, average and marginal cost, monopoly, perfect competition and oligopoly are explained. Notions of business strategy can be explained within this framework and the analysis extended to consider novel applications such as “the new economy”. The second part of the course is concerned with the macroeconomic forces that shape the business environment. It deals with economic forces that are largely beyond the control of any firm, but which nevertheless have a crucial impact on company performance. The factors considered include: interest rate and exchange rate movements, inflation and economic growth, unemployment and the business cycle. The role of government is also considered, with an emphasis on how monetary and fiscal policy affect economic performance.
Both parts of the course show how economic models can be used to understand and make predictions about the real world.
Managing finance and accounts
Accounting and finance are each concerned with decision making. Whilst Accounting concentrates upon the collection, analysis and communication of information useful for planning and control, Finance looks at how funds for a business are raised and invested.
A company’s performance is usually dependent upon financial decision making; a manager’s performance might also be assessed by financial considerations – the incentive for managing finance and accounting effectively should be clear to all.
The course aims to give you a thorough knowledge of the key aspects of financial accounting, management accounting and financial management – but essentially from a non-accountant’s viewpoint. Firstly, the course explains how the published financial statements (balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement) are constructed and how their analysis can be useful for managers, investors, creditors and other interested parties. Secondly the course discusses the usefulness of management accounting for day-to-day running of an organisation and illustrates its use by covering the main decision making processes that are driven by management accounting analysis. Finally it looks at the financial management of a company – essentially answering the questions: What is the best combination of funding sources to use? Which projects should the company invest in? How will our financial decisions affect the share price?
Managing markets and competition
This module aims to develop skills in analysing markets and competition from both a business and marketing perspective. The fist half of the module focuses on business strategy. It starts by examining the influences that form corporate objectives. It then introduces techniques for analysing industries and competitive dynamics, as well as the internal strategic capability of an organisation. This lays the foundation for the development of competitive strategies, alternative directions of corporate growth and methods of new market entry. Finally, issues in the implementation of a chosen strategy are considered. The second half of the module focuses on marketing issues. It starts by analysing the customer and works back to establish what a company should do to attract and retain customers. This involves an introduction to the marketing mix which defines the scope of marketing activity. This can be expressed in terms of 4Ps – Product (differentiation), Pricing, Promotion and Place (distribution channels). The module will also explore special situations such as marketing in a business-to-business context, the marketing of new products and marketing across country borders (International Marketing).
Decision making
This module introduces some of the key concepts and ideas underlying the approaches adopted for quantitative decision making.
- Network analysis
Dealing with the planning and control of projects via the critical path and incorporating float (slack) times, cost/time tradeoff, uncertain activity completion times and resource considerations
- Decision trees
Dealing with sequential decision problems, such as deciding whether to test market a product and the future size of possible production facilities in the event that test marketing is successful, where chance (probability) plays a key role and incorporating utilities and expected value of perfect information
- Inventory control
Dealing with problems that arise in the management of stock and incorporating Economic Order Quantity, quantity discounts, probabilistic demand, and Materials Requirements Planning
- Markov processes
Dealing with approaches used in modelling situations, such as consumer brand switching, that evolve in a stochastic (probabilistic) fashion though time
- Mathematical programming: formulation
Dealing with the representation of decision problems using linear models with a single objective which is to be optimised and incorporating the formulation of both linear programs and integer programs
- Mathematical programming solution
Dealing with the numeric solution of mathematical programs, discussing sensitivity analysis and robustness and the use of such models for tactical/strategic decision-making
- Data envelopment analysis
Dealing with assessing the relative efficiency of decision making units in organisations and incorporating input/output definitions, basic efficiency calculations, reference sets, target setting and value judgements
- Multicriteria decision making
Dealing with goal programming which considers multicriteria decision problems where the constraints are "soft"
- Queueing theory and simulation
Dealing with the representation and analysis of complex stochastic systems, such as those found in banks, supermarkets, airports, etc where queueing is a common occurrence
Entrepreneurship
The goal of this specialisation is to introduce students to the fast-moving world of entrepreneurship. The module is practical and interactive, and aims to help students develop the entrepreneurial skills needed to launch, or invest in, the next generation of successful new ventures within the global economy. We will examine the launch of independent start-ups, the creation of new ventures within existing organisations, and the role of entrepreneurial management teams within profit and not for profit sectors. We will discuss the rise and fall, and rise again of high-growth sectors such as biotechnology, information technology and the internet and will examine opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors in the future.
The underlying aim of the course is to unravel the “mystery” of becoming a successful entrepreneur - to reveal that there is no mystery at all. The module will provide all students with the theoretical and practical skills to launch or assess successful new ventures and will guide students through the entrepreneurial life cycle. We will outline routes to ownership from the classic “start-up” scenario to inheriting the family the business and all that goes with it. We will address strategies and tactics for creating business plans, raising finance, building effective teams and launching the venture through to managing operations and making decisions in rapidly changing business environments. Finally we will look at scenarios for harvesting the rewards of successful new venture creation, and then doing it all over again…the realm of the serial entrepreneur.
Customer-focused strategy
CFS strategy is for students who wants to know how to create new markets and wealth in the new economy. It applies equally to students who seek to start up their own new venture or those who are re-entering a company, the public sector or a consulting group, with a view to building and implementing a strategic action plan that will lead to transformation and opportunities for lasting competitive advantage.
In this specialisation students will get a well researched and
applied methodology for:
- constructing a compelling idea that will sell to investors and top management,
- defining and articulating new “market spaces”,
- identifying specific opportunities for adding value to customers,
- understanding the role of E-technology to get deep connections to customers,
- choosing business partners and managing these relationships,
- getting critical mass and buy-in through a process of implementation,
- building a business case using the new economics. The overriding aim is to give students new insights, skills, and vocabulary to enable them to take a new or established
corporation successfully and proactively into the future.
Investment and risk
Pension and mutual funds as well as individuals are concerned about their investments in stocks, bonds, foreign assets, real estate and derivative instruments. Are stock prices predictable or is predictability an illusion which fools people and gives rise to bubbles, momentum trading and different investment styles – all of which may be worthless? It may be better just to hold a 'passive' or 'tracker' portfolio, which mimics movements in the S&P500 stock index. These are key issues in portfolio choice that we will address.
Investments usually involve risk. How can we measure risk and assess the investment performance of (say) a particular mutual fund to see if it 'beats-the-market' after allowing for risk. Derivatives such as futures, options and swaps can be both dangerous and benign for investors. They can be used to magnify your returns (both 'up' and 'down') - this is dangerous as Long Term Capital Management LTCM (a hedge fund), Nick Leeson a derivatives trader who put Baring's Bank into liquidation and John Rusnak of Allied Irish Bank, discovered to their cost. But derivatives can also be used to offset or limit risks that you already hold - portfolio insurance, straddles, strangles and butterfly strategies can be used for this purpose.
Before investment banks can decide whether they need to reduce (or even increase) the overall risk of all their assets, they must be able to measure their market risk exposures. This is the Value at Risk concept initially developed by J.P. Morgan in 1997. Today, all financial institutions must have a credible and verifiable risk management system in operation and we shall see how this is implemented and forms the basis for the regulator's view of whether a bank is subject to too much risk (given its capital base).
Asia Pacific business
Introduction: the rise and fall of the East Asian ‘miracle’
Business structure and organisation in Japan
The emergence of South Korea as a newly industrialised economy
China’s pre-reform economy
International business and joint ventures in China
Seeking to catch up – focus on Malaysia
Asia Pacific as a market
Human resource management in East Asia
Employee relations in the Asia Pacific – the view from the shopfloor
Contemporary and future threats – political, economic, social, internal and external change
North American business
The rise and transformation of the American corporation
The US corporation and technical progress
The structure of the US labour market
North American corporations and the downsizing debate
Telecommunications as an industry
Management cultures and management practices, networks and relationships, power and leadership
North American Free Trade Agreement
The American Corporation in the 21st century
European business
Introduction to European business and the European Union
The EU policy-making and the evolution of the single market
European competitiveness and competition policies
Vertical and horizontal industrial policies and their implications: the case of telecommunications
European Monetary Union: businesses and regional implications
European social dimension and labour market
Perspectives on major European economies: Germany, Britain and France
Perspectives on southern European economies: Spain and Italy
Perspectives on economies in transition: Poland, Hungary and Turkey
European economy and business in the new millennium
Multinational enterprise
Introduction: defining the multinational enterprise
The global economy
Theory and history of MNEs
Foreign market entry
Multinational strategy
Organisation
Processes and people
Governments, governance and ethics
Conclusion: the prospects for MNEs
International business analysis
Introduction
American management practices
Globalization of economies
Concept of value added from a set of company accounts
Market context of international business
Changing composition of national value added statistics
Development of financial services and decline of manufacturing
Understanding the value chain
Sector matrix: supply and demand issues
Mergers, acquisitions and restructuring
The future – micro-level and meso-level
Global financial markets
Introduction to global financial markets
Basic concepts in global financial markets
Fixed interest
The fixed interest market
The global equity market
Derivatives
Options
The foreign exchange markets
Conclusion
Management, leadership and teams
Introduction
The need for leadership?
Human behaviour and personality
The executive process
Contingency theories of leadership
Leadership and change
Managing horizontally and vertically
Teams and teamworking
International teams
The senior management challenge
Research project
This is carried out under the guidance of an appointed supervisor and may relate to any approved topic within the field of management, economics, industry or government. Projects relating to a problem arising within the student’s employing organisation are particularly encouraged.
Assessment
Each module, except for the research project, is assessed by one three-hour unseen written examination and two assignments. The mark for the unseen written examination and the two written assignments will be weighted 80:20. The project is assessed through the submission of a 500-word research plan and a project report of between 15,000 and 20,000 words (including footnotes, references and appendices but excluding the bibliography).
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