MSc Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategy

This module introduces students to innovation management and entrepreneurship. It focuses on the psychological antecedents and characteristics of entrepreneurship as a creative process that results in new products, new processes, new organisational forms and new markets. It explores these concepts using different theoretical perspectives on how firms innovate and the factors shaping the innovation management process, including analysis of the sources of innovation (entrepreneurship), the selection of innovation projects, the diffusion of innovations, the role of internal and external variables and the importance of the firm’s institutional environment.

The aim of this module is to introduce the philosophical, theoretical and practical bases of conducting academic research.

This module provides a framework for analysing decisions made by firms in an international context. While the foundations of the course are concepts developed in economics, they will be combined with (and challenged by) insights from strategy, international finance, marketing, human resource management, and other areas. The final aim of the course is to provide you with a critical understanding of whether and to what extent the ways economists have studied and modeled firms’ internationalization decisions offer any support in real world decision making.

This module introduces students to the analysis of innovation within the context of systems of innovation. It complements the course Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship, which is focused on the firm and entrepreneurial activity and characteristics, by considering the wider innovation system in which firms operate. Key actors in the system include, firms, government agencies and organisations that comprise the science base e.g. universities, research institutes and technology transfer organisations.

The Practical Industry Project has an embedded Practera Virtual Industry Experience component that sits at its centre, offering studens the opportunity to get valuable real-world industry experience through working in a team on a real-world client brief and then developing this further through an individual assessment component. The Practera experience which sits at the centre of this module involves students working in groups of 5-6 students on.a specific client brief. The managing of this portion of the module is entirely handled by Practera using their own management platform where students will be supervised and group meetings as well as client meetings take place. Students work on the group project will be monitored by Practera, working closely with the module convenor.

This module is a final culminating piece of work for MSc programmes. It is an extended work of 5,000 words (excluding the Bibliography and other items listed in the Word Count and Marking of Overlength Coursework Policy as falling outside the word count), based on an original piece of research undertaken by the student on a topic relevant to the aims and objectives of the MSc programme. The module brings together theory, method, collection and analysis of empirical evidence in a small-scale research project, the findings of which are analysed and critically discussed.  The project typically involves addressing an issue of both theoretical and practical relevance. It will entail the collection of primary and/or secondary data (of quantitative and/or qualitative sorts) through various means (such as, for example, interviews, focus groups, surveys, datasets, and simulations) and their analysis, as agreed with the supervisor.

This module provides students with fundamental knowledge in principles of international corporate finance and asset pricing to understand and analyse the major issues affecting the financial policies of corporation in capital markets. This course is concerned with the decisions that firms make about financing their investment in a global economic environment. You will study the principles underlying such decision-making, their application and debates over them in relation to the modern literature to develop analytical skills in a challenging global environment, and other complex specialised contexts.

This module is designed to develop cultural intelligence through a highly practical approach to enhance interpersonal and intercultural communication skills for future career in international teams and global business environment. The body of the module examines the fundamental concepts of cultural, assesses the impact of cultural values in intercultural business environment and explores the the impact of cultural difference on international team effectiveness, business negotiations, communication, and personal presentation.

The aim of this module is to introduce the key concepts of Human Resource Management (HRM) by examining the evolution, functions and processes of HRM within a theoretical and ‘best practice’ context. The module then focuses on HRM from a global perspective and assesses the operation of HRM across distinct cultural and business contexts.

The overall objective of this module is to provide an informed appreciation of international marketing as an academic subject and management practice. This module focuses on the central strategic issue in international marketing – standardisation versus adaptation and examines the topics of marketing competitive advantage in relation to changing consumer behaviour and customer relationships.

This course provides an introduction to the applications of econometric methods in finance. It examines how one can formulate the relationships suggested by financial and economic theory in mathematical and statistical format, how to estimate these models using sample data, and how to make relevant statements based on the parameters of the estimated models. The course examines the assumptions that are necessary for the estimators to have desirable properties and the assumptions necessary to make statistical inferences. In addition, the course explores what happens when these assumptions are not satisfied, and what one can do in these circumstances. The course concludes with an examination of how to select an appropriate model for applications in finance.

The advances in digital technologies resulted in various opportunities and threats to existing economic and societal systems. More specifically, digitalisation restructures policymaking processes, regulatory governance, and poses significant structural challenges to public administration. Besides, the rise of blockchain technology and distributed electronic ledgers add another dimension with the emergence of cryptocurrency and cryptoassets and their regulation. In this context, this module examines the key concepts and theoretical frameworks at the intersection of digital government and regulation. The module begins with presenting the key implications of digitalisation and the rise of disruptive technologies for public administration and public policy. Next, the module studies blockchain infrastructure, regulation of disruptive technologies, fintech and regtech, and finally cryptoassets and central bank digital currencies

This module will cover many aspects of public governance, accountability and transparency. We will start the course by looking at the systems and processes of government, at the differences and relationships between the public and the private section, and at public policy decision-making. We will turn our attention, then, to issues that arise from stakeholder management and risk management in government. After the Reading Week, we will pay attention to issues related to fraud and corruption, internal control systems, auditing, ethics and integrity in the public sector. We will conclude the course by looking at the role of policy and programme evaluation in government.

For international companies to achieve significant competitiveness in the marketplace, it is important that managers understand consumer behaviour. This module, therefore, discusses the internal processes that occur within consumers´ minds as well as external processes that influence consumers’ experience, engagements and relationships with international companies/brands.

Digital technologies and technological innovations, including the Internet, e-commerce and social media platforms, are rapidly moving the balance of power in relationships, through customer engagement to a ‘customer led’ phase. Technology has allowed ‘user (consumer) generated content’, however, this needs to be well managed in order to yield results. The students will be exposed to a synthesis of well-established digital marketing theories and the most recent academic research on it. This module aims at developing students’ understanding, knowledge and expertise in planning, implementing and managing successful e-marketing strategies. Module draws specific attention to the role of online, mobile, and social media marketing techniques on contemporary marketing practices.

This module provides students with a basic conceptual framework and practical knowledge regarding finance and investments in emerging markets. This module is concerned with the differences in financial systems between emerging markets and mature market economies; and how these differences explain the observed discrepancies in corporate financing behaviour between firms in emerging markets and those in mature market economies.

Fiscal governance consists of the systems, processes and tools that ensure the prudent management of financial resources in the public sector. Fiscal governance is crucial to the long-term prosperity of countries as it relates to fundamental policy choices that are made about taxation, public spending and public debt. In today’s sophisticated economic and institutional conditions, fiscal policies are made through complex interactions between central governments, central banks, sub-national governments, supernational organisations, the financial sector. At the same time, inclusiveness in budgeting processes (e.g., citizen participation, gender equality in budgeting) and crisis preparedness (e.g., climate change, man-made disasters) have also become crucial. In this context, this module examines the key concepts, tools and theoretical frameworks of public financial management. The course begins with presenting what public financial management, main theoretical frameworks and the tools of public financial management. The course then proceeds with the political and administrative dimensions of public financial management. Empirically, the course will look at various current debates on fiscal governance, from the choice about what to tax and how much, to the relationship between public debt and economic growth, to the advantages of accrual accounting in the public sector. In classes, students will be required to analyse and present assigned case studies. Students will be expected to participate actively, where they will develop skills and capabilities about applying theories and methods to tackling fiscal governance issues.

The business world has traditionally relied on accounting and finance practitioners to provide a summary of business performance in form of financial statements at regular intervals. Also, quantitative business intelligence has traditional being an important field in accounting and finance.

While these two roles continue to be important, there is marked change in their nature, frequency, and potentials given the exponential growth in unstructured data. Consistent with Moore's Law, there's also an exponential increase in computing power. The current business environment, therefore, requires managers to know data analysis and programming to make sense of the huge volume of data. The module, therefore, complements other modules on the programme, such as financial accounting and financial statement analysis, management accounting, and applied econometrics.

The module provides a foundation for students to understand financial markets and financial instruments. The module compares the different models of financial systems observed globally. It covers the types and functions of financial markets; participants in financial markets (including financial institutions and government); and common financial instruments. It introduces the main elements of financial markets, including the money market, bond market, stock market, and derivatives market. It analyses the features of financial instruments, which correspond to each element of financial markets (bond, equity, futures and options), through real life cases in the financial markets.