Business Management - 2012 entry

Course content

The MSc is based on the completion of the following compulsory module elements, plus a dissertation and you can view the course structure here.

As courses are reviewed regularly, the list of modules you choose from may vary from that shown here.

Compulsory module elements:

Business Strategy introduces the major concepts of business strategy and the analytical tools used to develop strategy in complex business environments. You will develop an understanding of how financial statements can be used to evaluate organisational and strategic performance, and how a range of stakeholders' interests impact on the development of business strategy.

Principles of Financial Accounting and Statistics helps you develop core competencies in accounting and basic statistics and their integration in business decision making. The module seeks to give you an understanding of financial and quantitative information relevant to middle or senior managers operating in an international organisation. The module is primarily concerned with the analysis and interpretation of quantitative and financial information, not its production. The content of this module provides a foundation for further study in other modules including Research Methods.

Managing Business Operations explores the complex and interconnecting relationships between functional areas and the real world of business. You will learn how business operations and resources can be most effectively and efficiently managed in order to achieve competitive advantage, and how organisations manage their operational activities to add value by transforming inputs into saleable or usable output products and services.

Global Strategic Perspectives shows how changes in the external environment generate both opportunities and threats to which the organisation must respond. The managerial challenge in strategising is to deliver a sustainable competitive advantage. This module aims to provide students with a foundation for doing this, by ensuring that students understand and engage in critical evaluation of the key strategic discourses and issues.

Research Methods and the Dissertation are key components of a master's degree. They give you the opportunity to explore an area of interest, and students are encouraged to choose topics that will be valuable in their future careers. Undertaking effective management research, and being reflective on the process, is often a requirement of senior management, as well as being a requirement at master's level. On this module, you will be allocated a supervisor who will work with you, providing guidance and advice throughout the process.

Personal Development and Leadership addresses your individual learning needs and priorities, and explores the organisational and individual consequences of individual and collective actions and behaviours. Your personal effectiveness and capacity to recognise, adapt and apply relevant theory to the managerial context, and to personally learn from experience, will be improved by engaging in self-reflection and critical self-evaluation exercises.

Pathway choices

As well as these compulsory modules a choice of three pathways is available. Your choice is made in consultation with the course director and in accordance with the rules laid down for the award. The wide range of pathway choices give our students the opportunity to personalise their studies and engage more deeply with a specific subject area whilst retaining a robust general business and management education. 

Marketing pathway 

This pathway provides essential preparation and enhanced opportunities for a career in marketing within many different types of organisations, including manufacturing and retailing, service organisations, charities and government enterprises. Focussing upon the marketing discipline will prepare you for a range of careers including product and brand management, market analysis and research, customer relationship and services management, direct marketing, internet marketing, public relations, media and advertising. This pathway should be considered by all those who are seeking to develop the knowledge and skills essential for a successful career in marketing.

Principles of Marketing introduces the key principles of marketing by studying the theories that underpin marketing. The module explores the roles of buyers, customer behaviour, the marketing environment and the ways in which marketers plan, manage, implement and monitor marketing programmes in an international environment..

Global Marketing Strategy: many organisations that have traditionally concentrated on satisfying domestic markets now find themselves increasingly subject to competition from multinational and global organisations. This module explores the global context and environment of marketing with a particular emphasis on internationalisation and the creation and development of global markets.

Economics pathway

This pathway will give students an understanding of the core theoretical principles of economics and enable them to apply this to practical problems involving policy issues confronting international institutions, national governments and businesses. Any student interested in pursuing a career in business and management will benefit from being economically literate with an understanding of the key economic forces and constraints that confront all businesses, be they national, international or global entities.

Principles of International Business Economics introduces the key principles and concepts of economics by studying the theories that underpin the subject. You will explore the topics of consumer behaviour, firm behaviour, pricing strategies under different market structures, the role of the government and the external parameters of the business environment in an international context.

In International Trade and Globalisation we explore and examine theoretical and empirical frameworks, enabling you to

• enhance your awareness of international trading relationships and trends in trading patterns
• appreciate what globalisation means for different types of businesses and how globalisation is regarded by different economic agents.

Entrepreneurship pathway

Enterprise and entrepreneurship is recognised as being vital to the development of the modern economy, both in terms of new business start up or as part of managing and growing existing organisations. In this regard, enterprise and entrepreneurship is as important for large organisations as it is for smaller ones, operating in both the public and private sectors. This pathway gives you the opportunity to learn more about these current and relevant topics, which are applicable to a wide range of careers.

Global Entrepreneurship will introduce the conceptual underpinning necessary to understand the nature of enterprise and entrepreneurship, and will also help develop vital entrepreneurial skills, behaviours and practices necessary for success.

Enterprise and entrepreneurship is recognised as being vital to the development of a modern economy, both in terms of new business start up or as part of managing and growing existing organisations. In this regard enterprise and entrepreneurship is as important for large as well as small organisations, operating in both the public and private sectors. 

Planning for New Business Ventures aims to develop the necessary business planning skills for those students who intend to start and run their own businesses, or who may become involved in the growth of an existing business. It will draw on, integrate and allow students to practice many of the concepts studied in other MSc modules.At the heart of the module is an evaluation of a firm’s ‘business model’ – its underlying economic logic – that will create and deliver value to its customers, and thus provide a return for its owners. The outcome from this module will be a robust business plan for a new or existing venture that will be assessed by a panel of entrepreneurs.

Elective choices

In addition you need to choose one from the following two modules.

Project and Contract Management introduces the principles of project and contract management, and will develop your skills in designing, planning, implementing and controlling business projects. These range from construction, through the introduction of new information systems, to the outsourcing of business processes. This module will help you to develop an understanding of the principles, practices and techniques vital to the leadership and commercial management of such projects. You will learn how to deliver projects on time, to cost budgets and to deliver to the required levels of quality.

Management of Innovation and Change examines the linkages between theories of innovations, change management and competitive strategy and their implications for the management of the human resources.

Non-credit bearing elective module

Recognising the need for practice oriented Business and Management education and listening to our students, Oxford Brookes Faculty of Business have introduced a new elective module: International Business In Practice: Study Trip.

The purpose of this non-credit bearing elective Study Trip Module is to give postgraduate students a hands-on, intensive experience with the ideas and practices of global business with a particular focus on the economic system of the country being visited during the study trip. Students will meet with leaders of global firms, receive presentations from global academic experts, and tour company facilities. They will develop a working knowledge of business including knowledge of the state and development of the economy; leading companies and industries; global participation; and social, cultural, and historical influences. The programme will include presentations from local management executives and experts. Students will have direct interaction with management executives and practices through site visits to major corporations and agencies.

Having successfully completed the assessment (pass/fail) this module will appear on students’ transcripts, which greatly enhances the employability potential of our graduates.

These study trips are self-funded. As an example, every July there is a group of students travelling to Boston, USA for an 8-day study programme. This trip includes visits to Harvard University, MIT, Reebok, Ocean Spray, Federal Reserve Bank, State Street, and other companies.

Faculty

Faculty of Business

Department

Business School

Course length

Full-time: 12 months
Part-time: 2 years

Teaching location

Wheatley Campus

Start date

September 2012

UKPASS code

43435

Entry requirements

 This course attracts students from a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities. Applicants are welcome from any academic discipline, as well as those in work and seeking continuing professional development. Admission is normally open to those with a minimum of a good second class honours degree (or equivalent overseas degree from a recognised institution) or equivalent professional or other qualification. Applicants who possess a diploma rather than a good degree may be eligible for entry provided they have compensatory work experience and can demonstrate career development. The course provides the opportunity to attain formal academic training and qualifications based on a diversity of professional backgrounds.

Scholarships and funding

The Department of Business and Management is pleased to offer scholarships in all disciplines for students wishing to undertake full-time taught postgraduate MSc programmes. Some part-time courses may be eligible for scholarships for UK and EU applicants.

Scholarships will be awarded for academic excellence and each award will be paid towards the tuition fee for a taught master's degree. These scholarships do not include a maintenance grant.

For further information, visit: http://business.brookes.ac.uk/postgraduate/scholarships

For general sources of financial support, see:

• funding for students from the UK and EU
• funding for students from outside the EU

Why Oxford is a great place to study Business Management

As a student in Oxford you'll be at the heart of the UK's most successful economic region and in a centre for leading industries which provides you with a host of learning opportunities. As a business student you'll have easy access to London and the 'M4 Corridor' - a hub for technology and financial services - as well as the numerous businesses and hi-tech firms located in the Oxford area.

Because Oxford is one of the world's great academic cities, it is a key centre of debate, with conferences, seminars and forums taking place across education, science, the arts and many other subjects.

In addition to our own excellent libraries and resource centres, our postgraduate students have access to the world-renowned Bodleian Library, the Bodleian Law Library and the Radcliffe Science Library.
 

How Brookes supports postgraduate students

Supporting your learning

From academic advisers and support co-ordinators to specialist subject librarians and other learning support staff, we want to ensure that you get the best out of your studies.

Personal support services

We want your time at Brookes to be as enjoyable and successful as possible. That's why we provide all the facilities you need to be relaxed, happy and healthy throughout your studies.

Research areas and clusters

The Business School has an active programme of research based around six key research areas:

• Accounting, Governance and Information Management
• Economics and Strategy
• Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism Management
• Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour
• Marketing and Operations Management
• Pedagogy.

The school maintains a rigorous and dynamic doctoral programme leading to the higher degrees of MPhil and PhD. Postgraduate students join a supportive, friendly and multicultural research environment.