Course description
The Brunel MBA is a flexible programme designed to hone your development and enhance your value as a manager in an increasingly competitive job market. You can use the Brunel MBA to provide you with the necessary skills to advance your chosen career, to make a career change or to start or grow your own business. It is designed to meet the needs of managers in the private or public sector who wish to develop skills and advance their understanding of the theory and practice of business and management in preparation for a senior management position.
Corporate and Business Finance
This module provides you with a thorough understanding of the world of finance in the global era; it also explains the concepts of risk and the cost of capital and teaches the process of financial management in the short and long term. You will learn the general principles of management accounting as well as systematic techniques for analysing and evaluating the financial health of an organisation including the construction and interpretation of financial statements.
Operations Management
During this module you will explore the tools and techniques for managing operations. You will gain a greater awareness and understanding of the strategic issues involved in the way organisations manage their operational activities and facilities – both within and beyond the organisation’s boundaries. You will also develop a better appreciation of the relation between operations/service design choices and performance imperatives.
Executive Perspectives on Information Technology
Over the course of this module, you will examine the debate on the role of information systems in globalisation and sustainable strategic advantage from intra-firm and extra-firm perspectives. You will also gain an understanding of the changing nature of information systems, new business practices and working practices in the competitive marketplace. The module will also teach how to leverage effectively information tools through an understanding of current practices, trends and the effects of IT on organisations and their trading partners.
Strategic Marketing Management
By the end of this module, you will have a thorough knowledge of all the principal marketing concepts as well as how marketing has evolved as a business discipline following the introduction of new technology. You will also appreciate how best to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing activities, conduct a marketing audit and construct a marketing plan.
International Business
This module considers the many challenges, both ethical and instrumental, of managing complex international operations and organisational processes across borders. It will also provide you with an understanding of the mechanisms for entering new markets and emerging economies and the consequent need to cope constructively with diversity, risk and uncertainty.
Leading People and Managing Organisations
All good organisations consider their employees to be their key resource and all good managers should all also be leaders of their staff. This module explains the key issues and challenges that relate to people in organisations. It develops your understanding of people’s behaviour in an organisational context and teaches the theories and practices of effective people management. You will also gain a better appreciation of the significance of human resources for the successful operation of organisations and understand how best to motivate, lead, interview, communicate at work and manage conflicts of interest.
Corporate and Competitive Strategy
Over the course of this module, you will be introduced to concepts and methodological tools and techniques for analyzing an organisation’s strategic position. You will gain a thorough appreciation of the issues and challenges that confront managers responsible for the strategic management of organisations in potentially complex, hostile and uncertain conditions.
Managing for the Future
Managing the Future has been specifically designed to offer you an opportunity to tailor your MBA to your own specific circumstances and/or the needs of your employer. The module allows the opportunity to apply systematic enquiry methods and imaginative approaches to identify and evaluate the implications of future-oriented issues and challenges and to formulate appropriate responses to these issues.
However, it goes beyond the concept of narrowly-focused electives, with an approach that challenges MBA participants to select and integrate their later-stage learning and it will be up to you – in conjunction with your fellow students – to determine precisely the issues you study.
The Business Project
To complete your MBA, you will be required to undertake extensive research into a business and management challenge of particular interest to you. You will then have to analyse your findings in depth. You can draw from issues that you have come up against in your career to date, or consider those challenges that your organisation currently faces, or explore an issue outside your own experience. It is up to you. The business project allows you the chance to demonstrate your business acumen as well as the opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills you have learnt on the programme. The project provides another opportunity to tailor your MBA to your own specific needs.
