Course description
MSc
Marketers facilitate the management and planning of customer-centred business operations and are major players in the practice of sustainable international business development. On successful completion of this course, graduates will have developed the critical thinking necessary to plan and manage marketing strategies.
The MSc in Marketing has been designed for those who may not have studied for a degree in business or management and for all those who would like to increase their understanding of a range of business and management subjects with a major emphasis on marketing.
Oxford Brookes Business School is acknowledged as a leading provider of professional business management education and training in the UK. We have over 100 teaching and research staff, and our students are drawn from all over the world. Our reputation is built on our student-centred approach as well as our teaching and research excellence. We are also recognised for innovation and service to the community and professional organisations, and for pioneering new and innovative approaches to teaching and learning.
One of the key features of this course is the opportunity to work, as part of a group, on a real marketing project for a UK-based business on the Marketing to the Consumer module in Stage 2. These projects involve carrying out a preliminary marketing research programme and using the results to present an integrated interactive marketing communications plan.
Course content
The MSc is based on the completion of the following compulsory modules, plus an 80-page master’s dissertation.
Compulsory modules:
Principles of Marketing in an International Context introduces the key principles of marketing by studying the theories that support the subject. You will explore the role of buyers, the marketing environment and the way in which marketers plan, manage, implement and monitor marketing programmes in the context of the international environment of the 21st century.
Business Strategy introduces you to 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 provides the opportunity for you to develop core competencies in accounting, basic statistics and their integration in business decision making. This module seeks to help you to develop an understanding of financial and quantitative information relevant to middle or senior managers which will enhance your effectiveness when 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 is used as 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 every organisation has to manage its operational activities in order to add value by transforming inputs into saleable or usable output products and services.
Global Market Development applies many of the concepts of strategic analysis and planning from the earlier part of the programme to a global context and environment. The module facilitates the study of global marketing strategy with particular emphasis on creating sustainable competitive advantage by the implementation of strategies taking into account various market differences and the balance between the need to adapt and the benefits of standardising products and services for global markets.
Marketing to the Consumer covers the origins and growth of contemporary consumer societies, focusing on the marketing implications of the consumer as an individual decision maker as well as on the consumer as a buyer for business. You will explore the main concepts that underlie communication theory in the context of marketing communications, and discuss the role of the promotional mix, e-commerce and interactive marketing in contemporary marketing theory and practice. You will examine how domestic and business buying decisions are made, and how the marketing function designs and executes research into this process. The module will include an exploration of the process of marketing research and its role in the achievement of organisational objectives. Specific links will be made to current research developments.
Personal Development Plan 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.
Research Methods enables you to develop the critical approach necessary to undertake a thorough, penetrating and evaluative analysis of a topic in academic literature. The module will enable you to think and construct arguments in a rigorous and analytical manner and to reflect critically on the philosophy, process and ethics of management research.
MSc Dissertation is an individual research study based on a critical literature review. It will be an in-depth academic examination of a topic chosen from a selection of areas of study that fall within the Business School’s research themes or areas of academic interest.
Teaching, learning and assessment
Teaching is organised on a module-credit basis, involving a total of approximately 1,800 hours of student input and approximately 260 hours of staff contact, and is delivered over two 12-week semesters.
Learning methods include lectures, directed reading, workshops, seminars, and practical and project work. Some modules include group work and teamwork activities.
Each course module is assessed individually, generally on the quality of written or visual presentation work, and to some extent on verbal presentations. Assessment methods may include reports, seminar papers, formal written examinations, in-class tests, project work, visual and verbal presentations, workshops, simulations and practical exercises. The majority of assessments are based on individual assignments but there is some assessed group work.
Quality
The reputation of the Business School is underpinned through membership of and programme accreditations received from the Association of MBAs, the Association of Business Schools, and professional associations such as the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and the European Foundation for Management Development. The Business School is, therefore, widely regarded as one of the best within its peer group.
The Business School’s programmes benefit from rigorous quality assurance procedures and regularly receive excellent feedback from external examiners, employers, students and professional bodies. In 2005, Business and Management achieved ‘Broad Confidence’, the best possible result, in the discipline audit trail as part of the Quality Assurance Agency Institutional Audit.
Many students who graduate from Business School programmes go on to achieve high status in the industry of their choice.
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.
