Introduction to Economics and Environmental Analysis
This module provides an overview of economics and establishes a foundation and vocabulary for future courses. It gives an applied, practical introduction to macroeconomics and microeconomics. At the macro-economic level the course helps the student understand how the economy functions, and what impact changes in the economy may have on the individual and the organization, as well as the impact of the global economy. At the microeconomic level the course examines how individuals and firms make economic decisions. This knowledge becomes the basis of understanding key concepts of supply, demand and pricing, as well as average and marginal costs and breakeven analysis. Students will learn basic macroeconomic concepts that will form the foundation for the general business education to understand the impact of the economy on an individual and business.
Emphasis will be placed on relating economic principals to discuss current events in the environment to understand local and international economic issues.
Module outline:
- Introduction to Economics: Thinking like an Economist, Comparative Advantage, Introduction to Supply and Demand, Predicting Changes in Prices and Quantities.
- Demand and Supply Elasticity: Demand Curves and Consumer Surplus, Supply Curve Related Issues, Price Elasticity of Demand, Graphical Interpretation of Price Elasticity, Price Elasticity of Supply.
- National Income Account – National Output: The various measures of national output (e.g. GDP, GNP, NNP, NI, PI).
- Methods of Income Redistribution: Work and the Equilibrium Wage, Explaining Differences in Earnings, Inequality, Labor Markets, Poverty and Income Distribution.
- Fiscal & Monetary policy: Government Provision of Public Goods, the Optimal Quality of a Public policy, Tax Policy.
- Fiscal Policy: Role of business cycle and counter-cyclical, Aggregate Demand policy, expenditure and tax multiplier effects. Government expenditures and taxes and its effect on the federal budget/surplus.
- Monetary Policy: The role of the Central Bank and banking system, reserve requirements, open market operations, and setting of the discount rate in the US and across the world.
- International Economics: Market Equilibrium and Efficiency, Cost of Preventing Price adjustments. Marginal Cost Pricing of Public Services, Taxes and Efficiency, Central Role of Economic Profit. The Invisible Hand Theory.
- Supply and Demand Perspective on Trade: Overview of International Trade.
Introduction to Accounting and Finance
This module introduces accounting with an emphasis on the relationships between business events and financial statements. The primary objective is to develop students who can explain how any given business event will affect the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows. This objective also includes an understanding of the accounting cycle, accounting terminology, collection of accounting data, data entry into the accounting system, and the basic financial accounting statements.
The introduction to finance will cover integrating concepts of corporate finance with investments and the money/capital markets. The fundamental financial and operating decisions made by a firm are explored. Major topics include capital budgeting, cost of funds, financial analysis and planning; security valuation and capital market theory; capital budgeting; short- and long-term financing; and working capital management. A combination of problem-solving and case-study methodologies are used.
Module outline:
Accounting
- Accounting in the Information Age: Financial Statements and Business Transactions, Analyzing and Recording Transactions, Accrual Accounting and Financial Statements.
- Accounting for Merchandising/Trading Activities. Merchandise Inventories and Cost of Sales
- Plant Assets, Natural Resources, and Intangibles
- Partnership Accounting
- Reporting and Analyzing Cash Flows
- Analyzing Financial Statements
Finance
- Financial Analysis
- Financial Forecasting
- Operating and Financial Leverage
- Working Capital
- Current Asset Management
- Time Value of Money
- Sources of Short Term Financing
- Capital Budgeting
- Cost of Capital, Risk, Capital Budgeting and Capital Markets
- Long Term Debt & Leases
Management Principles and Practices
This module aims to develops a detailed appreciation of the functional areas that underpin the study of Management and to provide a developmental framework for critical review. The module seeks to examines the discipline of management from both a theoretical and a practical perspective, as well as equipping students with a sound understanding of the business environment within which commercial and non-commercial organizations operate. Particular emphasis is placed on examining the interaction between organisational strategy, values and ethics in the process of management.
Module outline:
- Introduction to Management: Management defined. The organisational context of management. The role and process of management. Scope and level management.
- Historical Development of Management: Schools of management thought (Classical, Human Relations, Systems and Contingency).
- The Business Environment: The internal and external business environment. Direct and indirect forces. Appling PEST and SWOT analysis. The changing nature of the business environment. Public and private sectors compared. The Legal environment of business. The significance of regulation and the statutory framework.
- Orginisational Mission Values and Ethics: The legal, ethical and the social component of business management. The roles of government, legal system, global ethics culture and values. The value theory of management. Corporate social responsibility and governance across cultures.
- Strategic Management: The process of strategic analysis, planning and choice. Strategic capability. Strategic choices at business corporate and international level. Strategic development and change management.
- Marketing: The marketing component. Marketing in the 21st century. Successful objective setting. Evolution and planning system. Needs-led business approaches. Market orientation, strategic planning.
- Change management: Organisational structure and change. Politics of change. Change management models. Change management strategies.
- Finance: Raising capital. The profit and loss statement. Balance sheet. Cash flow statements. Shareholder value. Internal performance measurement and ratios.
- Quality Management: Quality systems. Benchmarking. The Balanced Scorecard. EFQM. Six Sigma. Quality systems in manufacturing and service industries.
Marketing Management
This module is designed to provide a general framework to students about the elements of marketing analysis that incorporates marketing environment analysis, customer analysis, competitor analysis and company analysis. This insight also familiarizes students with generic business strategies and strategic marketing decisions for the profitable delivery of superior value to customers. Further, the curriculum helps in enhancing the student’s problem-solving and decision-making abilities in strategic areas of marketing. We find today that the Value proposition of the offering, along with an efficient delivery system, helps companies to achieve competitive advantage. This module is designed to equip students with crucial decision making abilities that may sustain a company's profitability.
Module outline:
Students will follow a general introduction to the basic principles of marketing management, will follow some case studies and will then embark on a Marketing Strategy Simulation.
- Introduction to Marketing Management: Nature and significance of Marketing, Company orientations towards the market place, Business Strategic Planning, Contents of a marketing plan, Marketing Organization.
- Customer behaviour and customer analysis: Marketing research and consumer analysis, consumer decision making process, external factors influencing consumer behaviour, consumer buying process, role of marketer in understanding the customer buyer behaviour.
- Segmentation, targeting and positioning: Identifying the market segments, selecting target markets, Differentiating and positioning the market offer, product life cycle and strategies.
- Pricing: Objectives of pricing policy, cost and demand factors in pricing, different forms of pricing methods, consumer psychology related to pricing, marketers response to pricing changes, price quality strategies.
- New Product development: Meaning and significance, techniques for generating new product ideas, steps in new product development process, reasons of failure of a new product, need for market research and product addition, consumer adoption process and its relevance in the context of new product development.
- Marketing communications: Meaning and importance of marketing communications, evolution of integrated marketing communication strategy, managing advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion and public relations, role of internet in marketing communications.
- Overview of a Marketing Strategy simulation
- Marketing Strategy presentations
Research Methodology
This module aims to equip students with the skills necessary to carry out a body of sustained, advanced research in the field of International Business Management. Students will be expected to develop their knowledge of the nature of research from both an academic and practical perspective and will develop a broad understanding of the methodology of research.
Module outline:
This module is intended as a pre-requisite to the Dissertation module. Students will undertake a formal lecture programme aimed at furthering their development of the skills necessary for effective research. In agreement with the module tutor, the students will select an appropriate area for research within the Business Management arena. The module will cover the following areas:
- Research in Management & the Social Sciences
- Bibliographies and referencing
- The literature review
- Research design & methodology
- Case studies, interviews, questionnaires & research findings
- Reporting findings
- Ethical issues in research
- Writing skills
- How to present and discuss research progress
International Business Environment
The aim of this module is to critically review the key elements in the international business environment and by employing a comparative framework, develop a detailed appreciation of the principles and practices arising from international management. The module aims to equip students with a detailed appreciation of current globalisation issues and the strategic context of cross border transactions.
Module outline:
- The Nature of Globalisation: The political, economic and social drivers of globalisation. Differences in societies and cultures. Implications for successful global management. The role of international trade in economic development and global living standards. Foreign direct investment, its role in economic growth and the implications for business strategy. Ethics and corporate social responsible in a global context.
- Global Trade, Investment and Monetary Systems: International trade theory. Regional economic integration. The foreign exchange market. International Monetary System. The management of currency risk. Purchasing power parity. Floating versus free currencies.
- Strategy and Structure of International Business: The strategy of international business. Organisational forms. Entry strategic and strategic liaisons. Cross-cultural management. Defining culture. Role of nationality in shaping assumptions beliefs and values. Business conduct in cross-cultural negotiations.
- Global Business Operations: Export. Import and countertrade. Production, outsourcing and logistics. Global marketing. Human Resource management. Accounting and financial management.
Managing People in Organisations
This module seeks to examine the nature of organisational behaviour and human resources management from both an individual and corporate prospective and will provide students with a comprehensive appreciation of the importance of work psychology. The module will provide students with a detailed understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of organisational behaviour as well as appreciating the interface of ethics and human psychology in the work place.
Module content:
- Organisational Behaviour and Management: The interdisciplinary nature of organisational behaviour. The importance of organisational behaviour to effective management. The psychological contract.
- Individuals in Organisations: The nature of personality. Personality models. The measurement of personality. Ethics and the regulation of individual personality. Personal goal setting. Personal development logs. Coaching and mentoring.
- Work Groups and Team: Characteristics of work groups and teams. Team building. Evaluation and development. Communication.
- Leadership: Leadership Styles. Power Politics and Conflict.
- Organisation Structures and Cultures: Organisational forms and functions. Relationship to performance, culture and behaviour. Culture formation, the culture web, open systems, multiple cultures, culture prospective.
- HRM and the Business Environment: The corporate/business environment. Changes in the national and global business environment. The social context, the ethics of work and the work organisation.
- International HRM: Managing across borders. The environment of international business. Domestic and international HRM compared. Ethics and globalisation.
Strategic Management
This module aims to analyse the operation of strategic management from initial analysis through to implementation. The module will provide students with a comprehensive appreciation of the formulation and development of strategy from both an organisational and individual perspective. Particular emphasis will be placed on developing the student’s facility for managing strategy in the international business context.
Module content:
- Prerequisites of Policy Formulation: The strategic concept defined; Vocabulary and metaphors of Strategic Management. Practice. The strategist: The role of the manager, folklore and fact. The role of strategy in success. Organisational Objectives: Mission, Values and Objectives.
- Techniques of Strategic Analysis: Role of analysis in strategy formulation. Evaluating the Organisational Context: Approaches to External and Internal Appraisal. Analysing the organisational field and strategic groups. Identifying and leveraging core competences Strategic Options. Strategic Selection. Scenario planning and analysis.
- Processes of Strategic Decision-Making: Strategy formulation versus strategy formulation, Strategy as ‘fit’; Resource-based view of Strategy. The ‘Why’ and ‘How’ of Strategic Decision-Making. Strategy Models: Prescriptive and Descriptive. Decision-making Approaches: Rational, Incrementally Emergent and Contingency-Theory. ‘Crafting’ strategy.
- Organisational Strategy and Structure: Impact of Organisational Structure on People. Relationship between Strategy and Structure. Configurations of organisation structure: entrepreneurial organisation; machine organisation; professional organisation; diversified organisation; innovative organisation; missionary organisation; political organisation. New organisational forms: process-based organisations; project-based organisations; networks and virtual organisations. The knowledge-based view of the organisation.
- Strategic Change: Context of change. Reasons for change. Potential Responses to Change: Resistance, Compliance. Change as a process. Levers for Managing Change: turnaround; challenging the ‘taken-for-granted’; changing organisational routines; symbolic processes; communicating and monitoring change; change tactics. Advocating changes for the strategic management paradigm: critique of accepted orthodoxy of strategic management.
Operations & Supply Chain Management
The aim of this module it to critically examine the nature of operations management from both a theoretical and practical perspective. Students will be equipped with a detailed understanding of both operating strategies and the use of process technology. The module will emphasise the application of supply chain management techniques within the context of outsourcing relationships and diverse trend networks.
Module content:
- Nature of Operations Management: Effective operations management. Operations in the organisation. The transformation model. The activities of operations management. The strategic role and objectives of operations. The five performance objectives.
- Operations Strategy: The production/operations function. Production and operations strategy. Planning and controlling the operations. Operations strategy and financial considerations. Operations strategy in manufacturing and services.
- Design in Operations Management: Nature of design. Simulation in design. Environmentally friendly design. The volume-variety effect on design. Process design in manufacturing and services. The competitive advantages of good design. The design stages.
- Process Technology: The nature of process technology. Materials processing technology. Information processing technology. The dimensions of technology. Process and systems changes.
- Planning and Control: Planning and control defined. The nature of supply and demand. The planning and control task. The volume - variety effect on planning and control. Capacity planning. Measuring demand and capacity. The alternative capacity plans. Inventory planning. The timing decision. The nature and importance of timing.
- Just-in–Time Production: The nature of just-in-time production. The JIT philosophy. JIT techniques planning and control. JIT and optimised production technology compared.
- Quality Planning and Control: Nature and importance of quality. Conformance to specification. Stratification. Statistical processes control. Acceptance sampling. Measuring and improving performance. Improvement priorities. Approaches to improvement. The techniques of improvement.
- Total Quality Management: The origins and nature of TQM. Implementing TQM improvement programmes.
Professional Skills and Personality Development Program (Not for Credit)
The Professional Skills and Personality Development Program is exclusively designed to cater to soft skill requirements of the Corporate World. This program is intended for Post Graduate students and other professionals to help them in cracking job interviews and grooming them to succeed in a professional environment. Under the programme you will be going through a series of exercises to transform into an effective speaker and presenter. There would be specialized Group discussion and interview modules, designed according to the usual recruitment practices of the corporate world. There would be exercises/presentations to help you know the improvement points. There will be sessions on resume formation to create a quality resume.
The program is additionally designed to breed public speaking skills among the participants so that they can speak with confidence and give expression to their true personality. It is designed keeping in mind the needs, knowledge, ambitions of students doing the professional course with the Mountbatten Institute.
Module content:
- Business Etiquettes & Grooming: Defining Etiquette: Netiquette (E-Mail), Motiquette (Mobile phone), Telephone Etiquette, Meeting Etiquette, Dining Etiquette, Social Etiquette (Hand shake, Formal-Informal situation, Chivalry), Body language, Office Party Etiquette, Gifting & Complimenting Etiquette, Wardrobe & Dressing Etiquette, Time Management: Benefits of Time Management, Managing time effectively, Setting Priorities & Scheduling, Procrastination, Wasting Time, Saving Time.
- Verbal & Written: Business Communication: Introduction to Business communication, Media of communication, Types of communication, Process of communication, Factors that influence communication, Barriers to communication, Basic: Principles of communication, Effective Communication: Activity, Presentation Skills: Rules of an effective presentation. Telephone Etiquette : Making a Telephone Call, Receiving the telephone call, Taking a message, Annoying Telephone etiquettes, Activity.
- Resume Building, Group Discussion & Interview Handling Skills: Purpose of Resume , Resumes : What it should contain, Resume Errors, Power Words , Importance of covering letter , Preparing Resumes, GD Myths Demystified, Tips To win Group Discussions, Practical Group discussions, Group Discussions, Succeeding in Interviews : Interview Handling Skills, Preparation, Appearance, Body Language, Etiquette, Guidelines, Some expected Questions, Signing off, Practice Interviews.
- Presentation Skills & Decision Making: Choosing a topic for the given Audience, Developing a Presentation on given Topic, Use of Audio Visuals, Preparation towards Presenting, Platform Skills – Dressing, Body Language, Handling Questions.
About the Group Business Plan
This module is designed to help the aspiring manager develop a comprehensive business plan for a new venture. Core functions covered include: the executive summary, description of the business, including aims and objectives, key personnel and roles, market analysis and strategy, business models and operations, including control systems, resources and projected financial performance.
Module outline:
Participants are required to produce a business plan of no more than 12 pages in length. Students may add appendices containing additional detail.
Indicative Structure of Business Plans:
- Executive summary
- Description of the business, including aims and objectives
- Key personnel and roles
- Market analysis and strategy
- Business model and operations (including control systems)
- Resources
- Projected financial performance
- Growth and exit strategy
- Appendices
- Cash flow projections
- Profit and loss
- Balance sheet


