The main aim of this unit is to introduce the basic concepts of marketing, their interrelationships and their role in the organizational context. Students will become familiar with the main ideas and marketing concepts, including market research, product development, pricing, promotional and distribution strategies. Marketing activities apparently have not changed. The environment however where marketing is practiced has changed considerably in the past two decades. Fierce competition, very short product life cycles, global markets, internet and its applications, create a very challenging environment for today's enterprises, where marketing has become indispensable.
More than ever before, new products and services have become an absolute necessity for every company. Developing and launching new products and services successfully can result in growth and provide – in many cases - a competitive advantage which will lead the company ahead of its competition. Given that a significant number of new products will fail – many of them will not even reach into the market – understanding in depth and being able to apply the theoretical framework of developing products and services, becomes a critical competence for all marketers. This module studies the theory and the practice of developing and launching new products and services. Particular emphasis will be given on planning of a new product/service from idea generation to the launching. Fundamental concepts will be analyzed and real life cases will be discussed thoroughly in an attempt to link research findings and theories with application. Students will be exposed to the strategic approaches of developing products, the identification of the various opportunities, the concept generation alternatives, as well as in testing, development, launching and all other aspects of introducing new products to the market place. However, this module provides the managerial approach to acquaint students with the necessary steps and processes involved in product development which can be applied to products and services as well as to consumer and industrial products.
This unit addresses issues that relate to the importance of brands, what they represent to consumers and alternative strategies that can be implemented by companies to manage them properly. Although brands may represent invaluable intangible assets, creating and nurturing a strong brand poses considerable challenges. The concept of brand equity can provide students a valuable perspective and a common denominator to interpret the potential effects and tradeoffs of various strategies and tactics for their brands. Strategic brand management involves the design and implementation of marketing programs and activities to build measure and manage brand equity. The three major questions addressed in this unit are: How can brand equity be created? How can brand equity be measured? How can brand equity be used to expand business opportunities?
Business economics is the study of the everyday decisions consumers and businesses make and the implications of these decisions. The aim of this module is to equip students with the basic knowledge of business economics and to examine the ways in which economic theory may be applied to understand and solve real world business problems. A detailed approach will be adopted to explore the Microeconomic and the Macroeconomic conditions that affect business activity, especially on the South Eastern European environment, as well as a deeper understanding of the sectoral structure and the world economic environment.
Management accounting serves the multiple information needs of managers. It consists of accounting techniques and procedures for gathering and reporting financial, production, and distribution data to meet management's information needs. Management accountants are now facing a great challenge, as globalization and automation are the key characteristics of the new business environment. The management in general and management accountants in particular, need to obtain information about these changes, interpret it and use it in their decision-making in order to remain competitive.
This course examines the functions and the context of practical corporate financial management in the modern firm focusing on the significant developments in both theory and practice, discussing and analyzing the trends related to financial instruments and tools. The drivers, both external and internal, that shape corporate financial management are explored, and the managerial context is addressed. The course is designed to strengthen students’ theoretical knowledge on corporate finance aspects through rigorous application of theory to real world cases. The course will cover a wide area of issues in corporate finance such as valuation, investment and financing decisions process, capital budgeting decisions and risk management. Case studies from the professional practice of Corporate Financial Management along with professional material will allow a better understanding of the real life problems managers are facing today providing the necessary skills to overcome them.
This unit introduces the foundation concepts of organizational behavior (OB) and its role in today’s organizational systems. Students will become familiar with, and introduced to, the main ideas and principles underlying the everyday functioning of organizations and management. The unit draws upon understanding from a variety of different backgrounds (psychology, sociology, political science, history) to help students understand how to make organizations more effective through individual and group interactions.
The focus on human resources and their capabilities has never been more critical. Managing and leading people have become a critical success factor for organizations looking to become more effective. Since the mid-1990’s, organizations have been going through rapid and fundamental and continuous changes in the way they do business. These changes increased the level of complexity within both organizational and business environments. Whether one reviews these changes in terms of globalization, reengineering or downsizing, there is more and more evidence to suggest that focusing on how to lead and manage people be provide one of the keys to success. In this respect, this unit highlights the main ideas, principles and practices underlying day-to-day Leadership and change management within organizations. Special emphasis is given on the way that scientific insights from complexity science, behavioral science and neuroscience affect leadership behavior and can create a competitive advantage.
Unlike other business units that concentrate narrowly on a particular function of business – accounting, finance, marketing, production, human resources, or information systems - strategic management is a course that integrates all these functions. It cuts across the whole spectrum of business and management. The centre of attention is the total enterprise – the industry and competitive environment in which it operates its long-term direction and strategy, its resources and competitive capabilities and its prospects for success. Throughout the unit, the question addressed is “What must managers do, and do well, to make the company a winner in the game of business?”. The answer that emerges, and which becomes the theme of the course, is that good strategy making and good strategy execution are the key ingredients of company success and the most reliable signs of good management. The mission of the unit is to explore why good strategic management leads to good business performance, to present the basic concepts and tools of strategic analysis, and to inculcate the methods of crafting a well-conceived strategy and executing it competently.
The integration of Operations with Supply Chains has long been recognized as a core competitive strategy and business priority that would be instrumental in leveraging organizations of all sizes at a National, International and Global level. As organizations seek to continuously service customers faster, cheaper, and better, while generating minimal environmental impact, leaders and managers have come to the stark realization that the two disciplines cannot and should not work in isolation from each other but rather align themselves upstream and downstream in order to jointly reap the rewards. The existing experiences must be synthesized to create a managerial perspective of the core tasks and challenges required to effectively integrate Operations and Supply Chains in the future. Collectively, the two disciplines ultimately involve actors from every single function within organizations; procurement/contract managers, operations managers, logistics managers, marketing and sales personnel, human resources and finance professionals, distribution/warehousing, forecasts/inventory management and beyond. Therefore, the purpose of this module is to provide delegates with the essential fundamentals to understand the two disciplines in numerous industrial settings, and consequently integrate them while focusing in the latest developments and tools available: Advanced Analytics and Big Data, Internet of Things, Aviation and Drones, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing), System and Process Improvement and more.
Everyday, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data– so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. Big Data is defined as techniques and technologies, which make capturing value from data at extreme scale economical. Big Data is high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety (3Vs) information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision-making. One example of big data analytics is Machine Learning, a specific subset of AI that trains a machine how to learn, makes it possible to quickly and automatically produce models that can analyze bigger, more complex data and deliver faster, more accurate results, even on a very large scale. A wider application of big data analytics is within the area known as Industry 4.0. This involves automation and data exchange, primarily in production technologies, using cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things, cloud computing and cognitive computing. Industry 4.0 does not start and end with supply chain or production. Its reach could be much broader, affecting every industry and sector, even society itself.