BSc International Business Management

About Course

Course overview

On our International Business Management degree, you’ll be part of a supportive, international, and friendly community as you gain in-depth business knowledge and an understanding of the core theories, practices and techniques of managing global businesses.

You’ll have excellent opportunities to experience international business in action, through our exchange programme, as well as the chance to do a placement or study abroad on your placement year.

Our academics are innovative in delivering engaging learning sessions that bring together theory and practice, supported by real-life global case studies for your intellectual and professional development. We encourage our students to be entrepreneurial, providing opportunities to engage with real business problems and deliver creative and practical solutions to managerial challenges.

Course structure

The academic year is divided into two semesters of 15 weeks each. Each semester consists of a period of teaching, revision/directed learning and assessment.

Modules

Modules listed are indicative, reflecting the information available at the time of publication. Modules are subject to teaching availability, student demand and/or class size caps.

IBSF operates a credit framework for all taught programmes based on a 15-credit tariff.

Course Content

Module: Operations Management
Operations management relates to the scoping, planning, directing and controlling of the facilities, processes and people required to transform resources into products and services. The principles of operations management are used in every industry and every environment. All organisations perform the functions of strategic planning, process design, supply chain management, forecasting and scheduling, work management, innovation and quality management. The same skills are required whether operations managers are working in private manufacturing organisations, the public sector, service organisations or not for profit businesses.

Module: Accounting for Business Managers
This module introduces students to the main principles of accounting and cost management and demonstrates the importance of these to management decision making.

Module: Global and Sustainable Business Management
The world is witnessing significant transformation as a result of major contemporary trends and challenges including greening economies, sustainability of businesses, among others. These trends have further exacerbated and accelerated the need for action on sustainability from all stakeholders at the organisational/business, national and international levels. The current debate is on how the current trends are leading to new business practices and the need for new sets of skills in the design and implementation of innovative sustainability approaches across businesses. This is because at the nexus of many of these challenges are businesses who are required to address the concerns of multiple stakeholders including customers, governments etc. This module is designed to explore these issues and challenges in contemporary business environment. By taking a multi-disciplinary approach, this module will explore the challenges businesses face in achieving economic growth and development while seeking to operate in and adhere to sustainable practices. The module will further explore the important role businesses have in the sustainability transformation of society. The module will expand students' knowledge and understanding of sustainability and the critical contemporary business challenges confronting the world today. Students will develop knowledge of the design and innovation for sustainability, how these are integrated across different levels (organisational, national and international) and their influence on institutional practices and performance. The module will also explore the regulatory and international policy environments and the role key stakeholders have in shaping the sustainability and greening economies agenda. Students taking this module will also learn to develop, design, implement and monitor an action plan for sustainability in business practices. With the use an international array of case studies, examples etc., the module will further provide students with the tools to create and develop a way of thinking to reimagine and integrate sustainability practices in businesses.

Module: Organisational Behaviour And Analysis
The module provides students with an introduction to the human dimensions of work organizations. It will encourage them to think critically and creatively about the ways in which people shape organizations and are, in turn, shaped by organizations. It will introduce them to individual, group and structural levels of analysis. This module builds the foundations for the subsequent, more advanced study of people and organizations on the HRM Pathway.

Module: Business Data Project
The business data project introduces students to a range of analytical frameworks and skills that support the process of making business decisions. The project involves analysing industry and business data and producing a professional report. The project assists students to develop skills in business statistics, data analysis, report writing, and group work.

Module: Marketing
This module examines the role of Marketing in organisations with an emphasis on the importance and development of marketing strategies. The core objective of many businesses is to attract and retain customers in a competitive environment, with the role of marketing focussing on customers. This module introduces students to the core principles of the discipline and provides and underpinning to later elective modules.

Module: International Business
This module focuses on key and latest topics in International Business in the context of the global economy. It first introduces students to the apparent globalization phenomenon and the 'hidden' role of international businesses. It then highlights the national differences across countries. It also looks at how these differences impact on industry and firm competitiveness in the international marketplace. The module also emphasizes the importance of firm internationalization in terms of three areas: Motivations, Decisions, and Processes, in light of the national and industry conditions. Finally, the module introduces students to the managerial strategies and organizational structures that international firms typically adopt to compete effectively in the global marketplace, as well as the future directions that these firms are likely to take. It is expected that students will bring the knowledge gained from this module with them to other subsequent modules whereby International Business plays an important and relevant part.

Module: Finance
The prime motivator in business activity is sustainable profitability for shareholders' wealth maximization. It follows that all managers are likely to perform better towards that goal if they understand the mechanisms for achieving sustainable profit by acting in the interest of stakeholders. This module is designed to give students the necessary basic background in finance to enable them to be effective business managers. It covers the fundamental principles of corporate finance and investment in bonds, stocks, and projects, along with day-to-day working capital management.

Module: Business Modelling
This module will introduce the concept of the business model to students where they develop an understanding about how key components of a business (product, market and finance) are related to the value creation and its delivery. Students are then presented with a range of tools (including various types of business model canvases and business model types) to help set up (in the context of a new venture creation), describe (in the context of an existing venture), analyse, and improve the business model design. Ultimately, students need to apply their critical understanding of the knowledge, business and research skills to either modify an existing business model design (for an existing venture) or create a new one (for a start-up) to develop sustainable growth strategies. This relates to basic business skills which are applicable for all Business Management pathways.

Module: International Business Strategy
The module provides students with a theoretical and practical understanding of how business strategy can be formulated in the light of environmental and internal conditions with a particular emphasis on the international context of strategy making. The module equips students with a framework for understanding international business strategy as an interdisciplinary activity within the context of international and competitive markets, leading to corporate decision-making. The module is built on 3 key issues – who is strategy done for, how is strategy formulated and implemented, is strategy driven by organisations or environments.

Module: Global Financial Management
Regardless of your role in a company, a good understanding of how corporate financial decisions impact on the value of the company is very essential. The Financial Management module focuses on the impact of financial choices on the value of the company and addresses some special topics in corporate finance. These include leasing, and an introduction to derivatives and their applications in corporate finance and financial risk management

Module: Global Trade and International Markets
This module provides students with both a theoretical and practical understanding of global trade and international markets, considered from an international business, political economy (IPE) and management perspectives. This is done through the analysis and assessment of global trade and international markets from different angles, predominantly from the state's perspective, the international trade regime perspective (the GATT and WTO) as well as from the perspectives of regional cooperation and of business and industry.

Module: Supply Chain Management With Analytics
Successful supply chain management is critical at creating competitive advantage both at an operational and increasingly at a strategic level. An effective national and international logistics infrastructure is essential to meeting customer expectations whilst minimising service costs. Development and operation of a global logistics infrastructure is a major challenge and opportunity for supply chain managers. Supply chain management is critical to managing the complexity that global supply networks bring including the issues of sustainability and integration.

About Course

Course Content

Module: Accounting for Business Managers This module introduces students to the main principles of accounting and cost management and demonstrates the importance of these to management decision making.

Module: Accounting for Business Managers
This module introduces students to the main principles of accounting and cost management and demonstrates the importance of these to management decision making.