1. business and industrial

MBA
Electives Spring 2014
Nedenstående valgfag på MBA uddannelsen udbydes på dansk:
Macroøkonomi for MBA: Konjunkturudvikling og økonomisk politik
Den finansielle krise, gældskrisen, Eurokrise og de vedvarende økonomiske uroligheder på
verdensplan understreger et behov blandt fremtidens ledere for generalistviden omkring den
økonomiske omverden, som deres virksomheder og organisationer færdes i. ”Makroøkonomi for
MBA: Konjunkturudvikling og Økonomisk Politik” er et omverdensfag direkte udviklet til MBA.
Faget trækker på årtiers medvirken og erfaring af Aarhus økonomer omkring Danmarks økonomi i
den globaliserede verden og økonomisk politik.
Moderne virksomheder agerer i en kompleks omverden sammensat af konkurrenter,
leverandører, konsumenter, nationale og internationale markeder, vækst og recession, samt
foranderlige politiske og finansielle vilkår. Denne sum af økonomiske faktorer påvirker
virksomheder og organisationer og dermed deres beslutninger og vilkår på to niveauer. På
mikroniveau er effektivitets- og marginalbetragtninger, profitmaksimering, markedets forståelse,
strategisk interaktion og brancheregulering, konkurrenternes adfærd og nationale og
internationale konkurrenceregulering af afgørende betydning for virksomhedens strategiske
beslutninger. På makroniveau er konjunkturcykler, renteudvikling, diverse økonomiske stød (f.eks.
olieprischok eller husprisbobler), nationale og internationale finanspolitikker, monetær politik
(f.eks. Euro-medlemskab), samt komplekse politikområder (f.eks. miljøøkonomisk regulering eller
arbejdsmarkedspolitikker) af afgørende betydning for virksomhedens efterspørgsel,
produktionsomkostninger, konkurrenceevne, fremtidsudsigter samt dens strategiske råderum.
Fremtidens leder skal har viden og forståelse for disse problemstillinger. I MBA faget
Makroøkonomi afdækkes det makroøkonomiske plan med fokus på praktisk anvendelige
værktøjer og forståelse.
Eksamensform: Portfolio eksamen
Deltagelse i e-learningsaktiviteter og øvelser er obligatoriske og en forudsætning for at deltage I
den afsluttende eksamen.
The following courses are offered in English in cooperation with the international
full-time MBA
Corporate Finance
Corporate finance is a subfield of finance dealing with the financial decisions that corporate
managers make and the key tools and analyses on which they base such decisions. It is the overall
aim of the course to provide the participants with knowledge about financial decision making in
non-financial firms with a special focus on strategic risk management.
More specifically, the objective is:
- to examine the environment in which managers of non-financial firms make investment and
financing decisions
- to explain the formulation of the objectives of the firm
- to learn standard techniques of investment and valuation analysis
- to understand financing alternatives and the capital structure decision
- to understand the integrated risk management of non-financial firms
- to analyze the foreign exchange rate exposure management of non-financial firms
Exam form: Three hours written examination
Tools of Corporate Foresight
In the light of an increasing rate of change and the risk of being affected by discontinuous change
in the environment, firms are looking increasingly for new approaches to systematically scan the
environment, interpret trends and produce adequate responses to change.
Such methods, processes and tools that can be employed to increase the organizational
responsiveness to change have become known as corporate foresight.
More specifically, it aims at
• learning means how to increase the future orientation of a firm
• being able to recommend suitable methods for strategic foresight given a specific task and
context
• being able to apply methods of strategic foresight
• being able to reflect on the value contribution of strategic foresight activities.
Exam form: 6 hours written exam. To prepare for the final exam the participants need to hand-in
two group assignments. The assignments need to be passed for acceptance to the final exam.
Business Model Innovation
Business models have become increasingly popular as a tool to describe the value creation and
value capture processes of organizations on an architectural level. They make it easier to explore
why an organization is successful and how it needs to organize to create or sustain a competitive
advantage in the future.
The course aims to create the ability to
- describe organizations by mapping their core elements in a business model
- evaluate and judge business models
- design and prepare business model change.
Exam form: 6 hours written exam.
To prepare for this final assignments there are short preparation assignments (after each day) that
need to be handed in and passed: (1) describing a business model (2) discusing a business model
(by pointing to its strengths and weaknesses) (3) proposing enhancements for a business model
Negotiation in Organizations
Negotiations are an important part of every manager’s daily business life. Almost every
management decision involves more than one person and has to be negotiated to a certain extent.
In a globalizing world, negotiations also increasingly involve an important international dimension.
The concept of the course is guided by the basic assumption that both goals can be best achieved
by practicing exercises. Thus, the course mainly emphasizes on the simulation and critical analysis
of different negotiation settings.
More specificalyy, it aims at
- learning how to get as much as possible out of a distributive negotiation without producing hard
feelings,
- understanding different negotiation gambits and know how to counter them,
- being able to identify integrative potentials,
- understanding the tension between trust and self-interests in all its complexity
- being able to deal with cultural differences
- understanding the structure of negotiation power and learn how to change it
- learning how to act as - and deal with a mediator
Exam form: Portfolio examination.
Two written assignments (Journals) of two pages each plus one written assignment (mini case) of
three pages during the course. Submission dates are the second and the third teaching block.
Employer Branding
Employer branding refers to an organisation’s reputation as an employer. Today, employer branding is a
focal strategic area for companies worldwide. Companies seek to manage the perceptions of prospective
and current employees in order to gain a competitive advantage. One purpose of employer branding is to
attract the best talents to the organisation, another - is to increase the satisfaction among current
employees.
The aim of the course is to introduce participants to employer branding fundamentals, the origins and
history of the concept, its domain and boundaries. Through the course, they learn how to apply employer
branding externally as well as internally in a company, the factors influencing the internal branding process,
and employer brand delivery mechanisms.
The course builds on participants’ understanding of business strategy in relation to employer branding and
applies a cross-disciplinary approach. The curriculum contains theories, research and best practice from
areas like strategic HRM, strategic marketing and business communication. Furthermore, the course
focuses on how employer branding is used in organizational strategy and how employer brand programs
are aligned with business objectives.
Main topics:
-
Corporate brands and reputations
Employer brand and talent acquisition strategies
Quality of individual employment and individual employee behaviour
Person-organisation fit and employer value proposition
Psychological contract and employee engagement
Corporate communications and the employment relationship
Corporate identity and CSR.
Exam form: 6 hours written exam. To prepare for the final exam the participants need to hand-in
three assignments. The assignments need to be passed for acceptance to the final exam.