Master of Business Administration (Full Time)

This MBA will develop your critical and strategic thinking and empowers you to reach your career goals by developing the skills required in senior management roles.

Course overview

This MBA course (Master of Business Administration) run by  Southampton Business School is designed to provide contemporary and critical management skills for aspiring managers and business leaders.You will be exposed to a world of management theory and encouraged to develop your personal and professional skills by applying them to key business scenarios.

This University recognises that practicing management in a global market is demanding in terms of the capabilities and variety of skills required. Building upon the four pillars of management – marketing, operations, human resource management, and finance – extensive preparation has gone into ensuring that the taught element of this degree will cover the range of skills required to operate in a global business environment. 

In keeping with the aim of ensuring graduates have a broad range of management skills, the dissertation is an option on the MBA. If you want to specialise in one area of business or develop a project, the dissertation will allow you to do this. 
Alternatively, if your main purpose for studying the MBA is to gain the broadest range of management skills possible, you can substitute the dissertation with electives in innovation and e-business.

Industrial focusThe course is delivered by teaching staff with extensive industry experience. We maintain our links with industry and bring real life examples into the classroom so that students benefit from up to date material and can learn about the latest industry practices. We are also able to leverage our links with industry to provide placement opportunities.

Course content

Principles of Marketing
This unit covers the principles and practice of marketing and marketing strategy, including marketing planning, segmentation, consumer and organisational buying behaviours, new product development, pricing promotional strategy, distribution and marketing channels. Primary and secondary information sources are considered, along with the difference in approach required by service and manufacturing organisations.

Financial Decision Making
This unit examines the role of financial regulation and financial reporting/statutory requirements: interpretation of final accounts and company reports; identification of 'cost' to ensure an appreciation of the build-up of costs; introduction to break-even analysis and marginal costing; planning and control using budgets; how to critically appraise and apply accounting figures to complex financial management decisions of a tactical and a strategic nature.

Operations and Project Management
This unit focuses on managing, improving and changing organisational processes to enhance performance. Among the topics covered are process innovation, lean operations and  continuous improvement. You will discuss and evaluate the contribution and logistics modelling in project management using operations management, techniques such as TQM, MRP and JIT.

People in Organisations
This unit exposes you to the theories that have created advances in the field of organisational behaviour by considering examples and cases that related to theories and practices in exploiting and enhancing competitive advantage. It focuses on three areas of analysis - the individual, the group and the organisation - and considers these in terms of the 'micro' and 'macro' perspectives and their roots in behavioural and social science.

Risk Management
This unit provides both a theoretical and practical insight into risk management. It examines the structures and processes necessary for any organisation to achieve an effective risk management process, and reflects upon the history of risk management, reviewing current practices using a range of relevant and reliable sources. It also informs you of the possible consequences of poor risk management.

Research Methods for Managers
A senior manager is required to identify and critically test the quality of the opportunities facing their firm. In this unit you learn the tools necessary to thoroughly evaluate new ideas. For dissertation students this is your chance to develop your dissertation proposal and make a start on your longer term research project.  

Leadership and Management
This unit explores the complementary areas of leadership and management in today's business environment. The leadership element provides an opportunity for in-depth study of key concepts and aims to develop your confidence in taking on leadership roles. The management element examines theories and practices that are relevant to management today. You will critically evaluate methods and techniques available to managers, and examine how these principles have evolved. Relevant case studies will be considered, together with exercises to promote self-awareness of your own leadership traits.

Professional Strategic Management
This unit identifies and evaluates current advances in strategic concepts and strategic issues faced by organisations. Small groups use case studies to undertake the critical evaluation of strategy and the application of strategic concepts within a specific context.

Option units (subject to demand)

• Cross Cultural Management Issues
• Financial Strategy
• International Financial Markets
• International Human Resource Management
• Management of Change
• Contemporary Issues in Marketing
• Entrepreneurial Marketing Management
• Corporate Social Responsibility and the Ethical Company.  

Electives (choose A or B)

Management of Innovation (elective A-1)
The management of innovation encompasses new product (including new service) development. the design of business processes and the creation of new, more effective organisations. An understanding of economic and institutional contingencies of innovation provides a framework for successful innovation management.

e-Business for Managers (elective A-2)
This unit develops your understanding of how strategic analysis and engineering techniques can be applied to the design and development of e-commerce and e-business environments. You will be capable of applying website evaluation techniques to business-to-consumer and business-to-business contexts. Assessment will be based upon primary research and critical evaluation of a selected case study.

Dissertation (elective B)
The dissertation has a crucial role in any master's level course and makes a significant contribution to your professional and intellectual development. It represents the transition from a tutor-led approach to student-centred learning, as the topic is chosen, investigated and presented by the student, albeit with the advice of their supervisor. The dissertation enables you to draw upon the knowledge and understanding of management issues and theory gained at earlier stages of the course, and enables you to demonstrate your capacity for sustained independent thought and innovative, creative learning in a major research project.

Assessment

You will be assessed through a variety of methods, including exams, presentations, written assignments, role play and business simulation. 

Key career skills
Critical analysis, strategy planning, presentation, time management, and career development.

Projects/work experience

A dissertation option allows you to research and apply the skills you have developed at a topic of your choice; there is also a non-dissertation route for students that prefer taught units.

Placements are made available to students and provides an excellent opportunity to gain work experience in the UK.

Solent's special features

•  Links with local employers to create placement opportunities
• Choice of dissertation or non-dissertation route
• Entry does not necessarily require an undergraduate degree if the applicant has sufficient work experience.
• This course has two intakes per year, September and January. Students starting in September will take 12 months to complete; those starting in January will take 16 months, with a four-month break between May and October.
• Teaching and learning strategy  -  You will examine real-life case studies and suggest solutions to particular problems of existing companies. This provides a realistic insight into the corporate thinking, analysis and decision-making process.  
  Effective learning is facilitated by a partnership between those participating in the course and those delivering it. We use a variety of strategies, including discussion, workshops and work-based projects to build on your existing knowledge and experience. A theoretical framework will be used to evaluate personal and organisational managerial effectiveness.

Fees

Fees for the 2011/12 academic year are:
Full-time:
UK and EU students: £8,000
Overseas students: £9,995

 

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