Postgraduate Course: Foundations of Management 2 (BUST11086)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Business Studies |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | Foundations of Management 2 comprises the core components of the MBA by Part Time study in Business Economics, Finance, Operations Management, and Research Methodology in Business.
The Business Economics course is designed to provide a sufficient understanding of macroeconomics, to allow an understanding of relevant articles in the Financial Times, Economist etc and reports by government agencies, the World Bank, or consultants. This is seen as essential to an understanding of business because Macroeconomics affects all companies by
(a) level of demand for products;
(b) interest rates - with their effect on the costs of the firm;
(c) the exchange rate - which affects us all directly as consumers, tends to intensify or reduce competition even for firms not overtly engaged in trade; the exchange rate is a result of both competitiveness and of government policy through the level of demand in the country and the interest rates.
Finance has a role in almost all business decisions. Issues of project valuation and risk are central to many decisions facing firms. Discounted cash flow techniques, time value of money, capital budgeting and risk, and other such concepts have entered into the business vocabulary and are used with varying degrees of knowledge and accuracy. This course is intended to provide a foundation in the financial decision making that underlie such terms and an understanding of and insight into the techniques of financial analysis in a corporate environment. It introduces the key elements of financial management and provides an outline of how to carry out financial evaluations of business decisions.
The course covers both descriptive material on financial markets, institutions and instruments, and analytical material on the assessment of projects and the valuation of securities.
The aims of the Operations Management (2010/11) course were to
&· provide an integrated and coherent introduction to the major aspects of modern Operations Management for students with limited operations management experience;
&· provide students with operations management expertise and an opportunity to share it with students;
&· provide students with an appreciation of the inter-relation between Operations Management and the other functional management disciplines;
&· provide a foundation for advanced specialist modules in Management Science, Technology & Innovation Management, Quality Management and Electronic Commerce.
The aim of the Research Methodology (2010/11) course was to introduce and prepare students for the dissertation component of the
MBA. As well as providing an overview of the dissertation process, and advice on choosing a topic, the course provides an introduction to the principles of research design and data collection techniques.
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
Foundations of Management 1 (BUST11085)
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Delivery period: 2011/12 Full Year, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
|
WebCT enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
| Location |
Activity |
Description |
Weeks |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
| No Classes have been defined for this Course |
| First Class |
First class information not currently available |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours:Minutes |
|
|
| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | Foundations of Management 2 (Business Economics) | 2:00 | | | | Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | Foundations of Management 2 (Finance) | 2:00 | | |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
BUSINESS ECONOMICS
Knowledge and Understanding:
&· The elements measured by GNP, GDP and National Income
&· The role of savings, and investment - and more generally the role of leakages (savings, taxation and imports) and injections (Investment, Government expenditure and Exports) in determining the level of GDP
&· The implications of rising GNP for tax revenues and the current account of the balance of payments
&· The role of government in expanding aggregate demand through fiscal policy
&· The creation of money by the banking system and the limits due to reserve requirements
&· The role of the interest rate in affecting the demand for money
&· The role of money supply in inflation
&· The use of monetary policy to control inflation and the role of the central bank
&· The determinants of changes in the current and capital accounts of the balance of payments
&· Their impact on exchange rates
&· The consequences of exchange rate changes on demand and inflation on the economy
This course complements other courses in the Programme as follows:
(a) Finance courses - by providing an understanding of the determinants of interest and exchange rates in the economy
(b) Strategic Management - by providing the analysis of demand, interest rates, inflation, and foreign exchange rates which influence many strategic decisions
More widely, macroeconomics is probably the clearest example of systems thinking and, as such, provides many students with a new approach to analysis.
Cognitive Skills:
This course is principally geared to providing an understanding of the macro-economy. Skills-training is not explicitly part of the course. However, developing this understanding inevitably develops and exercises the following important skills:
(a) Logical thought in analysing cause and effect in the presence of interdependence
(b) Clarity of exposition in explaining complex systems
(c) The use of symbols and simple equations to model real world phenomena
(d) Understanding data in the presence of multi-causal phenomena (in which it complements the course on statistical analysis)
FINANCE
Knowledge and Understanding:
The course is intended to introduce some of the fundamental concepts underlying finance and to outline the role of the finance function within an enterprise.
After completing the course, participants will
&· have an understanding of the functions and aims of financial management
&· have an appreciation of some of the main techniques of financial analysis theory on which finance practice depends
&· understand financial decision-making within an organisation
&· understand the role of capital markets
&· be able to apply simple discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis to business decisions
&· comprehend the criteria used to evaluate capital investment projects
&· appreciate how risk affects project evaluation and decisions about the attractiveness of projects
&· know how to apply the valuation approach to evaluate decisions with uncertain outcomes
Cognitive Skills:
The course will develop
&· skills of reasoning and numerical analysis
&· decision-making in a organisational environment
&· increased familiarity with financial concepts and techniques
&· provide intuition to aid financial decision making
Subject Specific Skills:
After completing this course, students should be able to
&· undertake simple financial computations, namely compounding and discounting in order to derive future values and present values for a series of cash flows
&· be able to use basic financial methodologies, namely present and future value calculations, to solve problems in finance
&· undertake financial valuation using discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis when future outcomes are uncertain
Participants will be able to
&· analyse straightforward financial problems that businesses encounter and be able to formulate appropriate solutions
&· be able to appraise critically the systems adopted by firms for assessing and approving major capital investments
&· undertake a simple investment appraisal using discounted cash flow (DCF) methods
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT (2010/11)
Knowledge and Understanding
On completion of this course students should be able to
&· analyse an organisation as a network of transformation processes;
&· outline and critically compare alternative approaches to operations improvement, including the Business Excellence Model, the use of Balanced Scorecards, the construction of management science models and the implementation of innovative process technologies;
&· discuss the linkages between the design of product and processes and the operations system;
&· describe the concept of Supply Chain Management and the organisational and technological means available for co-ordinating material flows across inter-organisational boundaries;
&· describe elements in Technology Management and be able to discuss the practical use of the elements;
&· relate operations strategy to broader concepts of business policy covered in other courses;
&· integrate the concepts covered in the course and relate them to current real-world organisational scenarios, suggesting possible methods for operational improvement.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY IN BUSINESS (2010/11)
By the end of the course students should be able to
&· produce a coherent dissertation proposal and associated research design
&· understand the underlying principles of research design
&· evaluate the key advantages and disadvantages of the main data collection techniques
|
Assessment Information
Business Economics: a two hour examination at the end of the Semester (100%)
Finance: group assignment, worth 10%, an individual assignment, worth 20%, and an end-of-semester examination, which counts for 70%. The 2-hour examination is a set of multiple-choice questions and a case study.
Operations Management (2010/11): individual assignment(60%) and group assignment (40%)
Research Methodology in Business (2010/11): 3,000 word dissertation proposal.
|
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
BUSINESS ECONOMICS:
References to BVFD are to the recommended text, the 10th Edition of Begg, Vernasca, Fischer and Dornbusch Economics
Self-test Questions appear not to be available on the BVFD website on 18/08/2011, but may be by the time the course starts.
Demand, Supply and the Market
The "Market"; demand and supply curves; behind the demand curve; Tastes, Prices and Incomes; behind the supply curve: technology, input costs, and government regulations.
Reference: BVFD Chapter 3, pp42-62
Macroeconomics
Introduction to Macro-economics
The whole chapter is important for your understanding of macro-economics, but the sections emphasised (15-3 and 15-4) must be understood in detail as they form the basis for the rest of the course. These sections cover:
The circular flow of income; actual values of consumption, investment, saving, government expenditure, and foreign payments. Components of aggregate demand: planned amounts of consumption, planned investment spending; aggregate demand; equilibrium output; the equality of planned savings and planned investment expenditures.
Reference: BVFD Chapter 15, particularly Sections 15-3 and 15-4, pp359-370.
The Multiplier
The multiplier; the paradox of thrift.
Reference: BVFD Chapter 16, pp381-397
Fiscal Policy and Foreign Trade
The government and aggregate demand; the balanced budget multiplier; the government budget; deficits and the fiscal stance; automatic stabilisers; the limitations on active fiscal policy; The National Debt and the deficit; foreign trade and income determination.
Reference: BVFD Chapter 17 pp398-419.
Money and Modern Banking
Money and its functions; commercial banks and the money supply; the money multiplier; competition between banks. The demand for money.
Reference: BVFD Chapter 18 pp420-40
Interest Rates and Monetary Transmission
The Bank and the money supply; reserve requirements; the discount rate; open market operations; the repo market; the lender of the last resort. Equilibrium in financial markets. Monetary control and Quantitative Easing; the targets and instruments of monetary policy; the transmission mechanism: wealth effects and the credit channel.
Reference: BVFD Chapter 19 pp441-462
Aggregate Supply, Prices and the Control of Inflation
Definition of Inflation; the CPI (Consumer Price Index); using the CPI to adjust from monetary to real prices. The Aggregate Supply Curve and Capacity Utilisation in the Economy. The impact on Prices of rises in Aggregate Demand. Imported inflation; the role of expectations.
Reference: Course notes
Exchange Rates and the Balance of Payments
The Forex market; Exchange rate regimes; the balance of payments, determinants of the current account; the capital account; speculation and interest rate parity; internal and external balance. Long run equilibrium, the role of foreign debt or assets.
Reference: BVFD Chapter 24, pp549-570
FINANCE
Session 1: Introduction to finance and financial management
Session 2: Financial planning and forecasting
Session 3: Financial arithmetic and valuation principles in finance
Session 4: Fundamentals of capital budgeting
Session 5: Cash flows and capital budgeting
Session 6: Risk and return
Session 7: Cost of capital
Session 8: Working capital management and course review
Session 9: examination
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT (2010/11)
Session 1: The Ubiquity of Operations
This session provides an overview of Operations Management. The key concept of a transformation process is introduced and the characteristics of different types of operations (manufacturing, public/private sector service) are discussed from an operations point of view with references to the
performance objectives. The strategic importance of operations is noted and the role of the operations manager explored.
Reading: Operations and Processes, Operations Strategy pp 1-35.
Session 2: Lean Operations
This session introduces what has become the dominant paradigm for the management of operations: Lean. The roots of Lean are traced back to the just-in-time inventory techniques pioneered over twenty years ago by Toyota, the growth of teamworking and the Total Quality Management movement of the 80s.
Reading: Lean Synchronization, pp 91 $ú 126.
Case: Esterline, pp 67 $ú 90.
Session 3: Resources Planning
The history of IT in solving planning problems will be briefly outlined and the emergence of Enterprise Resource Planning systems discussed. Specifically debates about the organisational impacts of ERP systems will be explored and the choices in implementing the systems explicated.
Reading: Resource Planning ad Control
Case: Deixis Virtual World Simulation.
Session 4: Management of Technology
This session provides an overview of Technology Management, an emerging key area related to operations management, one that has been given great impetus by recent rapid changes in information, communication, transport and production technologies.
Reading: Product and Service Design, pp 165 $ú 194.
Case: Competition form the Commons (to be distributed).
Session 5: Design in Operations Management
The session will focus on operations design in general including the design of products and services, supply networks, processes and flow, and methods such as life-cycle considerations and QFD are introduced. The linkages between the design process and workflow and job design as well as job organisation are explored providing and awareness of how the design process affects the design of
the operation.
Reading: Product and Service Design, pp 165 $ú 194.
Case: Heidelberg Cement (to be distributed)
Session 6: Supply-chain Management
The reasons for the growing importance of inter-organisational relationships and procurement in operations management are discussed and the distinction between market and partnership relationships explored. In particular the key role of interorganisational IT systems in facilitating supply chain
management, for example in supporting vendor managed inventory, will be considered.
Reading: Supply Chian Management, pp 195 $ú 230.
Case: Inditex: Outsourcing in Tangier
Session 7: Operations Improvement
The history of operations improvement is surveyed, from Taylorism through to Business Process Reengineering. The importance of the management of expertise in operations improvement is highlighted, contrasting Taylorist Scientific management with the more fashionable Knowledge Management perspectives on expertise.
Reading: Improvement, pp 291-330.
Case: AXA Way: The Pursuit of Excellence Through Quality of Service
Session 8: Operational Risk
This session will briefly cover the management of operational risk, critically discuss why the banking industry is seen ironically as the sector in which these techniques are most highly developed and then use a case-study to investigate its practice.
Reading: Risk and Resilience: 41 $ú 372.
Case: Operational Risk at Mars.
Session 9: Project Management
This session will briefly cover the principles of project management then use a case-study to investigate its practice.
Reading: Project Management, 379 $ú 415.
Case: tbd.
Session 10: Development of and Implementation of Operations Strategy
The process of developing an operations strategy ensuring that operations are aligned with customers and overall business policy will be considered. The importance of a coherent overall framework for the management of operations and their improvement will be discussed and the need to integrate this with wider business policy addressed. Students will give informal unassessed feedback on their group wiki reports.
Reading: Operations Strategy, pp 35 $ú 66.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY IN BUSINESS (2010/11)
Session 1:
Getting Started
Research design
Literature Review
Bryman and Bell chapters: 1-4, 24 and 25
Fisher chapters: 0- 3
Session 2:
Structured and Unstructured approaches
Questionnaire Design
Bryman and Bell chapters, 8-10
Fisher chapter 4 (covers material for both session 2 and 3)
Class exercise will be handed out at the end of this session for reading
Session 3:
Class exercise
Qualitative research
Bryman and Bell chapters 16-22
Session 4:
Presentation and writing up
Bryman and Bell chapters 27
Fisher chapter 6
|
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Simon Earp
Tel: (0131 6)50 8067
Email: S.Earp@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Stuart Mallen
Tel: (0131 6)50 8071
Email: Stuart.Mallen@ed.ac.uk |
|
© Copyright 2011 The University of Edinburgh - 16 January 2012 5:43 am
|
University Homepage