Year 1
1st Semester (Core courses)
Management, Teamwork and Communication
Students will analyze, organize and execute communication tasks in a variety of business settings and will learn to develop and apply sound professional judgment in various international business environments. Students will be expected to improve their practical abilities to evaluate, prepare and deliver reports, speeches and presentations. This will be accomplished via class exercises and group learning inside and outside the classroom.
The objectives of this course are to help IMBA students (1) communicate effectively in managerial and executive situations; (2) learn to work productively in teams; and (3) understand concepts and processes in cross-cultural management.
Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
International corporation have been strongly challenged on their ethical practice and governance by investor, media commentators, government, international institutions, NGO’s and wider society. Business Schools have been criticised for promoting shareholder wealth creation above the demands for ethical leadership and responsible business practice and for failing to raise awareness of social and ethical issues within core disciplines. Investors are increasingly relying on ESG(Enviromental, Social and Governance)factors to guide their investments and these factors are ultimately a judgment on the governance quality of a corporation in economic, social and environmental terms.
In this international context, the IMBA course in Management Ethics and CSR is highly relevant and is central to the long term success of managers. The course teaches students how to integrate the ethical, social and environmental dimensions with shareholder and stakeholder expectations in decision-making and organisational strategy. It will enable students to be more aware of the significance of personal integrity in management and of the conflicts that can arise within the organisation as well as in its external relations. Ethics offers an ‘umbrella’ of moral reflection under which individuals call themselves and others to account in reaching decisions under circumstances in which neither laws and prevailing institutional regulations provide a clear action or outcome. Ethics is the area of debate between selfishness, self-interest and consideration of the other. Ethics is about reflecting before acting and about engaging with others about ‘doing the right thing’.
Management ethics has a particular focus on the personal integrity and character of the manager in resolving the conflicts that can arise within the organisation as well as in its external relations.
Data Model and Decision Making
Data, Model and Decisions is a compulsory course of MBA, its contents is quantitative rather than mathematical, and it is composed of the core course of management operational research and applied statistics. The former put emphasis on quantitative analysis and solving problems in economics and management, in order to pursue optimized solution, the latter put emphasis on comprehensive analysis and digging data and information, in order to find objective orders of nature. Data, Model and Decisions is the organic integration of these two subjects.
The Purpose of this course is to enhance the students’ capability of analyzing problems, and master basic modeling technology, via introducing basic approaches in management science.
Financial Accounting
Modern corporations operate in relations with numerous outside stakeholders such as investors, creditors, intermediaries, employees, customers, and regulatory bodies. These stakeholders need information about the entity they transact with so as to make optimal decisions. Although the information these stakeholders need is diverse in its form and content, the most important one is accounting information because it aids them to evaluate the value of corporation and its credit-worthiness. This course is designed to equip IMBA students who have no prior exposure to accounting with a powerful tool for their future career: accounting knowledge. This course will provide an introduction of the concepts and issues in financial accounting. It will also discuss the preparation and the interpretation of corporate financial statements in conjunction with information uses of investors and creditors in the capital market. In addition, the accounting procedures, underlying theories, and problem solving techniques will be emphasized throughout the course.
Managerial Economics
Managerial economics can be viewed as an application of that part of microeconomics that focuses on such topics as risk, demand, production, cost, pricing, and market structure. Understanding these principles will help to develop a rational decision-making perspective and will sharpen the analytical framework that the executive must bring to bear on managerial decisions.
Why is managerial economics so valuable to decision makers of firms? The answer to this question lies in the meaning of the term managerial economics. A manager is a person who directs resources to maximize profits. Economics is the science of making decisions in the presence of scarce resources. Resources are simply anything used to produce a good or service or, more generally, to achieve a goal. Decisions are important because scarcity implies that by making one choice, you give up another. Economic decisions thus involve the allocation of scarce resources, and a manager’s task is to allocate resources so as to best meet the manager’s goals.
Managerial economics, therefore, is the study of how to direct scarce resources in the way that most efficiently achieves the managerial goal. The main topics include demand, production, cost, pricing, market structure, and government regulation. A strong grasp of the principles that govern the economic behavior of firms and individuals is an important managerial talent. The rational application of these principles should result in better managerial decisions, higher profits, and an increase in the value of the firm. The key to making sound decisions is to know what information in needed to make an informed decision and then to collect and process the data. If you work for a large firm, your legal department can provide data about the legal ramifications of alternative decisions; your accounting department can provide tax advice and basic cost data; your marketing department can provide you with data on characteristics of the market for your product; and your firm’s financial analysts can provide summary data for alternative methods of obtaining financial capital. Ultimately, however, the manager must integrate all of this information, process it, and arrive at a decision. The remainder of this book will show you how to perform this important managerial function by using six principles that comprise effective management.
This course presents a comprehensive, up-to-date, and clear exposition of the principles in managerial economics. These principles are essential to maximizing profits or, more generally, the value of the firm. These principles imply the following requirements. An effective manager must (a) identify goals and constraints; (b) recognize the nature and importance of profits; (c) understand incentives; (d) understand markets; (e) recognize the time value of money; and (f) use managerial analysis.
Strategic Management
This course introduces MBA students to analytical frameworks managers use to formulate business and corporate strategies. The goal of strategic management is to gain sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) – a concept that has much relevance beyond business organizations. In fact, I encourage you to consider how the ideas and tools in this course can help you to achieve your professional and personal objectives. Firms attain SCA by building ‘distinctive competencies’ and deploying them more effectively than their rivals. Similarly, each of us has strengths and weaknesses that enable us to excel easily at some tasks, but cause us to struggle with others. Understanding these, and learning to compensate for our weaknesses and leverage our strengths, is critical life skills. Organizations face the same challenge. We’ll examine a variety of ‘moves’ through which firms position themselves to compete on their strengths while neutralizing the effects of their weaknesses. These include: staking out a defensible cost or differentiation advantage; establishing an operational scope - vertically, horizontally, and globally - that will reinforce those positions; and developing organizational systems to support innovation and the search for new business opportunities.
International Marketing
The objective of the course is to enable students to achieve an overview and understanding of international marketing as a managerial challenge. The emphasis is on an analysis of world markets, their respective consumers and environments, and the marketing management required to meet the demands of true world markets in a dynamic setting. Throughout the course, the students will develop the required skills in accessing competitive challenges and opportunities confronting today’s international marketers and formulating international marketing strategies.
This course features:
1. An emphasis on understanding, application and generalization;
2. A balanced learning experience of practical application and fundamental concepts;
3. Discussion of the issues pertaining to product, price, promotion and distribution decisions in the international context;
4. Key issues in globalization;
5. A stimulated appreciation for cultural adaptation in marketing programs.
2nd Semester (Core courses)
International Finance
This course is designed to present and discuss the US stocks, bonds and derivatives markets.The course builds on two main themes: One is Valuation of Financial Instruments including stocks, bonds, and options.The other is Management of Risk in Financial Instruments including stocks, bonds, and options. In the first part of the course, we focus on the valuation models for stocks and bonds. In the second part, we look into assets allocation and portfolio theory. Finally, we investigate the risk management strategies with option contracts.
Operation Management
Operations Management (referred to as OM) issues are important in all organizations that produce goods or deliver services. These issues usually have a profound impact on the bottom line and success of each organization. This course will show that these issues need to be given adequate attention in the organization. If they are down-played or overlooked, there is a high risk for detrimental effects on profitability, service levels, and customer retention.
The objective of the course is to provide the students with an introduction to OM. Students will learn about the strategic relevance of OM, frequently used terms and concepts, process design and analysis, product development impact on operations, project management, forecasting and capacity analysis, issues in facility location, inventory management and production planning, supply chain management, just-in-time systems and logistics. Due to the broad nature of the subject, we will focus primarily on how to enhance operations and logistics capabilities that enable a firm to achieve a competitive advantage vis-à-vis its regional/global competitors.
Project Management
Project management is an important skill that is needed in industry and government. This course will explore the challenges facing today’s project manager and will provide a foundation for work in a project management environment. The course is designed following a simple five-phase functional management model in the following figure. Because of the functional simplicity of this model (a basic model for management training since introduced in 1916 by Henri Fayol the French industrialist and management pioneer), it is effective in creating basic natural behaviors in individuals at this first stage of their management development. This module is a basis of business management that enables students to integrate tools and techniques with the people side of project management together with PMI® (Project Management Institute ? www.pmi.org) Knowledge Areas and Process Groups. The eight sessions will cover key structured project management (process-tools) and communicative actions for participants required for ‘quick-time’ hands-on for completing their project effectively ? on time with effective-collaborative cross-functional team activities and within budgeted cost. The focus will help students to executing and implementing projects and contracts using a general 5-phase structured approach in relation to common project management tools: Five phases: Define ? Plan/Organize ? Implement ? Close ? Review
International Business Law
International Business Law will examine the people, places, organizations and issues associated with doing business internationally. It will provide an introduction to the legal issues which need to be addressed in formulating and executing an international business strategy, in order to be competitive in the international business community.
Students must learn from the textbook reading, case studies and classroom discussions, and show an ability to recognize legal issues and suggest structured and innovative solutions to them.
Corporate Finance
The purpose of this course is to provide a broad introduction and overview of corporate finance. We will first study basic topics such as risk and return and basic securities valuation. Then for the remainder of the course, we learn how to evaluate projects and corporations from a financial management perspective.
International Business
As globalization is upon us, it is time to evaluate and consider critical concerns and future potential associated with international business and breaking into new and emerging markets. Emerging markets have about 80% of the world's population. More than 75% of future growth in world trade is expected to come from emerging markets, according to the US Department of Commerce. Goldman Sachs predicted that the particularly populous Big Emerging Markets (BEMs) – Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) -- will overtake Japan, Germany, the UK and the US in coming decades. China's attraction of FDI, as an example, already exceeds even the US'. The course is designed to systematically analyze international business and emerging markets from political, economic and social perspectives and provide some frameworks for exploring opportunities and threats in their environments.
Macroeconomics and Public Policy
All commerce takes place in the broad context of the macro economy; hence an understanding of factors that influence the overall economy is essential for business managers. This course provides an introduction to the language and data of macroeconomics, provide analytical tools for macroeconomic analysis, and build understanding of macroeconomic policy issues. Topics to be covered include: fundamentals of demand and supply, the forces affecting the macro economy, monetary and fiscal policy, and international considerations. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to apply macroeconomic data to describe a country’s economy and use analytical tools to understand how policy and external events alter the path of that economy.
Year 2
3rd Semester (Elective courses)
Corporate Environmentalism and Public Policy
Corporations increasingly recognize that sustainability can help the bottom line. The pull of “green” consumer demand, the threat of ever more stringent regulations, pressure from environmental and social activists---all of these forces drive companies to adopt more sustainable practices. Yet just how do these forces interact? What do they imply for public policy? For business strategy? For the use of voluntary as opposed to mandatory approaches to environmental improvement? This short course will examine this set of questions in detail. We will consider things from two very different perspectives, that of the business firm and that of public policy. Each needs to understand the operations of the other, so the two perspectives are highly complementary.
Doing Business in China
For expatriate business people, the Chinese market presents both opportunities and challenges. China’s strong economic growth over the past three decades indicates that many companies have succeeded in China, and indeed international firms typically view an involvement in this country as critical to their worldwide business. Nonetheless, operating a business in China can be difficult. Expatriate business executives need special knowledge and skills, as well as the flexibility to adapt to a different and complex business environment. This course has been designed to give the students an understanding of the current situation in China today with vital up-to-date information, outlines of the economic, political, labor, taxation and environmental issues that China is facing. Many new case studies highlight the special managerial challenges and opportunities: to International and Chinese businesses operating or intending to operate in China today and to those who wish to more effectively negotiate and co-operate with the Chinese.
International Finance
Students will analyze, organize and execute communication tasks in a variety of business settings and will learn to develop and apply sound professional judgment in various international business environments. Students will be expected to improve their practical abilities to evaluate, prepare and deliver reports, speeches and presentations. This will be accomplished via class exercises and group learning inside and outside the classroom.
Risk Management
Risk management is an integral part of the strategic decision-making process of all financial institutions. Its importance cannot be overstressed in light of the recent global financial crisis. There are three types of risk specified under the Basel II capital accord: market, credit and operational risk, which will be the main focus of my lectures. There are many other types of risk, including interest rate, liquidity, reputational, strategic, and even model risk. The course will briefly touch these risks.
The course is mainly about the risks faced by banks and other financial institutions, but much of the materials covered and risk measurement and management principles and procedures presented is equally applicable to non-financial organizations.
Entrepreneurship Management
Entrepreneurship is a desirable trait of managers, not only for new and small firms, but also for older and larger firms that wish to rejuvenate their business and/or their product lines. Entrepreneurs introduce innovations in products, services, and processes, which in turn serve to raise business productivity, increase employment, and enhance global competitiveness. The aim of this particular unit is to equip students with a thorough knowledge of important issues surrounding entrepreneurial management and the establishment of new business ventures.
International Exchange
International Enchange at partner scholls all over the world.
Internship
4th Semester
Dissertation
We encourage our students todo their dissertation as a part of a company project (internship). This gives them the opportunity to apply what they have learnt to real practice.
Graduation Ceremony and Lifelong-learning
Free courses, Antai Forum, Venture Capital Fund and Alumni Club would be all opened for Antai Alumni even after the graduation.