This course focuses on international business issues and how to solve them. Put your learning into practice and gain work experience with our client-facing project.

You explore how multinational enterprises operate and carry out comparative business analysis, gaining the practical consultancy skills necessary to work efficiently in an international business environment.

Alongside a thorough understanding of business analysis and development, you graduate with the key skills for international business consulting, such as outlining international business problems, writing business reports and preparing for interviews.

A key element of the course is the client-facing project with an external organisation. Arranged by your project co-ordinator, you apply your learning to a real business issue, giving you valuable work experience and generating excellent networking opportunities.

Recent recruiters include:

Accenture, AgustaWestland, Barclays Technology Centre, Deloitte, Hewlett-Packard, HSBC, IBM, The Nielson Company, Shell, Standard Chartered Bank, Whyte & McKay (China)

Course structure

(All taught course units are 15 credits)

Semester 1

• Analysing Companies: Business Models,
• Narrative and Numbers
• Building Strategic Capabilitiesin Different Business Systems
• Business Models: Theory and Practice
• Organisational Design and Strategy: International Contexts

Semester 2

• Strategic Management of the Multinational
  Firm Across Divergent Institutional Systems

Three course units from:

Three elective units from *:

• Asian Management Systems
• Business Environment and Strategy in China
• Digital Technologies, Development and Emerging Markets
• Global Business Strategy
• Global Politics and Global Business
• International Human Resource Management
• Technology, Innovation Management and Business Strategy
• The Analysis of Business Structures
• The Management of International Organisational Change

* By agreement with the course director an elective unit from another Masters course can be taken.

All elective units are subject to availability and timetabling constraints.

Summer research period

Client-facing project with an external organisation/dissertation [60 credits]

You have the opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills learned during the first two semesters on a real-life company project. The result of this project is presented as a research report/dissertation.

This ‘experiential learning’ enhances and improves your skills and overall employability and helps you to become a reflective practitioner or manager.

The Postgraduate Careers Service provides specialist support for you in applying for projects and with interview preparation. Projects start at the beginning of June and may be carried out individually or as a group.

The project is offered if you gain a minimum of 50% in each first semester course unit. If not, you will be offered a project related to an external client, with no direct contact with the client. For those working on group projects, a group report and an individual report will be produced (both 6,000 words).

Alternatively, you may undertake an academic dissertation of 12,000 words. Your supervisor will help you to define the research and advise, guide and support you throughout.

Recent project reports

Our students have applied their skills across a range of fields:

• Exploring the strategic expansion of the volunteer tourism industry into the academic market
• An in-depth analysis of the wholesale market and changing trends towards online shopping
• Strategic positioning in relation to the offshore wind turbine market in northern Europe
• Identification of venture capitalist acquisition targets in the UK software industry

Project clients have included:

ASDA, AstraZeneca, BAE Systems, BASF, British Red Cross, Colt, Co-operative Financial Services, Deloitte, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, ICI, Inventya, Kelloggs, Mojo Life, Tax Assist

Home/EU £15,000
Overseas £19,500

Rolling admission - please apply as early as possible.

Entry requirements
First or upper second class honours (2:1) degree from a UK university or the overseas equivalent, in any discipline.

Application details
We’re delighted that you are considering applying for one of our postgraduate courses. Please view the most up-to-date admission information on the MBS website and follow the How to Apply guide to submit an online application. Our guide is designed to make the application process as straightforward as possible for you, and to ensure that your application is correct and submitted in plenty of time. All courses start on 21 September 2015.

English Language requirements
If English is not your first language, you are required to take an English language test to prove your level of proficiency.