On-campus and international electives

Understanding corporate strategy requires both an understanding of what organisations can do strategically and what individuals need to do to be effective in making strategy happen.

You’ll look at 4 key issues:

• Cognitive processes and the mind of the chief executive
• The logic of business models and the fit between business models and strategic thinking
• Social networks and corporate strategy
• Managerial action, politics and strategy implementation.

This module is designed to:

• Help you understand the economic contribution that advertising can make to an organisation and the extent to which advertising can provide companies with a substantive source of differentiation
• Demonstrate what advertising communications can achieve for a company and its offerings, both in the short and long term
• Explain the influence of branding and how advertising can contribute to building brands
• Through this module, you’ll be able to:
• Evaluate what advertising can achieve and has achieved for a given organisation
• Understand what brands are and why branding is so important
• Explore how organisations can create effective advertising
• Critically evaluate advertising campaigns against the stated objectives
• Understand the importance of advertising in achieving differentiation, namely establishing perceived quality.

Gain knowledge and practical tools for the management of innovation and entrepreneurship, which are crucial organisational processes bringing new products, services and technology from a mind or a lab to the market.

Innovation and entrepreneurship are multidisciplinary activities involving strategy, R&D, marketing and project management. In practice, managers face a number of complex issues simultaneously.

Through this module, you’ll be able to:

• Understand new product development processes
• Grasp the different aspects of technology management
• Determine the distinguishing characteristics of innovative organisations
• Explore issues regarding the launch and post-launch phases of marketing campaigns supporting new products and services
• Understand how to launch and finance a high-growth, innovative business.

This module explores how you make decisions, how others may make them, and how you can make better and more effective choices with those around you.

This elective focuses on you, your decision-making, and how you can make more valuable decisions. You will learn about the 2 crucial elements of effective decisions: the quality of decisions and a commitment to making them work.

This module will give you:

• A better understanding of your current way of thinking and how you approach problems
• A deeper understanding of how others make decisions and how you can influence both the process, quality and output of group decisions
• An understanding of how organisational culture, structure and nationality brings new challenges to approaches to decision-making
• Through this module, you’ll be able to:
• Cultivate intuitive judgemental and decision-making skills
• Use a wide range of performance media for business problem-solving.

There is a current revolution in marketing, sales and customer service. Many would say that it is IT-led. To be competitive, organisations need systems that:

• Provide better information on markets and customers
• Enable the proactive and targeted use of the most cost-effective media
• Support competitive sales, marketing and customer service processes across extended enterprises

In business, all marketing, sales and customer service managers are being called on to explain how they plan to leverage IT, and many are becoming involved in related projects.

IT directors and managers are being tasked with developing and implementing CRM system strategies. The major consultancies and systems houses are actively recruiting in this area, and there is already a skills shortage.

This practical elective is essential for all MBAs planning a career in marketing, sales, consultancy or business systems.

Through this module, you’ll be able to:

• Understand the business and marketing theories that underpin CRM
• Demonstrate how the selection of different CRM systems can both support and shape different customer-focused strategies
• Identify the leading types of CRM systems available and understand the critical differences between them
• Recognise the factors that determine successful implementation of CRM programmes.

The tour will focus on the outlook for China with its burgeoning economy, the impact its growth will have on business, and the ways in which companies – large and small – have made the most of the huge market potential it has to offer.

The key learning objective is to develop a better understanding of China and its business environment, and to apply the learning outcomes of the MBA core modules and electives to a specific international context.

Technology is increasingly playing a central role in the generation of innovations that target the grand challenges of today’s world, captured by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

The UK is at the forefront of this effort, with its flourishing social innovation scene populated by countless social enterprises, social innovation intermediaries, and a fast-expanding impact investment industry.

You’ll have the unique opportunity to explore London’s Tech for Good scene via seminars, events, and activities before flying to one of the target countries to observe first-hand the depth and breadth of the Tech for Good evolution in Sub-Saharan Africa. You’ll participate in company visits and workshops to understand the region’s ecosystem of innovation hubs, start-ups, investors, and corporate players, before immersing yourself in contexts where social needs are profound and tech solutions are being explored.

The aim of this tour is to challenge assumptions about the sources and nature of technological innovation, with emphasis on social needs as key drivers. The tour will also expose you to vibrant, yet very different Tech for Good environments in London and Sub-Saharan Africa.

As part of this immersive journey, you’ll have the opportunity to conduct field research on designated themes to use in your syndicate assignments. You’ll be encouraged to reflect on the role of technology as a driver of social change, as well as on the role of new business models that can foster economic growth and shared value creation across developed and developing countries.

The South Africa tour will provide an opportunity for you to learn about the management, finance and cultural issues facing businesses within this geographical location.

You’ll explore examples of how businesses operate within different cultures, the regulations and issues facing start-ups, and broader socio-economic issues.

Specifically, the South African Symposium will focus on how organisations have managed change in this increasingly complex and highly-diverse business and cultural environment. Key issues highlighted will include the challenges of managing political transformation, improving the quality of service delivery, internationalising businesses, making positive contributions to job creation, and combating the pandemic of HIV/AIDS.

The Bayes MBA London Symposium looks at the economic drivers of the City as a commercial hub and its influence in international business.

This elective will use our unique location and network to provide you with insights into how business is conducted, and how this impacts the UK, European and global economy.

Through this module, you’ll:

• Learn about the financial, technological, socio-economic and cultural business environment of London
• Gain deep insights into the operating strategies and processes of a variety of sectors and organisations
• Apply your MBA knowledge and skills in a reflective context to real business challenges

The module will combine expertise from faculty, senior industry executives and commentators with small group site visits arranged through Bayes' unique network of close links with various influential organisations.

You’ll also have the opportunity to interact and network with MBA students from other global business schools who have been invited to join the event.

Israel is a first-tier innovation hub, second in the world only to Silicon Valley in its concentration of start-up companies. It has more companies on the tech-oriented NASDAQ stock exchange than any country outside the US – and more than all of Europe and India combined.

You’ll observe first-hand the Israeli high-tech industry, and learn how entrepreneurs generate new ideas, assemble teams, start up new ventures, and create successful innovative companies across multiple sectors. You’ll attend workshops and company visits and conduct field research on designated themes to collect further primary data to use in your syndicate assignments.

The aim of this module is to expose you to a vibrant technological environment in both Israel and the young emerging tech industry of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. You’ll be able to explore the technological ecosystem in the different stages of business growth and development – including insights from not only entrepreneurs, but also venture capitalists, government offices, technological incubators, and established technology companies.

You’ll also be able to reflect on the way Israel’s culture, environment and strategy create centres of innovation, and gain deeper insight into Palestinian entrepreneurial challenges. You’ll be encouraged to reflect on the role of business and ethics in leading change and economic growth in conflict-affected areas.

This elective will allow participants on MBA programmes to apply their knowledge in several of the core MBA subjects to a number of strategic, financial, operational and marketing challenges. The elective will take place in an environment in which the operating models of organisations can be examined, compared and contrasted by students. Where several global resort operators compete for customers attracted by a location brand, businesses must use differentiated value propositions, strategies and segmentation.

You will undertake the evaluation of brand identity, brand experience and brand equity in their assessment of strategic marketing effectiveness as different strategic, operational and marketing choices made by resort operators to deliver customer value and organisational performance.

Resorts or locations which allow at least 3 businesses to be actively compared may be considered as a suitable location for the Strategic Marketing elective. One sample location might be Las Vegas where several resort operators in Las Vegas offering strongly differentiated products under the location brand to a market of more than 37m visitors per annum.

This elective will allow you to sharpen your knowledge and skills at the intersection of strategy, digital technology and innovation.

The elective will take place in Silicon Valley, the alma mater of digital entrepreneurship, new corporate ventures and innovation. Silicon Valley is one of the engines of growth for the US economy (the largest economy by output in the world) and is often described as the innovation hub of the world.

The International Symposium enables you to learn about the management, finance and cultural issues facing businesses within the Gulf Region, and Dubai in particular.

This elective pulls together the theoretical learning of the core and elective courses into the business environment, providing examples of how business operates within different cultures, the regulations and issues facing start-ups as well as the broader socio-economic issues. The module will explore different business sectors such as professional services, finance, manufacturing and property.

This 5-day immersive tour aims to expose students to the most famous entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem in the world – Silicon Valley. This is where the “innovation – venture capital – startup” engine that created powerhouses like Apple, Cisco, Facebook, Google, and Intel began. Every day, groundbreaking companies such as PayPal, Netflix, Uber, Tesla, and Airbnb are challenging the status quo, transforming age-old industries, and changing our lives in profound ways.

You will observe first-hand the Silicon Valley high tech industry and learn how entrepreneurs generate new ideas, assemble teams, start their ventures, raise funding, and scale up. Through a combination of company visits, hands-on workshops, lectures by faculty, founders, investors and business leaders, and field research, you will acquire a deep and critical understanding of the opportunities and challenges that an entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem offers to established companies as well as startups.