Master of Business Administration (MBA)

UNIT CODE	Unit Name	Credit Pts.
	MBA - Core Subjects
MBA601	Accounting for Managers	6
MBA602	Marketing Management	6
MPA503	Economics for Business	6
MBA603	Management, Leadership and Ethics	6
MBA604	Business Information Systems	6
MBA605	Human Resource Management	6
MPA502	Business and Company Law	6
MPA504	Business Finance	6
MBA606	Business Intelligence (Data Analytics)	6
MBA607	Strategic Business Management	6
MBA608	Innovation and Entrepreneurship	6
MPA508	Business Statistics and Research	6
MBA609	Business Capstone Project	6
		78

UNIT CODE	Unit Name	Credit Pts.
	Marketing & Entrepreneurship Specialist Stream
MBA610	Digital Marketing	6
MBA611	International Marketing Management	6
MBA612	Enterprise Design and Value Creation	6

	Global Business Specialist Stream
MBA613	Global Business Management	6
MBA614	International HR and Workforce Management	6
MBA615	International Business Strategy	6

Subject Descriptions

MBA601: ACCOUNTING FOR MANAGERS

Accounting for Managers introduces students to a range of financial information for business reporting, planning and investment decision making. This unit focuses on the role of accounting for managers and provides students with broad understanding of the principles of financial and management accounting and enables them to confidently understand financial and management accounting reports from a user perspective. Financial statement analysis will help students make decisions about an organisation’s financial position, performance and cash flow. Students will also explore other forms of corporate reporting and critically evaluate issues of ethics and corporate governance in business. This course will develop the essential ability of all managers, to use complex accounting information as a platform for decision-making.

MBA602: MARKETING MANAGEMENT

In this subject, students will critically evaluate the theories and practices in the field of marketing management. They will develop an understanding of practical concepts and tools in marketing such as marketing planning, market research, customer and competitive analysis and marketing strategy, and evaluate the effectiveness of marketing practices across varied contexts and environments. The subject challenges students to evaluate ethics and social responsibility when making marketing decisions.

MPA503: ECONOMICS FOR BUSINESS

Economics is a foundation of business subject that is concerned with the efficient allocation of limited resources for the optimal satisfaction of human needs. As such, this introductory economics subject for MBA students is crafted to provide an understanding on how individuals, firms, and governments make economic decisions; how they intermingle with each other in domestic and international markets when challenged with resource scarcity; how to evaluate the outcomes of such decisions and what type of economic tools to use. Completion of this subject helps students with a solid foundation to a vast array of economic analysis and understanding. This subject starts with an introduction to the subject matter of economics and a brief analysis of the economic models and problems. First part of the subject builds the foundation by focusing on micro-economics concepts, tools, and market models, introduces students to basic demand, supply, elasticity models, cost-and-production structures, and extends that understanding to different market models and to an evaluation of market failures. The second part of the subject explains the macro-economy with aggregate demand and aggregate supply; national income and price levels; government interventions on markets; fiscal and monetary policy tools and international economics, which include exchange rates and foreign exchange markets. While this subject focuses on dynamism in the world economy, a strong emphasis is placed on ethical behaviour when making economic decisions.

MBA603: MANAGEMENT, LEADERSHIP AND ETHICS

In this subject, students will explore the theories of leadership, management and ethics and the application of these in contemporary business and organisational settings. Students will gain an appreciation of their own leadership styles and approaches to management and reflect on their practice. This includes developing strategic thinking skills that lead to organisational dialogue to manage processes and were necessary change. An important aspect of leadership and management is the ability to approach decision making in an ethical way given the conflicting demands of today’s business and organisational environments.

MBA604: BUSINESS INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Every business uses a variety of information systems as a fundamental component and provides the information its people need to operate and manage. This unit develops a foundation for you to use information systems in the context of accounting, marketing, and financing, or develop business information systems that organisations want and need. You will gain a basic understanding of the content of information systems; the types of information systems; the current roles of information systems in organisations; and the opportunities and business impacts on information systems. We will explore the tools, techniques and frameworks used to build information systems; the range of information technologies used to support information systems; and the ethical responsibilities of both the information system professional and the secure use of private information.

MPA508: BUSINESS STATISTICS AND RESEARCH

This subject is designed to develop students’ abilities to assess and critically interpret statistics and business information and apply them in changing business environments. The subject helps students to develop skills in all stages of statistical analysis from information gathering to statistical inferences and places strong emphasis on developing a clear theoretical understanding of various analytical tools as well as an appreciation of the application statistics to business decisions. These skills and competencies lay a solid foundation for professional practice and business research.

MPA504: BUSINESS FINANCE

While finance is built on economics and accounting, finance stands alone with key concepts, principles, theory, models/methods, and techniques to provide knowledge essential to the business community as well as for the individuals to make well informed ethical decisions in the exceptionally dynamic current business world. MPA504 Business Finance is the first exposure to finance in the MBA program. It is properly structured to introduce basic concepts and methods at the beginning then methodically and gradually, taking students to an advanced level. After introducing finance, the subject reviews the value of money, risk-return trade off in investment decisions, financial-asset valuation, and capital budgeting. Project evaluation, forecasting, and planning are also reviewed. Theoretical aspects of capital structure and dividend policy are included to give a more comprehensive understanding and international business finance is included to broaden the study. This subject is designed to provide students with an understanding of applied financial markets, to enhance their appreciation of corporate financial issues, to motivate them to stay current with those financial issues, and to encourage them to find ethical solutions under resource limitations, existing rules, and regulations. As understanding of assets and project evaluations, investment analysis, and risk management are essential to financial decision. Business Finance MPA504 is a crucial part of a good business administration and management education.

MBA605: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

This subject provides a strategic overview of policies, practices and techniques necessary to effectively manage an organisation’s human resources. Major topic areas include strategic human resource planning and staffing in rapidly changing environments; training and development; management of performance; industrial relations and negotiation in HRM contexts, as well as workplace health and safety. Case studies from diverse organizations will expose students to various contemporary HRM issues. On completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate a solid theoretical, practical and holistic understanding of HRM strategy and practices. Students will also develop graduate-level competence in a range of areas including critical thinking, argument development, research skills and effective communication techniques.

MBA606: BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE (DATA ANALYTICS)

The ability to store, retrieve and analyse relevant data is often touted to be one of the key factors driving company competitiveness and success. The frontier for using data to make decisions has shifted dramatically. This course provides an overview of Business Intelligence (BI) concepts, technologies and practices, and then focuses on the application of BI through a team based project simulation that will allow students to have practical experience in building a BI solution based on a real world case study. Students gather skills to drive an improved decision making process for senior management based on understanding data. Students will know the importance of understanding the short and long term goals of the organisation and how these impact the decision making process. Students will use tools that enable data analysis, predictive analytics, data visualisation to assist in the delivery of delivering real-time actionable intelligence.

MPA502: BUSINESS AND COMPANY LAW

This subject is designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of Australian legal system, contract and tort law, as well as company law and enhance their understanding of how company law influences practices and policies of business organisations. It provides a foundation knowledge of Corporations Act 2001, which is vital to understanding how companies operate in Australia. This subject looks at the various stakeholders involved – e.g. members, directors, creditors, regulators and the public. An understanding of company law is essential for students who are aspiring to be a senior manager in a company.

MBA607: STRATEGIC BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

This subject delves into the study of evidence-based strategic management. Students will learn how to identify strategy related problems and opportunities, analyse these with respect to the organisation’s internal and external environments, and propose recommendations with the focus on creating or maintaining a competitive advantage. Several models and theories, as well as research on strategic management, are explored and evaluated for their relevance to the cases being explored.

MBA608: INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

In this subject, students will critically reflect on real world innovations and entrepreneurial practice using key ideas, concepts, models, procedures, tools, methods and literature in the innovation and entrepreneurship disciplinary environment. Students will explore entrepreneurial traits and characteristics in self and others and will assess these for entrepreneurial effectiveness. The entrepreneurial process is explored in both small and large organisations to provide context for practice in differing environments. A focus is given to enabling students to identify a business idea to pitch and then undertake business case analysis to further assess and develop this. Ethical and social considerations in entrepreneurial environments are considered for sustainable innovative outcomes.

MBA610: DIGITAL MARKETING

This subject looks at the range of interactive digital technologies used by marketers to gain market intelligence, develop new business models, build customer profiles and relationships, develop innovative new products and services and ecommerce activities. Areas covered include digital business models and digital marketing planning, online consumer behaviours, driving web traffic and performance metrics, conversion optimization, building personal brand online, using analytics and data in digital marketing.

MBA611: INTERNATIONAL MARKETING MANAGEMENT

This subject covers the various concepts and tools required for analysing international marketing strategies and evaluating the marketing environment in which organisations operate. Key focus will include development, evaluation and implementation of international marketing strategic plans at the corporate, regional and local levels. Students will obtain a good conceptual understanding of the field of international marketing as well as the realities of the global marketplace and strategy development.

MBA612: ENTERPRISE DESIGN AND VALUE CREATION

This subject introduces students to the concepts of enterprise design and the strategic decisions by linking this to organisational performance. Students will explore internal organisational structures that support innovative behaviour and entrepreneurial outcomes. The subject focuses on enterprise development and growth with emphasis on internal resource and capital management.

MBA613: GLOBAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Students will develop an understanding of the factors contributing to the diverse and complex international business environment, including political, economic and legal systems. As key theories are applied to evaluate the business and how markets differ and how this shapes management decisions. Particular attention is given to global production and supply chains, marketing and human resource management. Students will also examine social cultural differences and how this impacts on maintaining ethical and sustainable outcomes.

MBA614: INTERNATIONAL HR AND WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT

This subject aims to develop global understanding and core competencies relating to management of human resource activities within multinational corporations (MNC). It provides an overview of the global HRM that deals with the typical HRM functions like recruitment, selection, training and development, performance appraisal, compensation and repatriation at the international level. The course further addresses International Human Resources Management (IHRM) with such additional matters as expatriate management, comparative analysis of HRM systems and practices across countries, multiple industrial relations systems, and global succession planning. In doing so, the course considers literature in international and cross-cultural HRM and the strategic management of the workforce in MNCs. On completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate understandings of essential IHRM functions as well as HR & IR systems and business practices across borders. Students will also develop graduate-level competence in a range of areas including critical thinking, argument-making, and communication skills.

MBA615: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STRATEGY

This subject examines the contemporary business environment in order to formulate appropriate organisational strategies required in a global business environment. Students will explore global business strategy concepts, theories and principles used in making effective decisions for long-term performance. This includes the following areas; the external and internal environment, strategic leadership, the role of strategic actions and formulations and competitive rivalry and dynamics. With particular reference to the role of corporate governance in maintaining an organisation’s legitimacy in global markets.

MBA609: BUSINESS CAPSTONE PROJECT

An important element of successful business operations is the ability to undertake ‘consulting’ or research-based projects which might seek to describe a business environment, identify issues, analyse and synthesise data/information, and suggest solutions to business problems. In this unit students will learn about the principles of effective business research and have the opportunity to conduct a short research-based consulting project. The unit is in two parts. In the first part students learn about the fundamentals of business research, while in the second part they explore the nature of research projects relevant to specific areas discussed and considered throughout the program to date. Students will be expected to work in groups to identify a suitable research or consulting project, develop a project plan, and conduct basic project research in which they offer advice or recommendations to resolve a business problem.