Strategic Management

The topics covered in the unit will include:

• The nature and language of strategic management: examination of the origins and concepts of strategic management. Exploration of contemporary patterns and processes of strategic management
• Strategic analysis and strategy formulation: consideration (and critique) of theories and frameworks for analyzing organization's environments, resources, purpose; (analyzing stakeholders' expectations, inc. Stakeholder value); generating strategic options in the light of these analyses, and making choices
• Implementation of strategic decisions: examination of implementation approaches (inc. strategic alliances, and mergers and acquisitions), and managing strategic change. Considering key theories and frameworks, and their usefulness in practice

International Marketing Analysis

The topics covered in the unit will include:

• World trade patterns, trade blocs, trade issues
• Research key indicators of potential, databases, statistics, Rostow's theory
• International marketing research, secondary sources, primary research
• Environmental impacts: culture, credit worthiness, types of risk
• International segmentation, proactively
• International product research/ best practices in USA, Japan, rapid prototyping
• Quality and cost issues
• Trade marks

Cross Cultural Awareness for the International Managers

The topics covered in the unit will include:

• Cross Cultural Relations: concepts of culture; similarities and differences in behaviour across cultures; identifying national cultures; ethnocentrism
• Intercultural Communication: processes of attribution of behaviour; language and nonverbal communication; stereotype formation; sources of communication difficulty; training for effective intercultural communication; the priority of language for business • Dimensions of Cultural Differences in the Workplace: cross-national typology of organizational structures; convergence and divergence debates; differences in managerial behaviour; work values and motives across cultures; attitudes towards the work environment
• Cultures in Contact: types and purposes of contact; outcomes of cultures in contact; the international organization; HRM implications; multicultural team working; understanding regional differences; a comparative focus on Europe, Asia and the Americas
• Intercultural Competence; development of a personal framework; definition of the crossborder mind set; coping with unfamiliar cultures; culture shock; sensitivity to different cultures; ability to work in international teams

Entrepreneurship & Enterprise

The topics covered in the unit will include:

• Entrepreneurship and Enterprise (Origins, assumptions, interpretations, current developments, men and women as entrepreneurs
• The nature of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise (within large and small organizations, socio-psychological aspects of entrepreneurship, public and private sectors
• Business start-up processes (identification and evaluation of business opportunities, determining capital requirement, preparing financial statements, identification and evaluation of sources of capital, networking, coping with regulations)
• Managing organizational growth and developing new business opportunities

Although short courses in research methods may be offered by staff, this unit is primarily student led, and the responsibility of the project is that of the individual student. This project provides you with a unique opportunity to demonstrate the subject knowledge, skills and analytical abilities you have acquired and developed during your studies

Social Analysis of Labour Markets

The topics covered in the unit will include:

• Basic Theoretical frameworks/models for analyzing labor markets
• Analysis of labor market participants and related social institutions
• Analysis of employment relationships
• Understanding Labor Markets in Asia: Key Features and Trends and Major Policy Issues
1. an overview of key labor market trends worldwide and in Asia.
• Analysis of economic and labor market indicators and the underlying trends affecting labor markets,
• A synopsis of key policy priorities in Asian Labor markets
• The relationship between macroeconomic programs and labor markets.

This unit will be taught by a team. Each member of the team will opt for a specific area of contention and debate within HRM, allowing for a sufficient balance of topics overall. After a broad introductory session, subsequent sessions will then examine each of the chosen areas. Typically each topic will use two weeks, with a lecture and a tutorial in each week. Larger topic areas might require three weeks. One member of staff will do all sessions (lectures and tutorials) within their chosen topic(s) of the Unit. As such this will allow staff to work to a high level of specialism and expertise in their chosen area, and allow for consistency within topic deliveries

The topics covered in the unit will include:

• Theoretical issues in the study of comparative human resources and employment relations: convergence, divergence, the nature of different systems
• Contextualizing comparative human resources and employment relations: similarities and differences in the economic, political, legal and cultural frameworks. The role of the state and international institutions and agencies
• Managing employee resourcing: social norms and values; legal institution and rules; recruitment, selection and termination procedures in different national contexts • International trends in pay and working time: collective bargaining structures and outcomes; pay systems and pay determination; pay and working time flexibility
• Managing training and development: on the job training; national training frameworks and professional development; competency-based systems
• Managing employment relations: managerial strategies; employment relations in multinational companies; international variations in employee representation; trade union structures and strategies; international variations in industrial conflict

Management Performance and Rewards

The topics covered in the unit will include:

• A theoretical approach to managing performance - origins and development, theories, models and frameworks that provide an insight into the context, content and process of managing performance
• The reward context - notions of 'new pay and old pay'. Total reward as a contemporary concept, including financial and non-financial rewards and links to motivation theory.  Reward contingencies linked to the internal and external shapers of reward, including emerging and declining trends
• Reward strategies - graded pay strategy and job evaluation. Market driven pay strategy. Performance related pay (PTP) strategy - managerial objectives, conflicts and ambiguities. Employee benefits - what, why, and cost. Equal pay for equal work and for work of equal value
• Recent developments in managing performance - the people-performance link and models, review of research, 'Human Asset' debate, SHRM approaches to Best Practice, Best Fit and RBV, Human Capital Management in the UK and other regions