BA (Hons) Business Management (Kaplan, Singapore)

The aim of this module is to encourage engagement with Organisation Theory through offering a comprehensive account of ideas, perspectives and practices of organisation. You will learn to analyse organisations, people and organising practices through critical employment of Organisation Theory which challenges conventional understanding of organisations. You will learn to explore the impact of recent trends in Organisation Theory and Practice on people and their behaviour in organisations.

The module links topics on Organisation Theory and Practice:
• Introduction to Organisation Theory, and implications for practice: overview of three main perspectives (Modern, Symbolic and Contemporary)
• Organisation Theory:
o Theorizing relationship between Organisation and its environment
o Theorizing different perspectives on Culture and Organisation, and managing across cultures
o Theorizing organisational (physical and social) structure
o Theorizing power, control and conflict (including the feminist perspective)
o Theorizing Identity and organisational behaviour
• Applications in practice:
o Organisational Design, Sustainable Organisational Design
o Organisational learning, tacit knowledge and knowledge management
o Organisational change, change management, and sustainable development
o Aesthetics and organisations, performance, narrative, theatre and organisation
o Managing culture, people and behaviour in organisations, and managing across cultures

Upon completion of the module you will gain an in-depth understanding of:

o The major perspectives on Organisation Theory
o ‘Critical’ organisation theory and management practices
o The recent trends in organising practices
o Theory and practices involved in working in multi-cultural organisations with an awareness of ethical considerations.
o How to form your own construction of knowledge on organisations, managing people and their behaviour

The module aims to provide you with the knowledge and skills of applying a variety of Strategic Supply Chain Management (SSCM) knowledge at the subject interface to support business decision making in this area of subject. The module is delivered to you using weekly lectures and seminars, principally concentrating on the development of your subject skills and interpretation of the subject area.
Within this module, you will cover twelve main topics:
Logistics Planning Systems and Global SCM;
Customer Service;
Relationship Management;
Benchmarking the Supply Chain;
JIT and Quick Response Logistics;
Inventory Management;
Agile Supply Chain;
Lean Thinking;
e-Supply Chain;
from Purchasing to Procurement;
Reverse Logistics;
Quality SCM and Lean Six Sigma.

You will undertake various seminar and case study exercises to build the skills and expertise in these Strategic SCM areas to support your group and individual assignment work.

The module will lead you to the development of SSCM skills and confidence in handling the knowledge gained. In doing so, it will expose you to a wide range of subject techniques in the SSCM subject area. You will become aware of the role of the subject in the business context. Furthermore, you will gain an understanding of the role of the Supply Chain Manager and the development of various related business problem solving skills.

On completing the module you will be able to select and apply the appropriate SCM techniques to support business problem solving in a variety of situations. You will have developed relevant skills to support the theoretical material introduced throughout the module. You will create and design appropriate case study solutions as well as the use of a supporting theoretical underpin to SSCM problem solving.

The dissertation module aims to equip you with the necessary intellectual and practical skills for undertaking an individual student-led, ethical investigation into an applied business (or the named degree) problem or issue. In addition, the dissertation aims to equip you with key transferable, employability skills, including: time management, project management, communication (written and verbal), negotiation, persuasion and influence, discovery, initiative, creativity and innovation in problem-solving, analysis.

The module is student-led but you are supported by, initially, weekly lectures and seminar-workshops which provide an introduction to undertaking Business-Management research followed by one-to-one or small-group supervision meetings.
The lectures and seminar-workshops will cover the following topics:
1. Developing a research aim/question (focusing and scoping the research)
2. Developing a literature review
3. Writing a research proposal
4. Researching ethically
5. Quantitative research techniques
6. Qualitative research techniques
7. Quantitative analysis techniques
8. Qualitative analysis techniques

Upon completion of the module you will be able to:
1. Conduct independent and ethical academic research involving the application and critical evaluation of appropriate theories and models,
2. Engage critically with relevant literature to establish a framework in which to analyse and synthesise the results of your primary or secondary research
3. Generate / collect relevant primary or secondary data using an appropriate and justified method
4. Analyse your data using an appropriate and justified method of analysis
5. Recognise the ethical implications of your work
6. Critically evaluate the source of your data and the method you adopted

This module aims to provide you with insights into some key considerations that international businesses need to be aware of. Creating and appropriating value from international business strategy, and aligning with innovation for competitive advantage, are topical aspects that you will engage with in this module.

1. Analysing and ascribing characteristic to organisations in international businesses and note how they change and emerge over time (Cultural profile, Presence and strategic structure profile: International, Multinational, Global and Transnational)
2. Key competitive advantage in international business
3. Multidimensional capabilities
4. First mover advantage in international business: from a strategy of position to that of movement
5. Managing Networks in International Business
6. Innovation and the international business context
7. Ethics and International business ‘Glocal and Global’ – a holistic perspective

1. How strategic recommendations are likely to be evaluated by various stakeholder groups that place a different interpretation on the measurement of business success.
2. Understanding the concepts and frameworks of Endogenous Strategy that apply to a company’s Capabilities, Competences and Resources.
3. How to synthesise key concepts in the Resource-based View of Strategy (RBV) and apply them to companies in competitive markets.
4. How Sustained Competitive Advantage (SCA) can be achieved and maintained in an era of finite resources and increasing demand for sustainability.
5. How Innovation can be managed and applied to Products, Processes, Business Models and Sustainability.
6. How Sustainability can be incorporated into successful Strategy Formulation, Strategic Implementation, and Business Model Innovation.
7. How Leadership impacts upon strategic decision making.
8. Understanding how the concepts of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility can be applied to meet the challenges of Ethical Business Management in the future.
9. How to successfully write compelling and influential strategic briefing documents based around the structure adopted by this module.