BSc Management (Accounting & Finance) with Industrial/Professional Experience / Course details

Topics include start-ups, firm formation; firm growth, corporate development, firm ageing, and productivity; corporate design; corporate failure, corporate restructuring, and turnaround; mergers and acquisitions and strategic alliances; vertical integration and restraints; technological change, firm dynamics and sources of market power; economics of automation and the future of work.

The course next studies a selection of industries including the auto industry, Airline market, retail, pharmaceutical sector, financial market and market for intangible assets (ideas & patents) to explore market dynamics and show how industry fundamentals shape corporate strategies. The course ends by studying theories of aggregate investment, technological change and modern business/credit cycles to show how the macroeconomic environment shapes business activities/strategies. Recent economic data and ample case studies are used to support the analysis.

The course will draw on rich recent economic and firm data to support analyses. All analyses are empirically based.

BMAN24431 or BMAN24421 is a Pre-Requisite for BMAN 31881. Only available to students on: Mgt/Mgt Specialism; IMABS; IM and ITMB/ITMB Strategy & Economics Specialism.

The requisites will be Economic Analysis I BMAN24431 and Macroeconomics BMAN 24421.
Pre-requisite course units have to be passed by 40% or above at the first attempt unless a higher percentage is indicated within this course outline.

The course is both analytical and applied and builds on knowledge acquired in Economic Analysis I.

The course provides an understanding of start-ups, firm formation, firm growth, mergers and acquisitions and firm decline and ageing; corporate design, corporate failure, restructuring and renewal; vertical structure of the firm and the evolving network nature of supply chains, technological change and market dynamics, and industry evolution.
The course provides a working knowledge of the analytical tools of economics both at the micro and macro levels that bear most directly on the practice of modern firms. It helps students understand how fundamental characteristics of an industry, macroeconomic variables and policy shape firm behaviour and business activities.
The course uses a rich mix of theory and case materials and examines recent data on each topic.

Notably, equip students with an ability to use Excel (or R - optional) to analyse firm data in business decision making, use economic theories to make sense of economic data and news, and use their empirical understanding to improve on business decisions and master data-driven business decision making. 

By the end of the course, students should be able to:
•    Understand various models of firm formation, start-up development and corporate growth and productivity, and learn issues surrounding the financing of start-ups.
•    Understand mergers and acquisitions as a core growth strategy and analyse the processes of firm decline / ageing.
•    Develop an ability to use Excel or R to analyse data in business decision making in firms.
•    Develop an ability to make sense of economic data / news to enhance decision making in the firm.
•    Understand issues of corporate design, corporate failure, corporate reorganisation, restructuring and renewal;
•    Understand how fundamental characteristics of an industry, macroeconomic variables and policy shape a firm’s growth strategies and decisions
•    Understand how industries evolve and necessitate corporate reorganisation / renewal
•    Explain and apply theories of aggregate investment and theories of technological change and analyse the causes of business / credit cycles to draw managerial lessons
•    Understand technological trends and their impacts on various markets.

Methods of delivery: - Lectures and seminars

•    Lecture hours: 33
•    Seminar hours: 6
•    Private study: 161

Total study hours: 200 hours split between lectures, classes, self-study and preparation for classes, coursework and examinations.
 

Examination (75%)
Coursework (25%)
 

•    Informal advice and discussion during a lecture, seminar, workshop or lab.
•    Online exercises and quizzes delivered through the Blackboard course space.
•    Responses to student emails and questions from a member of staff including feedback provided to a group via an online discussion forum.
•    Specific course related feedback sessions.
•    Written and/or verbal comments on assessed or non-assessed coursework.
•    Written and/or verbal comments after students have given a group or individual presentation.
•    Generic feedback posted on Blackboard regarding overall examination performance.

The course will draw on the following textbooks:

1.    Abel, A. and Bernanke, B., Macroeconomics. (7th edition) Addison-Wesley.
2.    Cabral, L. M. (2016), Industrial Organization, MIT Press, Cambridge and London, 2nd edition,
3.    Mankiw, G: Macroeconomics (8th edition), Palgrave Macmillan

4.    Olivier, B, Amighini, A. and Francesco, G, 2021 Macroeconomics. A European Perspective.

The course comes with extensive, self-sufficient, teaching materials that cover advance topics not found in textbooks.

Pre-requisite course units have to be passed by 40% or above at the first attempt unless a higher percentage is indicated within this course outline.

Pre-requisites: BMAN24431 Economic Analysis I (and BMAN24421 Macroeconomics)
Co-Requisites: N/A
Dependent courses: N/A
Programme Restrictions: BSc Management and Management (Specialisms), BSc International Management with American Business Studies, BSc International Management.

For Academic Year 2024/25

Updated: March 2024

Approved by: March UG Committee