MSc in Management
Course structure and content 2016-2017
The Cranfield MSc in Management is a 13 month programme starting in September each year.
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Term 1: 26 September 2016 to 16 December 2016
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Term 2: 9 January 2017 to 24 March 2017
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Term 3: 10 April 2017 to 23 June 2017
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Term 4: 26 June 2017 to 8 September 2017
Term 1
Marketing Strategy and Planning
The module will familiarise you with the principles of strategic marketing and apply those principles to the
marketing planning process. This process is cross-functional, and plans for the organisation’s revenue
generation. Each session introduces you to important aspects of marketing strategy and then applies these
theoretical elements in practice through the development of marketing plans based on a current case study.
This is a very practical module leading to the development of a strategic marketing plan, and you will be
required to research information and complete application exercises during and between classes.
Managing People and Organisations
This module combines key ideas from organisational behaviour, psychology, sociology, and human resource
management in order to provide you with a basic understanding and fluency in recognising, understanding and
utilising what has been termed the "human factor" in organisations; including ways of conceptualising
organisations and how people behave within them. You shall further consider the impact of the external
environment on organisations, and finally address notions of organisational change.
Managing Profitability, Liquidity and Asset Utilisation
The module introduces you to the role of finance within an organisation and focuses on a number of traditional
and contemporary costing approaches that will increase the visibility of cost and aid your management
decision-making. The module begins with a session which explores the role of accounting and finance within an
organisation. You are then introduced to the key financial statements contained in the reports and accounts of
a business, highlighting the role of management accounting and needs of users of financial information.
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Improving Decision Quality with Management Science
The course will describe, demonstrate and critique the application of a range of management science
techniques to support management decisions. Techniques that will be covered range from simple graphs to
deterministic and stochastic modelling, including statistical analysis and forecasting methods.
Economics for Managers
The module will introduce you to the concepts and techniques associated with managerial economics. You will
learn to employ economic reasoning when making choices about the use of resources, recognise the
importance of marginal analysis and diminishing returns in the context of business and consumer decisions,
and analyse the external environment and understand the forces shaping the firm's competitive environment.
On completion of the module, you will understand how to apply economic theory to real world problems.
Managing Operations
The module will teach you about the strategic role of operations, about designing and managing the operations
process, about the tools and techniques of process improvement, and about capacity and inventory
management, quality management, and performance management. You will learn to evaluate the contribution
of operations to the development and implementation of successful business strategy, to appraise the critical
issues faced by different operations, to select priorities for operational performance improvement, and plan
the means to bring about that improvement. By the end of the module, you should be able to design and
implement an operations strategy for any organisation.
Term 2: Core Modules
Strategic Management
This module is concerned with the direction and scope of the organisation. You will determine the purpose of
the organisation, establish its objectives and formulate strategies in order to achieve these objectives.
Predominantly you will explore how an organisation positions itself with regard to its changing environment,
and in particular its competitors, in order to gain and sustain competitive advantage. This means that strategic
management considers how an organisation’s internal resources and capabilities can be developed to meet the
changing demands of customers, in such a way as to achieve the expectations and objectives of its
stakeholders.
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Managing Corporate Sustainability
The module outlines the major sustainability challenges and explores how progressive organisations are
responding to them in-terms of organisational mind-set, leadership, value-chain, collaboration and change
management. It will give you a better understanding of how corporate action can be best configured to
promote responsible and sustainable business strategies, and invite you to think about the purpose of
business.
Term 2: Elective Modules (select 3)
Managing Business Technology Investments
The module is concerned with how technology enables improvements in business performance. It teaches you
how to manage technology in order to deliver real business benefits, and how to manage the business changes
associated with the implementation of large technology investments. You will learn to assess where business
technology can add value to an organisation's performance, to identify the benefits of a business technology
initiative, to develop a business change implementation plan, and to identify risks associated with technologyenabled business change.
Organisational Performance: Direction, Control and Measurement
This module will give you a thorough understanding of what is meant by organisational performance and
introduce you to the area of control, performance measurement and performance management. It will
encourage you to consider why organisations measure performance and how performance is delivered and
measured. You will consider how different functions with the organisation, such as HR, finance and marketing,
view organisational performance and review the effects that control systems can have on an organisation. By
the end of the module, you will be able to apply the key principles of managing organisational performance to
goal setting, control systems, and measurement systems.
Supply Chain Management
The module will provide you with an understanding of supply chain management concepts and principles and
illustrate how they can contribute to achieving sustainable competitive advantage. You will learn to apply
different supply chain and product design strategies and formulate ways to improve supply chain integration to
reduce loss in value in terms of time, cost and quality. As part of the module, you will participate in an
interactive and competitive business game, which will help you to apply what you have learnt. You will work in
groups to build an efficient global sourcing and supply chain under conditions of uncertainty with the objective
of sustaining high levels of product availability at low cost, in order to maximise profitability.
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Disruptive Innovation
The module presents disruptive innovation as a key strategic competence. You will gain practical experience of
developing a disruptive innovation through a group design exercise which will be presented to practitioners.
You will learn to identify and apply recent, relevant theory to the study of disruptive innovation, to understand
the core theoretical aspects of disruptive innovation in technologies, services and business models, to identify
a target for disruptive innovation, and to understand the importance of a coherent value proposition.
Entrepreneurship
Through the Entrepreneurship course you will acquire the knowledge and skills relevant for the management
of new ventures across the entrepreneurial life cycle. The course will also act as a pre-requisite if you wish to
take the option to undertake a new venture internship in the final part of the programme.
Mastering Project Management
The module introduces you to the fundamentals of project management. You will learn about the lifecycle
approach to project management, its applications and benefits, and learn to understand the relationship
between business strategies, portfolios, programmes and projects. The module covers the key theories,
principles, processes, tools and techniques underpinning project management, and gives you the opportunity
to demonstrate your learning by creating a plan for implementing a specific business change or an
entrepreneurial initiative.
Term 3 and 4:
Management Consulting
The module brings together what you have learnt on the programme so far and helps you to apply it in
practice. You will work in teams, playing the role of a management consulting team, in competition with the
other learning teams. You will be presented with a real-life business problem from a case company and will
have one week to understand the problem, gather relevant data, use appropriate tools/frameworks to analyse
the data, and propose innovative, pragmatic and achievable recommendations. A panel of experts, including
practitioners and academics, will assess your proposed solutions and give you feedback.
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Research Methods and Statistics
The module will equip you to design, conduct and report on the research project in the final part of the
programme, as well as preparing you to carry out or commission management research in your professional
life. You will learn to articulate and define management problems, design research that will help you to make
informed management decisions, choose and apply appropriate qualitative or quantitative data collection and
analysis methods, translate data into information to form evidence for management decision-making, and to
use widely-used quantitative and qualitative analysis software.
Thesis and Internship Project
The final thesis element of the programme requires you to undertake a major research project in association
with a three month internship project. You will be required to apply the management knowledge, skills, and
analytical abilities you have acquired during the programme to real-life situations. You will have to demonstrate
your ability to research issues, critically evaluate data and information, skilfully apply tools and techniques to
solve management problems, and write a report concisely, informatively and persuasively. You will also be
expected to write an individual reflective review of your own personal development over the course of the
programme.
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