Accounting and Finance Project

Designed to provide students with an opportunity to define and execute an independent piece of research in international accounting and/or finance on an approved topic of their choice.

Business to Business Marketing

Designed to provide an understanding of key issues and perspectives in business marketing and supply chain management, and to provide an opportunity to turn that understanding into decision-making.
Through readings, cases, discussion, and simulation to:

• Come to grips with the different roles of buyers and suppliers in business markets.
• Understand the various marketing strategies and techniques applied in business markets.
• Grasp the nature of supply chains. 
• Relate business markets and supply chains to outsourcing strategy. 
• Provide opportunities and assist in developing analytical, communication and presentational skills of students.

Business Finance

Designed to introduce students to the nature of business finance, and its role in business decision-making, and provide a suitable foundation for advanced study. By the end of the module students should understand and be able to apply theories relating to capital investment, risk assessment and corporate financing choices.

Cases in Financial Management and Control.

Designed as a capstone module which aims to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills acquired in the autumn term accounting and finance modules, through their application to real-world business problems and case study scenarios.

Comparative and Inter-Cultural Management

Students will learn to appraise and appreciate business practices in unfamiliar contexts, and explain the differences to contexts that they are familiar with. Students will examine and explain how managers can address challenges of cross-cultural situations such transferring management practice, business negotiations, inter-cultural teams and expatriation.

Contemporary Issues in International Business

Designed to make students aware of current and contentious issues in international business, both from the perspective of the MNE and the policy environment, through a seminar series in which decision-makers and academics are invited to present on their areas of expertise. This module is interdisciplinary, with presentations in the fields of economics, politics, strategy, and sociology.
Students will have an opportunity to develop their research skills by conducting a critical review of the literature in a specifically defined area of economic policy/theory, and both gain an in-depth knowledge of current issues and develop critical thinking, presentation, research and writing skills.

Designing Organisations

Designed to provide students with a solid grounding in the theory and practice of organisational design and change.

Dissertation

Designed to provide students with an understanding of the main research skills necessary to undertake an original piece of research in management science at Masters level. To give students an awareness of the appropriate use of methodology, theory, data, literature review, and original research in a Masters dissertation, and to enable students to produce an engaging piece of original research.

Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management

Designed to provide students with a sound understanding of the distinctive features of management in the SME environment, its complexity, the additional challenges and risks related to the small dimension, but also its advantages.

Ethics in Accounting and Financial Management

Business has its own moral norms, which often differ from those in society at large, while both business and social norms evolve over time and vary between cultures. Within business, the area of finance and accounting raises particular issues in this respect as the micro-culture of financial trading, the professional norms of the accounting profession and the overwhelming preoccupation with money introduce a variety of conflicting moral pressures. This module aims to equip students with the intellectual foundations for negotiating the moral world that ensues. It is divided into two parts:

• Part 1 aims to equip students with a critical understanding of moral norms. This includes an understanding of how moral norms vary between countries and between business, home and other social settings; of their social and psychological foundations; and of the social and political processes through which they evolve.
• Part 2 aims to equip students with a basis for making ethical choices, in cases where moral norms conflict or are in tension - for example where the moral practices of a business organisation conflict with what one would consider moral in a domestic or social context, or where the moral practices of a culture in which managers operate differ from those of their home culture. This includes an introduction to ethical reasoning and an understanding of the relationship between reason, emotions and tradition.

Throughout this module applications to real-world situations are used both to develop students' analytical, reflexive and decision skills and to introduce them to the range of moral issues and contexts encountered in the practices of accountancy, investment and financial management.

Ethics in International Management

Business has its own moral norms, which often differ from those in society at large, while both business and social norms evolve over time and vary between cultures. This module aims to equip students with the intellectual foundations for negotiating the moral world that ensues. It is divided into two parts:

• Part 1 aims to equip students with a critical understanding of moral norms. This includes an understanding of how moral norms vary between countries and between business, home and other social settings; of their social and psychological foundations; and of the social and political processes through which they evolve.
• Part 2 aims to equip students with a basis for making ethical choices, in cases where moral norms conflict or are in tension - for example where the moral practices of a business organisation conflict with what one would consider moral in a domestic or social context, or where the moral practices of a culture in which managers operate differ from those of their home culture. This includes an introduction to ethical reasoning and an understanding of the relationship between reason, emotions and tradition.

Throughout this module applications to real-world situations are used both to develop students' analytical, reflexive and decision skills and to introduce them to the range of moral issues and contexts encountered in international management.

Ethics in Marketing and International Management

Business has its own moral norms, which often differ from those in society at large, while both business and social norms evolve over time and vary between cultures. Within business the field of marketing occupies a distinctive and sometimes awkward position between the moral worlds of business and the consumer society it 'serves' or 'exploits'. This module aims to equip students with the intellectual foundations for negotiating the moral world that ensues. It is divided into two parts:

• Part 1 aims to equip students with a critical understanding of moral norms. This includes an understanding of how moral norms vary between countries and between business, home and other social settings; of their social and psychological foundations; and of the social and political processes through which they evolve.
• Part 2 aims to equip students with a basis for making ethical choices, in cases where moral norms conflict or are in tension - for example where the moral practices of a business organisation conflict with what one would consider moral in a domestic or social context, or where the moral practices of a culture in which managers operate differ from those of their home culture. This includes an introduction to ethical reasoning and an understanding of the relationship between reason, emotions and tradition.

Throughout this module applications to real-world situations are used both to develop students' analytical, reflexive and decision skills and to introduce them to the range of moral issues and contexts encountered in marketing and international management.

Financial Management

Designed to build on a student's knowledge of international management by examining the role and techniques of accounting and financial management

Global Entrepreneurial Management

This module examines, from an international comparative perspective, key issues in management such as corporate governance, management education and the increasingly entrepreneurial role of managers in modern business.

Global Marketing Management

Designed to provide students with an understanding of marketing strategies and practices in a global context, by analysing the global marketing environment, marketing opportunities and strategy options, and the global marketing mix.

Industrialisation and the Multinational Enterprise

This module focuses on issues relating to the role of MNEs in the process of industrialisation. It will review the theory and evidence relating to how foreign direct investment affects economic structure and industrial development in host countries.

International Business Environment

This module takes a holistic view of the international business environment, in terms of the trade, competition and investment milieu, which in turn are determined by the policies and regulations established by governments and supra-national organisations. Furthermore, it seeks to highlight the specific challenges associated with managing organisations in markets that are explicitly international and increasingly interdependent.

International Corporate Social Responsibility

Designed to develop a current understanding of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and develop students' awareness on the ethical issues involved from the perspective of the individual (manager /agent and stakeholder), of individual firms and of wider society, by combining a rigorous theoretical and a strong applied foundation on the topic. The need for a firm to fit social performance to its international business and non-business stakeholder environment is explored (business and society perspective). Importantly, the module design and pedagogy aims in developing a critical and thorough examination of CSR via juxtaposing and integrating a normative understanding rooted in business ethics, and an understanding of responsibility and the role of business in society rooted in current CSR theory, discourses and action that may transcend the normative understanding. Both theory and case studies are utilised.

International Financial Reporting 1

Designed to develop students' critical knowledge and understanding of decision-useful investor-related financial reporting. This involves developing knowledge and understanding of (i) the regulatory and conceptual frameworks within which financial reporting statements are prepared and (ii) the principles and methods that underlie their preparation in an international context.

International Financial Reporting 2

Designed to develop further students' critical knowledge and understanding of decision-useful investor-related financial reporting by considering further examples of the financial reporting principles and methods that underlie the preparation of financial statements in an international context. It also aims to place the financial reporting standard setting system in an historical and current context.

International Human Resource Management

To introduce students to key concepts for understanding international human resource management, to explore the practice of managing human resources in international businesses and to consider variations in the practice of managing human resources in different countries and cultures.

International Management Business Project

To provide students with an opportunity to define and execute an independent piece of research in international management on an approved topic of their choice.

International Strategic Management

Designed to provide an introduction to the variety of issues confronting managers of multinational corporations, both within the firms and in the global marketplace. The aim is for students to gain an overall understanding of the issues related to international strategic management, many of which are developed further in other core and optional modules. This module offers analytical tools for managers of firms who seek to retain and improve their competitive advantages in very different business environments.

Issues in Globalisation

This module is designed to examine contemporary real world issues pertaining to globalisation and how they impinge on international business activities, It does so at two levels. First, it discusses how economic and industrial policies at both the country and supranational level (such as the EU and the WTO) respond to the issues that face policy makers and regulatory bodies in the world today. Second, it seeks to develop an understanding of how multinational companies have sought to proactively organise their value-adding activities spatially to overcome and exploit some of these challenges. This module specifically seeks to highlight the differences in the response of emerging country economies and firms, with those from advanced economies.

Leadership & Advanced Business Policy

Designed to provide students with an introduction to key theories of leadership and understanding applications in an organisational context.

Management Decision Making and Performance Evaluation

Introduces the theory and practice of management accounting in relation to organisational decision-making, planning, control and performance evaluation.
This involves a consideration of the technical language and practices of management accounting, their location within the organisational and business context, and the theoretical and empirical evidence concerning the development and current practice of management accounting

Managing People and Organisations

Designed to introduce students and encourage them to reflect on what is known empirically about how people behave in organisational settings, to the theories that inform this knowledge and to the practical implications for managers. This module is rooted in a variety of disciplines, including philosophy, economics and psycho-sociology. 

Market Research

Designed to provide students with the basic skills needed to understand market research. Business research relies increasingly on the use of qualitative and quantitative methods to acquire data and to understand marketing and business issues. This module is designed to acquaint the students with methods of data collection and analysis, as well as its philosophy, underlying assumptions, means for ensuring reliability and validity.

Marketing and Consumer Society

By exploring the evolution of modern day marketing practice, and assessing how and why approaches to marketing have changed over time, students will be better placed to understand the environment in which present day marketers operate, and how changes to that environment might shape future practice. For students seeking a future career in marketing, the historical perspective provided here should help them distinguish between passing fashions or fads and fundamental changes of long term significance.

Marketing & International Management Business Project

Designed to provide students with an opportunity to define and execute an independent piece of research in marketing and international management on an approved topic of their choice.

Principles of Marketing

Designed to provide students with a clear understanding of the principles and practices underlying marketing today.

Professional Development and Practice

Designed to provide students with an understanding of the issues and challenges facing managers in the workplace today. Students will become equipped to understand established and emerging practices within the business environment. Student will also develop essential job market skills.

Social Enterprise

An interactive and practical module designed to inspire students to social entrepreneurship by giving them a comprehensive introduction to the social enterprise sector. Students will be engaged in consultative project work, applying creativity and business acumen to issues faced by social enterprise organisations across Berkshire.

Study and Research Skills: Sources, Methods, and Practice

Designed to strengthen students' ability to make best use of the learning opportunities during their Masters degree. To provide students with an understanding of what is required to perform well in essays, dissertations, report writing and examinations at the University of Reading. To provide students with an awareness of the appropriate use of methodology, theory, data, literature reviews and original research in a Masters dissertation/project.

Theories of the Multinational Enterprise

Designed to provide students with an understanding of the theory of multinational enterprise that can serve as a basis for practical evaluation of the behaviour and performance of those companies.