International Marketing MSc - 15 months

London South Bank University

This module explores how the brand is created and formed, how it is managed for longevity and sustainability and how it provides resources and profits for companies. The international aspects of brand management are reviewed in terms of controlling and monitoring as well as cross cultural acceptance from the consumer/customer body. The module examines a broad range of theory taken from product management, service management and brand strategy.

An independent research project which draws upon the students? skills and knowledge gained thus far enabling application of learning to a scenario resulting in added value to an organisation and creating real world impact.

The module focuses on the rapidly changing world around us, it is imperative that students are able to think creatively, problem solve and create advantage for themselves (be entrepreneurial) and for the businesses they may work for (be intrapreneurial). The module encourages students to question what they see and experience around them with an aim to enhance their creativity and to discover new and improved ways of doing things.

In an increasingly interconnected global business environment it is crucial that marketers recognise how a better understanding of cultural differences can help improve performance. As marketers enter new international markets, an understanding of how culture influences consumer buyer behaviour will be crucial for both managers and consumer researchers. This module will examine how culture impacts on the consumer and buyer decision-making process; practices to enable a greater understanding of how culture can influence marketing strategy in the globalised environment.

This module introduces students to the research process, the mindset of the researcher and in particular to the idea of creativity in research and what it means to be a ?creative researcher?. In this module, students will identify potential topics for their practice-based dissertation and explore these with the aid of creative thinking techniques. In this way their research ideas can be refined and expressed in terms of clear research questions and objectives making use of the relevant literature and theoretical concepts.

International business managers must be able to speak the language of finance, at least to the extent that they can use financial information to inform their own decisions and to formulate strategy. This module seeks to provide a solid grounding in the disciplines of International pricing, finance and performance through a flexible framework of reference points and analytical tools to enable marketing managers to work with other functional specialists. Students begin by developing basic numeracy skills for financial analysis, working through a variety of cases designed to make familiar the terminologies, measures and calculations of financial reporting, progressing to pricing calculations that extend this knowledge from the domestic to the international arena.

This module is designed to develop professional consultancy skills by studying organisational structure and culture, situational analysis and diagnosis, communication strategies for consulting and group dynamics. Focusing on the development of business research; client handling and project management skills, completion of this module will enable students to prepare a succinct, clear, evidence based, persuasive consultancy led project plan , aligned to the strategic vision of an organisation and which they are able to effectively pitch to a client.

The module focuses on the nature, approaches, methods, tools and techniques of research within relevant disciplines from the business environment. In doing so it attempts to develop the skills and knowledge required to complete Master?s level research where the emphasis of the research is in improving aspects of business process and business practice. Thus the module is practically oriented towards the completion of a research proposal that will form the basis of the final practice-based project module.

This module builds a critical understanding of the key drivers of internationalisation, and of foreign market selection and entry as the two strategic dimensions of growth. It increases the depth of knowledge and understanding of marketing principles by introducing the concept of marketing science. It explores the synergies available to leverage brand growth between international market selection and foreign market entry, using the analysis of current business case studies.