Degree Overview:

Objective:

The International Business Master's degree program at CBS International Business School equips graduates with leadership, team and integration skills, high motivation, multilingualism, and excellent knowledge of economics, enabling them to make strategic and sustainable decisions in middle or senior management.

Description:

This full-time program covers 120 ECTS in 4 semesters, with a curriculum encompassing business and international economics, strategic and value-based management, business development, leadership and change management, accounting, customer relationship management, company setup and organization, and sustainable management. Electives allow students to personalize their learning journey based on their interests and prior knowledge.

Outline:

Structure:

Semester 1: Focuses on foundational business concepts like Business Economics, Analysis of demand, supply, and market equilibrium, Strategic Analysis & Management, Innovation Management & Digital Transformation, Customer Relationship Management, and Service & Brand Management.
Semester 2: Delves into Corporate Development & Digital Transformation, Strategic Human Resource Management & Leadership, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Governance, Value Based Management, and Sustainable Supply Chain Management.
Semester 3: Offers electives (Business, Digital Strategizing, Business Models & Systems in a Digital Era, Financials for Management and Marketing, International Corporate Finance, Venture Lab, Integrative Case Studies, Business Simulation Game) to personalize student learning.
Semester 4: Students complete their Master Thesis in collaboration with a company or during a semester abroad.

Modules:

Each module description is captured under the relevant semester they belong to.

Semester 1:

Business Economics: Covers topics like demand, supply, market equilibrium, consumer choice, theory of the firm, production and cost analysis, market structures, perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, contestable markets, game theory, pricing strategies, factor markets, labor economics, economics of information, and industrial organization.
Analysis of demand, supply, and market equilibrium: Focuses on development of a research question, primary vs. secondary data, steps of research process, research designs, quantitative and qualitative data, structured methods of data collection: questionnaire and structured interview, un- and semi-structured methods: qualitative interview, and focus group, quantitative and qualitative content analysis, ethical considerations of data collection, sampling, data analysis using statistical software programs (SPSS), univariate analysis, bivariate analysis, and multiple linear regression, and writing research report – structural and other formal requirements.
Strategic Analysis & Management: Covers strategy making process and strategic reasoning, cognitive process of strategy creation through the prism of logic and intuition, setting strategic purpose in the context of responsible stakeholder management, advanced external environment analysis, markets, industries, and competitive landscapes in static and dynamic perspective, diagnosing and managing strategic capability through national borders over time, cultural and institutional context of strategic management, concepts, frameworks, and analytical tools, generic and interactive business strategies, inside-out and outside-in perspective on achieving and sustaining competitive advantage internationally, network-level strategies, corporate development and configuration, strategic options and portfolio matrices, strategy formation, strategic change and corporate restructuring, strategic renewal, strategy evaluation and strategic controls, tools and methods.
Innovation Management & Digital Transformation: Covers diagnosing the change context: diffusion and dynamics of innovation, sources & types of innovation, product/service, process & business model innovation, individual and corporate creativity, strategic innovation management & the innovation process incl.
Customer Relationship Management: Covers relationship marketing vs. transactional marketing, concept of the customer lifetime value, market segmentation and the customer lifetime value, marketing strategies in the field of CRM, big data marketing and CRM, multi-channel marketing and CRM, efficiency and effectiveness of loyalty programs.
Service & Brand Management: Covers the definition of services in comparison to manufactured goods, the importance of Service Environment, challenges that must be identified and addressed by companies, developing effective service marketing strategies, The Three-Stage Model of services, applying the 4 Ps to services: Service Product, Distribution, Pricing, Promotion, balancing demand against productive capacity, managing people in services marketing, improving service quality, importance of Customer Relationship Management in Services, service processes, the foundations of identity-based brand management, the concept of identity-based brand management, strategic brand management, operational brand management, identity-based brand controlling, and international identity-based brand management.

Semester 2:

Corporate Development & Digital Transformation: Covers organisations and organisational effectiveness, organisational theory, basic challenges of organisational planning and development, organisational design, management in organizational and ethical culture, organisational life cycle, organisational decision making, organisational development and change, change management in mergers and acquisitions.
Strategic Human Resource Management & Leadership: Covers theory of strategic HRM, strategic HRM and business strategy, strategic HRM and organisational performance, strategic HRM in a complex and uncertain environment, strategic HRM in MNEs vs. SMEs, strategic staffing, strategic training and development management, strategic compensation and rewards, strategic HRM and sustainability, leadership theories/models, leadership traits, leadership styles, cognitive, behavioural, and emotional explanation for human motivation, performance management, controlling, leadership tools.
Corporate Social Responsibility: Covers cornerstones of sustainable management, CSR as management approach, practical approaches of organizational effectiveness, tools for CSR implementation, CSR and financial performance, life cycle assessment.
Corporate Governance: Covers historical developments around the world, directors and board structures in different parts of the world, family business governance, role of institutional investors, corporate governance in mergers and acquisitions, socially responsible investments, corporate governance in different regions.
Value Based Management: Covers value maximization and corporate objectives, shareholder value and stakeholder value approach, financial measurement of corporate strategies and competitive advantage: the principles, shortcomings of traditional profitability ratios for a value-based management, Economic Value Added, Cash Value Added, identifying the drivers of value creation and investment decision-making, management compensation and incentives for value creation.
Sustainable Supply Chain Management: Covers defining the state of a sustainable supply chain based on actual trends, discussion of various theoretical concepts (e.g.

Semester 3:

Electives: Business Elective (1 of several options), International Law.
Strategic Digital & Social Media Marketing: Covers Online Marketing/ Digital Marketing, Digital marketing sub-disciplines and major activity areas, Performance measurement using Web analytics (e.g.
Experience Lab: Search Engine Marketing: Covers introduction: definition, search engine optimization (SEO), keyword research, on-page SEO, web analytics and SEO tools, search engine advertising (SEA), campaign settings.
Business Project: Covers project goals for the “client”, working under the set timeframe and agreed project scope, cooperating in the international project teams, evaluating markets/ industries/ competitive landscapes, developing possible strategic directions for the “client” business, formulating recommendations.
Event Management (Ted Talk) Seminar: Covers basics of event management, objective of the event and different types of events, the event as a marketing and communication tool, planning and preparation, event execution, tasks and role of the event manager, choosing the right venue, personnel selection.

Semester 4:

Digital Strategizing: Covers fundamentals, starting points for digital strategies (selection), challenges in introducing digital strategies – four fights, identification of success factors for digital strategies (selection), agile strategy management, social and ethical aspects of digital strategies.
Business Models & Systems in a Digital Era: Covers functions, structure and types of business models and selected systems and describes and explains how business models change.
Financials for Management and Marketing: Covers formal rules and assumptions, national law, IFRS, US-GAAP, the system of financial statements and accounts, accounting for services and merchandising, inventory valuation, receivables and liabilities, plant, natural and intangible assets, ratio analysis, presentation of financial statements and overview of investment accounting standards, types of business combinations, joint ventures, business angels, private equity, start up financing, venture capital investors, and preparing a pitch deck for successfully presenting the new venture business plan.
Venture Lab: Covers discovering and evaluating entrepreneurial opportunities, developing business ideas from opportunities (e.g.
Integrative Case Studies: Covers focused review of the curriculum content, pre-assessment quiz/ content area assessment as benchmark for students’ status quo, guide, and strategic plan to case study analysis, writing a proper case study analysis report, developing proper answers to case questions, applying the relevant theoretical knowledge and frameworks, in-depth case study analysis focusing all subject areas of the curriculum, and in-depth case study analysis focusing specially on strategic management.
Business Simulation Game: Participants manage their own virtual company in the same market as other participant-operated competitors.
Master Thesis Tutorial: Covers fundamentals for master thesis, defining the topic as well as structuring the thesis and learning theoretical knowledge for scientific working.
Master Thesis: 19 weeks to complete the thesis, topic is freely selectable, can be written in collaboration with a company, in connection with a stay abroad, or during a semester abroad.

Assessment:

Assessment methods vary by course and may include a combination of exams, assignments, presentations, group projects, and case studies.

Teaching:

Teaching methods include lectures, seminars, workshops, group work, case studies, and simulations. The faculty comprises experienced academics and industry professionals.

Careers:

Graduates can pursue careers in various areas of international companies, such as marketing, human resources, controlling, and company management. Potential job titles include marketing manager, human resources manager, controller, and CEO.

Other:

The program emphasizes practical application through internships, business projects, and simulation games. Students can personalize their learning through the selection of electives and the Master Thesis topic. The program has a strong international focus, with courses taught in English and opportunities for studying abroad.

The displayed prices are semester fees. Status: January 2024.

International Business Master's Degree (M.A.) in Germany draft

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