Business Development and Innovation MSc

Business development and innovation in challenging times is key to business growth and economic recovery. The overall aim of the MSc Business Development and Innovation course, therefore, is to provide an academically challenging, intellectually stimulating programme of study that educates, develops and enhances your professional competence. In short, a course with a strong theoretical underpinning and relevant practical application. Within this broad aim, the specific objectives of the course are to: Provide an advanced study of business and management with particular reference to business development and innovation; Prepare and/or develop you for a career in business development and innovation by facilitating the development of transferable skills at a professional level, or as preparation for research or further study in the area; Develop your ability to apply knowledge and critical understanding of business development and innovation to complex issues, to improve organisations and business practice; Enhance your lifelong learning skills and personal development in to help work under your own initiative and originality, and to contribute to business and society at large. Our experiences with participants studying on this course is that the real value of the course is in its ability to empower students to take a high level view of how innovation (in whatever form) can facilitate and support business development and create value in their own particular context. Modules Here is a guide to the subjects studied on this course. Courses are continually reviewed to take advantage of new teaching approaches and developments in research, industry and the professions. Please be aware that modules may change for your year of entry. The exact modules available and their order may vary depending on course updates, staff availability, timetabling and student demand. Please contact the course team for the most up to date module list. NB: For students with a January start you will complete two of the below modules in Semester 2 of Year 1, and then all the remaining modules in the next academic year, so over 4 semesters in total. For those starting in Sept all of the below modules will be completed in one academic year or over 2 years if Part-Time. Creativity The purpose of this module is to introduce creative management concepts and tools that can be used to address development challenges at individual, group or organisational levels. Such challenges are typically in the context of social, economic or sustainable development. Module content draws on approaches to challenge-based research undertaken by multidisciplinary teams at Ulster University and includes case material from international, practice-based networks. Global Business This module seeks to provide students with an appreciation of the processes of firm internationalisation and the key issues that affect business and marketing decisions in an international and global context. Firm level processes and activities are considered within the context of the global business environment. Students will be given the opportunity to assess opportunities for internationalisation and the barriers that must be addressed. Competitiveness This module focuses on the wider topic of competitiveness and explores the determinants of national and regional competitiveness from both a "bottom-up", microeconomic perspective, and "top-down" macroeconomic approach. In particular, it probes the ultimate determinants of a nation's or region's productivity, rooted in economic policies, the endowments of a country, the strategies and operating practices of locally based firms, the vitality of clusters, and the quality of the business environment in which competition takes place. Management Research Dissertation The module seeks to expose students of Business Development and Innovation to the range of research methods and project management techniques available. Students will acquire appropriate knowledge and understanding of the various research methodologies for the purposes of developing an applied management research proposal and project plan in preparation for undertaking systematic empirical studies at a postgraduate level, on a topic of strategic value to an organisation. Strategy for Business Development Strategy consists of the analysis and decisions an organisation undertakes in order to create and sustain competitive advantage. Understanding these interrelated processes is crucial for creating and developing organisations. This module explores these decisions areas from a range of contemporary perspectives and contexts. Strategic and Applied Digital Marketing This module examines applying strategy in the digital marketing context. When the tools of marketing change, marketing strategies and marketers themselves must evolve too. The focus of this module is therefore on supporting adaptive practice of current or potential future marketers through leveraging an applied project based learning approach toward developing strategic expertise in the digital transformation of the marketing function. Entrepreneurship This module engages module participants in a programme in Entrepreneurial Learning and Practice that reflects the environment with which they live and work. It aims to build their awareness of "entrepreneurship" as a theoretical concept and a practical reality for those engaged in the launch and/or development of any enterprise. It provides a framework for engaging with and assessing the viability of an innovative project or new venture or the development of an existing one. It also provides programme participants with an opportunity, to audit their personal entrepreneurial potential. Innovation in Practice The module covers Innovation in Practice from both theoretical and practical perspectives. It introduces students to the underlying processes of innovation within organisations or different types. Moreover, the nature of innovation-based business processes is examined and critiqued.