MSc in Economics and Business Administration - International Marketing and Management

Content and Structure

Through the concentration you will acquire knowledge that is used in three different approaches to a company: The internal perspective, the international and external network, and the challenges in the international environment.

Internal perspective
The first approach is concerned with the component parts of the company, and understanding the internal cohesion. It helps you identify the company’s strengths and weaknesses, prioritise the company’s tasks to solve them in the right order and synchronise efforts to move in the same direction. It covers subjects such as strategic decisions, marketing decisions, innovation, knowledge management, resource management and incentives within the company.

For example, knowledge management is important because it gives you an understanding of how to utilise the knowledge behind a product, and bring inside knowledge to the outside – in other words, how to profit from the knowledge that is inside the organisation via your products or services. In many cases it is not the physical product itself that makes an impact on the market, but how you utilize the knowledge behind it. The real value of knowledge is oftenhidden in the software or service, which in combination with the product itself can be a source of competitive advantage.

A company has many different units, and sometimes they are not all aligned to the same strategy. By looking more closely at challenges, when moving from strategy formulation to strategy implementation, you will be able to identify the misunderstandings or discrepancies between the decided strategy and the action taken, or to identify if there are different perceptions of the same strategy within the company. This is especially relevant when dealing with multinational companies where the structure is complex and there is room for and risk of such a misunderstanding  arising. You will also learn to disaggregate the big units to look at the parts in isolation and identify where action needs to be taken, and then aggregate them again to make the whole system work.

By examining the links between choice consequences, you will see how different choices has consequences for the company, and learn to look at trade-offs, pros and cons to determine what the best choice is, and identify what is lost and what is gained in making one choice over another.

International, external network
The second approach focuses mainly on markets. When talking about strategic marketing in this context, it is not classic marketing that is meant, but rather understanding the markets in which you are doing your marketing. International and multinational companies must understand the complexity of the markets which often consist of a myriad of segments. A market is not just a country. Some markets are defined by borders, others by cultures, others by age – Asia wants fur, Muslims want beef, the west wants chicken nuggets, and young people everywhere want coca cola. This poses the challenge of how to approach a segment that is not in one geographical location.

You will learn to see that the complexity of a market in an international context is much bigger than a local market. Here, there could be political issues to address, socio-economic considerations, or there could be risks involved that you should be aware of.
You will also learn to identify international value chains, see where the value is created, and where in these markets the company can create value by understanding the  kind of market you are dealing with. You will be equipped with the tools to acquire this understanding through e.g. market and segment analyses of data.

Navigating challenges in the international environment
With your existing knowledge of the internal streamlining and the external complexity, the third approach combines the two to decide the right strategy – and to make strategies customised and operational according to their circumstances. You will have a precision in your actions because you know how to navigate. If, for example, the company wants to enter the Chinese market, there is much to consider – where do we want to go, how do we do it, do we have partners in that market who can help us reach the segments? etc. By making an informed strategy choice based on an understanding of both the market and the company, you can make your strategy much more precise. This allows you to make more operational and successful strategies because you understand where in the company something needs to be tweaked, and you can customise the strategy to fit your exact circumstances in the complex market. Understanding the international challenges also means you can identify the most advantageous location and position for the company – not only  in terms of geography, but also in terms of political, legal and economic market conditions.
By analysing trade-offs, pros and cons in this way, and thereby preparing the company’s international moves, you will learn to optimise its international endeavours.
 

Structure

International Marketing and Management is a two-year master’s programme that is divided into 4 semesters. The fall semester runs from September through November with exams in December and January; and the spring semester from February through April with exams in May and June. There are eight mandatory courses in  the first year, and elective courses followed by a Master’s thesis in the second.

There is a certain degree of progression between the courses in the first year. In particular the courses in strategy and research methods will introduce you to theories and approaches that will be further developed and used in the second semester.

Additional options

In the second year you have the option to apply for the CEMS programme.
You can also use part of your third semester to obtain a minor in one of the specialised minor programmes.

Course overview

You can find course descriptions in the programme regulations for International Marketing and Management.