MSc in International Business and Politics

Content

The MSc IBP addresses core business skills and considers business activities within a broader political and economic context. When you graduate you will therefore be equipped to take on the challenges faced by firms, policymakers and their advisers across the globe. Our graduates find employment in a broad range of occupations including management posts in the private and public sectors, business development, research, consultancy, project leadership and the mass media.   

The program rests upon the development of specific skills in the four academic streams around which it is structured: business strategies, international political economy, economics and policymaking processes. The courses within these streams:

1. analyze the decisions made by firms, the factors shaping those decisions, the market and non-market strategies they employ and the contemporary strategic challenges that they face
2. consider the interactions between firms and governments, the prime forces that shape the character of the national and international economy
3. analyze the decisions made by firms, the factors shaping those decisions, the different ideas, interests, and institutions that influence the making and implementation of public policy, the impact of the institutions and structures that mediate between markets and states, and the character of subsequent policy outcomes
4. address issues at regional, national and global levels. It thus considers contemporary developments and processes in and across emerging markets and advanced economies as well as the role played by supra-national institutions such as the World Bank and the European Union
5. assess the ways in which states and businesses respond to contemporary challenges such as sustainability, inequality, the increasing volatility of governance structures and market uncertainties

The program also offers broader, transferable skills enabling those who take it to address the challenges and practical dilemmas facing different types of firms. IBP graduates can:

• identify, retrieve and evaluate relevant research based knowledge;
• argue analytically, reflectively, and critically at a high academic level;
• pose and develop relevant questions for analysis
• utilize the skills introduced on the program so as to identify problems and subject them to methodologically rigorous analyses, communicate research results clearly and precisely and collaborate with others so as to develop solutions for private and public enterprises and organizations.

Structure

MSc International Business and Politics is a two-year program, divided into four semesters. The Autumn / 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.

Year One

The first (Autumn / Fall) semester of the first year consists of four mandatory or ‘core’) courses addressing each of the four themes that define the programme. The second (Spring) semester consists of a mandatory course (15 ECTS) that brings together the different themes and applies them to specific business cases. This is then followed by more specialist ‘stream’ courses. Students pick ONE stream (each of which consists of TWO 7.5 ECTS courses) to pursue.

The four streams are:

• Business Economics

The core course considers international trade theory, foreign direct investment (FDI), and the operations of financial markets. The optional stream courses build upon BSc-level economics and offer a microeconomic study of firms and markets as well as advanced macroeconomics.

• Business Strategies

The core course surveys the contemporary strategic challenges facing multinational enterprises whilst the optional stream courses use theoretical frameworks to examine issues related to people management as well as looking at innovation processes and the ways in which firms access, transfer and use globally dispersed knowledge.

• International Political Economy (IPE)

The courses build upon the study of IPE at undergraduate level by considering theoretical perspectives at an advanced level and applying them to empirical case studies. The optional stream courses policies focus on the policy responses of emerging and developing countries to international business as well as the politics of business standards, political risk, the politics of international finance, global growth strategies, or the management of international organizations.

• Business and Public Policy

The core course considers the making of public policy, the instruments that can be used to regulate different types of policy and introduces ways of analyzing policy processes as to devise recommendations for businesses and governments. It incorporates policymaking simulations, negotiation exercises and opportunities to explore ‘real world’ situations. The optional stream courses consider corruption in both developed and developing countries and the policy challenges that it poses as well as behavioural economics and the insights that it offers for processes of policy development.

Year Two

The first semester of the second year offers choices. You may wish to take elective courses. Alternatively, you will have the opportunity to study abroad at one of CBS’ partner universities. Or you may wish to undertake an internship (for 7.5, 15 or 30 ECTS) and have credits transferred to your degree. The second semester is devoted to the writing and submission of the master thesis. In most cases, students write this together with another student.

Additional Options

Exchange
You have the  opportunity to  study abroad for one semester at one of CBS’ partner universities.

Internship
You have the opportunity to do an internship and get credits transferred to you master degree. Since it is not possible to get a full semester credit transferred for your internship, you have the opportunity to write a free paper in order to complete the semester.

CEMS
When studying International Business and Politics, you can apply to the CEMS MIM programme, which is a double degree in Interntional Management. It provides you with both the MSc degree and the CEMS in International Management.

Course Overview

You can find course descriptions in the study regulations for MSc in International Business and Politics

*Stream courses

You must pick one of the following streams:

Business Economics:

• Topics in Public Economics (7,5 ECTS)
• Advanced Macroeconomics (7.5 ECTS)

Business Strategies:

• Global Innovation Strategies (7,5 ECTS)
• Managing People in Multinational Corporations (7,5 ECTS)

International Political Economy:

• Organizing Global Markets  (7.5 ECTS)
• Governing Risk in the World Economy (7.5 ECTS)

Business and Public Policy:

• Corruption: Causes, Consequences and Policies (7.5 ECTS)
• Behavioural Economics and Public Policy (7.5 ECTS)