Period: 5 Febuary 2018 - 4 May 2018.

Course description
The Organizational Dynamics (OD) course is a package of 3 topics (jointly 12 ects) developed exclusively for students with a background in life sciences. It has a strong orientation in Management and Business Economics and provides the opportunity to understand how organizations in the Life Sciences industry operate.
 
The course consists of 3 topics over a 3 month period (February-May). In these three months, (almost) daily meetings are scheduled. Next to that, a number of (compulsory) workshops will be part of the programme. In the academic year 2017-2018 we have the following core topics in the programme:
 

• Organization and Strategic Management
• Marketing Management
• Financial Management

 
Topics consists of 10-12 sessions each, with a work load of 4 ects. Students will get a grade for each of these topics; however, it is only possible to take all three topics jointly. Usually the grade of the topics will be the result of several inputs from the students, like a research paper, a case study presentation and/or a final exam.
 
 
Organization and Strategic Management:
Lecturer                     TBA
Time period                February-March
Contact hours                        10 lectures/tutorials
Office hours               Students are requested to make an appointment with the lecturer by e mail
 
Introduction
The topic Organization and Strategic Management focuses on the internal organization of firms (organization) and how firms can achieve sustainable competitive advantages in different markets (strategic management). In this introductory topic, the development of management practices from the early 20^th century to more contemporary strategic management practices is being described and studied. By focusing on the developments over time, the topic focuses on the underlying assumptions of the different theories regarding the nature of human behavior and competition between firms. Consequently, students may develop a framework that helps them to evaluate the effectiveness and purposefulness of operational and top level managerial decision-making.
 
Learning objectives
After taking this topic, students should be able to:

• Identify different organizational aspects and perspectives on organizations
• Identify different managerial techniques to enhance production and human efficiency
• Understand the differences and interrelations between the most influential organizational and strategic management theories/paradigms
• Understand, explain and apply the different theoretical foundations for analyzing and classifying organizations and strategies
• Understand and explain how firms achieve competitive advantages and how such advantages can be sustained over time
• Put theory to practice by analyzing concrete problems within organizations

 
Marketing Management
Lecturer                     TBA
Time period                February-April
Contact hours                        10 lectures/tutorials
Office hours               Students are requested to make an appointment with the
lecturer by e-mail
 
Introduction
Marketing revolves around the theme of creating value for customers in order to gain value for the organization. Marketing management focuses upon the way organizations identify markets for their products and services, how they position and promote their products and services, and how they sell their products and services to consumers.
 
Learning objectives
The overall objective of the topic is to study the application of marketing principles, strategies and tactics in specific markets. After completing the topic, students:

• have a thorough understanding of the problems faced by marketers;
• have a thorough understanding of the theory and literature of marketing management;
• can apply marketing principles, strategies and tactics in specific markets;
• can solve marketing problem situations using theoretically sound principles of marketing;
• are able to generate an appropriate marketing plan for a specific product in a specific market; and
• are able to generate a marketing management solution related to any of the above outcomes

 
Financial Management
Lecturer                     dr. P. Fliers
Time period                March-April
Contact hours                        10 lectures/tutorials
Office hours               Students are requested to make an appointment with the
lecturer by e-mail
 
Introduction
The topic Financial management discusses various aspects related to the accounting, investment and financing decisions faced by organizations. Accounting refers to the process of identifying, measuring and communicating economic information about an organization for the purpose of making decisions and informed judgments. In the first part of the topic, the annual report and the associated financial statements are discussed. Next, cost behavior and cost allocation, and performance management are introduced. In the finance part, investment and financing decisions are investigated. Suppose that a firm can choose between several potential projects to invest in. How should the firm decide which project to pursue? Several methods that may be helpful in making such decisions will be discussed. New projects may also require additional funding. Firms are generally financed by both equity and debt. What determines the value of a firm’s stocks and bonds, or in other words, for which value can the firm issue new instruments to increase funding?
 
Learning objectives
After completing the financial management topic, students:

• Understand the role of the finance function in organizations;
• Understand the differences between accrual accounting (costs and revenues) and cash flow accounting (cash inflows and cash outflows), and can apply the concept in managerial decision making;
• Understand and interpret the key components of annual reports, and apply ratio analysis;
• Understand and apply cost-volume-profit analysis;
• Understand and identify the components of management control systems;
• Understand and apply the concept of performance management;

• Understand and can apply the concept time value of money (including annuities and perpetuities)
• Understand the differences between debt and equity;
• Understand and can apply bond valuation and stock valuation concepts and models;
• Understand and can apply capital budgeting decision rules.

 
Registration:
You can apply for this course for 2017-2018 starting from September 1 and registration is on a "first come, first served" basis. You can register via the Study Guide. The maximum number of participants is 30, the minimum 20.
 

N.A.

 

Yes. The course cannot be combined with the M-profile of 30 EC.

 

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