Specializations

Structure of the M.Sc. in Business Administration According to Examination Regulations 2013

The new Examination Regulations MPO 2013, which have now come into force, have brought changes with them to the M.Sc. in Business Administration program as of the winter semester 2013/2014.

There are now four specializations available. These are as follows:

Sustainability and Corporations

To date, the key driver of industrialization and globalization has been the exploitation of finite fossil resources. Their increasing scarcity and their influence on climate change require a transition to sustainable economic development. This situation has important consequences for all value-added activities, particularly for energy supply and transportation. The Research Area "Energy, Mobility & Environment" (EME), which is responsible for this particular specialization, uses in an interdisciplinary manner different methodological approaches and various perspectives to problematize the challenges for the economy, for society, and for companies in particular.

Operations Research and Management

Companies are facing increasingly complex managerial situations. This complexity is reflected in, for instance, globally interlinked supply chain structures, in the intense price-demands and availability demands of E-commerce, or in business planning in the light of increasingly volatile commodity prices. The resulting challenges can only be tackled by using analytical models and methodologies that support planning and decision making processes. The objective is to develop new insights and understandings for enhanced business performance out of the data and information available (“business analytics“) as well as to derive the best possible options for the designing and controlling of production systems, service systems, and logistics systems (“optimization/simulation“).

Students who select the specialization “Operations Research and Management“ are introduced to key fields of application (such as production, logistics, supply chain management, health care) as well as modern mathematical fundamentals of operations research (such as linear and integer optimization, graph and network algorithms, game theory). Its interdisciplinarity and blend of theory and practice mean that the learning content of this particular specialization has a business management, mathematics, and informatics focus. Students are offered a diverse range of topics to select from that will prepare them for a broad variety of career opportunities in companies.

Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Marketing

Entrepreneurship is a key driver of company start-ups and processes of innovation. Although innovative ideas can be particularly well implemented by new companies, existing organizations also need to continuously innovate if they are to survive in today's internationally competitive world. In a similar vein, marketing strategies for new products or new business models must be fitted to the specific needs of this domain.

Innovative processes are dynamic and open-ended, which means that the relevant Research Area for this specialization is a highly challenging one. In addition, there are diverse sources of uncertainty which impinge on practical management. In this specialization area, we elucidate students on the regulations and structures that are common to decision-making problems in this field. We also impart our students with practice-oriented knowledge, equipping them in their future professions to succesfully tackle innovative product development challenges as well as to succesfully design and market new products and services, or even to succesfully start up their own companies.

The tight integration between research and practice means that highly current topics can be addressed. Most of our teaching activitites are inter-active (Harvard Business School case studies, business simulation games, project work), an approach that requires students to be actively involved in class.

Corporate Development and Strategy

The teaching program in the specialization area “Corporate Development and Strategy” is a particularly extensive one: Students acquire knowledge that enables them to understand and analyze from an economic perspective the functioning of different company sectors. They are also familiarized with the market and competitive environments in which companies operate as well as with economic framework conditions. This particular area of specialization targets students who want to focus on individual corporate aspects, such as controlling, financing, organizational development, human resources management, competition, internationalization, or economic framework conditions. However, it also caters to students who wish to gain a broader view that encompasses the internal and external problems affecting companies, and who want to acquire an understanding of how decision-making impacts on a company as a whole, in order to be able to make their own strategic decisions. Students who chose this specialization are well equipped to take on leading managerial roles in their future careers.

For general information, please consult the Examination Regulations MPO 2013 in the download area. The module catalogue and curricula for the specialization areas are included. However, for the latest information, please consult the Examination Regulations description in Campus.

After the new Examination Regulations have come into force, examinations in accordance with the Examination Regulations MPO 2010 will only be possible up until and including the winter semester 2014/2015, i.e. as of the summer semester 2015, students still studying for the M.Sc. in Business Administration will automatically switch to the new Examination Regulations MPO 13