This is a foundation course within the MBA program. In this course you will be introduced to design thinking and you will be asked to apply design thinking as entry level managers to authentic business scenarios. We operationalise the concept of design thinking and examine how the tools of business design can be employed across the disciplines and functions covered in this program.

• Examine and discuss design thinking, exploring its manifestations and implications within organisational contexts.
• Differentiate between contemporary methods, emphasising their role in fostering teamwork to identify opportunities and solve problems collaboratively and creatively.
• Create and communicate end-user-driven solutions to business problems or opportunities, employing design thinking principles and encouraging diversity and team creativity throughout the process.
• Demonstrate creative, critical and ethical thinking by collaboratively developing and recommending solutions to business problems and opportunities that benefit relevant stakeholders.
• Evaluate potential outcomes of design thinking in view of better creative problem solving, decision making, implementation and sustainability of solutions.

This course aims to develop understandings and skills adequate to the complexities of being a managerial leader. The course covers leadership and management from early theories to contemporary perspectives. The course provides you with a conceptually rich framework for designing managerial leadership effectiveness within organizational contexts. The course aims to enable you to think creatively about the capabilities required of professional managerial leaders, with an emphasis on self-development related to becoming workplace ready.

• Recognise the appropriateness of different types of leadership styles in a range of organisational settings.
• Accurately assess your personal strengths and areas of challenge and effectively self-manage these towards improved practice.
• Explain how effective managerial leaders are able to diagnose and ethically improve the key areas of organisational functioning.
• Motivate and influence others in ways that contribute to sustainable organisational performance.

This course seeks to develop understanding of the marketing function, to observe current marketing practice and to examine key issues currently challenging the profession. The course stresses the relationship between the customer/client and the organisation as a producer or service provider.

Ethical or responsible marketing as a strategy for building trust is also identified. The primary course objective is to enable you to understand and utilise marketing tools, techniques and processes towards better organisational outcomes. This enables you to better manage the marketing issues. Theoretical concepts such as segmentation, targeting, positioning, among others are presented and applied in a series of cases and activities that reflect the use of these concepts in real practice. Marketing strategy is related to the environmental opportunities and constraints that must be addressed. A feature of this course is to consider the relevance of marketing practices in different organisational contexts.

• Apply the key concepts and tools of marketing theory to enable the application of marketing functions in a professional context.
• Implement the strategic marketing planning process to develop and manage marketing plan.
• Utilise marketing research tools and methodologies to generate actionable insights and guide data-driven decision-making.
• Present marketing ideas and concepts to a variety of stakeholders using effective communication skills.
• Develop and evaluate your readiness and adaptability to engage effectively in global marketing contexts independently and in diverse team environments.

In today's environment, business, finance and accounting professionals need to analyse an increasing volume of data in a meaningful way in order to make sustainable strategic decisions. Good decisions depend on accurate and well-presented information drawn from both domestic and international sources and more importantly the ability to synthesise and draw conclusions from that data. Financial Analytics for Managerial Decisions will develop your ability to interpret and analyse both internal and external financial information so that as a business leader you can make effective and sustainable decisions in a global context. To develop not only your technical expertise but also your interpersonal and problem solving skills, you will participate in teamwork and a business simulation.

• Analyse, interpret and critically evaluate global financial information from a variety of sources in order to develop sustainable business proposals.
• Create effective business reports, advice and tables tailored to specific business needs.
• Show effective, appropriate and persuasive collaboration and communication skills in a range of contexts.
• Select, communicate and advocate effective strategies using design thinking to address complex business problems and opportunities.
• Apply ethical standards to the role and conduct of financial reporting.