WHU

Part-Time Master in Management: Curriculum

Designed for high potential professionals who want to work and study.

The same outstanding international faculty, small classes, guest speakers, and focus on practical learning. The same incredible network. The same results. Different hours.
A team of students discussing at a table in an office.

Our Part-Time Master in Management is easily combined with your professional career and lifestyle. In addition to demonstrating to your employer a high level of motivation, you will be able to immediately apply newly-acquired knowledge and management skills in your workplace. 

Lectures take place on four days per month (Thursday – Sunday). This guarantees more flexibility in your schedule to coordinate studies with your work.

Curriculum

Year 1

July / August

Two months before the program starts, students can take online courses as part of the preparatory self-study module, introducing key concepts and principles in areas of Quantitative methods, Strategy and Finance. Consisting of videos, lectures, and assignments, the module allows students to build a solid foundation needs for business education. The online module is entirely independent of where the student sets time and location.

September

The course takes a general manager’s perspective on how to run a company successfully. One particular focus is on strategic analysis and the formulation of appropriate strategies. The course introduces institutional economics as a simple, yet useful theoretical foundation for several challenges of general management. Participants get to know fundamental principles of organization and decision making in companies as well the most important functional areas of management.

October

This module provides an overview and critical discussion of financial reporting. Students will master the tools of financial analysis with a particular emphasis on examples from the world’s most important firms. Moreover, students will apply and critically assess firm performance using critical reasoning skills.

November – December

How to become a digital leader in your industry? In this course, we provide a comprehensive overview of how companies can strategically manage transformation and innovation in the digital age. In the course, we rely on real-life cases, serious Lego play and self-produced podcasts to discuss topics such as ‘How to avoid digital innovation theater’, ‘How to respond to digital disruption’, and ‘How to build and manage digital ecosystems’.

November – December

This course provides a rigorous introduction to the fundamentals of financial analysis with applications to managerial challenges in valuation, risk analysis, investment decisions, and basic ideas of investment management. The course consists of four major parts:

(A) introduction to financial markets, financial institutions, and the behavior of households, managers and investors;
(B) valuation of stocks, bonds, and contingent securities;
C) methods for incorporating risk analysis into valuation models, including portfolio theory, mean-variance optimization, and the Capital Asset Pricing Model; and
D) applications of these ideas to capital budgeting decisions.

Year 2

January – February

Build and sharpen your marketing management skills in a globalized and digitized world. This course examines core issues associated with marketing in an international environment. The increasing opportunities and threats placed by the growth in international business makes it critical of being able to understand the diverse customers, competitors, and environment. Based on an assessment of global marketing opportunities, you learn how to enter global markets and to develop and implement global marketing strategies.

January – February

This module provides a comprehensive understanding of the core elements of supply chain management and how companies can use them to enhance their value creation. In doing so it focusses on the linking the upstream supply side of the company to the internal value creation and the downstream customer base of the company. In addition to a chain-perspective, this module outlines synergies across upstream and downstream relationships. Key elements of the course are managing relationships with suppliers of materials and services, inventory management, transportation, and design of distribution networks.

March – April

No employee is an island: Everyone has to interact with people in their daily working life in organizations. This can be a difficult process fraught with personality clashes, conflicting visions, and communicative misunderstandings. In this module you will learn how to capitalize on and leverage your strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of employees, peers, and superiors. Furthermore, the course gives a basic overview of fundamental HR tasks and processes.

March – April

The course is designed to allow students to gain a comprehensive understanding of management accounting and control and tasks of controllers within the ranges of information supply, planning and control which are essential to executing the strategy of a business organization. Students will gain insights into specific management control processes and systems, on how to apply several management accounting tools, and learn about current trends in controlling.

1 week, May

In addition to an extensive curriculum, students participate in an additional mandatory module abroad. The international component takes place over one week. The module focusses on cultural immersion to broaden perspectives, with the option to capitalize on networking opportunities with local top management.

June – August

September – January

The Master thesis is designed to demonstrate that students are able to comprehend complex problems in the field of business and economics using a combination of both conventional and new methodological and theoretical techniques within their field of study. During a specified period, the completed final thesis should fulfill general academic requirements and be of a suitably high standard.

The time for writing the final thesis is three months.

This time begins once lectures for modules 1-9 are completed.

A helpful guide to our courses

For more information about all of the courses included in our Part-Time Master in Management, please click below.

Click on any module to see which courses are part of the curriculum. And if you would like to know more about any of the courses, just click on its name.

The location of all lectures will be revealed after your course registration.

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