The ALBA MBA

Creativity and innovation are career and business imperatives in the fluid and highly competitive economy of the 21st century. The explosion of creative industries in recent decades have turned innovation into a critical success factor in any form of work that involves the imagination, aesthetics, emotion, invention, or/and problem solving. With the advent of the knowledge economy, creativity has also become a cardinal aspect of managerial jobs. Creative problem solving, creative responses to contextual variability, improvisation, and the ability to generate original and bold ideas are defining elements of career success. This course provides students with the knowledge, skills and insights for discovering and practicing creativity in organizations, groups, and one's own career. The fourfold structure of the course entails: (a) cutting-edge knowledge about such topics as developing creative capabilities, managing creative people,  crafting creative work environments, and turning creative ideas into winning innovations; (b) concrete insight on practice through over 100 mini cases, examples and illustrations of creative accomplishment and innovation in business and society; (c) valuable "insider insight" about selected creative industries through direct interaction with guest speakers of notable creative achievement; and (d) practical application and the opportunity to act creatively during the course through brief interactive exercises and a major creative group assignment.

This course concentrates on the economic fundamentals of management by developing tools and thinking frameworks to analyze the structure and the evolution of the industry and the macroeconomic environment of a company. The course employs classical economic as well as game theoretic methodology to study the operation of markets in allocating resources as well as the markets’ impact on managerial decision making. Topics under consideration include consumer and business behavior, their interaction in competitive and non-competitive markets, the impact of market structure in the company’s managerial decision making and strategies, and the economics of platforms. Furthermore, the course develops thinking frameworks and methods to help participants understand the macroeconomic environment within which businesses operate, and also to identify channels through which this environment influences their managerial decision making.

The overall objective of the course is to help us develop business and financial ethics leadership praxis and actionable knowledge, i.e., action that creates wealth in such a way that makes ourselves, our organizations, and the world better. This course takes a management methods approach to business and financial ethics and social responsibility. The course focuses on methods managers can use individually and together in addressing ethics and social responsibility issues and in helping to build and maintain ethical and socially responsible organizations in various types of environments and realities. Methods considered include ethics leadership, change, reasoning, dialogue, persuasion, governance, due process, negotiating, incentive, training, social movement, alternative institution building, top-down and bottom-up compliance code and win-lose forcing methods, and ethics crisis management and turnaround methods. In addition to learning about the methods, students are invited to reflect upon what types of institutional citizens we would like to be and what types of ethical and socially responsible organizations we would like to help create in our various types of environments and realities. Case studies from Europe, Asia, and North America are considered.

This course aims to enhance your quantitative and problem structuring skills, with emphasis placed on the process of action-oriented decision making.  It also aims to equip you with specific skills in the areas of data analysis, risk evaluation, project evaluation and forecasting. You will be exposed to advanced decision support tools and you are expected to reach "end-user" level of modelling competence. This means that you should be in a position to deal with messy real-life problems that require some action, recognize the areas where business analysis can add value, select appropriate types of analyses and tools and apply them in order to make informed decision.

The aim of the workshop is to provide participants with a fulfilling and lively event, in order to introduce them to the importance of teamwork.  By taking part in planned outdoor activities and exercises and through mutual support, the team enables itself to overcome difficulties and built strong bonds.  Furthermore, this process will result into the formation of the groups that participants are going to work with during their studies.

The course explores the ‘art’ of financial accounting / financial reporting.  In particular, the goal of the course is to provide the knowledge and skills required for the understanding and use of financial accounting information for decision making.  Some of the topics covered during the course include: the role and importance of financial reporting, the role of the main players in the accounting communication process, including the management, auditors and stakeholders, the effects of the use of different accounting methods and estimates on the financial statements and the subsequent impact on decision making, ways of analysing, interpreting and evaluating financial statements.  During the course, extensive reference is made to the annual reports of various companies, as well as to accounting scandals (e.g. ENRON), for the facilitation of knowledge and understanding.

Upon completing this course, students will be able to use automated spreadsheet software (Excel), in particular the marketing engineering platform “Enginius,” to craft marketing strategy based on marketing’s first principles and data analytics. Specifically, using several cases studies accompanied by marketing datasets and an integrated marketing strategy project where they will collect fresh, primary data using customer experience software (i.e., Qualtrics) students will learn, a) how to understand what customers value through segmentation analytics, b) how to create value for customers through conjoint analytics and, c) how to communicate value to customers through positioning analytics.

The purpose of this course is to build critical reading, writing and presentation skills to enable participants communicate effectively. After completing this course, its participants will be able to prepare different types of documents, searching and evaluating evidence adopting a critical approach in reading and writing. Moreover, this course provides students with the presentation skills to build presence, authority, and a newfound ability to captivate the audience. They will empower the content and their stage presence by discovering different presentation styles but most importantly identifying their own. A special feature of this course is that participants will have the opportunity to experience the tools presented through an interactive methodology.

In teams, students will compete for profit and market share in a virtual muesli industry, over several business cycles. Students will manage raw materials, production, marketing, sales, accounting and competitive strategy. They will produce financial statements and other management reports that will help them improve their decisions and business performance over the following business cycles. In other words, during this simulation game, students will experience end-to-end management: from inbound logistics to sales, and from low level operations to executive decision making. The main objective of the course is to demonstrate how businesses can achieve integration and control via well defined processes and information systems. How seamless and reliable access to real time information provides end-to-end visibility to critical business operations and supports continuous improvement. Another objective of the course is to recapitulate all the core MBA subjects through an integrative and applied experience. This simulation game is an intensive, actionable and tremendously fun learning experience aimed at consolidating some critical skills of the MBA curriculum. The game is based on a special version of the SAP ERP software, developed at HEC Montreal and supported by SAP AG. During the course, the necessary training will be provided on the following modules: materials management, production planning, sales and distribution, financial accounting, cost accounting, and business intelligence.

The course provides an overview of the core areas of organizational theory and organizational behavior with a special emphasis on topics related to organizational structures, culture and values, employee motivation, teamwork, and the management of change in organizations. It will help participants understand the complex relations between individuals, organizations, and the external environment. Particular emphasis is placed on the effective functioning of organizations in dynamic environments, where strategic and operational agility have emerged as essential capabilities for organizations to survive and prosper. Through case studies, videos, discussion, and a simulation game, students will have the opportunity to exercise their critical thinking and develop management skills by applying related concepts and theories to a broad range of challenges relevant to the everyday life in organizations.

This course presents the major issues in financial management theory and practice. Students are presented with the major tasks of the financial manager, whose decisions contribute toward the accomplishment of the firm’s objectives. Particular emphasis is given in investment appraisal, valuation of corporate securities, managing the company’s resources, raising capital and coping with uncertainty. Topics covered by this course include portfolio theory, cost of debt and equity, valuation of bonds and stocks, capital budgeting and company valuation, exchange rates, and introduction in derivatives and their use by the firm. After the completion of this course the students will be able to determine the cost of capital for their firm, evaluate the expected benefits and risks of various investment decisions, learn how to evaluate capital expenditure proposals, understand the basic valuation models of corporate securities and learn how to use various derivative instruments to hedge the risk of the firm.

The latest technological developments have created unprecedented demand for people that can lead interdisciplinary teams. At the same time, managerial soft skills including critical thinking, comprehensive decision making, and creativity are becoming increasingly important, as many of today’s mundane and repetitive tasks will soon become obsolete. Analysis of Business Problems is more than anything a methodology course where students are exposed to a method for dealing with such unstructured problems. Using active learning methods—including business cases, workshops, and simulations— participants will be prepared to tackle complex and unstructured problems. Unstructured problems do not have a unique, correct solution, and are precisely where managers should thrive. Solving such unstructured problems is much of what managers do, and the ability to solve them is often what sets apart great managers from the pack. In this course, participants will be exposed to a method for dealing with unstructured problems that has been successfully used by the leading consulting companies, C-level executives, as well as top MBA graduates around the world.

This course aims at honing students’ ability to analyze the organizational and external factors critical for crafting and implementing a firm’s strategy for competitive advantage.  Two questions are of importance for gaining competitive advantage: “What business should we participate in” and “How should we compete?” In answering these questions, the external environment – competitors, partners, customers, and suppliers - and the internal environment – organizational purpose, structures, and resources & capabilities - take a central role in performing strategy diagnosis and analysis. We also examine strategic choices at the business unit and corporate level. Due to ever-changing business landscape, the course examines strategies through the lens of industry evolution (e.g., mature vs. innovation industries) and in different strategy contexts (e.g., ecosystems, technology-based industries).  Throughout these contexts, we focus on exploring different sources of competitive advantage and aligning resources, activities, value proposition and organizational objectives. Through case studies and assignments, participants learn to use tools for analyzing, articulating, and, communicating strategies.

Management consists of a set of universal skills that are well understood and trainable. Leadership consists of how each one of us makes a unique difference to the challenges we face with people and projects. It is not about wasting our energy trying to make ourselves more effective by changing our characters. Instead, it is more effective to find new and better ways of ‘being ourselves’ through enhanced insight and skill.  The purpose of this course is twofold: (a) to assess and improve your readiness to function well as a leader by making your time at Alba Graduate Business School a self-directed journey of learning and development; the specific objectives are to develop an awareness of the knowledge and skills that underlie leadership effectiveness; to obtain individual-level feedback utilizing some of the best existing assessment instruments; to share feedback on your own and others’ skills; and to craft a personal leadership development action plan; (b) to help you acquire actionable knowledge about leadership styles, leading with power, and influence processes by exposing you to both classical perspectives on and contemporary trends in leadership theory and practice through a series of stimulating readings, discussions, exercises, and case studies. 

Production and Operations management can be defined broadly as the process steps that fulfil the production and delivery of “goods”, where “goods” include both material products and intangible services that offer some utility to the end consumer and the overall process subsumes all stages required to transform a product from a rough idea in a brainstorming meeting to the end customer offering. This course focuses on managerial decisions in production and operations and their interrelationships with the other functional areas of the firm. Major areas of study include the design of productive systems, strategic planning, and operations planning and control. Specific topics cover the areas of process and job design, facility planning, capacity planning, distribution planning, inventory management and production planning and control.

The Entrepreneurship bootcamp experience course has been designed to offer cutting-edge knowledge, hands-on experience and practical skills to MBA students who aspire to get a good grasp of the world of startups and plan new ventures. Students form teams and gradually develop unique business ideas in a highly interactive and practice-based learning journey. Within a period of two months students learn how to discover, assess, fund and pitch business ideas. In this process, students are exposed to novel frameworks and up-to-date learning tools (e.g., Business Model Canvas, Lean startup methodology, Minimum viable product, Financial feasibility testing, among others). The learning experience is designed by Alba resident faculty and curated by Alba academics and Venture Capital professionals, who coach, mentor and guide students throughout their learning journey. A panel of leading practitioners and academics evaluates presentations of business plans during the annual Alba Business Plan contest. The winning team represents Alba at i) the European Business Plan of the Year competition and ii) Stage Two, a pan-European start-up competition held under the patronage of EU-Commission.

The scope of the course is to help students develop competencies on how to analyze business challenges and design a plan to manage them. This new course consists of a series of lectures on consulting, analytical and decision models and also includes regular meetings, progress reports, and presentations. The course draws on knowledge students acquired from their studies at the MBA program, particularly from the course "Analysis of Business Problems”. At the completion of the course the teams will present their findings and recommendations to company representatives and members of faculty.

The Entrepreneurship bootcamp experience course has been designed to offer cutting-edge knowledge, hands-on experience and practical skills to MBA students who aspire to get a good grasp of the world of startups and plan new ventures. Students form teams and gradually develop unique business ideas in a highly interactive and practice-based learning journey. Within a period of two months students learn how to discover, assess, fund and pitch business ideas. In this process, students are exposed to novel frameworks and up-to-date learning tools (e.g., Business Model Canvas, Lean startup methodology, Minimum viable product, Financial feasibility testing, among others). The learning experience is designed by Alba resident faculty and curated by Alba academics and Venture Capital professionals, who coach, mentor and guide students throughout their learning journey. A panel of leading practitioners and academics evaluates presentations of business plans during the annual Alba Business Plan contest. The winning team represents Alba at i) the European Business Plan of the Year competition and ii) Stage Two, a pan-European start-up competition held under the patronage of EU-Commission.

The scope of the course is to help students develop competencies on how to analyze business challenges and design a plan to manage them. This new course consists of a series of lectures on consulting, analytical and decision models and also includes regular meetings, progress reports, and presentations. The course draws on knowledge students acquired from their studies at the MBA program, particularly from the course "Analysis of Business Problems”. At the completion of the course the teams will present their findings and recommendations to company representatives and members of faculty.