Business Administration

This is UCL's principal Entrepreneurship course for students who are actively seeking to develop and test a new business idea. It is most relevant to those who are considering forming their own business but is also valuable for “intrapreneurs” promoting new initiatives within existing organizations. Through the study of existing high-potential ventures and the development of a business feasibility plan the course provides deep insights regarding critical success factors (desirability feasibility and viability) along with strategies to attract and retain the necessary resources (personal, technical, and finance) to launch a new venture.

This course analyzes financial data in Microsoft Excel using Pivot Tables and various Excel financial functions and financial concepts. These concepts include capital budgeting and time value of money, corporate bonds and stock valuation models, discounted cash flows, portfolio analysis and the capital asset pricing model, forecasting sales and profits, measuring investment performance, financial sales analysis, and cost and profit analysis. The course combines the basic theory of finance with the intensive implementation of all concepts in Excel to provide a better understanding of financial theory and valuable skills in Excel.

This course examines the application of legal considerations to the activities of organizations. The focus is on a practical approach to legal issues and problems that arise. If I want to start a business what structures are available to me, such as forming a company? When is a legal contract formed, how can it be breached and what remedies may be available? What rights do employees have in the workplace, particularly in relation to dismissal, redundancy and discrimination? How does the English Legal System work? How can my valuable original work be protected from imitation and what are copyrights and patents?

The course is about leadership, strategy, and change in a global context. It confronts students with strategic issues of today with the aim to improve leadership skills to deal with these issues in a more effective and creative way. Organizations and companies are confronted with strategic issues such as increasing speed of innovation, cultural diversity, need for differentiation, increasing competition, rising energy costs, and stricter regulations on CO2 emissions. These issues are not isolated. They are connected to a world of rapidly changing technological, political, economic, and environmental developments. The course introduces examples of leadership that changed the rules of the game, such as Ellen MacArthur’s ambition to change the world towards a circular economy, by building a framework for an economy that is restorative and regenerative by design. And Jamie Oliver, the British Chef who tried to change the food culture in the USA through his TV show the Food Revolution. This type of leadership is not about charisma or personal characteristics, but about personal dedication to a goal or vision far beyond personal interests. This type of leadership is embedded ‘in context’. This implies that leadership is not a personal characteristic but a part of a relationship among people in a community, where qualities like trust, playfulness, and creativity are involved. The case studies form an input to reflect on personal leadership issues. Students are invited to share and discuss their personal sources of inspiration. A field trip is part of the course.

This course provides an introduction to finance by examining the basic concepts, tools, and techniques of corporate financial management. It examines the structural and functional aspects of financing and investment decisions of a modern corporation. Topics include raising capital from capital and money markets; the cost of capital; analysis and evaluation of investment projects; capital budgeting; management of corporate liquidity; capital structure policy; dividend policy; financing forecasting; time value of money; interest rates; portfolio theory; the capital asset pricing model; and stock valuation.

This course focuses on how entrepreneurs generate the ideas that allow them to create and grow their firm. It examines how entrepreneurs discover ideas and how they implement them. The course is grounded in research-led teaching but also links into the wider employability agenda. It is relevant for all students, with no prior business knowledge required.

This course provides theoretical and practical knowledge of individual behavior in the context of social marketing and behavioral science. It takes on a multidisciplinary approach drawing from psychology, consumer research, marketing science, and behavioral economics that allows a holistic understanding of how people consume and behave. Based on these theoretical frameworks, the course introduces a range of tools to foster behavioral change, such as social marketing or nudging, and examines how they are applied in practice. Applied consumer research is at the core of this course and its potential and limits in understanding and ultimately changing individual behavior are studied. The course provides an opportunity to practice formulating research questions and proposing social marketing and behavioral science solutions to address real-life social and environmental problems. It also engages critical discussion on the use of behavioral and marketing techniques by policy-makers and the private sector.

This course provides a broad overview of the key marketing concepts that underpin marketing practice. The course introduces students to buyer behaviour, marketing research, segmentation, targeting and positioning through marketing mix activities. Along the way, the social consequences of marketing practice are considered.

The course explores the world of fashion and luxury by providing an overview and general framework of the sectors, the companies, and brands, then delving into two key areas: the sustainability and circularity management focus and the merchandising process (from the point of view of brand building of the seasonal offerings). Both topics are strategic today: sustainability has become a key factor for the fashion system; collection development has to be adapted to the industry evolution and the omnichannel approach. The course discusses topics including an overview of the fashion system and a detailed industry analysis; analyzing the main business logic and business models in fashion; an overview of opportunities and challenges related to sustainability and circularity management in fashion; key tools to manage sustainability and circularity in fashion, to create a competitive advantage based on differentiation; the concept of the fashion cycle and innovation, the pipeline and its timing; the seasonal strategies at the level of the product, with relation to distribution and communication; and the role of merchandiser, the collection plan, the sales campaign, and the role of buyer.

This course covers the scale and speed at which innovative business models are transforming industry landscapes, which is unprecedented. Students are enabled to understand and methodically address the challenge of business model innovation. Ultimately, business model innovation is about creating value, for companies, customers, and society. It is about replacing outdated models. The course discusses ways in which powerful new business models can be systematically invented, designed, and implemented. The course is guided by Alexander Osterwalder’s book Business Model Generation. It is an interactive course in which there isn’t one right answer. However, this course gives students tools for how to rewrite business models by breaking down patterns and routines. To do so the course also takes a look at some trends, especially the rise of Corporate Social Responsibility or Social Entrepreneurship. What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and what are the implications for companies that want to implement it? In particular: Does CSR affect business results? How can CSR help businesses to create, deliver and capture value?