Master Winter Semester

LEARNING OUTCOMES/SKILLS

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:

• explain characteristics and determinants of entrepreneurship,
• sketch stylized facts of growth patterns of newly founded firms,
• understand the entrepreneurial process within an established enterprise,
• apply microeconomic models of market power to evaluate the effects of a range of competitive behaviors by firms,
• use microeconomic models of market power to discuss recent topics of competition policy, review and evaluate public policies towards entrepreneurship.

CONTENTS

• Characteristics and Determinants of Entrepreneurship
• Taking Stock: New Business Formation in Germany
• Taking Stock: Investments in Innovation in Germany
• Theory Section: Strategic Behavior of Firms with Market Power
• Presentations: Competitive Strategies of (not so) Hidden Champions
• Evaluation of Public Policies towards Entrepreneurship

Participation requirements
None
Form of assessment
Written exam and presentation
Condition for the award of credit points
Passing the exam

LEARNING OUTCOMES/COMPETENCES
Upon successful completion of the module, students are expected to

• be able to identify potential legal issues of international business transactions and international business structures,
• have an understanding of the main legal concepts to address the respective issue, and
• be able to outline proposals for solving a particular legal problem on a national and cross-border level.

CONTENT
Doing International Business is subject to numerous legal requirements and restrictions. This holds true for the contractual and the regulatory level, both of them becoming increasingly complex and intertwined. As an example, international supply chains
require sustainable and responsible corporate behavior throughout the global value chain as well as unambiguous and enforceable contract drafting.

This class will identify and deal with selected issues in the context of international business. Examples may be

• anti-bribery, anti-fraud, antitrust and other compliance rules,
• standards and concepts for the company-wide enforcement of such compliance rules,
• regulatory requirements of digitalization such as data protection, e-privacy, legal responsibility for AI applications etc.
• ESG responsibilities
• Choice of jurisdiction and choice of law in cross-border contracts
• General principles of contract drafting, including limitations resulting from Unfair Trade Terms Regulation

In the absence of binding international treaties or standards, the respective issue at hand will be discussed against the background of the rules applicable in selected jurisdictions of some importance in international trade.

Participation requirements
None
Form of assessment
Written exam or oral exam or presentation or paper
Requirement for the award of credit points
Passing the exam

LEARNING OUTCOMES/COMPETENCES

• Knowledge of international institutions with focus on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and their global interdependencies
• Competence in the application of international accounting regulations
• Competence to decide between different accounting options with regard to a special accounting goal

CONTENTS

• Global structure of institutions concerning accounting/audit and IFRS and their collaboration
• Aim and historical development of the International Accounting Standards Board and process to develop individual IFRS Standards
• Basic principles of accounting due to IFRS: e.g., framework of IFRS (e.g., structure of an IFRS balance sheet; definition and recognition criteria of assets/liabilities; realisation principle; fair value)
• Elements of financial statements due to IFRS, e.g., statement of financial position, statement of comprehensive income (profit/loss; other comprehensive income), statement of cash flows, segment reporting
• Accounting of assets, e.g.:
  • Property, plant, equipment; assets held for sale; investment property; government grants
  • Intangible assets, e.g., research and development, goodwill
  • Financial assets; subsidiaries, partnerships
  • Inventory
• Accounting of liabilities, e.g.:
  • Provisions; liabilities; contingent liabilities
• Other accounting topics, e.g.:
  • Impairment of assets; revenue realisation;
  • Foreign exchange rates; deferred taxes

LEARNING OUTCOMES/COMPETENCES
Upon successful completion of the module, students have the knowledge and skills to develop a questionnaire according to a research objective and analyze the question hypotheses with selected statistical methods (see under content on learning outcomes), evaluate and prepare the results using R and Rmarkdown.

CONTENT
As part of the module, students will become familiar with the following content, contexts, and topics.

• Introduction to statistical software R
• Writing scientific texts with Rmarkdown
• Hypothesis-based questionnaire design
• Repetition of statistical principles
• Analysis of categorical data (contingency table analysis)
• Statistical tests
• Regression methods (- with dummy values, multiple -, logistic -)
• Data segmentation (cluster analysis, Anova)

Participation requirements
None
Form of assessment
Written exam, oral exam, term paper
Requirement for the award of credit points
Passing the exam

LEARNING OUTCOMES/COMPETENCES
On successful completion of the module, students have the following knowledge and skills:

• They are able to explain the meaning of and interdependencies between learning and innovation in companies and their effects on the various fieldsof action of company management, and in particular human resource management.
• They are able to analyse the status quo of learning and innovation in companies and derive necessary strategic and operational measures for their design.
• They are able to conceptualise and design individual process steps inhuman resources development in companies of various sizes andsectors.
• They are able to recognise barriers and resistance in the context of organisational learning and innovation work, and can deal with them appropriately.
• They are able to critically analyse, compare and apply various techniques and methods of organisational learning and innovation management.
• They are able to obtain and understand materials and information on topics from current specialist literature. They are able to classify researched information in the context of the course and present it to fellow students.

CONTENTS

• Principles of individual, group and organisational learning
• Design of learning in the context of human resources development – current trends, areas, and common techniques for various fields of competence
• Process steps for human resources development: educational needs analysis, target setting, planning, design and implementation of educational measures, education controlling, transfer security. Theoretical approaches and best
• practices
• Theories of organisational learning and their practical application in large companies and SMEs, and in manufacturing and service companies
• Innovation, innovation types and innovation strategies
• Design of innovation processes: actors, phases, success factors
• Open innovation and open learning in theory and practice

Participation requirements
Knowledge of human resource management from the bachelor’s degree and from “Strategic Human Resource
Management” is recommended.
Form of assessment
Written or oral exam or project work or combination of presentation and term paper or combination of written
exam and presentation or combination of written exam and term paper 
Condition for the award of credits
Module examination pass

LEARNING OUTCOMES/COMPETENCES
The goal of this module is to provide a systematic presentation of the processes taking place while consumers are making purchase decisions, including perceptual processes, identification processes, motivational processes, and attitudinal processes. The course aims to link consumer behaviour theory with the real-life problems faced by practitioners.
Students are able to understand and analyse the nature of consumers and their environment from a micro to macro
perspective, as well as apply their knowledge to strategic and operative marketing.
CONTENTS
This course provides an introduction to the behaviour of consumers in Europe and around the world. It focuses on the
decision-making process of consumers including intra- and interpersonal factors. The main topics are consumer
culture, consumer decision-making, perception, self-concept, motivation, values and lifestyle, learning and
attitudes, social groups. The following topics will be included:

• Defining consumer behaviour
• Perception
• Motivation, values & lifestyle
• The self & personality
• Learning & memory
• Attitudes
• Decision-making
• Social group influence
• Intercultural consumer behaviour

Participation requirements
Basic knowledge in the field of marketing
Form of assessment
Presentation or written examination or project work
Condition for the award of credit points
Module examination pass

LEARNING OUTCOMES/COMPETENCES
This course will provide students with an understanding of the relevance and impact of the digital transformation.
Students will be able to develop strategies for organisations to succeed in a constantly changing digital landscape.
This includes defining, explaining and implementing key concepts and techniques. They can analyse challenges,
opportunities and decision-making problems of managing digital business in an organisation. They are able to interlink the learned concepts and strategies to overall marketing theory and practice. Moreover, students are able to evaluate possible risks of different strategies and techniques. They are able to organise themselves and work in teams to solve problems,
develop outcomes together and present these to an audience.
CONTENTS
The course introduces students to current challenges and opportunities of the digital transformation on organisations
and consumers. It provides theories, concepts and techniques for the application of digital technology and media to enhance the competitiveness of an organisation and to operate successfully in a constantly changing digital environment.
The following topics will be covered:

• Digital business strategy
• Key concepts and techniques
• Digital marketing
• E-customer relationship management
• E-commerce
• Legal and ethical aspects

Participation requirements
Basic knowledge in the field of marketing
Form of assessment
Presentation or written examination or project work
Condition for the award of credit points
Module examination pass