During the programme

After having completed this module, students master the basics of international business. The module is a journey along various aspects of doing business internationally, by playing a business simulation game. The game is played in teams, competing with each other, striving to obtain the best result. Key areas involved in the game are Marketing, Finance, Operations and HR. Along the way, the module is integrated with all other modules in the first semester, making it the backbone of the semester.

Culture and organisation plays a significant role in international business in the latter part of the 20th century. To prepare you adequately for such future challenges in companies, this module assists you to achieve intercultural competences and good leadership qualities with the necessary skills, knowledge and attitude. You are provided with both explanation of the topics for good understanding and practical training including cases from multinational companies and experimental exercises.

In Business Communication students will learn how to write proper business emails and other structured pieces of texts such as reports and proposals. Students will also work on oral communication by taking part in simulated business meetings and giving presentations. In addition, students will reflect on their own performance and skills where communication is concerned.

We live in a world with a growing population, seeking a better lifestyle, to be delivered from a planet with finite resources, many of which are now rapidly running out. Apart from facing scarcity of resources, in meeting this increasing demand for products and services businesses have contributed to environmental problems and not always applied ethical business practices.

In this module, you will get introduced into the why what and how of sustainable business practices. In doing so we take a hands-on approach using materials and cases from the business world next to some more theoretical sources.

As an aspiring business person, you will need to understand the importance and relevance of various business disciplines, including marketing. Here you will learn how to engage with your customers in such a way that they will buy your products or services. You will be introduced to the basic theoretical concepts underpinning Marketing. But you’ll also get your hands dirty with exercises that require you to get out the door. Finally, special emphasis is placed on learning the basics of online marketing.

All businesses, whether they are private, start-ups or multinational corporations, are made up of many moving parts and business disciplines. Central and core to all of these various companies, no matter what size, is the flow of cash/money throughout the organisation.

The course Financial Tools aims to teach you how the basic internal workings of the financial functions of a company work and how cash flows are transacted, recorded, analysed and prepared for both internal and external stakeholders.

As you can probably glean from the name of this module, it’s going to be all about you! Of course, in business, it is very important that you know how to properly do your Marketing, Finance, HR, etc. However, you will quickly find that in order to properly use these skills you need a whole other skill set as well. It’s just as important that you hone skills like your listening skills, time management and proactivity. On top of that, this module will prepare you for the process of applying for a job and, of course, an internship.

When it comes to surviving and thriving in an international business world, critical thinking skills are essential. These skills will help the individual to evaluate and use information critically in order to solve any problem that might occur.

In this module, students will (further) develop and employ those critical thinking skills. They will learn how to process and convey (business-related) information, evaluate arguments and persuade audiences in a clear, logical and well-structured written format. By doing so, students will also improve their Business-English writing skills.

In this module, you will learn how to communicate effectively and persuasively and to critically evaluate ideas and arguments. Practically, you will be learning how to construct good arguments and counter-arguments in a verbal debate.

These skills will benefit you in understanding the business issues of the day critically and to be able to clearly communicate and persuade your future colleagues and managers.

In this debate class you will hone your speaking and persuasion skills as you go head-to-head with your fellow classmates on important issues relevant in today’s business world.

This course is an experiential programme designed to help you understand what it means and takes to “create” a customer. We use the methods of customer development methods that have evolved in high-growth ventures, frequently abbreviated as ‘start-ups’, and are used in virtually all business accelerators and incubators today. Not only start-ups have embraced these methods, large existing companies are also adopting them to help speed up their (disruptive) innovation efforts.

The module Business Modelling, will be a case-based learning experience. Incorporating the principle steps of Lean Start-Up, Management and Cost accounting and financial forecasting modelling using Microsoft Excel. You will be required to forecast the strategic and financial actions needed in order to turn around the fortunes of a company.

Based on your choice of elective, you will either start with learning Spanish or Dutch from a beginner level, or you will do a Sustainable Business project incorporating many of the things you have learnt throughout the year.

Please note: Your choice of language will run throughout the entire 4 year Bachelor. If you chose the Sustainable Business project, you will start with your language in the second year (French, Germany, Spanish or Dutch).

Responsible production and consumption is one of the Sustainable Development Goals to which 193 governments have committed themselves. Businesses are expected to contribute to this goal significantly. Not only for the purpose of doing good for society but also as it is increasingly considered as being a profitable and future-proof way of doing business. In this module you will be introduced to the concepts and tools needed for this future-proof way of doing business. Together with your fellow team members, you will analyse the global value chain of a cotton t-shirt/pair of jeans. You will identify the environmental and social problems in the different parts of this value chain. By doing so, you will find out how complex global value chains are and how extensive the impact of the value chain of a product can be on both the environment and on people/communities.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Multinational business operations, global supply chains, customers, partners, and other third parties: the number of entities and individuals that organisations rely on continues to expand, increasing exposure to reputational, regulatory, financial and strategic risks. This course addresses different risk frameworks including tools for risk management. The module gives a broad overview of key risk-related topics such as Macroeconomics impact on businesses, understanding the fundamentals of Enterprise Risk, Operational, Regulatory, Reputational, and financial risks using metrics. It also addresses newly emerged sustainability risk factors, understanding of Sustainability Reporting using GRI, ESG, IR, Materiality including a basic understanding of Z Score Model (predictive bankruptcy of firms), Dynamic business models, and management reporting using Excel and Power BI tools.

Responsible production and consumption is one of the Sustainable Development Goals to which 193 governments have committed themselves. Businesses are expected to contribute to this goal significantly. Not only for the purpose of doing good for society but also as it is increasingly considered as being a profitable and future-proof way of doing business. Building on the results of the VCAN and RIAN module, in this module you will be challenged to develop feasible and innovative solutions for the biggest sustainability risks faced by your company. These solutions need not only to address the stakes of the company but also those of their most important stakeholders. You will present your solutions in a consultancy report.

In the module Mastering Collaboration you will develop the skills that are needed to set up a cross sector partnership. This is in line with the following Programme Learning Outcomes:

• Create innovative ideas in a changing business environment in a systematic fashion.
• Collaborate effectively with different kinds of stakeholders in different cultural, organisational and political landscapes to contribute to achieving agreed goals.
• Mitigate the pitfalls of cultural differences in business and social contexts.
• Assess the effect of cultural differences on organisational behaviour and strategic choices.
• Incorporate developments of the digital landscape in a marketing strategy.

During the second part of your second year, you will have the opportunity to develop yourself in a professional way. Under the guidance of a coach, you will decide for yourself what you would like to learn and construct your curriculum yourself for one semester.

During this time, you will also go on your first internship.

Based on your choice in the first year, you will (continue to) follow your language classes and build your fluency.

In part one of Strategy and Organisation you will address strategic managerial issues in three business case studies related to organisational agility and business platforms. You will get extensive practice in reviewing and searching relevant business literature which explore the issues and solutions to the issues from the professional field.

You will gain insight into the challenges to modern businesses at a strategic level, contemporary managerial practice theory, and emerging technologies. You will become adept at sourcing, summarising and synthesising management literature from both professional and peer-reviewed authorities to apply this knowledge like a lens to a unique organisational situation.

Professional Skills 1 prepares you for successful negotiations with customers and business partners.

“In business today, effective influence is essential. Want your ideas implemented? You must influence others to act on them. Want more clients? You must influence people to buy from you. Want more advancement or responsibility? You must influence leaders to see the value you offer. And to be an effective leader, you must be able to influence others. In all respects, being able to influence others is the ultimate power tool.” (R. Cialdini, www.influenceatwork.com)

In Strategy and Organisation 1 we emphasized logic in thinking and writing: the analytical, linear, verbal mind. In Strategy and Organisation 2 we continue to practice logic in thinking but emphasize the synthesising, visual mind.

In a team of four you will select an assignment, and work with a large degree of autonomy towards the end goal: to bring to light the practices of one or more enterprises listed in the HNPP catalogue for Hierarchies to Networks and/or Pipelines to Platforms. The results of your investigations will be delivered in the form of a poster presentation supported by a white paper, both which will be added to the body of knowledge of the future-arch website.

In Professional Skills 2 you will develop and critically reflect on your international networking and interpersonal skills. The major tool here will be a Virtual Erasmus+ program, Global Connect, an online Think Tank, with weekly discussions about the challenges that young people face. These discussions will be with students from all over the world. You will also team up with an international business professional to explore the impact that these challenges have on businesses that work across borders. This course will help you with deepening your communication skills needed to build an international professional network, and to use the possibilities to digitally inform this network about current issues.

Based on your choice in the first year, you will (continue to) follow your language classes and build your fluency.

You will spend a semester abroad at one of our many partner universities across the world. This space is your Minor, which means that you are free to pick whatever minor you want, provided it does not overlap with courses you’ve already taken here at IB.

The main objective of this course is to familiarise you with the collection and analysis of reliable qualitative data and the collection and analysis of quantitative data. The Atlas.ti software package is used to analyse qualitative data. SPSS is used to analyse quantitative data.

Consultants are problem-solvers and trusted advisors. Focused on finding solutions for a wide range of issues related to business operations and strategy, they advise organisations by using broad and deep expertise in the fields of innovation, strategy, operations and change management. The aim of this course is to create a better understanding of some of the practical and theoretical approaches used in the consulting process.

In this project, you will take up the role of a consultant. You will need to cooperate and collaborate in a team, work in a project management setting, and do excellent research. You can choose the research topic yourself, or your lecturers will provide you with one. The research topic needs to involve a real client with a specific need. It can be in the area of internationalisation, organisational change, market research, business development or policy. The client will need clear advice and you will offer the product of research, like a report, and present the results with a following discussion about your findings.

Driven by the increasingly accessible and cheaper technological solutions for data collection, analysis and visualisation, more organisations are adopting data-driven decision making. However, organisations struggle with distilling insights from the large amounts of data that they have at their disposal inside and outside the organisation boundaries. A continuous translation from applied data science and information technology to decision making is needed for data driven management. This will be the focus of this course. You will be introduced to data translation and building simple apps.

Based on your choice in the first year, you will (continue to) follow your language classes and build your fluency.

During this time, you will be doing your second internship, working for a company to solve a real, complex, business issue. You will be coached by one of our lecturers during this time and finally deliver your final assessment. The crowning achievement of your studies.