The subject provides an introduction to the fundamentals of microeconomics and strategy, and applies this knowledge to a number of business and management issues. Topics to be covered include: the working of competitive markets and the determination of market prices and quantities; the organisation of the firm and various measures of the costs of production; business strategies and market outcomes in different market environments; and public policy towards business in the presence of “external costs” in production.

This subject will focus on developing students’ understanding of a wide variety of strategic and operational business problems and decisions being faced by managers and decision makers in the fields of financial management, human resource management, marketing management, operations management, and international business management. Students will be shown how to use a range of quantitative approaches to analyze business problems and, based on these analyses, make effective decisions. The subject will take descriptive analytic, predictive analytic, and prescriptive analytic approaches. Students will be expected to be able to calculate and manipulate data as well as interpret the results in order to derive and evaluate alternative solutions to typical business problems.

This subject is designed to equip students with the tools necessary to enable them to make the core decisions faced by managers and investors. The first part of the subject deals with establishing the environment in which organizations operate, namely the objectives of the suppliers of financial and human capital. The subject then considers the basic tools commonly employed by financial managers and investors including discounted cash flow techniques and financial mathematics. Measures and definitions of alternative forms of risk are considered and the relation between risk and expected reward in capital markets is established. Finally, the subject considers the important decisions faced by firms (investment, financing, dividend policy, hedging and executive compensation) and by investors (the composition of their optimal retirement portfolio).

This subject exposes students to an integrated perspective of the firm, how it interfaces with its environment, and how it creates and sustains value. Critical to the creation of value is the way a firm interacts with its various stakeholders. The subject builds a conceptual framework to examine the choices managers face in determining how best to create value, and how these choices may be shaped by key stakeholders including: government, society, trading partners, customers, employees and competitors. A key focus of this subject is on value creation as a cross disciplinary and cross firm activity. As such, the focus is on value creation from multiple disciplinary perspectives including strategy, entrepreneurship, marketing, HRM, supply chain management and organisational design.

This subject is focused on the core elements of supply chain designs, including capacity, technology, facility location, coordination and the achievement of quality, flexibility and cost management. It will include treatment of the trade-offs and synergies between performance outcomes of cost, quality, delivery performance, flexibility and innovativeness, and the sustainability of supply chain design choices. It will cover the advanced technology choices associated with supply chain network design, and the international location and sourcing decisions, of offshoring and reshoring. Current opportunities of undertaking innovations in supply chain choices will be examined and evaluated.

Topics will include the core elements of supply chain analysis, beginning with models for analysing purchasing, procurement and supplier evaluation. Inventory management will be treated as a core element of supply chain management, lending itself to useful models. Modelling of logistics and transport networks will be covered, with the aim normally being to achieve lowest cost solutions while at specified service levels. Additional topics to be covered are models of sustainability in supply chains and risk management within supply contexts. Case studies will be used to apply all these topics in practical settings.

This subject is focused on the foundational elements of supply chain elements, including the fundamental value creation potential of supply chain coordination and integration, and how it manifests in various industries. It will also cover the topics of ‘push’ versus ‘pull’ supply chain designs, efficient versus responsive supply, and supply chain strategic fit with organisational objectives. Additional topics will be of the value of information in supply chain designs and operations, and the topics in international supply chains of culture, relationships and working conditions, including modern slavery in global supply circumstances. Supply chain transparency will be examined as a core property of effectiveness.

This subject is focussed on data driven supply chain management decisions, including data requirements for effective sourcing and procurement. Key topics will include economic order quantity and other inventory management approaches, news-vendor models, bullwhip supply models, and the use of demand forecasting approaches. Supply and demand matching will be treated using pricing, overbooking and omnichannel supply strategies. Applications will include humanitarian supply chains and health care supply.

This subject examines both the strategic and operational levels of purchasing, procurement, supply management. This subject will identify the complete purchasing process model, and enhance the ability to manage the critical components of this model effectively and efficiently. Specific topics will include: make-or-buy decision; Kraljic’s sourcing strategies; supplier selection processes and criteria; strategic sourcing approaches; outsourcing/offshoring/re-shoring/near-shoring; global sourcing; contracting; ordering; post-purchase performance evaluation; supplier integration; supplier development; and supply base optimisation.

This subject will focus on fundamentals and core elements of service supply chains. The subject will provide an introduction to supply chains in services, outlines differences from product-based supply chains; emphasize understanding of how supply chains interact with people for delivery of services and different approaches for incorporating people, process, and technology; analyse industry-specific service supply chains; discuss innovations in service supply chains; and present emerging and futuristic trends in service supply chains.

This subject focuses on supply chain outsourcing decisions and the associated finances. The key topics include the role of sourcing in supply chain, designing supply chain contracts, contract coordination, revenue sharing and risk sharing. It will also cover designing innovative supply chain contracts and financial instruments to improve performance, coordinate costs and product availability.

This subject examines both the strategic and operational levels of logistics and transportation management. This subject will identify both the inter-organisational and intra-organisational logistics, and enhance the ability to manage and design various logistics distribution effectively and efficiently. Specific topics will include: transportation management; transportation outsourcing; intermodal transportation; warehousing and distribution centre; inbound and outbound logistics management; vehicle sequencing and routing optimisation; intra-organisational process and layout design.

In Adaptive Leadership, students learn and apply core knowledge, skills and tools to recognize and navigate leadership opportunities and challenges in the context of digital transformation and dynamic competitive environments. The subject focuses in particular on how to build individual and collective capacity for change and agility.

To this end the subject focuses on leadership competencies in four domains:

• Personal effectiveness (including how to manage attention, and self-care)
• Ethical Judgement (including recognizing and managing biases and personal values in decision making)
• Creativity and Innovation (including the design thinking process, and testing ideas through experiments)
• Organisational Development (including managing organizational learning, and engaging stakeholders and communities)

Building on current academic research and leadership practice, students devise actionable strategies to address complex day-to-day leadership challenges in a context of organizational complexity, disruptive technologies, and diverse stakeholder needs and demands. Students develop skills for critical analysis and reflection, for individual and collective decision making , and for supporting well-being in uncertain and challenging conditions. This subject includes lectures with leading experts, case studies, contemporary readings and resources, webinars, and facilitated online group discussions.

In Managing Teams, students will learn and apply core knowledge, skills and tools for leading teams in a context of digital transformation and dynamic competitive environments. The subject focuses in particular on how to cultivate individual and collective capacity for collaboration.

To this end the subject focuses on leadership competencies in four domains:

• Communication (including presenting clearly, with impact and the importance of authenticity)
• Teams (including dynamics, group decision making and sharing of leadership)
• Performance Management (including setting goals and providing feedback)
• Conflict and negotiation (including diagnosing types and causes of conflict, and negotiation and conflict resolution practices)

Building on current academic research and leadership practice, students will devise actionable strategies to address complex day-to-day team leadership challenges in a context of organizational complexity, disruptive technologies, and diverse stakeholder needs and demands. Students will develop skills for critical analysis and reflection, for individual and collective decision making, and for supporting team member well-being in uncertain and challenging conditions. This subject includes lectures with leading experts, case studies, contemporary readings and resources, webinars, and facilitated online group discussions.

Organizations are embedded within a complex network of internal and external stakeholder relationships – ranging from workers, investors, customers and suppliers to local communities, regulators, unions and other social movements. Because stakeholder interests differ, managers must be capable of reconciling these competing demands and interests to achieve sustainable outcomes. This subject examines how stakeholder management shapes organizational operations and strategic choices, and provides students with practical analytical tools and skills associated with effectively engaging stakeholders in a more sustainable way. Topics include: understanding the role and power stakeholders, stakeholder analysis and mapping, internal and external stakeholder relationships; stakeholder communication and influence, strategies for stakeholder engagement, dealing with stakeholder conflicts; managing difficult stakeholder relationships; building stakeholder coalitions for shared value.

The expectations on contemporary managers to make agile decisions in complex digitised environments are increasing. This subject focuses on the development of managerial capabilities to engage appropriate decision-making models and employ new-generation analytic tools that best-fit the scenario as it unfolds.

This subject provides both conceptual frameworks and practical illustrations of quantitative decision-making techniques including decision trees and optimisation to tackle business problems. Students will be shown how to use these quantitative approaches to analyse business problems and, based on these analyses, make effective decisions. These frameworks can be applied to various decisions faced by organisations, with applications in different areas such as operations, marketing, financial and nursing management.

Managers must also decide if and how to employ Artificial Intelligence (AI) within their workplace decision making to create value for the organisation. This subject explores the function, advantages and limitations of AI and machine learning, and how these tools can optimise decision making in complex digitised environments. Key topics include: (1) the foundations of AI—inputs, processes, and outputs; (2) AI in action in various contexts to evaluate the opportunities and challenges; and (3) the critical analysis of AI to illustrate contrasting scenarios in which the adoption of AI creates value and destroys value for the organisation.

For an organizations human resources to translate into a source of competitive advantage it needs to align its strategic capabilities with the design and co-ordination across roles and the sourcing and management of talent to deliver on strategic objectives. This challenge goes beyond the task of sourcing and recruiting employees with the appropriate skills and aptitudes to competently undertake specific jobs. This subject focuses on how HR systems architecture can be designed to identify, recruit and engage human resources within strategically important roles that contribute to an organizations sustainable advantage. Topics covered in this subject include: HR systems design and strategic alignment, HR differentiation and job design, talent identification and recruitment; managing high performance talent; differentiated performance management and reward strategies, and human capital development strategies.

Frontline managers face unique challenges at the organisation’s boundary where customer demands and needs are complex. These managers must be agile to adapt and deploy resources (employees and technologies) to align with dynamic market and customer information. This subject develops managerial capacities to make evidence-based decisions that deliver service excellence and develop innovative strategies to transform customer experiences. Service Excellence focuses on the development of deep understanding and practical capabilities to: (1) harness technologies (e.g., AI-driven services) for seamless and improved customer experiences; (2) manage and maximise the customer experience across the entire customer journey; (3) effective governance of frontline roles and operations during crisis situations; (4) mitigate customer misconduct and build resilient frontline employees; (5) empower teams for effective service recovery; and (6) develop customer-centric service cultures.

Recent developments from bushfires to COVID-19 have put sustainability in stark focus. Customers and employees are demanding to know how businesses will respond. Sustainability is a major challenge, but it offers opportunities to the businesses that respond most effectively. Beyond sustainability’s strategic implications, business is uniquely positioned to help society achieve a more sustainable future through its financial, technological and organisational resources.

This subject aims to establish and improve students' understanding of sustainability as a strategic imperative for the firm. The knowledge will prepare students to explore sustainability within the context of different business functions.

The subject will introduce students to various organizations and publications that may be useful resources in the future. The content of the subject will be equally valuable to leaders of for-purpose organisations.

This subject focuses on an integrative approach to analysing significant supply chain strategies that organisations pursue. Using the make or buy (also known as outsourcing or insourcing) decision as a key supply chain strategy, the critical tangible and intangible factors will be analysed to form integrated frameworks for decision making purposes. Tangible factors consist of financial data, while intangible factors include risk of opportunistic behaviour, nature of resource/capability contributions, and extent of misaligned interests between supply chain partners. Key theories and case studies will be used to illustrate the significance of these factors. Examples of analytical frameworks include matrix, flowchart, or questionnaire. The importance of applying a structured and consistent approach to strategic supply chain analysis will be emphasised.

This subject is aimed at introducing the fundamentals of sustainability practices, frameworks and standards in end to end supply chains. The foundation of this subject is based on four pillars that start from an introduction to sustainability-related performance measures in supply chains. The subject then moves on into discussing frameworks for identifying, assessing and managing sustainability-related supply chain risks. The major sustainability standards for businesses and their supply chains are introduced and discussed. Furthermore, the nature of closed loop supply chains and circular economies to achieve sustainable operations in supply chains are examined and debated.

This subject is aimed at introducing the existing and emerging technologies used in supply chains. These technologies are sometimes general-purposed (e.g., optimization software, AI) or sometimes specific to a function in supply chains (e.g., warehouse management systems). The technologies come in both soft (e.g., software packages, blockchain) and hard (e.g., 3D printer, IoT) formats. The aim of this subject is to introduce the core functionalities and applications of these technologies in end-to-end supply chains. This subject will put more emphasis on recent technologies, including IoT, blockchain and AI and will equip the learners with the necessary skills to be able to effectively adopt such technologies in supply chains.

This subject focuses on the information aspects of supply chain management. Key topics include types of supply chain information, the role of information in managing and coordinating a supply chain, information sharing (including its rationales, key challenges, and enablers), as well as established and new information systems. Emphases will be given to how data/information can be used to support supply chain decision making in various areas, including risk management, inventory management, and supply chain social responsibility.