Master of Science Degree in Strategic Management

MASTER OF SCIENCE DEGREE IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

NUST code:

 

DURATION:

 Years

TYPE OF DEGREE:

Postgraduate

CREDIT LOAD:

320

LEVEL 
 

SADC-QF - Level 9

ACCREDITATION ORGANISATION(S):

 

Strategic Management focuses on the aggregate of analysis, decisions and actions that are undertaken to ensure the achievement of a sustainable competitive advantage so that the long-term objectives of a business are actualised. The Department of Business Management is reviewing the Master of Science in Strategic Management degree, a post-graduate programme which addresses the growing need for highly qualified managers in both the public and private sectors of Zimbabwe and beyond.

 

The review of the Master of Science in Strategic Management curriculum can be traced to changes that have taken place in the field of strategic management over the years as well as the imperativeness of offering a degree programme that is in alignment with the dynamic and turbulent global business environment. Thus, curriculum review seeks to make the programme very competitive in resonance with the National University of Science and Technology`s fundamental purpose, aspirations and guiding principles as encapsulated in its mission, vision and core values respectively.

 

The Master of Science in Strategic Management degree combines core modules in strategic management with other relevant business modules to create a comprehensive curriculum that is designed to develop competent, knowledgeable and highly skilled professionals for challenging and rewarding careers in industry, commerce and the public sector.

The Master of Science in Strategic Management was developed as a response to the market demand for the programme. The department was inundated with requests from the market to offer such a specialist post-graduate programme. Therefore, the programme satisfies an attendant need in the market. Further, the Department was the only one in the Faculty of Commerce in particular and the university in general that did not have a masters programme. This had affected the vertical progression of our students after completing their undergraduate programmes.

Purpose of the Programme

The programme aims at empowering students with knowledge and competencies in management at the strategic level resulting in creating businesses that sustainably generate value in order to support the achievement of broader national aspirations.

Objectives of the programme
To provide training that will lead graduates to become corporate leaders, both in the public and private sectors.
To empower students with skills and competencies to navigate organisations through the challenging business environment.
To develop managers who can manage organisations effectively so as to create and sustain competitive advantage.

Programme Characteristics
Areas of Study: Strategy.
Formulation and implementation of corporate strategies for the global economic order.

Strategic Leadership
Focus on key leadership issues imparting on strategy effectiveness.

Strategic Human Resource Management
Effective management of human capital towards sustainable competitive advantage.

Finance
Management Accounting and Accounting systems in strategic leadership, resource management and organisation performance.
Specialist Focus: Corporate Strategy, Organisation Design, Strategic Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Corporate Governance, Financial Management and Marketing.

Orientation: Research and innovation oriented.
Distinctive Features: The programme is tailored to provide management professionals with the necessary best practices in the field of strategic management.


This degree will be invaluable when it comes to securing a career in business management. Potential roles include middle managers, departmental heads, consultants, analysts, functional managers, senior administrators, general managers-suite executives as well as entrepreneurs.
Doctoral studies in Business Administration, Management and/or Strategic Management

To be considered for admission to the programme, a candidate should be a holder of an honours degree from a recognized university in a business-related field.

Programme Delivery
Teaching and Learning Methods: Lectures, seminars, group work, industrial visits, dissertation and individual independent study.
Assessment Methods: Written examinations, tests, assignments, oral presentations, seminar presentations, dissertation and continuous assessments.
Programme Competences
Generic:
Analysis and synthesis: Capacity for analysis and synthesis using logical arguments and proven facts.
Entrepreneurial skills: Capability to identify and create new business ventures based on knowledge and new thinking paradigms.
Discipline specific:
Production skills: Ability to analyse given environments and business-related issues.
Ability: to use data to analyse processes performance and technological issues.
Exit Level Outcomes
Problem solving
Analyse and solve complex environmental challenges facing organisations
Application of Strategic Management knowledge
Apply strategic management knowledge in order to suggest best strategic options for organisations.

DURATION OF PROGRAMME AND DELIVERY SYSTEMS
Duration of programme
The duration of the programme shall be 18 months on a full-time basis and 24 months on a
block release basis with the last semester focusing on the dissertation.

Delivery System
Year of Study Number of Modules Year
Stage I
Stage II 4 Modules
Year I
4 Modules
Stage III
Stage IV 4 Modules Year II
Dissertation (after successfully completing Stage 1, II and III ) Year II
12 Modules + Dissertation

ASSESSMENT REGULATIONS

The programme delivery shall be divided into two components:-
The Taught Component, Stages I, II and III comprising 10 core modules and 2 electives.
The Research Component, Stage IV, resulting in a dissertation of 20 000 words excluding appendices and preliminaries.
The Taught Component shall be examined by both continuous assessment (40%) and an examination (60%). The written examination shall be taken at the end of each semester.
A student shall be allowed to carry a maximum of two modules to the next stage.
A student shall not be allowed to proceed to the research stage before they have passed all modules in the taught stages.
The Taught Component shall contribute 75% of the final degree class while the Research Component shall contribute 25%.

MARKING SCHEME AND DEGREE CLASSIFICATION
The degree marking scheme and classification for the programme shall be as follows:

SCORE GRADE

80% and above Distinction
70% to 79% Merit
60 to 69% Credit
50% to 59% Pass
49 and below Fail
YEAR 1
Stage 1

Modules
CBU5110 International Strategic Management

CBU5108 Business Analysis and Strategy

CBU5109 Strategic Management


Stage 1

Modules
CBU 5110 International Strategic Management

CBU 5111 Corporate Strategy and Decision Making

CBU 5112 Strategic Organisational Design

CBU 5113 Strategic Leadership and Conflict Management


Business Analysis and Strategy (CBU 5108) restructured and rebranded to Corporate Strategy and Decision Making (CBU 5111).

Concepts taught under Strategic Management redistributed to various modules and is replaced by Strategic Organisational Design (CBU 5112) in Stage 1.
Strategic Leadership and Conflict (CBU 5209) rebranded to Strategic Leadership and Conflict Management (CBU 5113) and moved from Stage II to Stage I.

YEAR 1
Stage II
Modules
CBU 5208 Entrepreneurship and Innovation

CBU 5209 Strategic Leadership and Conflict

CBU 5210Corporate Governance and Restructuring

Stage II
Modules
CBU 5211 Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management

CBU 5212 Strategy Implementation and Evaluation

CBU 5213 Business Ethics and Corporate Governance

CBU 5214 Managing Strategic Change
Strategic Leadership and Conflict moved to Stage I and replaced by Strategy Implementation and Evaluation (CBU 5212) introduced to ensure coverage of all aspects of the strategic management process

Corporate Governance and Restructuring (CBU 5210) restructured and rebranded to Business Ethics and Corporate Governance (CBU 5213). The restructuring component of the module will be taught under a new module Managing Strategic Change (CBU 5214)

YEAR 2
Stage III
Module
CBU 5302 Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management

Electives
Students will need to choose three of the following to help them customise their MSc to suit their career aspirations and personal strengths:


CBU 5303 Strategic Information Systems

CBU5304 Strategic Financial Management

CBU 5305 Strategic Human Resource Management

CBU 5306 Strategic Management in the Public Sector

CBU 5307 Strategic Marketing

CBU 5308 Strategic Purchasing and Supply

CBU 5309 Project Management
CBU 5310 Organisation Culture and Change Stage III
Modules
CBU 5311 Strategic Information Management ‘

CBU 5312 Strategic Financial Management

Electives
In addition to the above modules, students shall be requested to choose any 2 modules from the following list of electives to customize the MSc to suit their professional goals and career aspirations.

CBU 5313 Strategic Human Resource Management

CBU5314 Performance Management

CBU5315 Corporate Communications

CBU5316 Strategic Marketing Management

CBU5317 Strategic Management Accounting

CBU 5318 Managerial Economics

Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management (CBU 5302) to be replaced by Strategic Information Management (CBU 5311) which will include key organisational learning and knowledge management concepts.
Strategic Financial Management (CBU 5312) becomes a core module to empower students with financial management skills
Organisational culture and change (CBU 5307) will no longer be offered as an elective as the change component will be taught under Managing Strategic Change (CBU 5214) in Stage II and the key culture issues will be taught in Corporate Strategy and Decision Making (CBU 5111)

Beyond the above changes, further changes to elective modules are meant to provide students with options covering key functional areas in business, that is Human Resource Management (CBU 5313 and CBU 5314), Marketing Management (CBU 5315 and CBU 5316), as well as Accounting and Finance (CBU 5317 and CBU 5318).

However, students should note that the offering of particular electives is subject to availability of resources and the university guidelines on the minimum number of students that constitute a viable class.

YEAR 2
Stage IV
CBU 5400 Dissertation
Stage IV
CBU 5400 Dissertation
The Dissertation will remain an important component of the programme to empower students with research skills in strategic management.

CBU 5110 International Strategic Management   [20 Credits]

International Strategic Management complements other modules and disciplines related to strategic management, cross-cultural management and organizational behaviour, and the global environment of business (trade, finance, law, etc.). The focus is on the firm and the manager in an international context. International Strategic Management is about how firms become international and then exploit their international scope in order to achieve long term objectives. Focus is on firms of all sizes, from many countries, as they come to grips with an increasingly competitive global environment.

 
CBU 5111 Corporate Strategy and Decision Making [20 Credits]

The module addresses the fundamentals of strategic assessment with particular emphasis on cultural elements such the vision, mission and values. The module also focuses on internal and external analysis of the environment with techniques employed in both internal and external analysis. Further, the module will also focus on strategic decision making which will include the role of c-suite executives, the characteristic of strategic decisions, the role of the Board of Directors in strategic decision making as well as strategic planning. The module also focuses on corporate strategy in relation to grand/directional strategies (growth, retrenchment, stability and combination), portfolio strategies as well as the concept of a business model. Further, the module covers competitive/business level strategies encompassing Porter (1980)’s generic strategies, combination strategies such as Blue Ocean Strategy, Miles and Snow (1978)`s adaptive strategies as well as other competitive strategies. The module will also cover the concept of competitive advantage.

 
CBU 5112 Strategic Organisational Design [20 Credits]

The module`s thrust is on advanced knowledge and competencies in effective organizational structural configurations in organizations with special emphasis on innovative organizational forms that can provide sustainable competitive strategic advantage. Further, the focus is on decisions that have to be made on the most appropriate organisational structure(s) to ensure organizational efficiency and effectiveness as well as enhanced adaptive capacity.

 

CBU 5113 Strategic Leadership and Conflict Management[20 Credits]

The module focuses on key leadership issues that include strategic roles of leaders, leadership effectiveness at strategic level, the levels, styles, theories of leadership as well as the role of leadership in motivating employees. Further, focus will be on competencies relating to conflict management that will include perspectives of conflict, conflict resolution, levels of conflict, and causes of conflict in organisation, conflict analysis and tools; economic roots of conflict; diversity and conflict in organisations, negotiating, leadership and conflict, impact of conflict on commitment as well managing organisational politics.

 
CBU 5211 Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management   [20 Credits]

Entrepreneurship: Creativity, Rigor and Risk - This section of the module focuses on entrepreneurship from three different perspectives:  entrepreneurship as the special collection of skills possessed by an entrepreneur; entrepreneurship as an analytical and managerial process; and, entrepreneurship as the sharing of risk and reward between the entrepreneur and his/her financiers.

Innovation- The overall objectives of this section of the module are to evaluate new product success, to define and implement innovation strategies (product-process) and to design the organisation in order to foster innovation.

CBU 5212 Strategy Implementation and Evaluation [20 Credits]

The module extends beyond strategic analysis and formulation to focus on key elements of the strategic management that includes implementation encompassing definitional perspectives, factors that affect strategy implementation, principal strategy implementation tasks, building execution into strategy, leadership and strategy implementation, structure and strategy implementation, corporate culture & strategy implementation as well as reward systems & strategy implementation. The module with also cover strategic evaluation and control encompassing strategic control systems, importance of strategic control, taxonomies of control systems, control and evaluation process, measuring corporate performance, corporate excellence and attributes of excellent companies, characteristics of an effective evaluation system, designing structure and control systems etc.
 

CBU 5213 Business Ethics and Corporate Governance [20 Credits]

The Module focuses on ethical issues in business, the role ethics in business, theories and models in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, stakeholder theory, citizenship, corporate accountability, social responsibility; the role of ethical theory; traditional ethical theories; contemporary ethical theories; models of ethical decision making, individual influences  on ethical decision making, situational influences on decision making, what is business ethics management, setting standards of ethical behaviour, managing stakeholder relationships, accessing ethical performances, organizing for business ethics management, shareholders as stakeholders: understanding corporate governance; ethical issues in corporate governance; shareholders as citizens of the corporation; perceptions of value; the ethical limitations and danger of managerial roles; categories of responses to ethical issues; competing stances and the possibility of cognitive dissonance; influence on choice of stance; an overview of pressures on organisations; codes of conduct and codes of ethics; ethical culture and ethics and basic practice standards.
 

CBU 5214 Managing Strategic Change   [20 Credits]

The module focuses on empowering students with skills in management of key transformative initiatives in organisations. Concepts to be covered will include the concept of strategic change, taxonomies of change, models of change, implementation of strategic change, evaluation of change initiatives, organisational development, impact of change on organisational sub-systems, leading the change processes, theories of strategic change etc Further, the module also covers a key aspect of strategic change which is corporate restructuring corporate restructuring in relation to the drivers of corporate restructuring, forms of corporate restructuring, impact of restructuring on organisational performance as well as problems associated with restructuring. Further, the concept of restructuring is discussed against a background of resource-based, agency and behavioural theories of the firm.
 

CBU 5311 Strategic Information Management[20 Credits]

This module will focus management of information from a strategic perspective (strategic information systems) rather than an operational one and concentrate on linking information systems strategy with organisational strategy. It will also focus on introduce the topics areas such as knowledge management-business strategy as well as organisational leaning. Focus will also be on other information systems and how they support the strategic information systems.

 

CBU 5312 Strategic Financial Management    [20 Credits]

This module provides a working knowledge of the tools and analytical conventions used in the practice of corporate finance; establishes an understanding of the basic elements of financial theory to be used in application of analytical reasoning to business problems; and explores the interrelationship among corporate policies and decisions.

 
CBU 5313 Strategic Human Resource Management [20 Credits]

This module focuses on Strategic Human Resource Management as a process within the organisation which is conceived, owned and executed by leaders and managers, rather than on the role of the HR function. It provides students with strategic frameworks and models for linking HR policies and practices to business performance management approaches and examines HR implications of the 'resourced based view' of the firm. It looks at strategic and governance issues concerning the deployment of Human Capital, and at organisation form and structuring, including an exploration of HR impacts of globalization.

 
CBU 5314 Performance Management   [20 Credits]

The module focuses on the strategic role of performance management; distinction between performance management and performance appraisal; managing the performance of individuals, teams, departments, divisions and the whole organisation; measuring corporate performance (including traditional financial measures, shareholder measures as well as contemporary measures such as the balanced scorecard); the concept of productivity encompassing factors that affect productivity at all levels, improving productivity at all levels, relationship between productivity and the other building blocks of competitive advantage, drivers of productivity in functional areas, relationship between productivity and business level strategy; the concept of corporate excellence as the relationship between performance management and sustainable competitive advantage.


CBU 5315 Corporate Communications [20 Credits]

The module empowers students with competencies in corporate communications that includes on the role of corporate communications in contemporary organisations, developing, implementation and evaluation of a corporate communications strategy, managing media relations, key concepts and competencies corporate communications, managing corporate image, reputation management, crisis management, corporate social responsibility in relation to the image of the organisation, managing organisational stakeholders etc.


CBU 5316 Strategic Marketing Management [20 Credits]

The module focuses on empowering students with skills on how to manage marketing processes and activities to effectively support achievement of strategic objectives while providing students with marketing tools and analytical skills necessary to apply key concepts to practical business situations. Concepts covered include strategic aspects of marketing management, the marketing environment, products and services strategies, new product development and product life cycle concept, pricing products and services, distribution strategies, marketing communication strategies, understanding the market, competitor analysis and competitive strategies as well as strategic marketing management.


CBU 5317 Strategic Management Accounting [20 Credits]

The module focuses and discusses the characteristics of Strategic Management Accounting decision including performance evaluation, control quantitative techniques and non-financial performance measures. These concepts are will be taught in relation to their nexus to strategic management process concepts like corporate strategy, strategic implementation, evaluation and control.


CBU 5318 Managerial Economics [20 Credits]

This module focuses on empowering students with knowledge and competencies in both microeconomics and macroeconomics in alignment with the strategic management which are specifically relevant to the programme. The microeconomic element of the course is designed to provide an understanding of the determinants of strategic choice by firms, combining traditional approaches to microeconomics with contemporary developments in the study of industrial organisations. This includes insights into the nature of competitive behaviour and the relationship with the concept of competitive advantage etc. The macroeconomic element is designed to provide an understanding of the behaviour of the economy and highlights the key macroeconomic policy issues which affect strategic management.

CBU 5400 Dissertation [80 Credits]

The dissertation is a compulsory component of the programme which helps students to consolidate theoretical knowledge gained in the Taught Section of the programme by completing a research project under the supervision of the Department of Business Management staff and/or professionals in the relevant areas of research.

BULAWAYO  
Stage 1

$

Stage 2 & 3

$

Stage 4

$


HARARE  
Stage 1

$

Stage 2 & 3

$

Stage 4

$

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