Core courses

Lay the groundwork for your learning before term starts. LBS online modules in finance and accounting blend seamlessly into the rest of your core courses. Other pre-work including data analytics and programming ensures that you are up to speed on the applications used in the core.

Pre-programme courses are mandatory, but students with prior knowledge and experience in these areas may take the online tests without completing the coursework.

Examine the market mechanics of microeconomic business scenarios such as supply and demand, power and pricing strategies, and segmentation and capacity.

Learn the fundamentals of operational design and management processes that transform inputs of materials, labour, capital and information into finished goods or services to match what customers want and their willingness to pay.

Business decisions are often too complex to be made by intuition alone. We need to communicate the structure of our reasoning, defend it to adversarial challenge and deliver presentations that show we have done a thorough analysis. We also need to understand and make use of various sources of data, organise the inputs of experts and colleagues, and use state-of-the-art business software to provide analytical support to our reasoning. The overall objective of this course is to equip you with analytical thinking and techniques that help you be more effective in these tasks. The goal is to teach you how to perform data analysis to support decision-making, build simple but powerful models that test your intuitive reasoning, develop managerial thinking and facilitate the communication of your recommendations.

Advance the skills developed in Data Analytics for Management. Through lectures, computer labs and workshops, learn advanced data analytics (visualisation, linear and logistic regression) and decision modelling (optimisation). Build sophisticated models that allow you to evaluate possible alternatives, make sensible recommendations, communicate findings and influence decisions.

Build technical and theoretical know-how by understanding the foundations of finance, with an emphasis on applications. Discuss many of the major financial decisions corporate managers make, both within the firm and in their interactions with investors. Essential to this decision making is the process of valuation, an important focus of the course. Topics include criteria for making investment decisions, valuation of financial assets and liabilities, relations between risk and return, derivative securities (options) and mergers and acquisitions.

Learn the fundamental concepts behind financial accounting and how accounts can be prepared, understood and interpreted. Then see how they are used in the corporate world
for shareholder equity and inter-corporate investment. Develop an understanding of the financial reporting process, with a particular emphasis on how financial statements are put together.

View business situations from a marketing angle, important not just for a career in marketing or consulting, but also for general management and finance roles where you are required to understand drivers of value and marketplace context. Learn essential concepts, terminology, frameworks and data analysis skills.

Gain a holistic view of the key aspects of corporate culture: change management, working with diverse cohorts, group and individual dynamics, conflict, influence and negotiation. Work with business coaches in practical and interactive exercises to explore the dynamics of your study group, develop objective viewpoints and understand how individual behaviour impacts a team.

Learn to use analytical frameworks and concepts to assess the current and future prospects of a business by examining a range of internal and external factors. Use different concepts and frameworks to inform your evaluations. Speakers, case studies and seminars ensure your understanding is embedded in both academic principles and practical application.

Never get caught out on the broad macro issues that drive markets and finance and understand how these impact your organisation.  Study the drivers of global macroeconomic development; national wealth, banking, structure, monetary markets, regulation and financial crises. Learn to converse knowledgeably about today’s global macroeconomic issues and gain an understanding of institutional and theoretical frameworks.