Graduate School of Management (MBA Program) Course Model | APU Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University

Analytical Foundation Subjects

• Data Analytics

  The objective of the course is to familiarize students with the statistical techniques used to solve real-life problems, and the underlying theories and their applications in problem solving. Much emphasis is given on solving statistical and quantitative problems, using the software packages like SPSS and MS-EXCEL.

• Managerial Economics

  Managerial Economics focuses on the analysis of strategic decisions of businesses and organizations from the perspective of microeconomics. Students learn ways of applying economic concepts to analyze firms’ profit maximization behavior under ‘imperfect competition’ conditions. The course focuses on the use of economic and strategic reasoning to discover actions firms may adopt to develop competitive advantages over competitors.

• Advanced Research Methods

  Advanced Research Methods surveys developments in social science research methodology. It reviews major approaches and examines more recent advances in both the quantitative and qualitative research traditions. It also examines more recent formulations and strategies of social research, particularly in qualitative researching. The course seeks to enhance the student’s capabilities in terms of the principles and practices of research. To assist the student in thesis writing, the course also addresses thesis-related methodological concerns.

Core Business Fundamentals

• Marketing

  The course gives an overview over the concepts and tools of a customer value creating organization. The objective of marketing is the retention of customers by identifying and satisfying their functional, emotional and social needs. A central learning objective of the course is the ability to develop a coherent and consistent marketing plan that lays out a company's main strategy to satisfy customers profitably.

• Finance

  Finance provides basic knowledge on financial analysis and corporate finance. In financial analysis, students study the thoughts and methods for analyzing corporations by financial statements. In particular, they are expected to study how the decision making of management are reflected on income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements. In the field of corporate finance, students will understand capital cost, which is the fundamental concept for the corporate investment decision, financial structure and dividend policy.

• Leadership and Organization Behavior

  Leadership and Organizational Behavior are designed to help students to gain a better understanding of how interactions between individuals, groups and organizational systems determine the effectiveness of leadership. In so doing, it aims to convey a better appreciation of the complexity of effective leadership and the importance of understanding the theoretical and practical implications of organizational behavior for effective leadership.

• Technology Management

  Technology Management provides the principles of newly developed products and technology development, and seamless and smooth development toward the production system. Students are expected to study the concepts and application technology of production, research development, production system, market needs, development of goods and services, effective investment and entire management by IT system.

• Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility

  Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility provides theories and concepts for analyzing ethical problems and for developing solutions within a business context from a critical perspective. In so doing, Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility contributes to the moral development of students towards professional and reflective practitioners, responsible and critical managers and citizens.

• Global Strategy for Impact

  Global Strategy for Impact at the graduate level focuses on the recent tectonic shift that is taking place in the global business environment, in particular on the rise of the Asia Pacific as the global center of business activity and on the impact of globalization on income levels within and among nations. The subject focuses on the ways managers adapt to these changes in carrying out various managerial functions and in pursuing company strategies.

• Accounting

  This initial MBA accounting course will integrate fundamental financial and managerial accounting topics to provide students with the broad principles underlying the recording and reporting of financial information in order to understand the framework for decision making of users of various financial reports. The course is designed to demonstrate how accounting information is used within an organization to make business decisions, design control systems, and evaluate the impact on various stakeholder groups.

• Political Economy of Institutions

  “Institutions” can be defined as rules that constrain economic behaviours. This subject draws on the theoretical contributions of the New Institutional Economics and Transaction Cost Economics, and applies some of these contributions to an analysis of changes in the Japanese economic and management system. This subject looks at “formal” institutions as well as “informal” constraints which determine the economic efficiency or inefficiency in the traditional and contemporary Japanese mode of monitoring and management. Cultural factors and customary practices creating mutual “trust” which plays the role as lubricant for running the economic system are also argued.

• Legal Strategy and Corporate Governance

  The aim of this course is to prepare students to evaluate and construct effective and socially responsible business strategies that are consistent with the legal environment, with an emphasis on rules related to how businesses are organized and run (i.e., corporate governance). More specifically, students will be able to understand legal concepts and issues, including business organization and management, employment, domestic and international transactions, and intellectual property rights, and acquire insights into issues involving ethics and social responsibility when businesses formulate legal strategies, using real-world examples. The learning expectations throughout this course are as follows: To acquire the knowledge of legal rules and matters related to business strategy; To understand the relationship between legal rules and business ethics; To practice the formulation of legal strategies;, and to acquire the necessary mindset to practice ethical management; and To be able to illustrate examples and explain how business environments under legal rules vary by country.

Capstone

• Strategic Management

  Strategic Management is concerned with the long-term positioning and actions of organisations within dynamic markets, complex societies and at a global scale. The course provides concepts for analysing organisations　fundamental principles, their contextual and transactional environments as well as their resources, competences and capabilities. Moreover, it provides concepts for formulating (new) strategies and sustainable business models and how these can be utilised in order to achieve and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage.

Accounting and Finance

• Quantitative Analysis and Statistics

  The objective of the course is to familiarize students with the statistical techniques used to solve real-life problems, and the underlying theories and their applications in problem solving. Much emphasis is given on solving statistical and quantitative problems, using the software packages like SPSS and MS-EXCEL.

• Financial Engineering and Risk Management

  This course provides skills and techniques to recognize and evaluate the risk of financial institutions. In particular, the students are expected to understand the notions of cash flow, interest rates and probability, VaR, TVaR and CTE using statistics and financial engineering, survival risk for life insurance and pension, risk transfer for derivatives and reinsurance, and mathematical statistical risk models for loss analysis.

• Financial Institutions and Markets

  This course provides knowledge about the kinds and roles of financial institutions. The students are expected to study the functions of the bank, the securities companies and the insurance companies, and the functions of the financial market and its roles. After understanding outlines of the financial institutions and markets, the students study about the mechanism of the market fluctuation and the capital flow among the financial markets.

• Managerial Accounting

  This advanced course in Management Accounting is concerned with the provision of information to assist management to integrate strategic analysis within an organization. The aim of this course is to develop in the student an understanding of the knowledge required and the techniques from three broad and overlapping perspectives: planning and decision making; measuring performance and managing performance.

• Project Analysis and Financing

  Project analysis and financing is used by a wide variety of industries and individuals as part of the decision-making process in business. This course will cover some of the theories and practices of accounting and the way in which they relate to financial reporting. The main aim of the course is to provide students with an understanding of the detailed process underlying the recording and reporting of financial information that culminates in the preparation of financial reports on the enterprise for use by both internal and external parties.

• Corporate Finance

  The class analyzes actual cases through discussion on the basis of the concepts and methods that students learned in a required course “Finance”. During the first half, the class studies the importance of understanding management and finance together while keeping in mind the fact that management is reflected on financial statements. During the second half, the class is expected to understand the profound relationships between capital markets and corporate management through the concept of “corporate value” while studying practical cases where the theories of corporate finance influence managerial decisions.

• Special Studies (Accounting and Finance)

Marketing and Management

• Human Resource Management

  Students learn the key concepts in building and maintaining the human resource function in business. The course is framed within the legal and ethical issues facing management today. The objectives of this course are to: 1. Enable students to understand how HRM is a key function of any organization; 2. Develop students’ knowledge and awareness of the nature of HRM, ethics, inter-relationships and principles, 3. Learn how to implement principles as a HR practitioner.

• Japanese Management and Entrepreneurship

  The purpose of this course is to understand the characteristics, strengths, and challenges of Japanese management and discuss the unique aspect of family businesses. In addition, students will acquire the knowledge of the nature and scope of entrepreneurship, including the development of business plans.

• Sustainable Business in Asia Pacific

  The demand for sustainability has increased globally. In this course, students will learn about theories and cases of sustainable business in Asia Pacific. In particular, we will discuss what lead businesses to sustainability and how businesses can create value both for their business and society.

• Marketing Strategy in Emerging Economies with Simulation

  This course describes long term decisions of an organization that specifies how it plans to successfully acquire and retain customers profitably. The advancement of marketing perspectives to a strategic level in companies requires strategic thinking of marketing managers. The course is dedicated to the development of decision making skills in marketing by confronting students with fundamental strategic marketing problems in a variety of industries as well as non-profit organizations.

• Marketing Research

  Marketing Research provides a sound knowledge of the collection and evaluation of marketing information, market research methods and their application, along with insights into thinking analytically about marketing problems for managerial decision-making. The course is designed for students who are interested in the role of market research in management, and those who want to produce quality marketing data for market intelligence.

• Agile Product Development and Design Thinking

  Agile Product Development and Design Thinking focuses on the concepts, tools and techniques for developing and marketing new products. To facilitate student understanding, the course will provide opportunities for students to reflect and discuss why a product was successful or unsuccessful. In addition, the course will highlight the crucial role of innovation in product development that aims to compete and respond to market needs as well as to create new business markets.

• Hospitality Management

  This course will prepare students to become managers in the service industry through exposure and examination of contemporary operational and managerial issues, situations and techniques. The use of yield and revenue management will be investigated and the importance of leadership will be underlined. Emphasis is placed on research and management techniques for quality service. The principles of international quality standards are also discussed in detail. This will be done through building a foundation of management knowledge, developing appropriate management skills and introducing problem solving methods and the development and implementation of strategic management solutions.

• Special Studies (Marketing and Management)

Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Operations Management

• Quality and Operations Management

  This course shows management tools mainly for improving productivity. In detail, the students study analytical tools for production operations, control procedures on demand projection influencing the flexibility of production quantities, production plan, inventory control, quality control and materials control.

• Digital Business Strategy

  With recent developments of Information Technology, digital world has opened up new markets, transformed distribution channels and media, advanced the development of products and services, changed the behavior of consumer and thus revitalized business models and strategies. This course offers a comprehensive introduction to business strategy and technology, nature and scope of e-business and e-market, data analytics and information management, and business transformation strategies in the digital age.

• Supply Chain Management

  Supply Chain Management is the course to organize a streamlined alliance system about complex distribution networks. Corporations are trying hard to economize and swiftly adjust themselves to market changes by making full use of these new strategies. This course provides students with tools and knowledge necessary for the planning and implementation of various supply chain issues.

• Startups and Business Development

  This is an innovative approach to strategies for operating a new business. In this course students study how to propose an idea, exercise screening and feasibility study, and make a sophisticated scheme finally. Students do some case studies for improving those skills. This course also handles entrepreneurial spirits and practical skills for realizing the spirits.

• Project Management

  A project is formed for implementing various managerial reforms and changes, such as product development, introduction of IT system, development of knowledge management and so on. In this course, students study the principles and skills, such as schedule management, team building, operation analysis.

• Innovation Systems and Entrepreneurship

  Innovation Systems and Entrepreneurship begins by understanding the roles of technological innovation in the modern society, such as innovation characteristics and system. For achieving the purpose of the course, students are expected to learn the industrial development of innovation as well. The course uses cases, discussion and concept creation to understand what innovation is all about.

• Special Studies (Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Operations Management)

Japanese Management

• Sustainable Business in Asia Pacific

  The demand for sustainability has increased globally. In this course, students will learn about theories and cases of sustainable business in Asia Pacific. In particular, we will discuss what lead businesses to sustainability and how businesses can create value both for their business and society.

• Japanese Corporations and Asia Pacific

  The aim of this course is to provide knowledge of the Japanese business management system and the Japanese political economy in relation to the Asia Pacific region. The contents of the course include Japanese domestic business, economic, and political systems, such as human resource management, the keiretsu, general trading companies, and the role of the Japanese government in the business and economy, as well as the internationalization (or regionalization) of Japanese corporations.

• Japanese Management and Entrepreneurship

  The purpose of this course is to understand the characteristics, strengths, and challenges of Japanese management and discuss the unique aspect of family businesses. In addition, students will acquire the knowledge of the nature and scope of entrepreneurship, including the development of business plans.

• Quality and Operations Management

  This course shows management tools mainly for improving productivity. In detail, the students study analytical tools for production operations, control procedures on demand projection influencing the flexibility of production quantities, production plan, inventory control, quality control and materials control.

• Financial Institutions and Markets

  This course provides knowledge about the kinds and roles of financial institutions. The students are expected to study the functions of the bank, the securities companies and the insurance companies, and the functions of the financial market and its roles. After understanding outlines of the financial institutions and markets, the students study about the mechanism of the market fluctuation and the capital flow among the financial markets.

• Hospitality Management

  This course will prepare students to become managers in the service industry through exposure and examination of contemporary operational and managerial issues, situations and techniques. The use of yield and revenue management will be investigated and the importance of leadership will be underlined. Emphasis is placed on research and management techniques for quality service. The principles of international quality standards are also discussed in detail. This will be done through building a foundation of management knowledge, developing appropriate management skills and introducing problem solving methods and the development and implementation of strategic management solutions.

• Special Studies (Japanese Management)

• Glocal Immersion

  The course aims to provide opportunities for students to engage in real world applications and to explore business outside the classroom. Students will go on a tour in Japan or abroad to visit local and global businesses, government agencies and any sites that contribute to an understanding of how external factors and systems affect businesses. Students will work on a project in teams and learn by thinking, doing, and reflecting on their field experiences.

• Internship

  In this course, students will be able to develop interdisciplinary skills, integrating the fundamental business concepts and tools learned in the core and major courses in a real business environment. With an eye on their future careers, students will be able to practice report writing, data analyses, interpersonal skills, and negotiation skills, while learning various practical and systematic aspects of the corporate world, and refining their ability to adapt to different cultures and work styles.

• MBA Research Seminar I

  MBA Research Seminar is the process where students make their own theme by themselves or with advice from the supervisor or other students. The main purpose of Seminar 1 is to develop proposals for research and to reveiw relevant literature.

• MBA Research Seminar II

  MBA Research Seminar is the course where students work on a research project about their chosen theme under the supervision of their faculty supervisor. The main purpose of Seminar II is to collect and analyze data and materials according to the set theme. Around this period, the students who have chosen a case writing are supposed to do internship.

• MBA Reserach Seminar III

  MBA Research Seminar is the course where students work on a research project about their chosen theme under the supervision of their faculty supervisor. The main purpose of Seminar III is to complete a theses or a report or a case according to the set theme.

• Decision Making Under Uncertainty

  The evaluation and countermeasures of risk is getting as important as the analysis of return for business management. In this course, students study how to evaluate risk and what to decide under uncertainty theoretically and demonstratively. The theoretical contents are the Monte Carlo simulation and the logical decision tree and the demonstrative ones are business cases.

• Management Information Systems

  Management Information Systems focuses on the most fundamental theories about computers. It addresses such questions as how computers work and what we should know to understand them. With these questions in mind, this course discusses binary number systems, computer codes, computer arithmetic, introductory logic, algorithms, flowcharts and programming, set theory, vectors and matrices, linear algebra, combinatorial analysis and probability.

• Database Management

  Database Management introduces students to fundamental concepts of and helps students to understand Database Management Systems (DBMS), emphasizes on the fundamentals of database modeling and design, the languages and programming of database management systems.

• Negotiation for Value Creation

  Whenever we are trying to reach a goal or need the help of another party who has different preferences, we negotiate. This course focuses on value creating negotiations that allow parties to explore and integrate various sources of value and creative solutions. Students will be provided with opportunities to learn the collaborative element of negotiations and apply strategies that create value in negotiations.

• Japanese for Communication Ⅰ

  This is offered to students who have completed “Survival Japanese II” or have an equivalent level. Students will acquire vocabulary, expressions, and basic grammar necessary to meet their specific needs. Students can take in necessary information if spoken to at a slow pace or if repetition is used. Students can use what they have learned to make simple sentences.

• Japanese for Communication Ⅱ

  This is offered to students who have completed “Japanese for Communication I” or have an equivalent level. Students will acquire vocabulary, expressions, and basic grammar necessary in daily life. Students will be able to hold simple conversations and read and write short passages about familiar topics.

• Japanese for Communication Ⅲ

  This is offered to students who have completed “Japanese for Communication II” or have an equivalent level. Students will acquire vocabulary, expressions, and grammar and will understand information from conversations held at a nearly natural speed by using analogies and by asking the speaker to repeat. Students will be able to read and write short passages (with kanji they have learned) about familiar topics.

• Japanese for Communication Ⅳ

  This is offered to students who have completed “Japanese for Communication III” or have an equivalent level. Students will be able to converse in daily life. Students will be able to speak about their experiences or familiar topics and can read and write short passages formed at multiple levels.