Professional Documents
Culture Documents
This study guide has been put together especially for the MBA
students. In addition to the course listings and descriptions, this guide
will lead you to some institutional study customs and other important
information related to your studies in the MBA programme. On the
very first pages of this guide you will also find the Oulu Business
School personnel contact information.
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Table of Contents
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Oulu Business School Contact Information
University of Oulu
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
P.O. BOX 4600
90014 University of Oulu
FINLAND
Home Page:
www.oulubusinessschool.fi
Faculty
Dean:
ALAJOUTSIJRVI, Kimmo, Ph.D.
Vice-Dean:
SAHLSTRM, Petri, D.Sc.
Chief Administrator:
MAAMKI, Jukka, M.Sc
Director of Studies:
IINATTI, Vuokko, M.Sc.
In order to find the most accurate and updated contact information of our faculty
members, please, visit the Contact Us section on our website:
http://www.oulubusinessschool.fi/contact_us.
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Master of Business Administration MBA
The Master of Business Administration (MBA) is the most versatile and sought-
after business qualification worldwide. MBA education provides students with
numerous career opportunities in various fields. It is generally seen as a passport
to a successful career in management due to its global recognition.
The Oulu Business School MBA is a one-year full-time masters level study
programme in business administration. The programme combines typical MBA
core courses with highly focused specialisation courses and project work which
gives the Oulu Business School MBA its distinct feature. The core courses are in
accounting, economics, finance and HRM & leadership. Specialisation courses
combine versatile contents of international business, management of technology,
business strategy, law, management & organization and marketing. A big
importance and learning factor is built on programmes project work, a hands-on
consultative process and working method on business development.
The programme allows students to interact and share their experiences with
other students from multiple disciplinary bases during the regular course of study.
Learning Experience
After completing the Oulu Business School MBA programme, the student will be
able to:
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Programme Outline
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There will also be project work & assignments that span for the whole
academic year.
In order to introduce and integrate students better to the student life of Oulu
University and Oulu Business School as well as to introduce students to
company representatives some of the above mentioned courses are
included into the curricula of the international two-year masters programmes
and Executive MBA programme.
Specialisation Courses
Specialisation courses will bring the unique characteristics of the
multidisciplinary university into the MBA programme by combining expertise
from the faculties of technology and humanities as well as from the
programme's home, Oulu Business School.
Project Work
The MBA specialisation courses culminate with a project work that will be
carried out in small student-teams. Students engage in case work/consulting
project run in collaboration with Research and Innovation Services and
Centre for Internet Excellence at the University of Oulu. The project work will
be carried out in small groups, providing students with a personalised,
interactive learning experience and method. The projects run in themes of
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e.g. Business strategy, Business design, International Business, HR issues
and Marketing.
Course Descriptions
The courses offered are listed in the following. However, please note that
changes in the course offering are possible. It is important to note that the
course designs, requirements and assessment methods may differ from the
course descriptions below.
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MBA Courses
AUTUMN SEMESTER
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Strategy & Business Design
Timing: A and B
Objectives: The main objective of this course is to develop an understanding how and why to
develop strategies in contemporary business situations. After the first half of this course students
recognize the different schools of strategic management, are able to define the central concepts,
understand the links between strategy, markets and operations of an organization and are able to
develop a simple strategic plan. The second part of this course will be highly practically
orientated and students will in this part learn and apply valuable business development tools and
premises and use them for analyzing and developing business cases of selected companies;
students will learn and apply insights of business model development, pitch talk and story
building and help selected case companies in these areas. Student groups will be expected to
implement and test their ideas, not only proposing them.
Working methods: The module will be taught in intensive sessions consisting of workshops and
lectures. Further detail will be provided by the responsible person in the first session.
Study materials: TBA; Article collection; On-line material.
Assessment methods: Assessment will be based on interview analysis, group exam and group
assignment.
Responsible person: Sakari Sipola.
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with the emphasis on private international law, and legal practicalities of international business
transactions will be discussed. Management of legal issues and the role of legal function in a firm
are taken as a special approach. Areas covered include, e.g., trade (buying, selling and
distribution), employment and labour issues, company law, IPR issues, and competition law.
Working methods: 20 hours lectures and exercises. Lectures are integrated with international
masters degree programme.
Study materials: Ray A. August, Don Mayer, Michael Bixby (2008): International Business Law -
Text, cases and readings. 5th edition. Selected parts of the book. Articles and other material
given by the lecturer.
Assessment method: A literature examination. All exercise assignments need to be passed as a
prerequisite.
Responsible teacher: Pia Hurmelinna-Laukkanen.
SPRING SEMESTER:
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Working methods: 32 hours of contact teaching. The course will be taught in intensive sessions
in comprising of workshops, lectures and project-work. Further details will be provided during the
first session.
Study materials: Will be specified later.
Assessment: Will be specified later.
Responsible person: Anne Kernen
Management Accounting
Timing: C
Objectives: After this course student understands how traditional costing systems as well as
ABC systems function, and can analyze the profitability information provided by such systems. In
addition, the student learns the basic principles of budgeting and strategic cost management.
Contents: The issues of the course comprise cost accounting system design and development,
budgets and strategic cost management.
Working methods: 40 hours, comprising 16 h lectures, 20 h spreadsheet application exercises,
and 4 hours case study presentations. Lectures are integrated with international masters degree
programme but the exercises and assessment is separate for MBA programme.
Study materials: Drury, C. Management and cost accounting, 7th ed., Cengage Learning 2008,
chapters 1-10, 15 and 21-22.
Assessment: Home examination + evaluation of both spreadsheet exercises and case work.
Lecturer: Janne Jrvinen.
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Working methods: In total 80 hours contact teaching including lectures and seminars to present
lessons learned in assignment. Practical assignment. Parts of this course will be integrated with
Executive MBA programme.
Study materials: A collection of articles and lecture materials.
Assessment methods: Assignment.
Responsible person: Harri Haapasalo.
Managerial Economics
Timing: D
Objectives: The aim of this course is to introduce the basic concepts of monetary economics and
financial markets.
Contents: Financial systems, the concepts of money and finance, determination of interest rates,
monetary and financial institutions, supervision of banking, central banks, tools, aims and
mechanisms of monetary policy, financial
systems of euro zone and the monetary policy of Federal Reserve and ECB, the connection
between monetary policy and aggregate demand and supply
Working methods: 40 hours lectures and independent reading of the textbooks and other study
material. Lectures are integrated with international masters degree programme.
Assessment methods: Lectures and final exam (lectures + books)
Study materials: Krugman, P. & Wells, R.: Macroeconomics, Worth Publishers; Heckner, D. &
Krestschmer, T.: Dont Worry About Micro, Springer.
Lecturer: Visiting Professors
The course consists of project work sessions that run through the whole academic year. There
will be two sets of presentations and written reports all for the benefit of the project at hand.
Presentations will take place at the end of semesters and the reports are due at the same time.
The project work will be started in the beginning of studies and it should be finished within one
and a half years from the beginning of the programme. For instance, the students who are
accepted in the 2011 intake should finish their project work by the end of the autumn semester
2012.
Through solid and thorough project work Oulu Business School MBA may work as a springboard
to a successful career in innovation-based start-up business.
Internship
Timing: At the end of studies
Course status: Elective
Objectives: The aim of internship is to prepare student to full-time professional work in an
established company. This is particularly aimed at Oulu Business Schools International MBA
students in order to get them familiar and acquainted with Finnish companies going global.
Assessment methods: Report maximum 5 pages of the tasks handled during internship
focusing particularly on business internationalisation and growth issues.
Responsible person: MBA programme director, Oulu Business School
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Rules and Restrictions Concerning Full-time MBA Programme
Curriculum
The full-time MBA curriculum and Study Guide is given at the start of
semester. It is not possible to include other courses into MBA certificate.
Attendance
Attendance in class is mandatory and it will be monitored. In some
courses interaction and work-shops form an important part of the
working method and assessment, and therefore participating in
classroom work is essential.
Integrated courses
Concerning MBA courses that are integrated in Oulu Business School
international Masters programmes, the above mentioned matters
(attendance and retakes) and alike are defined by the lecturer of that
particular course. See next page paragraph Exams.
Prolonged studies
If studies are not finalized during the study-period of 1 years, an
additional fee of 8 % of the total cost of the Oulu Business School Full-
time MBA programmes price of that time is charged each following
study-semester. Failure to make this payment will lead to automatic
dismissal of study right. In case of the dismissal of the study right, the
paid programme fee will not be refunded.
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General Information about Studying in Oulu Business School
Lectures
The academic year 2011-2012 for full-time MBA students is divided
into four study periods (A-D) as follows:
Autumn semester:
Period A 1.9.-21.10.2011 (weeks 36-42)
Period B 31.10.-16.12.2011 (weeks 44-50)
Spring Semester:
Period C 9.1.-2.3.2012 (weeks 2-9)
Period D 12.3.-8.6.2011 (weeks 11-23)
http://www.oulubusinessschool.fi/studies/schedules
Exams
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Rules of Examination
Grades
5 Excellent
4 Very good
3 Good
2 Satisfactory
1 Passable
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Practical Information
The username and password that you will receive when you become a
student in the University of Oulu. Paju-tunnus is needed for instance when
signing in the computers in the computer labs on campus, and when using
University Library databases, Webmail and WebOodi. You will also usually
need the Paju e-mail address when communicating with the school. A lot of
important study related information will be send to the MBA students via Paju
e-mail. Therefore, it is important for the students to actively follow their Paju
mailbox.
http://www.oulu.fi/it/students/index.html
e-mail / Webmail
The e-mail that you get a right to use when you become a student in the
University of Oulu. The webaddress for the starting page of Webmail is:
https://webmail.oulu.fi/webmail/. (See also: Paju-tunnus i.e. Paju username &
password in this study guide.). To log in, you will need the Paju-tunnus i.e.
Paju username and password. When using this e-mail, the latter part of your
e-mail address will look like as follows:
EITHER
@mail.student.oulu.fi
OR
@paju.oulu.fi
http://www.oulu.fi/it/students/index.html
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WebOodi
The online tool to keep track of the students in the university. WebOodi
allows you for instance to:
Optima
University Library
The MBA programme fee will only cover the students participation in the
instruction and therefore, the MBA students are expected to self-finance their
course materials. Nevertheless, it is very rare that students in the Finnish
universities will need to buy books to study. By obtaining a library card,
anyone can borrow books, journals etc. from the Oulu University Library for
free. The course literature, i.e. the literature that is required for exams and
other course assignments can be borrowed from the course book library
Cursus near the main library.
You can search and reserve books and other material both in the library and
on librarys website: http://www.kirjasto.oulu.fi/index.php?id=509. To make
reservations online, you will also need a library card and a password.
Usually, there are a lot of books available in the course book library,
however, right before the exams the demand for certain books might be so
extensive that there are not enough books available for every student.
Therefore, it is important for students to be active and in time when reserving
and borrowing books.
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Through Paju-tunnus you will also have an access to several online
databases of the University Library through which you can search, for
instance, some journals and articles.
More information on how to use the services of Oulu University Library can
be obtained by attending the library presentation organized by the Oulu
University Library and MBA Programme Coordinator.
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