Electives
An inspiring choice of more than 80 electives
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Our elective portfolio demands your creativity, energy and enthusiasm:
complete between 10 and 12 electives - target areas of special interest, widen your business lens or prepare for your next career move
schedule your classes in a variety of different formats including weekdays, evenings, weekends and intensive block weeks.
Our elective options are updated annually. Faculty and programme material are subject to change.
Accounting risk, regulation of standards and corporate governance.
View electives Show lessCompetition policy, industrial economics and economic integration.
View electives Show lessDecision modelling, service operations and e-business.
View electives Show lessAdvertising, branding, competitive strategy, consumer behaviour, global marketing, marketing models and media.
View electives Show lessLeadership, groups, negotiations, creativity, culture and identity and business ethics.
View electives Show lessCreating value through superior competitive performance.
View electives Show lessIn a world of increasing change and uncertainty, successful companies can seldom rely on their past sources of advantage for long. They need to adapt rapidly, but for a future that is not at all clear. They need to become more 'agile' in the way they develop and execute emerging strategies. This elective explores different contexts of change and uncertainty, and provides tools and concepts to help companies become more agile in various respects. The impact of the pandemic has only heightened awareness of how important and pervasive is this need for flexibility and agility as much in large organizations as in small ones.
National borders matter for how firms develop and conduct their strategy. The point of departure for Global Strategy is that differences exist between countries and that these differences have implications for how firms strategize when they operate across borders.
Learn to identify these differences, how to measure them, and what they mean for fundamental decisions such as entering new markets and designing the global footprint of a firm's operations. Gain familiarity with some major public databases (e.g. POLYCON, Economic Freedom of the World Index, CAGE).
This course is relevant for anyone who intends to pursue a managerial career in a multinational corporation as well as anyone who will have to assess the strategies of multinational corporations in consulting and finance.
Seven of the top ten companies in the world by market capitalisation, and the vast majority of unlisted ‘unicorn’ companies, are players in the digital economy: they sell primarily digital products (or hardware for accessing digital products), they operate with platform-based business models that give them increasing returns to scale, they have few tangible assets and they employ relatively small numbers of people.
These features make digital organisations fundamentally different to “industrial” organisations such as food manufacturers, oil & gas companies or automobile companies, who make physical products and operate in the world of decreasing returns to scale on which traditional economic theories were built.
The purpose of this course is to help students understand the differences between industrial and digital organisations, and to provide them with frameworks and practical advice for how to manage and work in digital organisations.
Firms are accelerating the use of analytics to translate human capital into competitive advantage. This trend has increased the demand for leaders who are informed users and consumers of analytical tools to manage and develop talent. This course meets such demand, by drawing on the latest evidence-based research on people analytics and educating students on how to use these tools in a thoughtful, effective, and responsible manner.
Students will be expected to use and analyse data, hence you need a basic knowledge of statistics. However, previous experience with statistical or programming packages is not required. We will provide you with some basic code and tools in class. The goal is to help you understand what kind of data and analytical techniques are more appropriate for each problem, as well as to train you in a thoughtful evaluation of the evidence required to make sound decisions.
Strategy execution capability is critical for organisations. As they grow and become more complex, the pressure to execute successfully increases. This course focuses on how organisations can more reliably achieve their strategic objectives by 'doing the right things right.' The elective builds on the core strategy course and creates a bridge between strategy and operations. It draws on leading research and adopts a highly practical approach, incorporating much direct application by students to real organisational challenges.
Graduates with the capability to not only develop but also execute strategy will be attractive to many organisations faced with strategy execution challenges and to consulting firms. For those pursuing a career in entrepreneurship, this course will also be invaluable.
Electives are courses that help you fine-tune your skill set, following on from Business Fundamentals and Tailored Core courses. The School’s elective portfolio lists more than 80 electives, drawn from across a variety of subject areas. In order to graduate, you must have completed a minimum of ten electives.
Business Project is an elective course that you can take in your second year of the MBA. It enables you to test your skill set addressing a real-life business problem. This elective allows you to apply the business skills, frameworks, and tools acquired thus far in the programme.
Electives are usually taught in three-hour lessons once a week, over 10 weeks. There are also a number of intensive week-long block electives that are taught outside term time as well as evening and 5-week courses.
In your first year, you are not required to take any electives, but you may choose to take up to five electives from a smaller selection of courses. The majority of your elective courses will become available in your second year.
The elective portfolio is open to all London Business School degree students so you will be studying alongside students from the Masters in Finance, Masters in Management, Executive MBA, EMBA-Global and Sloan programmes, as well as students from more than 30 exchange schools and our partner institutions Columbia University and Hong Kong University.
Elective courses and the spaces on them are subject to availability. Initially, you will use the School’s elective bidding system to express your elective preferences. Then you will be able to amend these preferences continuously during your studies, and tailor it to your interests and career goals.
You will need to successfully complete a minimum of 10 electives during the programme, and may take up to a maximum of 12.
Elective concentrations allow you to focus your studies in a specialism. Each year, faculty defines a small sub-set of courses that form the basis of a concentration. By successfully completing electives from this shortlist, you can achieve a concentration, and the Programme Office can certify this toward your employer. Concentrations currently on offer include:
You may take up to 12 electives during the two years of the MBA programme. Elective credits and grades count toward your award of degree.