Ramon Xifré

Organisations and markets. Business decisions and strategies. Functional areas: production, financing, logistics. Business management and control: coordination and motivation. The entrepreneur.

Understand how a business organisation works in detail and appreciate its relationships with its customers and suppliers. Identify the main and secondary purposes of a company or organisation.

• Globalisation and international trade.
• International relations: national and transnational agents.
• Current economic, social and political affairs.
• Current issues by geographical areas: the American influence, the Arab world, the role of Latin America, the growth of Asian markets, and new agents in Africa.

The Master’s Thesis is an original piece of work that sets out an international market entry programme or business plan for a new firm looking to do international business. Students have the support of a supervisor who guides them through the process. Supervisors are selected from members of the teaching staff for the master’s programme and monitor students’ progress and make suggestions and recommendations. At the end of the process, students have to present and defend their project.

Public-Private Collaboration in Sustainable Projects is an elective, second-term course in the MSc in Sustainability Management. The course presents the business case for employing Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in projects that involve sustainability management. PPP are critically important in meeting the challenge of sustainable development and growth but they are complex instruments. The design and execution of PPP with a sustainability mission require specific knowledge and skills that the course intends to provide to the participants.