International Business Management & Sustainability

Double Degree

Students have the opportunity to participate in a double degree agreement. The selection is made after application for a double degree place by the chairperson of the examination board and the selection committee. The double degree agreement provides for semesters 3 and 4 to be completed at the partner university. After successful completion of semesters 3 and 4 at the partner university as well as the Master's thesis, which can also take place abroad after consultation with the chairperson of the examination committee, the graduate is awarded a double degree.

OUR PARTNER FOR THE "DOUBLE DEGREE”

IBS has partnered with British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), Vancouver to offer students the opportunity of a "double degree". BCIT's Global Leadership program focuses on leadership with an approach that embraces diversity and inclusion.

The program aims to provide a systematic understanding of global leadership by starting with a solid foundation of personal leadership skills, extending leadership theory to organisations, and then applying cultural intelligence to strategic leadership decision-making and implementation.

This program aims to improve critical analysis skills, problem solving, effective team building, change management and intercultural communication.

The BCIT program flyer is attached in the download section.

For admission to the "Double Degree" please contact the Dean of Studies, Prof. Dr. Barbara Niersbach ( Barbara.Niersbach@rwu.de ).

Study Trip

LET’S LOOK ABROAD - INTERNATIONAL STUDY WEEK AS PART OF THE "INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS PROJECT" MODULE

For you as a future manager, it is not only important to grasp the management of a company in Germany. Many companies nowadays are internationally networked and conduct their business in global markets. As an employee, you will have to face the following challenges: What is the culture of the country and what intercultural circumstances do I have to consider? What is happening in this foreign market and what is possible there? And how do I reach my international business partners with my product or service?

The MBA program “International Business Management & Sustainability” offers you an exciting insight into another country within or outside Europe. Our program is an interesting mix of business, culture and academic teaching. During the International Study Week, you will have the opportunity to come into contact with German and international companies in the respective country. Academic content from the target country is also imparted through visits to universities. Furthermore, an interesting cultural program with city tours, museum visits and culinary experiences completes our trip. The aim of the International Study Week is to give you the competence to approach a new and perhaps unknown country skilfully and to act competently in it.

Countries we visit include Canada, Hungary, Estonia, Thailand, Myanmar, Singapore, USA and India. We offer you a travel date once a year. Each year, a European destination and a non-European destination country alternate. The international study week is led and organised by the International Officer of the Faculty of Technology & Management and Dean of Studies, Prof. Dr. Barbara Niersbach. You will receive a certificate with a list of the exact program points for your records.

INNOVATION LOUNGE

The dialogue platform "Innovation Lounge" was established as a complementary strategic program format in the part-time MBA program International Business Management & Sustainability (IBS).

At the start of the summer semester 2021, the Master's students were invited to the first online "Innovation Lounge".

"From Idea to Innovation" was the title of the evening with H. Dr. Hans-Jürgen August, member of the senior management team of the technology company TTTech Group with headquarters in Vienna. "We would like to offer our MBA students, some of whom are already working as executives themselves, another opportunity to acquire future-oriented skills that will help them in their personal development and professional careers. Therefore, executives and consultants from various industries present their experiences and challenges in this context," says Professor Dr. Eberhard Hohl, who developed the new format together with Dean of Studies Professor Dr. Barbara Niersbach.

Innovation as a strategic success factor in global competition

The purpose of the newly established dialogue platform is the complementary communication of current and future competences necessary for the successful design of leadership, change and innovation processes in companies. On the other hand, an effective contribution is to be made to the establishment or further development of a professional exchange of experience in a powerful network of top performers, experts, executives and IBS students - as well as IBS alumni.

The Innovation Lounge has been successfully established as a new format in the curriculum of the MBA program and will continue on a monthly basis online and also on-site. We will report on the guest lectures, initiatives and networking projects within the framework of the "Innovation Lounge" on our IBS homepage.

What drives tomorrow's leaders? - Coaching seminar "Leadership & Personality" at the Heiligkreuztal Monastery

As part of the module "Leadership and Human Resource Management", the MBA program "International Business Management" (IB) invites you to experience a unique weekend at the Heiligkreuztal Monastery. The former Cistercian monastery Heiligkreuztal, founded in 1227, has been creating an ideal setting for a study-integrated personality seminar. This coaching seminar "Leadership & Personality" was established there by Prof. Dr. Eberhard Hohl and has been led by him ever since. In his "Leadership Workshop" as a subcompenent of the seminar, he also practices a "Coaching in the Team", dealing with situations from the students' everyday business life in a resource- and solution-oriented way.

For the students of the part-time MBA program, the monastery offers an inspiring atmosphere for personal reflection and vision work as well as for team development. In addition to coaching situations from the students' everyday professional life, the weekend seminar also focuses on leadership and personality development. Among other things, topics such as personal assessment and self awareness, values and career anchors, personality preferences, behavioural styles as well as the "secret of inner strength" (resilience as a success factor) will be dealt with. Students will have the opportunity to get a personal consultation with Prof. Dr. Hohl on their own professional development. In addition, the coaching also focuses on the topic of "Assessment Centres" with practical exercises and feedback in the circle of participants.

"Through the seminar, I was able to learn a lot about my own and others' perceptions, how important feedback is for personal development and that innovative, appreciative leadership can make a difference. The Heiligkreuztal monastery was ideal for the seminar; it provided a protected setting for the challenging tasks and reflections, one could get to know fellow students better and the group dynamics were promoted by the intensive time together and the practice-oriented exercises." This is how Felix Tuchscherer, a student of the MBA IB program, describes the "monastic seminar". This makes coaching as part of the leadership module a good opportunity to put thinking and behavioural routines to the test as well as to strengthen personal competences and develop new options for action.

Individual coaching, in which students can work out solutions for their personal professional situation, is another important component of our MBA program. Whether it is about planning the next steps in their career, improving their self-marketing or their own positioning in the company - our experienced coaches offer professional support, which is specifically directed towards individual concerns and life situations.

Meet our coaches

Prof. Dr. Eberhard Hohl

• Studies in economics and social sciences with doctorate (Dipl. oec./Dr. rer. pol.) in Augsburg and Munich
• Postgraduate studies in Adult Education (University of Philosophy S. J. Munich) and Post Graduate Management Programme (Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and University of Texas in Austin/USA)
• Further education: Business Coaching, NLP, Scrum Master (scrum.org.)
• Consultant, coach, trainer and network coordinator (international) in the areas of management and corporate development. Industrial experience in leading HR functions at BMW, EADS and ZF. Publications on topics of human resources and corporate management.
• Main areas of work as professor and lecturer: international and intercultural management, human resources management, leadership and coaching, change and innovation management, agile project management.

Topics and fields of action as a business coach:

On the basis of a self-developed and published role and competence model of leadership, the coaching focuses on reflection and possibilities for action of the coachee in the future ("Fit for the Job"/"Fit for the Career"). At its core, it is about developing potential and increasing performance ("Coaching for Personal Excellence & Performance"):

• personal assessment, challenges and goals
• rethinking, changing / expanding one's own frame of reference
• Strengthening thinking and acting in options
• receive "clarification support" for current (leadership) situations in everyday professional life
• improve personal impact on the basis of "self-image / external image comparison" (reduce the "blind spot" through feedback)

Simone Huhnen

• 20 years of professional experience in sales (B2C), both actively in field sales and in various management positions
• Many years of experience and extensive expertise in the areas of personnel management, personnel development, sales management, budget and turnover responsibility, process optimisation. Conception, development and realisation of trainings; management of conferences and events, development of a new sales department
• Business trainer and coach

Topics and fields of action as a business coach:

The further development of one's own personality and the handling of challenging situations in everyday business life are the focus of coaching:

• Personal development, change of role and self-marketing
• Communication and dealing with conflicts
• Motivation, appreciation and positive psychology
• Leadership role and leadership responsibility
• Dealing with opportunities, defining and achieving goals
• Women in the business environment

Dr Jutta Nübel

• Doctor of Philosophy with specialisations in Sociology, Linguistics, Computer Science
• 20 years as a manager with responsibility for 100 employees in six teams in America, Germany, India
• 10 years as a representative of senior staff on a supervisory board 
• Leadership & Diversity Management
• Technical Communication
• Systemic Business Coach - Certification KÖRBER Kommunikation, Steinbeis+Akademie

Topics and fields of action as a business coach:

Solution-oriented, systemic support and counselling of (prospective) managers forms the basis of coaching:

• Coaching on topics such as communication in business and career counselling for women.
• "Get ready for the working environment of today and tomorrow".
• Leadership Mindset - Diversity and Inclusion as Driver for Performance
• Empowerment of women in (aspired) leadership positions

Thomas Steinmeier

• 25 years of experience in leading positions in the pharmaceutical sector
• Responsibility for Key Account Management Hospital at Sanofi in Berlin
• Main areas of expertise:  development and strategic integration of key account management in group structures, negotiation and contract management as well as product placements with the operative implementation in the market
• Head of the European Center of Excellence: development of instruments for the implementation and optimisation of KAM structures in the European health care market (with KAM managers from 22 European countries)

Topics and fields of action as a business coach:

The coaching serves, among other things, to accompany (prospective) managers into new positions as well as to advice on contract negotiations. In addition, the coaching focus is on sales, especially key account management:

• First steps as a manager
• Development from sales to strategic account management
• Transfer from sales to key account manager
• Negotiation skills and contract management
• Creation of a team and a "team spirit
• Interface management within the organisation