Bachelor of Arts in Digital Business, Design & Innovation Barcelona

The course is designed to introduce the principles of business management within a modern organizational environment. Students will explore major theories of management, critically examining a variety of management functions, including planning, organizing, digital transformation, leading and controlling. They will study the various environmental frameworks under which organizations operate, and gain insights into in-depth, specialist areas which form the basis of subsequent courses.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This course serves as an introduction to the key concept of people management within contemporary organizations. It outlines the strategic need of an organization to attract, develop, motivate and retain talent via departmental functions and managerial skill sets. The course focuses on issues concerning people management from the perspective of both organization and employee. It examines cutting-edge global organizations and small medium enterprises across a variety of industries, analyzing the importance of workforce management in acquiring competitive advantages.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This course is designed to prepare students for work as effective marketing managers within increasingly competitive environments. The course provides a foundation on the principles of marketing, teaching students how to analyze market forces in order to make decisions, while exploring processes related to segmentation, targeting and brand positioning. The importance of user experience is studied through the lenses of customer-centric approaches and consumer aspirations, with particular regard to the appeal of environmentally friendly products and the impact of social media.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This course is designed to assist students in developing written and oral communication skills for both business and academic environments. The course provides an introduction to business communication theory, whilst developing students' understanding of university writing standards, improving research and citation skills and awareness of standard academic writing practices. Audience analysis, intercultural communication and strategic messaging are covered, together with the differences between virtual and in-person presentation methods, which are studied in order to prepare students for work in a digital business environment.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This course focuses on the fundamentals of accounting and finance, encompassing the processes involved in evaluating, creating and interpreting financial statements. Governance and regulatory issues are studied, and students acquire a comprehensive knowledge of accounting tools together with general financial acumen, including concepts such as ethical behavior in the context of fraud and corporate governance, common forms of business ownership, and present and future value. Such competencies are essential for managers working across a variety of industries and are crucial for making informed investment decisions.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

Innovative Technology in Business provides first-year students with a concise understanding of how technology has led to transformations in business operations at the global level. The course explores the components necessary to nurture innovation, and outlines the risks that companies face in failing to adapt to, and incorporate, new technological advances. Students gain an understanding of innovation concepts such as information systems implementation, contemporary data management practices, open-source software and cloud storage solutions. They will study the application of innovative technological products and processes within small, medium and large organizations, together with the ethical implications of data collection and behavioral surplus.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This course introduces students to the concept of creativity as a leadership skill, developing their understanding of the most fundamental tools in design thinking. The structure of the course facilitates the application of the acquired skills and competencies within the career planning process. Students will study how creative approaches can be employed within fast-changing business environments to ensure effective operations. The course includes a focus on soft skills such as listening, user empathy, whole-brain thinking, and collaboration, and their importance for successful teamwork across all fields. Students will practice designing novel solutions and implementing creative strategies for business decisions.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This course introduces the key concepts and practices that underpin successful advertising and brand communications. Students will learn how to develop comprehensive Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) advertising campaigns exploiting online and offline channels, learn how to assess and select appropriate media for communications, and develop an understanding of branding and brand positioning, trends, visual thinking, advertising brief development, marketing principles, brand communications, media relations and client/agency work.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This integrated course guides students through the principles of acting in a sustainable and ethical manner whilst performing management roles. The module equips students with an understanding of the tools and strategies required for the responsible execution of projects in the modern business world. Students will study key concepts such as corporate social performance, law and compliance, ethical versus destructive leadership, and stakeholder engagement and management for value creation. They will learn about responsible supply chain and human resources management, ethical marketing and communication strategies, and how to apply activity mapping within the global context. The module ensures responsible management principles can be incorporated effectively across various business structures and functions.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

The study of economics provides a lens to understand and interpret global issues and interdependencies amongst individuals, firms, and nations. A solid grounding in economics is essential for business managers, and policy makers to understand markets, risk, opportunity and profits. This course provides students with a complete understanding of the factors which affect economic decisions. They will study the main theories of international trade, the effects of global economic integration, and the role of international institutions and multinational companies. The module concludes with an overview of sustainability issues, and an exploration of development beyond economic growth.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This course provides a practical approach to data analysis, exploring trends, patterns and relationships in data to acquire information for quantitatively informed business decisions. Students will complete problem-solving exercises using Microsoft Excel's spreadsheet software as the principal learning tool. Concepts such as descriptive statistics and visualization to extract insights are covered, in addition to the widely used business tools of statistical inference and regression analysis. Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to summarize and present data sets, collect random samples from a population and evaluate fundamental probability as part of the decision-making process.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This course guides students through the fundamental project management concepts required to launch, lead and obtain benefits from projects in both private and non-profit organizations. Students explore the role of project management in achieving operational sustainability in competitive markets. They will gain an understanding of the impact of organizational culture on project outcomes, and learn about how defining scope, sequence, and objectives form part of the process. Causes of project failure, together with risk mitigation through planning and early phase initiative analysis are studied, providing a solid foundation in essential project management skills that can be applied across a range of different industries.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

Covering production and operations management, this course focuses on productivity analysis which contributes to improving businesses and creating a competitive edge. Students will be given an introduction to logistics and supply chain management, and examine inventory control systems, planning of material requirements and manufacturing resources, and quality controls. During this course, students will undertake a projection project that will allow them to put the theoretical knowledge they have acquired into practice.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

Students will increase their knowledge and comprehension of financial analysis in the major areas of financial reporting, comparative financial statement analysis, sales forecasting, budgeting, and cost-volume-profit analysis. They will learn how to comprehend, evaluate, and interpret financial and managerial data, which are essential skills for business managers in any field. On completion of the course, students will be able to: analyze cashflow statements; compute the cash flows from operations; understand investments and financial transactions.; complete a comprehensive financial ratio analysis from all stakeholders; prepare cash budgets and sales forecasts; and formulate a cost-volume-profit analysis and a break-even analysis.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

Digital business is about advancing digital transformation by applying technology to improve processes, expand automatization, open new markets and add value to the business and its customers. This course provides insight into the key concepts, technologies, applications, and strategic organization of digital business. Students will learn to analyze the development of competitive advantage through the use of digital technology; evaluate current trends and types of technology used in digital businesses; examine how digital technologies can be integrated within businesses; and assess different approaches to the development of digital platforms and e-commerce services.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

From market research to developing a comprehensive business plan, this course provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the fundamentals of what starting a new business or developing a business idea entails. The role of a business developer in both an entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial setting will be examined, and students will learn how to distinguish business development from other functions by identifying the skills required for a business development role. During the course, students will develop a comprehensive business plan on their own, which will allow them to put the theoretical knowledge they have acquired during the course into practice.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

In the current technological era of AI and big data management, human creativity enhances business performance because the generation of innovative ideas leads to competitive advantage. In this course, students will learn how to boost their creativity within organizations, thus driving them towards innovation.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

Digital thinking is transformative and is changing business models. Digital thinking and technology now impact almost every area of business. They have enabled consumers to become more informed and make their definitive purchase with greater care. Organizations must adapt to this digital growth if they want to achieve lasting customer success and be as profitable as possible. On this course, students will explore how a successful career can be built up in the digital age and examine how digital thinking has changed the way organizations and firms work. They will learn the key digital skills for enabling an organization to nurture customer relationships, establish itself as an industry thought leaderand convert more buyers throughout the customer journey.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This course focuses on the discipline of strategic management and provides an opportunity for students to bring together all that they have learned in the program as a whole, integrating and contextualizing their knowledge. It draws upon strategic management theories, concepts, methods and tools to nurture each student's capacity to think strategically about organizations in terms of uncertain external development contexts and current strategic positions, and to identify potential for pursuing alternative strategic development paths and maintaining a competitive edge.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

In this course, students will learn how to develop a strategic marketing plan for a company and/or brand. They will acquire knowledge of the specific tools and skills required to implement key stages of any marketing strategy: analysis, segmentation, targeting and positioning, execution and control. On completion, students will be able to apply the analytical frameworks used to harmonize organizational goals and resources with market needs and opportunities; execute segmentation, targeting and positioning plans; create marketing strategies and programs; formulate a strategic marketing plan for a company or brand; and systematically review the outcomes of a marketing plan.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This mandatory course is designed specifically for all bachelor's students in their second year of studies. The course acts as a guide and a practical stepping-stone to conducting real-world business and management research by teaching students how to design a real-world business research project. Students will be able to use the array of academic and transferable skills acquired in this course in their coursework; independent research; cases; business plans; and in their dissertations. The current course deals primarily with academic writing, authorship, referencing and bibliography, and contains a brief introduction to the EU Business School's dissertation process.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This course offers an up-to-date, critical synthesis that links together the various aspects of the digital or cyber economy from the perspective of real firms. Throughout this course, students will discover how key business areas (sales, marketing, operations, finance, etc.) are changing in today's digital economy. It is designed to equip students with the mind-set and skills that will prepare them for the future economy.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This course unpacks modern web analytics and the latest web design trends that allow users to enhance their corporate image. It will provide a broad overview of web design that includes an introduction to web graphic design; interface design; authoring, including standardized code and proprietary software; user experience design; and search engine optimization. The main tools used for assessing web traffic will also be examined, focusing on how they can be used to improve the effectiveness of a corporate website.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This course will provide students with a clear and practical set of theories and recommendations to meet the challenges of digital transformation and ensure long-term success as a leader in a primarily digital business world. This course describes the fundamental principles of digitization and its economic opportunities and risks, integrating them into a framework of classic and new management methods. This course explores how increasing digitization - not only of communication, but of complete value chains - has led to a need to establish a digital business leadership.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

Students will analytically review and frame two business cases, analyze their issues/problems, evaluate the options and the course(s) of action, and provide recommendations, solutions and justifications. In this course, students will be exposed to selected case studies in order to fully appreciate the nuances and complexity of business-based problem-solving. While studying different cases, students will be encouraged to think creatively, reflect critically, and design viable solutions. By doing so, students will enhance their logical, analytical, and decision-making skills.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This course deals with the complexities that confront businesses and organizations worldwide as technologies advance at breathtaking speed and threaten to replace jobs, roles, and responsibilities. Students explore the multiple considerations that management must take into account in order to effectively transform their businesses, while simultaneously staying competitive in their own industries. Specific issues that need to be addressed in order to determine optimal changes include levels of disruption, cultural perspectives, knowledge management, and a wide range of data analysis.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This course focuses on the concept of innovation as applied to leadership challenges. Students will study how innovative approaches can be applied to issues in fluctuating business environments. The course provides opportunities for discussion of design thinking techniques, with students gaining an understanding of how to apply innovative solutions to new venture creation and organizational transformation. Students will develop their skills in critical thinking, collaboration and strategy formation. The study of innovative organizational culture, together with the principles of partnership and future orientation, helps to promote an entrepreneurial mindset that is relevant across a variety of roles and industries.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This course introduces the fundamental principles of data science and walks the student through the 'data-analytic thinking' necessary for extracting useful knowledge and business value from data. This course also helps the student understand the many data-mining techniques in use today and provides examples of real-world business problems to illustrate these principles. Students will learn how to improve communication between business stakeholders and data scientists, and how to participate intelligently in a company's data science projects.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

Is digitalization a value-added approach? This course reveals how to digitally transform business models and compete in today's economy. Students will explore the role of digitalization as the main business driver of the 21st century, focusing on getting started with digitalization and managing digital transformation and its new strategic framework. They will employ analyses and practical case studies to demonstrate how to unleash the potential offered by the digital transformation, and how to achieve the most critical success factors in the new digital marketplace.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

Digital entrepreneurship is a relevant socio-economic and technological phenomenon which can be considered as the joining of traditional entrepreneurship with an emphasis on leveraging new digital technologies in novel ways, such as social, mobile, analytics, cloud and cyber-solutions. All of this shifts the traditional way of creating and doing business in the digital era. Digital entrepreneurship can be defined as embracing new ventures and the transformation of existing business by creating and using novel digital technologies. In this course, the students will learn that digital enterprises are characterized by a high intensity of utilization of new digital technologies (particularly social, mobile, analytics and cloud solutions) to improve business operations, invent new (digital) business models, sharpen business intelligence, and engage with customers and stakeholders through new (digital) channels.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This module studies global business using a combined strategic and economic approach. The recent major global economic shifts are explored, and current international business events are analyzed. Students will study the key theoretical underpinnings, trends and challenges of international trade and foreign direct investment. They will analyze the importance of government and institutions in controlling/regulating international business behavior. The long-term sustainability of businesses in the ever-changing, and often hostile, global business environment is considered, in order to understand the critical role played by strategic management.

10 ECTS

Improvements to processes, services, products, people, and systems are core to the strategy of organizations. Improvements bridge the gap between current and required performance to add value and achieve and sustain a competitive advantage in the long-term. Effective consultation and project management using appropriate business improvement and research methodologies is key to the successful implementation of change. In this two-part module students will explore how to plan, organize, motivate, and control resources to achieve defined goals, on time and to agreed cost and quality criteria. Using a consultative approach, students will be challenged to make decisions based on their own research to provide practical advice and solutions to real-life scenarios taking into consideration the organization's constraints. They will liaise with employers, establish agreed objectives and present their findings in a clear, business-focused report and presentation.

10 ECTS

Students will gain a thorough understanding of the added complexities involved in global marketing and how these impact on the formulation of marketing plans and strategies through this module. It builds on the knowledge and concepts acquired earlier in the program. This model familiarizes students with a range of issues and concepts encountered by international marketers and provides the theoretical framework for analyzing and implementing them in a real-life business situation. Assessment is coursework-based, designed to enable students to demonstrate their ability to approach a business challenge as a marketer and business manager. The assessment methods used on this module will also help develop key skills desired by employers, such as critical analysis, business report-writing and presentation skills.

10 ECTS

This module examines the concepts of leadership and management. It explores the similarities and differences in the roles and responsibilities of leaders and managers in the workplace and the development of leadership theoretical approaches as well as the practical application of these within organizations. Students will analyze the skills and competencies of effective organizational leaders and examine alternative methods of leadership development to enhance these.

10 ECTS

Improvements to processes, services, products, people, and systems are core to the strategy of organizations. Improvements bridge the gap between current and required performance to add value and achieve and sustain a competitive advantage in the long-term. Effective consultation and project management using appropriate business improvement and research methodologies is key to the successful implementation of change. In this two-part module students will explore how to plan, organize, motivate, and control resources to achieve defined goals, on time and to agreed cost and quality criteria. Using a consultative approach, students will be challenged to make decisions based on their own research to provide practical advice and solutions to real-life scenarios taking into consideration the organization's constraints. They will liaise with employers, establish agreed objectives and present their findings in a clear, business-focused report and presentation.

10 ECTS

This module seeks to develop an understanding of the emerging area of international entrepreneurship, and how that knowledge can be applied to a real-life situation. In recent years, international business and entrepreneurship have been coalescing into a single cognate area. Trading blocs such as the EU highlight entrepreneurship as an engine of economic growth and SMEs are becoming more international thanks to technological advances. At the same time globalization has prompted the re-emergence of local cultures which influence the growth of entrepreneurship in diverse ways. Creating an in-depth appreciation of these issues will enable students to apply theory to inform, evaluate and enhance potential international entrepreneurial ventures.

10 ECTS

In this course, students will learn to think and act like business consultants. They will conduct a specific project through which they will learn the latest business and project management methodologies and tools, examine the main challenges faced by businesses, and apply this knowledge to make informed decisions. Students will develop their problem-solving, strategic-thinking and project management skills, essential for managing projects of all sizes, and learn to identify any gaps between realities and expectations and define possible approaches, options, and solutions.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

The primary objective of the course is for students to explore the roles and responsibilities of leaders and entrepreneurs in the workplace and the development of theoretical approaches as well as their practical application. Students will analyze the skills, traits and competencies of effective leaders and examine alternative methods of leadership development. On successful completion of the course, students will be able to critically evaluate the roles and responsibilities of leadership; critique the challenges of entrepreneurs in contemporary business management; assess alternative theoretical approaches to leadership; and construct comprehensive business models.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

All management and leadership positions require important soft skills and aptitudes, including a capacity for collaboration, critical thinking, negotiation, and public speaking. In this course, students will learn to identify their own strengths, as well as areas where they could improve, in order to develop as confident future leaders. Topics covered include effective time management; learning how emotions can be interpreted and managed to create effective leaders and inspire teams; how to exhibit an accurate sense of self; how to apply a wide range of tools from several disciplines to solve problems effectively and creatively; select the correct negotiation style or strategy for specific situations; develop their business presentation skills.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

Providing a broad overview of graphic design, this course will explain how visual communication is achieved through typography, text and imagery and how its use affects corporate identity. Common examples of graphic design, such as corporate logos, advertising and web design will be discussed.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

This course will enable students to successfully manage a company's digital image and learn how to apply international IP law in day-to-day digital business. The development and management of corporate- and personal digital image will be discussed and explored. Key questions surrounding intellectual property rights will be analyzed, focusing on copyright and ideas related to copyright as well as industrial property.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS

Fintech is the application of technology to financial markets. Fintech was made possible by technological advancements that made previously impossible products feasible. At the same time, many aspects of the financial landscape have changed due to fintech's innovations. As a result, numerous fintech startups compete with, and disrupt, established financial service providers. This course will introduce students to the world of fintech. The course introduces the technological developments that enabled the growth of fintech and explores its most important innovations and disruptions in the financial services sector. We will investigate blockchain, open banking, crowdfunding, robo-advisors, and insurtech, focusing on their impact on credit, investment, and insurance.

3.5 CH | 5 ECTS