Business Processes

COURSE OBJECTIVE
ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH SKILLS – STUDENTS CAN CONDUCT A BASIC INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH PROJECT FROM START TO FINISH
Academic Skills (three As) After successfully completing this course, the student
• can analyze and demonstrate an understanding of problems from different perspectives (Analysis)
• is able to recognize fundamental structures and to leave out irrelevant information (Abstraction)
• is able to put forward well-founded, substantiated points of view, both in spoken and written format (Argumentation)

Research Skills
After successfully completing this course, the student
• is able to translate academic research into practically relevant outcomes
• can apply basic research skills needed to complete a research process

BRIDGING THEORY AND PRACTICE KNOWLEDGE: Demonstrates theoretical and empirical knowledge concerning the relevant areas in international business administration
After successfully completing this course, the student:
• knows the basic theories, models and concepts of business processes
• is able to make connections between those theories, models, and concepts

APPLICATION: Can propose a solution to an international real-life business problem by applying relevant theories and methodologies.
After successfully completing this course, the student:
• is able to apply theoretical knowledge in a specific business situation
• is able to select the correct method and / or technique for quantifying, analyzing and solving a specific problem
• is able to translate, communicate, and disseminate quantitative results to relevant stakeholders

SOCIAL SKILLS – STUDENTS ARE ABLE TO EFFECTIVELY MANAGE DIFFERENT PROFESSIONAL ROLES IN A CROSS-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT
After successfully completing this course, the student:
• excels at presenting (both orally and in writing) on a basic applications of business processes
• has a basic understanding of roles and needs of different types of stakeholders
• can work well in a team and reflect on his/her own role in the team
• is sensitive to cross-cultural differences, understands how these translate into social contexts and is able to deal with those differences in social interactions

COURSE CONTENT
This final course of the first year is an exciting course that will challenge you in various ways. By taking Business Processes as a point of departure, we bring together several perspectives and analyze real-life business cases from an integrative perspective. Taking a business process perspective will stimulate you to think about organizations in a different way, bringing together knowledge from different fields and realizing that this creates challenges and conflicts that managers need to deal with. You will learn to systematically analyze such processes, to visualize them, and identify problems that emerge in these processes, considering both the front- (customer) as well as the back-side (management). Moreover, this course offers you a number of tools that allow you to assess the consequences of suggested improvements. Important topics such as process analysis, process improvement and resource planning are addressed, which are essential, hands-on tools any international business professional should be able to work with. In a bootcamp setting, where we operate in a so-called "pressure cooker" situation (a short, but intense period to solve a problem) we work on a highly relevant issue for a manufacturing company, creating a unique first impression of what happens on a day-to-day basis when managing business processes. We will have a lot fun playing an educational simulation game, where core concept learned in the course will be applied to efficiently manage the simulated processes.

TEACHING METHODS
Lectures
Tutorials

TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
Assignment – Group Assessment
Course Case Assignment – Group Assessment
Mandatory attendance and participation in tutorials – Individual Assessment

RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
1.1 Business Mathematics
1.3 Academic Skills
1.4 Global Supply Chain Management