Degree of Master of Science (120 credits) with a major in Business Administration

Programme aims
This programme has been developed as a response to the transformational pressures that digitalization exerts on existing and new businesses. The programme aims to provide students with knowledge, skills, and approaches, relevant for analyzing, identifying and managing digital opportunities for strategic business creation and development and organizational change. To that end, the programme stimulates creative thinking around digitalization, business innovation and renewal. To foster understanding and ability for integration of theory with practice, the curriculum is built to enable student interaction with a selection of relevant business partners, for example through guest lectures, course projects, case-based learning, and internships. To secure the range of competencies necessary to understand and manage digital business, the programme presents students with new and future-oriented perspectives utilizing a cross-disciplinary approach, combining Business administration (major), with Informatics and Business law.

General aims
Second cycle education shall essentially build on the knowledge students acquire in first cycle education or corresponding knowledge. Second cycle education shall involve a deepening of knowledge, skills and abilities relative to first cycle education and, in addition to what applies to first cycle education, shall;

• further develop the students’ ability to independently integrate and use knowledge,
• develop the students’ ability to deal with complex phenomena, issues and situations, and
• develop the students’ potential for professional activities that demand considerable independence for research and development work.

Program specific aims
Knowledge and understanding

Graduates of the programme will have a general knowledge and understanding of business administration and a specialised and considerably deep knowledge in the field of digital business.

Corresponding Objectives:
Graduates of the programme will be able to

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding in Business Administration, including both broad knowledge in the field of business administration and a considerable degree of specialised knowledge in digital business;
• demonstrate deepened insight into current research and development work in digital business;
• demonstrate specialised methodological knowledge in business administration and specifically related to digital business; and
• demonstrate understanding of issues of digital business and how it can be interpreted with different theoretical approaches.

Skills and abilities
Graduates of the programme will have acquired the skills to integrate knowledge critically and to analyse complex issues encountered for a career that includes management in digital settings, and be effective communicators of activities associated with those skills.

Corresponding Objectives:
Graduates of the programme will be able to

• demonstrate the ability to integrate knowledge critically and systematically and analyse, assess and deal with complex phenomena, issues and situations associated with digital business, even with limited information;
• demonstrate the ability to identify and formulate issues critically, independently and creatively as well as to plan and, using appropriate research methods, undertake advanced tasks within predetermined time frames so as to contribute to the development of knowledge and evaluate this work;
• demonstrate the ability in speech and writing to report clearly on digital business issues and discuss their conclusions and the knowledge and arguments on which they are based, in dialogue with different national and international audiences; and
• demonstrate the skills required for participation in research and development work or to work independently in other advanced contexts, including in academic research related to digital business.

Judgement and approach
Graduates of the programme will understand the scientific, social, ethical, and personal responsibility aspects of practical work and research in business administration, including the role, use, and development of knowledge and the ethical aspects and possibilities of scientific endeavor.

Corresponding Objectives:
Graduates of the programme will be able to

• demonstrate the ability to make assessments in business administration, taking into account relevant scientific, societal and ethical issues and also demonstrate awareness of ethical aspects in research and development work;
• demonstrate insight into the possibilities and limitations of science/research, its role in society and people's responsibility for how it is used; and
• demonstrate the ability to identify their personal need for further knowledge and to take responsibility for developing their knowledge.

Mission driven goals
Graduates of the programme will be equipped to contribute to the advancement of business practice in a global environment, with particular emphasis on aspects of Ownership, and/or Entrepreneurship and/or Renewal.

Corresponding Objectives:
Graduates of the programme will be able to:

• Exemplify how digitalization can form a basis for renewal in existing business with regards to, and based on analyses, of current business operations
• Demonstrate awareness of the opportunities for entrepreneurship offered by digitalization.
• Demonstrate the ability to work in internationally diverse teams to solve a given assignment.

The above is in accord with the intended learning outcomes set for a two-years Master's degree by the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education.

First semester
The programme starts with the course Understanding Digital Business, which is designed to provide students with a foundation regarding the influence of digitalization on business opportunities, doing business, and organizing for business. The course clarifies the wide array of digital businesses available while introducing theory to explain the development and management of technological change in business. In parallel, the course Digitalization and Industrial Dynamics is run, introducing students to external analysis and to digitalization as a macro trend in society. The course provides tools and methods to assess environmental transformation and identify opportunities and consequences for business and policy. These introduction courses are followed by a course on Digital Entrepreneurship and Advanced Research Methods in Entrepreneurship. The former secures a progression of knowledge within business administration, specifically focused on entrepreneurship processes, while crafting the students’ “entrepreneurial selves” through practical assignments; including working on a digital business idea. The method course ensures that all students understand research philosophy and gains the knowledge and skills to perform and/or order both advanced qualitative and quantitative research. The course prepares students for writing a master thesis in Business Administration with a particular attention to entrepreneurial and tranformational aspects and is also a key to developing critical thinking capabilities and report writing skills.

Second semester
The second semester focuses on competences and skills in specific areas of business administration. Data Analysis for Decision-making is a course that develops the students’ ability to order and/or take part in data (analytics) driven decision-making. This includes how to source, keep, and deal with big data, as well as how to analyse relevant metrics for business development. In parallel the students take Consulting: Processes and skills. The course is aimed to equip students with skills to identify, define and deliver consultancy projects under real-world conditions.
In the second half of the spring semester the students take the course Digital Marketing, introducing students to the opportunities and challenges of data-driven and automated marketing. In parallel, a course on Digital Business Modeling equips the student with tools and models for business development, and stimulates innovative thinking about new and emerging business models in a digital world.

Third semester
The third semester includes an elective module where can take a 15 credit Internship course, which provides them with the opportunity to get hands-on experience in a specific area of digital business by working within their own or an existing organization. The course requires students to make continuous reflection on their competence and learning, and to write a report that promotes the ability to review theory in the light of practice. The internship secures an international outlook for students, as the internship should relate to digital business and be done in an international context. As a general rule, students find their internship places themselves. Alternatively, students may use the elective module to select 15 credits from JIBS catalogue of recommended courses.
Parallel to the elective module, students take two mandatory courses that are conducted online and at a flexible pace. Business Law in a Digital Context is a course designed to accommodate students’ need of competence in legal matters when developing digital business that reaches across borders. The course Leading Organizing Innovation Work is a course designed to prepare students for leading organizations in a digital setting.

Fourth semester
The fourth and final semester focuses on further developing the students’ analytical skills and ability to perform independent and critical research in the area of digital business. Students spend the semester writing a 30 credit Master Thesis in Business Administration on a topic related to digital business.

All courses are taught in English. Thanks to the internationally diverse student and faculty population at Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), each course provides an opportunity for interaction across cultural and national boundaries. The international atmosphere is reinforced with international subject matter in this programme and particularly its consideration of the truly global character of developing companies in a digital context.

The education aims to prepare students for working with digital business in an international environment, specifically with focus on entrepreneurship, business renewal, and/or marketing. The education also prepares students for research in these areas, possibly within doctoral studies.

Course Name	Credits	Main field of study	Specialised in	Course Code
Advanced Research Methods in Entrepreneurship	7.5	Business Administration	A1N	JARR26
Business Law in a Digital Context	7.5	Commercial Law	A1F	JBLR27
Consulting: Processes and Skills	7.5	Business Administration	A1N	JCPR23
Data Analysis for Decision-Making	7.5	Informatics	A1F	JDAS27
Digital Business Modeling	7.5	Business Administration	A1F	JDBS25
Digital Entrepreneurship	7.5	Business Administration	A1N	JDER29
Digital Marketing	7.5	Business Administration	A1F	JDMS27
Digitalization and Industrial Dynamics	7.5	Business Administration	A1N	JDDR22
Leading and Organizing Innovation Work	7.5	Business Administration	A1N	JLOR27
Master Thesis in Business Administration (Two Years)	30	Business Administration	A2E	JMBV27
Understanding Digital Business	7.5	Business Administration	A1N	JUDR26

The third semester includes 15 elective credits and gives the opportunity for students to build a custom-made profile. Students can use the 15 credits for either a digital business internship or take courses. Students who choose courses should do so within the fields of business administration, economics, statistics, economic geography, commercial law, informatics, computer science or language.