Business Administration focuses on a systemic, process-oriented understanding of management, organization and environment. Students learn about the main tasks, challenges and dilemmas of management. Lectures, exercises and independent studies are based on the tradition of St.Gallen management research and the St.Gallen Management Model (SGMM). This serves as a frame of reference, a mental map, in order to be able to classify and deal with today’s management challenges in the context of their social, ecological, economic and technological environment. The goal is to convey an understanding of the fundamental knowledge necessary for responsible integrative management and entrepreneurial behavior.
Particular focus is placed in the Assessment Year on business and management processes and the related issues of responsible organizational value creation (Autumn Semester and the beginning of the Spring Semester) and on financial management with a focus on how to ensure and report the financial success of an enterprise (Spring Semester).
Business Administration A: Marketing Management and the St.Gallen Management Model
This first course segment focuses on the central design fields of customer-centric value creation in modern companies. Students are introduced to a business perspective with an analytical-conceptual task focus.
In the second course segment, the challenges of management as a function and activity are addressed. Central concepts of management such as decision-making, communication, strategy, organization, culture, leadership, governance, stakeholders and environmental spheres are addressed in the context of the organization. Case studies are used to illuminate central areas of tension, and essential management concepts are reflected upon.
Business Administration B: Business Ethics and Financial Management
At the beginning of the Spring Semester, the St.Gallen Management Model continues where it left off by presenting the implications of business ethics in a systemic perspective on organization, environment and management. Students learn the importance of ethical-philosophical questions and value-based foundational orientation, with a focus on responsibility and sustainability, as an integral part of management practice.
The third part of the course shows how the success of an enterprise can be ensured and presented from the point of view of a CFO. In an internal sense, the CFO must ensure that the right management information is available at the right time and of the right quality and that resources are used in a targeted and value-enhancing manner. Together, the CEO and CFO evaluate strategic opportunities and assess investments and acquisitions. Externally, the CFO is responsible for the correct preparation of annual reports and ensuring optimal capitalization, as well as for communicating with the capital market. Good cooperation between the CFO and the CEO is essential for the optimal handling of strategic issues and thus for the sustainable successful development of an enterprise.