Elective Courses

This course examines analytically and critically current problems in global management. It will address multiple employee and organizational problems that students would find beneficial to have exposures to. This course adopts a problem analytical approach to examining and understanding issues selected. Issues include tools of creative problem solving, diversity, visions, motivation systems, team building and challenges for change. This course serves to develop analytic, critical thinking, problem solving, and presentation skills that will contribute directly to effective global business management.

One element of global management concerns the managing of human resources in a diverse, worldwide organization. To manage employees in these organizations effectively, understanding of recruiting, selecting, developing, retaining and compensating is essential. This course provides students with knowledge and understanding of managing human resources in global contexts, as well as develops student ability and skills in analyzing international human resources in present day business organizations.

This course is to provide students in-depth learning for managing the multinational corporations across various product, business, geographic markets. Specifically, the course focuses on three central themes that are critical to the successful formulation of corporate strategy: (1) What are the new businesses opportunities emerged from globalization and how could multinational corporations capture value? (2) How could multinational corporations grow in different settings through acquisitions, partnerships, or internal development, and (3) How could the multinational corporations manage the portfolio of its businesses? Overall, this course will highlight the criticality of making profound decisions about the right pathways for firms to compete in the global business landscape. To tackle these issues, this course will provide theoretical frameworks and guiding principles to analyze practical problems at the corporate 6 or group level experienced by managers.

This course examines the opportunities and challenges that managers confront when doing business in China. It addresses the complex environment of China business with respect to economic, social, cultural, political, and legal institutions. It also aims to provide students with contemporary knowledge of the external environmental forces that are changing competition in today's China market. Threats and opportunities arising from the new rules in China will be discussed.

This course examines the opportunities and challenges that contemporary managers confront when conducting business across national borders. It addresses the complex environment of international business with respect to economic, social, cultural, political, and legal institutions. Special attention will be given to examine how these institutions shape business operations in the global market. Throughout this course, we will also highlight some of the drivers of global macroeconomic development and its impact on international business.

This course involves visits to companies that deal with significant global management issues inside and outside of Hong Kong. Orientation before the visits includes identification and preparation of academic and practical issues to be addressed to target companies. After the visits, academic reports on the issues raised, addressed, solutions and personal take-away would be collected.

This course is aimed at providing students with the tools to become a more effective negotiator by helping students learn how to analyze and conduct negotiations in various contexts. It will give students the opportunity to identify strengths as a negotiator and to work on weaknesses. The course will provide conceptual frameworks and principles based on academic research from a range of fields, such as interpersonal communication, psychology, and group decision-making, for students to diagnose problems and promote agreement.

This course is structured as a workshop in which students will be an active participant, where self-reflection is required. After all, if a “good deal” is reached, it may be difficult to know whether this was due to effective negotiating or luck. By contrast, if an undesirable agreement is reached, it is often possible to analyze what happened and identify steps to take to avoid similar outcomes in the future.

This course focuses on the link between organizational structure and business strategy. The core question addressed is how firms should be organized to achieve their performance objectives. Topics covered in this course include incentive pay, evaluation, hierarchy, organizational culture, and personnel management. The course also discusses the determinants of a firm's boundaries and applied topics such as corporate mergers and outsourcing. The course consists mostly of lectures, which will cover both theoretical and empirical material. In the theoretical part, the course makes heavy use of basic tools in microeconomic theory; in the empirical part, the course draws on various statistical and econometric methods with an emphasis on causal inference.

This module provides an overview of the global concepts, theories, and practices of Knowledge Management (KM) and Knowledge Creation (Innovation) in global organizations and communities. Students will examine basic issues and approaches that global organizations take to create, identify, capture, validate, store, share, and apply knowledge. Techniques and tools for building a knowledge sharing platform and system will be introduced. KM and related case studies will illustrate the implementation and development of a knowledge sharing culture and innovation management in global organizations.  A special focus will be placed on the development of KM programs in practical situations.

This course is designed to provide a theoretical framework to analyze these questions. More specifically, this course is to provide a multi-faceted overview of the characteristics and unique challenges of governance strategy and practices in Asia. Main topics include the country institutional environment, corporate ownership, family- and state-owned enterprises, board of directors and corporate transparency. In addition, the topics of corporate social responsibility, sustainability reporting, nonprofit organizations and social enterprises will be discussed in-depth to bring this course to a more forward-looking conclusion.

This course aims to equip students with a strong conceptual foundation for understanding the digital revolution in the global business environment. As digitization transforms the nature of business across a wide range of industries, mastering the concepts and practices of digital innovation is crucial for managers, entrepreneurs as well as investors. Moreover, a global perspective is becoming ever more critical as digital technologies and platforms change both the speed and the reach for businesses to access new ideas and resources, provide their products and services, enter new markets, and navigate through both traditional partnerships and newly-emerged ecosystems. This course is theory- and research-based but practice-oriented. Through disciplined analyses of successful and unsuccessful cases across industry and national borders, this course will provide students with the sophistication to identify, evaluate and act upon new business opportunities successfully in a truly global and digital world.

Managers often make arbitrary decisions based on intuition, chance, preference, convenience, or tradition. We need a scientific framework to guide us in a conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of the best available evidence to make informed managerial decisions. In the lectures, we will cover the following topics: (1) the foundation of decision-making, (2) the principles of evidence-based decision-making, (3) the framework of data science, and (4) the applications of management analytics in real or simulated decision-making scenarios. In addition, you will use R (an open-source computer software) to work on in-class exercises that cover the following topics, such as (1) descriptive statistics, (2) data visualization, (3) analysis of variance and regression, (4) forecasting, and (5) social network analysis.

This course is designed to equip students with a practical understanding via a business consultancy approach to develop a new business under a startup environment and resolve existing problems within a sizable organization in a real-world situation. The course will cover idea generation, key problem identification, business model formulation, strategic planning and analysis, financial modelling and business justification, resource and operational planning, pitching to investor and management, etc. The course will integrate what the students have learnt via various business and management courses, as well as applying them in a corporate scenario. Application of taught concepts / knowledge of entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, design thinking, product / service development, strategic planning, financial forecasting, and/or marketing and promotion, etc. will be required throughout the course.

This course is about how to achieve alignment amongst stakeholders of enterprises operating in a global context. This entails the creation of an integrative perspective to understanding global management, both at the enterprise level and the executive level. This is of particular importance for global managers aspiring to become CEOs.

This course aims at developing students’ business storytelling skills through the analysis and development of organizational narratives from around the world. By reflecting on the importance of storytelling in management, this course will help students become better leaders.

Capitalism has spread across the world as a driving force for economic growth and human prosperity, but it has also created a myriad of social ills, such as environmental crisis, social inequality, and political unrest. Managerial practices are both a cause for and a solution to these global challenges.

This course will introduce you to the basic components of wellness programmes. It will cover topics surrounding mental health, stress, anxiety, burnout, work-life balance, work recovery, coping strategies, and developing resilience. The focus will be on managerial training and implementation – how leaders can effectively help their company and the people within, achieve and maintain wellness at work. This course will also provide you with the skills to assess and develop workplace wellness initiatives based on practical application. Students will explore differences in wellness programmes across cultures to enhance a global management perspective. This hands-on course is designed with interactive and practical activities to prepare you to use these tools in your own workplace.

Sustainable management and responsible investment are rapidly emerging fields that support the development of socially responsible organizations and low-carbon and climate-resilient economy. This course aims to equip students with the knowledge of the green economy and the application of sustainability management and governance and reporting techniques to address various social and environmental issues, and the incorporation of environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) factors into daily management decision-making.

Using international films and TV shows as case studies and Manfred F. R. Kets De Vries’ typology of leadership archetypes as its theoretical framework, this course aims at discussing key questions about leaders and leadership. Screenings and in-class discussions will help students understand the prevailing discourses on leadership in film and how each portrayal reflects and influences the practice of leadership. The workshop format will provide opportunities for students to develop their communication skills while reflecting on their own identity as a leader.

This course aims to provide students with the awareness, understanding, and tools to lead with humanity. To achieve this, we will consider how companies with leaders adopting this style of leadership have seen higher returns on business outcomes, and help students develop the skills that lay the foundation for a human style of leadership. This course will provide frameworks and principles based on academic research from a range of fields, such as social psychology, management, and coaching, and intersect management consulting for students to apply to their understanding to the business world. Students will gain a deep understanding of how to lead with humanity through an interactive and practical course structured to prepare students to be impactful leaders.

Investors and other corporate stakeholders are increasingly calling for high-quality reporting by companies on sustainability performance and environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. This course offers an in-depth and comprehensive discussion of ESG reporting with an emphasis on its practical application in the corporations and business world. Major topics include ESG reporting standards, corporate disclosure of various ESG matters, ESG rating, ESG scandal, and auditing of ESG reports. Issues on the carbon emission trading and the development of carbon markets will also be discussed.

Accompanying the core professional skills at the heart of a leading executive’s career, executives will face a range of “serendipitous” challenges for which they are rarely formally prepared. But these unpredictable external factors will likely play a significant – perhaps decisive – role in determining how effectively he or she navigates a successful career. This course specifically addresses these powerful “serendipitous” real world forces as an indispensable compliment, examining a diverse range of factors that shape the context in which all companies must navigate.

This course introduces graduate students to the field of 'Impact Investing in Sustainable Technologies', an advanced academic course that systematically explores the theoretical underpinnings and practical applications of investing in innovative, sustainable technologies for societal and environmental betterment, promoting critical understanding of risk-return trade-offs, ethical considerations, impact measurement, and regulatory frameworks within the fast-evolving landscape of sustainable finance.

This course is designed to prepare future business leaders for adeptly handling the dynamic ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) landscape that is evolving both in China and around the world. The main goal is to cultivate the ability to effectively evaluate and manage ESG-related risks and opportunities, while considering the broader implications for a range of stakeholders and the wider society. Although ESG originated within Western corporate frameworks, its relevance and application are rapidly expanding in countries like China. This course, while placing a significant focus on the unfolding ESG developments within China, will also provide a comprehensive view by exploring ESG adoption and trends in various global contexts.

This course aspires to dive back into ancient wisdoms within the Chinese Classics to examine the fundamental guidelines for developing leadership skills. We hope to compare “Where is leadership now and where will it go in the future?”, “What are the basic qualities we are looking for?” and “What is needed to face a multifaceted and pluralistic world?”. The Book of Changes (Yijing) is a foundation on which many Chinese Classics are based. This course will follow the footsteps of the medieval scholars of the Song/Ming dynasties who returned to the ancient sources to ground the Chinese identity. Ru, Dao, Fa schools are all heavily influenced by the Yi.

This course provides rigorous analysis of how the advances in artificial intelligence and digital technology transform the economy and society. It will not only cover conventional topics on the impact of AI on innovation, business strategy, firm dynamics, employment, and economic growth, but also guide students to explore frontier topics related to social media, digital entertainment, gig economy, and algorithmic regulation. The course will be grounded on economic analysis and empirical methods with an emphasis on applications instead of methodological sophistication. Students are expected to master basic analytic and empirical tools to study knowledge, innovation, and AI in economics and management. Students will be assessed based on problem-solving assignments and a business analytical project.

The course aims to provide students with practical knowledge and workplace skillsets shared by practitioners from various commercial and industrial sectors for the professional development and career advancement of students. Trending topics and current issues will be covered to equip students with the mindset and calibre for the challenges they are going to come across at workplace. With an emphasis on practice, the course instructors will deliver in-depth lectures on real world business issues.

This course offers a valuable opportunity for students to take ownership of their learning and produce an original and substantive piece of work. It allows them to tailor their studies to their individual interests and career aspirations. Students will produce a report or research paper on a topic of their choice on a specific business issue, industry or problem that they are particularly interested in. It gives them the opportunity to apply the skills and knowledge gained throughout the master’s programme in a self-directed study project under the supervision of a faculty advisor.

This course aims to introduce current development of financial market solutions, i.e., green finance (climate finance) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) to address climate change problems. This course will cover the topics including green bonds, impact investment, carbon finance, ESG investment, and climate finance. Other related topics are accounting, certification, and reporting of ESG information.

You can take up to three electives from the Master of Accounting, Master of Economics, Master of Finance, Master of Finance in Financial Technology, Master of Science in Business Analytics or Master of Science in Marketing programme at HKU. Enrollment in electives from other programmes is subject to seat availability and approval by the Programme Directors concerned based on your profile, capabilities and performance in the MGM programme.

Since enrollment in other taught postgraduate electives is not guaranteed, you should always choose four MGM electives during the course enrollment at our programme. Course enrollment results of other programmes may only be confirmed after that course has started. If your enrollment is successful, you can drop the MGM elective(s) and enroll in the other taught postgraduate elective(s).

It is your responsibility to make sure you obtain 60 credits to fulfill the graduation requirements and there is no overlapping of classes and exams in courses from different programmes.

*The list of available electives from other programmes may have prerequisite requirement(s) and is subject to change for future intakes.