MSc in International Management

The MSc in International Management (MSIM) program of The American University of Paris embraces the liberal arts traditions of interdisciplinarity, small-classroom teaching and experiential learning through a blend of in-class and project-based pedagogies. Student–faculty collaboration is also foundational to the program.

An essential part of the MSIM program is preparing students for the complex challenges of our modern world. It is clear that climate change, social justice, economic inequality and other large-scale complex concerns are among the greatest planetary challenges of our times. The program is therefore contextualized by how to strategically respond to these societal, ethical, and organizational complexities.

The MSIM program offers critical and interdisciplinary approaches grounded in the humanities, economics, and social sciences. We offer tracks for students interested in careers in general management, sustainability management, and mission-based (NGO) management. Conventional approaches are balanced with critical perspectives to help form our students into global citizens, enabling them to develop meaningful, contextualized and ethical strategies to meet the complex challenges of the contemporary world. We deploy our resources to support students’ professional and personal objectives as much as possible or to help students discover what their objectives might be.

A Diverse, Open Program Culture

Management practices and trends have evolved significantly in the past few decades. Professionals must now navigate a wide variety of economic, social, environmental and public policy challenges as they manage careers with a faster pace of change and greater uncertainty. The MSc in International Management cohorts are a mix of students continuing from their undergraduate studies and experienced professionals who share their knowledge and experiences in teamwork exercises. We allow students to pursue personal, professional and academic objectives through their own made-to-measure individual trajectories. This inter-cohort collaboration helps our students develop as global citizens as they meet the complex challenges of today’s professional world with meaningful, authentic and ethical approaches.

 

A Supportive and Interdisciplinary Environment

The American University of Paris is a unique institution that offers a global perspective consistent with a liberal arts mission of interdisciplinary studies and critical thinking. The MSIM program provides a comprehensive overview of management in theory and professional practice along with critical inquiry and reflective sensemaking in order to bring depth and meaning to management topics. We strive to have a convivial atmosphere, with small class sizes and access to a full range of academic and personal support services. Classes range in size from 18 students for core courses to as few as five students for specialized electives. Students may also choose to work directly with a faculty member on a self-directed study on a topic that interests them not covered by our existing courses and curricula. The ability of students to ground their management education on their interests and values, and explore possible professional and personal pathways, is a unique feature of the MSIM program and is rarely offered in conventional management or business administration programs.

MSIM Student Perspectives

Experience the Program

Teaching methods focus on conventional techniques as well as critical management studies and approaches from other academic disciplines. Courses combine lectures, seminar discussions, case method teaching and student-directed projects. Within this context, a special emphasis is put on professional skills development and career development. You will also have the opportunity to collaborate with other students and program faculty on research projects and specialized directed-study courses.

 

Experiential Learning

The MSIM Program organizes project- and experience-based study trips every semester, covering topics such as sustainability, ethical management in practice, and NGOs and mission-based organizations. Management strategy is thereby contextualized within contemporary issues of public policy, governance, science, technology, culture and belief systems. The trips invite students to think critically about management strategies while witnessing real-world practices in context within the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Students engage directly with the consequences of climate change, economic inequality and social justice. 

 

Summer Book Projects: How do managers engage in a time of complexity?

Over the past four summers, several MSIM students have worked with faculty members to produce an edited book volume addressing management strategy in the face of complex global problems such as climate change, rising socioeconomic inequality, and increased authoritarianism. Within these contexts, managers are working in highly networked and equally complex global environments. Beyond the old command-and-control model, managers must recalibrate every aspect of their current strategies. The problems we face are complex and urgent, and the time to develop effective responses is running out.

This work probes whether and how prevailing strategic frameworks perform given these and other 21st-century challenges. Through a series of essays, the authors question conventional paradigms and probe one of the most gnawing paradoxes in contemporary management: What does it mean to manage complex objects far beyond our control? And, with this paradox, is the end of managerialism in sight?

As part of an ongoing yearly series on management, ethics and complexity, this book is the result of a collective effort by graduate students and faculty on the MSIM program.

 

SCOS Conference 2023

The Standing Conference of Organizational Symbolism (SCOS) is a prestigious international conference that is organized and hosted by a different international institution every year (see https://www.scos.org/). In recent years the conference took place in Copenhagen, York, Tokyo, Rome, Uppsala, Nottingham and Utrecht, to name a few. 

SCOS is a global network of academics and practitioners, who hail from a hugely diverse range of disciplines and professional backgrounds. It was formed in 1981, originally as an autonomous working group of the European Group for Organizational Studies, but it has been an independent academic venture for over 25 yearly conferences. The central interest of the network is in the interlinked issues of organizational symbolism, culture and change, articulated in the broadest possible sense and informed by a commitment to interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary understandings of organization and management. The organization’s work draws from organization studies, social anthropology, management, cultural studies, media studies, philosophy, history, politics and social psychology.

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Program Requirements

The program features a special emphasis on balancing core courses – which offer fundamental concepts, frameworks and theoretical and ethical inquiries – with elective courses that allow students to focus on the field of practice that most suits them, be it general management, sustainability management or NGO and mission-based management.

Complement core requirements in leadership, strategy, finance, ethics and operations with the opportunity to delve further into your interests both inside and outside the field of management, with options spanning global communications, economics, negotiation and international relations.

 

Core Courses

BA5001 Accounting And Management Control

Overview of management control, managerial accounting, as well as financial and performance reporting, management by exception, balanced scorecard, cost accounting, etc. Takes a critical approach to using accounting and performance management tools in managerial decision making. The course focuses on how conventional management tools can inform decision-making, and how to consider financial, strategic, and ethical mitigating factors in more ambiguous and nuanced contexts.

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BA5012 Management Ethics And Theory

This course covers theoretical and pragmatic approaches to business practices as a starting point for an on-going exploration into contemporary and critical management concepts. Students will explore the ethical issues that arise as organizations operate in a globalized and inter-connected economy. We will apply general management theory, ethical analysis, and critical approaches to a variety of case studies across different industries and global regions.

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BA5021 Organizational Behavior

This course offers an in-depth overview of Organizational Behavior concepts and practices. We will cover conventional management theories and critical approaches, as well as sociological and psychological approaches. We will also explore individual, group and organizational dimensions within business and mission-driven organizations. Further, the course aims to facilitate the effective experiential learning of students through activities and problem-solving exercises based on real world examples.

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BA5035 International Financial Management

The course will focus on the international and multinational aspects of Corporate Finance decision-making in the context of global financial markets and capital formation.

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BA5041 Marketing Strategy

This course examines concepts and strategies used in international marketing. Provides an overview of the current/ongoing issues and challenges facing marketers around the globe. The objective is to acquire a better understanding of the marketing challenges facing international and global firms and to analyze the tools and strategies that these companies use to mitigate these issues and challenges.

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BA5062 Management Of Complexity

This course explores and elaborates on complexity and emergence in the context of contemporary management and the practices of managing. The course engages students with advanced interdisciplinary ‘Management of Complexity’ themes in strategy, organizational behavior and leadership. In this theory and case-driven course, students examine the management of complexity in terms of specific cultural and organizational contexts and management frameworks.

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EC5063 Economic Analysis For Management

The course will introduce economists' basic concepts and analytical frameworks to study behavior and decision-making. Students will learn how to employ these concepts to analyze organizational, social, and environmental real-world problems from an economics perspective. We will explore some limitations inherent in economic analysis addressing 21st-century challenges such as anthropogenic climate change and social responsibility. The prerequisites of the course are a graduate standing.

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BA5071 Strategic Management

The course engages students with advanced themes in international management strategy, both in theory and in practice. Students will take a critical approach to understand how theory influences practice and how our perceptions of strategy evolve over time and circumstance. Furthermore, students will examine strategy in terms of specific cultural, international and organizational elements given specific sustainability and mission-based frameworks.

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BA5019 Consulting Methods

This course engages students with advanced themes and methods in management consultancy, both in theory and in practice. We will take a critical approach to understand how theory influences practice and how our perceptions of management consultancy evolve over time and circumstance. Students will examine management consultancy in terms of specific cultural, international and organizational elements given specific consulting frameworks.

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OR

BA5099 Thesis Methodology Seminar

 

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Program Learning Objectives: Critical Thinking and Professional Skills

This degree provides you with the critical thinking and professional skills necessary to evaluate a wide range of management problems in different professional and personal contexts. Particular emphasis is given to managing complexity and ambiguity in multistakeholder and multicausal contexts. You will sharpen your ability to approach varied questions and perspectives to make informed decisions and collaborate effectively in your chosen professional field. There is a key focus on transferable skills, critical thinking, and analytical and qualitative research skills. You also have the opportunity to develop your knowledge and expertise to manage proficiently, effectively and ethically.

As a graduate of the MSc in International Management you will:

  • demonstrate an ability to apply management know-how in practical business situations as evidenced through cross-course projects;
  • offer a broad base of management and business knowledge, effectively deploying concepts, frameworks and critical approaches perceptively and with thoughtfulness;
  • demonstrate the ability to conduct methodological research while engaging in interdisciplinary analysis, drawing upon a wide variety of empirical and theoretical sources, analytical frameworks, and sub-disciplines within management studies;
  • be able to communicate effectively and convincingly on a factual and conceptual basis, in writing and orally; and
  • show a high level of professional reliability, with an ability to work under self-direction and in teams, with a high level of personal ethics.

 

International Management Tracks

The program is built on three core business approaches: (1) dominant contemporary management theory and practices, (2) sustainability management and (3) mission-based management. As well as track-specific course requirements, both core courses and elective courses across the program offer class material and case studies relevant to these three approaches. If you are interested in a further academic focus, you may also complete a research project, professional experience or directed study in these areas.

Students and Careers

Your Classmates

The MSIM program is equally suited to those arriving directly from undergraduate study and those with previous professional experience looking to pivot their careers, whether within or outside of management fields. It is an ideal course for someone who has a strong interest in business ethics, sustainability or social justice who wants to move into a management position. The varied ages, backgrounds and nationalities of applicants lead to the lively sharing of perspectives within intimate classrooms, as students bring their own narratives into the discussions creating a space of rigorous, cross-cultural, multidisciplinary debate.

Graduation

Over the course of your study, you are encouraged to build on your experiences in the MSIM program by applying your knowledge and skills beyond the campus. Every semester, we organize a cross-course life client project that is often coupled with a study trip.

There are three different paths to graduation in the MSIM program. About one-third of the students opt for a thesis research which is regularly paired with a real-life case or a zero credit internship. About half of the students graduate on an internship report and a small number opt for an Applied Project Capstone. In summary, these three options boil down to the following:

As part of your MSc degree in International Management, students can opt to write a six credit thesis. This thesis, probably the first sustained piece of research that a student has undertaken, will demonstrate mastery of a specific subject area within the parameters of the degree. It will also demonstrate knowledge of the research currently being undertaken in the relevant field(s) and be published in the English language.

As part of their MSc degree in International Management, students may opt to complete a six credit internship that includes a full report about the internship experience and a consulting report that addresses a problem or feature of the internship that is both professionally and academically relevant to the student’s program of study.

The Applied Project is designed to provide MSIM students an opportunity to integrate the knowledge and skills gained from their courses to professional outcomes. Specifically, the project and its presentation should draw on the knowledge, analytic abilities, writing and presentation skills, and insights students have acquired through study, observation, and involvement in their disciplinary field.

These three graduation options provide you with a crucial connection between theoretical knowledge and the kind of real-world experience that can ultimately kick-start or pivot your professional career.

STRONG GRADUATE EMPLOYMENT

Almost all students that graduate from the MSIM find a job, become entrepreneurs or pursue further education within a year of graduation. Our MSIM graduate programs provide academic excellence and practical knowledge to prepare you to enter the international employment market successfully.

Selected companies where graduates found work

Ethos ESG (part of ACA Group)

Ethos ESG (part of ACA Group)

Alcatel-Lucent

Marriott Hotels

FarFetch

L’Oréal

UNESCO

NGO @wenabi

Edelman Data and Intelligence

Young and Rubicam

The International Fund for Agricultural Development

Roland Berger

NYC Department of Parks and Recreation

CSG

PepsiCo