Module 1 – 4

Module 1: Strategy

This course illustrates how economic reasoning can lead to smarter and better-informed real-world management decisions. Building on the tools of game theory it shows how strategic thinking provides practical answers to critical business problems. Participants will learn to identify strategic situations in their own daily business environment and to detect strategic similarities across seemingly unrelated settings. Finally, the course provides the conceptual foundations for adapting a data-driven approach to strategic decision-making.

(Type of examination: Exam)

Prof. Dr. Florian Hett, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Module 2: Accounting

Accounting is one of the core functions for almost any business. In this course, you will cover the key concepts of accounting in a nutshell and with a view to level the playing field in your interactions with accounting experts. How are financial transactions being recorded and reported? How do you extract valuable information from a company’s financial statements as an external stakeholder? How do you use accounting information to make informed business decisions and forecasting inside the corporation? We will answer these and other key aspects of accounting using relevant problem-solving tools and real-world cases wherever applicable.

(Type of examination: Exam)

Prof. Dr. Oscar A. Stolper, Philipps University Marburg

Module 3: Finance

This course provides a holistic approach to financial management. The first part of the course focuses on working capital management, that is, how to manage the financing of companies efficiently such that their operations run smoothly. This part will provide you a thorough understanding of the financial consequences of the various day-to-day decisions taken across the company. The second part of the course revolves around more strategic, long-term, financial issues. We will apply different valuation techniques to evaluate investment projects, as well as, value firms and stocks. Moreover, we learn how the firm’s capital structure impacts its value. In the last part of the course, we will discuss advanced topics in corporate finance like dividend payout decisions or the value created (or destroyed) by initial public offerings (IPOs).

(Type of examination: Exam)

Prof. Dr. Christian Eufinger, IESE Business School | University of Navarra

Module 4: Soft Skills

Teamwork and Self-organization 

This highly experiential two-day course provides hands-on practice in using skills and tools to expand emotional and social intelligence and the capacity for agile and collaborative teamwork that are required in today’s VUCA world. Psychological safety has been proven to be a key component in building effective teams, allowing for clear interpersonal and group-level communication based on mutual respect and vulnerability-based trust. Participants of this course learn how to first create a foundation of trust with each other, and then practice building and sustaining a dynamic arena where they can openly discuss ideas, strategy implementation and potential conflicts. Students explore their own role in optimal team functioning through self-awareness, self-organization and attitudinal and behavior shifts in themselves, so that they have a more conscious impact on collaboration and outcomes, regardless of their official role in a team. By experiencing these methods first-hand, students learn the value of and techniques for creating such an environment in their own current and future teams.

Katja Müller, Leadership & Team Trainer, Sound System GbR, Heidelberg
Dr. Pam Kowalski, Leadership & Team Trainer, Friedrichsdorf

The Talking Body - Bodylanguage for Young Professionals

Successfully giving presentations and leading teams are important competences for young professionals. Crucial steps to achieve this success are a conscious and impressive appearance (stage presence), an authentic and clear voice and a positive body language. This workshops allows the participants to work on their confident and authentic appearance, as well as to develop a healthy, sustainable use of voice by learning techniques for body, breath, and speech, whereby rhetorical skills will also improve. The development of one’s own character, training for an impressive appearance, and a sensible handling of pressure and stress are also in the center of this two days’ workshop.

Nicolas Bertholet, Acting-Ensemble Member, Speaker (ARTE and SR) and Coach (Goethe University Frankfurt)

Presentation Training: Communicating with Confidence and Accuracy

Presenting is a regular and important task in professional life. At the same time, however, to persuasively communicate one’s ideas to colleagues or decision-making persons is often considered challenging. Yet, being a good speaker is often just a question of developing a set of skills and techniques such as the use of voice and body language, an effective presentation structure and the dynamic use of language. Throughout this two-day workshop, participants will be guided through interactive exercises to help the speaker effectively communicate the importance and relevance of the work and the core message in the talk.

Julia Stearns, Trainer and Coach (DGfC) for Effective Communication in Science, Impulsplus

(Type of examinanation: Presentation)