Executive Mini MBA

The Executive Mini MBA will enhance future career prospects, develop management awareness and provide an integrated knowledge of the core disciplines of management, leadership, organisation and relationships at work.

“Very useful to contextualise the requirements of the civilian sector and to understand how the skills and knowledge if have attained over my service career can be transposed.”
 - Course Attendee

Director Development Programme or Executive Mini MBA?
The Director Development Programme (DDP) and the Executive Mini MBA Programme (MMBA) cover similar material, but they contextualise the topics at different levels and in different scenarios.

Therefore, we do not recommend Service Leavers sit both programmes, as there will be undeniable overlaps in the content.

The Director Development Programme is aimed at those seeking a Director role within larger organisations, and the programme will focus on providing a more strategic overview and understanding of each element (finance, marketing etc). The Executive Mini MBA provides a more operational overview and is particularly suitable for those going into smaller organisations or self-employment who will be more involved with day to day processes.

An example of how the content is similar but differs, is in the Finance element of both courses. The Mini MBA covers Finance for Managers- this is an operational overview of finance at a senior managerial level, for example, how to manage a departmental budget, Profit and Loss and best practice with regards the “doing”. The DDP covers Finance for Non-Finance Directors- this is a strategic oversight of how to interrogate and constructively challenge the finance function at Board level, for example, you may not become directly responsible for forecasts, ratios and financial reports but you will have to understand the jargon, spot challenges and opportunities in numbers and hold a conversation at a strategic level.

Both courses offer that upskill in finance, but the level of detail is different reflective on the seniority within an organisation.

This course provides the essential learning to achieve the Post Graduate Certificate in Business Administration from the University of Chester. You may choose to complete the PG Cert which is available with our associate provider directly. Full information on how to complete this can be downloaded via the link at the bottom of this page.

Delivered over a 5-day period, you will develop a broad range of business management knowledge and leadership thinking in the core areas of projects & processes, finance, marketing, operations, creative thinking and strategy. Covering 5 subject areas, one per day. The detail of these subject areas are:

Leadership in action

• Leading organisational culture
• Leading organisational change and knowledge
• Becoming a strategic leader and decision maker
• Leading a change driven process
• Critical decision-making processes at a strategic level
• Developing soft skills for performance (coaching and mentoring)
• 21st century leadership practice

Managing excellence in processes & projects

• Leading the development of a continuous improvement strategy
• Strategic process improvement and system thinking principles
• Designing and implementing change programmes and project management
• Core processes and end-to-end delivery
• Delivering excellence in project management tools

Marketing across boundaries

• Developing a marketing plan and strategy
• Examining value and market share from research data
• Reviewing the market research process
• Customer relationship management and brand loyalty
• Developing a brand personality and the universal truth
• The analysis of consumer and industrial buyer behaviour and the purchasing decision making process
• Public affairs and stakeholder communications
• The evaluation of the world of digital and social media marketing
• Working within data protection legislation and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Understanding corporate social responsibility when making strategic marketing decisions
• The examination of global marketing principles
• Developing strategies for international marketing

Finance for Managers

• Financial accounting – financial reporting/statements of the balance sheet, the

  profit and loss account and a cash flow statement/corporate financing/financial control techniques/cash flow management

• Management and cost accounting operational / implementation / strategic / financial decision making / performance measurement / budget analysis
• Investment decisions – appraisal / risk / financing / capital / rationing / strategy / acquisitions / rationalisation / strategy / acquisitions and mergers using appropriate tools 
• Value-based management – shareholder value/valuation/contemporary and ethical issues in financial decision-making

Strategic Management

• Understanding the overall role of strategic management and leadership
  Developing and executing a strategic business plan
• Shaping organisational cultures and values
• Leading the development of a quality strategy
• Strategy development and change knowledge management

Those who complete the Mini MBA will have gained the knowledge and skills to seek many different new and exciting career options such as (not exhaustive),

• Business Manager
• General Manager
• Head of Operations
• Head of Projects