Module Catalogues

International Financial Management Dissertation

Module Title International Financial Management Dissertation
Module Level Level 4
Module Credits 20.00
Academic Year 2020/21
Semester SEM1

Aims and Fit of Module

The aim of this dissertation module is to enable students to undertake a significant piece of independent research in the field of international financial management and its related disciplines. As the culmination of the MSc International Financial Management programme, this module provides students with opportunities to: (i) apply and integrate their learning from other parts of the programme to analyse contemporary and ‘cutting edge’ problems and issues of relevance to scholars or practitioners (or both); (ii) deepen their knowledge and understanding of a particular international finance or related topic of interest to them; (iii) produce a complete piece of scholarly work from conception through to a final dissertation; (iv) augment their independent research, analysis, project management, writing and presenting skills; (v) enhance their intellectual, transferable and employability skills and, accordingly, their career prospects, and (iv) make a contribution to knowledge that could potentially serve as a basis for more advanced study, for example at PhD level.
Students should identify, define and explore one or more problems or issues at the forefront of international financial management (broadly defined). This may be achieved by means of either an in-organisation project with accompanying academic work guided by an academic supervisor, through surveys or other methods of obtaining primary data and using those data to produce research findings, through collection and analysis of secondary data, or by a library-based study. The final dissertation should demonstrate: (i) an analytical and critical approach to problem definition; (ii) the derivation of appropriate research questions and/or hypotheses; (iii) skills in designing and implementing a suitable methodology for gathering, analysing and interpreting theory, data and information that address the research problem, questions and/or hypotheses; (iv) knowledge and understanding of literature and theory relevant to the area of inquiry, and the ability to apply it appropriately, and (v) the ability to write up and present the research as a dissertation in a way that combines academic depth and good scholarship with an appreciation of relevant practical and policy issues (as appropriate) in international financial management and its related disciplines.

Learning outcomes

A Identify an interesting problem or set of related problems in financial management or a related area, suitable for pursuing academic research at Master’s level.
B Formulate and justify relevant research questions, and design a suitable study to answer those questions.
C Conduct and write up a literature review that bears upon the research questions being asked, and which critically appraises and considers research findings in the literature in areas relevant to addressing the research questions.
D Select, justify and critically apply appropriate research method(s) to address the research problem identified.
E Build a theoretical model and/or engage in an advanced and sustained critique of an area of the scholarly literature on financial management or a related area.
F Communicate, in written form, the results of the research process, in accordance with appropriate standards of writing of academic scholarly work.

Method of teaching and learning

Ten hours of lectures will be delivered, covering topics relating to data collection; the writing of a research proposal; performing dissertation research; and writing up of the final dissertation. The majority of learning will occur by means of independent study and research conducted by the student, with guidance and advice from their dissertation supervisor, with whom they will meet on multiple occasions.