Bachelor of Commerce

Course Description

Core Courses

Introduction to Management (3 credits)

Management is essentially a science and an art. This course is expected to enable students to have a full understanding of the importance of management in today’s increasingly competitive global environment. It provides students with basic managerial theories, concepts, and principles and emphasizes the four major functions of management, i.e., planning, organizing, leading and controlling. By the end of this course, students are expected to be able to understand basic theories about management and apply what they have learnt from this course into practices. This course aims to assist students to build up a scientific framework in analyzing business and management, equip them with a thorough knowledge base that will empower them for more advanced management-related courses at higher levels, and prepare them the essential managerial skills needed to take up managerial roles.

Microeconomics (3 credits)

This course offers an introduction to the basic concepts, frameworks, theories as well as applications of economics. Specifically, it covers such topics as market and equilibrium, demand and elasticity, supply and cost of perfectly competitive markets, efficiency and the working of the "invisible hand", discusses the behaviors of firms in imperfectly competitive markets, such as monopoly and oligopoly, and explores, in brief, the basic concepts and theories of game theory and information economics. By integrating the concepts, theories and applications of economics with real-life experiences and case analyses, the course cultivates students’ economics way of thinking and guides students to approach various phenomena and analyze various real-life problems from the perspectives of economics.

Macroeconomics (3 credits)

This course studies the economic behaviors of the general society and the relevant consequences. It covers such topics as GDP, unemployment rate, inflation, exchange rate and other macroeconomic indicators. By taking this course, the students will be able to appreciate the basic and significant topics of macroeconomics and use the relevant knowledge as instruments guiding their judgment and prediction of the overall economic trends in the future.

Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (3 credits)

As a basic introductory course of business ethics, the course mainly introduces such topics as the basic theories of business ethics, ethical decision making, employment rights, professional privacy policy, and the social responsibilities of corporations. Lectures will also extend to topics in relation to general ethics (management, finance and accounting), so as to help students combine business ethics theories with real cases, understand the ethical issues and dilemmas organizations face internally and externally, and propose proper solutions for the relevant problems. The subject will make observations of the ethical issues involved in management, employs real-life case scenarios, and guide students to understand and discuss the relevant ethic problems and principles. The course teaches in an interactive way, combining lectures with case studies, class discussions, group assignments, and other activities.

Introduction to Financial Accounting (3 credits)

The course makes an introduction of the conceptions of financial accounting, including topics such as basic theories of accounting, accounting principles, journal entries, and frequently used financial statements. It aims to facilitate student’s understanding of financial accounting information, which plays a critical role in decision-making and communicating business outcomes. It is a prerequisite for Intermediate Accounting and Introduction to Managerial Accounting.

Introduction to Managerial Accounting (3 credits)

The course introduces the conceptions and theories of managerial accounting, and practices in relation to cost control. In contents, it mainly discusses what specific kind of information an organization usually needs, by what means an organization could gain access to such information, and how a managerial role should use such information to inform their planning, control, and decision making. The relevant topics include cost behavior and forecast, budgeting, activity-based costing and management, cost volume analysis, and effective decision-making.

Fundamentals of Finance (3 credits)

The course gives an introduction to the basic knowledge and general principles of corporate finance, the basic conceptions and instruments for corporate financial decision making, and how such knowledge should be applied to real-life practices. In terms of contents, the course mainly covers financial statement analysis, calculation of cash flow, various financial rates, simple interest method and compound interest method, time value of money, discounted cash flow method, capital budgeting, bond valuation, stock valuation, Mean-Variance Model of risk and return, Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), and others.

Organizational Behavior (3 credits)

By introducing the research findings of a series of psychological studies, the course presents an interpretation of the individual behaviors and group behaviors in an organization. The course aims to enable the students to achieve a better understanding of the causes of certain phenomena, the potential effects such phenomena could have on the organization, and in what way such phenomena could be used to help the organization achieve better work performances, so as to provide the students with management theories and practical skills for taking up employment in an organization in the future.

Business Communication　(3 credits)

The course aims to introduce the students to the theories and practices in (verbal and written) business correspondences and reports. There are three effective steps to follow for effective communication: planning, writing, and perfecting. Throughout the course, the teacher will employ different examples, including emails, blogs, and formal reports, to illustrate clearly and reinforce the three steps.

Legal Environment of Business (3 credits)

This course is designed to enable students to understand and grasp the important legal principles and systems that affect the social operations of business, that is, to become aware of the “legal environment” in which business operates. At a macro level, the course discusses the political and economic problems that often occur in the process of business decision-making, and analyzes the legal environment of the international community; at a micro level, the course discusses several specific laws in the field of private law, including contract law, tort, business organic laws, and others. The course aims to cultivate students’ capabilities in critically and independently judging and critiquing the legal problems in business environment.

Business Statistics　(3 credits)

This course introduces the basic concepts of probability and statistics and their applications in managerial decision-making. Topics include sampling and data collection, descriptive statistics, probability and probability distributions, sampling distribution, estimation, hypothesis test, and linear regression. The course emphasizes business application instead of mathematical derivations. Students are encouraged to apply mathematical thinking and statistical methods to observe, analyze and solve practical problems in business management.

Management Information Systems (3 credits)

Currently, management information systems have achieved an integration of business management system and financial management system including supplying, manufacturing and marketing in an enterprise, which ensures the completeness of information management. Financial management information is represented as information of effect, while other business information is represented as information of cause; by establishing a cause-effect relation chain in analyzing management information reports, it becomes possible to trace back to the root cause and identify the initial cause of management information, namely business information. The course starts from the relationship between financial information and business management information with the fundamentals in management, enabling the students to grasp the initiating, obtaining, transferring and manipulating for management information from the entirety.

Operations Management (3 credits)

The subject covers both regular topics of production and services such as planning and design, operation and control, and updates and maintenance, and emerging topics such as the ethical issues of business operations, lean service operations, green operations, and other new contents based on the behavioral science management.

Marketing (3 credits)

Marketing is the art and science of creating customer value and market exchanges that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. It is one of the cores of business operations, an organizational philosophy, and a set of guiding principles for interacting with customers, competitors, collaborators, and the environment. Marketing entails the planning and executing of the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of goods, services and ideas. It starts with identifying and measuring consumers’ needs and wants, assessing the competitive environment, selecting the most appropriate customer targets, and developing and implementing marketing strategies, so as to satisfy consumers’ needs in a way that’s more appealing than the competitors’.

The course is designed to serve as an introduction to the theory and practice of marketing and provide students with a full picture of marketing. With respect to teaching methodologies, the course will combine lectures, case discussions, individual assignments, group projects, and group presentations.

Strategic Management (3 credits)

This course introduces the concepts, analytical tools, typical cases and process of strategic management in the modern global business administration. Topics include characteristics and functions of strategic management, business models, strategy hierarchy, external environment analysis, competitive position analysis, internal situation analysis, generic competitive strategies, partnership and strategic alliances, merger and acquisition, vertical integration, outsource strategy, internalization strategy, value chain, diversification, corporate social responsibility, organizational structure, corporate culture, core competences development etc. This course stresses the business principles and management practices in strategic management, and uses a great many cases to engage students in discussions of the key issues in strategic management.

Major Compulsory Courses

Brand Management (3 credits)

The brands that a firm has invested in and developed over time are typically their most valuable assets. This course aims to introduce all brand related concepts, related brand management strategies, and how a firm should integrate resources to build and develop its brand. Upon completion of this course, students should have gained a good understanding of branding theories and some knowledge on how to provide brand-development strategies for brand managers.

Supply Chain Management (3 credits)

This course introduces basic concepts, strategies and applications of Supply Chain and Logistics Management, including the relationship and differences between supply chain and logistics. It focuses on application of theories of supply chain management, so plenty of case studies are used to show students how to apply related theories in real situations and help them to learn how to solve real supply chain management problems.

Financial Management (3 credits)

This course is designed to provide an introduction of the classic theories and essential decision-making methodologies in corporate finance, such as arbitrage pricing theory (APT), efficient market hypothesis (EMH), option valuation, corporate long-term financing policy, securities issue methods, dividend policy, short-term financial planning, corporate financial pressure etc. The course integrates classic theories with practical business cases so as to equip the students with both the theoretical knowledge of corporate finance and the management skills of financial management.

Cost and Management Accounting (3 credits)

This subject introduces the main functions of cost and management accounting: for the beginning of each period, management accountant helps all levels of managers prepare the budget, including the initial budget preparing, implementing budget, management control, and variance analysis between actual results and budget numbers; each level of managers have to make a variety of decisions, such as short-term decision making and the way of implementing the decision, the different types and methods of long-term decision making, and pricing decision; using examples form real companies, it further illustrates more accurate methods of cost allocation.

Electronic Commerce (3 credits)

This course introduces the key aspects of electronic commerce including its conception, framework, and the relevant technology development; specific topics that will be covered include B2C e-retailing, online marketplace, B2B enterprise collaboration, emerging e-commerce applications, e-supply chain management, e-customer relationship management, e-payment, and e-commerce security management. This course attaches special importance to business principles and management practices in electronic commerce, and guides the students to understand and discuss the key topics of e-commerce through a large number of real cases.

Consumer Behavior (3 credits)

Consumer Behavior is the study of people and products that help to shape their identities. Consumer behavior is more than buying things; it also embraces the study of how having (or not having) things affects our lives and how our possessions influence the way we feel about ourselves and about each other -- our state of being. In many courses, students are merely passive observers. But we are all consumers. In this course, I will try to introduce you to the latest and best thinking by some very bright scientists who develop models and studies of consumer behavior. But that’s not enough. Consumer behavior is an applied science. That’s why you’ll find a lot of practical examples to back up these fancy theories. Students will learn these topics through readings, case studies, group projects, exercises, and written examination.

Human Resource Management (3 credits)

This course aims to discuss how to combine employees’ professional competence with organizational HRM practices so as to better the organizational effectiveness. Besides the basic introduction of HR functions, this course also introduces actual HR practices and problem-solving methods in organizations, organizational behaviors and related management theories for employee management. The contents include: organizational strategic goals with HR practices, related practices for organizational HR planning, the impact of industrial environment on HRM practices, job analysis, compensation and benefits, reward systems, performance management and international human resources management.

Managerial Psychology (3 credits)

This course provides an introduction to the research findings of psychology studies on workplace psychology and daily life psychology. By introducing the students to such research theories of psychology, the course helps students overcome their negative mentality and moods, cope with work and daily-life challenges more effectively, and achieve psychological growth. The course will also introduce the relevant research theories and research methodologies of behavioral sciences, equipping the students with knowledge to interpret their encounters in campus life and future work place from psychological point of view, and thus prepares them with the desirable coping methods.

Enterprise Resource Planning (3 credits)

This course introduces the frequently used information systems in organizations, including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, customer relationship management system, supply chain management system, etc. Students can gain knowledge of these systems, which are related to enterprise resource planning. This course will use SAP systems or other ERP systems to introduce Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and therefore enable students to understand the applications of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in different industries through practical operations.

Project Management (3 credits)

This course provides students with an introduction to basic theories and principles of project management, and develops a full exploration of various aspects of project planning, implementation, and control, from macro aspects of corporation operations to individuals of project teams. The main contents include company organization, project selection and portfolio management, leadership and the project manager, scope management, project team building, conflict and negotiation, risk management, cost estimation and budgeting, project scheduling and critical path, resource management, project evaluation and control, project close-out and termination. Cases and integrated project exercises will also be combined with the contents.

Customer Relationship Management (3 credits)

This course introduces the concepts, methods, typical cases and process of customer relationship management (CRM) in the modern global business administration. Topics include the nature of CRM, customer differences, information technology used to collect customer data, the CRM data warehouse, customer loyalty, customer retention strategies, win back and acquisition strategies, sales force automation and automated customer service centers, call center, data mining, on-line analytical processing, and information presentation, measuring customer satisfaction and loyalty etc. This course stresses the principles and practices in customer relationship management, and guides students to understand and discuss the key issues in customer relationship management through case studies.

Sales Management　(3 credits)

This course provides a systematic elaboration on management of sales business, sales planning, sales force, sales channels and sales indexes, etc., which enables students to fully understand and master the knowledge, methods, tools and cases of sales management. After the completion of this course, students are able to acquire the essential core competence of sales managers, and apply the specific sales management tools to deal with issues including budgeting, sales forecasting and design of sales regions.

Internship and Graduation Project (15 credits)

The Internship is to send students to take part in concreate tasks in the participating enterprises for about 800 hours. Through the tutors in the Faculty and the mentors in the enterprises to enhance the competencies of the internship students in both theories and practices. Through the internship in the enterprises such as the hotel industry to acquire foundational skills such as customer services and let students to find out and to solve problems. The Graduation Project provides a summary of the studies by the students of the business management program, assisting them to connect theories with practice and apply the professional knowledge and skills they have learned to solve actual problems of business management. Students finish the graduation project; can gain real experience in business management.

General Studies Courses

English I& II (6 credits)

By immersing the students in reading of English articles and drilling of key English vocabulary, the course helps the students master a greater command of language points and grammar knowledge as well as further their vocabulary base; by studying and drilling a great variety of reading skills, the course helps the students improve their reading efficiency and their basic reading ability; by studying and analyzing all kinds of writing topics and writing techniques and facilitating the students to use English to express their thoughts, the course helps the students enhance their English writing ability and prepare a good English writing foundation for their future learning and career.

Chinese Reading and Writing (3 credits)

This course will provide two basic language trainings, "Reading" and "Writing". By teaching Chinese famous works of different genres, different writers and different styles, students will be able to develop reading interest and self-learning ability from a wide range of reading. And learn the writing principles of different styles, so as to improve the language literacy and master the practical and creative writing skills of different genres. For example: - the relationship between reading and writing, reading strategies, creation and appreciation of prose, introduction to writing, creative writing, article modification, micro-fiction creation, story reconstruction, novel creation - characters, scenes, plots and narratology.

Maths and Logic (3 credits)

This course introduces the analysis of arguments using the theory and techniques of formal logic. The theory underlies most formal systems including computer applications. Students learn such concepts as deduction and induction and how to prove that arguments are valid or invalid.

General Theory of Chinese and Western Culture (3 credits)

This course aims to increase the knowledge of students concerning different cultures in order to eliminate misunderstandings due to the ignorance of other cultural practice, codes and norms. Moreover, analysis of different religions and ideologies will also be included.

Information and Technology (3 credits)

This course introduces the basic concepts of information systems (IS) and the key role IS playing in today’s business organizations. Content includes the fundamental concepts of IS, the supporting role IS playing in organizations’ overall functions, the influence of IS to the organization structure, information technology fundamentals, and various application systems. The student will learn how to realize organization’s whole process management and gain competitive edge through IS, and explore further how to develop and manage an IS system.

Constitution and Macau Basic Law (1 credit)

This course is an introduction to the constitution and Macau Basic Law, including the overall structure, main content, and the formulation and implementation of the basic law.

Sociology　(2 credits)

This is a 30-hour course that addresses the fundamental principles of sociology, the viewpoints of sociology, and the basic research methodologies of studying sociology, familiarizes the students with the 14 basic theoretical categories of sociology, and applies the principles of sociology in analysis of social phenomena.

Introduction to Psychology (2 credits)

Introduction to Psychology is a general education course that addresses the basic conception, theories, and the relevant knowledge of psychology. It aims to enable students to master the basic knowledge and fundamental theories of psychology, to understand the most fundamental psychological process, and achieve a scientific understanding of the nature, production, development, and evolution of human psychological phenomena and the relevant general principles, and, on top of understanding and mastering such knowledge, apply the knowledge in analyzing and predicting the psychological phenomena in real life, foster and improve the students’ ability in correctly analyzing and resolving practical problems, improve the students’ overall psychological qualities, and help them achieve their goals of better self-recognition, self-adjustment, and adaptation to the society. The course will adopt several special topics as its main lines, for example, career planning, interpersonal communication, pressure resilience, self-discovery, and leadership, addressing contents that will not only facilitate the students’ mastery of basic theories but also a better integration of the theories with the daily life.

Physical Education and Sports (2 credit)

Physical Education and Sports consist of a series of sports events, including basketball, volleyball, international ballroom dance, martial arts, Taichi, fencing, karate, etc. Students could select any one of the items based on their interests; the university will offer a greater variety of sports events based on real needs.

Special Topic in Science and Technology (1) (2 credits)

This course adopts a variety of teaching methods, including lectures, practice, talks, tutoring, and others, offers special-topic lectures related to science and technology, and therefore provides opportunities for students to discuss and investigate on the relevant matters and broaden their knowledge span on science and technology.

Special Topic in Social Science (1)　(2 credits)

The course adopts a variety of teaching approaches such as lectures, practices, talks and tutoring, offers special-topic projects related to social sciences for students to engage in discussions and research, in the hope of broadening the students’ knowledge spans in the relevant professional areas.

Special Topic in Humanities and Arts (2 credit)

The course adopts a variety of teaching methodologies, including lectures, practices, talks, or tutoring, offers special-topic projects related to humanities and arts, stimulates students’ interest in learning, broaden their view and increases students' knowledge in these areas.