One of the great benefits of the UCD Smurfit Executive MBA is the ability to select from a wide range of optional subjects that make up your final semester. Friends who have previously completed the Smurfit MBA all remark on how the final semester was the most enjoyable as you get to pick subjects which appeal to you the most. There are various motivations at play when picking your subjects. It could be that they are topics you already have a passion for, feel they are areas you need to improve on, or may even form the basis for a career transition. Like Renata Salecli’s book “The Tyranny of Choice”, where she provides an example of the anxiety she experiences when trying to choose from an overwhelming selection in a cheesemonger (each to their own!), when you are faced with so many different options, choosing can become something of a dilemma.
With one weekend gone I couldn’t be happier with my choices. Here are my subjects and why they are important to me. Negotiations will me help bolster an area I know I am weak in and the negotiation duels should be great fun, Financial Statement Analysis provides knowledge on how to value companies which is vital if you are looking to work on the investment side or hoping to grow your own company’s value, Managing Sales Relationship is an area which will help broaden my commercial focus and I expect the international trip to China will be the semester highlight allowing students to experience how business and trade is conducted within the Chinese economy.
So with the choices made, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get down to business. The final semester should be interesting!
