Courses of the International Summer School in Marseille

Course Format: 3 hrs per day over 2 weeks; from June 2 - 13.

This course presents a model for using a resource-based approach to develop strategic event management action plans in a sports business context 

"There is no separation between sports and entertainment… merge them together and create something unique ». Robert Johnson (Owner Charlotte Bobcats)" 

The main goal of this course is to give a “sensemaking” approach to create, develop and maintain sustainable performance in sports event organizations.  

The course content has relevance to students pursuing different career goals in virtually any type of organisation linked to sports or leisure activities with a strong sport dimension.  

After a review of "strategic assets identification" (sponsoring, reputation, relational and physical resources and specific dynamic capabilities), various case analyses are discussed in the context of international sports events.

More specifically, by the end of this course students will: 

• Develop an understanding of the strategic role of marketing in sports business firms and the importance of appropriate decision making 
• Develop the skills necessary to utilise the course’s tools and frameworks, designed to identify revenue opportunities, and make strategic sports marketing decisions 
• Develop responsible leadership and strategic skills in the context of the sports marketing businesses 
• The course consists of lectures, exercises, article discussions, groupwork, presentations and a brand project.

Course Format: 3 hrs per day over 2-weeks; from June 2 - 13.

This course is designed to provide students with a systematic means to analyse and develop communication and marketing strategies, using concepts and theories from general marketing, and apply them in a sports business context. 

With the aim of improving the students’ understanding of strategic and brand management concepts, and thereafter assessing the effectiveness of corresponding communication strategies, the students will work on business plans and models for sports organisations in order to innovate and construct strong commercial brands. 

Marketing decisions on brands and the deployment of communication supports will be at the heart of entrepreneurial choices to create sustainable performance for professional sport organisations. Students will use both logic and creativity to arrive at effective solutions. 

At the end of this course students will be able to:

• Analyse opportunities and alternatives in sports businesses in an open, honest manner Identify the customer and market segments that they have chosen and to be competitive in the sports business area 
• Demonstrate causal relationships between the attributes of products and/or services, including their organisational image/ reputation. 
• Reach conclusions based on demonstrable evidence and analysis

Course Format: 6 hrs per day over 1 week; from June 16 - 20

Course description

In an ever changing socio-economic landscape, businesses must innovate in order to survive. In that sense, creativity is a company asset that should be carefully nurtured. During this course, participants will discover that creativity is anything except magical: it can be analysed, improved and managed in order to generate new business opportunities. 

The course is designed to help participants: discover and understand the different tools and methods used by creative teams to enhance their creative process, gain confidence in the frequently encountered “creative chaos”, analyse the methods and reasoning behind a creative mind, find creative ways to manage creative teams, and find ways to encourage and facilitate creative thinking in a non-creative friendly environment.

On completion of this module, students will be able to: 

• Develop & implement a creative process to tackle different types problems
• Pitch the value of creative & divergent thinking in an organisation
• Gain confidence in a creative environment
• Be a bit more creative themselves

Course Format: 6 hrs per day over 1-week; from June 23 - June 27

Course Purpose & Objectives

This course is designed to help participants: understand a complex or ill-defined situation, empathize with the different stakeholders of a problem environment in order to gain a broader understanding of the situation, use visualisation, creative and prototyping tools to help in their ideation process and test their solution to gain feedback and assess the pertinence of a proposition.

The increasing complexity of our world and the ever growing number of variables (social, economic, political, ethical, technical …) that have to be taken in consideration by design professionals when tackling a problem makes their job nearly impossible to achieve.

In the late 60s, the design theorist Horst Rittel first described the situation and named it “Wicked Problems”. Nevertheless, designers continue to excel and their methods, widely described now, are the reason behind their success. 

The Design Thinking theory and tools are but one of the many attempts to make sense out of a designer’s approach to “wicked problem solving”. It is now widely accepted and used in businesses worldwide as a powerful tool for innovation

On completion of this module, students will be able to: 

• Define a complex problem and identify insights that could potentially bring to innovations
• Generate ideas using designers methods and tools
• Prototype solutions from early stages cardboard models to well defined 3D printed prototypes
• Test, observe and improve propositions through iterations

Course Format: 3 hrs per day over 2-weeks; from June 30 - July 11

This course discusses the “International Financial System”, the inter-connected web of different systems which form a collective, complex entity, along with the system’s relationship with the worlds of management and business. 

The course perspective is global. Money, banking and finance are explained at the micro and macro levels, with a particular focus on the crossroads of theory, data, institutions, history, and applications.   

Particular emphasis will be put on:

• A Conceptual Understanding of International Financial Systems
• Monetary and Financial Theory
• The History of the International Financial System 
• Monetary and Financial Institutions
• Global Banking Regulations   

The course content is based on a theoretical approach to the concepts of money, banking and finance. It puts also large emphasis on the main practical tools available for the design and the implementation of monetary, banking and financial policies. Emphasis on regulation is essential to promote the understanding of the factors behind a sustainable and stable business environment. 

Cost accounting systems provide valuable information for management planning and control. Organizations and managers rely on accurate cost information to decide on which products to keep and which products to discontinue, for assessing productivity improvements, for analyzing customer profitability, for performance evaluation and control, and more.

Course Format: 3 hrs per day over 2-weeks; from June 30 - July 11

This course will focus on developing an understanding of international business, taking a closer look at the environment in the Mediterranean region – and more specifically the countries in southern Europe and northern Africa. During the two-week course, we will examine key success factors for creating and sustaining trans-national and multi-national business ventures, and help students develop a practical, hands-on approach for optimising the conditions necessary for healthy business performance.

The Mediterranean is celebrated for being arguably the world’s oldest centre of ‘international’ trade and commerce. For centuries, this area of the world has been (and continues to be) a crossroads of cultures, bringing together the populations of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Today, this region remains both a highly relevant, and economically significant cradle of trans-national and multi-national business. 

Moreover, given the current highly complex geopolitical context, addressing the region’s economic stability and development remains one of the critical challenges for both national governments, as well as organisations such as the European Union. Specific financing structures, EU subventions and complex international trade agreements have been developed to foster development and promote growth. However, the challenges of managing multiple stakeholders, conflictual interests, and even corruption continue to be present. 

On completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Better understand the Mediterranean region’s geopolitical context and financial structures
• Develop an enhanced appreciation for the region’s multiple stakeholders and interests
• Articulate how international businesses can answer key questions related to: where they should invest, what are their markets, who are their clients, and how to both mitigate risk and create favourable conditions for success
• Conduct and present a limited-scale feasibility study

Course Format: 3 hrs per day over 2-weeks; from July 15 - 25

Sustainable Development will not be achieved without the private sector. In recent years, corporate (un-)sustainability has become headline news. Accidents such as the BP Deepwater Horizon or the Fukushima incident received global media attention; Volkswagen is still dealing with the fallout from its “Dieselgate” scandal. At the same time, Unilever help to create rural entrepreneurs in India; Pfizer have improved access to prescription medicine in Sub-Saharan Africa; Daimler actively support the fight against HIV/AIDS in the same world region; and numerous companies publicly address the widespread problem of corruption throughout their operations.

In this module, we will explore why and how companies have started to integrate sustainability objectives into their core business activities, and critically discuss strengths and limitations of these approaches. Along the way, we will be using case studies and interactive elements to explore underlying theoretical perspectives, actual outcomes of corporate sustainability activities and the opportunities and challenges we are facing in the transition to sustainability. As part of this, we will also explore your own roles in this transformation, be it as consumers, citizens, activists, or future entrepreneurs and employees.

Course Format: 3 hrs per day over 2-weeks; from July 15 - 25

More than a study of management techniques, this course is an introspection into who we are as employees, managers and human beings, and what impact can we have (or do we want to have) in our respective organisations. 

Corporate Social Responsibility is a large umbrella under which one must consider many elements, not least of which are the concepts of “Diversity and Inclusion”; how companies engage with, manage, and otherwise consider the human beings impacted by its activities – i.e. stakeholders.    This course will take a closer look into the direct and indirect implications of D&I.   

We will begin the course by defining the different aspects of diversity and take a closer look at discrimination and unconscious dynamics in the workplace. We will also explore unconscious bias and how it shapes organisations and our decision making.   

In an ever increasing, diverse and complex workplace environment, managers are facing challenges to maintain a sense of teamwork and cohesion amongst staff members, and providing meaningful objectives is taking on ever increasing importance.

An even more diverse and international customer base adds to the highly demanding challenges confronting modern companies, and necessitate tailored services and approaches to meet their clients' needs. 

In such a context, the questions must be asked:

How do organisations attract talent in different forms?

Does increasing the diversity amongst staff always equate to good performance? 

What is a "Great Place to Work"?

Can all employees be happy?