Electives

RSM ELECTIVE 1: ORGANISATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS: LEADERSHIP AND NETWORKS 

Organisations are composed of people; this is something they all have in common. It is also acknowledged that organisational success, such as the ability to generate a competitive advantage, is critically dependent on (1) effective management of people, and (2) effective networking with other organisations. Both topics are the focus of this course.

1. Leaders are the key players for effectively managing human capital. Leaders motivate employees to perform and mobilise them to comply with the organisation’s vision. Yet leaders are also a source of conflict and demotivation. Understanding how leadership succeeds in motivating people as well as where leadership can go wrong is therefore crucial for successful organisational functioning. 
2. Networking is one crucial means by which organisations interact with each other. The role of networks within the Chinese context is a question of debate: while one school claims that they are culture-driven, another school insists on their functional and strategic value. Networks contribute to the expansion of economic exchange when they co-ordinate economic exchange, yet lead to conflict when they forestall market transactions. This course explores theory, research, and practice of leadership and networking effectiveness to generate a deeper understanding of leadership and networking processes within the Chinese context.

RSM ELECTIVE 2: INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

This course introduces two important factors for explaining the success of China’s business system. The first segment introduces basic concepts in innovation such as Schumpeter, radical versus incremental innovation, and innovative capabilities and examines features of the institutional environment that facilitate or constrain technical innovation. The second segment examines concepts of individual and collective entrepreneurship in organisational and institutional innovation. The course will emphasise the interaction between economic and political entrepreneurship which facilitates and constrains the expansion of markets via supply chains, foreign trade, networking or further institutional change. The purpose of the course is to offer insights into entrepreneurship and knowledge-intensive business systems.

LEIDEN ELECTIVE 1: INTERCULTURAL SKILLS: LIFE AND WORK IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA

This course introduces the most important aspects of the social organization and culture of contemporary China. We will focus on how life and work in contemporary China are shaped by social and administrative structures (family, kinship, work units, villages), then move on to concepts of the self, the group and individuality, and finally discuss new patterns of diversity (religion, ethnicity, sexuality, consumption and class). 

LEIDEN ELECTIVE 2: ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS CHINESE 

This course is designed for helping learners at an intermediate level develop their reading/writing and listening/speaking proficiency, with special attention to topics related to business and economy in China. The course is taught in English and Mandarin, the course materials are written in simplified characters (with English explanation).