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MBA Structure
FUSEMBA not only includes extensive online teaching and tutoring, but also uses innovative communication technologies to enhance the education and training experience and help prepare specialists in the field of funeral services to meet the challenges of an evolving European-wide market.
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STAGE
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APPROXIMATE LENGTH (IN HOURS)
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ONLINE
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360 HOURS (45%)
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ON SITE
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240 HOURS (30%)
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BUSINESS GAME
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80 HOURS (10%)
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DISSERTATION
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120 HOURS (15%)
80 online and 40 in situ
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ON SITE
• 1 on site study week in each of the five countries.
• 1 on site study week at IL3.
MBA Course Description
The following describes the Modules and structure of the MBA in the Management of Funeral Services
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MODULE
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TITLE
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STRUCTURE
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1
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STRATEGY AND ECONOMICS IN FUNERAL SERVICE FIRMS
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100 HOURS ONLINE
30 HOURS IN SITU
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2
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COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION, MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION
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80 HOURS ONLINE
30 HOURS IN SITU
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3
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND MANAGEMENT SKILLS
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120 HOURS ONLINE
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4
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SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FUNERAL SECTOR
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60 HOURS ONLINE
180 HOURS IN SITU
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5
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BUSINESS GAME
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80 HOURS ONLINE
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6
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DISSERTATION (BUSINESS PLAN)
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80 HOURS ONLINE
40 HOURS IN SITU
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On Site Contents
FUSEMBA will bring highly qualified specialists from around the world to offer on-site practical training on the following topics:
FRANCE
• Cremation
• Funeral organization, ceremony, protocol
ITALY
• Operations, logistics
• Law aspects (international transports)
• Materials
GERMANY
• Planning, control, standardizations
• Regulation (ISO)
• Cemeteries
SPAIN
• Introduction to Funeral Services
• Communication
• Psychological aspects
• Funeral homes
UK
• Embalming techniques
• Body treatment
MODULE 1
STRATEGY AND ECONOMICS IN FUNERAL SERVICE FIRMS
Aims:
Students will:
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Become familiar with management functions in a competitive environment, with special emphasis on formulating company strategy
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Learn to analyze the economic environment to detect and evaluate the influence of changes that take place inside a competitive context
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Apply standard accounting techniques to analyze accounting methods and cycles, annual accounts, results, solvency analysis, generation of monetary flows, cost control and calculation, break-even points
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Learn financial techniques for obtaining funding, analyzing the viability of investments and understanding the workings of capital markets
Content
1. Accounting (OnLine)
2. Economics and Finances (OnLine)
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Economic and financial analysis of the company
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Analysis of business solvency
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Business earnings and factors that determine them
Accounting analysis and business growth
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Company funding
3. Investment selection (OnLine)
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Business Finance Dynamics
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Investment Selection Models
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Risk and Inflation treatment
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Sensibility Analysis
4. Cost accounting (OnLine)
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Cost accounting systems
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Methodology of cost assignation
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Process costs systems
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Analysis of the break-even point
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Short-term cost-based business decisions
5. Planning and Control Systems in Funeral Service Firms (On Site Germany)
MODULE 2
COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION, MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION
Aims:
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To analyse the role of marketing in business and to quantify the results
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To introduce students to the study of current marketing policies and strategies and the preparations of a marketing plan to guide the company's commercial policy
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To provide the tools needed to run the commercial area of the firm, through analysis of data sources.
Content
1. Introduction to marketing (OnLine)
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Marketing Principles
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Marketing Plan
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Marketing Mix
2. Commercial Management (OnLine)
3. Communication in Funeral Services (On Site Spain)
MODULE 3
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND MANAGEMENT SKILLS
Aims:
Content
1. Management skills (OnLine)
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Team leadership and motivation
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Advanced negotiation techniques
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Leadership and group work
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Leading meetings
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Decision-making
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Problem analysis and resolution
2. Systems for Human Resource Management (OnLine)
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Human Factor in organisations
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Human resource planning
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Identification of potential and career plans
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Management of communication inside organisations
3. Organizational Design
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Functional Areas
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Organization Types
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Functional, Divisional, Matrix
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Managing Global Companies
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Management of the Change
MODULE 4
SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FUNERAL SECTOR
Aims:
Content
1. Funeral Services (On Site Spain)
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Social and cultural aspects: the importance of the social, political and religious environment
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History
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Funeral Services in Europe
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Public service - private service
2. Technical Aspects (On Site)
3. Funeral Organisation: Protocol and legal/psychological aspects (In Situ in France and Spain)
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Protocol: standard, famous, state funerals, different religions... (France)
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Official relationships (police, forensic, army, press....) (France)
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Funerals in disaster cases (France)
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Psychological treatment. Deceased family and our employees (Spain)
4. The family business (OnLine)
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Management of the family business: dealing with the public
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Specific features of the family business
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Development of the family business
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Management of the business family
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Succession and leadership in the family business
5. Logistics and purchasing management (On Site Italy)
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Usual suppliers of funeral services
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Essential matters to consider in quality and environmental management
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Transport of the body: types, systems, conditions
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Safety applied to logistics and service provision
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Health and hygiene
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Project Management, Project Tooling and Improvement
6. Legal aspects (On Site Germany and Italy)
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Specific legal aspects of the provision of funeral services (Germany)
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ISO 1700 (Germany)
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Professional qualification systems (Germany)
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Agreements for the transport of bodies (Italy)
7. ITs at the service of the funeral sector (OnLine)
8. Quality management in funeral services (On Site France)
MODULE 5
MODULE 6
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 29 July 2009 )
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The Third Edition of the MBA starts now for October 2010 till July 2012. Fees are 8000 euros. A limited number of scholarships are available. The rates include overhead costs of the MBA and study materials. Travle and accomodation are not included. Sign up now - Inscriptions are still open!
Watch FUSEMBA Coordinator Josep Anton Diaz interviewing MBA student Fernando Sanchez in the You Tube video, where they talk about the current FUSEMBA MBA and the promotion for the 2010-2011 course. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTafLg89OCc
ALSO:
A special offer at the UK face-to-face session was presented by one of the world's foremost experts in cosmetic and restoration of bodies, Dr John Chew of the ESCO Company USA, lectured at the Funeral Exhibition, Stoneleigh. FUSEMBA participants at his session received a special diploma.
On April 27, FUSEMBA visited the University of Bath, Centre for Death & Society, with the aim of setting the bases for future cooperation. The Director, Professor Glennys Howarth and the Centre's Manager, Caron Staley, are looking forward to the next steps to see how the MBA can link to what their Centre offers. See their Centre at www.bath.ac.uk/cdas
Please have a look at the story and watch the video on "Where Death Comes Cheap Many families want to cut burial costs. One funeral director stands ready." By Matthew Philips of NEWSWEEK (Magazine issue dated Mar 16, 2009). Go to http://www.newsweek.com/id/188139/page/2
Podcast
Listen to the July 17 Podcast between Robin Heppell, funeral consultant, and Paul Fenton, from the European Commission-funded project FUSEMBA. They talk about the advantages of this unique MBA, the face-to-face sessions in 5 European countries, the on-line methodology and lots, lots more.
Here are the links:
http://funeralfuturist.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/FUSEMBA-Paul-Fenton-Robin-Heppell.mp3
http://funeralfuturist.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/Paul-Fenton-Robin-Heppell-welcome.mp3
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REGISTRATION HAS BEGUN FOR SECOND EDITION
2010 - 2012
MANAGEMENT OF FUNERAL SERVICES
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Open to university graduates and funeral service professionals alike, the MBA in the Management of Funeral Services is an 800-hour European course comprised of 6 modules, blending on-line education and training with face-to-face and practical sessions in 5 countries, including a virtual Business Game. Based on the current 2008-2010 MBA programme, involving professionals from 6 European countries and open world-wide, its content has been developed with the support of the Erasmus Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union. The six modules include: Strategy and Economics in Funeral Services Firms; Commercial Distribution, Marketing and Communication; Human Resource Management and Management Skills; Specific Characteristics of the Funeral Sector; Business Game; and Dissertation. The unique MBA, open for world-wide audiences, not only includes extensive online teaching, but also uses innovative communication technologies to enhance the education and training experience and help prepare specialists in the field of funeral services to meet the challenges of an evolving European-wide market.
Start: October 2010
End: July 2012
Institutional Recognition
The MBA is sponsored by the University of Barcelona (Spain) and the EFFS.
The MBA is brought to you by leading organisations across Europe in the funeral sector
Enrollment fee is 8000 euros. A limited number of scholarships are available! Fees cover the general costs of the MBA and study materials. Travel and accommodations are not included.
To sign up or ask for more information,
please contact info@fusemba.com
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Read more...
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SHORT STORIES FROM THE FIELD:
In the interest of knowing more about the personal and professional impact that the EC-sponsored MBA and FUSEMBA project is having, we asked the current crop of students (promotion 2008-2010) to answer a few questions. Below are the first set of responses. Stay tuned for more!
MBA Student Jérôme Uguen
Thank you, Jerome, for taking the time to offer your "story". Our first question is "how is the FuSeMBA experience enhancing your personal and professional experience and/or shaping your career goals"?
What has attracted me in this MBA is the possibility to continue my university courses in a modern way with new technologies and to obtain an internationally recognized diploma (the Master of Business and Administration), recognized by the University of Barcelona, supported by the European Federation of Funeral Services.
Why do you think the FuSeMBA is important for the funeral service sector in your area/country/Europe?
The program is enabling us to learn about the latest European management, marketing and communication techniques so we can apply them to the funeral sector. Today it is important to create a European network of young funeral directors, to open to an international outlook on the funeral business and to exchange views on the specific characteristics and specialities in each participating country.
MBA Student Nuno Monteiro
Nuno, how is this FUSEMBA experience enhancing your personal and professional experience and/or shaping your career goals?
I started this experience with great expectations...This is a new European project. Of course, it is changing my personal and professional goals, which are right now focused on the transfer of my new knowledge's to my company in order to improve the current work system.
Why do you think the FUSEMBA MBA is important for the funeral service sector in Portugal?
At this moment, I'm starting to have a totally different point of view about the management of a funeral home. Obviously, this change of mind has opened my eyes to new ideas, and I think is possible to create a standard system in Europe (Funeral Homes and Services).
What specific problems or issues will you be able to address in a better way as a result of taking the FUSEMBA MBA course?
I hope to address in a better way all the themes approached during the course. All aspects are relevant for me, from the Commercial and Marketing side to the Human Resource Management and Management Skills side.
How do you think the people you deal with will benefit from your FUSEMBA education and training experience?
All the knowledge gained will be shared (or at least I will try) with the staff members of my company.
What has been the most exciting/interesting aspect so far about the FUSEMBA MBA programme?
The face to face sessions, because it the only way that we can all get together as a class, as professionals, and also as a group of people that is trying to accomplish the same goal: To know better so we can do better.
MBA Student Joaquin López
Joaquín, why do you think the FUSEMBA MBA is important for the funeral service sector in your area/country/Europe?
I hope and believe that this funeral service MBA will help to standardize this sector, at least at the European level.
How do you think the people you deal with will benefit from your FUSEMBA education and training experience?
I am convinced that thanks to FUSEMBA I will increase my knowledge of the European funeral service sector and become one of the first few fortunate people who are leaders in this scetor in the future.
MBA Student Fernando Yaybek Fervenza
Fernando, why do you think the FUSEMBA MBA is important for you, personally and professionally ?
Since I found out this MBA I've been very interested in participating because I´ve been working as a manager in this sector for 9 years but have not had the chance to receive specific training in funeral service management. This, then, is my opportunity to certify all my experience and knowledge in this business.
Why do you think the FUSEMBA MBA is important for the funeral service sector in your area/country/Europe?
I think it's very important because the funeral service has always traditionally been run as small, family-operated; but nowadays, in a more dynamic and demanding market, this sector needs well-prepared and qualified professionals with a wider business view about management and quality. This MBA, to me, personally, is key to meeting these needs.
Tell us a little about the MBA classes and your experience so far.
Up to now, the themes in the modules and the face-to-face sessions have been very interesting and useful to our daily tasks, but what I really find very exciting is the fact that I can participate with colleagues from other countries and learn their working methods, about other cultures and about the different way of thinking; that´s a " bonus " in this MBA.
Now available! Dictionary for Funeral Services (in 15 languages)
By Rolf Lichtner / Christoph Bläsius (Bearb.)
ISBN: 978-3-936057-16-4
Price is 64,00 Euro per copy
To place your order or get more information, contact fachverlag@bestatter.de
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