Requirements

Admission requirements (BaWiSo 2023, WIRE 2023, BBE, BaWiSo 2019) 

• Admission Requirements for BaWiSo 2023 Students:  Please note that you must have passed the following exams/courses if you want to enroll in the IMM Bachelor Program - only then can you sign up for the IMM Bachelor Program entry exam: 

  • STEOP 

  • at least 20 ECTS from CBK (Common Body of Knowledge), out of which "Jahresabschluss und Unternehmensberichte", "Mathematik" and "Statistik" are compulsory. 

  • “Marketing” course (Dr. Margit Kastner) 

• Admission Requirements for WIRE 2023 Students: Please note that you must have passed the following exams/courses if you want to enroll in the IMM Bachelor Program - only then can you sign up for the IMM Bachelor Program entry exam: 

  • STEOP 

  • "Jahresabschluss und Unternehmensberichte"   

  • "Statistik" 

  • Two elective courses (4 ECTS credits each) in Business Administration, Mathematics, or Macroeconomics 

  • "Marketing" course (Dr. Margit Kastner) 

• Admission Requirements for BBE Students:   

  • Please note that BBE students must have successfully passed coursework of at least 42 ECTS out of: (i) "Foundations of Business and Economics", (ii) "Quantitative Methods" and (iii) "Business and Economics in Context" in order to be eligible to enter the specialization. 

• Admission Requirements for BaWiSo 2019 Students: Please note that you must have passed the following exams/courses if you want to enroll in the IMM Bachelor Program - only then can you sign up for the IMM Bachelor Program entry exam: 

  • Exams covering at least 27 ECTS. 

  • Out of which "Accounting & Management Control I", "Accounting & Management Controll II", "Wirtschaft im rechtlichen Kontext - Wirtschaftsprivatrecht I", "Statistics", "Betriebliche Info-Systeme I" are compulsory. 

  • Admission to examinations in Specialization in Business Administration requires the successful completion of all Business Administration examinations in the Common Body of Knowledge and the examination in Statistics. 

  • "Marketing" course (Dr. Margit Kastner)

Preparation

How to prepare for the entry exam

Please note that you cannot attend the IMM specialization if you have not successfully passed the entry exam.

• Content of the Entry Exam

  • The entry exam consists of two sections: (1) Marketing Basics and (2) specific topics on International Marketing Management based on the referenced articles.

(1) Marketing Basics

For the Marketing Basics we recommend the following reading material:

Kotler, Keller & Chernev (2022): Marketing Management, Global Edition, 16/E • Pearson 

If there are no more copies of this book available in the WU library, then you can also use another edition of this book but please note that the chapter titles in other editions may be numbered differently, so please take this into account when learning for the exam. 

The following list of topics should help you to focus on the most important concepts and models in marketing and to give you some orientation on what to prepare for the entry exam:

• Marketing Planning and Management (Chapter 2)

• Analyzing Consumer Markets (Chapter 3)

• Conducting Marketing Research (Chapter 5)

• Identifying Market Segments and Target Customers (Chapter 6)

• Designing and Managing Products (Chapter 8)

• Managing Pricing and Sales Promotions (Chapter 11)

• Designing an Integrated Marketing Campaign in the Digital Age (Chapter 13)

• Tapping into Global Markets (Chapter 20).

Please note that all information is subject to change.

(2) Specific articles on International Marketing Management

The required specific articles will be listed here on time. For the SS 2025 entry exam, the articles were:

• Bowers, J., Parris, D. L., Qiong Wang, McRae, D., Guzmán, F., & Bolino, M. (2024). The New Rules of Marketing Across Channels. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 1–11.

• Dalsace, F., & Challagalla, G. (2024). How to Market Sustainable Products. Harvard Business Review, 102(2), 80–87.

• Taite, M. (2024). How One Marketing Team Made AI Part of Its Daily Work. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 1–8.

• Villena, V. H., & Gioia, D. A. (2020). A More Sustainable Supply Chain. Harvard Business Review, 98(2), 84–93.

• Hochstein, B., Voorhees, C., Johnson, R., McCoy, N., & Mehrotra, V. (2024). Toward Healthier B2B Relationships. Harvard Business Review, 102(4), 104–113.

• Prashantham, S., & Woetzel, L. (2024). To Create a Greener Future, the West Can’t Ignore China. Harvard Business Review, 102(3), 104–113.

All of the articles are accessible via WU network using the database EBSCO Business Source Premier. More info on the access information can be found here.

Admission for Winter Semester 2025/26

For detailed information about the exam, including where to find it, how and when to prepare, as well as the complete procedure, please refer to the Canvas course “Access to Specialization: International Marketing Management”.

Key Exam Details

• Format: Closed-book exam with 20 single-choice questions

• Duration: 45 minutes

• Location: Online (MyLEARN, under “My Online exams” > “IMM Entry Exam”):

• Answering questions: You can answer questions in any order and return to previously answered questions. It is recommended to save your answer to each question separately to prevent data loss in case of technical issues.

• No aids permitted: This is a closed-book exam. The use of any external aids, including books and articles, is strictly prohibited.

Technical Requirements

• A working laptop or desktop computer (mobile devices are not permitted!)

• A working camera and microphone (built-in laptop camera and microphone are acceptable)

• Google Chrome web browser (latest version)

Online Supervision

To ensure fairness, an automated online supervision system will be active during the exam.  

• You must use the Google Chrome web browser on a computer or laptop (not a mobile device). Ensure it is the latest version.

• You need to allow the recording of your entire screen, camera, and microphone when prompted upon entering the online exam environment in MyLEARN 30 minutes before the start.

• If you accidentally deny permission, you must restore it in your Chrome browser settings and return to the exam environment.

• Any detected cheating will result in the exam being declared void, counting as an examination attempt, and a 4-month ban from retaking the exam.

• Ensure your system is compatible with the online supervision requirements (camera, microphone, screen sharing).

Communication

You can ask any content-related and technical questions during the exam itself via a dedicated Teams channel. Please join this channel via MyLEARN 1-2 days prior to the exam.

After the exam has taken place, students that did not attend the entry exam (no shows) and students that were unsuccessful will be entered in Bach. They will be notified via LPIS.

Students that were successful in the entry exam will also be entered in Bach and will receive an email via LPIS.

Students that are on the waiting list will not receive an email via LPIS so please keep this in mind and bear with us. If students give back their place, then students starting from no. 1 on the waiting list will be offered their place.

The students accepted for our specialization will receive a welcome email from us with all the relevant information regarding registration dates for course 1 and 2, absences, electives etc. Students are asked to reply to this email so that we can if necessary, offer students on the waiting list their place if they should decide to give back their place.

Successful students are requested to register for course 1 and 2 within a given 4 day period.  If they do not do so, their place will be offered to students on the waiting list.

After successfully passing the entry exam, you will be ready to start your IMM Specialization. To obtain your degree, you must complete 5 courses that add up to 10 weekly hours (SWS) or 20 ECTS points.

In your first IMM term you will start with the courses Foundations and Applications, which will familiarize you with various IMM concepts and their application.

You also must choose two electives from our wide range of courses. You can take these courses along with the Foundations and Applications courses in your first IMM term or sign up for them in your second IMM term while also attending the Seminar: Global Business Planning. If you plan to study a term abroad, the elective requirement can also be met with credits awarded by a foreign university if they stem from courses in international marketing.

In your second IMM term, you will sign up for the Seminar Global Business Planning, where you will apply your IMM knowledge in a real-life, international context. The seminar includes online elements, and you can attend the course while abroad on exchange. The only prerequisite to participate in this class is the successful completion of the first two courses ("Foundations in International Marketing Management" and "Applications in International Marketing Management").