The Entrepreneurship and Retail Management degree at NHL Stenden gives you the tools you need to think and act strategically in the global business world. You explore the world of entrepreneurship placing yourself in the shoes of your target group, identifying their customer journey, the market and developments. You learn about the day-to-day operations of running a company, purchasing, logistics, HR and Finance and specialise in the field that particularly interests you. With the global and strategic perspectives you develop and the international experience you gain, you'll have a head start with your career.
The programme covers a wide range of aspects of retail and entrepreneurship, from marketing to account management, and from data science to sustainability. You’ll also develop your personal skills and intercultural awareness as well as your language skills. These skills are integrated into the programme and developed through the practical assignments you do as well as during your internship.
In the first year, you explore the world of retail and entrepreneurship, laying the foundations for the rest of your studies. You also work on your personal development and start developing your leadership skills and the option to start up your own company.
Gain an understanding of different industries from an international perspective so as to better comprehend the context in which you learn. Learn about sustainable practices, emerging trends and innovative solutions shaping the future of retail on a global scale.
Work on data-driven marketing, e-commerce and marketing intelligence, and look at how your data is being stored, explored and sold. You develop concepts by understanding consumer behaviour based on data and by creating financial, social and ecological value. While working on a client's project, you put yourself in the customer's shoes to explore what makes you excited to buy, whether in-store, at the service desk, or online.
Study load: 20 contact hours, 20 self study hours | 60 ECTS per year
The emphasis in the second year lies on professionalising your entrepreneurial skills and examining HR and operational management. You will deepen your insights and skills in terms of leadership, learning to act independently, make choices and take responsibility, and developing your social competence and your network.
Look at the day-to-day operations of running a business-to-consumer company from a global perspective. You'll explore – two particular components:
Human capital: examining HRM developments, and looking at how global trends and laws and regulations affect human resource challenges within your organisation. You will form your own vision of leadership in an international perspective.
Steering and Finance: put local figures and data in a global perspective and examine how international market developments affect your organisation. You'll use financial models to interpret and manage both local and global figures.
Develop your particular passion and specialise in the direction you want to take with your studies. Choose from Online Retail, Fashion Marketing & Design or Entrepreneurship and explore the role of sustainability within your specialisation.
Study load: 20 contact hours, 20 self study hours | 60 ECTS per year
Learn the different aspects of a global strategy and apply your skills in team projects and while you study your minor abroad.
Develop the insights needed to work at a global level, whether you have your own business or work in a company’s international office. And focus on your leadership skills through supply chain, change and performance management.
During your minor you focus on a specific subject or expand your knowledge by taking an additional subject. This allows you to truly take charge of your education by ‘customising’ your course.
You can take these minors on the NHL Stenden campus in the Netherlands or at one of the NHL Stenden Grand Tour locations in South Africa, Bali or Thailand. You can also choose from minors offered by other courses and universities of applied sciences via an Exchange programme – this is all part of broadening your academic skills.
Read more about the options available and where you can take your minors in the section below on minors and specialisations.
60 ECTS per year
Enter the work field by doing an internship for an internationally orientated company and working on a graduation project focused on the health of a company, its change management and strategy. You research your graduation project independently. If your interest lies in retail, then your research may be for a particular business-to-consumer company. If you have already started your own business, you could handle a research question within your own company. Your conclusions and recommendations should contribute to the business’s international ambitions.
60 ECTS per year
Download the brochure to get a really useful one-page overview of the curriculum with a description of the modules and a list of subjects per year, the study load and the ECTS you can earn. Use it to compare the programme with other studies you’re interested in.
In your third year of Entrepreneurship & Retail Management, you get to specialise by taking a number of minors.
Critical Thinking & Data-Driven Decision Making (Leeuwarden, the Netherlands)
This minor brings together qualitative and quantitative knowledge and skills. It covers data collection and analysis, critical thinking and decision-making approaches, so that students can analyse real-life problems and find feasible solutions.
The Business Consultant (Bali)
Sharpen your financial literacy as you work with a client on a business problem. Covering skills from business research to calculating returns on investment, this minor will give you a head start when it comes to understanding business finances.
We aim to help you put theory into practice as quickly as possible. Through our educational concept, Design-Based Education (DBE), you work in small teams of students, teachers, researchers and industry professionals. You tackle current, real-life issues developing and adapting your visions and ideas to form a solid solution. And you gain yet more practical experience during your internship in your final year.
We want to prepare you for an international, intercultural, and ever-changing environment, so that you can dive into the unknown and gain experience in an international context. It is possible with our Grand Tour, Exchange programme or one of our mobility options offered by RUN-EU. Or you can choose to do your internship abroad. You’ll be able to put together the right combination of courses and internships to develop both your professional and personal skills – and develop your own network for the future.
If you’ve already turned your dream for your own business into a reality, you could consider doing your internship in your own start-up. The Center for Entrepreneurship at NHL Stenden can advise you on how to do this. It also offers workshops, networking events, guest speaker sessions and help with making sure working on your own company and studying at the same time gets even better – and more doable.
If you're confident this degree is the one for you, then why not apply online straightaway? Or pick one of the other options to help you take the next step.
