BA (Hons) Business Management

Academic and Employability Skills

20 Credits

(Compulsory)

Students will be introduced to theories of academic writing and presentation skills, learning, and reflective practice, contextualized within a management and leadership business setting. The following key transferable skills –communication, problem-solving, working with others, and improving own learning – will be introduced, practiced, and applied to work-based tasks, as will the range of activities associated with information skills. Learners will be provided with the opportunities to develop an awareness of the workplace, identify different career and study options, recognize and articulate their own experience, accomplishments, and talents and plan and implement career management strategies for the short and long term. Students will audit their own skills, identify aspects that require enhancement and produce action plans for self-development in those areas, enabling them to make informed choices in preparing for work placement, academic progression, and the transition to employment or further study on graduation.

Global Business Environment

20 Credits

(Compulsory)

The module will provide an overview of the business environment providing a theoretical and practical introduction to students regarding the nature and characteristics of business behavior under conditions of certainty and uncertainty. Whilst providing an overview of contemporary issues in global economics and business, the module will provide opportunities for students to examine both the external and internal factors affecting businesses in an increasingly competitive global environment.

Accounting Fundamentals

20 Credits

(Compulsory)

This module aims to give students a thorough grasp of the basics of financial reporting (context, purposes, regulatory framework) and build towards proficiency in the recording of business transactions, and the preparation and interpretation of the primary financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement). It also aims to build proficiency in the use of accounting computer software. This module, together with the level 5 module Financial Reporting, and the level 6 module Advanced Financial Reporting, provides a strong basis for further study and should equip students with up-to-date knowledge of use in employment.

Financial Management

20 Credits

(Compulsory)

This module introduces core concepts in finance. It is designed to give students sufficient discipline-based knowledge to undertake more advanced finance modules. This module will allow the students to use a range of financial mathematical methods and appreciate their uses in both academic and applied contexts related to accounting and finance. The concepts and techniques of compound interest and discounting are fundamental to financial mathematics. As such topics covered will include: Time value of money; Financial market instruments and their functions; Discounted cash flow approaches to decision making; Evaluation of different sources of finance; Cost of capital and elementary financial management; Impact of dividend and capital structure policies.

Business Economics

20 Credits

(Compulsory)

The module will provide a theoretical and practical introduction to students regarding the nature and characteristics of business behavior under conditions of economic certainty and uncertainty. Students will also explore how decisions affecting prices, production constraints, output, wages, and market forces are made and will be introduced to fundamental elements of business and management. The module will consider consumer and behavior economics and provides some empirical applications from a marketing perspective as well as the economics of business strategy and cover models to understand firm business decisions. The module provides the opportunity for all to build and improve numerical, mathematical, and statistical skills, and apply these to practical problems in the context of business. It will also provide empirical applications and introduce decisions on different market structures. Throughout, concepts and applications are made relevant to real-world examples.

Corporate and Business Law

20 Credits

(Compulsory)

The module will provide a general overview of law relevant to students working in business and develop knowledge and skills in the understanding of the general legal framework. It will also identify the essential elements of different legal systems including the main source of law, and apply the appropriate legal rules relating to the law of obligations. Students will gain an appreciation and understanding of the workings of the legal system, the law of tort, contract law, the law of agency, employment law, and other areas of law that affect businesses.

People Management

20 Credits

(Compulsory)

Given the importance of people within organizations and the part they play in organizational success, this module breaks down the functions of good and effective human resource management by exploring and examining the key features of each part of the HR function. Starting with recruitment and selection, induction, training and development, pay and reward, motivation the module moves through a range of contemporary issues such as job design, corporate social responsibility, organisational development, employee engagement, employee relations, managing change,e and responding to conflict. The module will challenge students to think laterally about the human resource in a contemporary global environment where labor is transportable, as is business itself. It assesses the nature of the HRM function in different types of organizations and how this role is best undertaken in public, voluntary and private sector contexts. All of this will need to be underpinned by an understanding of prevailing pieces of employment legislation.

Marketing Management

20 Credits

(Compulsory)

This module provides students with an introduction to the principles of marketing management. The specific aims are to develop an understanding of the importance of Marketing in businesses to improve competitive advantage and increase stakeholder value. Marketing principles and techniques are used to analyze situations and solve business problems in a changing business environment.

Operations and Services Management

20 Credits

(Compulsory)

The aim of this module is to enable students to appreciate the principles and concepts that underpin the successful management of operations and service delivery in offering products and services of high quality in any organizational setting. This aim is achieved through the design of products and/or services and the processes that create them followed by the effective planning and control of those operations. The module will provide insight into the natural products and services and the nature of service classifications, and how operations management principles and practices ensure the effective delivery of products and services. It will also examine the concept of the client as a co-producer and how organizations can create a distinctive service advantage. The learning process will be facilitated through course readings, lectures, videos, worked exercises, contemporary case studies, and supporting module-specific resources.

Research Methods

20 Credits

(Compulsory)

This module will enable students to develop understanding, skills, and knowledge to aid progression into research at the undergraduate dissertation level which will be focused on their development of a specific topic within the Business and Management discipline. Students will be introduced to the knowledge and understanding necessary for the design of a written research proposal and further develop skills appropriate for the development of a research proposal including proposal focus, aims and objectives, literature evaluation, research planning, and academic writing.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

20 Credits

(Compulsory)

The process of innovation and entrepreneurship are interrelated. Innovation is the process by which an idea about a new product, service, or production method is developed. Entrepreneurship is about pursuing opportunities beyond the immediate control of the entrepreneur or innovator. This module covers the basic principles and practices of these two aspects. In specific terms, this module provides students with an understanding of enablers and barriers to entrepreneurship & innovation and gives them grounding in the techniques and processes used by established companies to create and commercialize innovation, including emerging techniques. The module covers key aspects of the entrepreneurial and innovation process as it is practiced in corporate businesses –how and why entrepreneurship happens, how innovation contributes to the ongoing viability and success of companies and the threats from failing to continue to innovate, the enablers and barriers to innovation in large firms, how new patterns of innovation are being adopted by medium and large firms, and how intellectual property is managed in an increasingly globalized world.

Work Related Learning

20 Credits

(Compulsory)

This year-long module offers learners the opportunity to apply and explore knowledge within a work-based context, through the mode of workplace learning. The placement supervisor in the workplace will negotiate the focus for the learner’s role on placement, with the learner. Students complete 100 hours in the work setting. The learner will reflect critically on different dimensions of the workplace setting. This module provides an opportunity for students wishing to attain National Professional recognition with the Teaching and Learning Academy (TLA) to complete an AMTLA project.

International Business

20 Credits

(Compulsory)

To succeed in the fiercely competitive global market of the 21st century, it is necessary to develop managers and potential managers with an international outlook and global orientation. This requires the knowledge, skills, and cultural sensitivities to be able to cope with the complexities and harsh realities of international competitors. This module aims to prepare students for managing business in a rapidly changing global environment. It is designed to enable students to develop a critical understanding of the major contemporary, and recent historical, factors which influence and determine the global business environment, and also to appreciate the nature of issues arising in different national, regional, international, and transnational business contexts. It discusses how to develop cross-border corporate strategies and organizations, how to enter foreign markets, how to engage in global marketing, international human resource management, and transnational production and logistics, and how to innovatively create shared value in cross-border business activities. In general, the module focuses on the ability to critically apply theories to resolving problems in international business.

Leadership and Change Management

20 Credits

(Compulsory)

This module aims to provide learners with a rigorous framework of knowledge and understanding of development and change management. Students will initially be encouraged to philosophically debate and deconstruct the applicability of a range of accepted leadership propositions, when applied to a range of diverse workplace contexts in the ever-changing global business environment. This approach will then be explored in more depth to encourage a more integral view and approach to leadership, one that considers experiential, behavioral, cultural and social, and systemic phenomena, in order to manage professional complexity and uncertainty. The module then introduces students to major theories and practices in the specific fields of leadership, change management, and leadership development. The aim is to help them become effective leaders, managing others fairly and effectively and increasing levels of engagement, commitment, motivation and performance of employees. Finally, the module requires students to reflect critically on theory and practice from an ethical and professional standpoint and follow a developmental approach, reflecting on leadership practice in their working environment &/or in the wider world, and be well placed to experiment with new concepts and practices as a result.

Strategic Management

20 Credits

(Compulsory)

Strategic management is central to the operation of a variety of businesses in different sectors and environments. The creation of a strategy and the management of its implementation are important in developing businesses that can create and sustain a competitive advantage. The management of strategy involves coping with uncertainty, change and complexity. This module looks at how strategy is currently practiced in a wide variety of contexts from commercial and entrepreneurial to social and not-for-profit. The module will provide students with the necessary managerial tools and techniques required in order to undertake a strategic analysis & review of their organisational environment and develop a suitable plan to lead the organisation into the future. It also encourages exploration of and a critical approach to the key concepts that underpin strategic management and the tools managers use to analyse their environment, frame choices and put the resulting strategies into action.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability

20 Credits

(Compulsory)

This module introduces corporate social responsibility (CSR) as the umbrella concept to provide students with a theoretical and practical understanding of the relationship between business and society. The module focuses on three main aspects of CSR: understanding, applying and managing, and explains CSR not only as a strategic tool but as a global phenomenon. The module will introduce students to triple bottom-line reporting, sustainable development, corporate social responsibility, and ethical issues relevant to the business. It will also help students to understand the development of corporate policies to meet stakeholder needs within a changing environment at the national and global context. The contents of the module will be contemporary, interesting, stretching and relevant, and should build on and integrate with other modules that students have taken and/or are taking.

Global Economic and Financial Systems

20 Credits

(Optional)

This module examines economic, financial and political policy making which have led to current problems with the Euro and to the world banking crisis of 2011, which caused a number of major banks to file for bankruptcy. These organisations which form the mainstay of global trade and finance have been bailed out by governments using taxpayers’ money which would otherwise have been spent on health, education and preventing crime. These events have had severe repercussions on levels of unemployment in most western countries. They have left countries such as Greece, Italy, and Portugal on the verge of bankruptcy, threatening their people with poverty.

Global Innovation Management

20 Credits

(Optional)

The module is structured in such a way as to enable students to develop an understanding of different views which relate to the management of innovation and technology. It investigates how innovations can impact organizations, their employees, and their customers. Through an examination of trends, and the ways in which new and emerging trends, products companies, and technologies can transform business processes, students will discuss and assess how best to manage innovations (both strategically and operationally) in a global business context.

Digital Marketing

20 Credits

(Optional)

This module outlines how understanding and analyzing the macro and micro-environments can enable organizations to assess the impact of the disruptive digital landscape in delivering objectives, to develop strategic recommendations and how creating digital marketing mixes can enable organizations to respond with agility to market needs. It examines how the management of digital channels and the application of key digital measures help to achieve business objectives.

Strategic Marketing

20 Credits

(Optional)

This module outlines all of the steps of the marketing planning process, from analysis to strategic decision-making to implementing the plans and effectively managing the resources, concluding with providing students with the tools to monitor strategies and measure their success against strategic marketing objectives. The module is structured around four key topics. The first considers the importance of the marketing function within a global organization. The second investigates the planning and implementation of appropriate marketing strategies. Thirdly relationships with stakeholders, highlight how the organization is responding to the modern environment. And finally, the internal composition of marketing within the organization will be reviewed. Students will be appraised on the changing nature of marketing from a strategic management perspective, allowing them to efficiently use Strategic Marketing to ensure the business achieves its overall organizational strategy.