BA (Hons) Business Studies with Marketing with Foundation Year

Course detail
Building on our foundations, we have made innovative revisions to our curriculum and teaching methods. Our major difference from our competitors is the range and type of modules we offer in our core Business Management programme, along with our links with employers and industry.
We have designed this course to:
Meet the national need for adaptive, adaptable and transformative graduates.
Empower students from all educational backgrounds to fulfil their academic potential.
Provide an opportunity for students to use their work experience to gain practical understanding.
Develop your skills so that they can used in many contexts.
Prepare you for a range of opportunities for career growth or further study.
Provide employers with graduates who possess the specialist technical knowledge and skills needed in their sector.
Modules

Modules are available subject to cohort viability in any given year.

Foundation year
Introduction to Business
Recording of Business Transactions
Personalised Learning
Data Handling and ICT
Managing People and Systems
Academic Performance.
Year One (Credit Level 4)
Professional Skills for Business and Finance
Researching Business Data
Organisational Behaviour
Principles of Marketing
Information Communications Technology
Business Accounting
Economics
Business English
Commercial Law
Year Two (Credit Level 5)
Marketing and Brand Management
Enterprise and Business Development
Managing Business Operations
Business Economics
Professional Enquiry
Behavioural Studies
Computers and Information Systems
Case Study Analysis
Business and Corporate Law
Human Resource Management in Context
Managerial Finance.
Year Three (Credit Level 6)
Strategic Management
Enterprise and Social Responsibility
Global Marketing
International Business
Consumer Behaviour
Contemporary Issues in Management (Graduate Project).
Foundation year

We believe in giving our students a practical learning experience that brings the subjects to life. For level three we have deployed effective and innovative methods of teaching and learning to achieve this aim.

Students on this course found that by being an enthusiastic learner and participating in the course, not only have learned a lot and in a meaningful way, but have enjoyed their experience.

Introduction to Business
This module will give you a basic knowledge and understanding of business organisations and the way they operate in the UK economy.

Recording of Business Transactions
This module is about the methods of book-keeping and financial accounting used by organisations to record their financial transactions.

Data Handling and ICT
This module gives you a basic but solid introduction to the use of mathematical and statistical techniques in solving business problems. It will also train you in the use of IT programming.

Managing People and Systems
This is a management module that explores business structures and how they lead to the fulfilment of business goals.

Year one (Level 4)
Professional Skills for Business and Finance
This module will help you to become more critical, evaluative, self-aware, self-confident, skilled and capable in the use of information and resources. These are essential skills required for effective research and study.

It will also help you to improve your ability to make sense of new information and improve your skills in questioning, data-gathering, reasoning, drawing valid conclusions and spotting bad arguments.

As with any other module on our degree course, there will be regular participation and contact with your community of peers, contact sessions, active participation in class discussions, regular visits to the Blackboard site for module information guidance and support and completion of homework assignments for each weekly session.

Introduction to Human Resource Management (HRM)
The module is designed to provide you with an introductory knowledge of Human Resource Management and the approaches that can be taken to HRM in a variety of business settings.

Functional aspects of managing people are selected to illustrate how managerial behaviour can be influenced by economic, legal and technical contexts.
Researching Business Data
One of the requirements of an effective manager is the ability to handle numerical information. The aim of this module is to help you make sense of numbers in order to arrive at meaningful conclusions and make informed decisions.

You will be provided with a range of research and analytical methods for:
gathering primary and published data
summarising data
measuring change
measuring association.
Business Accounting
Business Accounting consists of two broad basic areas – Financial Accounting and Management Accounting.
Financial Accounting is concerned with recording the day to day activities of a business and producing periodic summaries. The module will involve producing final accounts for an organisation and interpreting them.
Management Accounting is concerned with the supply of accounting information to internal management thereby enabling management to plan and control its future business activities. At this foundation stage the module will involve areas such as cost classification, break even analysis and preparing cash budgets.
Principles of Marketing
This module introduces you to the environment in which marketing operates.
Most business organisations have a goal of making profits for their owners; whilst marketers seek to help them to do this. Marketers believe the route to organisational success is through keeping customers happy and doing this more effectively than the competition.
The module aims to introduce you to this idea and show how marketers can do this by:
Designing and making products which customers want.
Informing customers of the products' benefits.
Selling the products in a convenient location.
Offering the products at a price which customers are prepared to pay and enable the organisation to fulfil its profit objectives.
Information, Communications and Technology (ICT)
Information is a valuable asset for any business and if collected, organised and used in an efficient manner, it can give a business a competitive advantage. This module introduces information systems and technology which can assist businesses to achieve this. It also provides the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge in software applications commonly used in office environments.
Year two (Level 5)
Business Economics
This module enables you to develop an understanding and awareness of the environment in which business operates, particularly from the economic perspective. You will also develop the ability to use a range of skills to diagnose and solve problems.
Enterprise and Business Development
This module provides an introduction to entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship and the enterprise culture both in the UK and in an international context.

It defines and develops the personal and professional skills and abilities required for success in new venture creation. We will examine the development of a detailed business proposal and supporting planning required for a business start-up, such as operational and financial plans.
The module develops analytical, planning, and presentation skills relating to personal and business development as follow:
Identifying and analysing potential opportunities for enterprise and innovation.
Applying concepts drawn from different business disciplines to develop a cohesive business plan; extending your commercial awareness and deepening your understanding of the concepts underpinning business theory.
Being introduced to the key features of work and career planning and management.
Managing Business Operations
Every product or service you buy will probably have been created as a result of business operations. Managing Business Operations is about managing the processes that produce or deliver goods and services.

This involves issues such as designing processes, making decisions about location, layout and capacity management, managing the supply chain, and managing quality. The emphasis will be on practical examples and case studies with assessments in groups and/or individually in the form of presentation of research findings and a written final exam.
Enterprise and Social Responsibility
This module critically examines current debates addressing the nature of the enterprise and its role in society. The implications of creating and sustaining an 'enterprise culture' are identified and examined, and diverse approaches to entrepreneurship appraised.
Society relies on entrepreneurship for wealth creation but at the same time increasingly expects the entrepreneurial venture to be accountable for its actions the implications of this trend are examined for both the individual and the different forms of organisation.
We will discuss contemporary concerns relating to the need for effective corporate citizenship and governance structures, together with the causes of emerging calls for improved corporate accountability. We will examine the specific context of the nature and purpose of wealth creation, and the contemporary environment created by an enterprise culture and the enterprise economy.
Marketing and Brand Management
This module builds on the knowledge and skills learned in the Level four, Principles of Marketing module. We will focus on managing products, promotion, price and distribution.

The emphasis is on management at the operational level and deals with the type of decision making experienced by marketing and brand managers. The module stresses application of knowledge and understanding through the extensive use of mini case study materials mainly in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) markets.

Organisational Behaviour
This module provides you with critical knowledge on how organisations work and how individuals and groups impact on organisational success or failure.
It explores the emerging workplace realities of self-leadership, networks, knowledge management, and virtual teams, organisational learning and working within culturally diverse work-place communities.

Theory will be linked to reality through analysis of students' own experiences using specific sectorial issues such as employee motivation and retention, performance enhancement, intra and interpersonal development and developing effective teams and groups.
Managerial Finance
This module will provide an insight into the workings of Management Accounting and Finance.
It starts by looking at the basic principles of arriving at a cost of a product and then goes onto looking at the various management accounting techniques as well as sources of finance and investment appraisal techniques which will be useful to a manager working in business.
Business and Corporate Law
In the area of Business Law this module examines the essential requirements of a valid contract. We will study the distinction between offer and invitation to treat; acceptance, consideration, discharge through frustration and remedies for breach of contract.

In the area of Corporate Law this module will examine the consequence of incorporation, the company’s constitution, raising of finance and management of a company limited by shares.
Year three (Level 6)
Strategic Management
The purpose of the module is to build on the concepts and approaches to business policy developed at level five. The integrated nature of strategic management decisions will be emphasised and case studies will be used to show how strategic management applies to a range of business and not-for-profit organisations.

The emphasis will be on strategic options, evaluation and choice and on the implementation issues in strategy. You will be encouraged to develop analytical skills, creative thinking and ability to present conclusions based on critical evaluation of information.
Research Methods
This module aims to provide you with the knowledge and skills that are required to carry out a piece of research on a topic that you have chosen, where you decide (with some guidance) on the methodology and approach.

In so doing you will take significant strides on the path to becoming an independent learner, and feel able to tackle other research tasks, with minimal supervision.

You will also discuss and evaluate a range of research methods and approaches. The research proposal that you submit at the end of this module will form the starting point of your final year project–see Final Project (dissertation) at level six.
Global Marketing
This module adopts a strategic approach to the study of Marketing and Communication in a Global context. The module builds upon the knowledge gained in the level one and two Marketing modules or equivalent and applies these to the global marketing arena, but with a greater focus on the strategic perspective.

It builds an understanding of the global trading environment, differences in buyer/consumer behaviour and how global marketing analysis, strategies, and courses can be developed, organised and implemented.

International Business
This module critically examines the major issues faced by companies engaged in identifying and developing their overseas operations.

The study of International Business straddles a variety of different disciplines, and this module deals with the problems of international operations from the perspective of economics and politics as well as the functional disciplines of finance, marketing, human resource management and operations management.
Most importantly, it seeks to show how the international economic and political environment serves to act as a very powerful influence over how company policies are set.
Consumer Behaviour
This module enables students with an interest in consumer behaviour and marketing decision-making to develop their knowledge beyond level five. The module will allow you to focus on buyer behaviour and its marketing applications for specific marketing decisions such as those concerned with products, distribution, pricing and promotion.
The module aims to show how an understanding of buyer behaviour ie: ‘what makes customers tick’ can help marketers focus more effectively on customers’ needs and wants.

Final Project (Dissertation)
This module at level six is designed to further prepare you for the working environment you will be entering on completion of your course (or are currently in), where you will be expected to apply the academic knowledge you have gained to practical situations/problem solving in the workplace.

The Final Project, whist challenging, will give you the opportunity to investigate and work on an issue/problem in a way that might be expected of you in the workplace. This will necessitate the application of knowledge and a variety of skills you have learnt throughout the courses, applying theory to practice within a business context, thus offering another dimension to your learning experience and expectation.

The projects will offer concrete evidence of your research with outside organisations, and also an opportunity to work with experienced people and no doubt an addition to your CV.

Project Management
The Project Management module provides a base level of key skills used by project managers in order to manage projects successfully. The module is not specific to any one industry but covers the basic principles of project management that apply in all industries and to projects of all sizes.
There are many examples of projects, ranging from:
large projects such as Heathrow Terminal 5 and the Channel Tunnel
medium sized projects such as reorganising a factory or developing new computer software
small projects such as a new marketing campaign or putting on a rock concert.
The teaching sessions combine lectures with group discussions to allow us to fully explore and understand the concepts. Individual practical exercises help consolidate the learning of specific Project Management skills. All sessions involve Tutor led class discussions.
You will be required to produce a plan for a project of your choice that is assessed. There will also be an examination at the end of the module.
Employee Relations
This module investigates the factors that lead to regulation of employment relationships. It evaluates the role and contribution the parties make in constructing, implementing rules and procedures designed to promote order, fairness and efficiency in organisations and the wider society.
Managing Small and Medium Enterprises
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute the fastest growing sector of both the UK and European economies, a trend which is reflected globally. These organisations also now employ the majority of the UK workforce.
SMEs present a series of unique and specific management challenges which are addressed and critically evaluated in this module. The approach taken encompasses a range of business disciplines, and particularly examines the issues facing SMEs wishing to attract fresh investment capital.
The module investigates business development routes and methods for the entrepreneurial firm, and for organisations with an entrepreneurial culture. Paths to growth and methods of development are identified and appraised. The module also examines how a firm's structure, processes and values affect its capability to build sustainable growth and generate new business.
International Business Finance
This module explains and discusses the function and purpose of financial markets and corporate finance with a focus on the international environment.
The following areas are explored:
capital markets
sources of funds and market efficiency
business valuations and mergers and acquisitions
the management of risk in particular foreign currency and interest rate risk
international investment
the theoretical arguments and models relating to risk and return are examined.