Business with Entrepreneurship* BSc (Hons)

This module will provide students with the necessary skills to begin studying at level 4 in courses related to Business, Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Tourism and Economics. Students will be introduced to the core skills necessary to succeed in higher education, including thinking critically, researching and referencing appropriately, demonstrating appropriate numeracy and ICT skills, and communicating effectively verbally and in writing. Students will also be introduced to specific concepts related to their degree programmes including the functions of a business, business law, ethics and intercultural studies. Real-world applications of these theories in business will be highlighted, and students will practice applying the theory to case studies. The module is made up of the following eight constituent elements: Interactive Learning Skills and Communication (ILSC); Information Communication Technology (ICT); Critical Thinking; Core Maths; Ethics; Intercultural Studies; Business Law; Introduction to Business.

Finance and business information is the lifeblood of any organisations operations and decisions. You’ll work with data and case studies from organisations, meet with businesses to understand the practical use this key information is put to and present your decisions on a going concern or start-up. As you present your analysis of key information and conclusions to other stakeholders, you'll develop your persuasion and negotiation skills.

You'll explore the factors that affect business, from a mostly external perspective, including elements of globalisation and international business and the fundamental skills needed in the world of business. Political, Economics, Social, Legal, Ecological and Technological factors will be examined in the macro business environment and how these interact in a competitive environment with globalisation, technological and social change to create complex strategic options for organisations. You will also explore in some detail the concept of sustainability and introductory economics.

As an introduction to a broad range of civil legal issues, you'll get an insight and appreciation of the various ways in which the law impacts on the domestic and international business environment. The module provides a foundation across a broad range of legal issues, focusing on the nature and sources of business law, on contract law with regard to both goods and services and on the law of tort, in particular, negligence and vicarious liability and how these permeate into everyday life. There’ll also be a brief focus on the type of corporate structures and employment relationships that exist in the UK.

This module presents a fusion between the philosophies which underlie marketing, with a strong emphasis of integrating digital and traditional concepts and the real life application of marketing across a variety of sectoral contexts. You'll examine the core marketing concept of customer value and the interplay between marketing and sustainability and the ethical challenges and critiques of modern marketing. You'll gain a wide range of knowledge across a breadth of sectors and be able to adapt these to whatever career or future research you choose. On completion of the module you'll have not only a solid grounding in marketing philosophies and theories but also a critical view of marketing, based around the realisation of the reality of modern digital marketing operations and management in a context of increasing global economic challenges, but also within a context where the customer profile is shifting to become increasingly demanding, critical and questioning of the motivations and ethics behind the marketers activities.

You'll be introduced to a range of organisational behaviour issues that you may encounter in your career and be provided with evidence-informed analyses of ways in which culture, leadership, structure and motivation affect workers and workplaces. This foundation enables you to analyse the human side of management and diagnose problems affecting organsiations both independently and as part of a group. You'll have the opportunity to take managerial, critical, symbolic-interactivist and feminist perspectives to business issues and organisational behaviour related theories, models and concepts to build your social capital and critical analytical skills. Specifically, we will equip you with the knowledge and human capitals to understand how people and organisations function in individual, group and organisational levels based on the latest academic evidence on topics such as motivation, leadership, teams, organisational structure and culture. Finally, we aim to inspire you to value and continuously use the best available academic evidence on effective management of people and organisations throughout your career.

Entrepreneurs are people who identify and exploit opportunities for new products, marketing or processes to generate economic and social value. Entrepreneurship is not just about new venture creation, it involves using creative or innovative ideas to recognise and develop solutions. You’ll work as part of a team over 3 rounds of activity (such as gamification, experiential learning and simulation) to focus on the identification of an opportunity, the creation of a product or service and pitching a concept to work as part of the team to develop your skills and collaborate with organisations and guest speakers.

Project management is a key skill for any future professional. This module focuses on providing a sound basis for managing or working on projects. In essence, the concept of managing a project hinging on one quite basic principle, managing the triangle of: quality of the project outcomes, cost and time. The module covers: Project Management Body of Knowledge; the importance of stakeholder and risk management; scheduling and costing; monitoring and controlling techniques, time management and resource optimisation; improving the success of projects; and the principles of agile project management.

From creativity comes ideas, different ways of doing things that could transform an organisation, industry, practice, consumer’s lives, the world… This module uses the concept of playfulness to lead to creativity and the chance to identify an opportunity. A variety of ideation techniques will help you develop ideas and subsequent business models. From a blank page, you'll be drawn through the creative process of ideation, risk, failure and revision to develop innovative solutions with the chance to consult with a range of stakeholders in our community to improve your idea, ready for testing. You'll develop entrepreneurial skills that may be used to start a business or bring innovative thinking to solving problems or exploring new opportunities in an existing business. You'll be exposed to a variety of creative processes and have the chance to explore your own ideas or work with local entrepreneurs throughout the ideation process. The first idea is not always the best idea so assessment on this module explores the concept of making continual improvements and evolving a concept through following the ideation process and reflecting on progress.

Unusually, this is the module where it is quite acceptable to fail! Entrepreneurial thinking leads to ideas that may progress to prototyping and testing. You'll develop the prototype, working with designers/manufacturers, and see an idea come to life. We work with local organisations to give you the chance to experiment (and fail) with the development of a new product. External visits will include exciting opportunities like using 3D printers, visiting scientific and technical organisations in Cambridge’s Science Park; speaking to real entrepreneurs who have tested and revised their products; finding out how injection moulding works; learning how to design an app; briefing designers; and so on… You will create a prototype, test whether it meets your set objectives, and plan interventions. Your prototype and accompanying portfolio could be an invaluable tool to show potential employers and showcase your entrepreneurial spirit.

In a competitive job market, understanding how the professional work place functions, along with well-developed employability skills is key to securing graduate employment. You'll put into practice your learning from the previous 2 years with a company or organisation where you will be supported in developing effective professional practices through guidance in generic and specific employability skills and through independent reflective learning practices to enhance your continuing professional development in a working environment. You'll gain experience of a professional environment underpinned by the theories you have already experienced. You will be expected to be able to reflect on your experience in writing and orally, and demonstrate how you have applied theory and prior learning within the work environment. You're assessed on a pass/fail basis with the aim of supporting you to develop your ability to demonstrate your professionalism, leadership and managerial skills to a prospective employer whilst also learning key communication and personal skills. You must secure a placement, or placements (maximum 2) amounting to 9 months duration with a minimum 3 months per placement. Placements can start at any point from 1 June and must have started by 1 October.

Strategic Management is a fascinating discipline that studies the long-term purpose and direction of organisations, by looking at how to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. You'll explore core frameworks and analytical techniques that will enable you to assess the resources and capabilities of organisations in relation to the conditions of the industry, macro environment and stakeholder pressures. Your focus then turns to strategic implementation, specifically in relation to business-level and corporate-level strategies. This is organised around five thematic areas: the evaluation of strategic options in terms of suitability, acceptability and feasibility; 'intended strategy development' versus 'emergent strategy development'; the role of organisational structures and systems in strategy development; leadership of strategic change; and finally the practice of strategy: who is involved in strategy development, the types of activities in which strategists are involved, and the types of methodologies that strategists use. With a practical and problem-oriented focus, the emphasis is on application of concepts and frameworks, helping you to analyse and gain insight into strategic challenges faced by an organisation. Throughout the learning period, you'll reflect on the global nature of competition, how strategic management can contribute to the creation of shared value and business sustainability.

You'll develop understanding of the shift towards more environmentally, socially and economically responsible business practice and in particular focus on the drivers behind this shift; including an understanding of the sustainable development goals and growing business arguments for including a consideration of sustainability in all business and management practice. The module promotes a personal approach to the issues of sustainability and personal and social responsibility. The module includes an authentic assessment where you'll be diagnosing, designing and evaluating an environmental management plan for your households or organisations, while reflecting on your personal responsibility and ethical behaviour. You'll pay special attention to questioning the different responses of business in relation to social responsibility and sustainable management. If you're studying BSc (Hons) Business Management, successful completion of this module provides exemption against the Chartered Management Institute’s (CMI) unit 5022V1 Organisational Corporate Social Responsibility.

From ideation, to prototype and testing, this module is about looking back on experiences and learning from them. An entrepreneur must be resilient, to keep going, and keep trying despite mistakes, lack of funds, or opportunities. You'll look at theories of reflection, and is analytical and theoretical in its approach. We look at the numbers and analysis to work out the next steps, reflecting on previous learning on the course. You'll build your social networks and capital, learn to pitch, find out how to apply for grants and write a successful bid and speak to entrepreneurs to find out what made them successful. We link to the patchwork framework and the entrepreneurial toolkit to help you to pull on your personal resources and we consider diversity and entrepreneurship as you prepare for self-employment or taking your entrepreneurial skills into the workplace. You'll be invited to explore different types of entrepreneurs and reflect on your own skills, knowledge and behaviours. The assessment will be scenario-based critically analysing the resources that can be used to overcome specific issues affecting the entrepreneur.

You'll have the opportunity to bring together your learning on live brief assessments and be part of an interdisciplinary team addressing a current issue in business. You'll be presented with a current business issue and be required to research, analyse and evaluate the issue effectively as a team. You'll act as the expert in your field of study to bring the perspective of that specialty to a complex business problem. You'll identify the key problems and issues, conduct literature reviews, evaluate information, investigate and adopt suitable development methodologies, determine solutions, process data, critically appraise and present the findings of your project using a variety of media. You'll create a poster presentation on your project for your team to display, and answer questions on, to an audience of academics and employers at a poster presentation event. You'll write a group business report on the outcomes of your project, evidencing your recommendations alongside an individual piece of reflective work on how you approached the issue, worked successfully as a team member, conducted robust business research and developed sound conclusions and recommendations.