Business Studies

Who should take the course?

Business Studies is for those students who have a real interest in how businesses are managed and the internal and external factors that influence their ability to be successful. Students will be able to gain crucial management skills.

What is the course about?

You will investigate how businesses are managed and the factors that influence their ability to be successful. You will investigate how businesses expand on a global scale. In essence the course allows the student to gain crucial management skills. As with all A Levels the essential skills of analysis and evaluation are developed through putting concepts into practice through real life and up to date case study examples.

Theme 1 - Marketing and People

Students will develop and understanding of:

• meeting customer needs

• the market

• marketing mix and strategy

• managing people

• entrepreneurs and leaders

Theme 2 - Managing business activities

Students will develop and understanding of:

• raising finance

• financial planning

• managing finance

• resource management

• external influences 

Theme 3 - Business decisions and strategy

This theme develops the concepts introduced in Theme 2. Students will develop an understanding of:

• business objectives and strategy

• business growth

• decision-making techniques

• influences on business decisions

• assessing competitiveness

• managing change 

Theme 4 - Global Business

This theme develops the concepts introduced in Theme 1. Students will develop an understanding of:

• globalisation

• global markets and business expansion

• global marketing

• global industries and companies (multinational corporations)

How is it assessed? 

This is a linear two year course with all examinations taken at the end of the two years.

There is no coursework. 

Where will it take me? 

Students will be able to go directly into employment on leaving school or go to university. There are a great variety of Business degree courses, many of which are joint honours with subjects such as ICT, Languages and Finance. In the long run students will have a good grounding if they wanted to develop their own business or join fast track company management schemes.