Business Management - BA (Hons)

Project Management module provides you with a foundation in project management principles and practices, integrating theoretical knowledge and practical application. The module covers both traditional and agile methodologies, preparing you with a skill set applicable across various industries.

This module progresses on from the Level 4 module Introduction to Data Analytics and AI. Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed the business world and personal lives, and ‘Big Data’ is everywhere. This module will demonstrate how organisations apply analytical tools and techniques by harvesting and leveraging data to gain a competitive edge. Machine Learning (ML) is an analytical technique that delivers practical value for both organisations plus consumers and is embedded within modern products and services. Business processes, workflows and systems have been revolutionised via automation achieved from machine learning algorithms. You will be exposed to best practice approaches for building, training and evaluating machine learning algorithms such as neural networks, agent-based modelling, reinforcement learning and logistic regression.

This module examines the critical role of leadership in the global business context. It explores diverse leadership styles and key attributes for global leaders. The module also delves into prominent cultural models, analysing how cultural factors shape leadership perceptions and behaviours across borders.

Additionally, the module provides strategies for navigating the complexities of multinational organisations, leading high-performing global teams, and aligning business objectives with the dynamic, interconnected global marketplace. Through case studies and practical applications, this module equips you with the knowledge and skills to become effective leaders in the evolving global business landscape.

The Sales and Negotiation module aims to provide you with a thorough understanding of sales and negotiation principles and practices within a business context. It is designed to support you to gain both theoretical knowledge and practical skills in selling techniques, negotiation strategies, and the psychology of persuasion.

Supply Chain Management has evolved in line with the development of the global economy. It is now widely considered a strategic activity, which manages supplier relationships, enables supply chain/network innovation, reduces cost, and mitigates impact from/on the environment.

This module will give an integrative perspective of the business organisation and underpinning knowledge of Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Logistics. It provides you with an introduction to modern supply chain management, sustainability and sustainable supply chain management principles, processes and the environment within which the Supply Chain manager operates.

In this module, you will develop a deep understanding of the entrepreneurial process, focusing on the evaluation of the feasibility of new business ventures. You will explore how businesses are formed, structured, and strategically developed to achieve long-term sustainability.

There are many similarities between the roles of managers and management consultants. In fact, managers are often considered to be ‘internal consultants’, as Butler (2010) comments “An effective manager is increasingly an effective consultant”.

In line with the Business School’s practice-based approach to teaching and learning, this module adopts a ‘real world’ approach to exploring the nature of contemporary organisations and begins to prepare you for the reality of managing/consulting within them.

In this module, you will explore the intricate relationship between legal frameworks and business operations, focusing on how laws shape, constrain, and enable business activities. This module delves into the critical areas of business law, including contract law, corporate governance, employment law, and intellectual property. As businesses operate in increasingly complex environments, a comprehensive understanding of these legal areas is essential for navigating risks and ensuring compliance.

In the face of ever-evolving customer expectations, organisations increasingly rely on contemporary digital tools - including Artificial Intelligence (AI) - to remain competitive in the marketplace. As a result, modern marketing now blends advanced technologies and information systems with traditional strategies and techniques to deliver impactful results.

The MarTech and Automation module delves into how Marketing Technology (MarTech) can be effectively applied throughout the customer journey, from initial market research and customer engagement through to conversion and customer retention.

This module is designed to provide you with the opportunity to undertake a credit bearing, 40- week Professional Placement as an integral part of your Undergraduate Degree.    The purpose of the Professional Placement is to improve your employability skills which will, through the placement experience, allow you to evidence your professional skills, attitudes and behaviours at the point of entry to the postgraduate job market.  Furthermore, by completing the Professional Placement, you will be able to develop and enhance your understanding of the professional work environment, relevant to your chosen field of study, and reflect critically on your own professional skills development within the workplace. 

The Research Project can take a number of forms including, but not limited to:

1. Research paper which can include business improvement projects
2. Business start-up project
3. Consultancy project for a live client

The module will allow you to demonstrate your ability to evaluate a business issue relevant to your discipline of study and utilize the theory from your study to date to generate recommendations at either a theoretical or practical level. It will allow you to demonstrate your analytic and time management skills in a practical way.

Embedded within the United Nations Sustainable Goals and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the module will equip learners with the tools to help them to cope with uncertainty, adverse situations, analyse a crisis, prepare a crisis response and help them to develop best practice reflecting on past events. The OECD also highlights the importance of building resilience as a leader whilst responding to novel or classic crisis.

This module will provide you with a critical understanding of the concepts, frameworks and approaches for the effective management of strategic change and its leadership.

Consideration will also be given to the complexity of business operations, the rapid pace of technological innovation, and globalisation of businesses. You will explore drivers and challenges of strategic change in an organisational context as well as approaches for successful implementation of various change interventions.

This module introduces you to a range of advanced strategic management tools and technique to analyse and understand business situations with national and international relevance.

In addition, an understanding of competitive behaviour will be informed by a variety of perspectives concerning the sources of competitive advantage, sustainable competitive advantage from both theoretical and industry viewpoints. These include developments in the macro environment, industry structure, strategic positioning, the acquisition and development of resources and capabilities, plus the challenges of industry evolution.

Whilst marketing has contributed to many of the issues faced by today’s society, the Sustainable Marketing module offers an alternative perspective of marketing and the critical role that it has to play in facilitating a sustainable future. During this module, you will explore some of the key drivers of the sustainability agenda, as reflected in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and develop an understanding of how marketing can develop strategies to support this agenda whilst still meeting the commercial needs of the business.

Supply Chain Management is concerned with the flow of resources and information between all the companies that add value to a product, from raw material suppliers to end users. To gain a comprehensive grasp of a supply chain, the module incorporates challenges from marketing (distribution channels), logistics, and operations management. The module takes a strategic approach, focussing on relatively long-term decisions such as investing in productive resources, configuring processes, designing products, and developing partnerships with suppliers and distribution channels.

The module is designed to equip you with the essential skills and knowledge to effectively navigate complex negotiations and resolve conflicts in various settings. Practical experiences through simulations and case studies will allow you to gain transferable skills, useful not only in your personal lives, but also when negotiating with different stakeholder groups and various employability settings.

Through practical application you will learn how to build trust, communicate effectively whilst exploring the challenges and opportunities of different negotiation strategies in different business contexts.

This module builds on the previous modules (Introduction to Data Analytics and AI and Data Analytics and AI in Practice). The module offers hands-on experience of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based solution development for addressing a particular business challenge.

The module is designed for those of you willing to understand the process of AI solution development with detail analysis of its cost-benefit analysis and impact on the organisation. The module is ideal for those of you pursuing careers in data science, business analytics, or AI development, and it equips you with essential skills that are highly in demand in today’s as well as the future employment market.

Following from the discovery (L4) and practice (L5) phases of your journey into developing enterprise skills, this module focuses of the application phase (L6), where you are encouraged to learn and apply different techniques to launch a technology start-up.

You will learn to recognise interesting opportunities and convert the opportunities to attractive business propositions. You will validate and test the digital business ideas and transform it into a viable business model. You will develop a business plan for a tech start-up and will pitch your working business propositions to academics with a final pitch being delivered to the university’s STEAMHOUSE investor panel.