Applied Numeracy For Business

This unit is part of a core spine of units that all Business students will encounter as part of their learning journey. This journey takes you through the begin stage at Level 4, to the thrive stage at level 5, to succeed stage at level 6.  
This unit is designed to support your Begin stage at level 4, it develops the numeracy skills and abilities you need to succeed in your studies and in the business world. The unit is designed to support you and develop your confidence in essential mathematics and statistics techniques, it applies these techniques in business context to give you an understanding of how they are used to solve problems and make decision in business organisations.

The connected core spine of units also enables you to network with peers from across the faculty just as you will be expected to work with colleagues throughout the organisation in the world of business.¿¿¿ 

The unit aims to achieve 

• provide students with the fundamental knowledge and understanding of numeracy in business.   
• develop student confidence in a range of numerical and statistical techniques.
• enable students apply a range of numerical and statistical techniques to practical business problems.   

Evolution And Revolution Of Business

The unit is designed to provide an introduction to business and the context in which businesses operate. It explores business advances allowing students to acquire an understanding of how businesses have developed, their impact on society, and how business may progress in the future. The unit aims to achieve:

1.       The identification and examination of key developments within business and management practices and their impact on trade and commerce.

2.       Awareness of management models and approaches and their context.

3.       Identify the progress and breakthroughs achieved in various business sectors and management practices. 

4.       Awareness of revolutionary developments in business and its future potential direction.

5.       Explore new opportunities and risks that exist for business. 

Relevance: The unit explores past and future developments in business and will allow students to apply context and develop a basic level of business acumen.

Management In Practice

This unit aims to develop management skills in the following areas

1.       Management and strategy setting 

2.       Leadership and entrepreneurship

3.       Management analysis and decision making

4.       Teamwork and critical thinking

5.       Finance and Marketing

Beginning Your Professional Business Journey

This unit is part of a core spine of units that all Business students will encounter as part of their learning journey. This journey takes you from the Begin stage at Level 4, to the Thrive stage at Level 5 through to the Succeed stage at Level 6. This unit is designed to support the Begin/Thrive/Succeed stage by introducing you to the skills that you will require in order to develop your professional practice.

The connected core spine of units also enables you to network with peers from across the faculty just as you will be expected to work with colleagues throughout the organisation in the world of business.  

This unit will help you to begin your journey in Business and provide you with the support you will need to develop your professional practice.

In this unit you will be presented with Business challenges which will allow you to collaborate with peers, and provide an insight in to a professional Business environment. 

Employability And The Future Workplace

This unit aims to :

1.       Prepare the student for the future work environment after they graduate

2.       Develop awareness of their skills and attributes in preparation for interviews, psychometric tests and assessment centres

3.       Provide opportunities for students to carry out self-analysis, and link these to a career focus 

4.       Enable students to evaluate their ability to use all aspects of social media and virtual recruitment

5.      Showcase student readiness and employability to interested stakeholders.

Risk And Responsibility

The unit is designed to develop a holistic understanding of the challenges facing a business and the principles of responsible management from the perspectives of various business functions. The aim of the unit is to enable you to demonstrate the following: 

·       Knowledge and critical understanding of enterprise risk and management exploring systemic, financial, operational and strategic risk

·       An understanding of holistic approach to risk management exploring business ethics and responsible management in global context.

·       The ability to apply risk management frameworks in investigating risk and implementing risk mitigation strategies.  

·       The ability to risk assess investment, operational failure and operating in international markets 

·       Confidence in engaging with quality and compliance needs of a business

Managing Business Complexity

This unit aims to achieve:

·      Knowledge and understanding of various types of business complexity arising from structural, process, and environmental factors

·      Apply the knowledge and skills gained during previous units to a real-life, complex business issue to create a realistic and viable solution for a client

·      Develop project management skills through working on a contemporary business problem 

·      Develop skills in planning, undertaking and reporting upon primary and secondary research

·      Enable you to develop critical employability skills around team working, time management, presentation and communication 

Develop your critical awareness of contemporary business issues and enable you to apply theoretical concepts to real-world situations

Marketing Communications In The Digital Age

 Marketing communications is about planning and what it takes to deliver a consistent and effective message to key audiences.

This is as relevant to consumer, business to business, charity, retail or corporate marketing communication.

Building a consistent message, especially in terms of visual feel, is what helps to build a positive brand association in the memory that is then quickly and easily linked to the brand.

This unit introduces mainstream promotional disciplines such as advertising and public relations and discusses the importance of integration in marketing communications. 

Theories of communication and of consumption and the impact on marketing communications of the external environment form the background to this discussion.

The strategic roles of brands and of target audiences are studied, as is the way in which marketing communications bring the two together, thus stablishing an organisation-customer relationship and enhancing brand equity.

Newer forms of promotion e.g. buzz and viral marketing and their implications for marketing communications are studied.

Also there is a focus on the impact and usage of technologies such as AI and automation.  With a particular focus on social media tools. 

On completion of this unit, you will have formed an extensive understanding of the key marketing communications concepts, regarding the use of traditional and newer digital marketing communications tools, how to plan and how to put together a creative brief.

Marketing For Smes

If you are planning to start a business or work in Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs), this unit gives you an opportunity to think and act as an SME owner and build the skills and understanding of how to be resilient to external and internal changes. We encourage you to take the role of an SME owner and make the case for marketing by taking decisions to position your brand, create value propositions for specific segments, evaluate and propose the relevant channels to communicate with your target.

We acknowledge that marketing for SMEs becomes a challenge to adopt corporate marketing tools and strategies to a smaller scale and often without a dedicated marketing budget. In comparison with larger corporations that find it easier to allocate resources for a marketing team to develop their communication, most start-ups and Small to Medium size businesses are less likely to have resources to pay for marketing tools and campaigns, necessitating the need to find creative solutions to make themselves visible to their markets.  SMEs often practise marketing in their own unique style, reflecting their ability to offer tailored activities to address their customer needs and communicate with them using a more personal approach. Thus, the unit seeks to explore the role and importance of marketing for SMEs to be able to respond to customer and market changes. We help you to understand how marketing can strengthen the ethos of SMEs and explore different online platforms that take advantage of SMEs' flexibility and ability to be disruptive despite having limited resources.

The content combines theory with practice to explore marketing strategies and tools used to implement structural development in SMEs, recognizing the importance of creativity, customer relationship and resource management, online platforms, and marketing automation. Newer forms of content creation and management, automation trends, understanding and articulating the business case for marketing - Dragon's Den style, and being able to explain/defend the business position, will inform some of the discussions.  

Data And Research Methods For Business

This unit is part of a core spine of units that all Business students will encounter as part of their learning journey. This journey takes you to the Thrive stage at Level 5 and the unit is designed to support the Begin/Thrive/Succeed stage by building on the academic study skills and numeracy skills acquired during your first year and introduces you to both theory and practice of research and prepares you for the final year Research Project. 
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The connected core spine of units also enables you to network with peers from across the faculty just as you will be expected to work with colleagues throughout the organisation in the world of business.¿¿ 
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The ability to conduct research and to interpret information is a key skill in both the academic and commercial worlds. Effective managerial decision-making is heavily dependent on high-quality data and information in a variety of forms and from a variety of sources.  Gaining an understanding of research and of the research process, and experiencing it as part of a research community will provide valuable transferrable skills for a career in business or further study.  
 
This unit aims to achieve: 
an understanding and appreciation of the central role of data in business. 
an ability to evaluate information sources appropriately to support arguments and to inform decision-making at all levels. 
an appreciation of the benefits and limitations of common research approaches and quantitative and qualitative research methods. 
an understanding of common qualitative and quantitative research techniques including sampling and data collection approaches as well as data analysis. 

Digital Business

The majority of businesses now use information and communication technology (ICT) as part of their business model. Digital information systems increasingly impact on all aspects of the commercial and personal space. In this rapidly changing and evolving environment of digital information systems, it is vital that future managers are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to exploit and manage digital business opportunities and initiatives.

This unit examines the main strands of digital business management. It will focus on the applications of technology, exploring issues such as the

Integration of the business environment, business models, Internet marketing and electronic customer relationship management, the use of web analytics, cybersecurity aspects, etc.

This unit aims to help you develop a holistic view of digital business. You will:

-          Consider theoretical and practical applications of e-business and have to justify the use of e-business approaches.

-          Explore digital businesses

-          Provide opportunities to evaluate issues relevant to marketing and customer relationship management in digital business 

-          Enable you to understand the foundations of web analytics and use the results to modify an e-commerce website

In terms of increasing your employability, the insights acquired in this unit will help you to apply information systems and e-business concepts to support you in your day-to-day work.

Business Continuity And The Planet

This unit will develop your understanding and appreciation of the major challenges to ensuring business continuity in a dynamic and evolving environment

The unit aims to:

·       Investigate major areas that pose strategic risk, including climate and environmental issues, cyber-security and supply-chain challenges amongst others 

·       Assess the likely impact of climate change and environmental challenges on business operations

·       Understand the dynamic and challenging nature of supply chain risks and the range of responses available to businesses

·       Explore the increasing threat of digital security issues for modern businesses and available mitigations

·       Understand and evaluate the range of crisis management tools and techniques available to businesses

·       Develop the ability to devise specific plans and approaches to ensure business continuity, as well as work collaboratively with colleagues to identify and explore issues within the broader global context. 

·       Develop skills that are transferrable in a wide range of contexts across different industries

Digital Communications Strategy

Digital communication is not only of increasing importance; it also offers recent graduates the fast-track to rapid advancement. Today’s students are mostly “digital natives” who have an immediate comfort level with both the technology and the associated social changes such as growing transparency and diminishing privacy.

To use this level of comfort with digital technologies, students must learn to apply strategic thinking from other disciplines such as PR and marketing to digital platforms. They also need to prepare for a lifetime of constant change by understanding the general principles of physical and social technologies. The unit aims to further build students' numerical skills needed for modern marketing roles.

Marketing In A Global Context

The majority of organisations today recognise that business is global in nature. More than ever it is necessary for business, tourism, and marketing students to have an understanding of the contemporary issues in global marketing. This unit builds on earlier parts of the degree programme and aims to provide students with an understanding of the importance of marketing from a global/international perspective.

The main objective of this unit is to develop a managerial and strategic understanding of global marketing, with emphasis on the need to improve the international competitiveness and performance of global firms.

More specifically, this unit will examine globalisation and internationalisation theories, environments of foreign markets in relation to the marketing functions of product, price, distribution and communication strategies and marketing research, standardization and adaptation strategies, international expansion strategies, and other contemporary global marketing issues.

A holistic understanding of global marketing issues is carried out through a review of current research in this area that is highlighted through various academic and industry related guided and independent reading materials.

On completion of this unit you will be familiar with the key concepts of global marketing which will enable you to analyse, create, and implement global marketing strategies.

Business Project

This unit is part of a core spine of units that all Business students will encounter as part of their learning journey. This journey takes you from the Thrive stage at Level 5 through to the Succeed stage at Level 6. This unit is designed to support the Succeed stage by enabling you to network with peers from across the faculty just as you will be expected to work with colleagues throughout the organisation in the world of business.   
 
This unit will help you consolidate your research journey with the aim of helping you thrive. It aims to bring research to life by addressing it from an application point of view.  
 
It aims to help you develop and deploy relevant research skills while engaging you in the process of making decisions based on quality research. Effective business decision and problem-solving involve many complex processes which depend not only on accessing high quality data but also processing, analyzing, deconstructing and extracting meaning from it.  
 
Hence, this unit aims to take students through these practical processes in order to develop cutting edge problem solving skills required in a fast business terrain. 
 
This unit aims to achieve: 

1) This unit will help students achieve a broader and deeper understanding and learning of the practical use of data in business and how this shapes critical business decisions. 
 
2) This unit will help students achieve the ability to critically evaluate the core knowledge at the forefront of their fields of study in informing their investigation, demonstrating an awareness of the provisional and evolving nature of knowledge. 
 
3) This unit will help students achieve the ability to take ownership of their own research journeys by independently selecting, planning, managing and executing an in-depth research investigation of a business problem with the aim of producing a research with potential for useful or unique outcomes. 
 
4) This unit will enable students achieve the ability to critically review evidence, including reliability, validity and significance, and interpret with reference to the core knowledge in the area, identifying contradictions and inconsistencies and exploring possible reasons, leading to reasoned conclusions and recommendations. 
 
5) This unit will enable students achieve an awareness of their personal responsibility and professional ethical codes of conduct, particularly in relation to confidentiality and informed consent. 

English Language Foundation

This unit focuses on your ability to understand and use the English language accurately when you read, speak, listen and write. We will concentrate on the English you need for undergraduate level study in your chosen subject area, covering grammar, subject area vocabulary and the four language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking.

A key element of the unit is the grammar of the language, and particularly the verb tense system in English, because your ability to use the verb tense system accurately will be extremely important when you come to write essays and reports. This unit will focus in particular on the grammar of the language.

We will also focus on reading, listening and speaking skills in the context of your chosen subject area. Beginning with short texts, we will practise each skill and practise it again, so that gradually you will see, hear and feel that your command of the language is improving. 

A recurring focus of the unit will be your acquisition of 'learner autonomy'. This means your ability to acquire the language yourself, without needing a teacher's help. This is important because from next year you will not have an English teacher to help you. So we will consider and practise strategies to help you gain confidence in your own ability to increase your knowledge of and ability to use the language, including for instance guessing meaning of difficult words, deciding which words are important in a text, recognising differences between formal and informal language, and other strategies, so that as the first semester continues, you begin to feel more confident in your use and experience with the English Language.

Academic Skills Foundation

When you begin your undergraduate level studies, you will be expected to have knowledge of and ability to use a large range of 'study skills'. You will also be expected to have some knowledge of the subject area you will  be studying. This unit deals with both of these aspects of your preparation for undergraduate level study. 

All of the academic skills are practised in English, so you will use your developing acquisition of the language from the partner unit 'English Language Foundation' to practise and gain mastery of these skills. You will also use your language and study skills as you learn the foundation of your subject area, putting the skills into practice as you learn.

Developing English Language Skills

This unit builds on the progress you made during its partner semester 1 unit 'English Language Foundation' and increasing your level from that which you had achieved by the end of semester 1. 

We will recycle the tense system in English and other elements of the grammar system, but you will  now learn how to use other aspects of the grammar, including the passive voice, as well as linking words and phrases and devices which enable you to write longer sentences but retain grammatical accuracy. 

You will notice that we gradually introduce more specialist language that you need in preparation for your degree and we will expect you to use and develop the skills that you gained in the previous units so that you are able to work more independently.

Academic Skills Development

This unit builds on the skills learnt and practised in its partner semester 1 unit 'Foundation Academic Skills'. We will add more skills to the list, including summarizing and synthesising, argumentation, critical thinking and referencing and citation skills, as well as several others and practise and test them in the same way as with the semester 1 unit.

We will also investigate the research skill and you will learn how to prepare a research proposal and conduct a literature review, and how to plan a research project, learning about the research tools available and how they can be used to conduct research in your chosen field. 

You will continue to broaden your knowledge of key current issues and theory in your chosen subject area, and apply the critical thinking and argumentation skills you acquire in this unit to argue for and against propositions you have studied in the form of in both essays and presentations and in seminar situations, ensuring that you are ready to step up to your chosen undergraduate course with a base level of subject area knowledge from which to continue your academic development as you progress to level 4 study.