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.

Contract Law

We enter into agreements with other parties - individuals, businesses and other organisations - on a daily basis. Contract law is the basis of many other legal subjects and, although those subjects have developed specific rules, the law of contract nevertheless provides a background for them. It is therefore imperative for any Law student to understand not only how contracts are formed and regulated, but also the legal issues that may arise when contractual relationships break down and the remedies available to a claimant for breach of contract.

Through this unit, you will explore the underlying principles of contract law and the manner in which those principles operate to protect both businesses and consumers. You will learn how to apply abstract legal concepts to practical situations and how to research and analyse primary legal sources, case law and academic writing.

Contract law is a core subject required for the Qualifying Law Degree. 

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. 

Economics For Business

This unit aims to provide you the essential understanding of concepts in microeconomics and macroeconomics, as relevant for the study of business; to develop a sound understanding of the resource allocation issues facing the business corporation and the global environment in which firms operate. It examines the main concepts of economic theory and explores the importance of these within a business context, with emphasis on developing students the capacity to apply analytical techniques to real-world problems, especially in the business context

It answers the following question:

How firms, consumers and government interact in markets and how business decision-making is shaped by internal factors such as costs and by external market conditions. How are models of markets developed and used by economists to explain the pricing of goods and services. What are the impacts of macroeconomic policies on business decision-making?

Sustainable Business Management

The central question underlying this unit asks students to analyse how business can be more sustainably manage its inter-relationship with the natural environment. The syllabus draws from the new Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) diploma in Sustainable Business Practice. This emphasise the recognised need within business to develop the skills of managers to address the issues that this unit will cover.

The overall objectives will be two-fold:

Firstly to enable students to appreciate the dependency of business on natural resources and to recognise how aspects of business operations impact on the environment and how these can be better managed. This will help students to (i) understand how the business relationship with the environment needs to become more sustainable in order for business to survive; (ii) help students to engage with resource efficiency and environmental management practices at work and (iii) to think creatively about eco-efficient product design and innovation as young entrepreneurs. Links with the University’s Green Hub Fund, or similar, will be made as long as such funds continue, with local projects developed as part of the syllabus.

The second objective of this unit is to facilitate students’ ability to see the ‘big picture’ and the growing importance of sustainability at a strategic level. This will help students to analyse their own decision making and the complexity of sustainable business management (including ethical) decision making in theory and practice. Students will apply strategic thinking skills to analyse the inter-connectivity of ideas within the unit and to reflect on connections (competing and complimentary) with management theory and practice elsewhere in their course.

Business Research Methods

This unit enables you to understand the way you can construct meaningful data in a professional context and enhances your ability to do research that is relevant, reliable and valid.

It enables the application of appropriate research techniques and skills within a range of business and management contexts and provides the opportunity to advance your skills in generating ideas and developing critical insights into primary and secondary sources of information.

To select and use appropriate means of presenting findings, data and conclusions within a variety of visual and textual formats.

Law Of Tort

This unit is a core unit essential for a Qualifying Law Degree and aims to acquaint you with a broad critical knowledge of the nature and role of the Law of Tort and a consideration of those rights that Tort protects.

The Law of Tort is highly relevant to you, whether simply as a member of society (understanding your civil rights and liabilities) or as a solicitor or barrister specialising in personal injury and/or other civil law matters. The Law of Tort provides a remedy for social wrongs setting minimum standards of social conduct and protects your personal security, physical health, finances, reputation, land and property from unjust injury or interference by others.

Tort is a word derived from the Latin word “Tortus” which literally means twisted but came to refer to civil wrongs, as distinct from criminal wrongs. Hence, Tort includes claims arising in Negligence, Nuisance, Trespass, and Defamation to name a few. Winfield and Jolowicz on Tort state that “Tortious liability arises from a breach of a duty primarily fixed by law; this duty is towards persons generally and its breach is redressible by an action for unliquidated damages”. 

You will be engaged with common law principles and will develop skills in critically analysing and evaluating case law and some statutes e.g. the Occupier’s Liability Acts 1957 and 1984.  You will also explore your understanding of the role of Tort in its societal context in shifting the burden of losses from the victim to the tortfeasor or through insurance to the wider society and through a consideration of the public policy issues underpinning case law.  The impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 in freeing the courts from the historical common law restrictions on developing the protection of interests will be integral to this study.

Marketing Planning

Understanding how to create a marketing plan is essential to any business and will help you to establish your employability. Building on the first year Principles of Marketing unit, Marketing Planning enables you to plan for defined operational marketing activities through the development of a competent and sensible marketing plan.
The unit will explore competitive analysis and gap identification, how current issues give rise to marketing problems, market opportunities and new approaches for achieving marketing objectives to help you to:

• Achieve an understanding of decisions facing marketers and the complex and dynamic environment in which these decisions need to be made
• Develop critical insight into current techniques and practices in a variety of marketing environments including both corporate and entrepreneurial
• Build your “tool box” and use your critical evaluation skills to select as situation- appropriate
• Establish realistic marketing objectives
• Explore how marketing plans are created
• Match plans to corporate objectives and strategies.

Human Resource Management

This unit introduces you to the role and purpose of Human Resource Management in a contemporary context. People are often the most expensive and valuable resource a business can draw upon, yet individuals are diverse and complex and maximising this resource can be challenging to HR and managers. The unit provides you with a framework to explore and understand people management and development to ensure high levels of employee performance, as you develop your graduate career. The unit will be significantly underpinned by a range of research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.  

The unit aims to make the business case for the effective, efficient, ethical and professional management of human resources as real sources of competitive advantage in organisations, by situating its activities in the context of topical and relevant debates and controversies.   

 The question key to this unit is: what are the people strategies that organisations must deploy in order to maximise and sustain employee organisational performance whilst simultaneously promoting healthy and productive relationships between individuals and organisations at all levels in different types of contemporary organisations?

Strategy And Change Management

To develop independent strategic assessment skills using appropriate techniques and resources and demonstrate an understanding of and an ability to appraise strategy.

To be able to prepare a well thought out plan for change based upon analysis and to formulate, justify and evaluate a range of actions for promoting an effective and strategic approach to change.

This unit should enable you to understand the broader context of the business environment and the underlying drivers of change. That should enable you to make informed decisions once you enter the professional environment. 

Furthermore it will consider how concepts of strategy and change management overlap, and the importance of these processes to a contemporary business manager working anywhere in the world.

Digital Business Management

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, cultural 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.

More specifically, the unit aims to enable you to:

·        Develop your in-depth understanding of digital business. You will consider and evaluate a variety of information systems and ICT in a variety of environments and analyse the impact of these on conducting business

·        Acquaint you with issues relevant to marketing and customer relationship management in digital business

·        Understand the foundations of web analytics and use the results to modify an e-commerce website

Research and critically evaluate relevant literature in academic journals, textbooks and on appropriate websites in order to apprise and report on the societal, business and managerial impacts of 

applying digital information systems and ICT, also reflecting on ethical, legal and social aspects of digital business.

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.

Management And Administration Of Operations

This unit develops your knowledge and understanding of the use of operations management in strategic and functional roles.
 
You will learn about and appraise the importance of the management of operations and processes in business and apply core concepts of operations management. You will learn how operations management concepts and approaches influence the planning of operations, product and process design, control of enterprise systems, logistics and supply chain management.
 
Using a mixture of lectures, seminar activities, case studies and independent reading, the unit will  develop an appreciation of the importance and broad reach of  operations management in all aspects of a company’s activities

Specialist Project (Business Management)

You will be able to apply the research process and data construction in the business environment and construct your own knowledge during problem-solving activities at workplace. 

The unit will provide structure, support and assistance centred around the supervisor/supervisee model where the supervisor will assist you in critically evaluating and utilizing a range of appropriate literature sources, methods and techniques in order to complete the investigation.

Eventually the unit aims to encourage a critical, inquiring and rigorous mind-frame when approaching knowledge construction and understanding in your chosen field of study.

Company Law

Company Law is relevant to you as future legal practitioner specialising in commercial and business matters, or simply if you have an interest in general business matters.

The unit aims to provide you with an understanding of the nature and functions of a company in running a business, and of the legal framework which regulates companies. The need to inform those who run a business is seen as essential. In particular, corporate personality and liability will be emphasised. The liability of those who promote the creation of the company will be examined in order to appreciate the true significance of the company as a legal entity.  The steps involved in its creation will be examined in some depth.  The growth of civil and criminal liability imposed upon its directors will be examined and the rationale for liability analysed.  The role of the Criminal Justice Act 1993 and its attempt to consider insider dealing will be assessed. The impact of the Companies Act 2006 will also play an important role in this unit along with the Enterprise Act 2002.

The director’s managerial role will be examined along with the concept of ‘thinking small’ and stakeholder relations in society.  Along with the need for companies to grow, this is crucial to understanding the modern company format and its role as a part of society. Should its business fail the impact of compulsory and voluntary liquidation will be examined including the role of the insolvency practitioner.

Intellectual Property Law

Information is an increasingly important source of commercial value within the modern economy, particularly for the entertainment and media sectors and science-based industries. Intellectual Property Law (IP Law) is concerned with the rules which determine when and how information produced either by an individual or a corporation can be protected against infringement by others who may wish to make use of this information and ideas for their own purposes.

This unit provides students with an overview of the intellectual property law of England and Wales but will also include comparative study of IP law in other jurisdictions. Students will be introduced to the concept of intangible property and the nature of intellectual property rights and obligations before considering issues surrounding the exploitation of intellectual property and the availability of remedies for the infringement of intellectual properties.

The unit will introduce the social, political and most importantly the economic dimensions and their influence on the development of IP rights. In this respect, there is the international dimension of the internet and its impact on protection of rights. The fast-changing nature of the topic will introduce students to contemporary legal issues and academic debates concerning the direction of IP rights and whether the current protections can be described as ‘fit for purpose’, i.e. internet and multimedia infringement of existing copyright law.

Professional Practice Year (Business)

The aim of this unit is to provide the opportunity to undertake career-related experience which will allow you to understand and undertake responsibilities in the work place at an appropriate level and use the opportunity to assess your readiness to undertake a career in your chosen field.