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.

Accounting For Business

This unit covers the fundamentals of financial and managerial accounting.

These are the essential building blocks for all students studying business degrees. This unit contains two areas of focus at the introductory level of study, namely: financial accounting and managerial accounting as follows:

Financial Accounting sessions

To develop an appreciation of elementary accounting theory and the conceptual underpinning for the reporting process;

To introduce the practice of organisational record-keeping;

To develop skills in the preparation and interpretation of the main accounting statements;

To provide an understanding of some of the difficulties and limitations in current financial reporting practice;

Managerial Accounting sessions

To develop an appreciation of elementary management accounting theory and the conceptual underpinning for the decision-making process;

To develop skills in the calculation and interpretation of absorption and marginal costing systems and budgeting processes;

To provide an understanding of some of the difficulties and limitations of the costing techniques available;

To appreciate the importance of theories and practice involved in the business decision-making process.

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.   

Principles Of Marketing

Marketing permeates every aspect of contemporary business practice and an understanding of marketing is a prerequisite for any aspiring manager. This pragmatic unit aims to develop your understanding of a range of key marketing tools, techniques and concepts used in business to consumer marketing. Theories are underpinned by practical examples and current activities from a wide range of businesses, and a wide variety of teaching approaches are used. The unit aims to help you to:

Develop an appreciation of commonly used theories and concepts that used to inform and shape decisions in business to consumer marketing.

Explore how to segment a market place and tailor offerings accordingly

Intercultural Competence In Business

Aims: The aims of this unit is to :

• To define the true nature of culture through a comparison of frameworks from multidisciplinary perspectives
• To analyse the dynamic nature of behaviour and language use in different contexts
• To apply theoretical concepts in promoting intercultural competence and provide solutions in a variety of business situations.

Relevance: International business demands intercultural competence in managing differences in interpersonal interactions. This unit introduces you to the principles of intercultural communication giving you the tools and theoretical knowledge to understand the role of culture in a variety of interpersonal encounters. You will explore conceptual issues: what is culture and intercultural interaction competence; how language impacts on understanding, rapport and impression management; and the adaptation process. You will then learn to apply these concepts in business situations and to your role as a future manager in an international/multicultural organisation.

International Business

This unit provides a solid foundation of international business which lays the groundwork for level 5 and 6 units and contributes in particular to the specialised level 5 units.

More specifically, this unit will examine international business theory and management in the light of vastly different political, socio-cultural, legal, and economic factors.  These factors are considered against the operations of global trade networks and trans-national trade agreements. The study of international business straddles a variety of different disciplines that relate to the operational areas of strategic planning, finance, marketing, human resource management and operations management. These areas studied holistically exert a powerful influence over how companies and organisations operate and establish their global corporate strategy.

This unit aims:

• To develop a managerial and strategic understanding of international business, with emphasis on the need to improve the international competitiveness and performance of businesses.

• To explore the international environment within which international firms (both MNCs and SMEs) operate.

• To analyse the key issues underpinning the development and organisation of international firms.

• To help learners discover the complexity of the inherent conflicts in the international business field.

• To help learners lay the foundations to a productive international management career.

• To analyse and synthesise the premise that businesses entering and competing in international markets should think locally, but act globally.

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?

Career In Practice

Aims and Relevance

This unit uses active learning to give you the opportunity to put your learning so far into the context of your chosen area of practice. You will use the project of your choice to assess your readiness to work in your chosen area as well as your understanding of the project planning process.

With insights from local employers and industry professionals, you will gain real insight into likely challenges in your chosen project, along with your current employability skills, knowledge and state of readiness to work. Through the reflective process, you will consider your career readiness and development needs for your future career.

This unit aims to:

• Build and apply your employability skills by providing a solution for a relevant project.
• Support your active learning experience through self-reflection, considering your career readiness and development needs

International Business Negotiations

International Managers spend a significant portion of their time negotiating to reach successful agreements, yet negotiation failure rates are alarmingly high. Several business cases show that this is mainly attributed to poor communication and negotiation skills. This unit focuses on Business Negotiations as a critical business function for managers to create and maintain successful relationships in an international context.

This unit aims to:

• Examine the effect of the external environment and firm related factors on the negotiation process.
• Explore both cultural and individual factors that affect international negotiations.
• Examine cross-cultural communication and management negotiation styles.
• Identify and appreciate the interplay of a complex set of interrelated factors and processes influencing the negotiation process.
• Equip students with the additional negotiation and conflict resolution skills and competencies required in international business negotiations.

International Marketing

The majority of organisations today recognise that business is global in nature. More than ever it is necessary for business and marketing students to have an understanding of the contemporary issues in international 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.

It is hard to think today of an organization or individual whose daily life is not, in one way or another, touched by global products. As a result, a good grasp of the characteristics of foreign markets and how they work, and of the principles and methods of strategic global marketing, has become a must for many managers.

The main objective of this unit is to develop a managerial and strategic understanding of international 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 strategy and marketing research, standardization and adaptation strategies, international expansion strategies, and other contemporary global marketing issues.

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

International New Ventures And Innovation

With the advent of globalization and integration of global markets, sourcing, and production activities, smaller companies are seeking international investment opportunities.  This unit provides an opportunity to explore INVs; a popular mode of entry (MoE) into foreign markets. In this unit the students will examine several approaches to internationalisation comparing and contrasting traditional/gradual approaches to the INV approach which characterises start-ups rapid entry into international markets.

The unit aims:

• To deepen students’ theoretical and practical knowledge of both traditional and rapid approaches to internationalisation.

• To promote students’ ability to identify, research and explore the nature of an opportunity in the context of a dynamic global market place.

• To become familiar with creative and innovative business opportunities. 

• To provide the opportunity for students to investigate various aspects of setting up an International New Venture (INV).

• To prepare students to identify and appreciate the interplay of a complex set of interrelated factors and processes influencing the emergence and performance of INVs.

• To equip students with a solid theoretical foundation and practical knowledge of dealing with both “newness” and “foreignness” of starting an INV.

International Trade And Investment Relations

International trade and investment are key drivers of economic growth. With the recent changes in the global market and trade relations (e.g., BREXIT), a broad range of trade and investment issues are rapidly evolving alongside. For instance, recent studies show that the UK has placed greater emphasis on securing new trade deals with the US after leaving the EU. And, according to the most recent PWC, a multinational professional services network headquartered in London, UK, in their 2016 global report, the United States has rated the most successful market for global investment and growth. While global leaders agree with this, the same report reports the challenges related to the US market’s complex multi-layered system of federal, state, and local levels that companies face in setting up their businesses. Overall, the main objective of this unit is to develop a managerial and strategic understanding of operating in today’s global marketplace by addressing a broad range of trade and investment issues, with emphasis on the need to improve the international competitiveness and performance of multinational firms.

In doing so, this unit will allow students to:

• Appreciate the vast environmental issues facing by  businesses in both emerging and established markets;

• Navigate multilateral and regional trade agreements

• Deliver an understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing managers engaged in international trade and investment

• Appreciate the skills and knowledge required from firms entering different markets;

Continuing Professional Development

Excellent high performing managers exhibit self-awareness and engage in decision making with an understanding of their own and others’ capabilities. These abilities enable visionary approaches to problem solving and effective development of others.

This unit provides an opportunity for you to reflect upon your own individual competence areas and to further develop these through self-assessment techniques and comparisons with a variety of models of continuing professional development. You will develop critical evaluation and reflective observation skills in the context of personal effectiveness which will facilitate critique across a range of issues in business environments.

Through reflection on your performance during your experiential learning activities, psychometric tests and exercises, this unit gives you the opportunity to better understand your personal performance, get insight into working across cultures, manage yourself effectively, become a more reflective learner, develop effective career plans and begin the process of continuous professional development.
 

Aims: The aims of this unit is to :

• To critically evaluate personal models of effectiveness in management contexts
• To identify, reflect upon and evidence key areas for your personal development
• To facilitate a commitment to continuous professional development, underpinned by an evidence-based rationale
• To develop positive and enquiring approaches and to challenge existing preconceptions so as to integrate new knowledge for application.
• To develop Mindfulness, allowing you to make informed decisions
• To contribute to your development as a well-informed and skilled manager who will compete effectively in the workplace.

Preparation For Specialist Research Project

This is a final year unit which aims to prepare you for the Specialist Research Project. The unit allows great scope for expression of skills, knowledge and abilities, and offers you the chance to explore in depth a topical issue related to your degree course and developing of critical thinking and application to a given context from a practical and theoretical perspective.
This unit will help you identify the key issues in a specific  context related to e.g. brand/organisational/industry/global problems. It is also designed to develop your skills to construct more reasoned, well-evidenced and hence more persuasive texts in the form of a proposal and subsequently (in a separate unit: Specialist Research Project) an extended and critical essay developing a number of key themes which you will then evaluate with reference to implications for practice, policy and research.

• To identify and analyse emerging and contemporary issues facing practice within your field of study.
• To improve abilities to evaluate evidence and reasoning and develop the skills needed for the construction of well-reasoned and well-argued pieces of academic writing.
• To provide the context in which you have the opportunity to reflect upon the importance of, and further develop, transferable skills.
• To bring theory and practice together to formulate a research proposal on a topic relevant to your field of study.
• To engender a research orientation within the learning community on the unit.

Specialist Research Project

This is a final year activity where you will be required to develop a large specialism project in relation to your degree pathway. The unit allows great scope for expression of skills, knowledge and abilities, and offers you the chance to explore in depth a topical issue within your field of study. This is an opportunity of synthesising learning from other units and further developing of critical thinking and application to a given context from a practical and theoretical perspective.

Employers value the ability to get to the heart of an issue and to address it directly with reasoned argument. This unit will help you identify the key issues in a specific practice-based context e.g. client/brand/organisational problem. It is also designed to develop your skills to construct more reasoned, well-evidenced and hence more persuasive texts in the form of a an extended and critical essay developing a number of key themes which you will then evaluate with reference to implications for practice, policy and research.

On completion of this unit you will have explored a number of current issues derived from a practice context within the scope of your degree and engaged in enquiry based learning in collecting the secondary information on which your individual essay is based. In addition, you will have experienced through a series of practical activities and research how to produce a critical essay that is rooted in practice, but based on theoretically informed arguments and recommendations where appropriate for a variety of stakeholders, e.g. media and marketing agencies, marketing consultants, brand owners and organisations, industry regulators, Government, marketing and academic research.

The overall aims of this unit are:

• To deepen your learning by requiring more detailed and comprehensive study of a particular subject within your field of study

• To identify and analyse emerging and contemporary issues facing practice.

• To improve abilities to evaluate evidence and reasoning and develop the skills needed for the construction of well-reasoned and well-argued pieces of academic writing.

• To enhance your attractiveness as employees by providing evidence of ability to carry out successful project work.

To provide the context in which you have the opportunity to reflect upon the importance of, and further develop, transferable.

Business Ethics And Corporate Social Responsibility

Aims and Relevance
This unit presents contemporary topics in Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with a focus on corporate practices for both the local and international manager.  It aims to highlight the dilemmas that can be found in business, and the philosophical foundations for the choices that businesses have in regard to these dilemmas. 

In today’s connected world, consumers have witnessed several unethical issues committed by businesses when crossing cultural boundaries. As a result business ethics have become very salient topics to business managers and consumers alike. Failure to attend to such issues has led to negative business implications, in both the local and international markets. 

This unit emphasises the role that business ethics and CSR play in minimising negative impacts on societies while maximising values to all stakeholders through sustainable CSR practices. 

The “Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility” unit will allow learners to: 

• Define business ethics and CSR while understanding their impact on both local and international environments;
• Identify some of the ethical issues that may arise in international business;
• Analyse trends and challenges in business ethics and CSR; 
  Examine an organisation’s social responsibilities to different stakeholders: investors, employees, customers, the environment, and the society as a whole; 
• Understand the negative implications of unethical practices on different stakeholders; and,
• Apply ethical frameworks to evaluate the ethics of a business’s decision. 

Strategic Management

The aims of the unit are to promote understanding of the importance of the role of strategy in organisational success. It aims to develop your understanding of the importance of choice in the design of effective strategy through which it is possible to create a unique value proposition and to enable firms to avoid direct win-lose competition.
To achieve this, you will be enabled to develop your ability to work through complex issues in order to identify both current and future trends and to assess their potential impacts on both the industry and the business. You will also be enabled to make careful selection of the appropriate tools, frameworks and concepts of strategy in order to assess the appropriateness of strategies and by doing so develop a range of realistic and practical strategies for businesses.
The unit focuses primarily on competitive strategy and therefore you will concentrate on five key themes:
1. Strategy as choice
2. Identifying trends and their potential impact on the business
3. Understanding the importance of resources and capabilities in the implementation of strategy
4. Strategy design
5. Evaluating strategy
Strategy is the means by which an organisation is able to achieve its goals and achieve superior performance in the face of intense competition. In order to do this effectively firms must be able to create a value proposition that is sufficiently distinct to allow it to create a meaningful difference from its competition. In the modern context there is a concern that the business environment is too dynamic to allow for carefully planned strategies. Good strategic thinking therefore becomes even more relevant as business seek to create dynamic and flexible ways in which to create sustained value.

Using Data To Build Business Practice

All business disciplines require data for sound decision-making, and the manipulation of data is considered an important transferable skill by many employers. This unit sets out to provide you with an interesting and enjoyable introduction to data analysis. You will develop an awareness both of robust methods for collecting data and common contemporary tools and techniques of analysis to support decision making.

You will work, both collaboratively and individually, on a series of challenges that will prepare you to make business decisions using data.

This unit aims to:

• Develop your understanding of the issues involved in data collection and analysis with the objective of being able to communicate results clearly, both verbally and by using suitable written, graphical and analytical means.
• Provide you with the knowledge and skills necessary to collect data, produce data summaries, assess confidence in the data and help you to explore relationships between variables in order to assist in the planning process.
• Develop essential Excel skills to harness the potential of this software to inform decision making.

Researching Business And Management

This unit provides a solid foundation of business and management research which lays the groundwork for research work at all course study levels and contributes in particular to the specialised project at level 6.
More specifically, this unit will introduce students to: what research is and is not, how to generate and further develop research ideas, a variety of quantitative and qualitative research designs and methods in business and management, and how to communicate their research and findings to academic and non-academic audiences.

This unit aims to:

• introduce students to rigorous approaches to business and management research;
• provide guidance on generating and clarifying ideas for research;
• provide opportunities to acquire and develop entry-level skills in the practice of quantitative and qualitative techniques;
• provide clear and simple frameworks for students to structure their research projects;
• form a foundation for the further development of business research and analytical techniques and approaches in subsequent years of the course e.g., for various research assessments and specialist project at level 6.

Professional Practice Year (Marketing)

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.