Business and Management BA (Hons) Top Up
18 months | Distance Learning | Upcoming Intakes - January 2025, April 2025, July 2025

The module will enable you to extend your knowledge of management practice, particularly in the area of strategic thinking, and to employ your intellectual and practical skills in an organisational context.

In doing so your learning will focus on themes addressing the following broad issues:

• The impact on organisations of the external environment: macro-environment, industry, markets.
• The strategic choices available to organisations to improve strategic position and promote commercial success.
• The alignment of strategic directions with the corporate social responsibility and ethics framework

This module is intended to develop your awareness and critical evaluation of strategic management by assessing the impact of the business environment on organisations. The nature of practising strategy will be evaluated by reviewing the tools and activities involved when formulating strategies. The concept of corporate social responsibility and sustainability will be central when discussing the above topics by assessing the role of stakeholders in organisations.

This module is designed for business students to develop a non-technical understanding of the key aspects of corporate financial theory and practice. The module covers the core aspects of raising capital and determining financing, though to investing capital in major corporate decisions, and finally returning value to shareholders.

Specifically you will study in the module; Sustainable Value Management, Stock Market Efficiency, Capital Asset Pricing Model, Portfolio Theory, International Cost of Capital, Capital Structure Decisions, Dividend Policy, Corporate Valuation and International Merger & Acquisition activity.

The module has a focus on business responsibility of all of those areas, concentrating on professional codes of conduct in areas such as the banking industry, accounting and similar finance areas, and the types of dilemmas that graduates could face in professional practice. This module will develop you as a critical and reflective practitioner, equipping you with the skills to think independently, analyse data, and help you to identify your own areas of interest in relation to corporate finance and practice. In the module you will become more aware of the issues that responsible businesses face when attempting to implement financial concepts and theories into practice.

On completion of this module you will have produced a reflective learning journal (in the form of a Blog or similar platform) based on your evaluation of theory to real world scenarios. As part of that journal you will have watched and reflected on appropriate financial documentaries and movies which explore responsible financial management issues, where you are encouraged to share these with your peers on the module Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Finally you will be apply your academic knowledge to a real world case and be able to critically evaluate the tensions between the financial academic theories as a responsible business attempts to maximise shareholder wealth.

From both a practical and theoretical view you will learn to think about what project management means, the process of project management and how to manage projects by focusing on several professional project management aspects, such as scope management, cost management, and schedule management.

The module will develop your professional skills and confidence in managing projects using various techniques and drawing on your academic study of contemporary project management literature. You will explore a range of approaches plus alternative views in order to challenge assumptions and identify ways to make project management more meaningful and sustainable. You will become aware of the role of professional techniques and methodologies as an aid to managing projects. Alongside this practical learning, you will develop a critical understanding of the importance of integrating social and ethical criteria into project planning and operation.

The aim of this module is to encourage your engagement with Organisation Theory through offering a comprehensive exploration of ideas, perspectives and practices of organisation. You will learn to analyse organisations, people and organising practices through a critical employment of Organisation Theory that challenges conventional understanding of organisations. You will learn to explore the impact of recent trends in Organisation Theory and Practice on people and their behaviour in organisations.

The module links topics on Organisation Theory and Practice:

Introduction to Organisation Theory, and implications for practice: overview of three main perspectives (Modern, Symbolic and Contemporary)
Organisation Theory:
Theorizing relationships between Organisation and environment;
Theorizing relationships between Globalisation and Colonialisation;
Theorizing different perspectives on Culture and Organisation;
Theorizing organisational (physical and social) structure;
Theorizing power, control and conflict (including different feminist perspectives);
Theorizing Identity and organisational behaviour.
Applications in practice:
Organisational Design, Sustainable Organisational Design;
Organisational learning, tacit knowledge and knowledge management;
Organisational change, change management, and sustainable development;
Aesthetics and organisations, performance, narrative, theatre and organisation;
Managing culture, people and behaviour in organisations.

Upon completion of the module you will gain an in-depth understanding of:
Three major perspectives in Organisation Theory;
'Critical' organisation theory and management practices;
How to analyse organisational practices and their effects on organisations;
Theory and practices involved in working in multi-cultural organisations with an awareness of ethical considerations with consideration of
knowledge, power and control;
How to form your own construction of knowledge on organisations, managing people and their behaviour.

This module aims to provide you with the knowledge and skills required to explore innovation, new venturing and enterprise creation through the lens of entrepreneurial leadership. You will have the opportunity to develop and demonstrate your skills in innovation and entrepreneurial leadership. You will cover 6 topics;

* Creativity and Design for Innovation
* Future Search
* Making a Difference
* Connectivity
* Managing Innovation
* Entrepreneurial Leadership and Identity

The module will support you in the development of your entrepreneurial effectiveness through the lens of entrepreneurial leadership. Consequently, you will learn about the nature of creativity and its role in innovation and enterprise, and how to use it to support you in developing strategies to identify the driving force of change, idea generation and envisioning the future.

You will develop an awareness of collaborative behaviours and how to build professional networks. You will also be introduced to the theoretical underpinnings of team dynamics and entrepreneurial leadership while also having the opportunity to put the theory into practice by linking the module and its assessment to the workplace and associated experiences.

On completion of this module, you be able to use knowledge of enterprise development models to generate new solutions related of entrepreneurship, venture creation and leadership and understand how it is informed by theory and research.

This module will develop your critical skills around the practice of marketing. You will examine how organisations can analyse and segment markets to improve performance and profitability by building long-term relationships with their customers. You will also consider the principles of how marketing campaigns are devised using both traditional and digital channels, and introduce you to the more strategic decisions marketers are responsible for. In doing so you will be exposed to a range of academic frameworks and encouraged to question their suitability in real marketing scenarios.

Across the module you will cover the following themes:

• Marketing Principles: The extended Marketing Mix, the marketing environment, market segmentation and marketing research.
• Marketing Strategy: Addressing major decisions surrounding branding, pricing policies and new product development / product portfolio management.
• Campaign Management: Appreciating the plethora of activities involved in marketing campaign design, ranging from SMART objective setting through to selection of marketing channels and creative strategy and deciding on suitable marketing metrics.

In doing so you will consider how these activities are implemented across a variety of sectors, and also look into the increasing desire of marketers to align their activities with the sustainability agenda.