Student Guide
Business & Management course description:
Welcome to Business & Management. During this two year course you will address the rationale for forming business organisations and the principles, practices and skills commonly employed to make the decisions that make them successful. This course intends to prepare and expose you to various skills and concepts (CUEGIS) to help meet the needs of a degree programme and future career. The ideals of the international cooperation and responsible citizenship are at the heart of business and management. The aims of this course are to: promote importance of exploring from different cultural perspectives; encourage a holistic view of the world of business; enable you to develop to think critically; to understand the concepts of global economy, business ethics and social responsibilities of all stakeholders of the business environment; provide progression from school to higher education or employment in industry or commerce.
Your teachers will make use of a variety of resources and encourage you to do so also. A number of external industrial visits and also talks by visiting guest speakers should be available to enhance your learning. Much emphasis is placed on analysing real, rather than hypothetical, cases.
Welcome to Business & Management. During this two year course you will address the rationale for forming business organisations and the principles, practices and skills commonly employed to make the decisions that make them successful. This course intends to prepare and expose you to various skills and concepts (CUEGIS) to help meet the needs of a degree programme and future career. The ideals of the international cooperation and responsible citizenship are at the heart of business and management. The aims of this course are to: promote importance of exploring from different cultural perspectives; encourage a holistic view of the world of business; enable you to develop to think critically; to understand the concepts of global economy, business ethics and social responsibilities of all stakeholders of the business environment; provide progression from school to higher education or employment in industry or commerce.
Your teachers will make use of a variety of resources and encourage you to do so also. A number of external industrial visits and also talks by visiting guest speakers should be available to enhance your learning. Much emphasis is placed on analysing real, rather than hypothetical, cases.
B & M Topics
Course Outline - Higher Level/ Standard Level
1. Business Organisation & Environment
Types of different business organisations. How firms grow and what their objectives, both internal and ethical, might be. The stakeholders in organisations, decision-making processes.
The different environments in which firms operate: legal, political, social, cultural, technological, ecological and economic. Globalisation, Management of change
2. Human Resources
Human resource planning. Group Theory and the study of organisational structures. Communication, motivation and leadership. Corporate Cultures. Employee/er relationships. Crises management.
3. Accounting & Finance
Sources and application of finance. Investment appraisal. Working capital. Final Accounts. Ratio analysis .Budgeting.
4. Marketing
The role of marketing and market research and planning. The marketing mix. Marketing planning and international marketing. E.commerce.
5. Operations Management
Patterns of production. Costs and revenue. Break-even analysis. Quality assurance. Location. Production Planning. Project management. Innovation.
6. Business Strategy
Strategic Management. Strategic Choice. Strategic Implementation.
B & M ASSESSMENT – HIGHER
HIGHER LEVEL
IB Year 1
Agreed Unit Tests, Internal End of Year Exams. Internal Assessment.
Internal Assessment -Research Project (25 marks)
A Research Project (Research Proposal and Action Plan. 500 words. Written Report 2000 words) total 2000-2500 words, to be internally assessed by the teacher and externally moderated by IBO.
Report should address an issue facing an organisation or analyses a decision to be made.
IB Year 2
Agreed Unit Tests, Mock Exams, External End of Year Exams. Internal Assessment.
Paper 1- EXTERNAL(40%,2hr 15mins): All 6 Units. (80 marks) Based on Pre-release case study.
Paper 2 - EXTERNAL (35%, 2hr 15mins):All 6 Units. (75 marks)
IB Year 1
Agreed Unit Tests, Internal End of Year Exams. Internal Assessment.
Internal Assessment -Research Project (25 marks)
A Research Project (Research Proposal and Action Plan. 500 words. Written Report 2000 words) total 2000-2500 words, to be internally assessed by the teacher and externally moderated by IBO.
Report should address an issue facing an organisation or analyses a decision to be made.
IB Year 2
Agreed Unit Tests, Mock Exams, External End of Year Exams. Internal Assessment.
Paper 1- EXTERNAL(40%,2hr 15mins): All 6 Units. (80 marks) Based on Pre-release case study.
- Section A - Students answer 2 of 3 structured questions (30 marks).
- Section B - Students answer 1 compulsory structured question including evaluative skills (20 marks).
- Section C - Students answer 1 compulsory question focusing on strategic decision making (30 marks).
Paper 2 - EXTERNAL (35%, 2hr 15mins):All 6 Units. (75 marks)
- Section A - Students answer 1 of 2 structured questions based on stimulus material with a quantitative element (25 marks).
- Section B - Students answer 2 of 3 structured questions based on stimulus material (50 marks).
Resources
Books and other resource materials and software that will be used in the course.
Books
Triple A – Interactive textbook
Business & Management – Course Companion
Paul Hoang – Business & Management
Ian Marcouse, etal, Business Studies, 1999, Hodder & Stoughton
Ian Marcouse &David Lines, Business Case Studies, (2nd edition), 1997, Longman
Ian Chambers (Ed), Business Studies, (2nd edition), 1999, Causeway Press Ltd.
Bruce Jewell, An Integrated Approach to Business Studies, (4th edition), 2000 Pearson Longman
Ian Marcouse, Business Calculation & Statistics, 1998, Longman
Wall, Marcouse, Lines and Martin, The Complete A-Z of Business Studies, Hodder & Stoughton.
Newspapers:
The South China Morning Post
Magazines:
Business Week
Forbes
The Economists
Newsweek
Time
Websites:
Triple A – Interactive textbook
Business & Management – Course Companion
Paul Hoang – Business & Management
Ian Marcouse, etal, Business Studies, 1999, Hodder & Stoughton
Ian Marcouse &David Lines, Business Case Studies, (2nd edition), 1997, Longman
Ian Chambers (Ed), Business Studies, (2nd edition), 1999, Causeway Press Ltd.
Bruce Jewell, An Integrated Approach to Business Studies, (4th edition), 2000 Pearson Longman
Ian Marcouse, Business Calculation & Statistics, 1998, Longman
Wall, Marcouse, Lines and Martin, The Complete A-Z of Business Studies, Hodder & Stoughton.
Newspapers:
The South China Morning Post
Magazines:
Business Week
Forbes
The Economists
Newsweek
Time
Websites:
- Bized http://www.bized.ac.uk/
- Advertising Standards Authority http://www.asa.org.uk
- Asian Development Bank http://www.adb.org/defalt.asp
- Business Review Weekly http://brw.com.au/
- Consumer Jungle http://www.consumerjungle.org
- 7. Economic Statistics UK http://www.nationalstatics.gov.uk/
- Great Ideas http://www.swcollege.com/marketing/gitm/gitm.html
- Keynes http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/jbl0461.htm
- Onepine http://www.onepine.demon.co.uk/
- S-Cool http://s-cool.co.uk/
- The Economist http://www.economist.com
- The Times http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/
- Tutor2u http://www.tutor2u.net/
- UN Development Programme http://hdr.undp.org/default.cfm
- HK government http://www.info.gov.hk