Department Leader: Andy Major

You do not need to have studied business previously, but an interest in the general world and how business works would be advantageous. It is important that you have an enquiring mind and you are happy to look at a problem with an open mind and to analyse different solutions to a problem and recommend a suitable course of action.

The course is split into understanding what is businesses – here you will explore the nature and purpose of business, different business forms and how businesses operate in an external environment. The next section is about managers, leadership and decision making. Here you will look into what a manager does, different types of management and how effective it is before looking at stakeholders and their importance. You will then go into more detail looking at marketing, operations, Human Resources and Finance. You will investigate each of these areas in depth to fully appreciate how they work together to achieve the aims of the business.

At A-level you will look in more depth at strategies – the overall way in which a business wishes to progress. Specifically, you will look at mission statements, aims and objectives, before looking at the social, legal, economic, social, technological and competitive elements that affect businesses. You will look at innovation, internationalisation, digital technology and its impact, managing change, strategic implementation and then what the problems with strategy are and why they might fail.

The course is an excellent grounding in business and you will sit three, 2 hour long exams in Year 13 which will use a variety of methods to check your understanding, from multiple choice, short answer questions right through to essay questions.

There are no set reading lists, it is a constantly changing environment that can fluctuate from one minute to the next. You should read a quality newspaper at least once a week, focusing on the business section, be aware of the news and what is happening in the wider world and have a desire to understand what makes the economy tick.