Department of Business Studies

What is Business Studies?

At this level, Business Studies must be one of the most varied and diverse subjects available. A taster is offered of the most important management fields which enables students to develop their interests and enjoy the following modular areas:

• ENTERPRISE
• MARKETING
• OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
• FINANCE
• PEOPLE
• EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
• OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY

Newspaper and television headlines offer continual reminders of how relevant and of how much interest the business world is to us all. In recent years much attention has been directed to such issues as the credit crunch, the troubles of the £ and petrol prices. Longer term issues continue to hit the headlines too... business and the environment, sweatshop labour, global warming and the impact of new technologies on business and working lives. All these issues are relevant to business.

In the college's recent inspection report the department was awarded grade one, acknowledging the outstanding level of student achievement and the high quality of student research projects. In 2011, the student pass rate was 100%, with a success rate of 70% for grades A-B. The department has been recognised for outstanding quality and best results through the Beacon Award and Good Schools Guide. Students have also reached the National Finals of the Ogden Trust Business Competition several times. In 2011 students travelled to the World Finals in Hong Kong of a global business competition winning two awards.

Course outline

Business Studies Advanced Level

This is a modular course which will be assessed over two years. The subject content includes:

Enterprise

How to start up a business and what motivates entrepreneurs.

Marketing

This module focuses on the marketing process and the broad range of activities within a marketing department - market research, product development, pricing procedures and strategies, promotion and advertising, selling and distribution. Students will be encouraged to actively participate in market research.

Accounting and Finance

Every business must focus on its financial performance if it is to achieve the objective of profit maximisation. It must also carefully monitor where the money comes from and where it goes. Students will develop an understanding of basic accounts such as a Profit and Loss account and Balance Sheet and will be able to assess the performance of a business based upon financial data.

Operations Management

A business will only be successful if it can produce quality products on time. The Operations Management module focuses on the production process within the business. Students will be encouraged to visit as many businesses as possible throughout their course in order to develop an understanding of how businesses operate. The module includes stock control systems and production methods.

People

A business relies on its managers and its employees. The people module focuses on the processes involved in Human Resource Management starting with recruitment and selection going through to staff training and motivation. This module looks at leadership styles which can be applied to a business situation. Click here to see manic boss Tony Spence.

External Influences

This module focuses on the social, legal, economic, political and technological environment within which a business operates. It includes ethical issues such as animal testing and the implications of dealing with pressure groups.

Business Strategy

To succeed a business needs clear objectives and must develop a strategy to achieve these. Students will examine the strategies of real businesses and the risk involved in these strategies.

Business Studies AS-Level

The AS course consists of similar subject areas to the Advanced Level with assessment at the end of year one. The key difference is the assessment which emphasises the skills of the application of knowledge and understanding and is based on stimulus response questions and case studies.

Here at Greenhead we follow the AQA Modular Business Studies syllabus. Initial modules studied are Planning and Finance followed by Managing a Business. Assessment is broken down as follows:-

To summarise then, the course is spread out such that 50% of the A-level is covered in year one with the remainder in the second year.

Entry requirements

The majority of all our A-Level students did not take GCSE Business Studies and this is not a requirement. We are interested in all hard working, enthusiastic students who wish to succeed.

Every January at our Open Evenings we meet new applicants and discuss what the course involves and a student's own needs - the Open Evenings give a chance for new applicants to meet current A-Level students and this helps decide whether the course is right for them.

We recommend that students have a grade 'C' at GCSE Maths as some number crunching and using a calculator is important.

So to summarise, there is no specific entry requirement to this subject - in order to gain acceptance a prospective student ought to apply to the college in the normal way. Please bear in mind that Greenhead College is oversubscribed as well as the subject A-Level Business Studies. This is due to the high demand for such a useful, interesting and challenging subject in one of the best sixth form colleges in the United Kingdom.

We look forward to hearing from you!!!!

Information Technology

A high level of IT skills are developed by students on this course. This is facilitated by the main Business Studies resource area which is equipped with powerful and advanced computers running business software such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, Publisher and other Office applications. Students are supported in the area by the IT systems manager as well as by teaching staff.