The Business Studies course investigates the internal operations of a business and analyses how they are affected by the external environment. Students have to comment on and judge the strategies that firms could follow. The course will entail six main sections: • Marketing – how a firm ensures that it sells the products and services that the consumers want at a profit. • Finance – how does a firm ensure that it never runs out of money? How does it calculate how much money it makes each year? • People – are people only motivated by money? Will they stay with an organisation forever? What is a good leader? • Operations – what’s the most efficient way to produce a car? Why have the Japanese been so successful? What can we learn from them? • The External Environment – pressures on organisations and individuals: Economic (e.g. the credit crunch); Social (e.g. decreasing birth rate); Environmental (e.g. recycling); Legal (e.g. the minimum wage); Political (e.g. the smoking ban); Technological (e.g. online sales). We investigate how these factors affect firms and how they should best respond to the external environment. • Objectives and Strategy – these draw all the above elements together to analyse how firms succeed and what strategies are used to achieve success. We look at how firms grow. We also consider why some firms fail through poor strategy or bad luck.

Most career options are accessible from this subject, for example, Management, Accountancy, Advertising, Banking, Marketing and Personnel. Progression is wide and varied and there are numerous study options open to a student either in a directly related or similar area. The business area is now one of the most popular choices in Higher Education.