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In an ever-increasingly competitive world, the efficiency and effectiveness of the business community is vital for the success and growth of our economy. This course focuses on how decision making is undertaken at a strategic and operational level.
This versatile A Level will equip you with expert knowledge of key business concepts and theories and the ability to apply them to practical, real-life situations. Whether you aspire to be the next Mark Zuckerberg, or you are interested in an integral, behind-the-scenes position covering a wide range of potential specialisms, Business A Level will provide you with a critical understanding of organisations, markets and the process of adding value, along with a picture of the internal workings of successful organisations.
5 GCSEs at grade 4 or above including English Language and Mathematics.
On this course you will study:
Year One:
– What is business?
– Managers, leadership & decision making
– Decision making to improve
– Marketing performance
– Operational performance,
– Financial performance
– Human resource performance
Year Two:
– Analysing the strategic position of a business
– Choosing strategic direction
– Strategic methods
– Managing strategic change.
Topics include the following key theories:
– Competitive advantage
– Digital marketing and e-commerce
– Extended marketing mix
– Marketing mapping, confidence intervals and interpretation of income elasticity of demand
– Planned versus emergent strategy
– Shareholders and share prices
– Stakeholder identification and power mapping
– Strategic drift and corporate governance
Digital technology is embedded throughout the curriculum equipping you with skills that are industry-recognised including Cloud based applications for your onward career journey
The College offers a variety of learning and teaching approaches including lectures, tutorials, webinars, workshops, presentations, group discussions and revision classes.
You will have the opportunity to participate in group research projects, presentations, trips (New York) and visits to revision conferences as part of your course.
Developing practical business skills and the entrepreneurial mind set is at the core of our courses and the College enterprise society, Evolve, works closely with students to achieve this via mentoring, support and guidance.
There is no coursework in Business. All modules are assessed by written exams at the end of your second year. Students will sit three exams, which will cover all of the 10 taught topics. Each exam is worth 33% of the overall mark and lasts for two hours.
Students from this course successfully progress into employment, on to degree courses such as business studies, business management, marketing, human resources, accounting, business enterprise and management studies as well as a range of combined degree courses. Many students successfully apply for Apprenticeships in business-related areas.
The College is committed to providing you with an education that strongly links formal learning with professional or vocational practice.You will have opportunities to visit China, the Houses of Parliament, major manufacturing facilities, the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Washington D.C. and New York (where last year students toured the Google Head Office!). You will also have regular talks from visiting speakers.
