Business Management BSc Hons - 2020 Entry

Course Overview

Are you keen to understand how businesses and managers operate? But are as yet undecided about studying abroad, working for a year in industry or your future career? This flexible degree offers the rare chance to build your studies as you go and play to your strengths.

As a Business Management student, you study with every department within the Management School. Your degree can be three or four years long depending on your choices. You can pick modules that use your favoured assessment method, or that build on your flair for numeracy or creativity. We focus on creating self-confidence and improving your skills and knowledge base.

All first-year students study Financial Management, Management and Business Statistics. You also choose a specialism from Economics, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship or a language if you wish.

The second year explores data analysis and strategic management. You also specialise in two subjects such as entrepreneurship, economics, operations management, marketing and organisational psychology. This continues into your third year. Here you choose options while studying our core subjects of leadership, business and management.

We want to make our graduates as marketable as possible to potential employers. Every student has access to a specialist Business Management Careers Coach and attends sessions on CVs and teamwork, including an away day. Building on your employability development plan in your second year means there is time to identify and fill gaps before you start applying for jobs.

Whether you want to work for a hotel chain, continue your studies or train in an area such as accountancy, this degree keeps your options open.

Entry Requirements

Grade Requirements

A Level AAB

GCSE Mathematics grade B or 5, English Language grade B or 5

IELTS 6.5 overall with at least 5.5 in each component. For other English language qualifications we accept, please see our English language requirements webpages.

Other Qualifications

International Baccalaureate 35 points overall with 16 points from the best 3 Higher Level subjects

BTEC Distinction, Distinction, Distinction

We welcome applications from students with a range of alternative UK and international qualifications, including combinations of qualification. Further guidance on admission to the University, including other qualifications that we accept, frequently asked questions and information on applying, can be found on our general admissions webpages.

Contact Admissions Team + 44 (0) 1524 592028 or via ugadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk

Course Structure

Many of Lancaster's degree programmes are flexible, offering students the opportunity to cover a wide selection of subject areas to complement their main specialism. You will be able to study a range of modules, some examples of which are listed below.

Year 1

Core

• Introduction to Business Analytics

  Business analytics focuses on developing new insights and understanding of business performance based on data analysis.

  Designed to give you the kind of skills that are sought after in many organisations, this module introduces you to a range of quantitative techniques for collecting, analysing and interpreting data and develops your understanding of how to apply these techniques to management problems to draw practical conclusions. The module provides the foundations for statistical methods in follow-up modules.

  The computing side of the module introduces the use of word processing, spreadsheet software for statistical calculations, and writing of management reports.

  You will learn not only the fundamental analytical techniques, but also when and how to apply them to management problems and how to interpret the results. This module also involves you working as a junior business analyst on a simple but realistic case study and reporting results and conclusions to a fictional boss.

• Introduction to Financial Accounting for Managers

  This module provides an introduction to the analysis and use of published financial statements and concepts underlying financial reporting by companies. It also considers the perspectives of various users and opportunities for creative accounting. The concepts and use of financial statements are placed within the current commercial context, so that you acquire an appreciation of the role of financial accounting.

• Introduction to Management

  This module introduces a variety of traditional and non-traditional ideas about management, followed by the theory and practice of team working and capability for management. Other themes include quality and entrepreneurship. The aim is to provide you with an essential understanding of the basic theories relevant to the management of work organisation and to enable you to identify and understand the limitations inherent within these theories.

Optional

• Entrepreneurship: Key Debates and Concepts

  With many people questioning whether entrepreneurship can be ‘taught’ and suggesting that entrepreneurs are born and not made, this introductory module is designed to challenge preconceived notions of entrepreneurship.

  It uses a combination of interactive workshops and an online environment to encourage active participation. Theory and practice are combined throughout the module, and within the teaching sessions we draw on the expertise of entrepreneurs who attend our business support programmes.

• Introduction to Marketing

  Students must study MKTG101 in Year 1. This year-long module serves as an introduction to the theory, tools and techniques of Marketing, teaching you all the foundational touch-points of Marketing which will be further developed in detail and depth throughout your second and final year. You will explore subject areas such as: Consumer Behaviour, Marketing Communications, Business-to-Business Marketing, Customer Relationship Marketing, Marketing Research and Marketing Management.

  Throughout the year, you will be asked to consider how theory works in practice, by examining your own experience of marketing as well as contexts obtained from the press and broadcast media. Part of your learning will be based on coursework; much of this will involve working in groups but you will also harness the skills of independent learning through individual course submissions.

  Further to this students can choose any two subjects from across the university (subject to availability and timetabling). These subjects need not be Marketing related but some advisable and good subject fits with Marketing are: Accounting & Finance; Design; Law; Economics; Management and Organisation; Media Film and Cultural Studies; Management Sciences; Psychology; Sociology. Such flexibility allows you to choose subjects that excite you, with the ability to then continue with these into your second and final year. This enables the development of not only a strong major in Marketing but a strong minor in other subject areas that you are passionate about.

• Principles of Economics B

  Providing a thorough introduction to the discipline of Economics, this module is divided into two parts. The first part covers microeconomic analysis, including the theory of demand, costs and pricing under various forms of industrial organisation, and welfare economics. Many applications of theoretical models are examined. The second part focuses on macroeconomic analysis, including national income analysis, monetary theory, business cycles, inflation, unemployment, and the great macroeconomic debates.

Year 2

Core

• Data Analysis for Management

  This module gives you an introduction to statistical techniques and their applications in the context of business and management problems. In addition, it is designed to develop your ability to make effective use of computer software for data analysis.

  The following topics are covered:

  • descriptive statistics
  • probability
  • probability distributions
  • sampling
  • estimation
  • hypothesis testing
  • regression analysis
• Fundamentals of Strategic Management

  This module, for BBA and Euro BBA students only, provides a comprehensive review of the field of strategic management and intangible assets. It will focus on strategic analysis, choosing, implementing and evaluating strategy, and the significance of intangible assets. Lectures will introduce theoretical concepts and your understanding of these will be reinforced through case studies.

Optional

• Entrepreneurship: Discovery and Practice

  This module develops an understanding of the different issues underlying business creation and development. It familiarises you with current theory and research and enables you to understand the processes of enterprise creation and development and the behaviours, motivations and business strategies of entrepreneurs – considering also how these affect the types and performance of the new ventures created.

  The module also examines the primary issues associated with entrepreneurial activity in franchise systems, in mature organisations and larger corporations, and in not-for-profit contexts. Frequent use is made of illustrative case histories, and several visiting speakers will share the reality of their entrepreneurial experience with you.

• Essentials of Strategic Management

  This module provides you with an understanding of strategy that will enable you to discuss real-life business activities within a framework of contemporary strategic management thinking. It is designed to encourage you to develop a personal and distinctive understanding and appreciation of strategising for different industries and in uncertain environments, through lectures, case analyses, and class discussions. Topics to be examined include the identification and analysis of key macro-environmental drivers, competitive advantage, resources and capabilities, and stakeholder influence.

• Introduction to Economics for Managers

  Looking at microeconomic issues relating to markets and firms, and macroeconomic issues relating to money, banking and monetary policy, this module helps you to analyse economic issues from a business perspective. It demonstrates why economic concepts and principles are relevant to business issues by applying introductory economic theory to a range of issues that affect economic aspects of the business environment. Particular emphasis is given to interpreting the economic behaviour of individuals and firms, using theory to interpret events and evaluate policies.

• Introduction to Operations Management

  Operations management is the core managerial discipline in all kinds of operation – from private-sector manufacturing through to public-sector services. It is about the human capacity to organise all the operations that underpin the modern world: transportation, the generation of energy, retailing, the production of goods, the provision of medical and educational services, and so on.

  The module will introduce students to key concepts and themes of Operations Management such as operations strategy and performance objectives, operations design (e.g. layout, facility location and capacity), inventory planning and control, project management, quality management and supply chain management. These topics will be approached using a combination of qualitative and simple quantitative methods.

  By the end of the course students should be able to:

  • identify different kinds of operations and predict their characteristics
  • apply basic planning and analysis techniques to particular cases
  • understand operations problems and identify improvement strategies
• Management and Organisations

  The module Management and Organisational Behaviour aims to introduce students to fundamental issues and concepts to understand the field of management and organisation studies. Emphasising the need to appreciate what taken-for-granted concepts actually mean, assume and imply, the course offers a diversity of perspectives to examine work, work organisations and what happens within such organisations, notably what individuals and groups do, and how they organise and manage organisational life. The topics of management and organisational behaviour, in fact, need to be explored and understood in relation to the complex socio-economic reality in which such activities take place.

  The module is structured around four main themes which provide both a historical overview of the development of ideas that have shaped the meaning of work and management, and an assessment of contemporary developments and challenges in the context of work organisations. These cover the role and place of the individual in the workplace, the meaning of work, the dimensions of power in/and organisations, as well as contemporary debates and challenges facing managers and organisations.

• Marketing Fundamentals

  This module forms a self-contained introduction to marketing. It examines components of the marketing system, concepts of buying behaviour, analysis of market opportunities, market segmentation, the marketing mix and marketing strategy. Consideration is also given to a number of special topics, including services marketing, retailing and international marketing. It aims to develop your appreciation and understanding of the conceptual and descriptive language of marketing and how it is used within a business and management context.

• Organisational Psychology

  This course is concerned with major theories in social psychology and related social sciences that have guided the organisation and design of work.

  In this module students should develop an understanding of the importance of the role of psychology in the development of people management techniques and practices. They will also develop an understanding of the historical development of psychology, with specific reference to the relevance of psychological expertise to the effective management of organisations.

Year 3

Module information for this year is not currently available.

Lancaster University offers a range of programmes, some of which follow a structured study programme, and others which offer the chance for you to devise a more flexible programme. We divide academic study into two sections - Part 1 (Year 1) and Part 2 (Year 2, 3 and sometimes 4). For most programmes Part 1 requires you to study 120 credits spread over at least three modules which, depending upon your programme, will be drawn from one, two or three different academic subjects. A higher degree of specialisation then develops in subsequent years. For more information about our teaching methods at Lancaster visit our Teaching and Learning section.

Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, but changes may be necessary, for example as a result of student feedback, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes, and new research.

Careers

Our degrees open the widest variety of career pathways in national and international firms, both private and public, as well as in small and medium companies around the world. Some graduates also go on to start businesses themselves.

Graduates have begun their careers as trainee graduate managers, project managers, brand managers, and hotel and property managers. Our alumni are working for a wide variety of employers – from established corporates like BP, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and Sellafield to modern brands like Innocent Drinks.

Our courses are designed to develop your conceptual understanding and provide practice-based insights. You will develop your personal competencies including communications and mathematical abilities. Such skills have helped recent graduates find work in a wide variety of roles in banking, retail, consultancy, sales and marketing and data analysis.

Some former graduates are pursuing their studies with PGCE teacher training or professional qualifications. Many have stayed at Lancaster for Masters degrees.

Lancaster University is dedicated to ensuring you not only gain a highly reputable degree, you also graduate with the relevant life and work based skills. We are unique in that every student is eligible to participate in The Lancaster Award which offers you the opportunity to complete key activities such as work experience, employability awareness, career development, campus community and social development. Visit our Employability section for full details.

Lancaster Management School has an award winning careers team to provide a dedicated careers and placement service offering a range of innovative services for management school students. Our high reputation means we attract a wide range of leading global employers to campus offering you the opportunity to interact with graduate recruiters from day 1 of your degree.

Fees and Funding

Fees

We set our fees on an annual basis and the 2020/21 entry fees have not yet been set.

Channel Islands and the Isle of Man

Some science and medicine courses have higher fees for students from the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. You can find more details here: Island Students.

Funding

For full details of the University's financial support packages including eligibility criteria, please visit our fees and funding page

Students also need to consider further costs which may include books, stationery, printing, photocopying, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation it may be necessary to take out subscriptions to professional bodies and to buy business attire for job interviews.