Introducing your course
Find out what it's like to study Business Management at Lancaster University Management School.
10th for Business and Management
The Guardian University Guide (2024)
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The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide (2024)
Lancaster University is top 10 in The Complete University Guide 2024
BSc Business Management (Industry) gives you the expertise to understand the changing world of business on national and global levels. It is a comprehensive programme of study that draws from the full breadth of the Management School’s expertise, and allows you to build a personalised degree over the four years. Whether you want to work in large private organisations, the public sector or start your own business, you can personalise your degree to acquire the analytical, quantitative, presentation and other transferable skills needed to succeed and stand out.
Programme overviewCompulsory modules in your first year cover the broad foundations of management, developing your understanding of the functions and processes involved in managing complex organisations and establishing your leadership skills. You will study across our full-spectrum management school, learning from world-leading researchers and experts to develop fundamental skills in areas including management theory and organisational behaviour, accounting and finance, marketing strategies, business analytics, entrepreneurial thinking, and economic environments.
At the end of your first year, you can choose to follow a general management programme or follow a specialist programme in entrepreneurship.
In your second year, diverse optional modules allow you to tailor your course to best match your interests and career aspirations. You can either pursue a broad understanding of topics or specialise in your chosen field, choosing from subjects such as operations and risk management, business start-up, entrepreneurial mindset, human resources, finance, marketing, and economics.
Your third year consists of a supervised placement in industry, with previous students joining companies such as IBM, Renault, Santander, PWC and Aldi. Roles allow you to see how your new theoretical skills and processes are used, and the experience provides valuable insight for your final year academic studies.
Your final year allows you to further customise your studies, taking in areas such as organisational change, international management, strategy and leadership, organisational ethics, and social contexts of entrepreneurship.
Key FactsOur careers team, including a dedicated departmental careers coach, will work with you from day one to help with internships, placements and graduate employment. We will supply training in CV writing, interview assessment centres and telephone interviews, helping you with your future career ambitions.
The University will use all reasonable effort to support you to find a suitable placement for your studies. While a placement role may not be available in a field or organisation that is directly related to your academic studies or career aspirations, all placement roles offer the valuable experience of working at a graduate level and gaining a range of professional skills.
If you are unsuccessful in securing a suitable placement for your third year, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent non-placement degree scheme and would continue with your studies at Lancaster, finishing your degree after your third year. The University offers a range of shorter placement and internship opportunities for which you would be welcome to apply.
Programme outcomesOur graduates leave with the skills required to succeed in modern business. Not only will you possess functional competencies from studying modules in Finance, Accounting, Marketing, Business Analytics, and Entrepreneurship, you will also be able to look at business through an ethical lens, placing its activities firmly in the context of society. Our graduates have gone on to work for some of the world’s most important businesses and NGOs.
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 Master's 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 one of your degree.
A Level AAB
GCSE 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.
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
Lancaster University offers a range of programmes, some of which follow a structured study programme, and some which offer the chance for you to devise a more flexible programme to complement your main specialism.
Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, and the University will make every reasonable effort to offer modules as advertised. In some cases changes may be necessary and may result in some combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.
This course provides an introduction to microeconomics for students majoring in business-related degrees and delivers a range of important topics for understanding the business applications of economics relating to both consumers' and firms' behaviour.
This module develops an introductory understanding of entrepreneurship as well as introducing experiences of a range of entrepreneurial skills (creativity, accessing resources, building networks and creating value) to enable an understanding of what it means to be entrepreneurial. These skills will be transferable to many contexts, whether it is establishing a startup business, taking an entrepreneurial approach to career development, or working within Government or the social enterprise sector. The module will also help develop more general skills such as communication, presentation and writing. In addition, you will build key skills in reflecting on your own practice.
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.
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.
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. 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.
During this Preparation for Placement module, you will learn about the competitive recruitment processes in the UK and the skills and expertise employers expect you to evidence; how to produce excellent CVs and cover letters; how to make an impact on application forms, what to expect at interviews and assessment centres.
You will get to hear from final year students about their placement experience and a chance for you to learn about the placement opportunities on offer from graduate employers. You will be offered the opportunity to experience a mock interview with a real employer and attend a mock assessment centre. You will be shown the range of resources and support we offer in LUMS Careers and how that will continue throughout the placement programme, in order to seek a suitable year in industry placement.
Students compete with others nationally to secure placements and we also offer exclusive opportunities with employers, however, we cannot guarantee that all students will progress on to a year in industry placement.
The aim of this module is to introduce the key elements of marketing as both scientific discipline and organisational practice. The module is designed around three themes which serve as a solid foundation for the second year module MKTG227 marketing Management Essentials and further marketing modules following this.
This module also aims to support students in the transition towards independent learning, and in the development of a critical and analytical approach to ideas and theories.
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:
This module aims to develop your understanding of contemporary management practice through the window of consultancy. It looks at who consultants are and at the major themes in consultancy before critiquing the industry. It examines the analytical skills needed and used by consultants and how consultancy interventions take place. This is tackled theoretically and through a series of practical activities, culminating in a major client project that provides a unifying perspective.
The course provides students with general knowledge and understanding concerning social research and particular methods and methodologies that lie within the positivist and interpretivist paradigms. It is primarily aimed at students from across the management school that are planning to undertake an industrial placement and/or a dissertation in their final year of study. This module helps to prepare you to undertake your own research with a view to highlighting different research approaches and techniques that are used in the production of knowledge.
The module provides an insight into the various ways research can be undertaken and the implications of different approaches. We will examine the conceptual and practical complexities of undertaking research in practice. Initially you will be introduced to research methods and that are most commonly employed in business and management research. The module will then examine the methodological approaches and paradigms that are linked with these methods and the assumptions that underpin positivistic and interpretivist approaches. The final part of the module explores how this understanding can be used in writing your research proposal and dissertation.
Many organisational recruiters have identified a number of skills and knowledge they want to see from a prospective employee. Top in the priorities are spreadsheet modelling, problem structuring, statistics, and project management.
Students will be introduced to Microsoft Excel 2019 and the basics of dynamic model building, including skills such as data handling, filtering and analysis, using functions, charting, plus advanced techniques such as optimisation, simulation, and the use of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to automate models and construct decision support models.
The course will make extensive use of case-studies and workshop-orientated learning tasks.
This module aims to advance knowledge of entrepreneurship by experiencing aspects of the business start-up process through project-based activities. It aims to help you understand you own enterprise skills and develop the ability to communicate new business ideas using opportunity business models in the context of business start-up.
Building upon Entrepreneurial Learning theories, this course prepares you to understand the core dimensions of an entrepreneurial mindset and guides you to find and assess opportunities, seek answers, gather resources and implement solutions regardless of your specific context or institutional constraints.
Human Resource Management is that part of management that happens to everyone, all the time. Nobody can escape HRM. We are all human resources and, therefore, it should not be a surprise that HRM has become very much a reflection of us – we find in HRM our own conceptions of ourselves, of work and of life in the 21st Century. The aim of this module is to understand how HRM is done and why we manage people in the ways we do.
The module introduces and analyses HRM as a complex part of management today in all organisations. OWT.223 examines aspects of employability, of performativity, performance management and of work motivations as key ingredients for the management of people in contemporary corporations, large or small, private or public. For you and your employability, it will be essential to understand what is going on in HRM and how this is done. You will have to be able to grasp the fundamental question of work: what is worth doing in the context of contemporary work? What is asked of you, and how do you have answer in return?
Also, it is essential to remember that every manager is always a human resource manager: they have to know how to recruit, how to communicate decisions and how to understand people and their motivation to work, how to think about individuals and teams, and about all the psychological and social aspects of work. No effective and respectable manager or executive can be a poor manager of people.
This module offers an introduction to finance. It covers the financial environment, including assets, markets and intermediaries, capital investment appraisal, an overview of the risk/return trade-off, and the cost of capital.
This module provides an introduction to the use of management accounting information for management purposes. This includes an examination of cost-volume profit analysis, the concepts of direct and indirect costs, and various costing methods. The importance of budgets to organisations and their impact on performance are also discussed.
This module provides you with the opportunity to further develop your knowledge of marketing management and its conceptual frameworks and techniques as well as to apply and adapt your knowledge of these frameworks to a diverse range of marketing management contexts. Going to market will be examined in terms of business buyer behaviour, consumer buyer behaviour, brands and brand management, channel selection and management, and international markets.
Various topics of interest to prospective managers are covered within this module, including production and demand, competition and strategic behaviour, advertising and distribution, capital budgeting and inventories, the foreign exchange market, the economics of the multinational enterprise and the politics of corporate economics. The module provides knowledge of aspects of microeconomics relevant to general management, and also emphasises techniques and tools of analysis alongside relevant theory.
The module is designed to as an introduction to aspects of the firm and its environment which are of particular relevance to management. The topics selected aim to bridge the gap between the traditional approach to managerial economics and the more modern study of the organisation.
In OWT 228 we look at the changing role and position of management and managers in organisations and society. Much of modern analysis of management emphasises a change in forms of management control from traditional authority through vertical hierarchical forms to ones which are more horizontal and look to incorporate employees into the organisation and its goals in ever closer ways. This happens for example through attempts to align employees identities, emotions and interests with commitment to the organisation: the much discussed capturing of hearts and minds. Another aspect of this is the manipulation of meaning in order to facilitate this identification of employee and organisation, usually discussed as the corporate culture movement. Together these can be taken as two significant aspects of modern management the management of meaning and the management of identity - which feature little in traditional management texts that emphasise management as the co-ordination of tasks and the control and deployment of resources.
However, it is important to see management and managers within the light of organisation analysis. Managers are not the autonomous agents they are often portrayed, first because they are also employees themselves (albeit in the position of formally representing the interests of capital), and second, they are also subject to organisational structures, cultures and power relations. Perhaps especially in the light of managerial control designed around commitment, integration and identification with the organisation, managers are tied in by the very control strategies that they themselves are promoting. However, as we shall see, there are also important tensions between the changing context of management and these forms of control which can lead to unintended consequences such as impression management and various forms of resistance.
Thus this module focuses on how management is a social process, and what this means for the lived experience of doing management. In exploring this we look at topics which are relevant for the day-to-day experience of managers, although rarely are these addressed in conventional management textbooks: issues such as humour, diversity, impression management and emotional management.
This module equips you with experience of working within a business environment. The expectation is that you will acquire not only knowledge of business problems and practices, but also experience of interpersonal relationships within a real-world context.
The placement allows you to see the relevance of your studies in a practical context and gives an opportunity to exercise the skills covered in your degree. The Management School will assist you in finding suitable placements. In a related Dissertation module (MNGT350b), completed on your return to Lancaster, you are then assessed via a report of a project undertaken during your period of employment.
This module, in which you write a dissertation based on an aspect of your experience on placement, is compulsory for all students on the Business Management programme who have completed a one-year placement as a formal part of their degree.
This module consists of a computer-based strategic management simulation which provides you with the opportunity to practise managing and growing a business in a dynamic and competitive industry. Each team takes over a growing automobile manufacturer. The simulation runs for ten years, at the end of which it is hoped each manufacturer will be in a much healthier state.
The module will provide you with hands-on experience of manipulating key strategic and operational variables. In each simulated year, your team will make a set of decisions in relation to: strategic positioning, pricing, advertising, promotion, distribution, production, vehicle upgrades, new vehicle introductions, financing, and a host of other decisions over the eight years. Your business will compete directly with other automobile manufacturers in a dynamic marketplace.
Strategic Management is about making distinctive choices concerning the direction and scope of the organization over the long term, in order to enhance its ability to create value and improve its prospects for organizational survival and growth. In a complex and turbulent environment, with rapid economic, regulatory and technological changes, strategising – the art of processing complex information thoughtfully and creatively and the ability to convince others of your analysis and recommendations – is a critical skill to acquire. The goal of this module is to provide you with an understanding of strategy that will enable you to discuss real-life business activities within a framework of contemporary strategic management thinking. This module 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.
The main aim of this module is to provide students with a critical understanding of the ethical dilemmas that are associated with business and management. It will examine the various ways in which we make sense and speak about ethics, how questions of right and wrong occur and what responses they elicit. In simpler terms, if we describe ethics as being about sorting out right from wrong, our interest is on what constitutes ethical conduct, and on who the appropriate agent of this conduct might be. A critical understanding means that this module does not aim at providing answers or tools that would solve the various problems of ethics or that would guarantee the ethical behaviour of managers.
The module focuses upon the relationships between management theory, practice and the natural environment. The first part of the module examines how management have conceptualised the range of environmental issues which have emerged since the rise of industrial society. We then consider different aspects of sustainability focusing upon ecological modernisation, consumerism and waste management. There is a sharp focus throughout the implications for policy making.
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should normally have:
A broad but critical understanding of the complex interrelationships between management in contemporary organizations and their social, cultural and physical environments.
Improved their ability to relate key ideas and theoretical frameworks such as those presented in this module to the ongoing social and intellectual controversies concerning management and its place in the modern world.
The objective of this module is to attempt to develop moral sensibility and practical reasoning in the context of managerial everyday action in organisations. It will be concerned with morality in action, as it happens, rather than a removed reflection on codes and principles of ethics.
The module seeks to show that ethics in action is diffused and difficult. Nevertheless, managers and employees have a responsibility to ‘work it out’ for themselves. It is this ‘how to work it out’ that the module will keep as its focus. A number of case studies will be used as a basis for developing a moral sensibility so that managers will be able to act in a morally appropriate manner as part of their ongoing organisational action.
Our annual tuition fee is set for a 12-month session, starting in the October of your year of study.
Our Undergraduate Tuition Fees for 2024/25 are:
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£9,250 | £24,475 |
There may be extra costs related to your course for items such as books, stationery, printing, photocopying, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation, you may need to pay a subscription to a professional body for some chosen careers.
Specific additional costs for studying at Lancaster are listed below.
Lancaster is proud to be one of only a handful of UK universities to have a collegiate system. Every student belongs to a college, and all students pay a small college membership fee which supports the running of college events and activities. Students on some distance-learning courses are not liable to pay a college fee.
For students starting in 2023 and 2024, the fee is £40 for undergraduates and research students and £15 for students on one-year courses. Fees for students starting in 2025 have not yet been set.
To support your studies, you will also require access to a computer, along with reliable internet access. You will be able to access a range of software and services from a Windows, Mac, Chromebook or Linux device. For certain degree programmes, you may need a specific device, or we may provide you with a laptop and appropriate software - details of which will be available on relevant programme pages. A dedicated IT support helpdesk is available in the event of any problems.
The University provides limited financial support to assist students who do not have the required IT equipment or broadband support in place.
In addition to travel and accommodation costs, while you are studying abroad, you will need to have a passport and, depending on the country, there may be other costs such as travel documents (e.g. VISA or work permit) and any tests and vaccines that are required at the time of travel. Some countries may require proof of funds.
In addition to possible commuting costs during your placement, you may need to buy clothing that is suitable for your workplace and you may have accommodation costs. Depending on the employer and your job, you may have other costs such as copies of personal documents required by your employer for example.
The fee that you pay will depend on whether you are considered to be a home or international student. Read more about how we assign your fee status.
Fees are set by the UK Government annually, and subsequent years' fees may be subject to increases. Read more about fees in subsequent years.
You will be automatically considered for our main scholarships and bursaries when you apply, so there's nothing extra that you need to do.
You may be eligible for the following funding opportunities, depending on your fee status:
Unfortunately no scholarships and bursaries match your selection, but there are more listed on scholarships and bursaries page.
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We also have other, more specialised scholarships and bursaries - such as those for students from specific countries.
Browse Lancaster University's scholarships and bursaries.
BSc Business Management (Industry), 2023
I have so many great memories from Lancaster which stand out, it's really too long a list to go through them all.
BSc Business Studies (Industry), 2017
The entire year was amazing fun, and I have come out the other side with a lot of experience and confidence ready for my final year of study.
The information on this site relates primarily to 2024/2025 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.
The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.
More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.
We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.
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