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Business Operations

BM402

Course CodeBM402
ECTS

Course Description

Even though businesses are different in many ways, they do have some common features and are influenced by similar factors. This unit’s aim is to provide learners with the underpinning knowledge to contextualise and examine the fundamental factors which influence how a business operates within the context of its internal and external environment.

Course Outline

WeekTopics
1Business sectors: primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary
2Types of business: profit, not for profit, NGOs, micro, SMEs and multinationals
3Legal structures: sole trader, partnership, limited company and PLC, and why the choice matters
4Business functions and how they work together
5Organisational structures: hierarchic, bureaucratic, matrix and flat
6How functional relationships shape structure: charts, authority and accountability
7The internal environment of a business and why it is important to measure it
8Midterm evaluation
9Quantifying the internal environment with SWOT/TOWS
10Assessing the internal environment: capacity assessment grid and McKinsey’s 7S framework
11The external environment of a business and why it matters
12Measuring the external environment with PESTLE
13Competition: Porter's Five Forces and the Ansoff matrix
14Assessing a business’s external environment alongside its internal environment
15Review and coursework completion
16Final evaluation and project assessment

Learning Outcomes

  1. LO1 Understand different types of businesses.
  2. LO2 Understand the relationships between business functions.
  3. LO3 Be able to measure a business’s internal environment.
  4. LO4 Be able to measure a business’s external environment.
Learning Resources

Capon, C. (2009) Understanding the Business Environment. 3rd ed. Financial Times. Sloman, J. and Hinde, K. (2007) Economics for Business. 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education. Wetherly, P. and Otter, D. (2008) The Business Environment. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nallathambi, J.I. (2021) Business Environment. India: JPS Scientific Publications. Needle, D. and Burns, J. (2019) Business in Context: An Introduction to Business and its Environment. 7th ed. London: Cengage. Business Strategy and the Environment (journal) International Journal of Business Environment

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