This module introduces you to the external context of business practice and understanding the impact of globalisation on business and an introduction to business law. You are also introduced to the basic management functions of planning, leading, organising and controlling. You can expect to learn about how key internal business functions are successfully integrated in business organisations and how this in turn positions organisations for external success. In addition, you can expect to be onboarded in the areas of academic research, writing and referencing skills.

This is designed to give a very generalised introduction to the wide area of accounting and finance. It is intended to concentrate on the use of financial data as opposed to the deep methodological basis of accounting practice.

This module introduces you to core marketing principles, theories, and practices. It is expected that you’ll gain a good understanding about the marketing process and the ability to make critical reflections upon contemporary marketing practices from this module. The module is intended to provide both an introduction to the topic as well as providing you with a basic grounding in the theory and practice of marketing as a business management discipline.

Foundations of Human Resource Management

This module provides you with a foundational introduction to Human Resource Management (HRM), showing you how to effectively manage, motivate, and support people within an organisation.

Through hands on analysis of workplace psychology, you will explore core HR functions alongside essential concepts in organisational behaviour. You will examine organisational dynamics such as company culture, power dynamics, conflict resolution, and change management. By understanding how individuals and groups behave at work, you will build the critical analytical skills needed to solve people management challenges and directly boost organisational performance.

Creative Personal Branding

This module introduces you to the essential strategies for developing a powerful personal brand and the core employability skills needed to thrive in a digitally driven market. You will embark on a reflective, self-exploratory journey to deepen your self-awareness, build confidence, and understand how narratives and storytelling shape audience perceptions. The curriculum also examines how emerging technologies such as AI, VR/AR, and automation are reshaping recruitment and professional identity.

With hands-on, practical outputs, you will utilise university career resources to build an authentic professional portfolio. This includes crafting a standout CV, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, and a personal brand pitch presentation, alongside a reflective summary tracing your growth, networking skills, and career readiness.

The module will introduce you to key concepts in corporate finance and valuation, including the time value of money, investment appraisal and the cost of capital, before looking into working capital management and financial decision-making. You’ll also explore the role of data and tech in finance, including the use of digital tools and financial technology in analysis and decision support, as well as ethical, regulatory and governance considerations. In the final part of the module, you’ll get to examine sustainable and responsible finance, ESG integration and climate-related financial risk.  

This module is an extended and practical introduction to the business research process, focusing on how organisations investigate and analyse real world problems to inform effective managerial decision making. You’ll be guided through the key stages of designing and undertaking small scale business research – you’ll develop the ability to locate and interpret literature efficiently, and use this evidence to refine your research focus and support the development of an informed and method-based approach. Alongside this, you’ll receive structured, hands-on training in applied data skills. You’ll learn how to handle real data sets, perform basic quantitative and qualitative analyses, and produce clear visual outputs that help uncover trends, relationships and actionable insights. 

In block 3 of your second here, you will choose one of the specialist modules below.

Digital Marketing Media

This module will give you a comprehensive overview of digital marketing, examining its development from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 and exploring how emerging technologies like AI are likely to shape the sector in the future. It highlights the importance of data, research and measurement, and how these improve marketing performance. The module also covers the major digital marketing channels (including websites, email marketing, search marketing, paid media), the way they are used, and approaches to measuring their effectiveness. You’ll also have opportunities to develop, apply and evaluate your own digital marketing skills in practice. 

International and Cross-Cultural Marketing  

This module examines the unique challenges and opportunities associated with marketing across international and cross-cultural contexts. You will explore how diverse cultural factors influence consumer behaviour, communication styles, and overall purchasing decisions globally.

Through real-world case studies and comparative analysis, you will analyse international markets and evaluate how global organisations strategically adapt their marketing approaches to fit local contexts while maintaining essential brand consistency. You will learn to leverage deep cultural insights to develop highly appropriate, impactful marketing responses for diverse global audiences.

In the final block of your second year, you will choose a specialist module from one of the below.

Brand Management

[TBC]

EVOLVE: Enabling Valuable Opportunities for Learning and Experience 

This module will support your transition from university into professional and graduate employment by developing career readiness, professional confidence and reflective self-awareness. You’ll explore how professional environments operate and learn how to engage effectively with internships, placements, graduate recruitment processes and early career opportunities. Through a combination of industry engagement, reflective learning and career development activities you’ll recognise, value and critically reflect on how your lived experiences shape your professional identity, your access to opportunity, and how you engage with recruitment and workplace environments. It will also support you in articulating your strengths, communicating professionally, developing networks and planning your progression after university. 

Applied marketing simulation

This module focuses on experiential learning and strategic decision-making. The simulation environment demonstrates the practical relevance of marketing theory, allowing you to apply previously learned theories to dynamic market situations. You’ll work in a simulated competitive marketplace, making marketing decisions relating to segmentation, targeting, positioning, product strategy, pricing, promotion, and distribution. You’ll analyse market data, evaluate competitor behaviour, and adapt strategies to improve business performance. You’ll also get to interpret performance metrics, create visual representations of your marketing outcomes, and reflect on the effectiveness of your strategic choices.

This module equips you with the advanced knowledge and skills to understand how organisations anticipate, absorb, respond to and recover from major disruptions. You’ll explore contemporary theories of organisational resilience and systemic risk, examining how global disruptions such as pandemics, economic shocks and geopolitical instability challenge organisational stability. Through a crisis simulation and a consultancy‑style resilience strategy assessment, you’ll get to evaluate vulnerabilities, assess preparedness and design strategic interventions. 

This module introduces you to managing change and innovation, which will be central to your survival, success and growth in your career. By the end of the module, you’ll have a full understanding of the managerial strategies that organisations use to manage different types of innovation, as well as how they seek to benefit from their innovations. 

In the third and fourth blocks of your final year, you will choose two specialist modules from the below.

Marketing, Society and Global Impact

The module is designed to provide you with a critical lens through which you can understand and critique contemporary consumer contexts. The course content is driven by the need to address the impacts of marketing as a system upon consumers, the environment, and society. Taking lead from Critical Marketing and the Transformative Consumer Research (TCR) movement, the module will focus on consumer well-being in a holistic sense, through an examination of social issues in context. The course content follows an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on theories from sociology, public policy, cultural studies, and psychology.

This research-informed module aims to facilitate critical thinking on the subject area through the utilisation of case studies (e.g., Oxfam discussion papers), educational documentaries (e.g., the Media Education Foundation), and policy studies (e.g., UN SDGs).

Through the integration of disciplines and supporting material, the module aims to encourage you to develop pragmatic ways of approaching the problems and opportunities of well-being most relevant to consumers and their environments, with the aim of producing positive and uplifting change.

Strategic marketing in a modern world

This module explores how marketing strategy is developed and implemented in an increasingly complex, digital, and data-driven global environment. It examines how organisations create and sustain competitive advantage through strategic marketing decisions, while responding to contemporary challenges such as digital disruption, artificial intelligence, changing consumer behaviour, sustainability, and global uncertainty.  

You’ll learn to analyse the relationship between marketing strategy, digital technologies and organisational performance in both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) contexts. Particular emphasis will be on the role that digital ecosystems, data analytics, social media and emerging technologies play in shaping strategic decision making.  

By the end of the module, you’ll have developed the ability to diagnose strategic marketing problems, interpret market intelligence and design innovative strategic responses. Practical application is embedded throughout, enabling you to work with real-world organisations, digital tools and industry datasets to develop effective marketing strategies.

Dissertation

The module provides an opportunity for you to undertake an independent study in an area of special interest within the broad area of business management. It builds on your introductory business research skills and prepares you for postgraduate research study. This module draws on the academic skills and practices you have been taught since the beginning of the programme.

Marketing consultancy project

This module is an individual business consultancy project that serves as a commercial and employability-relevant experience – you’ll be required to compile a report that acts as a solution to a genuine business problem. Identical to a real business consultancy, you’ll be given a summary briefing after which you’ll question and ask for further detail, then form your own summary outline of how you’ll research and analyse the project. Business Consultancy Project briefs are sourced by the module leader from live businesses and/or creative agencies and are genuine commercial requirements. You’ll gain a guaranteed business consultancy experience, and use your learned skills to make a genuine impact and create a benefit for the company. You’ll also be able to summarise the experience on your CV/LinkedIn profile, and describe the value of your project at an interview – demonstrating evidence of using your degree in action and providing a focus area for job applications.