Business
Context
Business Studies helps students:
develop a critical understanding of organisations, the markets they serve and the process of adding value
be aware that business behaviour can be studied from the perspectives of a range of stakeholders
acquire a range of skills including decision-making and problem-solving
be aware of the current structure of business and business practice.
Suggested reading
A Level Business Studies
Business -Wolinski J, Coates G - Hodder 3rd Edition
IB Business & Management
Business and Management - Clark / Golden / O’Dea Weiner / Woolrich / Olmes Oxford press
Suggested research
http://business.timesonline.co.uk
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/related_reports/entrepreneurs/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/
Suggested tasks
You also need to be aware of what is going on in the business and financial world so... read relevant online magazines and watch business television programmes. For this task you need to watch a business related documentary on Netflix or Amazon Prime, if you don't have an account on one of these two streaming services find a documentary on YouTube (15 to 20 minutes minimum length) please. We recommend the following documentaries:
The Great Hack – Facebook/Cambridge Analytica (Netflix)
Dirty Money – Trump (Netflix)
The China Hustle – Chinese manufacturing (Netflix)
American Factory – US manufacturing (Netflix)
System Error - How will capitalism end? (Amazon Prime)
Week 1: enlighten yourself with new knowledge of current affairs
Watch the film/documentary - make notes while you watch. You might need to pause every now and then to write or clarify what they have explained.
Week 2: do online research (desk/secondary research)
Research the topic of your documentary online, avoid Wikipedia try and find more academic or business related websites. Avoid blogs as well unless you can establish that the blogger is highly rated by the world of business and industry. Read about the topic and make notes that can be added to your notes you made while you watched the documentary in week 1.
Week 3: write an essay on the topic
Use your notes from week 1 and 2 again and write a two page essay covering your learning on the topic. The format must be as follows:
Introduction, body (include advantages and disadvantages, for or against arguments), conclusion (tell us what you have learnt and make recommendations on what we can do to learn from this documentary).
Use font size 12 for your text and font size 14 for headings
Use Times New Roman or Arial font only (no fancy font unfortunately)
Try and write in your academic voice and avoid slang or social media vocabulary.
Spelling and punctuation is important (use www.grammarly.com the app - it is free)
Week 4: discuss with a friend or family member (field/primary research)
In the final week you need to take your two page essay and give it to a friend or family member to read. Then after they have read it have an in depth discussion of the topic. Make notes while you have your discussion - this must be handed in with the two page essay.
Have fun learning new things - remember knowledge is power!
Mr Hauptfleisch HOD Business Studies & Economics