National 5 Business Management

We all rely on businesses to create wealth, prosperity, jobs and choices. Studying Business Management

gives you the opportunity to develop important skills such as problem solving, communication, planning and

organising. You will learn through real-life business contexts how organisations operate.

These skills are valuable in a wide range of career sectors but are particularly useful if you are interested in

entering the world of business — whether as a manager, employee or self-employed person.

This course highlights ways in which organisations operate and the steps they take to achieve their goals. It enables you to understand and make use of business information to interpret and report on overall business performance, in a range of contexts.

The course comprises five areas of study.

Understanding business

You will:

• be introduced to the business environment while developing skills, knowledge and understanding of enterprise, and the role of different types of business organisations in society

• learn about the internal and external environments in which organisations operate, and the role of stakeholders in business.

Management of marketing

You will:

• develop skills, knowledge and understanding of the importance to organisations of having effective marketing systems

• learn about the processes and procedures organisations use to maintain competitiveness, and how marketing can be used to communicate effectively with consumers, maximising customer satisfaction.

Management of operations

You will:

• develop skills, knowledge and understanding of the importance to organisations of having effective operations systems

• learn about the processes and procedures used to maintain quality through the effective management of suppliers, inventory, and methods of production in an ethical manner.

Management of people

You will:

• develop skills, knowledge and understanding of the issues facing organisations when managing people

• learn about the theories, concepts and processes relating to human resource management, and how employees contribute to the success of organisations.

Management of finance

You will:

• develop skills, knowledge and understanding of the issues facing organisations when managing finance

• learn about the basic theories, concepts and processes relating to financial aspects of business, when preparing and interpreting information to solve financial problems facing organisations.

The course assessment has two components totalling 120 marks:

• Component 1: question paper – worth 90 marks (consisting of two sections, section 1 worth 40 marks and section 2 worth 50 marks) 

• Component 2: assignment – worth 30 marks.

For the assignment component, you will be asked to produce a business report. The assignment component will be set by and externally marked by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).

The question paper will be set and externally marked by SQA.

The grade awarded is based on the total marks achieved across all course assessment components.

The course assessment is graded A-D.