The world of business management offers much potential for creative extended essays. Living in an increasingly globalized world, students are involved as actors in what businesses do, from being consumers of goods and services to being campaigners for increased social responsibility. Fascinating decision-making takes place within business organizations in areas such as human resource management, production and marketing. Students have a genuine interest in many aspects of business management and thus may wish to explore them in more depth through their own independent research.
Although students are expected to base their extended essay on secondary resources, there are opportunities for primary research as well, to be applied where appropriate. Students may wish to use secondary material such as company data, which is often accessible due to the reporting requirements of businesses. The use of interviews and surveys with managers and other stakeholders may also be undertaken and these present students with opportunities to explore the real-world application of business tools, techniques and theories.
The breadth and depth of the business management course facilitates students researching topics that allow for meaningful and relevant links to be made between the syllabus and the requirements of the extended essay.
The interdisciplinary, issue-based approach of the world studies extended essay also offers a wealth of opportunities for independent research that draws on the discipline of business management, in addition to at least one other discipline. Students could examine the role of businesses’ decision-making processes in terms of their effects on the environment or the way in which international standards relating to work practices and human rights manifest themselves at a local level. Students who choose to undertake a world studies extended essay should be encouraged to think about their essays in relation to global themes. This may be an opportunity for students to make use of the six concepts that underpin the business management course in their extended essay work.