Teachers of Business Studies
- Mrs H Phillips (Curriculum Leader)
- Mrs B Donovan
- Mr D Hodges
- Mr D Kelly
- Miss M King
Reasons to Study Business
This is a great course if you want to start your own business, or work for another business as an employee. Most of our students go on to University or apprenticeships, and the style of study means that it suits more academic students who are confident in exams. You will learn transferable skills such as analysis using financial and strategic models, as well as commercial awareness and an ability to critically appraise the decisions and performance of a business.
Our Vision for Business Studies
Students at SJB study Business to improve their commercial awareness, enhance their strategic thinking and develop a greater understanding of the global business environment and how to influence it.
Career Paths
Students have a variety of options having studied this subject.
University courses in Management, Economics, Finance & Accounting, and Business Administration are all possible. Furthermore many students choose to combine Business Studies with another subject such as Marketing and Media or Maths and Economics to give a broader future career scope.
In terms of employment there are a multitude of career paths available as a result of studying Business Studies A Level such as: Accountancy, Personnel management, Hospitality management, Customer services, retail management and banking.
View Subject Video
Outline of Course
Qualification: A Level Business
Exam Board: Edexcel
Coursework: None
Exam: 100%
Exam Structure: 3 x 2 hour exam papers sat in the summer of Year 13
Link to specification:
A levels Business (2015)
Course Overview:
In Year 12 students will learn about:
- Entrepreneurs, business aims and objectives and legal structure for ownership
- Internal and external sources of finance
- Sales, revenue, costs, quantitative sales forecasting, budgeting, break-even, interpreting financial statements, liquidity, ratio analysis and using quantitative information to assess the performance of a business
- Production, productivity, and efficiency, including stock control, capacity utilisation, quality management and lean production
- Internal and external methods of growth, advantages and disadvantages of growth to a business
- Theories of corporate strategy including Ansoff’s Matrix and Porter’s matrix
- External influences, PESTLE and SWOT analysis
- Marketing and promotion including global niche and mass markets and global marketing strategy
- Human resources, leadership, and motivation
- Introduction to globalisation and businesses decisions to operate on an international scale
In Year 13 students will learn about:
- Trade blocs, protectionism and global competitiveness
- Ethics and the impact of MNCs, including reasons for global mergers and joint ventures and controlling MNCs
- The market, including supply and demand, price elasticity of demand and income elasticity of demand
- Investment appraisal techniques such as payback, ARR and Net Present Value
- Decision making techniques, such as decision trees, and project planning tools such as Critical Path Analysis
- Corporate influences, such as Corporate Culture and stakeholders versus shareholders
- Causes and effects of change, such as scenario planning and business failure
