Faculty: Humanities
Subject: GCSE Business Studies
Subject Leader: Mrs K Loader, Head of Business Studies
Staff and Responsibility: Miss F Karim
Subject Overview
What is Business Studies?
Business Studies is not just a theory – based subject, it is about real life. You will learn about businesses and the way they operate in today’s society. You will learn to analyse various business scenarios, identify the key issues facing different business and make recommendations as to what approach the business should take to achieve its objectives.
How will you learn?
You will learn how businesses work in the real world by:
- Studying case studies of businesses.
- Working collaboratively to solve business-based problems.
Course Content
You will investigate what it takes to be an entrepreneur, the reasons for and how businesses are started. You will also consider what changes a business faces as it expands and grows both internally and externally.
Throughout the course you will look at the four core functional areas of a business and how they work together collectively to achieve the overall aims of a business:
- Marketing – in this functional area you will explore how and why businesses conduct market research, then how businesses use this research to develop a marketing mix (price, product, place and promotion).
- Finance – in this functional area you will explore how a business accesses capital to start and grow. How they work out if the business makes a profit or loss.
- Operations – in this functional area you will explore how businesses produce their products, this includes looking at how businesses can operate efficiently. This area also looks at how developments in technology have changed the way businesses produce their products.
- Human Resources – in this functional area you will explore how businesses recruit, manage, train and motivate the employees working for them.
Requirements
This course is designed for students who are able to work as part of a group and independently. You will be required to analyse and evaluate business problems when writing responses to longer mark questions.
Why should you choose Business Studies?
Whatever career you decide later on in life you will be working for a business organisation. This course will prepare you for the work of world and be very useful to you in the future.
