There is no requirement to have studied business before starting the Business and Management Pre-U course. A serious interest in business combined with strong writing and numeracy skills are the key prerequisites. Self discipline and real motivation are also required as pupils will be carrying out more independent learning.
Business and Management aims to develop an appreciation of the value of business activity, plus a practical understanding of how businesses operate and why business decision-making is so important. The Cambridge Pre-U course aims to blend academic rigour with the development of practical business skills.
The course covers many relevant contemporary business issues as well as the more classic. Thus, for example, there are topics such as corporate social responsibility, China and India as emerging economic powers, waste management and off-shoring. Pupils will be expected to show a keen interest in business affairs and to show evidence of that knowledge both in the classroom and in their written work. The course also focuses on developing communication and presentation skills vital for future employability. Pupils will be required to write more traditional style open-ended essays in which they must construct an argument pulling theory and real world understanding together. There is also the requirement to write extended answers to questions based on a case study. This tests skills of knowledge, application and analysis.
The course also strongly encourages pupils to become competent and confident in the calculation and interpretation of business data. Financial accounting and numerical decision making techniques form a central part of a business’s tool kit.
Pupils will be expected to complete a business investigation (coursework). This will represent 25% of the total mark and will be externally assessed. Pupils will undertake an individual, independent investigation into a business problem faced by an existing small/medium sized business. The organisation may be a sole trader, partnership, or small private limited company. Investigations into a Public Limited Company will not meet the criteria. Pupils will be expected to find a business that they can visit and where they can carry out their research. Guidance will be offered to support their choice and investigation. They will then produce a report of at least 3000 words.
Business and Management can be linked successfully with almost all other areas of study. However, because Economics and Business and Management do contain an overlap in content we advise they should not be taken together.
Business and Management provides an excellent introduction to the study of Business at degree level. For an Economics degree course, Mathematics and/or Economics A levels are clearly preferred to Business and Management, although they may not be prerequisites for every course.
J.S. Hazeldine