Business Studies – A Level | Truro and Penwith College

Type your search keywords then hit the Return or Enter key
To access Moodle, Email or the Intranet please click on the Key icon below

Truro and Penwith College For an outstanding future choose a really outstanding college

Find Courses

Please choose at least one option below and then click search.

Business, Administration & Commercial Enterprise

Business Studies – A Level

Truro College Campus

Department: Further Education - 01872 267000

A Level

Download PDF

Duration

AS Level: one year A2 Level: two years

Specification or Syllabus

WJEC

Independent Study Time

At least four hours of independent study time per week.

Entry Requirements and Student Suitability

Five GCSEs at grade C or above in appropriate subjects. No prior Business Studies knowledge is required but an interest in businesses and their products would help.

Course Content

This is a popular option if you have an interest in business or believe that the career you may follow will require some degree of business knowledge. The course will enable you to study different types of business and the internal and external problems they face in marketing their goods and services. You will gain a good understanding of national and international markets, the economic climate, the effects of government policy, and basic accounting concepts.

Business studies is a real life subject in an ever changing world and therefore an interest in relevant news stories is essential.

AS Level

BS1 – The Business Framework

You will be provided with an introduction to the scope of Business Studies within the context of starting a new business. You will investigate all aspects of entrepreneurship and how to develop a business plan. This will involve market research, choosing an appropriate legal structure for the business; raising finance and an understanding of different markets. Also you will consider factors that influence the location of businesses and the important role that local and national governments play. You will gain an appreciation of how the theory of demand and supply impacts on a business.

BS2 – Business Functions

The core theme focuses on improving the effectiveness of a business. This will involve being able to calculate and interpret data by measuring such things as profitability, labour productivity, labour turnover, unit costs and market share. You will consider the issues that managers face in relation to managing the human resource element in order to make a business more effective whilst at the same time motivating the staff.

You will study the importance of having effective operations management and developing quality through the adoption of TQM methods.

Finally, you will appreciate the importance of marketing to businesses and issues affecting their competitiveness.

A2 Level

BS3 – Business Decision-Making

The aim of this unit is to provide an overview of business strategy. Business organisations need to assess their own strengths and weaknesses and consider how they can best respond to the threats and opportunities posed by changes in the external environment.

Students will investigate the impact on various business stakeholders of a changing external environment. For instance, is the dominance of supermarket chains ultimately of benefit to society? What are the short-term and long-term consequences of the rapid industrial enconomic growth of countries such as China?

BS4 – Business Strategy and Practice

The aim of this unit is to focus on how business objectives are to be achieved once they have been decided, and this unit focuses on the methods that businesses can use in order to meet their objectives. It breaks these methods down into functional areas: marketing, finance, human resources and operations management (including purchasing and stock control). Students will study a wide variety of topics, including risk and uncertainty, market analysis, investment appraisal and decision-making.