Business Management

Business is one of the corner stones of society. Developing and managing responsible business and enterprise is key to resilient economic and social development. Recent economic turmoil has emphasised the need for sustainable business: businesses that are sustainable in financial, social, community and environmental terms. Some of those enterprises will not be ‘businesses’ in the corporate sense: the third sector, social enterprises, charities and family businesses have a major role to play and equipping graduates to interact with a variety of business models remains key both to the development of individual careers and to the development of economic prosperity at a national level. To achieve this, listening to the consumer is vital.

Why QMU?

In the wake of the financial turmoil of 2008-10, our focus is on sustainable business. We have researched the factors that make business sustainable in financial, economic, environmental and social terms - a unique facet of Business Management at QMU and ensures that our teaching is relevant to modern businesses. Staff teaching on the business management degree undertake research and knowledge exchange, keeping regular contact with different parts of the business environment including retailing, marketing, small and family business. Engagement with research staff from a variety of specialist fields is integral to the Business Management course, making the connections between business management and specialist fields such as retailing, third sector enterprises, family businesses and the consumers who are vital to businesses of all sorts. Parts of the Business Management course is delivered with colleagues from Tourism, Hospitality and Events, offering perspectives and expertise from some of Scotland’s most dynamic industries.

Our Business and Management course allows students to gain access to a wide variety of industries and expertise as they formulate their ideas about where they want to develop their future careers. Expertise from staff who focus on the consumer experience enhances understanding of the different aspects of the business process.

Our students are well prepared to enter a career in an existing organisation, but this course also encourages entrepreneurial behaviour. This is developed in taught classes and through interaction with the Scottish Institute for Enterprise (SIE). Students have the opportunity to apply for internships through the SIE and also for a wide variety of placements within third sector organisations. The Jobshop, which operates on campus, and liaison with key sectors and industries where our graduates work, help to foster a culture where students link their experience of the workplace to their studies. Business plans drawn up by students in Year Three include topics as diverse as motor-cycle funerals, businesses based around virtual golf or kick-boxing as a leisure activity and specialist food retailers alongside the tried and tested formats of cafes, shops and home based businesses. There are also a variety of professional qualifications which you can study for as part of your degree, including the Certificate in Management Consulting Essentials, offering additional opportunities for committed students.

Our approach to learning and teaching

Teaching and learning on the Business Management degree is varied. Students will participate in traditional lectures, but they will also have the opportunity to participate in group work, go on field trips, carry out an industry placement and benefit from lectures from guest speakers. Our courses require you to study a number of core subjects, with the option to choose a number of other subjects from the business, management, tourism, hospitality and events courses. Options focusing on the creation of new enterprises, the events industry or tourism businesses are widely available. Our staff have a wide variety of expertise in business and industry which allows us to include relevant and current experience within classroom teaching and to invite into the classroom a wide variety of external speakers.

Research

Our staff are actively engaged in research and in consultancy work with business and industry. The engagement with industry is key both to the relevance of our courses and to equip staff and students with the background to make intelligent decisions about their future and the future of the areas where they work and study. The international dimension to our work is key: working on major projects with collaborative partners overseas brings the international perspective to our research but also feeds directly into learning and teaching.

You will be taught by staff who are active researchers in their own right, publishing in international academic journals. Clear focus in family business, smaller and social enterprises and public sector management offer distinct specialisms which contrast with wider areas of interest such as human resource management, marketing and business strategy. Research develops new knowledge, so high-quality research within business and management equips students to assess new research as it is published and offers the foundations for them to develop their own research. As students reach the later stages of undergraduate study there are opportunities to develop individual pieces of research and some students who choose further study at Masters or Doctoral level develop these interests further. The variety of organisations with whom active research is carried out offers some insight into the range of work: staff research collaborations include research with small family businesses in a variety of sectors, with major groups such as ‘Business Fights Poverty’, and with a variety of universities overseas.

Career prospects

Career prospects from the Business Management degree are many and varied. Our graduates have gone on to a variety of successful careers, working across the major business sectors in the UK and worldwide. Recent examples include a graduate working as a ‘change manager’ for a major Scottish bank, one who joined the John Lewis management training programme, one who works with the British Council in India, one with Stratstone (BMW) on Tyneside, and one with WorldCom. Web traffic is another area where graduates have developed careers working with new and existing web-based businesses. Entry onto graduate training programmes for major retailers/ supermarkets has been the preferred route for some and a small number each year go on to teach either in schools or in the further education sector. For some, starting their own business is the ideal option and graduates have developed businesses in areas as diverse as extreme sports retailing, American real estate, cake making, industrial car-washing, a marketing agency and market research. Some students return to QMU to undertake further study, perhaps for an MBA to enhance their business career or to undertake doctoral research.

CASE STUDY

Mark Riding, BA (Hons) Business Management

 I didn’t really know what I wanted to do when I Ieft school, but I had studied for a Higher in Business Management, enjoyed it and did very well in it. As a result, I decided to focus my further studies in that area. I knew people who had studied at QMU and it came with a glowing report, so I decided to apply as it offered the type of course I was looking for and was pretty close to home.

At first I found the course quite difficult: the structure (which has changed now) at the start was quite challenging and it took me a wee while to adjust to university life after having come straight from school. The course was great though; really interesting, and the lecturers were brilliant. The staff were all very approachable and their down-to-earth attitude and friendliness made the learning process very pleasant. The modules which I studied were all very useful and I particularly enjoyed one at the start of Year Three where I worked with a partner to design a business plan for a company. In theory, the plan could have worked and we seriously considered starting the business. It was a really exciting time, but in the end we did not progress with the idea as we did not have the time due to our studies…who knows in the future though!

Due to personal reasons, I left QMU before completing Year Three. Even with only two years of study under my belt, I had enough knowledge to get a ‘business’ job which I really enjoy and I am now working as a sales executive with a communications company called Holyrood Communications. I really enjoy it because it is politically led and covers current topics and issues surrounding the economy and various different sectors. Even although I had a great job, I still yearned to complete my degree however and I have since returned to QMU and am currently in the process of completing Year Three. And with QMU’s flexible approach, I am also able to continue working.

On the whole, studying at QMU has been a very rewarding experience and I have learned so many new things and met so many nice people and I can’t wait to finally complete my Honours degree. I would like to become a company director some day or a successful entrepreneur. Funnily enough I wanted to be a teacher when I was younger but now I want to stay in management and progress up the career ladder.

Our courses

»BA/BA (Hons) Business Management

» Back to full course listing