Business in Action

From day one our students are introduced to the world of business and the challenges faced. Students took part in a 'mini' lecture series and have been able to engage with number of organisations including, John Lewis and Partners, CO-OP, BASF, The Prince's Hospice Trust, Enterprise Rent a Car, Space NK and the start-up company Wirl.

This diverse range of organisations not only enabled the students to engage with leading and innovative organisations directly but helped them develop an understanding of business concepts including the public, private and third sector.

As part of the 'mini' lecture series each organisation was asked to prepare a challenge for the students to work on, in their tutorial groups. This included the development of marketing campaigns for JLP, market entry strategies for Wirl and crisis management strategies for BASF. This allowed our students to acknowledge the challenges organisations face in a globalised and ever competitive business environment.

As part of the module our students took part in a live simulation delivered by Enterprise Rent a Car. Over 450 students worked in groups to develop a market entry strategy for the Enterprise Car Club. This simulation exposed our students to the challenges of the business environment and most importantly a typical scenario they may face, when attending an assessment centre. Students were given a £50k budget to come up with an innovative marketing campaign. The task was time constrained adding further pressure when it came to sharing ideas and negotiating the best way forward. The students then had to present their plan to the Enterprise team.

Students who performed well were able to discuss opportunities to join the Enterprise Summer Intern Programme.

As the module moves forward into semester two, students will begin to learn about the functions of the business environment and will be working towards another 'live' assessment, which exposes our students to real challenges being faced by a large organisation.