Business Studies

Curriculum Subjects

Business Studies

See our Business Studies Curriculum below at Bentley Wood for KS4 and KS5

 

KS4 | Business Studies

GCSE Business

Examining Board: Edexcel

Aim of Course:

In Business Studies, we aim to develop a greater understanding and interest in how businesses and the economy work. This allows the students to apply theoretical concepts into real life situations. Students will find out what is involved in running their own businesses and learn what it would take to be a successful entrepreneur. Students are also better-informed consumer, and know where to go if they are dissatisfied by the goods and services they purchased. In essence, we help students become active, global citizens.

Course Content:

Theme 1: Investigating small business

  • Topic 1.1 Enterprise and entrepreneurship
  • Topic 1.2 Spotting a business opportunity
  • Topic 1.3 Putting a business idea into practice
  • Topic 1.4 Making the business effective
  • Topic 1.5 Understanding external influences on business

Theme 2: Building a business

  • Topic 2.1 Growing the business
  • Topic 2.2 Making marketing decisions
  • Topic 2.3 Making operational decisions
  • Topic 2.4 Making financial decisions
  • Topic 2.5 Making human resource decisions

 Method of Assessment:

There is no coursework for GCSE Business Studies hence the exams are worth 100% of your total GCSE grade.

Paper 1 (50%): written exam 1 hour 30 minutes – 90 minutes
Paper 2 (50%): written exam 1 hour 30 minutes – 90 minutes

Recommended Reading:

  • Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma Built (Duncan Clark)
  • Inner Lives of Markets: How People Shape Them – And They Shape Us (Sharman and Fishman)
  • Risk Savvy – How to make good decisions (Gerd Gigerenzer)
  • The Box – How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger, (Levinson)
  • The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon (Brad Stone)
  • The Upstarts: How Uber and Airbnb are changing the world (Brad Stone)

Enrichment Opportunities: 

  • Bank of England
  • Careers Talks
  • Student Investor
  • Tenner Challenge
  • Working in the City
  • Young Enterprise

Key Stage 5 Progression/ Career Prospects

This course helps you prepare to study A-level Business Studies and Economics here at Bentley Wood High School. You will develop a plethora of skills including; decision making, creativity, problem solving, understanding finance, dealing with data, communicating and teamwork.  A GCSE Business qualification could lead to work in any business-related profession including; accountancy, compliance, human resources, law, marketing, operations, risk management, tourism and many more

Revision Guides

KS5 | Business Studies

Is Business the subject for you?

Do you want to be the next Holly Tucker (Not On The High Street) or Ella Mills (Deliciously Ella)! Do you aspire to be at the head of a successful business? Do you have great ideas for new products or services? Or maybe you want to work for a large company by working in marketing or management. No matter what your vision, the Business Studies A Level course gives you an incredibly powerful start to launch you on to becoming a business person. All the key topics of starting and running a business are covered. Armed with this knowledge, maybe you could be giving Sir Leonard Blavatnik (UK most wealthy individual – owner Warner Music) run for his money in a few years’ time or start a business from home! Of course not everybody wants a global corporation. A lot of people prefer small businesses offering individual service or set up their own business, working for themselves. Whether you’re selling homemade candles (Jo Malone) or starting your own e-company (Jeff Bezos), you still need to know about business. Like how to get your products to market. How to price them. How to promote them. And how to get paid.

Course content

Students currently study the following topics:

  1. Planning and Financing a Business
  2. .Managing a Business
  3. Strategies for Success
  4. The Business Environment and Managing

Methods of study

  • How to assemble data and assess it
  • How to investigate facts and use deduction
  • How to put over your point of view fluently
  • How to work as a team to achieve results

How will it be examined?

AS qualification will not count towards the final grade of an A-Level and be a separate qualification in its own right (Linear).

Career opportunities

Where will success take me? This A-Level will get you started in business and give you the skills and knowledge to progress to higher education. You could work for a corporation, or maybe a management consultancy. All businesses, and other organisations like charities and hospitals, need sound business skills behind them.

Reading books

  • Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours – Tarun Khanna
  • Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur – Sir Richard Branson
  • Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping our Future – Ashlee Vance
  • Grinding It Out: The Making Of McDonald’s Mass Market Paperback – Ray Kroc
  • House of Cards: How Wall Street’s Gamblers Broke Capitalism – William D Cohan
  • How I Made It: 40 Successful Entrepreneurs Reveal How They Made Millions – Rachel Bridge
  • No Logo – Naomi Klein
  • Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE – Phil Knight
  • Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson – Walter Isaacson
  • Sun Tzu – The Art of War for Managers: 50 Strategic Rules Updated for Today’s Business – Gerald A. Michaelson
  • The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon – Brad Stone
  • The Google Story – David A. Vise
  • The Intelligent Investor – Benjamin Graham
  • The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference – Malcolm Gladwell
  • The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer – Jeffrey Liker

Textbooks

  • Edexcel AS/A level Business 5th edition Student Book and ActiveBook – Dave Hall, Rob Jones, Carlo Raffo, Alain Anderson, Jennifer Lee, Keith Hirst, Andrew Redfern
  • Edexcel Business Target B-A – Ian Marcouse
  • My Revision Notes: Edexcel A-level Business Second Edition – Andrew Hammond
  • REVISE Edexcel AS/A level Business Revision Guide & Workbook – Pearson

Newspapers 

Websites

Podcasts

  • Ambitious Entrepreneur Show
  • As Told by Nomads
  • Entrepreneurs on Fire
  • Smart Passive Income
  • Youpreneur

YouTube

  • Bizconsesh – GCSE & A Level Business
  • TakingTheBiz