BSc Business and Management with Placement Year

Compulsory modules

Management Debates: ways of thinking about business

Examine key ideas and debates in business and management, including the intellectual foundations on which many well-known management frameworks are built. You'll consider business decisions from different academic perspectives and come to recognise the value of competing viewpoints. 

Business in Practice: Markets, Marketing and Management

Explore the concepts that underpin markets, strategy, marketing, operations, organisational behaviour and entrepreneurship -- and gain an understanding of the inter-relationship between them. You'll examine key theories and frameworks, and apply them to current scenarios in the business world. 

Business in Practice: Accounting for Managers

Explore how businesses use accounting information in reporting, internal decision-making and planning. You'll gain an understanding of management accounting and financial accounting, as well as the necessary foundation in accounting to allow you to specialise in your later studies. 

Business in Practice: Data Analytics

Study key concepts in data analytics, including descriptive analytics and predictive analytics, and explore visualisation techniques for qualitatively summarising data. Topics will include: types of data, types of distributions (with an emphasis on the normal distribution), using parametric and non-parametric tests to analyse statistical differences, and regression models. You'll also gain experience in using GUI-based tools for analysing data.

Developing Professional Excellence

Develop the key skills and competencies to thrive in your studies and your career, including communication, business writing and time management skills. You'll also explore careers theories and gain practical skills that can help you with internships, placements or applications for graduate positions. 

These are the modules that we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they're informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Compulsory modules 

Building competitive advantage: Business Strategy and Operations 

Taught in two halves, the first half of this module introduces the concept of competitive advantage, why it's important, and how it can be achieved through business strategies. The second half of the module focuses on operations management: how an organisation manages its resources to create and deliver services and products. You'll gain insight into how different functions work together to develop and sustain competitive advantage. 

Managing Work and People: Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources Management 

Examine the main concepts, principles and practices in the management of work and people in organisations. You'll explore the observable, practical elements of people management, as well as the underlying theories of organisational behaviour and management studies.

Social Responsibility in Action 

Explore the principles of corporate social responsibility, including sustainability, diversity and ethical behaviour. You'll study the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals, including the "Principles for Responsible Management Education", and apply the knowledge you've gained during your studies to a real-world management problem. 

Work Placement 

Compulsory modules

Developing Personal Leadership

Gain a comprehensive view on personal leadership development and learn how to plain your own leadership skills strategy. You’ll examine concepts, theories, and evidence needed to develop your understanding and competencies associated with leadership development and demonstrate contextual and self-awareness.  

Optional modules

Advance Management Accounting

Develop your critical understanding of the role of management accounting in organisational decision making, planning, control and performance management. You’ll be provided with a critical conceptual and technical understanding of management accounting tools and techniques. 

Optimising Marketing Performance 

Develop financial acumen for a career in marketing. You’ll evaluate financial statements, apply relevant marketing metrics, assess marketing costs, and monitor marketing performance results. 

Cross Cultural Marketing

Following on from the module Marketing Essentials, this module introduces cross-cultural marketing based on the recognition of diversity in different markets of the world and local and global consumers. You’ll embark on a group project that provides you with the opportunity to apply concepts and tools in a creative and challenging team task that addresses cross-cultural marketing issues.

Strategy and International Business

Study the strategic issues confronting managers of multinational enterprises (MNEs) both within the firm and in the global marketplace.  You’ll examine factors that influence the development and the competitive positioning of MNEs and gain an understanding of both the external business environment and internal nature of the firm and its strategy. 

Service Operations

Covering key concepts and theories within the area of service operations and management, this module will introduce you to particular challenges facing service organisations in an era where services contribute more to gross domestic product (GDP) than manufacturing. You’ll be provided with theoretical and practical grounding  to work within service organisations or service business units within manufacturing organisations. 

Financing Entrepreneurship

Become acquainted with the various forms of financing for entrepreneurship including debt, equity financing, non-for-profit and alternative financing. You will gain an in depth understanding of the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach and develop skills of cost-benefit analysis of a project and a financial appraisal of new ventures. 

Digital Marketing

Study the increasingly important role of technology in both marketing practice and society. You’ll learn to apply a range of skills to implement digital marketing approaches and study key strategic drivers behind the growth of the digital economy. 

Institutions and Emerging Firms

Explore frameworks that allow description and understanding of national institutions and competitive dynamics related to emerging economies such as China, Russia, Brazil, India and South Africa. You’ll gain understanding as to how managers can address challenges of different national institutions in product markets, labour markets and financial markets in the face of competition. 

New Directions in Business and Corporate Social Responsibility 

Develop your awareness of contemporary debates and practices of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as you consider challenges such as reducing poverty, protection vulnerable ecosystems and facing up to global climate change. You’ll consider the wider role of business in society and global sustainable development and focus on specific areas of corporate responsibility. 

International Human Resource Management 

Learn the key concepts for understanding international human resource management. You'll explore the practice of managing human resources in international businesses and consider variations in the practice of managing human resources in different countries and cultures.

Commercial Law

Study the fundamental principles of commercial law through a critical examination of relevant case law, legislation, business practice, academic work, historical influence and public policy. You’ll primarily focus on the law surrounding contracts for the sale of goods, with particular reference to commercial transactions in England and Wales.   

Marketing Communications

Discuss marketing communication theories to understand how intended audiences are targeted and engaged with. You’ll learn how marketing communications work in practice as you consider both traditional and digital strategies associated with advertisement, sales promotion, design, and management. 

Technology Advisory Practices

Develop your ability to address complex business problems involving the use of technology and identify appropriate options and formulate recommendations. You’ll have the opportunity to work closely with a group of peers to apply technology advisory practices to a contemporary business case and gain business and academic skills applicable to different areas of advisory practice. 

Fairness

Study how fairness shapes our understanding of justice and morality as you delve into different theories that ask the importance and relationship of fairness to concepts such as justice, impartiality, need, and deservingness. You’ll examine real word examples such as global poverty, climate change, and the intersection of fairness and moral demandingness.

Financial Statement Analysis

In this module, you’ll develop financial acumen through reading, evaluating and analysing real companies published financial statements as you consider key financial rations and performances. You’ll expand on oral communication skills as you plan and give a presentation that integrates your knowledge and creative ideas. 

Global Ethics for International Management

Develop your awareness of global approaches to ethics. You’ll gain a critical understanding of the key approaches to ethical theory from different cultural and national contexts as you study their application to key global issues in the relationships between business and society. 

Advances in Digital Marketing 

Cement your knowledge of digital marketing and learn its role in achieving business goals. You’ll learn how to consult organisations of different sizes on the most appropriate digital marketing approaches sing a range of skills and gain practical experience of digital platforms used to implement marketing strategies. 

Corporate Strategy 

Consider the corporate strategies of companies with a single primary line of business to the strategies of multi-business firms. You’ll consider choices related to corporate strategy such as those concerning diversification, vertical integration, acquisitions, and the allocation of resources. As you embark on this module, you’ll develop a sense of what strategists must do to improve firms long-run performance. 

Project Management

In this hands-on module, you'll work on project-based group activities to develop a practical understanding of the tools and techniques used in project management. You'll also explore the core theories that underpin the project management process.   

Intellectual Property Law

Gain an in-depth knowledge on the law of copyright, performers’ rights, trademarks and passing off. You’ll identify and explore rationales of intellectual property protection and learn to assess their practical, day-to-day implementation to  understand the interface between legal rules and physical realities.   

International Marketing 

Gain an in depth understanding of the complexity and variety of factors playing a role in designing and implementing international marketing programmes. This module will stimulate your critical and independent thinking as you consider topics from theoretical and empirical perspectives and the implications for marketing operations of organisations trading across cultures. 

Information Systems and Digital Business

Gain an in depth understanding of the structure and function of information processed and presented by IT systems in organisations. You’ll acquire the ability to plan and develop information system solutions to support digital transformation of organisations with the awareness of social and technological changes and advances.

Social Enterprise 

This interactive module offers an experiential introduction to social entrepreneurship. You’ll embark on a journey exploring social enterprise from conception through to design and delivery. Additionally, you’ll explore opportunities and challenges surrounding social enterprises and the impact of various stakeholders on the development, survival, and growth of such organisations. 

Private Equity and Venture Capital 

Become familiarised with private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) fund raising and investment processes. You’ll develop an appreciation of the practical aspects of investing by PE and VC firms and understand the dynamics between venture capital investors and the entrepreneur. 

The Dark Side of Marketing 

Explore the conflicts, controversies and moral challenges in the world of marketing – and challenge the way you think about the subject. You'll examine the effects of marketing on consumers’ physical and mental well-being, as well as the alleged exploitation of vulnerable consumers. This module combines marketing with other subject areas, including science, nutrition and law.

Business Evolution

Examine time-dependent phenomena in business & management and learn how evolutionary processes can lead to radically different outcomes to those predicted by neoclassical economics. You will consider the impact of time-dependent business phenomena on firm survival, growth, domination, or extinction. 

Company Law

Study the fundamental principles of commercial law through a critical examination of relevant case law, legislation, business practice, academic work, historical influence and public policy. You’ll primarily focus on the law surrounding contracts for the sale of goods, with particular reference to commercial transactions in England and Wales.     

Communication and Persuasion in Business

Explore effective communication traits in both written and spoken forms. You’ll learn to present data persuasively and delve into rhetorical theory for critical analysis of various texts, including social media communications. You’ll create informative and persuasive documents and reflect upon your own use of language in the workplace and beyond.

Dissertation

Learn to conduct an in-depth examination of a chosen topic through guided independent research to produce a 10,000-word dissertation. 

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.