BSc Business and Management (Marketing) with Placement Year

Compulsory modules

Management Debates: Ways of thinking about business 

This module introduces students to key ideas and debates that pertain to the study of business and management. It exposes students to the intellectual foundations on which many well-known management frameworks are built. In doing so it requires students to consider business decisions from different disciplinary perspectives including economics, psychology, history and law, and to recognise the value of these competing viewpoints.

Developing Professional Excellence 

Develop the key skills and competences you need to thrive in your studies and career, for instance communication, business writing and time management skills. You will also learn other key career and employability skills to help you with internships, placements or graduate position applications.

Business in Practice: Markets, Marketing and Management

The aim of this module is to provide students with a foundation in business and management practices and theories. These provide the necessary context when students specialise in their later studies.

Business in Practice: Accounting for Managers

The aim of this module is to provide students with a foundation in how businesses use accounting information. It will introduce students to management accounting and financial accounting, and it will provide the necessary foundation in accounting to allow them to specialise in their later studies.

Business in Practice: Data Analytics

Acquiring, managing, and analysing data is an important business activity that allows organisations to make strategic use of their data assets.

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

Investigate the concept of competitive advantage and learn how both business strategy and operations management are important if a business is to build and sustain competitive advantage.

Managing Work and People: Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources Management

Examine the main concepts, principles and practices concerning the management of work and people in organisations. First, you will look at the practices used by organisations to manage work and people, with a focus on human resources management, and then you’ll focus on the theories behind organisational behaviour.

Social Responsibility in Action

management problem or issue related to social purpose of the business and 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Address a topic relevant to Principles for Responsible Management Education’ (PRME), United Nations-supported initiative founded in 2007.

Marketing Essentials

Actively and critically engage with the main theories in Marketing. You will gain an overview of Marketing as an academic subject, and explore marketing theories, strategic marketing tools and techniques used in the business world, and how to develop a marketing strategy.

Consumer Behaviour

Gain an understanding of the psychological and sociological factors that influence consumer behaviour before, during and after purchase and consumption in contemporary consumer markets. Discuss the effective engagement and handling of business customers, and apply consumer and business customer buying behaviour models in a contemporary context.

Branding Theory and Practice

Brands are some of the most valuable assets managed by companies today. Following on from Marketing Essentials module, you will focus on two key issues within Marketing: Branding and the preparation of a Branding orientated project. Apply the concepts and tools acquired in previous modules to a creative and challenging team task.

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.

Work Placement

Compulsory modules 

Digital Marketing

An introduction to digital marketing and the increasingly important role of technology in both marketing practice and society. You will learn to implement digital marketing approaches, understand the key strategic drivers behind the growth of the digital economy, and gain practical experience of digital platforms used to implement marketing strategies.

Developing Personal Leadership

Gain a comprehensive view on personal leadership development and learn how to plan your own leadership skills strategy. You will explore the different approaches for leadership development planning and action, including developing self-awareness, contextual awareness and how to design a learning agenda.

Optional modules

Advance Management Accounting

Develop further understanding of the role of management accounting in organisational decision making, planning, control and performance management. 

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.  

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.  

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.  

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 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.  

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. 

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.  

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.  

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.  

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. 

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.  

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.  

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. 

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. 

Global Ethics for International Management

Develop your awareness of global approaches to ethics and gain a critical understanding of the key approaches to ethical theories from different cultures and national contexts. You’ll consider the global issues in relationships between business and society from different ethical perspectives relying on ethical theory and case study.  

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.  

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.   

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.  

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.  

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. 

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.   

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.    

Company law

Discover the fundamental principles of company law in England and Wales as you consider the formation, structure, operation and activities of companies. You’ll consider the regulation of companies and engage deeply with case law, legislation and legal reform.     

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.  

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.

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.