Business Management IB

Business Management Course Description and Aims

BM encourages you to develop a holistic understanding of today’s business environment with conceptual learning firmly anchored in business management theories, tools and techniques and placed in the context of real-world examples and case studies. BM encourages the appreciation of ethical concerns and aims to develop relevant and transferable skills, including the ability to: think critically; make ethically sound and well-informed decisions; appreciate the pace, nature, and significance of change; think strategically; and undertake long-term planning, analysis and evaluation. The course also develops subject-specific skills, such as financial analysis. 

 

The aims of the Business Management are to:

• encourage a holistic view of the world of business

• empower you to think critically and strategically about individual and organizational behaviour

• promote the importance of exploring business issues from different perspectives

• enable you to appreciate the nature and significance of change in a local, regional and global context

• promote awareness of the importance of environmental, social and ethical factors in the actions of individuals and organizations

• develop an understanding of the importance of innovation in a business environment.

 

IB Aims of Group 3 Individuals and Societies Subjects

The aims of all IB Group 3 Subjects (individuals and societies) are to:

• encourage the systematic and critical study of the human experience and human behaviour and also the history and development of social and cultural institutions

• develop a capacity to identify, analyse critically and evaluate theories, concepts and arguments about the nature and activities of the individual and society

• enable you to collect, describe and analyse data used in studies of society, and to test hypotheses and interpret complex data and source material

• promote the appreciation of the way in which learning is relevant to both the culture in which the student lives and the cultures of other societies

• develop an awareness of how your own attitudes and opinions are widely diverse and that a study of society requires an appreciation of such diversity

• enable you to recognize that the content and methodologies of the individuals and societies subjects are contestable and that their study requires the tolerance of uncertainty. 

 

Business Management Curriculum Model Overview

 

Unit 1 -- Business Organization and Environment

• 1.1 Introduction to business management

• 1.2 Types of organizations

• 1.3 Organizational objectives

• 1.4 Stakeholders

• 1.5 External environment

• 1.6 Growth and evolution

• 1.7 Organizational planning tools

 

Unit 2 -- Human Resource Management

• 2.1 Functions and evolution of human resource management

• 2.2 Organizational structure

• 2.3 Leadership and management

• 2.4 Motivation

• 2.5 Organizational (corporate) culture

• 2.6 Industrial/employee relations

 

Unit 3 -- Finance and Accounts

• 3.1 Sources of finance

• 3.2 Costs and revenues

• 3.3 Break-even analysis

• 3.4 Final accounts

• 3.5 Profitability and liquidity ratio analysis

• 3.6 Efficiency ratio analysis

• 3.7 Cash flow

• 3.8 Investment appraisal

• 3.9 Budgets 

 

Unit 4 -- Marketing

• 4.1 The role of marketing

• 4.2 Marketing planning (including introduction to the four Ps)

• 4.3 Sales forecasting

• 4.4 Market research

• 4.5 The four Ps (product, price, promotion, place)

• 4.6 The extended marketing mix of seven Ps

• 4.7 International marketing

• 4.8 E-commerce 

 

Unit 5 -- Operations management

• 5.1 The role of operations management

• 5.2 Production methods

• 5.3 Lean production and quality management

• 5.4 Location

• 5.5 Production planning

• 5.6 Research and development

• 5.7 Crisis management and contingency planning

 

Business Managment Higher Level (HL) Assessment Outline

BM HL Assessment Model

By the end of the business management HL course, students will:

1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

   • the business management tools, techniques and theories specified in the syllabus content

   • the six concepts that underpin the subject

     1. Change: the speed with which decisions are made and the circumstances for the change

     2. Culture: businesses need to align with individual, collective and societal goals

     3. Ethics: ethical considerations businesses face are substantial

     4. Globalization: interconnected patterns of production and consumption shaped by businesses and societies

     5. Innovation: businesses need to renew themselves in the competitive, technologically advanced market place with increasingly tech-savvy customers. 

     6. Strategy: holistic long-term planning in an operating environment

   • real-world business problems, issues and decisions

   • the HL extension topics.

2. Demonstrate application and analysis of:

   • knowledge and skills to a variety of real-world and fictional business situations

   • business decisions by explaining the issue(s) at stake, selecting and interpreting data, and applying appropriate tools, techniques, theories and concepts

   • the HL extension topics.

3. Demonstrate synthesis and evaluation of:

   • business strategies and practices, showing evidence of critical thinking

   • business decisions, formulating recommendations

   • the HL extension topics.

4. Demonstrate a variety of appropriate skills to:

   • produce well-structured written material using business terminology

   • select and use quantitative and qualitative business tools, techniques and methods

   • select and use business material, from a range of primary and secondary sources.

 

Business Managment Higher Level (HL) External Assessment

 

Paper 1 Structured and extended response questions

Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes
Weighting: 35%

 

This paper is divided into three sections. Section A questions are based on the IB prescribed pre-seen case study issued to students three months before the examination. Section B and C questions are based mainly on the additional stimulus material given on the day of the examination, although students are expected to draw on the pre-seen material where relevant. Section A and section B questions may be the same, similar or different for SL and HL students.

 

Paper 2 Structured and extended response questions
Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes
Weighting: 40%
This paper is divided into three sections. The structure of this paper is the same as SL paper 2. However, questions may be the same as, similar to, or different from, those used for the SL paper. HL students answer more questions.

 

Business Managment Higher Level (HL) Internal Assessment

Business Managment Written Commentary IA HL
Weighting: 25%

Word Count: 2,000

 

Students research and report on an issue facing an organization or a decision to be made by an organization (or several organizations). The HL internal assessment is a research project that allows students to demonstrate the application of their skills and knowledge to business issues or decision-making.

Higer Level Business students are required to:

• design and undertake research that either addresses an issue facing a business organization or a range of organizations or analyses a decision to be made by a business organization or range of organizations

• select a real business organization or a range of organizations and a real issue or decision under investigation

• base their research project on primary research they gather from the organization investigated (secondary research may be used as support)

• provide a title for the research project that, to give focus and direction, must be framed as a question

• produce a research proposal (of maximum 500 words), including an action plan, to be used as the primary planning document