BA Hons Business Enterprise & Hospitality and Tourism Management

The aim of this module is to provide you with a solid foundation and understanding of the theories and principles underlying marketing and entrepreneurship. A combination of the subjects will be taught to enhance understanding of the way the two disciplines address issues related to both the macro and micro-environment contexts of markets and entrepreneurship.

Marketing is everywhere in contemporary society. It plays a central role in business as it is concerned with the creation and retention of customers. The module is designed to give you a foundational understanding of marketing and a critical introduction to the topic of marketing in both theory and practice through a series of lectures and workshops.

In your first-year class you will explore the core concepts of value and exchange. You will learn what marketing is and its core principles such as analysing the marketing environment, developing a marketing strategy, and dealing with the marketing mix i.e., product, price, place, and promotion. You will learn how organisations develop a customer centric approach to marketing and how that can create a competitive advantage in a dynamic business environment.

The assessment for this module will involve individual coursework.

In this module, you will be exposed to concepts and ideas from economics, sociology, psychology, geography and other social sciences, all in the context of the competitive business environment.

Entrepreneurship too is a complex process involving many different skills and activities, though it is based upon a 'mindset and process by which an individual or group identifies and successfully exploits a new idea or opportunity. For this part of the module, you'll be working in teams to learn about the ideation process, which forms the foundations of new venture creation, in our Creative Challenge.

This module includes two thematic parts which run in parallel across the semester. One part, Introduction to Tourism Studies, introduces tourism management as both, international business and as a global cultural phenomenon.

It provides insights into key concepts and theories to understand the intricacy of this industry in commercial, cultural and environmental terms. The other part, Managing People, focuses on the contemporary and practical issues of how people are organised and managed in the workplace and examines different theoretical perspectives which help our understanding of the complex relationship between the employer and the employee in the contemporary business environment.

The module will provide you with a balanced introduction to economics which will be based on a programme of systematic directed reading, supplemented by experiments and exercises undertaken in tutorials. 

The module uses the innovative CORE (Curriculum Open-Access Resources in Economics) Econ resources, which provides a complete introduction to economics and the economy. CORE Econ teaches about the economy and economics by starting from a question or a problem about the economy - why the advent of capitalism is associated with a sharp increase in average living standards, for example - and then teach the tools of economics that contribute to an answer. This innovative approach ensures that students understand how the tools of economics can help us understand the modern economy. 

The second half of the module is the study of how analytical thinking, scientific method and associated tools can be used to help decision making. This Business Analysis element of the module will provide an overview of where methods and tools are widely used across a large range of industries including the manufacturing, retail, healthcare, financial services, travel, and electronics industries, as well as in local and national government. 

Examples of where Business Analysis is put into practice are: 

• the management of new building projects
• the design of efficient transport systems and plant layouts
• personnel scheduling
• allocation of resources and financial modelling and forecasting

This area of expertise can help to reduce costs, increase revenues, improve customer service, increase efficiency and can even save lives. 

This module will provide you with an introduction to finance and accounting, covering the basic concepts and practicalities of corporate finance, the principles of valuation, financial management and business investment, the role and purpose of company accounts and their usefulness, security analysis, risk and returns from investments, and personal finance.

At all times the module content will be linked with financial behaviour and events in the real world.

This module introduces learners to the field and practice of international business and management.

Drawing on classical and recent debates in theory and practice including, but not limited to commercial concerns, learners will be equipped with an understanding of the foundational principles and developments of the subject.

In the module, we consider how international business and management is researched, and facilitate a critical understanding based on real-life case studies in international contexts. This module gives learners the capacity to look at the past, present and future in organisations and provides the foundations for intellectual progression in the subject, and broadly, for year two and beyond.  

The ICE Pathway - “Innovation, Commercialisation & Entrepreneurship”, where you'll learn about the Foundations of 'What is Business’.  Alongside:

• Personal & Professional Development: Who am I? How Do I learn? How do I lead & work in a team?
• Knowledge & Practice: What is a business/organisation? Why does this matter? How does this affect society?
• Experiential Learning: Real-world cases & clients; team-based and student-centred Learning approaches

This class aims to support you in developing key skills that are important to both your academic and future career. These include skills associated with:

• research
• data analysis
• critical writing
• team working
• communication

Topics

Semester 1 topics include:

• Working in Business Organisations
• Working Business Research & Consultancy
• Working Internationally
• Working in the Third Sector
• Rhetorics & Oratory

Semester 2 is about developing the proposal of Management Development Programme 3; with a presentation and a final report.

Class description

The second year concentrates on developing understanding through industry-specific contextualisation. Sessions are weekly and three hours in length.

The sessions are thematically linked to the pathways for individualised experience in third year whilst also drawing on the theoretical knowledge developed in Management Development Programme 1. In order to develop understanding, organisations will deliver a half-day session. This consists of a one hour plenary introduction where the company and case study are introduced. This is followed by the group sessions where you undertake activities in relation to the case study set by the company.

In the hospitality and tourism sector, much of the customer engagement and value delivery takes place within the service encounter. In this class you'll learn how the management of this dynamic environment requires an integrated approach where customers, employees and the service setting itself require to be managed.

Nations, regions and cities: destinations are products for Hospitality and Tourism, inward investment and higher education. You'll explore challenges in managing and marketing destinations across organisational and product boundaries using a range of industry contexts. 

The third year of centres on individualised experience in an organisational context through one of the following pathways:

• Internship/Charities - gain practical experience in a private or third sector organisation. You need to negotiate and locate your own organisation and experience – this is one of the key learning points of the pathway.
• Research and consultancy - a facility for local small businesses to gain from the experience and expertise of those within Strathclyde Business School. You work on two live business consultancy projects (one in each semester) and, as a team of six, develop solutions and strategic initiatives for the local SME economy.
• International experience – only available for students who are undertaking an international exchange for either one semester or full year.
• Vertically Integrated Projects - working on a cross-faculty basis to research longitudinal projects (including the ‘Bill Gates Toilet Challenge, Solar Panels for Gambia and Enterprise in Schools) you work with a team of students from all levels of study (first year undergraduate to final year PhD) to further the work of the project.

In addition, you’re required to undertake a social responsibility element (this accounts for one quarter of the overall workload).

These have been designed to provide support to the Curriculum for Excellence and the Widening Access to Higher Education programme. There are no formal classes for Management Development Programme 3 although there is pathway support with the pathway leads and tutor support.

You have the opportunity to gain experience working with industry professionals, to develop practical skills and reflective practice and to build networks for possible future employment. You'll reflect upon and evaluate not only your own performance, but also the organisation, its output or key activities, and broader social, cultural and economic role.

In this class you'll work in a team to design, organise, run and evaluate your own event for charity. Through this practical exercise, you'll be exposed to the realities and challenges of events management and teamwork. This class adds to the experiential content of the Hospitality & Tourism Management programme whilst retaining rigorous theoretical underpinnings and strong coverage of events management at an advanced level.

The distinctiveness of this class is based on its specific focus on exploring the international dimension of the hospitality and tourism industry. It brings together insights from International Business and Hospitality & Tourism Management literatures to explore how the industry has become increasingly global in its operations, and analyse the new type of players that have entered the industry. The class will enhance the current curriculum and educational structure and show developments in terms of internationalisation and the various ways technology is used in necessitating certain changes in the industry.

Inspired by the Harvard approach to management education this class explores three principles of management:

• business strategies are understood through reflection on the complex realities faced by enterprises in competitive arenas
• firms can only be understood within the context of market dynamics
• the contemporary situation can never be divorced from the past

This class uses case studies from Hospitality & Tourism and challenges aspects of learning in previous classes. It'll further your understanding and appreciation of the nature of hospitality and tourism too. It encourages reflection on some realities of hospitality and tourism which do not fit neatly into theoretical boxes. 

The nature and application of business ethics in contemporary management are explored in this class. It raises key ethical issues from both cultural and stakeholder perspectives and balances them with philosophical and pragmatic considerations. It'll provide you with a clear understanding of the dichotomy between philosophical idealism and the pragmatic considerations of ethical leadership for practical management.

This class will develop your knowledge of strategy and provide insights as to how current and aspiring business leaders can manage strategically. You'll have an enhanced understanding of how individuals within an organisation can effectively lead and manage strategy in a complex and challenging world.

The hospitality and tourism industry has a large number of family businesses. Given the prevalence of family businesses – estimates suggest that almost 80% of new ventures are born as family firms and about 60% of the UK’s 4.2 million enterprises are family firms – graduates employed within the SME sector are likely to be employed by family-owned firms. The class examines the distinctive advantages and unique challenges that face family firms.