Why this course?
Business Enterprise is about the creation of wealth, creativity and resourcefulness and exploiting change. This course is designed for students who want to start a new enterprise, those who want to take over the management of an existing business and those who are aiming for leadership positions.
The Department of Marketing at Strathclyde is recognised as the leading centre of marketing education and research in the UK.
This course will help you develop the skills for a variety of marketing and management careers. You’ll understand customer requirements, added-value products and services and the role of communications in customer satisfaction.
Create your own course
Modern business is too complex to be covered by a single subject: modern managers need to have a broad outlook.
You choose basic classes in business and other disciplines, alongside the Business School’s Management Development Programme. You’ll study a wide variety of subjects and create a curriculum to suit your interests and needs.
You also have the opportunity to try new subjects, some of which you won’t have experienced at school or college. At the beginning of Year 2, you choose two subjects to continue studying in Years 2 and 3. You’ll also select a third, ‘minor’ subject and take further Management Development skills classes.
Apply under the general UCAS entry code N100 if you’d prefer to discuss your subject choices once you arrive. To study accounting, apply under N400 or one of the other accounting codes listed on the site.
What you’ll study
Business Enterprise
Year 1
You’ll gain an understanding of entrepreneurship and its ability to change industries, markets and society, introducing the vocabulary, concepts and practice of enterprise.
In the 2nd semester you’ll take part in Value Challenge – a group assignment to give you real life experience of creating value through entrepreneurial activity.
Year 2
You’ll be introduced to key entrepreneurial processes through core classes and electives.
Year 3
Examines entrepreneurial processes and enterprising skills in different settings.
Year 4
You’ll study core classes and also undertake a dissertation.
Marketing
Year 1
You'll learn about the basic principles of marketing and explore marketing within an organisation.
Year 2
Students will look at areas including the factors that influence buyers and the challenges that marketers face in the retail and service sectors.
Year 3
How marketers communicate with customers and the role of marketing in formulating, implementing and evaluating marketing strategies will be studied in third year. You’ll also have a choice of option classes.
Year 4
In your final year, you'll learn about the value of brands to firms and consumers. Options include International Business Management, Sports Marketing and Social Marketing.
Work placement
Third year students have the option to study abroad at one of our partner institutions across a number of countries worldwide. This study period can last for one or two semesters.
Student competitions
The Marketing Society Awards
Students write an essay, compete in an ‘Apprentice-style’ day in Edinburgh and shortlisted students attend an awards ceremony in May. The prize is a three-month paid internship.
Target Jobs: Scotland Undergraduate of the Year Award
Students must sit a series of online tests, application forms, interviews and assessment exercises, culminating in an awards ceremony in Canary Wharf, London in April. The prize is the chance of a graduate job with a number of leading companies.
Both of these prizes have recently been won by Strathclyde Marketing students.
Course content
The Management Development Programme (MDP) is a core element of the undergraduate degree programme in the Strathclyde Business School.
The programme runs for the first three years of the BA degree. The entire class is driven by real business problems. The approach to learning is active problem-based, with students working in project teams.
The class aims to encourage integration of the knowledge and experience gained in Principal Subjects. Each year of the MDP focuses on different aspects of business and the content of MDP is constantly evolving and being updated and enhanced.
Year 1
Management Development Programme 1
Topics
First Year aims to help you make the transition to the university context. Semester 1 is the Thematic Semester: The World of Business Today and covers topics such as:
- Social-Ethical-Environmental Governance (SEEG)
- Business Ethics
- Disruptive Technologies
Semester 2: Functional Semester: Organisations Today covers topics such as:
- Creativity & Responsibility
- Marketing & Sustainability across Domains
Class description
The first year of the programme is centred on the construction of knowledge in classroom setting with theoretical constructs developed. For each topic we’ve recorded a video by a Strathclyde academic who is a leading expert in the field.
You’ll watch these lectures in advance of each session and complete a pre-sessional activity. The pre-sessional work then forms the basis of team based activities work in the classroom (groups of 50 and teams of six-seven) where you develop an agreed understanding of the topic and present this to the group.
The feedback gained from this activity then feeds directly into the assessment for the block. You’ll complete 16 assignments in the two semesters of the class.
Business Enterprise
Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice
This class is intended to give you a broad understanding of entrepreneurship, the arenas in which entrepreneurship is practiced, and the role of the entrepreneur in economy and society. The practical component will introduce you to entrepreneurship in the real world through engagement with entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial process (e.g. guest lectures, cases, desk research, and group work).
Marketing
Introduction to Marketing
Marketing is a key part of any successful business, and a good theoretical and practical knowledge of the subject will be of immense benefit to an aspiring manager or entrepreneur. In this class, you'll be exposed to concepts and ideas from economics, sociology, psychology, geography and other social sciences, all in the context of the competitive business environment.
Year 2
Management Development Programme 2
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 MDP3; 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 MDP 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.
Business Enterprise
Creativity & Innovation Management
This class aims to provide you with a rigorous understanding of creativity and innovation through an intensive blend of theoretical and experiential learning activities. You'll be strongly encouraged to submit your work to relevant business/innovation competitions (e.g. the Scottish Institute for Enterprise Young Innovators Competition and the New York City Big Idea Innovation Challenge).
New Venture Planning
This class is designed to provide a practical introduction to drawing up business plans and understanding how new ventures are managed and developed. It will not follow the traditional lecture pattern but will be highly interactive. You'll be involved in individual and group activities which will encourage creative thinking and “learning by doing” in addressing the real opportunities and challenges that face the first-time entrepreneur.
Elective classes
Introduction to Business Start-Up
Through this class, you're given the opportunity to appreciate the complexity of decision making in managing the initial and development stages of a start-up company. You have the opportunity to experience the complexity of the entrepreneurial process though a simulation. The overall aim of the class is to raise your awareness of the key concepts of new venture development, how small businesses operate and what influences success or failure.
Technology Entrepreneurship & Commercialisation
This class aims for you to better appreciate management challenges of a complex, uncertain, and interdisciplinary high-tech business environment. This class attempts to bridge the gap between researchers, technologists and the mainstream customer and to provide engineers and scientists with a better understanding of what it takes to create and grow technology-based businesses.
Marketing
Services & Retail Marketing
At the heart of this class is the recognition that services present unique challenges, and that building customer relationships through quality service is fundamental to marketing success in every organisation. Over the past decade the retail sector has been one of the most dynamic areas in business. The retail sector also provides a very clear indication of the overall health and robustness of the economy. The rise or fall of the individual’s disposable income is very quickly reflected in terms of expenditure on items. In this respect, the retail sector acts as the weather vane for the economy.
Understanding Consumers & Markets
Many of the fundamental concepts of marketing are based on an ability to understand consumers and the marketing concept can be implemented more effectively when adequate information about the market and potential consumer behaviour is available. Marketing Research and customer information provide a critical input to the planning and development of a company's marketing strategy in relation to marketing communications, strategic marketing and branding.
Year 3
Management Development Programme 3
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 SBS. You work on two live business consultancy projects (one in each semester) and, as a team of 6, 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 MDP3 although there is pathway support with the pathway leads and tutor support.
Business Enterprise
Entrepreneurial Capital & Resources
This class provides an intense grounding in entrepreneurial capital. The need for both capability and commitment are stressed. After a grounding in the theoretical and empirical literature on entrepreneurial capital, you'll enhance your own entrepreneurial capital through a set of practical assignments. The class aims to build your awareness of different forms of entrepreneurial capital and build their effectiveness in entrepreneurial finance.
Having established a good understanding of the economic and social impact of entrepreneurship, opportunity identification, and starting and resourcing a new venture in previous modules, in this class you're presented with the challenges and opportunities of managing and growing the venture in a sustainable way. Through working with local businesses, you'll have the opportunity to assess the management practices of Scottish SMEs and consult them on their growth strategies.
Marketing
Semester 1
Marketing Communications
This module will explore relevant marketing communications theory, consider the role and purpose of marketing communications, critically review the different ways in which organisations can communicate (the marketing communications mix) and consider how marketing communication tools are used in practice. The module will also consider the need for Integrated Marketing Communications and identify those factors that impact upon the selection of an effective marketing communications mix.
Essentials of International Marketing
This class aims to develop knowledge of international marketing theory and practice. The increased scope, risk and complexity faced by the international marketer is due to the increased level of uncertainty from operating in diverse and less understood environments. Emphasis is placed on the identification of challenges presented by international marketing to equip students to deal with differences, opportunities and threats emerging from diverse economic, demographic, political/legal, cultural, technical and competitive environments.
Semester 2
Strategic Marketing
The mission of this class is to provide students with a clear understanding of how to formulate business strategies using marketing concepts and theories. The course will review the tools necessary to analyse business cases, particularly looking at companies that are in the forefront of business today. It also provides an overview of the marketing plan and attention will be on the implications for planning and strategy development.
Management of Sales Operations
A key aspect of the class is to evaluate selling strategies that can improve the productivity and effectiveness of sales operations via organisational structure, territory control and customer planning and setting sales targets. In addition, we’ll evaluate sales performance in terms of the behaviour and characteristics of salespeople and their interaction with buyers.
Year 4
Business Enterprise
Venture Management in Practice
The class investigates the entrepreneurial and management issues associated with the growth of an established venture. It allows you to extend and build on your knowledge of entrepreneurship and small firms, by investigating internal and external issues faced by growth oriented ventures; as they seek to grow in a sustainable way through the application multiple capital resources. You'll have the opportunity to apply your knowledge and understanding in a real situation by undertaking an individual applied business development project, within an established entrepreneurial venture.
This class is designed to highlight the growing importance of entrepreneurship in the international arena and to enable you to understand both the entry modes for international entrepreneurship and the typical obstacles faced by entrepreneurs and SMEs in moving into the international arena.
This class will provide an opportunity to explore contemporary, emerging and cutting edge themes in entrepreneurship theory and practice. It will provide you with up-to-date and relevant insights into contemporary academic thinking on the entrepreneurship discipline, insights from practicing ‘master’ entrepreneurs and exposure to emerging trends that will shape the future entrepreneurial landscape. This course builds on the academic content of previous courses with in-depth exposure to contemporary academic theories and empirical studies on entrepreneurship.
In Honours year, you should develop as an independent learner who can demonstrate the ability to conduct research independently within the Business Enterprise discipline. The module is supported with a Research Methods class, which aims to enhance your research skills.
The class examines the distinctive advantages and unique challenges that face family firms and builds an enhanced appreciation of the different perspectives of the various stakeholders associated with family business. It allows you to extend your knowledge of entrepreneurship and small firms by considering the specific dynamics of family ownership. The class will benefit from the input of guest speakers, including owners of family firms.
Marketing
Brand Management
The importance of brands raises significant questions of how to develop brand equity and how to communicate a branding strategy of differentiation, value and identification. The role of the Brand Manager is reviewed along with formulating the necessary communication strategies to build brand equity and secure market share.
More recent approaches in this vein suggest that the traditional Brand Management approach is all too limited, leaving many questions unanswered. Consequently more recent approaches address the co-construction of brand value, through viral branding, using social media, co-branding and brand extensions. In this respect, the principles of branding are now being applied beyond simply new product development, to such strategies as places, communities and countries.
Other key strategies that may be discussed include, luxury branding, nation branding, business-to-business branding and corporate brands.
Social Marketing
This course aims to build on your knowledge of traditional commercial-oriented Marketing, by examining applications of Marketing in a social context. Each year millions of pounds are spent world-wide to combat health and social problems such as HIV/AIDS, smoking, drug and alcohol abuse and rising obesity levels. At the same time excessive consumptions burdens society with building landfills and increasing pollution. Meanwhile there are still people who consume ‘too little’ and who suffer from hunger.
The class considers recent research in a variety of Social Marketing contexts and material is continuously updated to ensure that students gain an understanding of the most relevant and critical Social Marketing trends.
Dissertation
The dissertation is an important part of the fourth year programme. Single honours students are required to submit a dissertation in Marketing while joint Honours students can submit a dissertation in Marketing or in their other Honours subject.
Elective classes
Advances in Consumer Behaviour
This class provides you with an understanding of some of the contemporary issues and challenges in understanding consumers. Building on the undergraduate Consumer Behaviour class, this module aims to develop your ability to analyse consumer behaviour in a variety of situations and to explore the complexity of 21st century consumption.
The class reviews consumer trends and the significance of consumer culture, and then explores topics that are the focus of recent research attention. Current topics include consumer identity (possessions and body image); consumer vulnerability; postmodern consumers; consumer tribes; consumption spaces; consumers and celebrities and consumers and ethics.
Managing Customer Relationships
The class explores the development of relationship marketing from its transactional roots and introduces concepts such as: CRM, customer loyalty, customer equity and customer perspectives on relationships. A contemporary look at relationships within marketing is introduced through examination of S-D Logic, co-creation and customer engagement, these highlight how firms build and utilise relationships with a customer ‘resource’ to create and offer increasingly more specialised and individualised offerings.
International Business Management
This class examines the theoretical underpinnings which help explain the operations of such enterprises, covering both international business strategy and international business management. This will be achieved by exploring contemporary issues in academic thought and international business practice.
Managing Integrated Marketing Communications: Theory & Practice
The class will create a learning environment in which you can enhance your knowledge of relevant marketing communications theories and develop the necessary analytical, creative and decision-making skills required to effectively manage IMC in a variety of contexts.
Sports Marketing
This class provides you with an opportunity to study and apply marketing principles and concepts to a sector that has gained increasing significance in society world-wide. We’ve witnessed the emergence of a sports culture in many countries. This, in turn, has led to the emergence of sport as a global industry.
Sport is one of the most important sectors in the UK in terms of spectator interest, participation and consumer spending. It is also a varied industry consisting of sports products as well as sports services, spectator sports, sports media and sport-related travel.
Assessment
The majority of classes involve a final unseen exam which is normally at the end of the semester. This is normally supplemented by individual and/or group coursework.
In some cases, you can get exemption from the final exam if you achieve a specific mark for your coursework (and satisfying attendance requirements).
Learning & teaching
Teaching is over two semesters in blocks of 12 weeks. Classes are taught through lectures, tutorials, and seminars alongside team-based projects, online materials, and interactive sessions using personal response systems.
External contributors from partnership corporate organisations are involved in teaching and/or assessment of student presentations.
Many of our Marketing classes have guest speakers throughout the year from leading experts e.g. Procter & Gamble, Clydesdale Bank, Accenture, Leith Agency, LIDL.
The innovative and highly acclaimed Management Development Programme (MDP) is at the core of our undergraduate degrees in the Business School and comprises a series of classes which you take throughout Years 1 to 3.
You develop knowledge and skills in key areas of management, and team-working, communication and decision-making skills, all of which are highly sought-after by employers.
Major employers and alumni from all sectors are involved in the MDP, participating in group sessions, observing student presentations, and providing feedback. Organisations involved include Barclays, Deloitte, Procter & Gamble and Ernst & Young. In first year the best teams are selected to present to senior staff in one of the sponsoring organisations, and there are prizes for the best projects.
The programme builds your confidence and entrepreneurial capabilities, and promotes awareness of globalisation and ethical issues in personal and business decision-making. In Year 3, you develop your own pathway from internships, involvement with business projects, engagement in interdisciplinary activities and business clinics.
Entry requirements
Minimum grades
Required subjects are indicated following minimum accepted grades.
Highers
1st sitting: AAAB or AABBB; 2nd sitting: AAABBB (English B, Maths National 5B/Intermediate 2; Higher Maths B for combinations with Finance)
A Levels
Minimum entry requirements: BBB (GCSE English Language B or Literature B; Maths GCSE B/A Level B for combinations with Finance)
Typical entry requirements: ABB (GCSE English Language B or Literature B; GCSE Maths B/A Level B for combinations with Finance)
International Baccalaureate
33 (no subject below 5 and including English SL5, Maths SL5/Maths Studies 5)
HNC/HND
Successful completion of relevant HNC/HND at first attempt with A passes in all graded Units. Contact Business School Admissions for advice on entry to Year 2.
Irish Leaving Certificate
AAABBB at Higher level, including English and Maths
Required subjects
- English: Higher level B
- Maths: Ordinary level at B or Higher level at B for combinations with Finance
- Maths for combinations with Mathematics & Statistics: Higher level A
Additional information
Advanced Highers
An Advanced Higher and a Higher are given equal credit and the grades for each qualification count towards the total grades required.
Deferred entry
Deferred entry not accepted.
Admission to Honours
All students will be admitted as potential Honours students. Students may exit with a Bachelor of Arts degree at the end of year three of the Honours programme if they have accumulated at least 360 credits and satisfied the appropriate specialisation requirements. For admission to the final year of the Honours course, a student must have qualified for the award of the Bachelor of Arts degree and achieved an approved standard of performance.
English language requirement
A pass in an English language qualification is normally required from applicants outside the UK whose first language is not English. The following provides information on the main qualifications considered for entry to the Business School undergraduate degree courses.
IELTS: Minimum overall band score of 6.5 (no individual test score below 5.5)
Widening access
We want to increase opportunities for people from every background. Strathclyde selects our students based on merit, potential and the ability to benefit from the education we offer. We look for more than just your grades. We consider the circumstances of your education and will make lower offers to certain applicants as a result.
Find out if you can benefit from this type of offer.
International students
Find out entry requirements for your country.
Degree preparation course for international students
We offer international students (non EU/UK) who do not meet the entry requirements for an undergraduate degree at Strathclyde the option of completing an Undergraduate Foundation year programme at the International Study Centre. To find out more about these courses and opportunities on offer visit isc.strath.ac.uk or call today on +44 (0) 1273 339333 and discuss your education future.
You can also complete the online application form, or to ask a question please fill in the enquiry form and talk to one of our multi-lingual Student Enrolment Advisers today.
Fees & funding
How much will my course cost?
All fees quoted are for full-time courses and per academic year unless stated otherwise.
Scotland/EU
Rest of UK
Bachelor degrees at Strathclyde will cost £9,250 a year, but the total amount payable will be capped at £27,750 for students on a four-year Bachelors programme. Students studying on integrated Masters degree programmes – for example MSci, MEng and MPharm – will pay £9,250 for the Masters year.
International
Additional fees
Business Enterprise
Course materials & costs
Students are required to purchase one book for undergraduate core class - ONW Z1217. The cost is kept to a maximum £15.
Placement & field trips
Students will need to cover any travel costs associated with data collection for the undergraduate dissertation. This may be approximately in the region of £70 - dependent on location of travel.
Other costs
Students are required to pay for printing and binding of their undergraduate dissertation. Costs will depend on the length of dissertation - but on average is around £40.
Marketing
Course materials & costs
Undergraduate and Honours materials comprise of textbooks and course handbooks. All of the compulsory handbooks are available free on Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Recommended texts cost on average £50 per text. Copies are available free from the library.
Honours students will need to cost for the binding of a dissertation and the purchase of a CD or pen drive for copy. Printing costs at the University are four pence per page in black and white and £3 for binding. The cost of a pen drive or CD will vary dependent on the store purchased from.
Please note: All fees shown are annual and may be subject to an increase each year. Find out more about fees.
How can I fund my studies?
Students from Scotland and the EU
If you're a Scottish or EU student, you may be able to apply to the Student Award Agency Scotland (SAAS) to have your tuition fees paid by the Scottish government. Scottish students may also be eligible for a bursary and loan to help cover living costs while at University.
For more information on funding your studies have a look at our University Funding page.
Students from England, Wales & Northern Ireland
We have a generous package of bursaries on offer for students from England, Northern Ireland and Wales
