IB Business Management

Business and Management is the rigorous and critical study of the ways in which individuals and groups interact in a dynamic business environment. It is an academic discipline that examines how business decisions are made and the impact of these decisions on internal and external environments. Business and Management provides students with the skills to make sense of the circumstances that drive change in an interdependent and multicultural world. Emphasis is placed on the ideals of international cooperation and responsive citizenship.

Aims

What are the aims of the IB Business and Management course?

• To encourage a holistic view of the world of business
• To enable candidates to develop the capacity to think critically
• To enhance candidates’ ability to make decisions
• To enable candidates to appreciate the pace, nature and significance of change
• To provide a holistic background into the subject of business management

The Diploma Program for the Business Management course are found in six underlying concepts that encompass the whole syllabus:

• Change

• Culture

• Ethics

• Globalization

• Innovation

• Strategy

Hence the acronym of CUEGIS

CHANGE: Change is necessary within organizations to remain competitive. Success emerges from the ability to research and respond to signals in both internal and external environments.

CULTURE: Values, beliefs and norms of an organization, country or any social group that shapes the customs of people and how things get done. They affect decision making and strategy.

ETHICS: Socially accepted moral principles that guide decision making based on a personal or collective belief of what is right or wrong. These implications can be significant for internal and external stakeholders and the natural environment.

GLOBALIZATION: Internationalization  in the form of social, cultural, technological and economic forces influence business organizations, these in turn, shape these forces, providing increased levels of competition and global access to customers. Many businesses organizations operate across national boundaries.

INNOVATION: Improvements to ideas, generation of new ideas applied to businesses in the form of final products, services or processes. Gives businesses competitive advantage and can be applied to all aspects in an organization. A key challenge is bringing in the new and managing the process of improvement in a sustainable way.

STRATEGY: Long term planning that organization carry out in order to meet their vision-mission, to fulfill the needs and wants of all their stakeholders.

Strategy is about asking questions: what? Why? How? When? Where? and who?

GLOBALIZATION: Internationalization  in the form of social, cultural, technological and economic forces influence business organizations, these in turn, shape these forces, providing increased levels of competition and global access to customers. Many businesses organizations operate across national boundaries.

The Higher Level Course

The Higher Level course is designed for students who have a keen interest in the world around them and who want to undertake an in-depth study of Business and Management in order to develop sound skills of analysis and evaluation that they can apply to international real-world situations. No previous knowledge of Business and Management is presumed and therefore there are no special course requirements, although it is recommended that students will have achieved at least a grade C in Mathematics.

Topics

What topics will be studied and how will they be assessed?

The course involves a study of:

• An Introduction to Organizations – including the need for business organizations, the different types of organizations and their objectives.
• The External Environment – including different environments in which organisations operate.
• Marketing – including marketing strategies to achieve organizational objectives and in response to the changing environment.
• Human Resource Management – including the way people influence, and are influenced by, organizations in order to achieve organizational objectives.
• Operations Management – including operation decision making, linking, in particular, with human resource management, quality assurance and customer care.
• Accounting and Finance – including how organizations manage their finance and the strengths and limitations of the tools of financial analysis.

Examinations

You will be required to complete the following papers at the end of the two-year course and each paper covers the entire syllabus:

Paper 1

It is based on a pre-issued case study.

• 1 compulsory question
• 3 extended response questions of which two must be answered

Duration of Exam: 75 Minutes Sl; 135 Minutes HL

Paper 2

5 data response questions of which 3 must be answered

Duration of exam: 105 Minutes SL ; 135 Minutes HL

Internal Assessment

A Research Project based on real-world organisational issues or decision making. The project has a limit of 2000 words HL

Course Weighting

• Paper 1 - 40%
• Paper 2 - 35%
• Internal Assessment - 25%

The Standard Level Course

The Standard Level course is designed for any students who have an interest in the world around them and who wish to develop skills of analysis and evaluation that they can apply to international real-world situations. No previous knowledge of Business and Management is presumed and therefore there are no special course requirements, although it is recommended that students will have achieved at least a grade C in Mathematics.

Topics

What topics will be studied and how will they be assessed?

The course involves a study of:

• An Introduction to Organisations – including the need for organisations, the different types of organisations and their objectives and the different environments in which organisations operate.
• Marketing – including marketing strategies to achieve organisational objectives and in response to the changing environment.
• Human Resource Management – including the way people influence and are influenced by organisations in order to achieve organisational objectives.
• Accounting and Finance – including how organisations manage their finance and the strengths and limitations of the tools of financial analysis.
• Operations Management – including operation decision making, linking, in particular, with human resource management, quality assurance and customer care.

Examinations

External Assessment

Paper 1

• 2 of 3 structured questions, and 1 compulsory question, based on a pre-issued case study

Duration of Exam: 75 Minutes (SL)

Paper 2

• 2 of 5 structured questions and 1 of 3 extended response questions based on two concepts.

Duration of Exam: 105 Minutes (SL)

Internal Assessment

A Written Commentary following the IBO Required Written Assignment Format, to be internally assessed by the teacher and externally moderated by the IBO.

The Research Project must be based on a research question which can be directly related to one of the topics or sub-topics of the Standard Level syllabus and must be a question regarding a real world problem involving any form of a business organization.

Total Length: 2,000 words max (Higher Level)

1,500 words max (Standard Level) If you go over the limits, there will be point penalties.

Course Weighting

• Paper 1 - 35%
• Paper 2 - 40%
• Internal Assessment - 25%

Higher Education

Why is IB Business and Management valuable for Higher Education?

Business and Management draws from such a varied range of sources that it is suitable for most occupations. It is widely accepted by universities for many diverse courses and employers recognise its strong practical respectability. Future careers may include management, retailing, marketing, sales, accountancy, research, the civil service and consultancy. This course will provide students with a wide range of transferable skills and can, therefore, be useful in many other subjects and careers