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Areas of study plan
Business Management
Management practices
Focus: Management practices involve business structures, the impact of internal or external environments on businesses, and the roles of business
managers who plan, organise and lead businesses.
Subject matter
Business managers plan, organise, lead and communicate to achieve business objectives
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Strategic business management includes the analysis of marketing, operations, finance and
human resources to ensure the effective and efficient use of human and physical resources
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Production efficiency and the creation of profit are primary goals of business managers, but they
are not the only criteria of business success
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Business managers consider the views of stakeholders, risks, resources, and the internal and
external environment as they make decisions to achieve business goals and objectives
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Different levels of management fulfil specific roles and functions, with communication between
managers and professional networks being crucial to business success
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Business management decisions and behaviour often involve ethical considerations, which may
conflict with profit considerations and corporate culture
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Businesses must comply with legal and registration requirements appropriate to legal structures
pertaining to the business
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Businesses undertake audits to determine corporate social responsibility and develop codes of
conduct
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Areas of study plan
Business Management
Marketing management
Focus: Marketing management involves businesses researching consumer markets and tailoring products, ideas or services to satisfy the changing
needs or wants of consumers and society.
Subject matter
Marketing involves activities designed to identify and satisfy consumer wants and needs,
responding to changes in consumer behaviour
Business managers select an appropriate marketing orientation suitable to their target market
Management decisions in marketing are impacted by legislation, societal and ethical
considerations
Effective marketing is a competitive advantage that business managers use to achieve
objectives
The marketing mix is a generally accepted set of marketing variables – price, product, promotion
and place
The marketing strategy involves analysis, selecting a target market and creating an appropriate
marketing mix
Marketing planning is a systematic way of assessing marketing opportunities and determining
marketing strategies
Marketing research follows a process that provides primary and secondary data to help identify
marketing opportunities
Changing technologies provide alternative marketing opportunities and affect marketing
strategies
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Areas of study plan
Business Management
Operations management
Focus: Operations management involves businesses efficiently and effectively converting inputs into quality products or services desired by
customers.
Subject matter
Operations managers make strategic decisions involving planning, developing and controlling
the activities required to create a product and supply a service
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Operations management includes strategic and operational planning
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Operations decisions are made based on purchasing, dispatching, inventory control, scheduling,
maintenance (corrective and preventative) and quality control
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Operations management is influenced by production philosophies and scheduling techniques
that ensure materials are in the right place at the right time (e.g. just-in time, total quality
management)
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Technology plays an increasing role in operations and impacts on the nature of work with issues
such as outsourcing and deskilling arising
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Ethical issues such as conservation, environmental concerns and offshore production affect
operations management decisions
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Areas of study plan
Business Management
Financial management
Focus: Financial management occurs through the analysis and interpretation of financial records and is necessary when achieving business goals.
Subject matter
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The role of financial management is to ensure that financial decisions allow the business to
survive, grow and achieve its goals and objectives
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The objectives of financial management are liquidity, profitability, risk minimisation and growth,
which may conflict at times
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Financial management is influenced by the legal structure of the business, ethics and the
external environment in which it operates
Financial management involves sourcing and managing the risks of finance
Finance can be short term, long term, internal, external, local or global
Financial managers use tools such as financial ratio analysis to make financial management
decisions and for information disclosure
Financial management involves the analysis and interpretation of financial statements in
decision making
Financial managers develop investment strategies based on the evaluation of financial risk in
order meet business goals
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Areas of study plan
Business Management
Human resource management
Focus: Human resource management involves using the principles of job design, and managing people and employment cycles.
Subject matter
Human resource management involves attracting, motivating, developing, training and retaining
the appropriate mix of human resources
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Human resource managers design and implement strategies to manage the employment cycle,
including performance appraisal, to achieve business objectives
The effective management of human resources requires an understanding of the theories of
management and leadership
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Understanding individual and cultural diversity, showing tolerance to other points of view, and
encouraging consensus and collaboration enables the negotiation of mutually beneficial
outcomes
Forming strategic alliances, supporting others and contributing to learn efforts enables
employees to achieve personal and business goals
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Human resource managers facilitate communication and cooperation between management and
employees to achieve personal and business goals, which may differ at times
Human resource managers work within ethical and legal boundaries to achieve business,
individual and societal goals and objectives
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The relative bargaining power of a human resource manager or business is affected by various
factors such as the extent of unionisation, government regulation, and supply and demand
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Areas of study plan
Business Management
Business development
Focus: Business development involves entrepreneurship as students develop and test ideas, preparing feasibility studies to determine the viability of
those ideas.
Subject matter
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Entrepreneurship requires innovation, creativity, initiative and an understanding of processes for
testing the viability and ethical nature of new ideas
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Intrapreneurship is encouraged in business through building a flexible and supportive
environment that encourages free thinking and the sharing of ideas
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Entrepreneurial ideas use evolving technologies to generate ideas, increase market share and
achieve business goals
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Entrepreneurial ideas come to fruition through the development of clear business feasibility
studies
Business proposals consist of a business profile, competition analysis, recommendations and an
evaluation of the proposal to determine the viability of the proposed business idea
A competition analysis should incorporate marketing, human resources, financial and
operational considerations
Analysing and comparing competitors are useful techniques for formulating recommendations
for a proposed business
An evaluation of the business proposal provides a test of feasibility and viability of the proposed
business allowing decisions for future action to be made
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