Business Management BA

Core modules:

Business, Economics and Society

This module helps you make sense of that wider international environment by examining the political, economic, social, technological and environmental forces that shape contemporary business life.

You explore how markets work in practice, why they sometimes fail and how economic incentives, trade‑offs and constraints influence decisions made by organisations, governments and households. Using contemporary issues such as inflation, labour markets, digital disruption and climate pressures, you learn to interpret how wider economic forces affect people, industries and society.

You also work with different perspectives on economic questions, including those that challenge mainstream assumptions, so you can analyse real‑world issues with confidence. 

You will be able to challenge understanding of the socioeconomic environment in which businesses are embedded so that you become more cognizant with diverse ways of thinking about and understanding real world business economic issues.

20 credits

Why Organisations Matter

Organisations shape almost every part of contemporary life, each with its own purpose, identity and way of creating value in society. Some are familiar, others surprising, and many have underlying value models that are not immediately obvious. This module helps you make sense of that landscape by introducing a simple lens for understanding organisations: why they exist, how they organise work and how they create value for different groups.

As the starting point of the Business Management BA, you will explore a wide range of organisations across Sheffield and beyond, investigating their purposes, the problems they are set up to solve and the different ways they create value for customers, communities and society. This interactive exploration builds your understanding of organisations as real, diverse and purposeful systems.

You will learn to look closely at how organisations work: how they are structured, how decisions are made, how people coordinate and how value flows through different parts of the system. Using real examples, you practise noticing patterns, asking better questions and making sense of what organisations do and why.

By the end of the module, you will begin to develop the tools and perspectives needed to understand organisations clearly and to approach business as something lived, complex and relevant to the world around you. The module will prepare you for exploring the theme of value creation within organisations throughout your studies.

20 credits

What Managers Do

Work in organisations is shaped by the people who do it. Every day, individuals in different roles such as employees, owners, freelancers, founders, contractors, gig workers and collaborators notice what needs attention, make judgements, negotiate and help work move forward. This module explores that human side of organising.

You will examine organising as a practical, everyday activity: how people share their views and decide what to do next, coordinate with others and adapt when things change. Ideas from organisation studies and people management help you understand how context, relationships and purpose shape the way work happens and why it varies across national and international settings.

Through guest lectures, you will meet people from a range of organisations who talk about what they actually do and how they make sense of their working lives. Their experiences bring the ideas in the module to life and show how everyday actions shape organisational activity. By the end, you will have a clearer sense of the many ways people contribute to organisational and business life and how work depends on individuals using awareness, initiative and judgement.

20 credits

Why Money Matters

Money moves through every organisation, shaping the choices people make and the possibilities they have. This module helps you understand how and why those financial flows work by looking at how organisations earn money, spend it, invest it and account for it, and how these movements influence priorities and performance.

You will be introduced to the core ideas behind financial information, including revenue, cost, cash flow and profit, and learn how financial statements help people interpret what is happening inside an organisation. You look at how money is raised for new and growing ventures, how financial plans are created and how organisations explain their performance to those who provide funds.

Examples from start‑ups and growth firms show how financial decisions shape what an organisation can do next. By the end of the module, you will understand how money circulates through an organisation and how financial information supports judgement, action and accountability.

20 credits

Data and Decisions

Good decisions start with understanding the information available. This module introduces you to the role data plays in supporting clear thinking and sound judgement, and shows how evidence can help you make sense of problems and opportunities in real settings.

You will learn how to collect, interpret and question different kinds of data, including simple numerical information, patterns in behaviour and observations from real situations. You will explore how data is used to understand customers, compare options, track performance and address practical challenges, and you examine the risks and limitations of relying on data without context or critical thinking.

Through applied, hands‑on tasks, you work with data to spot patterns, make comparisons and interpret what the evidence suggests. You will have opportunities to use accessible digital tools to organise, explore and present information, without needing any prior technical experience. You will also learn how to communicate your reasoning clearly so that others can understand the basis of your decisions. By the end of the module, you will understand how data contributes to everyday decision‑making and you will be able to use evidence in a careful, informed and practical way.

20 credits

Psychology, Behaviour and Organisations

Organisations shape people's working lives in powerful ways. This module explores how structures, systems and everyday working conditions influence what gets done and how work is experienced. You will examine how design choices, technologies and organisational environments affect motivation, confidence, interaction and participation.

You will work with ideas from modern organisational behaviour and work psychology to understand why work feels different in different settings and how people respond to the expectations around them. You will analyse real organisational challenges such as hybrid working, workload pressures and inclusion, and evaluate how organisations are trying to address them.

By the end of the module, you will have developed your knowledge  of the different ways people contribute to organisational and business life, and how work depends on individuals using awareness, initiative and judgement. You develop your skills in learning to identify and reflect on your own strengths and how you might contribute in different organisational roles.

20 credits

Core modules:

Marketing: Creating Customer Value

This module explores how marketing helps organisations make sense of customer needs, respond to changing markets and build relationships that support long‑term performance. It considers customers in commercial settings as well as people who engage with public and non‑profit services, recognising that value is created in different ways across sectors.

Throughout the module, you work with core marketing concepts such as customer insight, segmentation and positioning to analyse markets and understand how different groups perceive value. Drawing on the School's networks and external partners, you tackle marketing questions shaped by real organisations and current market issues, giving you the chance to gain real‑life experience of how marketing works in practice. These applied activities help you interpret evidence, understand how customer perceptions are shaped and practise developing marketing responses that reflect the kinds of decisions organisations make every day, including those involving customer experience and digital touchpoints.

By the end of the module, you will be able to analyse how marketing creates value, apply insight to understand customer needs and evaluate the effectiveness of different marketing activities. You will develop the capability to create and justify marketing responses that use customer insight to deliver clear value propositions, preparing you for more advanced study of branding, platforms and strategic marketing in your final year.

20 credits

Operations and Supply Chains

This module helps you understand how  companies transform inputs such as labour, materials and knowledge into finished goods and services and how supply chains connect organisations to customers, partners and wider networks. Using data, real examples and practical analysis, you examine how people, technology and resources are coordinated, where bottlenecks, constraints and pressures emerge and how operational choices influence cost, quality, speed and sustainability.

Through applied, operational analysis, you will learn how to diagnose issues in processes and supply chains, interpret evidence and evaluate alternative ways of improving performance. Activities throughout the module encourage you to test ideas, work with operational information and practise making informed operational recommendations. By the end of the module, you will be able to analyse how operations and supply chains function, apply evidence to identify improvements and communicate operational recommendations that support better decisions.

20 credits

Leadership, Influence and Collaboration

Through this module you will understand how people get things done by working across boundaries, building connections and accessing the resources they need. You will explore how collaboration works in practice, how networks shape who has influence and how individuals use relationships, information, negotiation and opportunities to move ideas forward.

You will learn how ideas from organisational behaviour, leadership studies, social networks and collaboration explain how influence moves between people. You will spend time practising the kinds of interactions people deal with in real workplaces, including networking, negotiating, handling disagreements and helping a group make progress. The practical nature of this module give you space to try out different approaches, see how others respond and build confidence in your own style.

You also work through realistic scenarios where teams share information, coordinate tasks and solve problems across different parts of an organisation. Alongside, you reflect on your own experiences to help you recognise the communication and relationship‑building skills you already use and how to strengthen them.

By the end of the module, you will understand how collaboration and networks shape influence, be able to apply key ideas to real organisational situations and evaluate different ways of working across boundaries. You will also develop practical skills in communication, coordination and relationship‑building that will help you work confidently with others in group projects, placements and future employment.

20 credits

Strategic Choices

This module explores how organisations decide on a direction when the world around them is shifting. You will look at how economic trends, new technologies and changing expectations create points in time where making decisions are important, and how organisations make sense of these situations when information is incomplete.

You will work with ideas from strategic management such as competitive positioning, environmental analysis and organisational adaptation. You will  compare options in an uncertain and complex world.  You will weigh up pressures and think through different ways an organisation might respond. Through applied activities, you try out strategic tools, explore how choices play out in uncertain situations and experiment with how business models shift when disruption or innovation appears. You also look at how organisations manage competing priorities and practise explaining the reasoning behind different strategic paths.

By the end of the module, you will understand how organisations make strategic choices in uncertain environments and be able to apply key strategy concepts to contemporary situations. You will be able to evaluate different options, explain how organisations adapt when priorities collide and justify strategic choices for organisations navigating disruption and change.

20 credits

Optional modules (choose two):

Business Analytics and Data Visualisation

Every modern business has access to large pools of data from various internal and external sources. Internally, businesses hold data about their products and services, workforce, customers and suppliers, to name a few. Externally, social media data, such as customer comments on products/services, is increasingly becoming vital as businesses endeavour to retain their customers and design or redesign new products or services to meet customer expectations. Data is now universally recognised as the most critical resource in managing businesses. However, businesses will struggle to use data for competitive and strategic advantage unless it is transformed into intelligence. Business analytics enables businesses to uncover patterns, predict trends, and make evidence-based choices that improve performance and competitiveness.  Data Visualisation has become one of the essential assets in 21st-century organisations as it turns raw data into actionable insights. In this module, you will learn key elements of business analytics and data visualisation including data and databases, business intelligence, data analytics and visualisation, business analytics and sustainability, and supporting technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI)  and Machine Learning (ML).

20 credits

Law for Management

The module provides a basic introduction to the core aspects of domestic law and relevant EU law. The syllabus covers a study of the domestic legal system, the law of contract, aspects of agency, and the law of negligence incorporating the potential liability of those in the business of delivering advice in professional practice. The module also examines the law relating to companies including the legal regulation of business organisations.

20 credits

Digital Audiences and Engagement

Understanding audiences, attention and engagement is essential for anyone working with digital communication, content or marketing. This module develops the practical skills needed to analyse audience and customer behaviour, make informed choices about content and channels and use digital tools to support effective communication and engagement.

You will work with ideas from digital communication, marketing and audience insight such as audience journeys, platform conventions and engagement patterns to explore how different platforms shape behaviour and expectations. You will use analytics, engagement data and audience research to interpret digital environments, compare options and design approaches for specific groups. You will also explore applied activities where you create and justify recommendations for real digital communication situations.

By the end of the module, you will have developed skills in analysing how digital platforms and content are used to build audiences and relationships, apply audience engagement concepts to develop approaches for different groups, evaluate how insight and data inform digital decisions and create evidence‑based responses to audience and engagement challenges.

20 credits

Responsible Management for a Sustainable Society

Interconnected pressures across climate, society and the economy are pushing decision makers to balance private goals with wider responsibilities. These tensions are especially visible for the future of cities, health, and work, where choices about sustainability, wellbeing, technology and inequality shape organisational roles and societal outcomes.

In this module you step into the role of the decision maker. Through various activities, you will examine organisational tensions and explore what happens when environmental, social and financial expectations collide. Through tutorial activities you will test different responses, decision sprints,and stakeholder exercises to understand how choices ripple across people and communities. These sessions help you build practical skills in judgement, communication and ethical reasoning by giving you space to try out approaches, see the consequences of different paths, and understand how responsible decisions are made in practice.

By the end of the module, you will be able to critically appraise key perspectives in responsible management, evaluate how organisations apply responsible practices and develop recommendations to strengthen their social and environmental performance. You will also apply responsible management ideas to your own career planning and understand how emerging roles in sustainability, governance and impact relate to contemporary organisational needs.

20 credits

Contemporary International Business

In this module, you will explore the contemporary developments that are transforming the international business landscape. As global markets become increasingly interconnected, complex, and unpredictable, international firms face new strategic challenges and opportunities. You will critically examine how emerging trends are reshaping the way businesses operate across borders. The module encourages you to question traditional assumptions, evaluate alternative business models, and consider how firms can adapt to ongoing change. Through the analysis of current cases and real-world examples, you will develop the ability to assess strategic responses to disruption and uncertainty in a global context. Emphasis is placed on developing analytical and reflective skills that are essential for understanding international business in the 21st century. By the end of the module, you will be equipped to engage with complex, future-oriented issues in global business strategy and decision-making.

20 credits

Core modules:
- The Sheffield Innovation Project
- Business Futures and Scenarios

Optional modules (choose one):
- Humans, AI and Business
- Global Business and Geopolitics

Optional modules (choose two):
- Work, Wellbeing and Performance
- Innovation and Enterprise
- Building Brands
- Global and Intelligent Supply Chains