Business Economics Professional Course What is economics about? Economics is the problem of using the available resources as efficiently as possible so as to achieve the maximum fulfilment of society's unlimited demand for goods & services. The ultimate purpose of economic endeavour is to satisfy human wants for goods & services. The problem is that whereas wants are virtually without limit, the resources
- natural resources, labour & capital (machinery)
- available at any one time to produce goods & services are limited in supply. Resources are scarce. This fact of scarcity means that we must always be making choices about what to produce, how to produce it & for whom. Decisions must be made so that these scarce resources are allocated optimally or efficiently to their end use. This implies they could not be used more beneficially elsewhere. This is the criterion economists use to judge many economic phenomenon & is the focus of our study of the economic approaches to organisations.

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Business Environment Course All organisations, whatever their size & whether in the public or private sector, operate in a constantly changing environment. As it changes, this business environment offers organisations the opportunities they need to develop & grow. It may, for example, offer new markets to exploit, new technology to develop new products & new processes, ideas on how to manage operations better, new sources of raw materials or new ventures with new partners. The changes also, however, may present threats to organisations. These may be new competitors, changing fashions & tastes, new technology making existing products & processes obsolete, changing terms of trade making imported inputs expensive, & government policies changing the competitive or operating environment. The legal implications of what organisations do are extensive & varied; effectively, the legal infrastructure constrains their activities. All successful organisations continually monitor the environment in which they operate, both formally & informally, in order at least to react to the changes taking place through reactive management. At best, organisations seek to anticipate & take advantage of changes through proactive management. Any actions need to match an organisation's basic philosophy & its resources & abilities. We look at how an organisation does this, but the first step is recognising what is happening in the environment & evaluating its importance. After participating in this course, you should be able to: monitor changes to the business environment & appreciate their significance for an organisation identify potential environmental opportunities & threats for particular organisations describe the components of a PEST or STEEP analysis detail the structure of the social & demographic environment detail the structure of the economic environment identify relevant factors in the industrial environment assess the implications of government policies for an organisation identify relevant factors in the political environment, including the law, society & international trade identify significant technological developments driving organisational & competitive change. ...

Business Finance Course This programme is designed for people seeking to understand & apply the principles of finance & financial control of a business. The course is particularly suited to the general manager with responsibility for a small organisation or a department, needing a broad understanding of a range of financial planning & management techniques. At the end of the course you will be able to: Define the need for keeping books Describe common book-keeping methods Understand credit control techniques & methods Devise debt recovery procedures Understand costing & pricing models & methods Conduct break even analyses Prepare a trading budget Manage cash & cashflow Compose basic financial reports ...

Business Finance Professional Course Business Finance deals with the raising & managing of funds. Irrespective of the organisation's size, at some point in time, management will need to address the issues raised when attempting to secure funds for the organisation. Fund management activities require financial forecasting. This forecasting allows the organisation to develop long term strategic plans for the organisation. Short-term budgets can then devised to meet the organisation's strategic goals. This course is suitable for anybody who is interested in the financial aspects of an organisation & covers a broad range of relevant financial & managerial issues. ...

Business Functions Course This course presents an introductory over-view of the study of business organisations. The course examines business organisations in terms of their missions & values, their structures & cultures & the key organisational processes which underpin business activity. Although organisations are essentially unique, they also share common features which are explored in detail. We also present a number of basic models for analysing business organisations & their performance. Business organisations can only be fully understood if we know how they interact with their environments & the course presents a number of ideas for analysing their interaction with their competitors, their markets & the wider set of prevailing circumstances which influence business performance. ...

Business Lifestyle Skills Course The Business Lifestyle Skills Diploma course is ideal for anyone involved in running a business or anyone who is hoping to set-up his or her own business. The areas covered in this course are also fundamental to your everyday life whether you are applying for a job, writing a letter to apply for a grant or a mortgage or working out your personal finances on your computer. In order to be a success in business you need to have the following skills: Business Skills People Skills Communication Skills Planning Skills Problem Solving Skills This course aims to successfully equip the student with the necessary knowledge to ensure both business & personal success. ...

Business Management Course This course is designed for people seeking to understand & apply the principles of managing staff & resources in a variety of businesses. The course is equally suited to the owner of a small business employing a few staff members or a departmental manager in a larger company. It provides a broad but practical understanding of how management techniques can work to your advantage. ...

Business Management Course Business Management can be defined as the process of leading & directing all or part of an organisation, through the deployment & manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible). Managers must also measure the performance of the organisation on a regular basis, review business strategies & plans, & ensure the appropriate actions are taken to meet the organisation's goals. About Business Management Course Management & Leadership are vital to organisational success in today's challenging global environment. It is the role of management to conceive & initiate strategies that create & sustain competitive differentiation & advantage. This Business Management course has been designed to take you through the key concepts that underpin good management & ensure that you have the requisite knowledge to promote organisational success. ...

Business Marketing Course This programme is designed for people seeking to understand & apply the principles of marketing to a business. The course is particularly suited to the general manager with responsibility for a small organisation or a department, needing a broad understanding of a range of marketing, advertising & promotion techniques. It will be useful to the managers of larger businesses & organisations who have customer & marketing responsibilities. At the end of the course you will be able to: Conduct market research Define a customer's needs, want & desires Carry out a SWOT analysis Prepare a marketing plan Describe a range of marketing methods Evaluate the benefits of using different marketing media Compose purposeful advertising copy Understand how to use press releases, sales promotions & public relations Define the selling process Devise a telephone sales campaign List the benefits of keeping advertising records ...

Business Operations Course This is a course about how to manage a small business. It places emphasis on developing an ability to properly assess business opportunities, in particular financial considerations. Some people have an intuitive ability with money, where everything they touch turns to gold, others need to take a much more conscious approach to handling money if they are to maximize their assets. Similarly, some people have an intuitive ability to organize
- this is something a successful business manager must do. Records must be kept in order & documents must be easy to find. Throughout the course the student will develop their ability to make better decisions with respect to the following sorts of problems: How to better invest money. How to capitalize on your assets. How to buy more economically. How to minimize costs. Deciding how much to keep in reserve for a "rainy day". How often to structure your budget. How to determine costs.
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