BA (Hons) Business (CMI)

Course Overview

Get to grips with a broad range of business practices that will make you a competent ‘all-rounder’, well-equipped to face the modern world of business. Arden University’s online BA (Hons) Business (CMI) will provide you with an array of skills to prepare you for the ever-changing business world. This programme’s CMI accreditation also means graduates will be awarded a Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management to help you stand out from the crowd.

Arden’s flexible study mode allows you to develop your general business skills around your existing commitments. This programme will give you the knowledge required to take your next steps in the business world, and be an asset to a range of organisations.

The full range of programmes offered by Arden features a strong focus on employability, practical skills, and career success. This programme has been developed with a particular focus on the skills and knowledge to help you inspire and manage change within your organisation.

Course Modules

Level 4

Developing Personal and Management Skills

You’ll need great management skills whether working in a multinational corporation, or a microbusiness. Starting from your own personal management, you’ll work up to team management, and then learn to apply theories of motivation, conflict management, and empowerment to larger organisations.

Understanding the Business Environment

Get to grips with business structure and stakeholder responsibilities. You'll begin to understand core business concepts such as supply and demand, competition, markets, and government effects with this module.

Principles of Marketing

This module starts with basic definitions, after which, you’ll learn to analyse businesses and wider markets. You’ll also learn to break markets down into segments and apply dynamic marketing tools.

Introduction to Finance

A basic understanding of finance is a great asset, and this module will take you through how companies manage their books, prepare accounts, and inform business decisions. You’ll be better equipped to have an impact on your organisation.

People in Organisations

Successful organisations know how to lead and motivate their staff, and this module explores the things that make people tick. You’ll learn how teams work best, and how to effectively manage change.

Management Information Systems

Organisations of all sizes share the same basic functions: HR, accounts, marketing, sales, and production. All create and use information, and this module looks at ways to collect it ethically and professionally and organise it into effective systems.

Level 5

Managing Across Cultures

Global business requires us to take into account national cultures. This module asks how our products will work in different markets, how to facilitate a multicultural workforce, and other issues critical to modern business.

Business Processes

Your way of working should be designed and managed to make the most of your time and money. In this module, you’ll look at issues such as benchmarking, supply chain management, and whether a project has been successful.

Enterprise and Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs at all levels need certain tools and techniques to enable them to thrive. This module is about moving forward in big business, from initial innovation, through early growth.

Business Analysis

The ways organisations use huge amounts of data they produce can be the difference between success and failure. This module looks at finding, extracting, working with, analysing, and interpreting data, developing the skills to design your own data collection project.

Managing Knowledge

Modern businesses use information technology to keep tabs on their knowledge build-up. In this module, you’ll examine what networks can do for organisations, and study theories about knowledge transfer and storage.

Managing Change in Organisations

Change is inevitable, and this module walks through some of the potential catalysts for change. Looking at how change affects your people, and how to deal with this at an individual level, you’ll come away better able to manage change, whilst talking confidently about Total Quality Management and Business Process Engineering.

Level 6

Contemporary Management Issues

Using the most up-to-date thinking, this module probes the issues facing managers today, including sustainability, moral and ethical choices, and corporate values. You’ll reflect on the changing world, including globalisation, the communities we live in, and the ways our economic landscape is changing.

Strategic Management

Learn how to design the roadmap to take your business to succeed in this module, by applying a range of strategic theories and techniques. You’ll look at mergers and acquisitions, working with partners, national and international planning, and the ways organisations deliver their plans by effectively managing change.

Managing Self and Others

This module continues the theme of supporting and developing yourself and others. Learn stress management techniques, positive thinking, and assertive development, alongside tools for creativity and decision-making. You’ll scrutinise everything from recruitment to team management.

International Management

Delve into the ways international companies function with teams around the world. Learn to manage far-flung teams with cultural differences, using the most effective techniques.

Research Methods and Dissertation

With your supervising tutor, you will determine an interdisciplinary area related to your degree to research, giving you the opportunity to specialise in an area of the programme that has most interested you.

What Our Students Say:

"Distance Learning has given me lots of flexibility which has been essential. I feel honoured to be studying whilst working and bringing up a family." Laura Benson, BA (Hons) Business (Marketing)

Eligibility Requirements:

To be eligible for this course you must normally have:

• Two subjects at GCE A-Level or equivalent, plus passes at grade C or above in three subjects at GCSE level or equivalent; OR
• Completed a recognised Access Programme, or equivalent.
• For students whose prior learning was not taught in English: IELTS 6.0 or equivalent (no less than 5.5 in any element).

If You Have Work Experience

We positively encourage and consider applications from those able to demonstrate their motivation to study the programme. We will ask for your personal statement, along with your CV and references in support of your application.

Fees

£13,500 (UK & EU), £13,150 (International)