UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN

FOUNDATIONS OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Inform your management strategy with a holistic understanding of core business functions.

Duration

8 weeks, excluding
orientation

Effort

10 hours per week,
entirely online

Learning Format

Weekly modules,
flexible learning

ON COMPLETION OF THIS COURSE, YOU’LL WALK AWAY WITH:

1

The skills to leverage your competitive advantage using strategic business tools.

2

Financial knowledge to measure company performance, interpret statements, and manage and compile budgets.

3

The ability to develop a business strategy to increase your business's performance.

4

Methods for business innovation and creative problem-solving within management.

COURSE CURRICULUM

Over the duration of this online short course, you’ll work through the following modules:

MODULE 1 An Introduction to Business Management and the Business Landscape
Identify the role of a business manager within the current business landscape.

MODULE 2 Management and Leadership
Evaluate management and leadership structures within an organisation.

MODULE 3 Foundations of Financial Management and Budgeting
Apply financial theory and interpret financial business statements for budgeting purposes.

MODULE 4 Customer Focus and Market Research
Design a customer research survey for market research in relation to an identified target market.

MODULE 5 Competitive Advantage: SWOT and Other Strategic Tools
Evaluate competitive advantage through analysis.

MODULE 6 Marketing
Design a marketing campaign in relation to an identified target market.

MODULE 7 Business Innovation and Creative Problem-Solving
Investigate the relationship between creative problem-solving and business innovation.

MODULE 8 Quality Assurance and Sustainability
Plan for sustainability, quality assurance, and continuous improvement within a business.

Please note that module titles and their contents are subject to change during course development.

COURSE CONVENOR

Stuart Hendry

Lecturer, School of Management Studies, Faculty of Commerce, UCT

Hendry is the founding trustee and chairman of The H-Web, a Pan-African platform for viral entrepreneurship, and director of special projects at the Southern Africa Sustainable Development Initiative (SASDI). He holds degrees in economics and law, and a postgraduate diploma in organisation and management. As a tenured lecturer and course convenor at UCT, Hendry is a co-recipient of two prestigious Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED) awards for outstanding collaborative pedagogy (2009; 2013). In 2010, he won an international award for distinguished research in the field of entrepreneurial leadership development. Hendry also received the UCT Vice-Chancellor’s Social Responsiveness Award in 2014 for demonstrating outstanding leadership in the sector of early childhood development and for his role in promoting social justice in poor and marginalised communities.

AN ONLINE EDUCATION THAT SETS YOU APART

This UCT course is presented in collaboration with GetSmarter, part of edX. GetSmarter collaborates with the world's leading universities to select, design, and deliver premium online short courses through a people-mediated model with a data-driven focus on learning gain.

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Gain verifiable and relevant competencies and earn invaluable recognition from an international selection of universities and institutions, entirely online and in your own time.

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Enjoy a personalised, people-mediated online learning experience created to make you feel supported at every step.

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Experience a flexible but structured approach to online education as you plan your learning around your life to meet weekly milestones.

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