Geography with Business BA

This module will be delivered by the school’s Careers Advisor and academics from the School of Geography.

You’ll cover:

• self-marketing and CVs
• preparing for interviews and assessment
• careers for geographers
• career planning
• postgraduate study (masters and PhD)
• guest lectures (for example, Royal Geographical Society - Institute of British Geographers)

You will be introduced to and encouraged to make regular use of the Careers and Employability Service to assist with your progress during the module, and to identify opportunities to further your career development.

You will critically examine the complex relations between people and places through key concepts in human geography.

Themes include:

• cultural
• historical
• medical
• environmental
• economics
• development

The key themes may vary from year to year. This module provides a foundation for more specialised human geography modules at levels two and three.

This module introduces you to geographical research on place, conveying current research in the field, including that carried out within the School of Geography. You will gain knowledge of key concepts and methodological approaches, with understanding developed through the examination of place-based case studies.

Lectures will outline developments in the geographical study of place in recent decades, and explore key themes such as place and memory, place and knowledge, and place and identity. The challenges and opportunities offered by the digital exploration of place will be outlined, using case studies of digital mapping and the public display of geographical information. Regional case studies will show how the research themes presented in the module can be brought together around the study of specific places and landscapes.

Throughout the module, staff will draw upon their own research as well as wider academic literature, giving students a sense of the possibilities of geographical research exploring place.

This module introduces you to contemporary and historical approaches to understanding economic globalisation and its spatial unevenness. You will develop knowledge relating to globalisation as a set of discourses and practices using case studies relating to key themes of relevance.

Lectures will outline the key debates relating to globalisation as a phenomenon and will interrogate the relevance of the concept through an examination of commodities, labour and work, governance and money and finance.

You will also explore the spatial unevenness of globalisation, and develop understanding of the ways in which globalisation has contributed to an increasingly unequal and differentiated society at a variety of scales. Alternatives to globalisation will also be discussed, focusing upon various counter-globalisation strategies in the forms of localism, activism and protest.

Throughout the module, staff will draw upon their own research as well as wider academic literature, giving you a sense of the complexity, and importance, of globalisation as a set of theories and a set of sited realities.

This module provides the basic statistical concepts and techniques required for the study of geography. Topics include:

• spreadsheets and statistical packages
• introduction to statistical concepts
• descriptive statistics and distributions
• exploratory data analysis
• parametric and non-parametric tests
• correlation and regression
• ANOVA

Learn how to conduct basic spatial analysis by using a contemporary Geographic Information System (GIS).

You’ll cover:

• What is GIS?
• Applications of GIS
• Spatial data models
• Fundamental spatial analysis
• Cartographic principles behind GIS
• Presenting and sharing the results of GIS analysis

The module will be delivered through theory lectures and practical sessions, and you’ll be provided with associated textbook resources.

Small group tutorials during the autumn and spring semesters will include discussion, essay writing and seminar presentations based on topics from your first-year modules. The classes will develop your skills in problem-solving, communication and reasoning. 

This module will cover the ways in which marketing and consumption drive business and shape society. It will provide an historical perspective, consider marketing professions and leadership within organisational contexts, and examine contemporary environments for marketing and consumption with particular attention to globalisation, innovation (including the transformative force of new technologies), and ethical and sustainability issues.

This module will introduce you to the basic ideas of organisational behaviour. The content will encourage you to develop an understanding of managing and developing people within business organisations.

The module will draw its primary material from the major theorists and theories of both organisational psychology and organisational behaviour. The module will also develop links with other aspects of the business school curriculum such as general management and international business.

This module explores the nature of work and society. It will look at the development of our understanding of work and society. The development of the industrial and the post-industrial society will be explored and its impact on the nature of work, organisation and management.

There will be a historical and critical review of the schools of thought and key writers. Examples of research into individual and group experiences of work, organisation and management will be discussed.

This module is taught by formal lectures, scheduled preliminary fieldwork, and supervision meetings with your dissertation tutor. It covers the following:

• Introduction to the dissertation process and procedures 
• What is a dissertation? 
• Ethics, risk and safety implications when conducting geographical research 
• Preparing a dissertation proposal 
• Writing and presenting a dissertation
• Evaluation of past dissertations

This module will cover the following topics:

• Changing economic geographies of the world economy during the 20th and 21st centuries 
• Global cities, financial geographies and advanced producer services 
• Alternative economies and labour resistance 
• Economic geographies of the Global South
• Economic geographies of forced labour and migration
• Feminist economic geography

This module will cover the breadth of world-leading research being carried out in the School of Geography and is reflected in the school's research themes:

• Cultural and Historical Geography
• Economic Worlds
• Environment and Society
• Geosciences

For students taking Geography with Business or Environmental Sciences, content of tutorials will be restricted to meet the aims of these courses.

This module allows you to understand and experience human geography research methods through participation in three practical projects. The module covers methods for: arts and humanities research (such as archival research, visual and textual analysis); social science research (such as interviewing, questionnaires and discussion groups); and quantitative human geography research (such as mapping and visualisation).

This module introduces you to cultural and historical geography, including the:

• development of cultural and historical geography as sub-disciplines
• key thematic areas of contemporary cultural and historical geography, including landscape, identity, culture, power and knowledge 
• theoretical underpinnings of cultural and historical geography 
• links between cultural and historical geography and other fields of enquiry in the humanities and social sciences 
• methods and sources used in cultural and historical geographical research, including archives, texts and images, and field study 
• work of key figures from the sub-disciplines past and present

This module provides a general introduction to the subject of earth observation. This involves analysing remotely sensed images, typically acquired from instruments on board satellites or aircraft, to investigate spatial phenomena on the Earth's surface.

Example topics include the use of global image data sets to investigate climate change, analysis of satellite sensor imagery to identify wildlife habitats and conservation concerns, and urban land use mapping from detailed aerial photography. Theoretical lectures cover the concepts underpinning remote sensing, including the physical principles determining image creation, fundamental image characteristics, methods of image analysis and uses or applications of earth observation.

There is also a strong practical component to the module, with regular practical exercises on various forms of digital image analysis.

This module offers a comprehensive overview of the sub-field of political geography, including its history, key concepts and recent developments. It also investigates how geographical approaches can help explain the complexities of political life, more broadly defined. To do so, the module draws from self-titled political geography literature, whilst also exploring how political questions have come to animate the wider field of human geography.

Themes covered in the module include:

• nationalism
• internationalism
• empire and the state
• geopolitics
• war and violence
• neoliberalism and political economy
• identity politics (e.g. race, class, gender, sexuality)

This module explores a range of rural environmental issues in the global South and modern Britain from the perspective of a range of different stakeholders. Particular attention is placed on how environmental use and management varies over time and space and in relation to socio-economic status, gender and community. Key topics examined are:

• the growth of environmentalist and conservationist thinking
• the evolution of development thinking
• the impacts of colonial policy-making on rural environments in the global South
• agrarian change, the green revolution and sustainable agriculture
• different types of environmental knowledge, including indigenous and certified expertise
• gender, environmental use and management
• participatory appraisal approaches in the global South
• the ways in which policy has shaped the British countryside since the post-World War II period
• the rise of agri-environmentalism
• rural sustainable development
• rural resource conservation
• the prospects for future landscape change in Britain

This module provides a consideration of the following:

• Introduction to GI science/systems/studies/services 
• Spatial data types and sources 
• Vector processing algorithms 
• Raster processing algorithms
• Spatial analysis and decision making 
• Professional training in ArcGIS 

This module introduces you to urban geography, including the:

• historical development of urban geography as a sub-discipline
• key thematic areas of contemporary urban geography, including research in the social, economic and cultural and historical geographies of cities
• theoretical underpinnings of approaches to urban geography
• importance of cities in understanding social difference, cultural landscapes and economic development in the Global North and South
• work of key figures from the sub-disciplines past and present

The module looks at theories of HRM, recruitment and selection, reward, training and development, performance appraisal and broader contextual issues.

This module is designed to focus on the strategic and operational aspects of marketing management. It will examine:

• understanding the marketing concept
• the role of marketing within business and its contribution to business performance and enhancing value
• developing marketing strategy
• segmentation, targeting and positioning
• managing the marketing mix
• planning and implementation

This module considers several of the transformations that have arisen in contemporary organisations as a result of the use of information systems. Topics include different ways to understand the relationship between technology and organisation and implications of technology for knowledge management and other management areas. 

This is a 10,000 word individual project based on a geographical topic involving fieldwork and/or secondary data, and agreed by the candidate with their tutor and a specialist supervisor.

The module brings together cultural and political geography to examine the connections of politics, culture and landscape. The focus is on England, where landscape has long been central to questions of power and identity, whether at local, regional, national, international or imperial scales. Relations of power shape landscapes, and the identities of those who inhabit them and move through them. From the agricultural and industrial ‘revolutions’ and the empire of trade in the 18th century, down to the political and cultural upheavals of the 21st century, landscape has played a key role in shaping national identity, in England as elsewhere.

The module traces the history of landscape, culture and politics in England, and shows how legacies of the past shape debates today. From political disputes over the UK’s relationship to Europe, to anxieties over our relationship to land and environment, to the ways in which legacies of empire and slavery inform landscape and recast English identity, the module shows how cultural, historical and political geography helps to make sense of a transforming world.

This module investigates key linkages between development, livelihood and environmental issues in the global South, with particular reference to competition and conflict over environmental resources. Attention is placed on exploring these from the perspectives of different income, gender and community groups and contrasting their everyday realities with key development concepts and aggregate statistics.

Major themes include:

• linkages between poverty, environmental quality and livelihoods 
• integration of environmental issues into development thinking and practice 
• debates about overpopulation versus overconsumption 
• urban environmental issues, slums and informality
• water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and livelihoods 
• industry-related environment, development and livelihood issues
• competition and conflict in agrarian environments 
• forest-based development and livelihood issues

This module will expose you to current practices, technologies and ideas existing at the forefront of environmental modelling. The module offers an opportunity for you to experience the theory and practice associated with key developments that are occurring in major modelling domains and the most recent advances from the research community. 

The module will comprise four parts:

1. Introduction 
2. Modelling the impacts of climate change 
3. Modelling biogeography 
4. Hydrology and hydroinformatics

This module covers:

• the historical development of the city of Berlin, to be visited on a field excursion (full costs will be supplied nearer the time of the trip)
• a critical approach to the cultural, historical, social and economic geography of Berlin
• a wide range of methodologies for conducting urban field work

Small group teaching is integral to the module. You are assigned into a group of three or four for the purposes of conducting small group project work while in Berlin. Frequent meetings are held between teaching staff and the small groups before, during and after the field course to support preparation for and the carrying out of research while in Berlin, as well as the writing-up of individual reports.

This module covers a range of issues relating to the geographies of fashion and food. Topics covered include:

• Commodity chains and global networks of supply
• Governing and regulating food and fashion
• Commodity biographies and origins
• Slow and fast fashion and food
• Theorising value and quality
• Transforming and industrialising food
• City fashionscapes and foodscapes
• Doing food and fashion 'differently', spatially and temporally
• Contentious commodities

This module explores the economic geographies of money and of contemporary processes of financialisation. Competing theories of money, and the changing landscapes of finance and the financial services industry are explored at a variety of spatial scales.

Spaces examined include the global financial system, the UK retail financial market, the City of London and the emergence of local currency systems. More specifically, the following core topics are covered:

• Financial crisis
• The history and theory of money
• Financial services and financial intermediation
• Globalisation and the international financial system
• The City of London as international financial centre
• Landscapes of retail financial services
• Alternative and imagined landscapes of money

This module will cover:

• political, historical, and cultural geographies of war 
• spaces of internal violence and non-violence relating to colonialism, anti-colonialism, religious nationalism, and decolonisation/partition 
• spaces of terrorism and the war against terror 
• case studies from a variety of national and international contexts

This module explores the relationships between health and place. The module is organised thematically in two broad sections. The first section considers the historical growth of institutions such as the asylum and the hospital, as well as the development of sanitary science and the public health movement. It uses these to consider who is responsible for health.

The second section is devoted to critical health geographies, with a focus on topics such as gender, physical activity and obesity. It examines the role of power and place relationships in shaping health outcomes and the experience of health.

This module introduces and develops frameworks which enable businesses to understand the buying behaviour of consumers.

This module introduces you to key contemporary debates and practices, giving you a chance to engage with these debates and practices. You will gain an understanding of the human resource management approaches managers take as you grapple with the challenges of the global economy and a demanding and diverse workforce within an international context.

This module covers:

• key concepts and definitions
• contextualising equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)
• EDI in organisations: equal opportunity, diversity and 'mainstreaming' approaches
• implicit bias
• intersectionality
• managing for EDI: organisational interventions.

An overview of marketing and society, macro-marketing issues, responsible and sustainable marketing, consumer response to marketing activities, marketing's impact on society and consumption.

The ability to develop and manage new product and services is crucial for the long-term survival of the firm and lies at the heart of the marketing concept. This module is designed to develop an appreciation of the latest theory and practice in the management and development of new products and services.

This module aims to develop an understanding of new product and service development (NPSD) as a strategic process and will explore and apply a variety of approaches to its management. In particular it pays attention to the role of market research/marketing analytics, and new approaches to using the Internet and social media. The NPSD process models will be evaluated and this will include critiques of the ideation process/creativity, design, new product launch management and marketing communication strategies.

In addition, contemporary themes around user innovation, co-creation, sustainability and international NPSD will be explored.

This module examines the strategic importance of manufacturing and service operations, and the key links between operations and other functional strategies.

The module explores the importance of a properly formulated and explicit operations strategy to ensure the development of a successful business.

The module discusses the interdependence of policies for capacity, technology, supply networks, development and organisation.

The module covers examination of key forms of social theory, both classical, and more contemporary versions and consideration of the applicability of these theories in relation to organisations and work.

This module examines the managerial and organisational factors that influence the formation and subsequent realisation of strategy. It enables you to develop skills in the analysis of strategic processes and practice with particular reference to the role of organisation in strategy development and execution, strategic leadership, strategic change, internationalisation and stakeholder management in strategic management.

This module aims to provide you with the skills, knowledge and practical experience required to respond to the challenges involved in managing, commercialising and marketing technological innovation and new business development.