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Business management: marketing principles and practice

On this microcredential, you’ll develop critical marketing skills and knowledge to make better business decisions. You’ll benefit from case studies and insight from a range of sectors, including manufacturing, retail, professional services and healthcare, with examples from international brands, local charities, and social enterprises. By the end of the course, you’ll have learnt how to use digital and offline marketing techniques and tools to solve management problems across diverse professional contexts, whether you work in a commercial or non-commercial industry.

Key features

  • Learn practical skills that you can apply to your work straight away
  • Interact with co-learners and a course mentor to further support your learning
  • Created by academic experts from The Open University’s triple-accredited Business School (AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS) with input from industry experts
  • The course has a global focus and delivers transferable skills for diverse sectors and organisations

What is a microcredential?

Microcredentials are professional development short courses with academic credit designed to help you quickly build in-demand career skills and knowledge that you can immediately apply. Learn more about microcredentials.

Module

Module code

BZVM301

Credits

Credits

  • Credits measure the student workload required for the successful completion of a module or qualification.
  • One credit represents about 10 hours of study over the duration of the course.
  • You are awarded credits after you have successfully completed a module.
  • For example, if you study a 60-credit module and successfully pass it, you will be awarded 60 credits.
10

Study level

Across the UK, there are two parallel frameworks for higher education qualifications, the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications in England, Northern Ireland and Wales (FHEQ) and the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF). These define a hierarchy of levels and describe the achievement expected at each level. The information provided shows how OU module levels correspond to these frameworks.
Level of Study
OU SCQF FHEQ
3 10 6

Study method

This microcredential is studied entirely online

Module cost

See Module registration

Entry requirements

See Entry requirements

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What you will study

This undergraduate microcredential will help you build a practical marketing toolkit that you can use throughout your career. During this 10-week course, you’ll cover the following topics.

  • Understanding and influencing consumer behaviour and decision making
  • Choosing your customers, distinguishing between different groups and how to competitively position your offer
  • Creating winning propositions to help you stay ahead of the competition
  • The principles of the marketing communications mix
  • Delivering value through distribution to meet the needs of a range of different stakeholders
  • Pricing strategies, assessing price sensitivity, price discrimination and customers’ perceptions
  • Marketing in a complex world, external factors and how to evaluate them
  • Gathering and interpreting data through research, including information-gathering methods

You will learn

By the end of your learning, you’ll be able to:

  • solve a range of commercial and non-commercial marketing problems using appropriate tools and concepts
  • apply the latest tools of product and service design, distribution management and pricing to real situations
  • collect relevant information for marketing decision-making
  • interpret a variety of different types of information from different information sources
  • evaluate and implement appropriate exchange methods, including relationships in different situations.

Skills you will gain

  • Identifying customers’ motivations and responding to them
  • Analysing the environment to identify marketing opportunities
  • Establishing effective relationships with stakeholders
  • Interpreting and using data to inform marketing decisions
  • Managing customers’ willingness to pay
  • Developing communication strategies appropriate for your product or service
  • Positioning your offer to attract the right customers
  • Building compelling business and personal brands
  • Identifying customers’ perceptions of risk and addressing them
  • Leveraging relationships with distributors for marketing success
  • Differentiating your offer from the competition

Vocational relevance

Materials include real-world examples and industry insight, ensuring your learning is relevant to the workplace. The course will particularly benefit:

  • professionals who would like to progress to management level
  • those who are new to a marketing role or work in marketing but lack formal qualifications
  • senior professionals looking to develop their marketing and management skills
  • self-employed professionals looking to develop their skills and knowledge of marketing.

Created by leading academics from The Open University’s triple-accredited Business School

  • Haider Ali is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the OU’s Business School. Haider has consulted and taught globally and published in the Journal of Marketing Management.

Teaching and assessment

Study support

  • Learn 100% online on the OU’s learning platform with a mix of video, audio and written materials
  • Engage in interactive learning through self-assessment questions, polls, tasks and reflection
  • Share ideas and experiences in discussion with other learners, building skills, confidence and knowledge
  • Receive support from mentors who guide discussions and answer questions
  • Study at a time that suits you with the flexibility to access the course from your desktop, tablet or mobile device

Assessment

You’ll take part in weekly tasks and discussions with co-learners to support and consolidate your learning. Towards the end of the course, you’ll submit a project or assessment demonstrating the skills you’ve acquired. This will be marked and graded by subject matter experts and make up 100% of your final mark.

What you will gain

10 UK credits at undergraduate level from The Open University* and a Certificate. Academic credits are awarded on passing the final assessment. These will be at undergraduate level 6 of the Framework for Higher Education (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) / level 10 of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.

*Academic credit may be used towards selected OU qualifications. For more details, including eligible qualifications, visit Counting microcredentials towards OU qualifications. The credit awarded may also be used at another university, subject to the agreement of the receiving institution.

Future availability

Business management: marketing principles and practice typically starts three times a year – in March, July and October. This page describes the microcredential that will begin in July 2024.

Regulations

As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.

Course work includes:

End-of-module assessment


Entry requirements

This undergraduate-level microcredential is ideal for business professionals who wish to broaden their understanding of marketing and develop knowledge and skills to improve their performance at work. You don’t need any prior experience or qualifications to enrol. All required skills and foundational knowledge are covered within this microcredential.

Please note

  • The course material doesn’t assume learners are working. Past experiences will be just as relevant.
  • All teaching is in English, and your English proficiency needs to be adequate for undergraduate study. As a guide, this corresponds to Level 5.5 of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). However, you won’t need to provide a formal English language score to enrol.

Course length

This 10-week course will take around 10 hours of self-paced learning each week, adding up to about 100 hours to complete.

Register

Start End England fee Register
08 Jul 2024 Sep 2024 £500.00

Registration closes 07/07/24 (places subject to availability)

Register
This module is expected to start for the last time in October 2024.

Additional Costs

Study costs

There may be extra costs on top of the tuition fee, such as set books, a computer and internet access.

If your income is not more than £25,000 or you receive a qualifying benefit, you might be eligible for help with some of these costs after your module has started.

Ways to pay for this module

Microcredential funding

Some of our microcredentials are available to study for free through government-funded schemes.

Find out about funding available if you are based in Wales or Scotland.

Open University Student Budget Account

The Open University Student Budget Accounts Ltd (OUSBA) offers a convenient 'pay as you go' option to pay your OU fees, which is a secure, quick and easy way to pay. Please note that The Open University works exclusively with OUSBA and is not able to offer you credit facilities from any other provider. All credit is subject to status and proof that you can afford the repayments.

You pay the OU through OUSBA in one of the following ways:

  • Register now, pay later – OUSBA pays your module fee direct to the OU. You then repay OUSBA interest-free and in full just before your module starts. 0% APR representative. This option could give you the extra time you may need to secure the funding to repay OUSBA.
  • Pay by instalments – OUSBA calculates your monthly fee and number of instalments based on the cost of the module you are studying. APR 5.1% representative.

Joint loan applications

If you feel you would be unable to obtain an OUSBA loan on your own due to credit history or affordability issues, OUSBA offers the option to apply for a joint loan application with a third party. For example, your husband, wife, partner, parent, sibling or friend. In such cases, OUSBA will be required to carry out additional affordability checks separately and/or collectively for both joint applicants who will be jointly and severally liable for loan repayments.

As additional affordability checks are required when processing joint loan applications, unfortunately, an instant decision cannot be given. On average the processing time for a joint loan application is five working days from receipt of the required documentation.

Read more about Open University Student Budget Accounts (OUSBA).

OUSBA is not available as a payment method for microcredentials.

Employer sponsorship

Studying with The Open University can boost your employability. OU courses are recognised and respected by employers for their excellence and the commitment they take to complete. They also value the skills that students learn and can apply in the workplace.

More than one in ten OU students are sponsored by their employer, and over 30,000 employers have used the OU to develop staff so far. If the module you’ve chosen is geared towards your job or developing your career, you could approach your employer to see if they will sponsor you by paying some or all of the fees. 

  • Your employer just needs to complete a simple form to confirm how much they will be paying and we will invoice them.
  • You won’t need to get your employer to complete the form until after you’ve chosen your module.  

Credit/debit card

You can pay part or all of your tuition fees upfront with a debit or credit card when you register for each module. 

We accept American Express, Mastercard, Visa and Visa Electron. 

Mixed payments

We know that sometimes you may want to combine payment options. For example, you may wish to pay part of your tuition fee with a debit card and pay the remainder in instalments through an Open University Student Budget Account (OUSBA).


Please note: your permanent address/domicile will affect your fee status and, therefore, the fees you are charged and any financial support available to you. The fee information provided here is valid for modules starting before 31 July 2025. Fees typically increase annually. For further information about the University's fee policy, visit our Fee Rules

This information was provided on 27/04/2024.

Can you study an Access module for free?

Depending on eligibility and availability of places, you could apply to study your Access module for free.

To qualify, you must:

  1. be resident in England
  2. have a household income of less than £25,000 (or be in receipt of a qualifying benefit)
  3. have not completed one year or more on any full-time undergraduate programme at FHEQ level 4 or above or successfully completed 30 credits or more of OU study within the last 10 years

How to apply to study an Access module for free

Once you've started the registration process, either online or over the phone, we'll contact you about your payment options. This will include instructions on how you can apply to study for free if you are eligible and funded places are still available.

If you're unsure if you meet the criteria to study for free, you can check with one of our friendly advisers on +44 (0)300 303 0069, or you can request a call back.

Not eligible to study for free?

Don't worry! We offer a choice of flexible ways to help spread the cost of your Access module. The most popular options include:

  • monthly payments through OUSBA
  • part-time tuition fee loan (you'll need to be registered on a qualification for this option)

To explore all the options available to you, visit Fees and Funding.

What's included

All learning materials, exercises and activities are delivered entirely online.

While certain content can be downloaded, some content is exclusively accessible online, requiring a reliable internet connection for viewing. Please consider this if you are travelling.

Computing requirements

You can learn from your desktop computer or laptop or take your learning with you on a phone or tablet. You’ll need broadband internet access and a desktop/laptop computer with an up-to-date version of Windows (10 or 11) or macOS Ventura or higher. Our OU Study mobile app will operate on all currently supported Android and iOS versions.

If you have a disability

The course is delivered online and makes use of a variety of online resources. If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in using a computer or the internet, you can contact us about the support that can be given to meet your needs.

To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our disability support pages.