French and International Business BA Honours

The module offers you the opportunity to learn how global economies work and the general context in which the business organisations operate.  You'll analyse the purpose, structures and ethical and environmental constraints faced by organisations across different industries. At the same time, you'll study the cultural differences within and between business organisations and as part of the learning process you'll develop research, team work and communication skills.

The module introduces the core theoretical knowledge, methodologies and fundamental skills required for the study of language and culture. This includes developing a sound understanding of key terms and concepts in addition to the skills needed to produce clear and competent written English in a range of registers and styles appropriate for undergraduate academic study. The module lectures emphasise the interconnectedness of the study of language and culture and introduce you to a variety of methodological approaches, including textual and visual analysis, semiotics, and adaptation. The lectures encourage you to think critically about the construction of meaning in different languages, cultural contexts, and media. 

This module provides you with an introduction to marketing and its role in international business and the societies in which it is practised. It provides you with an overview of the principles underpinning marketing activities. The module aims to introduce the key concepts of marketing, an understanding of consumer behaviour, and an evaluation and application of marketing tools in the context of contemporary major global social and environmental issues.

Beginners, false beginners and intermediate students of French will learn a range of language skills, cultural competencies and critical abilities to enable them to function with a limited to fair degree of linguistic and cultural autonomy in French-speaking countries and the learning environment. Language and culture are taught in an integrated way through task-based and enquiry-based approaches to learning. Student will achieve levels upper A2 (beginners or false beginners) or lower B2 (intermediate) on the CEFR; cultural elements focus on key concepts. Proficiency levels provide an indicative framework only.

The module aims to provide you with an introduction to finance and accounting from a managerial or user perspective (rather than from that of an accounting specialist). The module provides you with an introduction to capital investment appraisal techniques used in management and the sources of capital that a business needs. The module also provides an introduction to financial statement, financial analysis and management accounting techniques to support decision making.

This module develops the practical and conceptual foundations of the translation process. In addition to language-specific translation seminars that focus on real-world texts of a gradually more complex but mostly factual and explicit nature, in the translation workshops, you'll be introduced to a range of translation-specific skills, including IT skills as well as basic theoretical concepts as a means of identifying, understanding and resolving translation issues in a practical manner.

This module introduces the study of contemporary and ancient material culture and examines its meaning in social, political and historical perspectives. You'll acquire skills of object analysis and visit London galleries and museums to apply them. You'll examine the social and cultural lives of objects, and how their meaning changes depending on their context and use, by assessing their production, the impact of trade, war and migration on their circulation, and their provenance and politics of ownership and access.

Second-year post-beginner and post-intermediate students of French will learn a range of language skills, cultural competencies and critical abilities to enable you to function with an intermediate to good level of linguistic and cultural autonomy in French-speaking environments. Language and culture are taught through task-based and enquiry-based approaches with special emphasis on the promotion of intercultural understanding. You'll achieve levels upper B1 (post-beginners) or upper B2 (post-intermediates) on the CEFR; cultural elements focus on key events and ideas that have shaped the modern and contemporary French and Francophone world. Proficiency levels provide an indicative framework only.

This module takes a contemporary approach to examine critical issues facing companies with a presence in more than one country. Using a balance of relevant theories, international business scenarios and cases, you'll gain a more critical understanding of the challenges of international business, and learn how to develop creative and adaptive solutions.

This module develops your understanding of the impact of human behaviour on the performance of organisations globally. An analysis of the key theories, concepts and empirical evidence about contemporary work organisations will provide you with the basic analytical tools for understanding why the workplace is a domain of discord as much as harmony, of paradox just as much as rationality, and of frustration just as much as satisfaction.

The module focuses on the application of digital technologies on todays changing business world. The module explores current topics such as E-Commerce and its different types, E-Business, the Web and mobile platforms, a managerial perspective on building an E-Commerce perspective, security and payment systems, digital strategies, business and revenue models and social, mobile and local marketing tools. The module highlights the importance of the implementation of these tools and theories to businesses for value creation, both to the customer and the business, and competitive advantage.

This module aims to develop your knowledge and interest in a wide range of concepts and techniques of financial analysis, financial forecasting and shareholder value analysis. It also examines a range of models that compete in explaining corporate distress and in describing company share valuation. These aspects of financial analysis are addressed from a global perspective, recognising the impact of the harmonisation of financial accounting and the use of International Financial Reporting Standards.

In this module you will examine how those in positions of power use language to create narratives, values and beliefs held by different groups of people in the world. You will explore how language found in the public space reflects values and conventions and how this can change across different societies. The module focuses on the role and purpose of different kinds of social institutions and analyses the means through which they maintain their identity in the international public space and the language they use to do so. You will be shown methods of reading between the lines and how to evaluate the success or otherwise of their communications. This will also be applied to the specific languages you are studying through seminar sessions.

This blended module – which combines lectures, workshops, and online student-to-student collaboration – introduces professional language transposition skills relevant to the communication of current affairs in an increasingly globalised and digitised world. You take ownership of learning, choosing the topics studied and how to manage the synchronous online sessions. International collaborations develop interpersonal and organisational skills, as well as interlingual, intermodal, and intercultural competences. The module prepares you for the year abroad and, for those not going overseas, enables language practice in authentic, professional settings, such as subtitling, voiceover, and interpreting.

This module focuses on key cultural developments that have impacted the Francophone world through the analysis of pertinent cultural artefacts. It considers the development of each cultural and linguistic area over time up to and including the present day. To do so, the module will identify and focus on cultural artefacts that include text, objects, and audiovisual media such as – but not exclusively – literature, film, individual testimonies, political material, music, museum pieces, and artwork. The module aims to support students’ language learning through the study of these artefacts in the target language. It will also introduce students to key concepts relevant to their culture of study, such as gender, sexuality, race, class, language, and society, thereby developing their research, analytical, and critical thinking skills.

This module is about critically exploring some of the most important similarities and differences in the context of management and organisation across different countries and regions of the world. It seeks to provide a broad conceptual framework to analyse such variety in view of the institutional -as opposed to cultural- context in which management and organisation take place. This comparative framework draws on the distinction between Liberal and Coordinated market economies - or Anglo-Saxon and Rhine models respectively including the US, UK and Canada on the one hand, and Germany, The Netherlands, Scandinavian countries and Japan on the other. The module aims to systematically analyse - and critically evaluate - main similarities and differences across selected countries and regions in terms of the nature of firms, national models of corporate governance; national systems of employment relations; national innovation systems; societal systems of production; and socio-economic outcomes.

The Final Year Project offers you a choice of three pathways to complete an independent project. (1) The Professional Transcreation Project pathway provides the opportunity to work on a professional brief, creating materials for an organisation's expansion into new markets, with a focus on localisation and transcreation processes. (2) The Translation Project pathway prepares you for translation in a professional context through the completion of an extended translation as well as a critical commentary. It is available to any student who began their studies at Level 4 as an intermediate or proficient speaker of their language of study. (3) The Dissertation pathway offers you the opportunity to propose, research, and write your own project in the form of an extended essay on any topic related to your language and/or culture of study. You are supported in your chosen pathway through the development and application of skills needed for your project, via pathway-specific workshops and tutorials. Additionally, you will be further guided in your own work by your own project supervisor.

The Strategic Perspectives module integrates key strategic concepts and enables participants to develop a range of strategic management skills. You will be able to practise your ability to design, develop, implement and evaluate effective and sustainable business, corporate and/or international level strategies. You'll be introduced to the strategy process by analysing the internal environment of an organisation and the broader competitive environment of today’s turbulent economy. Moreover, together we will explore the importance of strategic leadership in organisations that aim to be successful in a complex and unpredictable environment in the long term. The module aims to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals during taught sessions as well as assessments.

This module is designed for final-year students. Students will learn a range of language-specific structures and skills, cultural competencies and critical abilities appropriate to this level which will enable them to function with linguistic and cultural autonomy in a French-speaking environment. Language and culture are taught through task-based and enquiry-based approaches with special focus on intercultural understanding. Students will achieve upper B2 (post-beginners without year abroad), C1 (post-beginners with year abroad or post-intermediates without year abroad) or upper C1- lower C2 level (post-intermediates with year abroad) on the CEFR; cultural content focuses on contemporary topics and issues. Proficiency levels provide an indicative framework only.  

This module focuses on organisations operating in many countries (MNCs). It examines the challenges facing them in a globalised marketing environment and the tools they use to plan, implement, manage and control their marketing activities.

This module explores various forms of cultural and political representation from the Arabic/Chinese/Francophone/Hispanic worlds, according to your chosen language. In particular, it examines core themes and issues, such as identity, belonging, and social movements, that are pertinent to the culture of study, considering how local, national, and transnational landscapes have influenced these issues. The module will develop your knowledge of key concepts and theories relevant to the culture of study and encourage the analysis of a wide range of texts, including, but not limited to, literature, film, popular culture, documentary, non-fiction, art, and other visual images.

The module introduces and develops your understanding of key features of international financial management. In markets that operate internationally, you will develop an understanding of investment choices, risk management, acquisition activity, and other aspects of financial policy. You will learn to analyse exchange rates, country risk factors and how different macroeconomic factors are interrelated.

The way that we talk tells us something about the way we interact with the world around us; it also explains to a certain extent the behaviour of those who see and hear us. Why, for instance, are some types of multilingualism seen as 'good' ('Trump’s grandchildren can already speak Mandarin, aren’t they clever'), while others are seen as 'bad' ('Spanish should be abolished in American primary schools')? In the sorts of contexts that we live in, society is structured in such a way that it benefits those who talk a certain way ('Speak the Queen’s English to get on in life'), and systematically disadvantages others who do not talk a certain way ('You’ll never get anywhere talking like that'). This has consequences that affect us as individuals, and language as a whole. In this module on multilingualism, you'll be asked to interrogate these processes. The module will introduce seminal texts that provide the analytical framework for exploring languages and language use in very disparate societies and cultures. At the same time, the module has a strong practical component: you'll draw on a range of empirical data (both quantitative and qualitative), as well as your own lived experiences, in order to model the relationships between language and society. In the lectures and language-specific seminars, there will be a particular emphasis on the interface between language use and ideologies, policy, the media, education and wider socio-political and cultural formations.

Across the globe, gender is a key principle of social organisation which defines the boundaries of inclusion and exclusion in both domestic and public life. Gender is fundamental to ideas about social order and power. Protest is a vital force for political and social change, particularly for changing conversations about gender. As such, this module considers the relationship between gender and protest. In particular, it considers the importance of protest in shaping both popular and theoretical constructions of gender across a range of cultural contexts, including, but not limited to, Latin America, East Asia, and Europe.