Aim for Top Roles in Business
Working in business can be very challenging but it can also be remarkably rewarding. No-one can expect to walk into a demanding business role without some prior experience or a detailed knowledge of business operations.
This course provides a strong platform from which to start your journey into the business world, whether as an employee or as an entrepreneur.
Learn about what it takes to succeed in business.
TRAIN AS A BUSINESS PROFESSIONAL
Are you a person with plans, a person who's going somewhere?
Are you someone who's looking ahead to the next opportunity, an exciting new business role, the chance to get noticed and fast-track your career?
Whether it’s about the rewards that come with success, or simply the satisfaction of doing the job right - if you want to get to the head of the line, this course is for you.
What Will I Learn?
Our team of highly experienced Academics can help you to build a solid foundation in business and financial management and marketing. Then, you'll add the experience and insight gained from real-world investigation and reasearch. Next, develop specialist knowledge by choosing electives that suit you. Topics are as varied as sales, e-commerce, psychology and ethics. It's your choice.
Browse the module list below for more details.
Why Study With ACS?
This course would be close to two years of full time study at most colleges. Under our system however you have the ultimate in flexibility. Study where and when it suits you. Start whenever you like. Hit the course hard and fast, or take your time and study the modules you need when you need them and when you're ready. Our assignments are also designed to be relevant and flexible, to work in with your own workplace circumstances or career plans.
Modules
Note that each module in the Advanced Certificate in Management (Business Professionals) is a short course in its own right, and may be studied separately.
THE BUSINESS WORLD
The business world is like a complicated machine where there are lots of different parts, all interacting, with each other and all dependent upon those parts they are interconnected to. To be successful in business requires an ability to see the broad picture, and to foresee the implications of developments in the broader marketplace. Changes in political leadership in one part of the world can eventually have repercussions on the other side of the globe. A downturn in the economy in one place, can eventually affect the marketplace somewhere else. Everything is interconnected in the business world, and the first step towards success is to begin to develop an awareness of the broader marketplace and an ability to foresee changes in your business before they occur
TWO WAYS TO BEGIN A BUSINESS
There are two ways to start out in a new business:
1. FAST. Starting with a bang! Try to get established quickly. This involves planning, then launching a new business with the aim of it quickly reaching a level of operation which provides you with full time employment.
2. SLOWLY. Starting small and building your business gradually. This involves starting as a small, part time venture, trying out different things, taking time to see what works, and gradually growing, perhaps over a period of years.
The two can be compared as follows:
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STARTING FAST
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STARTING SLOWLY
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Require much more risk
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Less risky
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Requires high capital investment
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Can work on a shoestring budget.
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Requires a big burst of initial promotion ‑you need to spend big on printing brochures, advertising etc.
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Can take time to get known by word of mouth, and other inexpensive methods.
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Requires heavy time commitment. You need to spend far more than a 40hr week, even if you are putting in a lot of money...it still takes a lot to initially control the business.
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Can be done with as little as a few hours a week.
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Need to buy a lot more of the goods and services you are using (e.g. You might not have time to do your advertising and may have to employ an advertising agency).
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May be able to provide a lot of your own needs (eg: You can take time to do your own advertising)
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You will have to give up the security of an existing job.
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You can retain your existing job
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BUYING OR STARTING A BUSINESS
Choose carefully before commencing any new venture. Buying an existing business can be very worthwhile, but also dangerous:
- You should be sure you know why it is being sold (The existing owners cannot be counted on to be telling you everything.)
- Have an accountant take a close look at the financial records of the business before buying.
- Be careful of any changes which might be imminent (Speak with people other businesses in the same industry; but from different localities.
- Check with town planning authorities and neighbours).
Do not attempt to start a new business in a locality which is the same as something which is already existing and successful. You will only split the customers, and create two unsuccessful businesses.
Regardless of whether starting a business or buying, you should develop a forecast on what future business might be and systematically evaluate the financial viability of the operation. You should consider factors such as the following:
The Market
Know the demand for your product or service before you start:
- Is the population increasing or decreasing in your target area?
- What are salary and wage levels in the target area.
- What are the other socio‑economic characteristics there?
Location
Decide the location of the business carefully. Location is much more important for some businesses than others. Consider town planning regulations, where your market is and what is the likely attitude of neighbours. If you are buying or leasing property, it may be that it is available because businesses do not work in that position.
Regulations
Some businesses require licenses, registration for sales tax, or other forms of registration with government departments. For example:
- Liquor selling, firearms selling, Insurance agents,
- Doctors, Roadside stalls, Electrical contractors etc.
- Anything which attracts sales tax cannot be sold sales tax exempt to schools etc., until you first register with the taxation department.
The most successful businesses are usually identified by signs of creativity and innovation. To be slightly different distinguishes you from your competition, and often wins you a larger slice of the marketplace. To be too different, can put you out of favour with the general public.
Risk Management
Risk can be unpredictable
and unexpected – the impact of risk may be manageable, or it may end up
closing a business. A flood for example can be mopped up and the
consequences may not be too disastrous. A fire may wipe out a
building, the building may be insured, but the company have not backed up their
computer system (off-site), so they lose all your customer base,
intellectual property and perhaps production systems. This could spell
disaster for a business. An employee may injure themselves at work – the company did not have correct OH&S procedures in place. The courts find the business negligent and they are confronted with a huge payout that their
insurance company will not pay (due to a clause in the policy that
finds the business responsible for negligence). Or they are were uninsured. the business could close.
Risk is not just associated
with the floods, fires and litigation though – there are many types of
risk that you will face in a business: All business has risks and all
business operators need to identify and minimize risk. The types of risk
a business can face include:
- Production Risks
- Financial Risks
- Marketing Risks
- Management Risks
- Personal Risks
- Political Risk
Studying this Course Can Help You Minimize Risk
Awareness and understanding are the keys to minimizing risks in business. When you know and understand the things that might go wrong; you can make better choices about the ventures you pursue and the ones you avoid. You can also decide on contingencies to put in place (eg. disaster plans, levels of liquidity, etc). When you have less experience and education in business; your ability to see risk is reduced, and in the extreme, that can make doing business more of a "gamble" and less of a "calculation".
Change Can Be an Enemy to the Uneducated, but an Asset to the Educated
Today's world is changing faster than ever. For anyone with limited knowledge and experience; this situation will increase your level of risk in business.
In the past you could establish (or buy) an existing, successful business, and if you kept doing things as they had previously been done, the business was almost certainly successful. Today though; you cannot depend on all the factors that drive a business remaining stable. Doing what was successful in the past, is likely to fail today and into the future.
For the uneducated; or anyone educated in "old school" ways of doing business; this can increase your business risk.
If you can see the risks and opportunities created by change; you will see opportunities that many others don't; and that can give you a distinct business advantage over others who can't see the same things.
A business education today needs to teach you to solve problems and adapt to change; within the context of a changing business world. This learning bundle will do that - but not all schools have the same focus as we do.
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