Information on the syllabus content and structure for unit 4 of the Ethics and Professional Skills Module.
This unit of the module introduces the concept of commercial awareness as the ability to view situations from a commercial or business perspective, considering factors that influence the success of a business and an understanding of the business processes, relationships, risks and costs. Commercial awareness requires an ability to analyse the business environment, externally and internally, to evaluate available data and information from a variety of sources, some of which may not be relevant. You then will be able to identify opportunities, problems and observe trends and make suitable recommendations based on these.
Section 1: Unit overview
a) Introduction
Section 2: Commercial awareness and business acumen
a) Introduction
b) Assessing commercial awareness
c) How to enhance your commercial awareness
d) SWOT analysis
e) PESTEL analysis
f) PESTEL analysis quiz
g) Business acumen
h) Top ten tips for developing business acumen
Section 3: Planning ahead and future proofing
a) Introduction
b) Importance of planning ahead for business
c) Big business failures
d) Future proofing an organisation
e) Suitability, acceptability, feasibility (SAF) model
Section 4: Professional selfawareness
a) Introduction
b) SWOT analysis
c) SWOT analysis quiz
d) Deciding when to seek the help of experts
e) Professional self-awareness quiz
f) Unit action plan
Section 5: Data analysis and manipulation
a) Introduction
b) The importance of data analysis
c) Your role in data analysis
d) Ratio analysis
e) Data analysis and manipulation quiz
Section 6: Unit summary
The learner is presented with a large and diverse amount of data and information and must decide which data to use, how to analyse and evaluate it to make a recommendation to senior management.