Assessable learning outcomes:
At the end of the module you will have developed the following management and core skills:
Management skills developed:

Additional outcomes:

Outline content:
The module consists of a series of management exercises, based on farms and other rural enterprises, which students undertake individually or in groups. Written and verbal reports will be presented and discussed, usually in the presence of the manager of the business studied. Likely business situations to be examined are:
(i) Physical evaluation of resources
(e.g. winter forage stocks for a dairy herd; feed requirements; storage capacity; alternative management strategies)
(ii) Change of cropping systems
(use of partial budgeting and sensitivity analysis)
(iii) Analysis of a set of full business accounts
(Comparison with standard data; identification of strengthens, weaknesses and solutions)
(iv) The role of diversification as a method of increasing farm income
(The importance of linking production and marketing; developing enterprise budgets)
(v) Management of a large multi-enterprise business
(The need for clear objectives and appropriate information flows in the environment in which the business has to operate)
(vi) Optimising staff and machinery resources for a large-scale arable holding
(The marginal economics of adding additional land to an existing holding)

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:
Students should visit a farm / business approximately every two weeks (i.e., five visits or meetings per term).
Each visit or meeting will be followed by a seminar to discuss what was learned. Students will be expected to present their thoughts on selected aspects of the visits through discussions, presentations, short written reports and other methods.

Contact hours:

Assessment:
The module is assessed by coursework assignments alone. Each assignment (commonly a management case study) will be accompanied by the statement of specific learning objectives to which it would be directed, in the light of the overall aims of the module. The total credit for the module is distributed over the six management case studies, tested through case-study specific tests and evaluation of reports submitted by students. The detailed work for case studies is generally undertaken and reported on by small teams of students (usually consisting of 4/5 members). The team work will contain an element of peer-assessment. The distribution of credit over the six exercises is shown below. The nature of assessment is primarily summative, but there is a very strong element of formative assessment, that is a test of the review and the use of concepts and techniques for problem solving learned by students from other modules, built into the various case studies.

Summary of credit distribution for various case studies
Case Study Set task Form of Assessment Nature of submitted work Proportion of credit (%)
One Organic Farming Short answer test n/a 10
Two Business Evaluation Documents Review of submitted work Report + business analysis documents 20
Four Evaluation Review of submitted work Report + supporting documents 10
Five Business Plan Review of plan/interviews Business Plan (prepared by teams) 40
Six Comparative analysis Review of submitted work Comparative analysis report 10
Seven Class-room exercise Review of submitted work 10

Relative percentage of coursework: 100%

Penalties for late submission
Standard University rule applies: 10% marks deducted for work submitted up to one week late. Work submitted more than one week late will be awarded a zero mark.

Examinations: 0%

Requirements for a pass: 40% in each part of the assessment to pass the module

Reassessment: Re-submit all three reports