Nature of the subject

The IB DP Business Management course is a rigorous, challenging, and dynamic discipline in Group 3 (Individuals and Societies) within the IB Diploma Programme (and IB Career-related Programme). The course is designed to develop students’ knowledge and understanding of Business Management tools and theories, as well as their ability to apply a range of subject-specific techniques.

Business Management students learn to analyse, discuss, and evaluate business activities at local, national, and international levels. The course covers a range of organizations from all sectors, as well as the socio-cultural, economic, and international contexts in which those organizations operate.

Watch this short video that provides a brief overview of the changes to the new specifications:

ManageBac users can also check information about the new Business Management course by clicking the hyperlink here.

The IB DP Business Management course continues to grow each year. In 2023, there was a total of 35,173 candidates who studied the subject (22,182 at HL and 12,991 at SL). The chart below shows that the number of BM candidates has grown by 871.1% during the given time period (a highly impressive growth rate by any measure!)

With the new syllabus comes many more exciting opportunities to engage the growing number of students learning about Business Management.

Aims of the IB Business Management course

The aims of the IB Business Management course at Higher Level (HL) and Standard Level (SL) are to:

• Develop as confident, creative and compassionate business leaders, entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs and as change agents.

• Foster an informed understanding of ethical and sustainable business practices.

• Explore the connections between individuals, businesses, and society.

• Engage with decision-making as a process and a skill.

In a nutshell - The new BM syllabus at a glance

• Four key concepts, which are assessed in the new internal assessment

• New external assessments, including a new Paper 3 (HL only)

• Introduction of the Business Management Toolkit (BMT), consisting of 15 tools in total

• Changes to the contents of the syllabus

• New internal assessment (common to SL & HL)

• Changes to the recommended hours of teaching for each component of the course (see table below):

The new syllabus – SL vs HL

The key concepts

The four interdisciplinary concepts for the course are:

Using these four concepts in an authentic way (concept based learning) will enable students to explore the content of the  syllabus from multiple lenses or perspectives. Each unit in the new course will begin with conceptual understandings statements that include the 4 key concepts and summarise important ideas and core processes that are central to the unit (such as Marketing or Operations Management). Inquiry statements are also included for each unit of the syllabus to support teachers and students.

Note that assessment of conceptual understandings is a formal requirement for students in their Internal Assessment, based on a real-world issue or problem faced by an actual organization using one of the four prescribed key concepts (in addition to applying their knowledge of appropriate Business Management tools, theories, and techniques).

Find out about the new key concepts here.

The Business Management Toolkit (BMT)

In additional to the taught contents of the syllabus, the course also includes a prescribed Business Management Toolkit (BMT). This is a set of tools, theories, and techniques that can be used by students in different contexts across the contents of the syllabus, including formal assessments (such as the IA and the EE).

The BMT provides a valuable set of 15 different tools or frameworks to analyse various topics and situations in the context of the BM course.

Although the BMT is a separate part of the syllabus content, it is expected that teachers will integrate the toolkit throughout the teaching of the course.

Click the icon below to read about the two main approaches to using the BMT in the new course:

Find out more about the Business Management Toolkit here.

To download sample curriculum course outlines, which can be used to help you create unit plans for the new syllabus, click the link here.

External assessments

To find out more about the external assessments, use the hyperlink here.

This is summary of the presentation shared with workshop participants at the numerous upskilling events hosted by InThinking during March - June 2022. Click on the "<" and ">" arrows to navigate between the slides.

Finally, download this excellent and user friendly file about the new course. It has been created by Samik Das, Housemaster at The Doon School, Dehradun, India. Samik is also a senior IB examiner. Many thanks, Samik, for being so generous to share this on InThinking Business Management.

Difference between SL & HL Business Management

• The recommended hours devoted to teaching is 240 hours for HL compared to 150 hours for SL.

• There is extra depth and breadth required - SL students study 26 topics, along with 8 tools from the Business Management Toolkit (BMT). In contrast, HL students have 37 topics across the five units of the syllabus, along with an addition 7 tools in the BMT, i.e., there are 15 tools in total for HL only students.

• Therefore, the nature of the examination questions and the weighting of these examination papers also differ for SL and HL students. Read more about the IB Business Management examinations here.

• The Internal Assessment is a common task consisting of a business research project of up to 1,800 words.

Find out more information and top tips related to the Internal Assessment here.

The new Internal Assessment (IA) - first exams May 2024

The most noticeable change to the IA is that the assessment becomes common for both HL and SL. The new IA is a business research project that requires students to produce a research project about a real business issue or problem facing a particular organization using one of the key concepts (conceptual lens) and apply their knowledge of appropriate Business Management tools and theories. The maximum marks for the IA = 25 marks, and the word count limit is 1,800 words.

Students will be required to:

• select a real business issue or problem for their research project that relates to any part of the IB syllabus

• refer directly to a single business organization, but may consider industry-wide issues that impact on that organization

• provide a research question for the business research project that could either be forward looking or backward looking

• base their research on primary and/or secondary research, selected for suitability, depth, and breadth

• use only one of the four key concepts (change, creativity, ethics, or sustainability) as a lens through which to analyse the research project

• attach to the business research project 3 to 5 supporting documents from which the majority of the information for the project has been obtained

• produce a business research project that does not exceed 1,800 words

• fully reference all supporting documents and additional sources and include them in a bibliography.

The IA is marked by the teacher and externally moderated by the IB at the end of the course.

The recommended time allocation for the internal assessment = 20 hours.

IB Business Management and Theory of Knowledge (TOK)

There are many opportunities in the IB Business Management course to consider knowledge questions and the various Areas of Knowledge. There are also opportunities for cross curricular activities within Group 3 and indeed across the Diploma Programme to use TOK questions as the focus for debate. For example, research by Oxfam shows that the share of the world’s wealth owned by the richest 1% increased from 44% in 2009 to 48% in 2013. Recent data shows that the wealthiest 1% in economically developed economies saw an increase in their wealth during the global coronavirus pandemic - despite it causing the greatest recession in living memory. The wealthiest 1% on the planet owns more than 50% of the world’s wealth.

IB Business Management students can be asked to discuss:

• How we know that such data and information is reliable – what measure of wealth did Oxfam use and how was the data collected?

• Whether Oxfam has any vested interests that might influence how they report information on poverty and inequalities around the world.

• Whether there is room for both logic (rational decision making) and emotion in business management.

• What implications wealth inequalities have on syllabus content, such as entrepreneurship, motivation, labour productivity, growth and evolution, and the globalisation of business functions.

• What needs to be true for ethical objectives to contribute to socially responsible business strategy?

• Whether 'business ethics' is an oxymoron?

Read more about IB Business Management and TOK here.

IB Business Management and Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS)

Creativity, activity, and service (CAS) is a core component of the IB Diploma Programme (along with TOK and the Extended Essay). In exploring the interactions between individuals, societies and their environments, students reflect on their own identity and potential roles in society at large. They are encouraged to start seeing how they can contribute to positive change in their local and global communities.

CAS provides a framework for IB students to learn beyond the parameters of the physical classroom. Examples include:

• Review of non-profit activity - Students work with a non-profit organization in their area to review vision and mission statements, aims, objectives, strategies and tactics, and their relationships with stakeholder groups in the local community.

• Create a business plan - Students create a business plan for a CAS project or to start a non-profit business of their own.

• Advertising campaign - Students can apply the principles of marketing in Unit 4 of the syllabus to advocate a particular cause / fundraising campaign supported by the school.

The Extended Essay (EE) in IB Business Management

Along with CAS and TOK, the Extended Essay (EE) is part of the Core for all IB Diploma Programme students (SL and HL). This consists of a 4,000 word academic essay on a topic of the student's choice. This must be completed independently, but with the support of an EE Supervisor (who must be a teacher at the school).

The corporate world of business offers students many potential opportunities for writing an original Extended Essay. Living in an increasingly globalised world, students are involved in what businesses do, from being consumers of goods and services to being campaigners for increased social responsibility through aspects of an IB education. Decision-making takes place at all levels within business organizations, in areas such as human resource management, finance and accounts, operations management and marketing. Students who have a genuine interest in any aspect of business management can choose to explore this in more depth through their own independent research for the Extended Essay.

Some example of research questions for the EE include:

Topic 1: An evaluation of the introduction of Total Quality Management (TQM) at ABC Company.
 

Research Question 1: To what extent has the introduction of total quality management (TQM) improved quality assurance at ABC Company?

Topic 2: An evaluation of the contribution of JIT in the textile industries.

Research Question 2: To what extent has the technique of JIT method contributed to the efficiency of textile industries in Chhattisgarh, India?

Read more about the IB Business Management Extended Essay here.

Awarding the IB Diploma

The overall IB Diploma points are calculated by adding together the marks achieved from each of the six academic subjects (awarded from 1 up to 7 points) and then including between zero and three points from the Diploma core. This means that the highest score that a candidate can achieve is 45 points (6 subjects) × 7 points (top grade) plus 3 points from the Core.

Unlike the academic subjects, Theory of Knowledge (TOK) and the Extended Essay (EE) are graded from A to E. The third element of the Diploma Core, Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS) does not receive a grade but the CAS learning outcomes must be met in order for a candidate to be awarded the IB Diploma.

The minimum number of points to be awarded the IB Diploma is 24 points. However, there are nine failure conditions (or failing conditions) as outlined below.

The 9 failure conditions

A candidate can only receive the overall ID Diploma if none of the following nine conditions applies:

1. CAS requirements have not been met.

2. The candidate’s total points are fewer than 24.

3. An N (no grade awarded) has been given for Theory of Knowledge, the Extended Essay, or for a contributing subject.

4. A grade E has been awarded for one or both of Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay.

5. There is a grade 1 awarded in a subject (SL or HL).

6. Grade 2 has been awarded three or more times (SL or HL).

7. Grade 3 or below has been awarded four or more times (HL or SL).

8. Candidate has gained fewer than 12 points on HL subjects (for candidates who register for four HL subjects, the three highest grades count).

9. Candidate has gained fewer than 9 points on SL subjects (candidates who register for two SL subjects must gain at least 5 points at SL).

Bilingual diplomas

As an alternative to the standard IB Diploma, a “bilingual Diploma” can be awarded to a candidate who:

1. completes two languages selected from Group 1 with the award of a grade 3 or higher in both languages, OR

2. completes one of the subjects from Group 3 or Group 4 in a language that is not the same as the candidate's nominated Group 1 language. The candidate must attain a grade 3 or higher in both the Group 1 language and the subject from Group 3 or 4.

The Extended Essay or school-based syllabus cannot contribute to the award of a bilingual Diploma.

Source: adapted from Diploma Programme Assessment procedures 2024 (pages 11 - 12) and DP passing criteria