BUSINESS111 Understanding Business

How BUSINESS111 is assessed

These five weights are published on the Semester 2, 2026 assessment overview on Canvas and total 100%. The exam format comes from the course's exam instructions page; check Canvas for any later announcement.

Current BUSINESS111 dates

Dates are as published in the Semester 2, 2026 Canvas exam page. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.

What BUSINESS111 covers

Twelve chapters follow the course's four modules, from purpose and the external environment to teams, culture, ethics, inclusion, leadership and innovation. Chapters 7 to 12 cover Weeks 7 to 10, the weeks the final exam draws on.

The first asks why organisations exist, using megatrends, the Sustainable Development Goals, purpose and business models. The second places the business in its environment with PESTLE, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Porter's Five Forces, SWOT, generic strategies, stakeholders, corporate social responsibility and customers.

The third looks inside the organisation at teams, culture and structure, ethics, diversity, equity and inclusion, and management and leadership.

The fourth turns to change through creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship.

How it is taught and assessed

The course pairs each week of knowledge with a skill or mindset, from feedback and information literacy to time management, and expects about ten hours of study a week including a compulsory two-hour workshop.

Assessment combines an individual SWOT in two parts, a learning-community peer evaluation, DELNA screening, a mid-semester test and a final exam.

The final is sat online under remote invigilation and asks four application questions, each answered in a single paragraph of up to 250 words using concepts from Weeks 7 to 10.

How this guide helps

Each chapter explains the concepts in the course's own terms, works an invented scenario into a model paragraph using the TEE+ structure the course teaches, and finishes with practice cards with model answers.

The examinable chapters use the final exam's format and marking criteria, and a mock final and an exam-morning checklist close the guide.

Worked example · free

Separate management work from leadership work

Key terms

Megatrend

A long-term global change that affects individuals, organisations and society as a whole.

Business Model

The way an organisation creates value for customers and captures enough of it to remain viable.

PESTLE

A framework that sorts political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental forces acting on a business.

Generic Strategy

One of Porter's four competitive positions, defined by source of advantage and breadth of scope.

Stakeholder

Anyone who can affect or be affected by a company's actions, from employees to future generations.

Positioning

The perception a target market holds of a product relative to its competitors.

Tuckman's Stages

The sequence of forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning through which teams usually develop.

Competing Values Framework

A model that sorts organisational cultures into clan, adhocracy, market and hierarchy types.

Justice View

An ethical view that asks whether people are treated fairly and impartially under consistent rules.

Inclusion

The degree to which an employee feels valued for their knowledge and skills and part of the team.

Transformational Leadership

Leadership that inspires people to exceed their self-interest through vision, example, challenge and coaching.

POLC

The four functions of management: planning, organising, leading and controlling.

Paradigm Innovation

A change in the core logic of a business, often called business-model innovation.

TEE+

The course's paragraph structure of topic sentence, explanation of theory, example or evidence, plus analysis.

BUSINESS111 FAQ

Questions students ask in each BUSINESS111 chapter

Is the COVID-19 pandemic really a megatrend?

The Week 1 mini-lecture treats it as one, listing changes such as remote work, online meetings and shifts toward online retail. It also asks whether the pandemic alone produced those changes, which invites you to show how it accelerated trends already under way. Chapter 01 · Megatrends and the Sustainable Development Goals

What is the difference between value creation and value configuration?

Creation describes what customers receive, who they are and how the offering reaches them. Configuration describes the resources, activities, structure and partners that make that delivery possible. A supplier partnership belongs to configuration, while the benefit a customer feels belongs to creation. Chapter 02 · Purpose, Business Models and Impact

Is PEST the same as PESTLE?

PEST covers political, economic, social and technological factors. PESTLE and PESTEL add legal and environmental factors, and the course uses those two acronyms interchangeably. In basic PEST the political category also covers legal matters. Chapter 03 · PESTLE and the New Zealand Business Environment

Which comes first, SWOT or the Five Forces?

Canvas presents SWOT as the synthesis step. PESTLE and the Five Forces supply opportunities and threats, an internal review supplies strengths and weaknesses, and SWOT then bridges them into a choice of strategic position. Chapter 04 · Five Forces, SWOT and Strategic Options

What makes a stakeholder primary rather than secondary?

Primary stakeholders such as employees, customers and suppliers have a direct contractual or economic relationship with the firm. Secondary stakeholders such as the media, government and community groups have no direct exchange but can still influence the firm through opinion, lobbying or law. Chapter 05 · Stakeholders, Sustainability and CSR

Why should segmentation use more than one base?

The Week 6 slides warn that segmenting on a single base or variable such as age gives a shallow picture of customers. Combining demographic, psychographic, geographic and behavioural bases gives a deeper understanding and lets a firm meet needs more precisely. Chapter 06 · Customers, Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

Is a group the same as a team?

No. The course explains that a team works toward a goal it has defined, members hold each other accountable, and they bring complementary skills, so the team becomes greater than the sum of its parts. A group may lack that shared goal and accountability. Chapter 07 · Working in Groups and Teams

Which organisational structure is best?

None in itself. Canvas stresses that each structure has trade-offs, and the right choice depends on the culture the organisation wants to foster, its strategy and its industry. Answers should therefore judge fit rather than rank structures. Chapter 08 · Organisational Culture and Structure

Is there a single correct ethical view to use?

No. Canvas explains that the views are not exhaustive, that absolute answers are rare, and that one view may call a decision moral while another calls it immoral. What earns marks is a justified choice tied to the facts. Chapter 09 · Business Ethics and Ethical Decision-Making

What is the difference between diversity and inclusion?

Diversity describes who is present in a workforce, while inclusion describes whether those people feel valued for their knowledge and skills and part of the team. An organisation can hire diverse staff and still exclude them from decisions. Chapter 10 · Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Is every manager a leader?

Not necessarily. Canvas notes that the words are used interchangeably and that job titles do not settle the question. Kotter's distinction helps: management copes with complexity and keeps operations running, while leadership copes with change and sets a new direction. Chapter 11 · Management and Leadership

What is the difference between creativity and innovation?

Creativity means generating ideas that are both new and useful; it is the enabling process. Innovation is what happens when such ideas are turned into new value through products, processes, positions or business logic. The entrepreneur is the person who takes the innovation to market. Chapter 12 · Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

How to study for the exam

Start with the four examinable weeks and build your notes before the exam, not during it. For each concept in Weeks 7 to 10, write a paraphrased definition, one example from a course case or an organisation you know, and one link to another week, such as culture to structure or ethics to inclusion.

Keep the notes electronic and organised by week, because paper notes are not allowed and searching large files during the exam wastes time. Then practise the answer shape. Take a scenario, mark the task, topic and limit words, choose one concept and two facts, and write a TEE+ paragraph of no more than 250 words in about 37 minutes.

Compare it with the model answers in this guide on three points: was the concept defined precisely, was every claim tied to a fact, and did the paragraph end with a justified judgement? In the final week, rotate through the four weeks daily, rewrite your weakest paragraph, and bring timed attempts to office hours or PASS sessions for feedback.

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