Free learning resources from the Open University:

• Entrepreneurial behaviour
• Making decisions

More business and management from OpenLearn

If you are interested in getting help in talking through your idea or in starting a small firm there are a number of sites.

Venture Navigator - Is your business idea viable? This service, a product of a consortium of British universities and Library House, offers an online assessment tool, resources and a forum to help shape your idea into a successful business.

The first step may be your local enterprise agency, which you can find through the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies.

For younger would-be entrepreneurs the Prince's Trust or Shell’s Livewire programme can be very useful.

For links to entrepreneurship sites, research and news visit the Small Business Portal.

The BBC and the Open University are not responsible for the content of external websites.

Entrepreneurship: Globalization, Innovation and Development
Elizabeth Chell (Thomson Learning, published 2001)

If you want to find out more about entrepreneurship and successful small businesses:
Understanding Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Simon Bridge, Ken O’Neill and Stan Comie (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)

To find out more about starting a successful entrepreneurial business:
Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Paul Burns (Palgrave, 2001)

If you already have a business but want to make it more entrepreneurial and have a stronger impact on your local economy:
The Essential Guide to Managing Small Business Growth
Peter Wilson and Susan Bates (Wiley, 2003)

For information about management concepts, tools and techniques in a digestible format:
The Manager’s Good Study Guide
Sheila Tyler (The Open University, 2004)
This handy reference manual contains a compendium of management ideas covering strategy, marketing, finance, leadership, managing people and monitoring and evaluation. For added value, it takes you through the construction of logical and persuasive arguments, writing fluently and forcefully, researching and using information, and handling numbers and using graphs and diagrams with confidence.

If you would like to follow up your interest by taking a course, the OU offers a range of courses and qualifications designed to fit you.

Which type of course is best for you?

• New to undergraduate study?
• Not sure you want to commit to a long course?
• Have study or work experience and looking for career and professional development?

Openings

Understanding Management (Y159)

Most of us, at one time or another, encounter management. It is one of the dominant features of modern working life. Sometimes our experience is one of being managed and at other times we are required to manage, whether we have a formal title or not. The course includes:

• taking a look at your own experience and understanding of management
• exploring what organisations are all about and how they are managed
• considering your own self-management in a variety of situations
• finding out how you plan and assess your personal development needs for the future

Open to change (Y154)
This course is for people who are confronted by significant changes, or thinking about making them: perhaps returning to education, or taking a different direction at work. It will help you build up your confidence; develop your key skills; review your personal experience; assess your skills; and explore options for the future.

Details of all the OU's Openings courses can be found on their Openings courses page.

Longer Courses and Qualifications

Getting the right balance of skills in your business is essential, and the Open University offers a range of courses which will allow you to become a more effective, more successful manager - whether working for yourself, or somebody else.

The Professional Certificate in Management (B615)
This twelve month course leads to a professional award, during which you'll study four key areas:

• Managing and Organisations, covers the role of a manager, and how to develop managerial effectiveness in an organisational setting
• Managing People looks at how to work more effectively with colleagues and staff; topics include motivation, recruitment, team working and leadership
• Managing Finance and Information helps a general manager to interpret and use financial information. It covers costs, how they are calculated and managed as well as budget management.
• Managing Customers and Quality uses marketing and quality management techniques to help a manager add value for customers and stakeholders. It looks at how customers behave; the importance of researching, understanding and satisfying their needs; and communicating with them.

Investigating entrepreneurial opportunities (B322)

This course addresses the crucial first steps related to developing new business ideas, implementing innovations and launching new ventures. It will develop business-planning capabilities, skills and understanding, including market and competitor research and the use of important financial concepts such as break-even and cash flow. It will lead you through a systematic process of testing your ideas and experience to arrive at a business proposition with ambitious yet attainable objectives.

For more information on all our courses in business and management, look at the OU's business and management website.