Undergraduate Course: Global Creative Industries: The art of business and the business of art (BUST10140)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Creative industries are an increasingly important area of business both for their cultural and economic value to society. The course examines creative industries as cultural production systems by drawing on a variety of disciplines (economics, sociology, strategic management) and by utilising specific cases to understand their historical, cultural, structural and competitive dynamics. This course is available to both 3rd and 4th year students and focuses on organisational strategies and market systems for dealing with uncertainty and complex cultural products. |
| Course description |
The course aims to introduce students to the peculiarities of doing business in the creative industries. These industries comprise a variety of actors and possess very distinctive properties with respect to other sectors of the economy. Organisations operating in these industries may be purpose-driven, expressing ideas, identities, aesthetics, and culture; profit-driven, seeking commercial success and competitive advantage; or both. They range from large multinational corporations to small and medium enterprises, public entities, and individual creators. They may serve local markets, export their products and services, or act as intermediaries between producers and consumers.
The course is organised around key roles and concepts in cultural production systems. It draws on theoretical frameworks and research findings from multiple disciplines, including strategic management, economics, and sociology. With the help of case studies, studies will discuss how value is created, organised, defined, and protected in creative markets; who are the actors involved in different stages of the production process; how creativity, innovation, and change can be sustained in a competitive setting; and how knowledge from creative industries can be applied to other business environments.
Assignments in this course are individual and team-based. Student teams will be formed at the beginning of the course and the teams will choose a cultural organisation, from any creative industry, as the subject of assignments.
In the first part of the course, individual team members prepare an analytical overview of the organisation, applying strategic, economic, and sociological frameworks, to be delivered as a slide deck. This contributes 50% of the final mark.
In the second part of the course, teams work collaboratively to produce strategic recommendations for the chosen organisation that could help it overcome its challenges or better achieve its objectives. Team members will pool together their knowledge and seek information, analyse data, and present their analysis to the class to receive feedback. They will then deliver their analysis in the form of a written report. This contributes 50% of the final mark, including 15% through peer assessment.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Honours entry. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students must have at least 4 Business courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 48 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
60% coursework (individual) - Slide deck - Assesses Learning Outcome 1
40% coursework (group) - Analytical report incl 15% peer assessment adjustment - Assesses all Learning Outcomes
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| Feedback |
Formative: Feedback will be provided throughout the course.
Summative: Feedback will be provided on assessments within agreed deadlines. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of key concepts and theoretical frameworks for the analysis of creative industries, and explain how temporal and locational patterns influence these concepts and frameworks.
- Apply these concepts and frameworks to new situations in order to generate original insights and reflect on appropriate strategies and practices.
- Demonstrate and improve effective communication skills: engaging audiences, articulating core arguments, presenting the results of elaborate analysis, and persuasively offering strategies and solutions to emerging issues.
- Demonstrate capacity to work effectively with others; contributing as needed, engaging in appropriate roles, coping with issues and coordinating activities.
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Reading List
Caves, R.E. (2000). Creative industries: Contracts between art and commerce. Cambridge. MA: Harvard University Books.
Jones, C., Lorenzen, M., and Sapsed, J. (2015). The Oxford handbook of creative industries. Oxford: United Kingdom.
Case studies and research articles as determined by the instructor.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Knowledge and Understanding:
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate a thorough knowledge and understanding of contemporary organisational disciplines;
comprehend the role of business within the contemporary world; and critically evaluate and synthesise primary and secondary research and sources of evidence in order to make, and present, well informed and transparent organisation-related decisions, which have a positive global impact.
- Identify, define and analyse theoretical and applied business and management problems, and develop
approaches, informed by an understanding of appropriate quantitative and/or qualitative techniques, to explore and solve them responsibly.
Practice: Applied Knowledge, Skills and Understanding
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- Work with a variety of organisations, their stakeholders, and the communities they serve - learning from them, and aiding them to achieve responsible, sustainable and enterprising solutions to complex problems.
Communication, ICT, and Numeracy Skills
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- Convey meaning and message through a wide range of communication tools, including digital technology and social media; to understand how to use these tools to communicate in ways that sustain positive and responsible relationships.
- Critically evaluate and present digital and other sources, research methods, data and information; discern their limitations, accuracy, validity, reliability and suitability; and apply responsibly in a wide variety of organisational contexts.
Autonomy, Accountability and Working with Others
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- Act with integrity, honesty and trust in all business stakeholder relationships, and apply ethical reasoning to effective decision making, problem solving and change management. |
| Keywords | Creative industries; strategy; cultural institutions; cultural production |
Contacts
| Course organiser | |
Course secretary | |
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