Zimbabwe Form 4 Curriculum - Business Studies (Elective)

This course equips learners with practical enterprise skills, value addition skills and business enterprising ethics such as self-management, business integrity, volunteerism (corporate social responsibility) and dignity of labor. This learning area will enable learners to interact with and participate in the changing enterprising environment, through the use of their learned financial skills, competencies and knowledge, thus enhancing enterprise success.

Aims

• Develop an appreciation of the environment within which business enterprise activities take place.
• Develop knowledge and understanding of business enterprise concepts and activities.
• Create employment through new business ventures.
• Enhance lifelong skills such as creativity, innovation, problem solving and decision making allowing them to contribute to economic development.

Syllabus Objectives

By the end of Form 4, learners should be able to:

• Analyze the environment in which business and enterprise activities take place.
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of facts, terms, concepts, and functions of business enterprise skills.
• Apply knowledge and skills to solve problems in a business situation.
• Make accurate judgments on business issues.
• Apply ICTs in business activities.
• Communicate business information in a coherent and logical manner.
• Demonstrate an enterprising culture.
• Apply skills of numeracy, literacy, inquiry and use relevant sources of information to present and interpret business data.

Topics Covered

1. The Business Enterprise: Covers enterprising skills, personal attributes of an enterpriser, and drivers towards enterprising. 2. The Enterprising Environment: Includes internal and external stakeholders, resources and capabilities, business constraints, and business opportunities and risks. 3. Setting Up a New Enterprise: Focuses on unincorporated and incorporated business enterprises, business ethics, business size and growth, assistance to enterprise start-ups, risk, ownership, and limited liabilities, and the formation of business enterprises. 4. Business Planning: Covers the purpose of business planning, the business planning process, developing a business plan, and implementation of the business plan. 5. Enterprise Finance and Securing Investors: Includes the need for finance, sources of finance, financial statements, cash budgets, working capital, business costs, break-even analysis, budgeting, and securing investors. 6. People in Business Enterprises: Covers functions of managers, motivating employees, motivation theories, leadership, financial and non-financial methods of motivation, business communication, and organizational structure. 7. Markets and Marketing: Includes the need for marketing, types of markets, marketing research, market segmentation, demand forecasting, economic integration, and the marketing mix. 8. Operations Management: Covers the nature of production, value addition, transport, purchasing, inventory management, warehousing, quality management, and the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in operations management.

Assessment

Assessment is divided into two components:

• Continuous Assessment (40%): Includes theory tests, assignments, and practical projects.
• Summative Assessment (60%): Consists of two written papers. Paper 1 focuses on structured short questions, while Paper 2 includes a case study and essay questions.

This syllabus encourages learner-centered methods and approaches, such as mini-enterprise projects, problem-solving activities, demonstrations, case studies, educational tours, research, group work, role play, guided discovery, seminars, debates, project work, shadowing, and school on the shop floor. A minimum of five 40-minute lessons per week, including one double period, are recommended for adequate coverage of the content. Learners should also participate in at least one educational tour per year and one seminar per term.