The Law and Behaviour of Business Organisations (710M3)

30 credits, Level 7 (Masters)

Autumn teaching

This module offers you an innovative approach to the analysis of business organisations by focusing on the regulation of central aspects of their governance, and how this affects their functioning and behaviour. The module addresses three types of business organisations:

  • sole traders
  • partnerships
  • companies.

The topics examined include:

  • the choice of business form
  • agency problems in business organisations
  • shareholder power
  • opportunistic behaviour by directors in companies
  • the role of the company’s gatekeepers
  • anti-bribery laws and their extraterritorial effects.

This module will be useful if you’re interested in areas such as financial law, commercial law and company law.

Teaching

33%: Lecture
67%: Seminar

Assessment

100%: Written assessment (Essay)

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 30 hours of contact time and about 270 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum. We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.