Business

Accounting activities are at the core of every business. Today's accountants are problem solvers and business advisors, central to maintaining financially strong and sustainable business practices within an array of organisations. Studying accountancy at JCU will equip you with a broad range of skills and lead you to a career where graduates are in demand in Australia and globally.

The Economics and Marketing majors within our business degrees and the Master of Economics prepare you for careers in a wide range of business, government and not-for-profit sectors, both within tropical regions and beyond. Our teaching strategies have been developed in close consultation with industry, and focus on developing analytical and critical thinking skills, together with communication and presentation skills. ‘Authentic’ assessments are used, that is applying concepts and theories to real-world issues and challenges. This approach is underpinned by cutting edge research by our academic team in a range of areas that are of immediate relevance to practitioners, including an increasing focus on issues relating to sustainability (see staff profiles below). The success of our approach is recognised by industry in terms of our high success rate in graduate employment.

The Marketing major will develop your knowledge of, and ability to apply, theories and concepts across all areas of commercial and not-for-profit marketing: upon completion of your major, you will be able to create marketing programs that provide value for potential customers. Our graduates have built careers in a diverse range of sectors, including commercial marketing (e.g. fast-moving consumer goods, ‘durable’ products, retail and services), tourism, entertainment, market research, government agencies and not-for-profit organisations.

The Economics major in the business degrees or the Master of Economics degree will develop your knowledge of, and ability to apply, theories and concepts that unpack economic behaviour at the individual, firm and society level. The ability to predict and steer economic behaviour is invaluable both in terms of profitability at the firm level and welfare (or wellbeing) outcomes at society level, hence why our economists are sought after. Our graduates have built careers in business (consultancy, market research in large businesses), government (locally, nationally as well as internationally) and not-for-profit (advocacy or charity organisations).

One of the key strengths of the JCU degree in Business Studies is its flexibility. Students can specialise in economics or marketing, or choose to study both subjects as double majors or business minors to exploit synergy effects between the two disciplines. For undergraduate students who excel in the Economics or Marketing majors, we provide Honours programs in economics and business respectively, to further develop their research skills.

Good management is essential to the success of any business. Managers are trained to be innovative, strategic and effective in their business practices in a globally competitive environment. They work in public, private, corporate and not-for-profit organisations and also work for themselves.

Management and Governance staff bring their diverse array of skills and research into the College’s key MBA corporate business sectors. These encompass leadership, governance-analysis, strategy, management, resourcing, operations, people, innovation, technopreneurship, global comparisons, and organisational-change. Intermeshed with these MBA areas are its field trips, business plans, internships, individual projects and rural options.

The above MBA areas are underpinned by the normal management and governance undergraduate and honours programs. Here, each management and governance undergraduate subject is designed into a collective build process that ultimately delivers a key graduate skill set suitable to the needs of tomorrow’s corporate leaders.

In studying tourism and hospitality, or sports, conference or events management, students learn how one large part of the world works. Students need to understand how countries are connected, how people seek to make their lives happy and meaningful, and how to understand many processes working to make a whole system function, hopefully in the most positive and sustainable way.

People who work in the tourism industry change jobs and often move from one kind of job role and title to another. They may be a customer service person, a tour leader, a manager, a marketer, a special event coordinator, or a development officer, or may move between more senior managerial roles in different tourism businesses or sectors. The movement may also be spatial with the possibility of shifting across states or countries. For many people with tourism, events and sports interests, this variety and mobility is appealing as they have “careers which take them places.”

In tourism we work to make people happier. It has been said that tourism is the biggest happiness industry on the planet, and the overwhelming positivity of the tourism sector is a personal benefit for most graduates and tourism employees. At James Cook University we have a set of achievements in tourism that are unmatched by other Australian Universities. Over 25 years ago, JCU was the first in the country to establish a tourism degree with support of key national industry organisations. We have achieved the highest ranking for our research and study of tourism in the Research Excellence in Australia rankings and JCU tourism staff have won many teaching awards. We have a big “family” of graduates across the world, in a range of great careers.