IIE BCom Honours in Strategic Brand Management - Distance

Overview

This IIE Honours programme investigates and applies strategic models and tools to the practice of innovative and cost-effective brand management, founded on robust financial and economic principles. Students are exposed to core components such as the financial management of a brand within prevailing economic conditions, brand and market analysis from a commercial perspective, the application of sustainable and ethical business and brand practice, the development of communication strategies in context of the competitive environment and internal realities and the utilisation of metrics and models to assess brand performance and brand equity.

Modules:

• Brand and Brand Building
• Strategic Brand Management and Leadership
• Financial, Economic and Legal Aspects
• Practice of Brand Building
• Research for the Business Sciences

Brand and Brand Building
This module develops students’ understanding of the key brand concepts that guide the development of innovative and purposeful solutions to brand building opportunities and challenges. Emphasis is placed on creative, critical and systemic thinking.

Strategic Brand Management and Leadership
This module considers brand management from an “inside out” and “outside in” perspective to guide the management of a sustainable brand by the brand owner. Students will develop knowledge and understanding of both external and internal environmental variables to be considered when developing brand strategies and plans, both locally and internationally. The focus is on commercial and entrepreneurial brand management practice and the associated strategic and operational dimensions. Brands will be analysed in context of the market environment and stakeholder relationships within which they are built.

Financial, Economic and Legal Aspects
This module develops understanding and applied knowledge of the principles of finance, economics and compliance relative to the development of brand strategies and plans, both locally and internationally.

Practice of Brand Building
This module applies the theories of strategic brand management and communication to answer real-life client briefs. The focus is on the development and crafting of an innovative brand building strategy and plan that will address complex business and societal challenges. Students will implement brand research to investigate situational, environmental and commercial scenarios. They will derive consumer insights to drive the execution of original and meaningful solutions to multi-faceted brand challenges. Students work in teams to address real-life working situations; develop their skills in recommending brand solutions; and to collaborate with peers in a process of innovative problem solving.

Research for the Business Sciences
Students will develop essential research skills for both professional and academic contexts alongside the ability to present and defend research to an expert audience. Emphasis is placed on independent and critical thinking, analysis, research design and methods, as well as academic discourse. Students complete a self-directed research project of limited scope under supervision in the discipline of the degree.

Structure of the honours degree for distance delivery:

The IIE BCom Honours in Strategic Brand Management consists of 5 modules and has been set up to support a 2-year journey with a maximum completion time of 4 years. Students are required to register per academic year; and each academic year consists of two semesters.

Year 1
Semester One

• Brand and Brand Building

Semester Two

• Strategic Brand Management and Leadership

Year 2
Semester Three

• Financial, Economic and Legal Aspects
• Research for the Business Sciences 

Semester Four

• Practice of Brand Building
• Research for the Business Sciences 

Study further with IIE Pathways
The successful completion of the IIE BCom Honours in Strategic Brand Management enables you to progress into the IIE MCom in Strategic Brand Leadership delivered at IIE Vega, subject to meeting the admission requirements.

Distance delivery includes:

• An online learning system that leads students through the content, prescribed material and activities.
• Online academic navigators (tutors) who are subject experts and maintain the human experience of the learning process.
• Weekly live sessions with your distance navigators.
• A dedicated success navigator who supports students throughout the learning journey.
• Online research supervisors who guide students’ research design, development and learning.
• Our challenging Business Simulation project – apply your business learnings in a simulated business environment to test your brand and business skills against the competition.
• Access to our online information centre and resources.

Note:

While you can generally structure your study time as you need, there are scheduled online sessions during which you will get mediated support. Scheduled assessments in the form of online activities, assignments and exams are paced to ensure your studies progress.

What you need in terms of technology, time and materials:

• The appropriate technology equipment and tools are essential to succeed in distance study
• A reliable internet connection (we recommend 5-10 GB of data per month), your own device with at least Windows 8 or macOS 10.15 (Microsoft Office 365 is available as a free download for IIE students), and Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge Chromium or Firefox.
• An uninterrupted power supply is also highly recommended.
• Prescribed textbooks are available for online purchase.
• Online students need to commit to approximately 12-15 hours a week for online engagement (most of which is after hours) with material and assessments to succeed.
• All final semester exams need to be written at an IIE campus or other approved exam centre.

Please note synchronous sessions generally take place after hours.

To succeed in your distance journey, you need to be:

• Self-motivated and invested in your learning journey.
• Disciplined and able to balance studying with work and family commitments.
• Able to direct your own studies, maintaining a diligent pace.

To assist you in succeeding in your distance journey, our teaching approach is:

• Student-centric: we facilitate your thought processes to foster innovative ideas and creative solutions.
• Authentic: we use real-life examples and case studies.
• Activity-based: We move your learning forward through applied activities and assessments.
• Discussion-based: we ask you questions and stimulate debate to provoke deep thought and insights about course content.

Examination centre options for assessments written on campus    

• All final semester exams as indicated on your Programme Assessment Schedule (PAS) can be written online, at an IIE campus, or at an approved exam centre where appropriate. 
• From 2024, we are planning to offer you the ability to write your exam online, which will be invigilated.
• Your device needs to fulfil the minimum requirements as above with internet connectivity, a working webcam and audio recording ability, with battery life sufficient for the exam duration in case of power outage once the exam has started.
• Whilst Android devices and tablets can be used for your studies, they cannot be used for online exams.
• You are responsible for making contingency plans in case of planned power outages. 
• You need to be alone in a quiet environment for writing your exams online.

Where assessments cannot be written online or students do not have access to an appropriate device

• For students based in South Africa, online students may select any campus of The IIE’s Varsity College, Rosebank College, Vega, or IIE MSA as their Examination Centre.
• An alternative examination centre is only permissible for students studying abroad and those located in a province of South Africa where there is no IIE campus. If there is no IIE campus within reach, an alternative venue will need to be sourced by you. For non-IIE venues, there is an alternative venue levy per module.

Entry Requirements

• An appropriate Bachelor’s Degree with an average of 60% in the final year; OR
• An appropriate Advanced Diploma, provided that a 360 credit Diploma or appropriate equivalent has been completed with an average of 60% in the final year. An appropriate Degree or Advanced Diploma would normally be in the fields of either: Branding, Business Management, Economics, Financial Management, Marketing Management or Strategic Management.

 Please note:

• Candidates are normally required to have a minimum final year average of 60% in the qualifications final-year (NQF Level 7) modules. Those with a final year average of 55-59% will be admitted if they attained 60% or higher for the designated cognate/core discipline cognate/core discipline module at final year (NQF Level 7) level.
• Accounting or Financial Management AND Economics or Statistics must be part of the undergraduate qualification and candidates are required to have passed these modules to gain entry.

Senate Discretionary Admission: 

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): Candidates who fall outside the above criteria, but who can demonstrate, to the satisfaction of The IIE that they have an appropriate, related qualification or work-based learning, which has taken the candidate to the equivalent of an NQF Level 7 Branding, Business Management, Economics, Financial Management, Marketing or Strategic Management - related qualification, may be considered for admission into this programme through an RPL process.

 Additional Notes:

Graduates of The IIE who do not meet the admissions requirements for admission to Honours can enrol for and repeat all or some of their NQF Level 7 modules in order to improve their marks so that they can meet the entry requirements for Honours. These graduate students will then receive an additional transcript after the completion of the repeat module(s), where the repeat module(s) will appear as a second iteration of the module(s) on the transcript. The marks from the second iteration can then be used for admission to Honours in the subsequent academic year. This option is only available to graduates from The IIE and does not apply to graduates from other HE institutions.

International Admission:

• A SAQA NQF L7 Evaluation Certificate in an appropriate field and meeting the additional admission requirements.