IB Business Management Text books and resources

IB Business Management: Textbooks and resources

Without a doubt, IBBusinessManagement.com is easily the best resource for both teaching and learning of the IB Business Management course, that's why we have the top rankings in search engines. However, there are other resources that students and teachers should be considering as well. As a Head of Department, Derek Burton has access to all of the resources produced for the course. He reviews them here to save you time and money.

A review of the IB Business Management teaching and learning resources available for teachers and students

Derek Burton, site author of IBBusinessManagement.com, is Head of Commerce at a leading independent IB school. He is a very experienced and highly successful IB Business Management teacher. Here he reviews the resources available to teachers and students of the course.

The teaching and learning textbooks, study guides and other learning technologies listed below are a comprehensive selection of the available resources. The reviews here, while based on his opinions and experiences, are also triangulated with his network of influential IB Business Management practitioners.

If you are a teacher looking to resource your course or a student looking for the best textbook or study guide , read on ...
The key point to take home from the IB Business Management teaching and learning resources review, is that while there are some very good resources out there, there is no single resource that will allow the student to achieve the 7. Students really need a good and experienced IB Business Management teacher to guide them through more advanced knowledge and engage them in critical thinking.

Good, but expensive textbook

Paul Hoang's new IB Business Management book still suffers from his choice of publisher, the formatting is off-putting and it's bloated with unnecessary photos, some case studies are obsolete, and there are ridiculous mnemonics embedded throughout. The content is readable and key information is usually summarised quite well. However, the student will have to supplement his or her course material with additional and more comprehensive course material to attain the higher grade boundaries in terms of the knowledge required to build their critical thinking foundations upon.

The textbook would probably rate a whole star higher in our rankings, but it is super, super expensive. With a ridiculously high shipping and handling fee, my copy cost $140 AND then you will need to pay an additional $100 for the answers to the case study questions (still no review question answers). That's right folks, $240.00 for the complete package! The content of this second best book in no way justifies its price.

Easily the best IB Business Management textbook

The new textbook by Stimpson et al. is our pick of the IB Business Management student and teacher resources. In fact, we like it so much we have aligned all of our schemes of work to include readings and activities from each topic. It was a long time coming, being released eight months after the other two IB Business Management textbooks came out (Hoang and Muchena), and it tells. It combines clarity, readability and core IB Business Management knowledge very effectively, and has great case study questions to get the student thinking. In a nice touch, the authors have also included revision questions targeting core revision knowledge this time around. There are answers to their student activities.

Just a few words of warning if you do decide to make this your primary resource. Firstly, the use of formulae is quite confusing in places (e.g., in Ratio Analysis). Secondly, there is no specific IA guidance, or focus on the key concepts, which is disappointing considering it is a part of the course now.

The IBO 'approved textbook'

This is the fourth best IB Business Management textbook. It was one of the first text books to hit the market and it has the 'IBO' seal of endorsement. It's funny, but each of the Oxford IBO approved textbooks I have bought (Business Management, Economics and Psychology) have all been disappointing, even though some of them have had really knowledgeable IB teachers as authors. Uninspiring and unengaging. Activities have a horrible habit of assessing knowledge from later topics. No answers to activities.

Good structure, easy to understand, simplistic

A new publisher in the IB Business Management space in this latest iteration of the syllabus. This textbook has good structure, easy to understand information, and clean, clear formatting. We don't like the way that content information is weirdly offset to the left leaving lots of blank space on the right (see example here). Essentially, this poor use of space means that it has more limited information, case studies and questions than some other IB Business Managements textbooks.

What differentiates this from rest of the textbooks?

The good, it has thorough coverage of the IB Business Management syllabus but fails to distinguish itself from similar textbooks. We like the layout and editing for the most part, but pages can be crowded with additional information and call outs (see example). While it offers clear explanations and is well-structured, it lacks unique features or innovative perspectives that could set it apart. The e-book version does offer answers to practice questions and automatically marked quizzes with and reporting, good for revision, setting homework and tracking progress. All the other IB Business Management textbooks have e-books, and this one has the most interactive resources, but it's not much less expensive than their physical textbook.

Meagre offerings for the price

A very expensive set of limited multi-choice, fill in the blank, etc., etc. type questions (here's an example). The content isn't sufficient for the two year diploma course, not engaging enough to motivate students, and too shallow to drive student learning. Some teachers may use it to 'occupy' students for 30 minutes occasionally. Really, I would have my students engaging in some business news, watching a short video or analysing a Times 100 case study in groups instead – all infinitely more beneficial. At least the answers are free. There are another two student workbooks by the overly prolific author, one on the IB Business Management toolkit and another on qualitative questions, these too are poor value for money.

A strange e-learning beast!

Kognity is a strange beast indeed! Not that an e-learning platform is a bad thing, we just wish that someone would do it well. Firstly, let's talk pricing. My school is a well resourced school and we trialed Kognity's offerings for a year with mixed results. It's really expensive! You pay per student, per year. Whereas a good textbook is going to last the full six or seven years of the IB Business Management, especially if they mostly stay in the classroom, and the $60 or so upfront cost is offset over those years, especially if teaching multiple IB Business Management classes. With Kognity, you keep paying.

I found that particularly for IB Business Management and IB Psychology, Kognity's coverage was markedly inadequate (but better for IB Economics). While it offers concise summaries that can be useful for revision, the depth of information needed to tackle exam questions often falls short. So we would advise exploring additional study methods. Textbooks such as Stimpson's provided more information in more depth. Kognity has quizzes which can be assigned and tracked, so easy homework! But again, superficial and expensive.

Uninspiring, poor design, good content

Let's start with the good. This website has good coverage of the IB Business Management course, but nowhere as good as one of the better textbooks out there. Secondly, teachers can add students so they can access the 'textbook' portions of the website, which has content similar to a basic study guide, and some questions and activities too. There are some samples of IAs, exam questions, and exam marking which is helpful to teachers.

Now, the not so good. This website is authored by an ex-teacher who hasn't taught IB Business Management for years, and has never taught the current syllabus. The design of the website is like something out of the 2010s, which is off-putting. It's outdated and difficult to engage students. Pages and activities feel clunky and uninspiring, and the design desperately needs a refresh to bring it into the 2020s! Finally, at an expensive USD$270 per year it does not include mock exams, the site author will sell you mock exams for about USD$60 from another website. Teachers will need to think long and hard as to whether such a website provides value for money.

The 'best' study guide

I never recommend study guides to my students. Course concepts are almost invariably presented in their shallowest form (e.g., definitions and summary tables). If you have been bone idle for the two years of your course and would be happy with an IB Business Management 4 or 5, then you may consider purchasing this for revision purposes. Possibly. Students, listen to your teachers. The best IB Business Management study guide on the market, not that that's much of a recommendation!

An inadequate study guide

Given the wealth of questions that Paul Hoang has developed over the years it was exceptionally disappointing to see so few questions on offer. For example, there are a measly three short-answer questions covering the entire Human Resources topic and just six short answer questions covering the huge Marketing topic. It is less well written and less compact than the Oxford and, as such, it is probably the least suitable for student revision needs. There are very few IB Business Management toolkit questions.

We haven't heard great things about it

This IB Business Professional development is often run by workshop leaders who haven't taught the IB Business Management course in years, and who have never taught the current syllabus! As such they are unfamiliar with student problem areas, common mistakes and the nuances of teaching the course. If you are ever offered an online workshop from this company, run screaming, but you can add an extra star to this rating for in person workshops.

Gold standard in teacher professional development

IB Business Management teacher professional development done right. I have done many of these things by now and still continue to learn loads from each one. It's expensive for sure, but worth its weight in gold. You will have access to a good, knowledgeable IB Business Management practitioner and forge networks and share resources and ideas with other professionals. All workshop leaders are current teachers and usually examiners to boot. If possible, avoid Category 1 workshops, they're set at too low of a level.