Economics and Business Management

Economics and business management is a degree that combines the analytical rigour of economic thinking with the practical and strategic focus of management education. Economics provides the theoretical frameworks and quantitative tools for understanding how markets work, how organisations make decisions under constraint, and how economic forces shape the competitive environment in which businesses operate. Business management develops your understanding of how organisations are led and run, covering strategy, finance, operations, marketing and the human dimensions of management.

Together they produce graduates equipped to think clearly about economic conditions and to act effectively within organisations that operate in them.

At Heriot-Watt, this four-year MA programme develops your skills in both disciplines in a programme that is explicitly oriented towards preparing you for a career in business. The economics content develops your understanding of market structures, economic policy, the behaviour of firms and the macroeconomic context in which they operate. The management content covers the core disciplines of business education, building your ability to understand organisations and the decisions that drive them.

The degree develops analytical and communication skills that are genuinely transferable across a wide range of professional contexts.

Graduates are well placed for roles in business strategy, economic analysis, management consultancy, financial services, banking, market research, operations management and the public sector. The combination of economic reasoning and management knowledge is particularly valued by organisations that need graduates who can bridge analytical and operational thinking. Many graduates also pursue professional qualifications or postgraduate study in business, economics or finance.