Hi. Im about to embark on my forth year at University studying Business with Law.

I’m debating lots of dissertation topics and trying to find one that I am genuinely interested in. I like the idea of corporate social responsibility and within that sustainability.

I am currently thinking of the idea of how the Forestry Commission is working to sustainable develop mountain biking within the UK and perhaps considering the Forestry Commission as a wider entity and how it works to maximise its yields form UK forestry land.

What do you think, any suggestions/advice would be very welcomely received.

Does the FC make a profit? If it doesn’t, and costs more than it brings in, is it still a good example to use for a business degree?

(Not saying it doesn’t, or isn’t, just the first questions that come to my very unbusinessy mind).

How about something along the lines of how offering a free on-line service benefits the business. I’m obviously thinking of STW here. Sure there must be other examples around too.

The FC is a government service, they are given a budget annually, in terms of profitability I haven’t looked into it deeply enough, it isn’t self sustainable currently, it relies on the governments yearly budget but I don’t yet know if it breaks even on that or not.

I did consider looking at how free online business are developing – i.e. Google is completely free to the end user but is still a billion £ company, equally FB, etc.

I also thought about looking at the lasting legacy of the London Olympics, but was struggling to narrow that down to a specific business.

I did mine on what competitive advantage small businesses hold over their large competitors. Mine was crap but I still think the ideas is good and could be used be a better, more motivated person.

Have you ticked boxes such as:

1. Does the subject interest you? Yes, by the sounds of it.
2. Can you apply the practical analysis to the theory element of your course? Often a challenge!
3. Will the result/analysis/ be helpful in your future? Can you imagine this being suitable to include on our CV?

Lunge – I like the idea of the competitive advantage smaller business hold over their larger rivals, I work for a small firm and the lack of red tape etc is very visible when they want to make a quick change.

TeamHurtMore – In terms of enhancing my C.V. I have no idea. I don’t have any set goals for when I finish Uni yet but I’m sure whatever I did I could justify it somehow to be relevant. The idea does interest me I can’t decide if its meaty enough/course relevant enough.

There are trail centres not run by the FC. Llandegla for instance is all on Tillhill’s land afaik.

They’re a for-profit business, and they still think it’s worth running a trail centre as a value-added service.

Business with Law? How about looking at where Kaesae got all of the frames from that he flogged on eBay?

If not, commercial viability of paid services within trail centres would be good. Thinking of uplifts, chairlifts etc.

It can be very frustrating ensuring relevancy but be careful not to stray too far from your course. When I submitted my first draft, my tutor turned around and said where’s the theory? He was a shrewd guy though, and we simply sat down and worked out how to write the theory around the applied analysis rather than the other way round. But he was more of a business man than an academic. I included (3) because it worked for me and in the crowded world of CVs having a dissertation that is relevant or at least interesting to an employer is always a help!

Good luck with it.

Most the centers are owned as far as I knew, Llandegla is on land owner by UPM (Tilhil), its my local…

So the FC is for profit, the Stanes I think are owned by the FC as the only costs are carparks, which account for some 1/3 of the money that goes into the particular forests.

It does’t help I have had no guidance whatsoever, I had done a placement year so somehow my Uni missed me out of all the dissertation lectures etc.

So I’m really just throwing all ideas in the pot and seeking advice.

This is just my idea so it isn’t marked so it means I can get guidance and tweak if it isn’t suitable – I like the ideas of trail centers offering supplementary services etc, i know Llandegla has a big coaching scheme with Neil Donoghue.

“An examination of the business and legal consequences of the FC’s decision to enforce helmet wearing at trail centres. Confilct, compromise, common sense or claptrap?”

😉

th talks a lot of sense.
I’m about to start my MBA dissertation (or making a difference as the OU like to brand it) so I’m going through a similar process myself.

I also work with environmental Government agencies (NE, EA, FC, SNH, CCW, SEPA etc.) for my day job.

I would say that whilst the FC idea may appeal to you, there are a couple of issues with it:

1. Unless you were explicitely sponsored in some way by them, I suspect that it would be difficult to get access to the information and individuals you would need to enagage with to do any meaningful analysis; and
2. The dissertation as a piece of work, would appeal to a relatively small interest group – FC, Defra and devolved government departments possibly.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t do it, but if you do, you need to pick a novel angle, and make sure that you demonstrate enough transferable skills in there to make it useful as a promotional tool for you.

Off the top of my head, the Business + Law + FC leads me to think about cheeky north shore / trail building – risks, legal responsibilities and economic an social benefits balanced against each other.

ie Can the social and economic benefits of unauthorised trail building on FC land outweigh the costs associated with legislative responsibility…..

You get the idea?

Good luck with it.

I do like that idea, I am debating if I will be able to gather enough information. Another unrelated idea was the argument for and against local currencies/chaining of currencies and the implications it has. Eg bristol launched its own local currency a few years ago.

I am debating if I will be able to gather enough information

Remember that FOI requests are your friend! 😉

As Geoffj made the more the sensible version of my joke idea, let me serious again. If you want to examine currencies, you could consider the implications of Scottish Independence on currency regimes etc, Possibly wider relevance than Bristols experiment although you could sensible draw on that example.

That’s a very good point actually, I am just trying to find something I am interested in, being running, mountain/road bikes, formula 1 and computing.

The FC and sustainability sort of fitted the MTB one.

Looking at free end user services over paid for ones fits the computing one.

I like the idea of social responsibility