Business Studies - a respected option for GCSE?

Here is Trinity's list of acceptable A Levels.

The rule of thumb always used to be "avoid Studies", the only exception being Religious Studies. I agree with the consensus, though: it's fine as 8th / 9th / 10th choice on the GCSE list.

I would say it's not well regarded by red brick universities if your dc wants to go down a very academic route. It depends what he wants to do and what degree (if any) he wants to do. Nevertheless I'm a firm beleiver in letting a dc make their own (informed)decisions. If he really wants to do it and it fits in with his overall career objectives(if he has any) let him do it and then maybe move on to economics for A level.
I also agree with mooma in that if most of his other subjects are traditional ones, whether Arts, Humanities or Science, Business Studie won't be such a drawback.

Somewhere there's a list of how (some) universities regard various subjects at A level - can one infer the weight of a GCSE from that? Or perhaps there's a similar list for GCSE? Does anyone have a link?

FWIW: I don't think it's terribly well respected, but that doesn't necessarily matter.

Yep, it is "not up with sciences, history, maths etc". Don't do it if it means not doing a mainstream academic subject, but it is OK as subject No.9 or 10 for GCSE.
DS2 took it for AS and thought it wasn't very demanding and he's not particularly academic. For AS/A2 Economics is a better option, though even that isn't well respected at GCSE level.

Of course it is, but it doesn't matter if he is doing maths, science, a humanity etc as well. There is space for it.

I took it at GCSE and enjoyed it, was quite easy though. This is probably out of date now but I also took it at A level, and was told that different examing boards A levels are viewed differently by universities so there was an option with one board that was 'softer' and an option with another board that included a lot of maths and economics that was more respected. Having said that, from a university point of view I suspect it would be better to do economics at A Level. I would say it wasn't my easiest A level and my other 3 subjects were traditional ones.

There may be some sniffery in some quarters about it not being a traditional academic subject, but at the same time, it develops skills that employers etc look for - initiative, teamworking, self-management. Most importantly, if your child enjoys it, then they'll be mor likely to succeed. I wouldn't regard it as a soft option.

i did business studies and carried it through to degree. i did this because i had no idea what i wanted to do and figured that wherever i worked it was likely to be a business.
it enabled me to easily move onto studying cima (management accountancy) and provides an ideal background to switch careers.

don't just write it off, it has to be seen in context

I don't know anything about the subject, so can't say whether this is fair or not, but I definitely have the impression that it is not well-regarded in all quarters. However, if it's subject 10, say, with the other 9 being more traditional academic subjects, why not, if the student is keen to do it?