How is business studies GCSE viewed by good universities?

IME GCSE subjects aren't really looked at beyond English and Maths. A Level subjects are much more important as a basis for degree level study.

I'm not sure about the university angle as I only work in an 11-16 school so we spend lots of time on a level choices etc but not much at the uni level, besides recommending certain subjects for certain degrees.

Anyway, I was going to chip in and say that I teach a core subject but of all the subjects my year 10 and 11 students moan about the most, BS tops the pile. They all seem to hate it, and it's not the teachers who are both great. If she enjoys music then I would say take that. The pupils I teach that do music always seem happy with it and never moan about it. Or another humanities subject gives a good general knowledge.

'Top' Unis vary on their attitude towards GCSEs and it will also vary between subjects at each each Uni. Oxbridge and LSE want high GCSEs across the board ('GCSE profile'), others specify certain subjects & grades as must-haves and this differs by subject. You need to go to the Uni websites and check admissions requirements for a number of different subjects/courses to see what they want re. GCSEs.

At GCSE level there won't be 'excluded' subjects . If your DD is doing a heap of traditional GCSE academic subjects that she is interested in/will get decent grades in, then go for BS as well. It's useful general knowledge stuff at this stage.

[Only at A level does the 'soft subject' attitude to some subjects creep in - some arent considered 'rigorous' enough or are seen as 'wet' subjects. And it matters only because by excluding that subject, applicants are effectively left with one 2 subjects that 'count'.]

It depends. It is often thought of a soft GCSE (though so was computing/ICT), but I doubt universities would penalise her for it as long as the grades are all good. And there are many opportunities in business/finance journalism so she could spinare it to her advantage later (or go down that route in further education if she likes it).
ICT/compu

Children from my DD's school have got into Oxford with BS GCSE - one do called soft option does not make one jot of difference.

It's thought of as a soft option in all honesty, so unless she has her heart set on it I would advise that she goes for a more traditional subject instead, given the universities she's looking at. Music is generally well respected, as are humanities subjects and all modern / classical languages. I'm not sure about computing or ICT. It wasn't that well regarded when I was applying to uni (c. 15 years ago), but things may well have moved on since then. Good luck to her, and hope she really enjoys her GCSE courses.

Without any particular expertise, I would say RE was the better choice for writing/journalism as it looks at situations and dilemmas from different points of view.

If she has a good mix of traditional GCSEs I would let her choose what she wants for the additional options. I don't think business studies would penalise her in any way.