IGCSE & A LEVELS GUIDE

Chapter 32 - Budgets Lesson Objective: To understand how to perform variance analysis It is obvious: budgets are controlling tools : At the end of every budget period there needs to be an assessment comparing the company's aims and the actual performance . This process is called budgetary control . Any differences found between the aims and the actual performance are to be investigated . This is called variance analysis and it's an important part of budgeting for several re

Chapter 15 - Production of Goods and Services Lesson Objective: To understand the difference between production and productivity Throughout the next couple of blog posts we will discuss operations management, more specifically, production : The question remains: What is production? Production is the process of converting inputs (what is inputs?) such as land, labour, and capital into sealable outputs/goods (e.g. shoes). There is one department of business that is responsibl

Chapter 14 - Marketing Strategy Lesson Objective: To understand the different methods for entering international markets As a part of Marketing Strategy businesses sometimes pursue International Markets . On this regard we need to understand: Opportunities and problems of entering foreign markets; Trade barriers; The different ways to overcome the challenges of entering a foreign market. Business' efforts to enter international markets are various: ecommerce, exporting, setti

Chapter 32 - Budgets Lesson Objective: To understand what are budgets and its different methods Budgeting is a key financial process in any company. Budgeting is a detailed financial plan for a future time period taking into account the financial needs and the consequences of the plan . Both, costs and profit centers usually have 12-month budgets that are broken down by month. The main benefit of a budget is that it allows to assess the performance of each part of the o

Chapter 14 - Marketing Strategy Lesson Objective: To understand what is marketing strategy and be introduced to some legal controls over business activity You should be a pro on the 4 most important Marketing Decisions by now: All these decisions , as you know, are inter-connected  and part of something called the Marketing Strategy. The importance of these 4 decisions is not necessarily equal in every situation. A Marketing Strategy is a plan prepared by the Marketing Depart

Now that you understand how the product life-cycle works as well as the different extension strategies, let's see how the product life-cycle influences the 4P's (Marketing Mix) decisions: Product Life-Cycle and PRODUCT Decisions: - On the introduction stage , companies tend to present an introductory product to the market (base mode); - On the growth stage, companies make adjustments to the base mode according to the market feedback; - On the maturity stage , companies start

Chapter 13 - Marketing Mix, Place and Promotion Lesson Objective: To understand the benefits and limitations of the various promotional methods You know that Promotion is focused on informing and convincing customers to ultimately improve sales . But how exactly does it do it? There are various methods of promotion companies can make use of : 1. Advertising : The simple use of medias (e.g. TV, social media, direct email, leaflets, billboards) to communicate with customers.

Chapter 32 - Costs Lesson Objective: To understand the difference between full-costing and contribution costing Let's get started with the two costing techniques we are up to discuss by looking at: 1. Full Costing Technique (Absorption Costing) : a technique in which all fixed and variable costs are allocated to products, services, or divisions of the business On this technique the total overheads is divided between each product and cost centers on the proportion of total di

Chapter 32 - Costs Lesson Objective: To understand the basic concepts of costs before learning costing techniques What are the reasons cost data/information is so important for businesses? Why should managers have accurate cost data? Cost data is important for various reasons: Costs aid on pricing decisions ; Costs are also important for production decisions: Whether to stop the production of a product; Whether to increase production ; Whether to implement new methods; Wheth

Chapter 13 - Marketing Mix, Place and Promotion Lesson Objective: To be introduced to the third and fourth decisions of the Marketing Mix You have learned two of the four elements of the Marketing Mix : Product & Price. We are now going to discuss the last two elements: Place and Promotion! Place is all about where you sell your product - your distribution channels - getting your product in the hands of the customers. Promotion, on the other hand, is how you inform and conv

Chapter 12 - Marketing Mix, Product and Price Lesson Objective: To understand the ins and outs of pricing your products/services Pricing is an important decision for marketing: it directly impacts customers' purchase decision. It is also important because price dictates a business' revenues and profits . On the topic of Price we will learn: Pricing Methods : the strategies companies use to price their products differently; How to pick the best Pricing Method based on the s

Chapter 31, Costs Lesson Objective: To understand the importance of cost data and the break-even analysis Costs are of vital importance to businesses in general. It is one of the elements that dictates the amount of profit a business will ultimately make. On regards of costs it is important for us to understand a few main topics: The major uses of cost data ; The different classifications of costs of production; Break-even analysis. Simply put, cost data is key for business'

Chapter 30 - Forecasting and Managing Cashflows Lesson Objective: Managing inflows and outflows Having Cash Flow Problems is obviously bad for businesses. But what are the main reasons causing these problems to happen in the first place? Lower inflows and/or increased outflows: - Poor Credit Control : sometimes payments need to be chased after; - Long Credit Terms to customers ( payables ); - Unplanned/Fast Expansions : those are costly investments that just yield revenues o

Chapter 12 - The Marketing Mix: Product and Price Lesson Objective: To understand how the product life-cycle impacts marketing mix decisions You have started understanding the Marketing Mix and were exposed to the first element of the Four Ps: Product. Still regarding Product there are other aspects to be understood: - The Product Life-Cycle ; - Extension Strategies. The Product Life Cycle shows how the sales of a product behaves overtime . The cycle is made of four stages

Chapter 30 - Forecasting and Managing Cashflows Lesson Objective: To understand the basics of a cash flow forecast Cash Flow is the sum of cash inflows minus (-) the sum of cash outflows. It is the net amount of cash and cash-equivalents being transferred into and out of a business: The question repeats itself: can a profitable business run out of cash? It is a common problem : If the business does not plan its receipts (inflows) and payments (outflows) carefully it can bec

Chapter 12 - Marketing Mix, Product and Price Lesson Objective: To understand the importance of the Marketing Mix and to be introduced to the Product decision In the world of Marketing there are four (4) extremely important decisions that can be made businesses to influence the overall success of the company and its products in the market: Such decisions are called the Marketing Mix or the 4P's: Let's start by looking at the Product : a decision that involves a lot more than

Chapter 11 - Market Research Lesson Objective: To understand the differences between quantitative and qualitative data Primary and Secondary Market Research are essentially different: Let's dive in more details on those two types of research/data: Primary Research : collecting first-hand data that serves the research purpose: Primary Research can be of two types: - Quantitative Research , which produces numerical results and can be presented as tables, charts, and analyzed t

Chapter 29 - Business Finance Lesson Objective: To understand the various sources of finance available to businesses Where does business financing come from? There are basically three different sources: internal finance, external finance, and equity finance (which is a part of external finance). Let's look into them: Let's start by looking at Internal Sources of Finance : Retained Profits (RE): See Income Statement (p. 247) This is the part of the profit of the company that

Chapter 11 - Market Research Lesson Objectives: To understand sampling, how to present market research data and problems with market research You now understand the difference between primary and secondary research. You are also well aware of qualitative and quantitative methods of market research. To finalize Market Research we now need to understand the following: Sampling Market Research Inaccuracies Presentation and use of Market Research data S ampling is separating

Chapter 29 - Business Finance Lesson Objective: To understand needs of finance and working capital Businesses need financing... It's obvious. Every business needs financing. Lack of finance is one of the main causes of business failure ( bankruptcy ) which is the responsibility and lack of administration . Businesses bankruptcy oftentimes lead to liquidation , a process that aims to raise as much finance as possible to pay back those people and companies the bankrupt busines