IGCSE & A LEVELS GUIDE

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

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

You should know by know the different course of action businesses can take when operating with short or long-term excess capacity . You are also familiar with the problems of operating at full capacity. What are the different possibilities for a business when operating at full-capacity ( capacity shortage )? Increase Capacity by acquiring more production resources such as land, capital, and labor; Increasing capacity can be beneficial as it increases long-term capacity , en

Chapter 11 - Market Research Lesson Objective: To understand the benefits of market research What is Market Research? "Market research is the action or activity of gathering information about consumers ' needs and preferences , competitors , and the market itself." Market Research reveals important information about customers , competitors , and the market in which the business competes. It is useful for various reasons : It helps businesses understand what customers like

Are there any aspects of your school's activities that could be outsourced? Would it be beneficial for the school to go that route? Capacity utilization: the proportion of the maximum output capacity currently being used. Your maximum possible output is determined by what all of your existing resources can produce in a specific time (land, capital, labor). There is a direct relationship between capacity utilization and fixed costs: High capacity utilization helps spreading f

Your understanding of the differences between Mass Marketing and Niche Marketing should now be completed: - Mass Marketing is selling the same product to the whole market with no differentiation of price, place, or promotion strategies; - Niche Marketing, on the other hand, involves differentiating products, prices, locations, and promotion strategies. One of the main problems with mass marketing is the fact that customers are not being offered exactly what they want/need

Chapter 10, Marketing, Competition, and the Customer Lesson Objective: To understand You have learned that the business environment is made of many different elements : Price; Price of the competition; Customers' income; Population size, structure, and changes; Changes in consumers' preferences; Spending on advertisement and promotion spending. One of the elements that impact business environment the most is the government intervention over markets - in other words, governme

Chapter 24 - Inventory Management Learning Objectives: To understand the ins and outs of inventory management We all know that businesses hold different amounts of different types of inventory : Holding inventories is not only costly but having efficient inventory control is key for business success. Businesses with inefficient inventory control systems run into some hairy problems: Run out of inventory to cover for unforeseen changes in demand; Remain with outdated or expire

Chapter 23 - Operations Planning Learning Objective: To understand the details of each different production methods There are many different factors that can influence operations decisions , those are: Marketing factors; Availability of resources; Technology; You should all know by know: (1) Marketing is the business department responsible for sales forecast . Why is an accurate sales forecast important for operations decisions , though? Based on the sales forecast operations

It's important for us to understand the basics of Marketing so that we can go further on Marketing subjects later on. Here are some of the basic concepts we will go through to build on the basis of our Marketing knowledge : Needs and Wants; Customer base; Markets (consumer and industrial); Target market; Consumer vs. Customer; The business environment. Let's start by reminding ourselves of needs and wants : - Needs are essential items we need in order to live (e.g. food, wa

Chapter 23 - Operations Planning Learning Objective: To understand the differences between capital and labor intensive production Did you know there is a big difference between effectiveness and efficiency ? Efficiency is what we have been discussing in productivity so far: it is about producing at the highest ratio of output to input; Effectiveness , however, it is about meeting customers' needs profitably and being efficient in production is just one part of it: A compa

Chapter 23 - The Nature of Operations Learning Objective: To understand the basic concepts related to operations management What is Operations Management? Simply put, Operations Management is the process concerned with the use of resources (inputs) to create outputs: The process of Operations Management considers the following factors to be successful by adding value to products/services: Production efficiency: keeping costs low for competitive reasons ( value ); Quality:

Chapter 20 - The Marketing Mix, Promotion and Place Learning Objective: To understand the Place decisions within the Marketing Mix The Place decision refers to how products will go all the way from manufacturers to consumers . Place is connected to distribution , which can be defined as getting the right product , to the right consumer , in the most convenient way possible. Every business, therefore, needs to establish a distribution strategy . These are the 3 most common c

Chapter 8 - Recruitment, Selection and Training of Workers Learning Objectives: To understand how and why to downsize It goes without questioning that training workers is important for businesses success . Not all training offered to workers, however, are the same. There are three main types of training : Induction training; On-the-job training; Off-the-job training. Induction Training: Targeted to new recruits ; Introducing to people they will work with; Explaining organizat

Chapter 36 - Finance and Accounting Strategy Lesson Objective: To understand the potential interpretations of published accounts and ratios We have learned many financial and accounting data that are key for strategic decision-making . They include: Profitability and financial performance metrics (Ch. 34) including ratios and financial statements ; Assessment of the availability of sources of finance given liquidity ratios as well as the gearing ratio of businesses. Fin

Chapter 35 - Investment Appraisal Learning Objectives: To understand the qualitative factors of investment appraisal You have now learned many quantitative techniques for investment appraisal: Simple Payback Period; Discounted Payback Period; Account Rate of Return (ARR); Net Present Value (NPV); Internal Rate of Return (IRR). Most business will establish quantitative investment criteria that projects need to meet to be approved, for example: Payback within three years; Have

Chapter 20 - The Marketing Mix, Promotion and Place Learning Objectives: To understand sales promotions, digital marketing, and packaging. After discussing both: the objectives and the methods of advertising (targeted at increasing brand/product awareness) we now need to understand that promotion also include practices targeted at achieving short-term increase in sales - these are called Sales Promotion (below-the-line promotion) methods. Sales Promotions ( below-the-line

Chapter 35 - Investment Appraisal Learning Objectives: To learn the investment appraisal techniques of ARR, Discounted Payback, NPV, and IRR The Account Rate of Return (a.k.a. average rate of return) is another common investment appraisal method. It measures the annual profitability of an investment as a percentage of the initial investment. Projects with higher ARR are usually better than the ones with lower ARR; For simplicity we will assume that the net cashflow = annual

Chapter 20 - The Marketing Mix: Promotion and Place Learning Objectives: To understand the objectives of promotion and different types of ads It's time for us to start diving in the other two elements of the Marketing Mix: Place and Promotion! Keep in mind: promotion is a lot more than advertising ! Promotional activities are any activities that have the following objectives : Increase sales by increasing awareness: - Increase sales; - Increase customers' recall of the brand.

Chapter 35 - Investment Appraisal Learning Objectives: To understand the investment appraisal techniques of payback period Investment Appraisal is the practice of assessing financial feasibility of projects and businesses. It includes quantitative and qualitative techniques to show whether the likely future returns on a project/business are greater than its costs . Quantitative methods of appraisal seek to prove whether the expected inflows of a project will surpass its out