IGCSE & A LEVELS GUIDE

Chapter 19 - The Marketing Mix, Product and Price Learning Objectives: To understand the marketing mix (product) characteristics The Marketing Mix are the four most important tools in a Marketer's toolbox: The right or wrong decisions in the Marketing Mix will tell whether a business will sell its products profitably. These four decisions are interrelated and should always be thought of together rather than individually. The need for consistency is key when deciding on those

Chapter 26 - Location and Scale Learning Objective: To further understand location decisions and economies/diseconomies of scale You now know that there are plenty of factors (quantitative and qualitative) influencing location decisions: Cost and revenue; Transportation costs; Labor costs; Government grants; Safety; Room for further expansion; Ethical factors; Infrastructure. You also know the quantitative techniques that aid on location-decisions: Profit estimates; Investmen

Chapter 18 - Market Research Learning Objective: To understand the basics 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 and disli

Chapter 26 - Location and Scale Learning Objective: To understand the factors impacting location decisions One of the most important operations decisions a business will have to make has to do with location. There are both, quantitative and qualitative factors that should be taken into account when making location decisions. There are also different techniques that can be employed for such decisions. Location decisions are so important for different reasons: They are long-ter

Chapter 22 - Marketing Strategy Learning Objective: To understand the different methods of entering international markets Now that we fully understand the process of globalization as well as the reasons why businesses try entering international markets it is finally time for us to go into the actual methods businesses use to go internationally: Exporting is one of the simplest ways to enter international markets: Exporting can be as simple as developing online channels (direc

Chapter 17 - The Nature of Marketing Learning Objective: To understand B2B, B2C, and Market Segmentation (Mass vs. Niche) Consumer Market (B2C) and Industrial Market (B2B) Consumer Products are sold to households and individuals whereas Industrial Products are the ones produced and used by industries: Selling to Business rather than to consumers have some big differences: Industrial goods are often much more complex - it requires specialist sales and support employees; Indust

Chapter 17 - The Nature of Marketing Learning Objective: To understand some of the most common marketing concepts What is a market? A market is a group of consumers interested in a product, with resources to purchase it legally. - It is the group of customers interested in a product and with the resources to purchase it; - The potential market for a product is the total population interested in the product; - Target market is the segment of the total available market that the

Given all the impacts that business activity have on the environment and society, it is not uncomon for governments to create legal controls around business actions. - Penalties, fines, closures, imprisonment when waste/pollution laws are ignored; - Heavy Taxes on energy consumption to encourage energy-efficient methods; - Standards / Limits for the usage of natural resources forcing the usage of renewable resources; - Permissions may be denied to business considered 'unsust

Chapter 22 - Marketing Strategy Learning Objectives: To understand pan-global and global-localization approaches to international marketing International Markets are becoming increasingly important for businesses. Globalization is a strong force pushing towards that direction: Globalization - the growing trend towards worldwide markets in products, labor, capital unrestricted by barriers: The process of globalization has been rapidly accelerating for several reasons: Rapid gr

Chapter 28, Environmental and Ethical Issues Learning Objectives: To understand how business activities generate external impacts Businesses Activity, depending on their sector of the economy, will create different issues to societies and environment. Let's look further into some of the most common negative impacts from business activity: 1. Different Types of Pollution: - Air Pollution: diseases and impact to environment; - Land Pollution: landfills or inappropriate disposal

Chapter 17 - The Nature of Marketing Lesson Objective: To understand Price Elasticity of Demand One of the many roles of the Marketing Department is determining prices - which is part of meeting demand profitably. Note: The demand for a product is how much of that product customers are willing to buy at a certain price point. Let's start by understanding how the demand for a product changes following changes in price: Price, therefore, does influence demand. However, there ar

Chapter 17 - The Nature of Marketing Lesson Objective: To understand the basic concepts in Marketing In your opinion, what is Marketing? Marketing is a business function that involves various activities: Market Research; Product Design; Pricing; Advertising; Distribution; Customer Service; Packaging. In a nutshell, marketing is about: Identifying and understanding customer needs of a target-market through Market Research and then trying to satisfy those needs better than the

Chapter 27 - Business and the International Economy Learning Objectives: To understand the impact of exchange rate fluctuations in businesses Do you know what is the exchange rate? Simply put, the exchange rate is how much one country's currency is worth it of another country's currency. Let's try to understand with an example (September 10, 2026): ₮ 1 is the equivalent of USD 0.00027803 - In other words, ₮ 1 is worth it a lot less than USD 1 USD 1 is the equivalent of ₮ 3,59

Chapter 22 - Marketing Strategy Learning Objective: To understand the Marketing Plan There are mainly two types of markets: consumer markets and industrial markets: Industrial market is concerned with the buying and selling of industrial goods (B2B) such as machines, trucks, and office supplies; Consumer market relates to products being sold to and bought by final consumers (e.g. holidays, clothing). Understanding that there is a difference between the two helps marketers dec

Chapter 27, Business and The International Economy Learning Objective: To understand the differences and impacts of tariffs and quotas When studying business, working in business, or doing business, you need to understand that business activity has impacts on both, the environment and the society. Note that such impacts are both, positive and negative. The concern from businesses towards the impact on society and environment became specially important in the last few years. C

Chapter 22 - Marketing Strategy Learning Objectives: To understand the different impacts of technology on Marketing As you may have noticed IT has had significant impact on different aspects of business. On Marketing this is no different: Internet: - Websites are essential for products' marketing; (two-way communication, sharing of details, reviews, photos, videos); - Useful for the attraction of new customers; - Ecommerce as a prominent channel of distribution nowadays. Emai

Chapter 21 - Marketing Analysis Lesson Objective: To understand the importance and methods of sales forecasting Sales Forecast is the process of trying to predict sales levels and trends and it's important for businesses because: The production department would know how much to produce, and order (capacity); The marketing department uses it for planning distribution and pricing; The HR department uses this information for a more accurate workforce planning; The finance depart

We all understand that there are mainly four leadership styles: Democratic; Autocratic; Laissez-Faire; Paternalistic. We also understand that different managers have different approaches towards their workforce: some have a more soft approach and others a more hard one. But what are the factors that determine what management style a manager will use? According to Douglas McGregor the attitude of managers towards their workers will have the largest impact on how they will mana

Chapter 12 - Management Learning Objectives: To learn the different leadership styles and the functions/roles of management. Being a manager is no easy job! There are two main theories regarding managers' functions and roles: Fayol Functions of Management Mintzberg Management Roles According to Fayol (POCCC), the 5 following functions of management are to facilitate the management process - they focus on the relationship employees vs. managers: Planning objectives and tactics

Chapter 27, Business and The International Economy Learning Objectives: To understand the impact of globalization on business activity Globalization is the greater cultural, technological, social, and political interaction between countries with fewer barriers and regulations leading to greater trade of goods and services. A direct consequence of globalization is the development of multinational businesses - companies that have their headquarters in one country but branches/