IGCSE & A LEVELS GUIDE

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

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