IGCSE & A LEVELS GUIDE

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 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 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 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 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

Chapter 21 - Marketing Analysis Lesson Objective: To understand the importance of R&D and new product development In many industries it is important for businesses to invest in new product development: specially fast-changing industries (e.g. technology) and large first-mover advantage industries (e.g. pharmaceuticals). For new products to be successful they must: Have desirable features that consumers are willing to pay for; Be sufficiently different than others (stand out)

Chapter 21 - Marketing Analysis Learning Objective: To understand the different factors impacting elasticity of demand I hope you remember the concept of price elasticity of demand... It is the measure of responsiveness of demand for a product following a change in its price. In other words it measures how price influences demand. The demand for different products react differently following a change in price: Having such information is of key importance for marketing decisio

Chapter 16 - Human Resources Management Strategy Learning Objective: Strategies for improving workforce performance; the use of technology in HRM Now that you fully understand the different methods of measuring employee performance (productivity, absenteeism, wastage rates, rejection rates, consumer complaints, performance vs. targets), let's go on further in the issue and discuss strategies for improving employee performance. The main reason for poor employee performance has

Chapter 16 - Human Resources Management Strategy Learning Objective: To understand additional methods of flexible working; to understand the different measures of employee performance. As we learned, there are many ways employers are now trying to attract skilled workforce by offering different types of flexible contracts. Part-Time and Contractors is just the beginning. There are many more: Flextime Arrangements: allows an employee to alter the starting and/or end time of he

Chapter 16 - Human Resources Management Strategy Learning Objective: To understand the differences between hard and soft HRM Human Resource Management (HRM) is the strategic approach to the effective management of an organization's workers so that they help the business gain a competitive advantage and meet its objectives. Having a Human Resource Management Strategy, therefore, is of immense importance: a long-term plan for the management of an organization's Human Resources.

Chapter 15 - Leadership Learning Objectives: To understand the many characteristics and roles of leaders. Leadership involves setting directions that others will be ready to follow and therefore it has a large impact on an organization's success. Characteristics of the best leaders: Self-confidence in success; Innovative and encouraging of others; Multi-talented to follow multiple topics; Inspirational; Honesty, integrity, ethics; Good communicator; Empathy and emotional inte

You should now be clear that Strategic Analysis is the process of conducting research into the business environment within which an organization operates, and into the organization itself, to help form future strategies. One step ahead, after acquiring a clear view of the business and its environment, is Strategic Choice: Identifying strategic options and choosing between them; Good strategic options have the following features: - They create a competitive advantage to the bu

As we all know there are three main stages on formulating a Corporate Strategy. We will now start focusing on the first one - Strategic Analysis: Strategic Analysis is the process of conducting research into the business environment within which an organization operates, and into the organization itself, to help form future strategies. Strategic Analysis answers three big questions: Where is the business now? How might the business be affected by what is happening or likely t

Chapter 8.1 - Business Strategy Learning Objective: Strategizing (8.1) Strategy: long-term decisions that will push the business towards its SMART objectives: Strategic decisions include products, markets, pricing; Such decisions are made by senior managers/directors; Strategy provides integration, direction, and focus. There are four main influences on the formulation of a Corporate Strategy: Availability of Resources Resources are scarce/limited; A good Corporate Strategy m

Chapter 6 - External Influences on Business Activity Learning Objective: 6.1 External Influences on Business Activity It's no news that the only constant is change. Businesses operate in dynamic environments compromised of laws, political and social factors, economic conditions, level of technology, competitors and suppliers, international trade links, and environmental pressures. Decision-making is closely dependent on such external forces which, therefore, need to be thorou