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

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

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

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systems run into some hairy problems: Run out of inventory to cover for unforeseen changes in demand; Remain with outdated or expire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

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 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 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 19 - The Marketing Mix, Product and Price Learning Objectives: To understand the most common methods of pricing goods and services You should now be familiar with the Product Life Cycle, the Product Portfolio Analysis , as well as the impact of the different stages on Cash Flow : We now start the discussion of the second element of the Marketing Mix: Price ! Price is an important marketing decision: It determines the value added ; It impacts demand and therefore influ

Chapter 19 - The Marketing Mix, Product and Price Learning Objectives: To understand the Product Life-Cycle Analysis and the Boston Matrix Analysis Product Life Cycle / Product Portfolio Analysis The Product Life Cycle is the pattern of sales recorded by a product from launch to withdrawal - it is used for Product Portfolio Analysis , which is analyzing what businesses/products a company is holding at a certain moment and helps deciding where to allocate resources. Here is a

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 tho

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

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 ; Ind

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 th

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, th

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

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 man

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 , the 5 following functions of management are to facilitate the management process - they focus on the relationship employees vs. managers: Planning objectives and tactics, orga