IGCSE & A LEVELS GUIDE

Chapter 14 - Marketing Strategy Lesson Objective: To understand what is marketing strategy and be introduced to some legal controls over business activity You should be a pro on the 4 most important Marketing Decisions by now: All these decisions , as you know, are inter-connected and part of something called the Marketing Strategy. The importance of these 4 decisions is not necessarily equal in every situation. A Marketing Strategy is a plan prepared by the Marketing Depart

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 13 - Marketing Mix, Place and Promotion Lesson Objective: To be introduced to the third and fourth decisions of the Marketing Mix You have learned two of the four elements of the Marketing Mix : Product & Price. We are now going to discuss the last two elements: Place and Promotion! Place is all about where you sell your product - your distribution channels - getting your product in the hands of the customers. Promotion, on the other hand, is how you inform and conv

Governments oftentimes create regulations to control employment issues. These are called legal controls. Such controls are important to avoid businesses from taking advantage of workers in an unbalanced relationship. Discussion (3m) : Do you know of any way governments creates rules, regulations and laws to control the employer-employee relationship? Regulations on Unfair Dismissal: Workers can take legal action (sue) businesses which are believed to have dismissed a worker

Chapter 7 - Organization and Management Learning Objectives: To understand how businesses are organized Now that we know that there are three main types of leadership (democratic, autocratic, and leissez-faire) as well as understand the different functions of management (planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling) we should focus on the roles, responsibilities, and inter-relationships between management positions: There are 3 main levels of management pos

Chapter 8 - Recruitment, Selection and Training of Workers Learning Objectives: To understand the difference between part-time and full-time workers; to understand the importance of training Have you ever heard? Some workers are part-time workers, some workers are full-time workers. What is the difference? Part-Time workers are considered so because they work around 20-30 hours/week in a job; Full-Time workers, however, have a contract and usually work 40 hours/week in a jo

Chapter 16 - Costs, Scale of Production, and Break-Even Analysis Lesson Objective: To understand how economies of scale come to happen Economies of Scale : when the unit average cost decreases as the output increases: Economies of Scale can be of many types: Financial Economies of Scale: the larger a business becomes the lower its costs of borrowing and therefore higher profits. Managerial Economies of Scale happen when the large business is able to employ better, more spec

Chapter 15 - Production of Goods and Services Lesson Objective: To understand the three main methods of production I am sure you now understand everything about inventories, JIT, and Kaizen. It's time to go further on Operations Management and explore the different methods of production: The simplest method of production a business can have is job production : This is when each i ndividual item is completed before the next product starts production (e.g. a tailor making custo

Chapter 15 - Production of Goods and Services Lesson Objective: Costs of inventory; lean production methods Businesses hold different types of inventory: Raw Materials and Components - inventories of the needed inputs for the production process; Work-in-Progress - partially finished goods that have not yet gone through the entire production process; Finished Goods - goods that are ready to be sold and send out to customers. Imagine having to hold all these different types o

Chapter 16 - Costs, Scale of Production, and Break-Even Analysis Lesson Objective: To understand how to construct and interpret the break-even analysis The break-even point is the point in which the cost and revenue are equal and there is neither profit nor loss being made by the business: In other words, the break even point happens when all revenues earned by the firm with sales is equals to the firm's costs of production. When you are at break even and want to make profit

Chapter 12 - Marketing Mix, Product and Price Lesson Objective: To understand the ins and outs of pricing your products/services Pricing is an important decision for marketing: it directly impacts customers' purchase decision. It is also important because price dictates a business' revenues and profits . On the topic of Price we will learn: Pricing Methods : the strategies companies use to price their products differently; How to pick the best Pricing Method based on the s

Chapter 13 - Marketing Mix, Place and Promotion Lesson Objective: To understand the benefits and limitations of the various promotional methods You know that Promotion is focused on informing and convincing customers to ultimately improve sales . But how exactly does it do it? There are various methods of promotion companies can make use of : 1. Advertising : The simple use of medias (e.g. TV, social media, direct email, leaflets, billboards) to communicate with customers.

Chapter 14 - Marketing Strategy Lesson Objective: To understand the different methods for entering international markets As a part of Marketing Strategy businesses sometimes pursue International Markets . On this regard we need to understand: Opportunities and problems of entering foreign markets; Trade barriers; The different ways to overcome the challenges of entering a foreign market. Business' efforts to enter international markets are various: ecommerce, exporting, setti

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 20 - Cash Flow Forecasting and Working Capital Class Objective: To understand the difference between cash and profit Cash is important to business. Fact! Businesses need cash to pay wages, suppliers, utilities, etc... Cash Flow Management, therefore, is a key element of business management. It is the process of making sure that there is enough cash within the company for paying its debts. Is cash the same as profit, though? Profit = Revenues - Costs Cash refers to

Chapter 19 - Business Finance: Needs and Sources Class Objective: To understand the factors impacting sources of financing available To finalize financing we have to discuss government grants and microfinancing: Government Grants : Incentives towards boosting business activity and growth; It comes in various forms: tax benefits, renting benefits, etc.; It does not need to be repaid. Microfinancing is a common form of finance in developing economies : Targeted to entrepreneu

Chapter 19 - Business Finance: Needs and Sources Learning Objective: The Most Common External Sources of Finance (19.2) We shall now discuss external sources of finance: Short-term external finance include overdraft, trade credit, debt factoring; Long-term external finance include bank loan, hire purchase, leasing, mortgage, debenture, share issue . Overdraft: A 'type of short-term loan'; It allows the customer/business to keep on paying its bills even when the account reach

Chapter 19.1 - Business Finance: Needs and Sources Learning Objective: Sources of Finance (19.1) Businesses need financing... It's obvious. Every business needs financing. Businesses need startup capital: This is the capital needed by an entrepreneur when starting a business. Businesses need finance to purchase so called non-current (a.k.a. fixed) assets: These are long-term assets (>12 months) such as buildings, machines, technology, and vehicles. Such investments are call

Chapter 18 - Location Decisions Lesson Objective: To understand the difficulties in internationalizing operations There are so many factors influencing location and relocation decisions , most of which are related to costs, sales , and logistics: Cost of site; Size of site (opportunity for expansion); Labor costs and availability; Transportation costs (delivery of goods and access to supplies); Market potential ; Government incentives ; Legal restrictions; Quality of local in

Chapter 18 - Location Decisions Lesson Objective: To understand how businesses pick their location Location is one of the most important decisions for a business. Full stop! The right or wrong location decision can either positively or negatively impact: Costs; Sales; Delivery of products and services. Location is a long-term decision! What do YOU think are the most important factors to consider when making a location-decision? There are many things to take into considerat