IGCSE & A LEVELS GUIDE

Chapter 15 - Production of Goods and Services Lesson Objective: To understand the difference between production and productivity Throughout the next couple of blog posts we will discuss operations management, more specifically, production : The question remains: What is production? Production is the process of converting inputs (what is inputs?) such as land, labour, and capital into sealable outputs/goods (e.g. shoes). There is one department of business that is responsibl

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 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

Now that you understand how the product life-cycle works as well as the different extension strategies, let's see how the product life-cycle influences the 4P's (Marketing Mix) decisions: Product Life-Cycle and PRODUCT Decisions: - On the introduction stage , companies tend to present an introductory product to the market (base mode); - On the growth stage, companies make adjustments to the base mode according to the market feedback; - On the maturity stage , companies start

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 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

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 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 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 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 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

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

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 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 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 8 - Recruitment, Selection and Training of Workers Learning Objective: To understand the difference between internal and external recruiting The recruiting process is important for the success of a business - it is also costly and time consuming. Recruitment can be done internally or externally: Internal Recruitment happens when the business decides to choose someone who is already working in the company to take on the opened vacancy instead of picking someone from o

Chapter 7 - Organization and Management Learning Objective: To understand the importance and impact of trade unions We will wrap up the topic of Organization Structure and Management by discussing a very delicate topic: Trade Unions: In short, Trade Unions are organizations formed and financed by workers to protect their interests (e.g. wages, working conditions, etc.). Their activities include: Negotiating better wages, working hours, conditions, holidays ( collective barg

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