IGCSE & A LEVELS GUIDE

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 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 33 - Financial Statements Learning Objective: To understand how depreciation and inventories are recorded on published accounts Most assets decline in value overtime - specially tangible non-current assets. They do so for two main reasons: Wear and tear through usage ; Technological change making assets obsolete . Depreciation is a cost that needs to be recorded on the Statement of Profit or Loss yearly: Each year when depreciation happens it will add to overhead e

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 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 33 - Financial Statements Learning Objectives: To understand the Statement of Financial Position The aim for most businesses is to increase shareholders' equity . This is done by increasing the value of the business' assets at a higher rate than the increase in liabilities . The Statement of Financial Position is there to record such net wealth ( shareholders' equity ) at one moment in time . Shareholders' Equity comes from two main sources: It is, therefore : - The a

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 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 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 7 - Organization and Management Learning Objectives: To understand the role of managers and the different leadership styles To start off, think about it: What do you think the managers in a company do? There are five different functions of management : Planning : analyzing the current situation, the objectives, and plan how to achieve them ; Organizing: businesses need resources to meet their objectives (land, labor, capital) and managers are responsible for coordina