Edexcel A2 Business exam - Unit 4 thread (22nd June 2016)

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He mentioned the high premises costs cause Flimby is an expensive city.. He also mentioned that due to high wage costs it makes it hard to compete with rivals such as Nike whom are operating in Asia and are benefiting from low costs
Thats all we could think of

Advantages of production in the UK

NB are able to add 'Made in UK' tag on their products which can add value to their brand as countries such as UK,Germany,Sweden,France has a reputation of producing quality goods compared to Asia.

UK manufactures are more willing to produce at small quantities so if NB wanted to emphasis on product development they have the option to create small batches (Spread risk) instead of tying up a deal with Asian suppliers who often requires large orders only.

UK has good infrastructure which will reduce their costs of production when transporting goods . The ease of access from the UK to Europe to will help them penetrate the European market thus gaining a larger market share.

Disadvantages

Cost will be higher compared to Asia as UK cannot compete in the manufacturing sector. (Due to Wages and the cost of premises)

UK is lacking in skilled labour specifically in the manufacturing industry therefore maybe prove to be difficult for NB to increase in their workforce.

Lack of machinery

these are a few i came up with anyone else got more they could add?

Reply 41

SamuelN98

Original post by NinjaTurtleDre

Adv
Language/cultural barriers in asia
Uk Corporation tax is going to reduce in the future.
Dis Adv
More environmental regulation in the UK
Maximum number of weekly hours employees can work

Reply 42

SamuelN98

Original post by NinjaTurtleDre

How would you answer a question on their corporate social responsibility?

Reply 43

MrOlaftheSnowman

Original post by SamuelN98

Adv
Language/cultural barriers in asia
Uk Corporation tax is going to reduce in the future.
Dis Adv
More environmental regulation in the UK
Maximum number of weekly hours employees can work

Sorry Samuel, I did not see your post until now because I have been busy with the chemistry exam which was this morning

Reply 44

jamaicanbeggar

Hi guys how was it ? I thought all was good except the last question 7b.. So rude of edexcel to give 30 marks for that

Reply 45

Roadrunner55

Original post by jamaicanbeggar

Hi guys how was it ? I thought all was good except the last question 7b.. So rude of edexcel to give 30 marks for that

I flopped the 30marker i didnt even answer the question. My essay was based on ansoff's matrix and not market development :/

Reply 46

shabaz.ashraf

What did you guys write for question 7

I think it was assess the factory should accept the order

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 47

MrOlaftheSnowman

Original post by shabaz.ashraf

What did you guys write for question 7

I think it was assess the factory should accept the order

Posted from TSR Mobile

A nice question actually

Advantages: Obviously boosts sales; improves liquidity- data from case study tells you a lot of money is tied up in stocks. This money can be used elsewhere; Also improves relationship between NB and retailer

Disadvantages: Other retailers will expect this; GPM is already low as it is (25% compared with Nike and Adidas who have a GPM of 45%) so lowering prices will squeeze margins even more; lower prices will make NB lose its image of being a premium brand

Evaluation: Comment about Porter's five forces and it depends on how much power the retailer has. i.e. how big the company is
Also, is it on the trade credit or will the retailer pay for it all in one go?

Reply 48

Nath98

I thought the exam was okay. Could have been much worse, so glad there wasn't any culture crap. 7B I'm not too sure about, I wrote why Market Development is good and linked to NB looking to open new stores in new countries etc then I said how other strategies like diversification in India might be more useful instead. What did everyone else write for 7B?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Reply 49

Ringles

All good apart from 7B
what was the exact question?

Reply 50

asdfghjklñ

how about acid test ratio?

Reply 51

username1410667

I thought the exam went ok-ish for me, hated the 30 mark question though.

Original post by asdfghjklñ

how about acid test ratio?

I got 0.82 for 2012 and 0.58 for 2013 (after rounding up to two decimals), what about you?

Reply 52

asdfghjklñ

Original post by Devinely

I thought the exam went ok-ish for me, hated the 30 mark question though.

I got 0.82 for 2012 and 0.58 for 2013 (after rounding up to two decimals), what about you?

i didn't minus stock! i thought that because it was put separate in the balance sheet it was already subtracted from current assets!!!

Reply 53

Yousf

for 7a: i said it could lead to dis economies of sale, they already have an special order from LFC so it might become to much pressure for them especially as they have 200 employees but productivity increasing. Said it will icnrease profits. Said price wont be a big issue, and wouldnt care about losing profit on it otherwise why would they bother staying in the uk for manufacturing etc etc

Reply 54

JWhizz

That paper was AIDS, no way im getting into uni now

Reply 55

masrijude

I thought this exam was disastrous honestly, could've been worse but still ... not sure about question 7A and B

Reply 56

azizadil1998

Late reply but i thought the exam was quite easy on the whole, the only question which might have been found difficult was the 30 marker since it was quite specific to market development but i think for the 15 evaluation marks you would say what other parts of ansoff's is important to NB or what other models they can use like Porters... The 20 marker was a gift really, ran out of space for it. Remember some people after the exam were a bit annoyed since they didn't remember what acid test is... :colondollar: