Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

AQA AS Business Studies Unit2 - 19th January 2012

Scroll to see replies

Reply 40

SBradford

Original post by tehonlyone

Wasn't there a cash flow question in the last exam, do you think it will come up??

I remember we had a ROCE question, that's where they made that stupid mistake. Don't remember the other finance one.

Reply 41

Lakhvir.Singh

What are we thinking is coming up? Anyone used the tutor2u topic tracker to make a guess? :smile:

Reply 42

tehonlyone

Original post by SBradford

I remember we had a ROCE question, that's where they made that stupid mistake. Don't remember the other finance one.

It was to calculate net profit margin.

What are the financial formulas we need to remember?

Reply 43

darkblue

http://tutor2u.net/BUSS2TopicTracker.pdf

Motivation hasn't come up much lately, ops targets, customer service and technology haven't come up much at all. Marketing mix is likely to come up too.

Reply 44

darkblue

Original post by tehonlyone

It was to calculate net profit margin.

What are the financial formulas we need to remember?

ROCE
Net Profit Margin
Labour Turnover
Labour Productivity
Capacity Utilisation

I think that's it..

Reply 45

Lakhvir.Singh

Original post by darkblue

ROCE
Net Profit Margin
Labour Turnover
Labour Productivity
Capacity Utilisation

I think that's it..

Unit cost

Reply 46

Lakhvir.Singh

Original post by darkblue

http://tutor2u.net/BUSS2TopicTracker.pdf

Motivation hasn't come up much lately, ops targets, customer service and technology haven't come up much at all. Marketing mix is likely to come up too.

ops targets? What are they? :s-smilie:

Reply 47

darkblue

Original post by Lakhvir.Singh

ops targets? What are they? :s-smilie:

According to the spec: Operational targets relate to unit costs, quality and capacity utilisation. Candidates should be able to calculate and interpret unit costs.

Reply 48

SBradford

Original post by Lakhvir.Singh

ops targets? What are they? :s-smilie:

operation targets, like reducing unit costs, increasing quality, etc.

Do you do A2? basically the same as the stuff in unit 3

Reply 49

Lakhvir.Singh

Can someone please summarise the 4ps for me?

I'll be truly grateful. So behind in revision :cry2:

Reply 50

darkblue

Don't forget your calculators everyone!

Reply 51

Lakhvir.Singh

Original post by SBradford

operation targets, like reducing unit costs, increasing quality, etc.

Do you do A2? basically the same as the stuff in unit 3

Ahh ok thanks! I'm so nervous :colondollar:

Reply 52

darkblue

Original post by Lakhvir.Singh

Can someone please summarise the 4ps for me?

I'll be truly grateful. So behind in revision :cry2:

Price
Pricing strategies
1) price leader - market leader (can set market price)
2) price taker - small outlet (has to charge around the market leader to remain competitive, people associate low price with low quality
3) price skimming - setting initial cost v.high to earn back what they've spent, usually only appeals to the most affluent, common in technology
4) price penetration - starting w/low price at introduction e.g. BOGOF then gradually increasing

Pricing Tactics
1) Loss leader - selling below manufacturing cost to try and increase awareness
2) Psychological pricing - 99p instead of £1 makes it sound cheaper

Reply 53

darkblue

Original post by Lakhvir.Singh

Can someone please summarise the 4ps for me?

I'll be truly grateful. So behind in revision :cry2:

Product
Boston Matrix

Innovative - completely new
Imitative - copy existing products
Replacement

USP's

Lifecycle - development, introduction, growth, maturity, decline

Influences: Skills, competitors, technological change

Reply 54

SBradford

Found this on the May topic, all credit to original person:

An essay structure might go something like this:

Intro - Define what the key term. Then explain how it links to the company in the case study - That way you are getting the knowledge and application marks straight away. It also helps me to focus on what the question is I am answering.

Then have 2 to 4 paragraphs with a similar structure to this:

POINT
EXPLAIN/EVIDENCE
EVALUATE.
LINK

Point - make a relevant point to the question. Make sure it directly links to what you are being asked.

Explain - this will get you into the analysis marks as long as you apply your answer. So if I was writing about labour turn over, I would explain what the data shows and how that would effect the business specifically. You have to make sure your answer is only applicable to the business in the case study, because if you are able to substitute any business in then you aren't applying your knowledge.

Evaluate - Basically you have to give your own opinion. You could use linking words/phrases such as:
- It depends on
- However
- But
- Because of this, something else might happen.

Link - End on a sentence you can link into your next paragraph so that it flows nicely.

Nearly all the business decisions have implications on functional areas, for example if a business decided to invest in training, this would have an implication on the operations of the business and also the finances of the business. A good way to get evaluative marks is to explain what effect this would have... Such as:

"Training the staff in Travel Tavern would probably lead to a rise in productivity as a result output for the firm would increase. An increase in productivity could raise the profit levels of the company which may enable them to invest in other things, such as renovating the hotels so they are more up to date to enable them to compete with more modern brands such as Premier Inn. Training could also raise morale levels with the staff which could effect customer satisfaction as if the staff are happier then they will deliver better service, for example when people check in. However, training staff may be expensive and as the company is already in debt it probably cannot afford to invest in what most companies see as a non-essential investment, especially when there is a lot of demand for hotel staff and so there is a high risk to Travel Tavern that is they were to invest in training their staff might leave, this is echoed by their high staff turnover."

Leaving the paragraph like that then enables me to link in the next paragraph with staff turn over.

Evaluation is just meant to make the essay balanced. Also, if you evaluate throughout the essay it flows better then doing it at the end and it is less rushed as you're not trying to fit it in before time runs out.

Even if you don't have many paragraphs, it doesn't matter as long as they are quite long because you're probably getting more marks for them then you would for short underdeveloped paragraphs.

Conclusion - as you have been evaluating through out this should be a summary of the points you have already made. You should come to a decision. Refer back to the question, if it says how far, make sure you say how far you think it is! You may want to say which point is most relevant and why.

Reply 55

darkblue

Original post by Lakhvir.Singh

Can someone please summarise the 4ps for me?

I'll be truly grateful. So behind in revision :cry2:

Place
Distribution channels - use a wholesaler?
(sorry place is so brief)

Promotion
Promo mix - PR, branding, merchandising, sales promotions, direct selling and advertising

Influences on promo mix - product, finance available, competitors actions, stage of lifecycle

Reply 56

Lakhvir.Singh

Original post by darkblue

Thanks man you're a life saver. I have around 2-3 hours before bed. Anything I should go over again, that might come up?

Please and thanks. Also, sorry for being an idiot :frown:

Reply 57

imsosuperman

i hope technology does come up!
hopefully nothing on price elasticity calculations
good luck!

Reply 58

darkblue

Original post by Lakhvir.Singh

Thanks man you're a life saver. I have around 2-3 hours before bed. Anything I should go over again, that might come up?

Please and thanks. Also, sorry for being an idiot :frown:

Motivation
Organisational Structures
Formula's
and then relax

Good luck!

Reply 59

Lakhvir.Singh