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AQA AS Business Studies Case Study Thread

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Reply 20

nat_the_star789

all the tables really! jst need some good info on them so i can revise wel! lol but mainly the last five!! :biggrin:

thanks x

Reply 21

omi007

hey ... thanks every1 for the good revision notes...

Im just stuck on section F if anyone could help me on it...

3) Table 4 looks at measures of quality performance for smile magazines ltd.

a)What is the key term when comparing your business to that of the industry mean?

b) why is doing this important

c) Examine the data in table 4, what does it indicate about the business

Thanks for the help! :smile:

and good luck every1 for there exams! :smile:

Reply 22

RJA

I think part (a) is benchmarking

Oh, and there should be some Economics/External Influences notes up tomorrow :smile:

Reply 23

D29

Thanks RJA for all the work doen so far, i have thought of a few questions that may be relevant to the case study.
1. Outline 2 possible reasons why Jeremy decided to start his business using a website. (8 marks)
2. Explain how the market research undertaken by Jermey was beneficial for the business. (6 marks)
3. Analyse one strength and one weakness in Jeremy, Kate's and Sam's decision to give up 25% of the business to Polar Plc. (8 marks)

Anyone else who feels they can give any imput at all to the case study please do so. As all help is very much appriciated

Reply 24

RJA

Table 7 (Economics Notes) are up on the External Influences Post :smile:

I will try and get some answers together for you Daniboi and omi007 :wink:

Reply 25

omi007

thanks for the work so far and the notes people and RJA! good help, Another question related to section F in the case study

1 ) Table 6 looks at suggestions for improving motivation within Smile Magazine Ltd. Link the different ideas to motivational theory and looks at the advantages and disadvantages of these on the business (12)

What do you think the answer is? Thanks.

:smile:

Reply 26

nat_the_star789

On Table 2 (page 3) of the case study....what does it mean? i know the obvious that POlar plc own 52% but how could i analyse the implications of it for Smile mags ltd??????

and... why is Table 3 (pg 4) - average cost per magazine - an economy of scale? because it is getting cheaper to produce each magazine??

nat

Reply 27

RJA

I really should be keeping this up to date - I promise I will sort out the previous questions tomorrow.

Nat, the fact that Polar owns 52% of Smile means that it has majority vote over any long term strategic issues that need settling in the boardroom. This means that Jeremy, Kate and Sam do not have as much long term control as they did previously. However, they are much more immersed in the short term, day to day running of the business. You could go into more detail about how long term strategy is different from short term.

Just above Table 3, it says that "Leah argued it was the efficiency of the operations that created the high profit levels". Leah increased the efficiency of the operations over the 3 year period. Tbh, I suppose it is better to talk about productive efficiency than economies of scale. Yeah, my mistake :wink:

Reply 28

RJA

I've put these answers in the Objectives and Strategy post as well :wink:

Daniboi

1. Outline 2 possible reasons why Jeremy decided to start his business using a website. (8 marks)
2. Explain how the market research undertaken by Jermey was beneficial for the business. (6 marks)
3. Analyse one strength and one weakness in Jeremy, Kate's and Sam's decision to give up 52% of the business to Polar Plc. (8 marks)

Question 1
- Jeremy didn't have the resources available to him to print his own magazine in sufficient quantities. (This is actually quoted in Section A, Paragraph 3).
- Jeremy already had the computer skills to start up an internet magazine, and therefore no training costs were incurred. (Again, this is quoted)
- (A more market-led answer) Jeremy was aiming the magazine at a college audience. College students tend to use the internet alot, and therefore have plenty of time to access the website. Also, due to financial constraints, students may not want to pay for the unestablished, embryonic school magazine.
The last point is the more impressive of those three possibilities. A magazine is set up from a market orientation, and therefore you may think outside the box by explaining why Jeremy might be better off using the internet, and isn't just forced to.

Question 2
- Market research allowed Jeremy to find out what his target age group liked in a magazine, and therefore what would be most popular, attracting the most hits on the website, and attracting more lucrative advertisers, thus making more profit.
Quite a short answer to this one, it is worth 6 marks, so make sure you explain fully how the business (i.e. the profits) would benefit. This ensures that you have answered the question exactly, and not made assumptions.

Question 3
- STRENGTH: Lots of capital input coming from Polar.
- STRENGTH: Enterprise experience from a floated company. THEREFORE possibility of attracting more investment from companies following Polar.
- WEAKNESS: Giving away control of long term strategy.
- WEAKNESS: Handing over control to a soft-drinks company, not a publisher, lack of experience within the market.
I hope I've read the question right there. Above are the +/- of Polar's 52% investment. I assume that's what is meant my "the +/- of Sam and Kate's decision". Correct me if I'm wrong.

Reply 29

ThePrincessAnastasia

RJA

They are full year figures.

What they have done for 2007 is took the first quarter figures (as we are only one quarter through the year) and multiplied them to forecast the whole of this year's sales.

Don't think that they've 83,000 magazines in one quarter - that is there predicted amount for the whole year using this quarter's sales figures.

Hope you understand that, it is hard to get your head around :smile:

Thanks alot for that. I was really banging my head about that one- it jus didnt makes sense!!. But now i get it.

Reply 30

nat_the_star789

Hey RJA when are the notes on operations management coming up?? thanks nat x

Reply 31

D29

Analyse two benefits of SWOT analysis as a method of helping Jeremy & Leah come to a decision over the future of the business. (8 marks)

I have started to do a SWOT analysis but I am finding it hard to spot them out in the case study.
Can anyone shed some light on this?

STRENGTHS
-

WEAKNESSES
-

OPPORTUNITIES
-

THREATS
-

Reply 32

RJA

nat_the_star789

Hey RJA when are the notes on operations management coming up?? thanks nat x

Seeing as you asked, I might as well put some up tonight (probably between 8 and 9). I don't have that many class notes on the subject, so I'll look at the spec and try and match up some aspects of the case study.

Reply 33

fblade

Hey guys, I typed up some keywords from the Case. Just wondering Have I missed any out.

Delegation
Consultation
Authoritarian
Efficiency
New Product Development (PPA - Ansoff's Matrix)
Organisational Structure
Kaizen Groups
Spans of Controls
On-The-Job training
Off-The-Job training
Cell Production
Rationalisation
Delayering
Matrix Management Projects
Redundancy
Job Enrichment
Economies of scale
Social responsibility
Shareholders
Stakeholders
MBO
Internal Recruitment
Quality Assurance
Just-In-Time Deliveries
Technological Changes
Motivation
Minimum Wage
Overtime Pay
Target Markets
Long-Term Strategy

thanks, I'll update words as people think of some. I think the keywords are good resource to revise. lol no point revising what isn't coming up :P

Reply 34

RJA

Wow! Thank you very much! :biggrin:

You deserve some rep for that.... :wink:

Reply 35

fblade

I'm guessing I've included all the relevant keywords in my above post then?

Reply 36

AaaDdd

fblade

Great work man !! :biggrin:

One thing i would like to add would be if we got the definitions of each of them it would really help, as we can write them in the exam !! and get credit for that !!

:tsr2:

Reply 37

fblade

AaaDdd

Great work man !! :biggrin:

One thing i would like to add would be if we got the definitions of each of them it would really help, as we can write them in the exam !! and get credit for that !!

:tsr2:

Its all in plan :wink: