Unit 1.1 Business Activity
a) Role of Business Organisations
§ Sectors of Economy (Private, Public & Third)
§ Sectors of Industry (Primary, Secondary & Tertiary)
§ Types of Business Organisations (Sole Traders, Partnerships, Ltd. & plc, Charities, Social Enterprises, and Public Corporations – i.e. BBC)
b) What makes a Business successful?
§ Factors of Production (Land, Labour, Capital & Enterprise)
§ Customer Satisfaction (Customer complaints, After sales service)
c) Objectives of Businesses
§ Survival
§ Growth
§ Profit Maximisation
§ Provide a Service
§ Social Responsibility
Unit 1.2 Business Influences
d) Internal Factors
§ Finance
§ Labour/Human Resources
§ Technology
e) External Factors
§ Political
§ Economic
§ Social
§ Technological
§ Environmental
§ Competitive
f) Stakeholders
§ Owners/Shareholders
§ Managers
§ Employees
§ Banks
§ Customers
§ Suppliers
§ Government
Unit 2.1 Marketing
a) Market Research
§ Market Segments
§ Field & Desk Research
§ Methods of Market Research (Questionnaire, Interviews, Telephone Survey, Postal Survey, Focus Groups, Consumer panels, Hall Test, Observation)
b) Product Life Cycle
§ Stage by Stage
§ Extension Strategies
c) Marketing Mix
§ Product (New Product Development, Branding)
§ Price (Pricing Strategies)
§ Place (Location decisions, Channels of Distribution)
§ Promotion (Methods of Promotion)
d) Ethical Marketing
e) Marketing and ICT
§ Tesco Clubcard
§ Spam email
Unit 2.2 Operations
a) Choosing suppliers
§ Purchasing mix (Quality, quantity, reliability, price etc)
b) Stock Control
§ Types of Stock
§ Over and Under Stocking
§ Stock Control Diagram
c) Production Methods
§ Job
§ Batch
§ Flow
d) Ethical and environmental
§ Wastage
§ Packaging
e) Quality
§ Methods of Quality (Quality Control, Quality Assurance, TQM, Benchmarking, Quality Standards, Quality Circles)
f) Technology and Operations
§ Automated Stock Control – use of Barcodes
§ EPOS - Checkout
§ CAD – designing the product
§ CAM – 3D printers
Unit 3.1 Human Resources
a) Recruitment
§ Stages in Recruitment
§ Internal v External Recruitment
b) Selection
§ Stages in Selection
§ Selection Methods
c) Training
§ Induction
§ On the Job
§ Off the job
d) Motivation
§ Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
§ Theory X & Y
§ Non-financial methods
e) Legislation
§ Health & Safety at Work Act
§ Equality Act
§ National Minimum Wage Act
Unit 3.2 Finance
a) Sources of Finance
§ Bank Loan
§ Overdraft
§ Hire Purchase
§ Mortgages
§ Government Grants
b) Break Even
§ Fixed & Variable Costs
§ Break Even Charts
§ Break Even Point & the Margin of Safety
c) Cash Budgets
§ Interpretation of Cash Budgets
§ Cash Flow Problems & Solutions
d) Profit and Loss Statements
§ Sales & Cost of Goods Sold
§ Gross Profit & Net Profit
e) Technology in Finance
§ Spreadsheets
§ EPOS
§ Online Banking