Business lessons
Business: enterprise & marketing, people, finance, operations, the external environment, and strategy.
Key topics
- Enterprise & marketing
- People
- Finance
- Operations
- External environment
- Strategy & skills
Lesson course
Work through each lesson, run the interactive practice, and tick it off as you go.
1. Enterprise & marketing
Core
Enterprise & entrepreneurs
Explain enterprise and risk.
Entrepreneurs spot opportunities and take risks to start businesses, providing goods and services for profit.
List the qualities of a successful entrepreneur.
The marketing mix
Apply the 4 Ps.
The marketing mix is the 4 Ps — product, price, place, promotion — combined to meet customer needs profitably.
Build a marketing mix for one product.
Market research
Compare primary and secondary research.
Primary research gathers new data (surveys, interviews); secondary research uses existing data. Both inform decisions.
Choose research methods for a new product.
2. People
Core
Motivation
Explain motivation theories and methods.
Motivated staff are more productive. Theories include Maslow's hierarchy and Herzberg's hygiene/motivators; methods include pay and recognition.
Apply one motivation theory to a workplace.
Organisation & leadership
Explain structures and leadership styles.
Organisational structures (hierarchies, spans of control) and leadership styles (autocratic, democratic) affect performance.
Compare autocratic and democratic leadership.
Recruitment & training
Explain recruitment and training.
Recruitment attracts and selects staff; training improves skills through induction and on- or off-the-job methods.
Compare on- and off-the-job training.
3. Finance
Core
Costs, revenue & profit
Calculate profit from costs and revenue.
Profit = revenue − costs. Fixed costs don't change with output; variable costs rise as output rises.
Calculate profit for one business.
Break-even
Calculate and interpret break-even.
Break-even is the output where total revenue equals total costs — no profit or loss.
Find the break-even output for a product.
Cash flow & finance
Explain cash flow and finance sources.
Cash flow is money in and out over time; sources of finance include loans, retained profit and share capital.
Identify a suitable source of finance for a case.
4. Operations
Core
Production methods
Compare job, batch and flow production.
Job, batch and flow production suit different products; the choice affects cost, flexibility and quality.
Match products to production methods.
Quality
Compare quality control and assurance.
Quality control checks the finished product; quality assurance builds quality into every stage of the process.
Explain how a firm can improve quality.
Supply & stock
Explain supply chains and stock control.
Supply chains link suppliers to customers; stock control such as just-in-time (JIT) balances availability against cost.
Explain a benefit and risk of JIT.
5. External environment
Core
Markets & competition
Explain competition and advantage.
Competition affects pricing and choice; firms gain advantage through lower cost or differentiation.
Explain how a firm gains competitive advantage.
Economic & legal factors
Explain how the environment affects firms.
Interest rates, taxes, employment law and consumer rights all affect how a business operates.
Explain how interest rates affect a business.
Ethics & environment
Explain ethical and sustainable business.
Ethical and sustainable practices affect reputation; stakeholders (owners, staff, customers, community) have differing interests.
Identify stakeholders and their interests.
6. Strategy & skills
Skills
Business plans & growth
Explain plans and methods of growth.
A business plan sets aims and forecasts; firms grow organically or externally through mergers and takeovers.
Explain organic versus external growth.
Data & decisions
Use data to justify decisions.
Use financial and market data to make and justify business decisions.
Use financial data to recommend an action.
Exam technique
Apply concepts to a case study.
Apply concepts to the case study, analyse the impact, and evaluate with a justified recommendation.
Plan an evaluative answer for a case.
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