Business

Mass markets vs niche markets

Characteristics of mass markets

Characteristics of niche markets

Market size vs market share

What a brand is and why it matters

Dynamic markets and why they change

Online retailing and its impact on markets

Innovation as a driver of market growth

How businesses adapt to changing markets

How competition affects markets

Risk vs uncertainty in business decisions

Product orientation vs market orientation

Primary research: methods and uses

Secondary research: sources and uses

Quantitative vs qualitative market research data

Using research to identify customer needs and wants

Using research to estimate demand

Using research to understand consumer behaviour

Sampling, sample size, and why bias happens

Limitations of market research in real decisions

Using ICT for market research: websites and analytics

Using ICT for market research: social media insights

Using ICT for market research: databases and big data

Market segmentation: what it is and why firms do it

Market mapping: building and reading a perceptual map

Competitive advantage in a product or service

Product differentiation: purpose and methods

Adding value: how firms justify higher prices

What demand means for businesses

How substitutes affect demand

How complementary goods affect demand

How income changes affect demand

How tastes, fashion and preferences affect demand

How advertising and branding affect demand

Demographics and shifting patterns of demand

External shocks and sudden demand changes

Seasonality and predictable demand swings

What supply means for businesses

How production costs affect supply

New technology and changes in supply

Indirect taxes and supply decisions

Subsidies and their impact on supply

External shocks and supply disruption

How supply and demand interact to set price

Drawing supply and demand diagrams accurately

Interpreting price changes using diagrams

Calculating price elasticity of demand (PED)

Interpreting PED values (elastic vs inelastic)

Factors that influence PED

Why PED matters for pricing decisions

PED and total revenue: calculating the relationship

Calculating income elasticity of demand (YED)

Interpreting YED values (normal vs inferior)

Factors that influence YED

Why YED matters for market planning

The design mix: function

The design mix: aesthetics

The design mix: cost constraints

Designing for waste minimisation, re-use and recycling

Ethical sourcing and product design decisions

Types of promotion: above-the-line vs below-the-line

Types of branding: product vs corporate

How strong branding adds value

Branding and charging premium prices

Branding and reducing price elasticity

Building a brand using USPs and differentiation

Advertising as a brand-building tool

Sponsorship and brand association

Social media for brand building

Viral marketing and why it works

Emotional branding and customer attachment

Cost plus pricing and calculating mark-up

Price skimming: when it fits and why

Penetration pricing: when it fits and why

Predatory pricing: aims and risks

Competitive pricing: markets where it fits

Psychological pricing and consumer behaviour

Choosing a pricing strategy: role of differentiation

Choosing a pricing strategy: role of PED

Choosing a pricing strategy: role of competition

Choosing a pricing strategy: role of brand strength

Choosing a pricing strategy: role of product life cycle

Choosing a pricing strategy: role of costs and profit need

Online sales and how pricing changes

Price comparison sites and pressure on pricing

Distribution channels: direct vs indirect

Online distribution and route-to-market change

Switching from product to service: distribution implications

The product life cycle: stages and sales/profit patterns

Extension strategies: product changes

Extension strategies: promotional changes

Boston Matrix: stars, cash cows, question marks, dogs

Managing a product portfolio using the Boston Matrix

Marketing strategies for mass markets

Marketing strategies for niche markets

B2B vs B2C marketing: key differences

Consumer behaviour and building customer loyalty

Seeing staff as an asset

Seeing staff as a cost

Why firms build a flexible workforce

Multi-skilling: benefits and drawbacks

Part-time and temporary work: benefits and drawbacks

Flexible hours and home working: impacts on performance

Outsourcing: why firms do it and the risks

Dismissal vs redundancy: key distinctions

Employer–employee relationships: individual approach

Employer–employee relationships: collective bargaining

The recruitment and selection process: stages

Internal vs external recruitment: pros and cons

Costs of recruitment and selection

Costs of training and development

Induction training: purpose and examples

On-the-job training: purpose and examples

Off-the-job training: purpose and examples

Organisational structure: hierarchy and levels

Chain of command and accountability

Span of control and management effectiveness

Centralisation vs decentralisation

Tall structures: advantages and disadvantages

Flat structures: advantages and disadvantages

Matrix structures: advantages and disadvantages

How structure affects efficiency

How structure affects motivation

Why motivation matters for business performance

Taylor and scientific management

Mayo and human relations theory

Maslow and hierarchy of needs

Herzberg and two-factor theory

Piecework pay: when it motivates

Commission: when it motivates

Bonuses and performance targets

Profit share and aligning staff goals

Performance-related pay: benefits and drawbacks

Delegation as a motivational tool

Consultation and employee voice

Empowerment and ownership of work

Team working and motivation

Flexible working and work–life balance

Job enrichment and responsibility

Job rotation and skill development

Job enlargement and task variety

Management vs leadership: key differences

Autocratic leadership: when it works

Paternalistic leadership: when it works

Democratic leadership: when it works

Laissez-faire leadership: when it works

What entrepreneurs do when creating a business

Setting up a business: key start-up decisions

Running a business: day-to-day priorities

Expanding a business: growth decisions

Intrapreneurship and innovation within firms

Barriers to entrepreneurship

How entrepreneurs anticipate risk and uncertainty

Entrepreneurial skills and personal characteristics

Financial motives: profit maximisation

Financial motives: profit satisficing

Non-financial motives: ethical stance

Non-financial motives: social entrepreneurship

Non-financial motives: independence and home working

Business objectives: survival

Business objectives: profit maximisation

Business objectives: sales maximisation

Business objectives: market share

Business objectives: cost efficiency

Business objectives: employee welfare

Business objectives: customer satisfaction

Business objectives: social objectives

Sole trader: features and suitability

Partnership: features and suitability

Private limited company: features and suitability

Franchising: how it works

Social enterprise: aims and structure

Lifestyle businesses: aims and trade-offs

Online businesses: opportunities and risks

Growth to PLC and stock market flotation

Opportunity cost in business choices

Trade-offs in real business decisions

Moving from entrepreneur to leader: why it’s difficult

Internal finance: owner’s capital and personal savings

Internal finance: retained profit

Internal finance: selling assets

External finance: family and friends

External finance: bank finance

Peer-to-peer funding: how it works

Business angels: role and expectations

Crowdfunding: types and suitability

Finance from other businesses: partnerships and investment

Loans: features and implications

Share capital: how it raises funds

Venture capital: what investors want

Overdrafts: flexibility and risk

Leasing: benefits and drawbacks

Trade credit: managing supplier finance

Grants: conditions and limitations

Limited vs unlimited liability: what it means

How liability affects finance choices

What a business plan needs to show for finance

Cash-flow forecasts: reading inflows and outflows

Cash-flow forecasts: changing variables and recalculating

Cash-flow forecasts: uses and limitations

Why businesses produce sales forecasts

Consumer trends and forecast accuracy

Economic variables and forecast accuracy

Competitors’ actions and forecast accuracy

Why sales forecasting is difficult

Calculating sales volume

Calculating sales revenue

Fixed costs vs variable costs

Calculating total costs from fixed and variable costs

Contribution: calculating contribution per unit

Break-even: what it means for risk

Calculating break-even point using contribution

Margin of safety: calculation and meaning

Break-even charts: drawing and interpreting

Limitations of break-even analysis in real firms

Why businesses set budgets

Historical budgets: strengths and weaknesses

Zero-based budgets: strengths and weaknesses

Variance analysis: favourable vs adverse variances

Why budgeting is difficult in dynamic markets

Gross profit: calculation and meaning

Operating profit: calculation and meaning

Profit for the year (net profit): calculation and meaning

Income statement: what it shows stakeholders

Gross profit margin: calculation and interpretation

Operating profit margin: calculation and interpretation

Net profit margin: calculation and interpretation

Ways to improve profitability (revenue and cost actions)

Profit vs cash: why profitable firms can fail

Statement of financial position: what it shows

Current ratio: calculation and interpretation

Acid test ratio: calculation and interpretation

Ways to improve liquidity

Working capital: what it is and why it matters

Managing working capital: stock, debtors and creditors

Internal causes of business failure (financial)

External causes of business failure (financial)

Internal causes of business failure (non-financial)

External causes of business failure (non-financial)

Job production: features and suitable products

Batch production: features and suitable products

Flow production: features and suitable products

Cell production: features and suitable products

Productivity: calculating output per input over time

Factors influencing productivity

Productivity and competitiveness link

Efficiency and minimum average cost

Factors influencing efficiency

Labour-intensive vs capital-intensive production

Capacity utilisation: calculation and interpretation

Under-utilisation: implications and costs

Over-utilisation: implications and risks

Ways to improve capacity utilisation

Stock control diagrams: interpreting the graph

Buffer stocks: purpose and cost

Problems caused by poor stock control

Just-in-time stock management: benefits and risks

Waste minimisation and cost competitiveness

Lean production as a competitive advantage

Quality control: inspection and consistency

Quality assurance: systems and prevention

Quality circles: staff involvement in improvement

Total Quality Management (TQM): whole-business focus

Kaizen and continuous improvement

Quality management as a source of competitive advantage

Inflation and business costs/pricing decisions

Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and measuring inflation

Exchange rates: appreciation and depreciation

Exchange rates and import/export competitiveness

Interest rates and consumer/business borrowing

Taxation and government spending: demand effects

The business cycle and sales/profit impacts

Economic uncertainty and business decision-making

Consumer protection laws and business operations

Employee protection laws and staffing costs

Environmental protection laws and compliance

Competition policy and market behaviour

Health and safety regulation and operating costs

Competition and market size in the competitive environment

Corporate aims vs corporate objectives

Building objectives from a mission statement

Critically appraising mission statements

Ansoff’s Matrix: market penetration

Ansoff’s Matrix: market development

Ansoff’s Matrix: product development

Ansoff’s Matrix: diversification

Porter’s Strategic Matrix: cost leadership

Porter’s Strategic Matrix: differentiation

Porter’s Strategic Matrix: focus strategies

Portfolio analysis: what it is trying to achieve

Distinctive capabilities and competitive advantage

Strategic vs tactical decisions: what changes

Strategy decisions and human resources needs

Strategy decisions and physical resources needs

Strategy decisions and financial resources needs

SWOT analysis: strengths and weaknesses

SWOT analysis: opportunities and threats

PESTLE analysis: what each factor means

A changing competitive environment and strategy

Porter’s Five Forces: threat of new entrants

Porter’s Five Forces: bargaining power of suppliers

Porter’s Five Forces: bargaining power of customers

Porter’s Five Forces: threat of substitutes

Porter’s Five Forces: competitive rivalry

Why businesses pursue growth

Economies of scale: internal

Economies of scale: external

Growth and market power over suppliers and customers

Growth and market share/brand recognition

Growth and profitability

Diseconomies of scale and rising unit costs

Communication problems as firms grow

Overtrading and cash-flow pressure

Mergers vs takeovers: key differences

Reasons firms merge or takeover

Horizontal integration: aims and examples

Vertical integration: aims and examples

Financial risks and rewards of mergers/takeovers

Problems of rapid growth and integration

Organic vs inorganic growth: what’s the difference

Organic growth methods (new products, new outlets, etc.)

Advantages of organic growth

Disadvantages of organic growth

Why some businesses choose to stay small

Survival through differentiation and USPs

Flexibility and speed of response as an advantage

Customer service as a competitive strategy

E-commerce enabling small business survival

Time series analysis: what it’s used for

Moving averages (three period/four quarter): calculation

Interpreting moving averages for forecasting

Scatter graphs: plotting data correctly

Line of best fit and extrapolation

Limitations of quantitative sales forecasting

Simple payback: calculation and interpretation

Average rate of return (ARR): calculation and interpretation

Discounted cash flow and Net Present Value (NPV)

Interpreting investment appraisal results for decisions

Limitations of investment appraisal methods

Decision trees: structure and key terms

Calculating expected values in decision trees

Interpreting decision tree outcomes

Limitations of decision trees

Critical Path Analysis (CPA): purpose and use

Building a simple network diagram

Identifying the critical path

Calculating earliest start times

Calculating latest finish times

Calculating total float

Limitations of Critical Path Analysis

Short-termism vs long-termism in corporate planning

Evidence-based decision-making vs subjective judgement

Strong vs weak corporate cultures

Power culture: features and implications

Role culture: features and implications

Task culture: features and implications

Person culture: features and implications

How corporate culture is formed

Why changing culture is difficult

Internal stakeholders and their objectives

External stakeholders and their objectives

Stakeholder approach vs shareholder approach

Conflicts between profit objectives and wider objectives

Ethical trade-offs in strategic decisions

Pay and rewards: ethical debates and impacts

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): meaning and aims

Income statement: key information for stakeholders

Income statement: different stakeholder interests

Statement of financial position: key information

Statement of financial position: different stakeholder interests

Gearing ratio: calculation and meaning

ROCE: calculation and meaning

Using ratios to judge performance and risk

Limitations of ratio analysis

Labour productivity: calculation and interpretation

Labour turnover and retention: calculation and meaning

Absenteeism: calculation and meaning

Financial rewards to improve productivity and retention

Employee share ownership and motivation

Consultation strategies to improve engagement

Empowerment strategies to reduce turnover/absenteeism

Causes of change: growth in organisational size

Causes of change: poor business performance

Causes of change: new ownership

Causes of change: transformational leadership

Causes of change: market and external factors (PESTLE)

Effects of change on competitiveness

Effects of change on productivity

Effects of change on financial performance

Effects of change on stakeholders

Culture as a key factor in managing change

Organisation size and change complexity

Time and speed of change: risks and benefits

Managing resistance to change: why people resist

Risk assessment: identifying key risks

Natural disasters and business disruption

IT systems failure and business disruption

Loss of key staff and business disruption

Risk mitigation: business continuity planning

Risk mitigation: succession planning

Comparing UK growth to emerging economies

Rising economic power in Asia, Africa and beyond

Economic growth and trade opportunities for firms

Economic growth and changing employment patterns

GDP per capita as a growth indicator

Literacy as a development indicator

Health as a development indicator

Human Development Index (HDI) as a development indicator

Exports vs imports: meaning and examples

Specialisation and competitive advantage

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and business growth

Trade liberalisation and reduced barriers

Political change and openness to trade

Lower transport costs and global supply chains

Lower communication costs and global coordination

Growth of transnational companies and market power

Increased FDI flows and capital movement

Migration and labour market change

Growth of the global labour force and competition

Structural change in economies and industries

Protectionism: what it is and why it happens

Tariffs and how they affect businesses

Import quotas and their impact on competition

Other trade barriers: regulation and standards

Domestic subsidies and competitive effects

Trading blocs: why they form

EU single market: key business impacts

ASEAN: key business impacts

NAFTA: key business impacts

How trading blocs affect business decisions

Push factors for global trade: saturated home markets

Push factors for global trade: intense competition

Pull factors: economies of scale from bigger markets

Pull factors: spreading risk across markets

Offshoring vs outsourcing: meanings and differences

Extending the product life cycle through international sales

Assessing a country market: disposable income levels

Assessing a country market: disposable income growth

Ease of doing business as an entry factor

Infrastructure as a market entry factor

Political stability as a market entry factor

Exchange rate considerations for market entry

Assessing a production location: production cost factors

Labour skills and availability in production decisions

Infrastructure for efficient production and distribution

Location within a trade bloc and tariff advantages

Government incentives to attract production

Political stability and operating risk

Natural resources and supply security

Expected return on investment (ROI) in location choice

Reasons for global mergers and joint ventures

Spreading risk across countries/regions

Entering new markets and trade blocs quickly

Acquiring brand names and patents internationally

Securing resources and supplies through integration

Maintaining or increasing global competitiveness

Exchange rate movements and competitiveness

Competing on cost in global markets

Competing through differentiation in global markets

Skill shortages and global competitiveness

Global marketing strategy vs localisation

Glocalisation: balancing global scale with local needs

Ethnocentric (domestic) marketing approach

Geocentric (mixed) marketing approach

Polycentric (international) marketing approach

Adapting the marketing mix (4Ps) for global markets

Using Ansoff’s Matrix for global growth decisions

Cultural diversity and different consumer values

Features of global niche markets

Adapting the 4Ps for global niche markets

Cultural differences and marketing risk

Different tastes and product adaptation

Language issues and communication barriers

Unintended meanings in branding

Inaccurate translation and brand damage

Inappropriate branding and promotion and backlash

How MNCs affect local wages and working conditions

How MNCs affect local job creation

How MNCs affect local businesses and competition

How MNCs affect communities and the environment

FDI flows and the national economy

Balance of payments impacts of MNC activity

Technology and skills transfer from MNCs

Impacts on consumers: choice, price, standards

Impacts on business culture and management practice

Tax revenues and transfer pricing issues

Stakeholder conflicts in global operations

Pay and working conditions: ethical challenges

Environmental impacts: emissions and regulation

Environmental impacts: waste disposal and compliance

Supply chain ethics: exploitation of labour

Supply chain ethics: child labour risks

Marketing ethics: misleading labelling

Marketing ethics: inappropriate promotional activity

Political influence of MNCs and policy pressure

Legal controls over MNC behaviour

Pressure groups and reputational risk

Social media and public accountability for MNCs