Business Studies - Year 11

Business Studies Overview

Term 1: Topic 2.1 Growing the business

Students will explore the following subtopics:

2.1.1 Business growth

2.1.2 Changes in business aims and objectives

2.1.3 Business and globalisation

2.1.4 Ethics, the environment and business

  1. Students will sit an end of unit assessment based on a mixture of multiple-choice questions and longer mark questions.
Research and development

Research into new products or processes and developing ideas that are generated from research

Innovation

The act of creating new products or processes

E-commerce

Using the internet to carry out business transactions

Merger

When two or more businesses join together to operate as one business

Takeover

When one business buys another business and incorporates it into their own business

Public Limited Company

An incorporated business that can sell shares to the public (also known as a PLC)

Multinational

A business with operations in more than one country (also known as multinational corporation or MNC)

Assets

Items owned by a business, such as premises, equipment or stock

Interest

The cost of borrowing, or a percentage of the amount of money borrowed that must be repaid in addition to the original amount borrowed

Secured

Guaranteed, because if the business fails to pay back the money the bank can take the asset and sell it

Dividends

A percentage of a business’s profits that is paid to shareholders as a reward for their investment in the business

Stock Market Flotation

The process of changing a business to a public limited company (PLC) by issuing shares for sale on a stock exchange

Stock Exchange

A place where shares in PLCs can be bought and sold

Degree of Competition

The number and size of businesses competing in a particular market

Market share

The proportion of sales in a market that taken by one business

Culture

The general attitudes, behaviour and beliefs of a business and its workforce

Retrenchment

When a business downsizes the scale of operations by reducing the number of employees or closing less profitable branches

Organisational structure

The way in which the workforce is organised, usually a hierarchy with people reporting to managers all the way up to the chief executive officer (CEO)

Product Portfolio

The range of goods and services offered by any one business

Globalisation

When businesses operate on an international scale and gain international influence or power

Imports

The flow of goods and services into a country from another country

Exports

The flow of goods and services out of a country to another country

Domestically

At home or within a business’s home country

Tariff

A tax imposed on imports and exports

Protectionist measure

An action taken by government to reduce the flow of imports into the country

Trading bloc

A group of countries that agree to act together to promote trade between themselves

Localise

Adapt to suit the local area and its needs, particularly in terms of culture, language or geographical location

Ethics

Moral principles or standards that guide the behaviour of a person or business

Stakeholder

Anyone who has an interest in the activities of a business, such as its workers, its suppliers, its directors, the local community and the government

Trade-off

A balance between two differing or opposing objectives, such as making a profit and spending money on ethical activities that will enhance the business’s reputation

Profit margin

The proportion of revenue left over after costs have been deducted

Green audit

Detailed review of a business’s impact on the environment, either conducted by the business itself or by an independent organisation

Sustainability

Acting to ensure that natural resources are use responsibly, to protect the environment for future generations

Finite resource

A resource that does not renew itself quickly enough to meet society’s consumption of that resource, such as oil and natural gas

(also known as a non-renewable resource)

Pressure group

A group of people who join together to try to influence government policy or business policy for a particular cause

Boycott

Refusing to buy from or interact with a particular business or organisation

Viral marketing

Using online channels, such as video-sharing or social media sites, to spread a campaign message by encouraging people to share with their friends

Lobbying

Trying to influence the government or other organisations

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Students will learn various ethical and environmental requirements that a firm needs to adhere to as well as balancing various objectives from different stakeholders.

Create a supportive community:

Students will learn to discuss key topics in context in order to build arguments and debate rationally.

Term 2: Topic 2.2 Making marketing decisions

Students will explore the following subtopics:

2.2.1 Product

2.2.2 Price

2.2.3 Promotion

2.2.4 Place

2.2.5 Using the marketing mix to make business decisions

  1. Students will have an end of unit assessment using case studies to practice their evaluation and analytical skills in relation to the marketing mix.
Marketing mix

The four ‘P’s of marketing, which are product, price, promotion and place

Aesthetics

The visual attractiveness of something

Viable

Capable of working or succeeding

Product portfolio

The range of goods and services offered by any one business

Economies of scale

A situation where average costs (of production, distribution and sales, for example) falls as business increases the amount of product that it produces, distributes and sells

Maximise

Increase to the greatest possible amount or make the most of something

Unique Selling Point (USP)

Something that makes a product stand out from its competitors

Mass market

A large market where customers have similar needs and characteristics

Generic

A characteristic relating to an entire group, not specific

Niche market

A small market where customers have very specific needs or characteristics

Discontinued

No longer produced or sold

Emotive language

Language intended to affect people at an emotional level, usually using adjective such as crazy, cutting-edge or cool

Medium

The way in which something is communicated (media the plural of medium)

Sales promotion

A short-term special offer, usually in form of a discount, used by a business to attract customers to buy a product or service

Stock

The products held by a business in a shop or warehouse for sale to customers

Pressure group

A group of people who join together to try to influence government policy or business policy for a particular cause

Viral marketing

Advertising using social networking to increase sales of boost brand awareness

E-commerce

Using the internet to carry out business transactions

M-commerce

Using mobile technologies, such as smartphones and tablets, to carry out business transactions

Retailing

Selling products or services to customers – in this case, in a physical shop

E-tailing

Retailing to customers through the internet, such a through an e-commerce website

Markup

The amount of money added to the cost price of a product or service to make the final retail price

Third-party platform

An e-commerce website or service that is run by an unrelated business

Integrated marketing mix

A marketing mix that has a theme with the elements all supporting each other

Patent

A legal protection of an invention, design or idea, meaning that it is illegal for another company to copy it

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Students will gain confidence in exploring the different assessment objectives that include evaluating options that will satisfy different stakeholders in relation to marketing.

Create a supportive community:

The student will gain confidence in supporting their views and improve their decision making skills through group work and class discussion.

Term 3: Topic 2.3 Making operational decisions

Students will explore the following subtopics:

2.3.1 Business operations

2.3.2 Working with suppliers

2.3.3 Managing quality

2.3.4 The sales process

  1. Students will sit an end of unit assessment that include longer mark questions and multiple-choice questions with an accompanying case study to help students application skills.
Bespoke

Designed and made for an individual customer

Automation

Using machinery or robotics to do jobs instead of using people to do them

Profit

The proportion of revenue left over after costs have been deducted

Economies of scale

A situation where average costs (of production, distribution and sales, for example) falls as business increases the amount of product that it produces, distributes and sells

Downtime

Time when a person or machine is not producing anything

Standardised

When every example of a product is exactly the same as the others

Cost per unit (average cost)

How much it costs to make each product or service, taking into consideration all of the variables

Supply chain management (SCM)

The management of the flow of goods and resources through the production process

Procurement

The process of managing a business’s major purchases, from raw materials to delivery vans

Variable costs

Costs paid by a business that change depending on how many products or services the business sells

Fluctuate

Rise and fall in number or amount

Logistics

The organisation and management within a business of the transport of raw materials and goods

Perishable

Likely to go out of date or go off quickly

Quality mark

A standard of quality given to a business that is accredited by a professional body

Competitive advantage

An advantage a business has over its rivals that is unique and sustainable

E-tailing

Retailing to customers through the internet, such a through an e-commerce website

Retailing

Selling products or services to customers – in this case, in a physical shop

Transaction

The act of buying or selling something

Quantitative

Concerning the quantity or amount of something that can be measured in numbers

Metric

A standard of measurement

Qualitative

Concerning the quality of something that cannot be shown in numbers

Differentiate

Show that something (in this case, a product) is different from similar things

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Help students understand how firms operate from the production process right through to customer service.

Create a supportive community:

Students will work together to help understand how operations can help other functional areas within a business.

Term 4: Topic 2.4 Making financial decisions and Topic 2.5 Making human resource decisions

Students will explore the following subtopics:

2.4.1 Business calculations

2.4.2 Understanding business performance

2.5.1 Organisational structures

2.5.2 Effective recruitment

2.5.3 Effective training and development

2.5.4 Motivation

  1. Students will sit an end of unit assessment based on a mixture of multiple-choice questions and longer mark questions with an accompanying case study to helps students application skills.
Cost of sales

The direct costs of purchasing raw materials and manufacturing finished products

Profit margin

A measure of profitability calculated as a percentage of revenue

Inflation

The general increase in prices over time

Variable

A quantity used in calculation or some measurable piece of information

Infographic

A graphic representation of information to make it interesting and easy to understand

Demographic

Relating to the structure of a population

Qualitative data

Concerning the quality of something that cannot be measured in numbers

Layers

In an organisational structure, this means the levels of job roles in the business, from the highest-paid directors to the most junior members of staff

Span of control

The number of employees that are managed by a manager. If a person manages three employees, their span of control is three

Accountability

Being responsible for something and being held responsible for it and its outcomes. For examples, a manager is often accountable for the actions of their staff

Jargon

Technical or obscure words or terms used by a particular group of people that may not be understood by everyone

Freelance

Someone who is self-employed and contracted by businesses to work for them

Roles

These are different jobs within a business. For example, roles in a restaurant might include head chef, chef kitchen assistant and so on

Responsibilities

These are the things that someone is required to do in order to fulfil their role in a business. For example, at a restaurant, a responsibility of the role of head chef might be to create the restaurant’s menu

Salary band

A range of possible salaries for the role being advertised. For example, a role may be advertising as having a ‘Band 1’ salary, where Band 1 covers salaries between £15,000 and £20,000. The band will be part of a larger salary scale

Productivity

The measurement of how much work a business is able to complete. Higher levels of productivity mean that employees are completing more work

Legislation

The laws that a business must comply with

Motivation

Reasons for behaving in a particular way. In business, motivation usually refers to the reasons that an employee has for working well and increasing their productivity

Retain

Keep something or someone

Autonomy

Independence or freedom to make your own decisions

Job satisfaction

The sense of achievement or fulfilment that an employee gets from their job

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Students will learn how to use business formulas in context as well as using effective human resource methods to motivate workers.

Create a supportive community:

Through a mixture of individual and group work, students will gain first hand experience in what makes workers happy and productive. Students will further explore how small changes can motivate or demotivate workers.

Term 5: Theme 1 and 2 revision

Students will revisit selective topics from theme 1 topics covered in year 10 and practice exam style questions on selected topics from theme 2.

  1. Mini assessments on previous topics from theme 1 and 2 and weekly essay style questions under timed conditions.
Exam technique To Express Time

Subsequently Firstly / secondly Next / then Once At length Eventually Meanwhile So far

Exam technique - To emphasise

In particular Notably More importantly Indeed In fact Notably specifically

Exam technique - To Persuade

Surely… Obviously Naturally Clearly Certainly evidently

To add to a point

And Also Furthermore In addition Too Again What is more Moreover As well as

To express Cause and Effect

Consequently Thus Hence As a result Accordingly Since Until Whenever As long as

Chain of reasoning

One factor is… Meaning that… Therefore,… Leading to… Resulting in… And finally,…

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Students understand the importance of assessment objectives and how they contribute to the students ability to write effectively.

Create a supportive community:

Students learn how to deal with a multitude of requirements and how to satisfy the needs of others.