Sarah Hilton has been a business examiner for over 20 years and a business teacher for longer. She is now a teacher trainer, business teacher and qualification developer. She runs the website revisionstation which provides smashing business teaching resources at budget prices.
Sarah Hilton has been a business examiner for over 20 years and a business teacher for longer. She is now a teacher trainer, business teacher and qualification developer. She runs the website revisionstation which provides smashing business teaching resources at budget prices.
EDEXCEL GCSE BUSINESS 1.2.3 MARKET SEGMENTATION (COMPLETE LESSON) 123
This lesson includes a PowerPoint and a worksheet and covers:
How businesses use market segmentation to target customers:
● identifying market segments: location, demographics, lifestyle, income, age
● market mapping to identify a gap in the market and the competition.
Written by Sarah Hilton for Revisionstation
EDEXCEL GCSE BUSINESS 1.2.2 MARKET RESEARCH (COMPLETE LESSON) 122
This lesson includes a PowerPoint and a worksheet and covers:
The purpose of market research:
To identify and understand customer needs
To identify gaps in the market
To reduce risk
To inform business decisions
Methods of market research:
Primary research: survey, questionnaire, focus group, observation
Secondary research: internet, market reports, government reports
The use of data in market research:
Qualitative and quantitative data
The role of social media in collecting market research data
The importance of the reliability of market research data
Written by Sarah Hilton for Revisionstation
EDEXCEL GCSE BUSINESS 1.2.1 CUSTOMER NEEDS (COMPLETE LESSON) 121
This lesson includes a PowerPoint and a worksheet and covers:
Identifying and understanding customer needs:
• What customer needs are:
price
quality
choice
convenience
•The importance of identifying and understanding customers:
generating sales
business survival
Written by Sarah Hilton for Revisionstation
EDEXCEL GCSE BUSINESS 1.1.3 THE ROLE OF BUSINESS ENTERPRISE (COMPLETE LESSON) 113
This lesson includes a PowerPoint and a worksheet and covers:
The role of business enterprise and the purpose of business activity:
•To produce goods or services
•To meet customer needs
•To add value: convenience, branding, quality, design, unique selling points
The role of entrepreneurship:
•An entrepreneur: organises resources, makes business decisions, takes risks
Written by Sarah Hilton for Revisionstation
EDEXCEL GCSE BUSINESS 1.1.2 RISK AND REWARD (COMPLETE LESSON) 112
This lesson includes a PowerPoint and a worksheet and covers:
The role of business enterprise and the purpose of business activity:
•To produce goods or services
•To meet customer needs
•To add value: convenience, branding, quality, design, unique selling points
The role of entrepreneurship:
•An entrepreneur: organises resources, makes business decisions, takes risks
Written by Sarah Hilton for Revisionstation
AQA A Level Business (Spec version 2.0) Unit 3.2 Managers, leadership and decision management (3 complete lessons)
3.2.1 Understanding management, leadership and decision making
3.2.2 Understanding management decision making
3.2.3 Understanding the role and importance of stakeholders
PowerPoints and student worksheets
Pearson Edexcel International A level Business Unit 2.3.5 External Influences (3 complete lessons)
1 Economic influences
a) The effect on businesses of, and how they can best respond to, changes in:
• the rate of inflation
• exchange rates (appreciation, depreciation)
• interest rates
• taxation and government spending
• the business cycle.
2 Legislation
a) The effects on businesses of:
• consumer protection
• employee protection
• environmental protection
• competition policy
• health and safety
• intellectual property rights (copyright, patents and trademarks).
3 The competitive environment
a) The effects on businesses of competition in terms of competitor:
• numbers
• size
• behaviour.
b) Ways for a small business to compete in a competitive market.
Pearson Edexcel International A Level Business Unit 2.3.4 Resource Management (4 Complete Lessons)
1 Production, productivity and efficiency
a) Methods of production:
• job
• batch
• flow
• cell.
b) Productivity:
• output per unit of input per time period
• factors influencing productivity
• link between productivity and competitiveness
• ways to improve productivity.
c) Efficiency:
• production at minimum average cost
• factors influencing efficiency
• ways to improve efficiency.
d) The distinction between labour- and capital-intensive production.
e) Competitive advantage from short product lead-in times.
2 Capacity utilisation
a) Capacity utilisation: current output (divided by) maximum possible output (× 100).
b) Implications of under- and over-utilisation of capacity.
c) Ways of improving capacity utilisation (under and over utilisation).
3 Inventory control
a) Interpretation of inventory control diagram.
b) Buffer inventory.
c) Implications of poor inventory control.
d) Just in time (JIT).
e) Waste minimisation.
f) Competitive advantage from lean production.
4 Quality management
a) Quality:
• control
• assurance
• circles.
b) Total Quality Management (TQM).
c) Continuous improvement (Kaizen).
d) Competitive advantage from quality management.
Pearson Edexcel International A Level Business Unit 2.3.2 Financial Planning (5 complete lessons)
1 Sales, revenue and costs
a) Calculation of sales volume and sales revenue.
b) Calculation of fixed, variable costs, total costs and average costs.
c) Ways of improving sales volumes and sales revenues.
2 Sales forecasting
a) Purpose of sales forecasts.
b) Factors affecting sales forecasts:
• consumer trends
• economic variables
• actions of competitors.
c) Difficulties of sales forecasting.
3 Break-even
a) Contribution: selling price − variable cost per unit.
b) Break-even point:
• total fixed costs + total variable costs = total revenue.
c) Using contribution to calculate the break-even point.
d) Margin of safety.
e) Interpretation of break-even charts.
f) Limitations of break-even analysis.
4 Cash flow
a) Construction and interpretation of simple cash-flow forecasts.
b) Use and limitations of cash-flow forecasts.
5 Budgets
a) Purposes of budgets.
b) Types of budget:
• based on historical figures
• zero based.
c) Variance analysis.
d) Difficulties of budgeting
Pearson Edexcel International A Level Business Unit 2.3.1. Planning a business and raising finance(5 complete lessons)
1 Planning
a) Content of a business plan.
b) Relevance and uses of a business plan.
2 Internal finance
a) Owner’s capital: personal savings.
b) Retained profit.
c) Sale of assets.
3 External finance
a) Sources of finance and their suitability for different circumstances:
• family and friends
• banks
• peer-to-peer funding
• business angels
• crowd funding
• other businesses.
b) Methods of finance and their suitability for different circumstances:
• loans
• share capital
• venture capital
• overdrafts
• leasing
• trade credit
• grants.
4 Forms of business
a) Sole trader, partnership and private limited company (Ltd).
b) Franchising, social enterprise, lifestyle businesses, online businesses.
c) Growth to public limited companies (plc) and stock market flotation.
5 Liability
a) Implications of limited and unlimited liability, including advantages and disadvantages.
b) Finance appropriate for limited and unlimited liability businesses.
Pearson Edexcel International A Level Business Unit 2.3.3 Managing Finance (3 complete lessons)
1 Profit
a) Calculation of:
• gross profit
• operating profit
• profit for the year (net profit).
b) Ways to increase profits.
c) Statement of comprehensive income (profit and loss account):
• measuring profitability: calculation of gross profit margin, operating profit margin, and profit for the year (net profit) margin
• ways to improve profitability.
2 Liquidity
a) Distinction between profit and cash.
b) Statement of financial position (balance sheet):
• measuring liquidity: calculating current ratio and acid test ratio
• ways to improve liquidity, including assets, supplier credit terms, factoring, inventory JIT.
c) Working capital and its management: the importance of cash.
3 Business failure
a) Internal causes of business failure:
• poor management of cash flow
• overestimation of sales
• overtrading
• poor inventory control
• poor marketing
• poor quality.
b) External causes of business failure:
• market conditions
• competition
• economic
• exchange rates
• interest rates
• government regulations
• supplier problems
• natural phenomena.
AS(7131) A-level (7132) Specifications For teaching from September 2023 onwards For as exams in May/June 2024 onwards For a-level exams in May/June 2025 onwards Version 2.0
This lesson covers:
Financial methods of assessing an investment, investment appraisal should include the calculation and interpretation of:
payback
average rate of return
net present value
Factors influencing investment decisions. Factors to include:
investment criteria
non-financial factors
risk and uncertainty
This lesson was written by Sarah Hilton for Revisionstation
AS(7131) A-level (7132) Specifications For teaching from September 2023 onwards For as exams in May/June 2024 onwards For a-level exams in May/June 2025 onwards Version 2.0
This lesson covers:
Porter’s five forces, how and why these might change, and the implications of these forces for strategic and functional decision making and profits
An understanding of the five forces to include:
entry threat (barriers to entry)
buyer power
supplier power
rivalry
substitute threat
This lesson was written by Sarah Hilton for Revisionstation
AS(7131) A-level (7132) Specifications For teaching from September 2023 onwards For as exams in May/June 2024 onwards For a-level exams in May/June 2025 onwards Version 2.0
This lesson covers:
The impact of the social and technological environment on strategic and functional decision making
Social changes to include demographic changes and population movements such as:
migration
changes in consumer lifestyle and buying behaviour
the growth of online businesses
The social environment to include Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and:
the reasons for and against (CSR)
the difference between the stakeholder v shareholder concept
Carroll’s Corporate Social Responsibility pyramid
Technological change should include the impact of technological change on functional areas and strategy
The pressures for socially responsible behaviour
This lesson was written by Sarah Hilton for Revisionstation
AS(7131) A-level (7132) Specifications For teaching from September 2023 onwards For as exams in May/June 2024 onwards For a-level exams in May/June 2025 onwards Version 2.0
This lesson covers:
The impact of changes in the political and legal environment on strategic and functional decision making:
The political and legal environment should include a broad understanding of the scope and effects of law related to competition, the labour market and environmental legislation
The impact of government policy related to enterprise, the role of regulators, infrastructure, the environment and international trade
This lesson was written by Sarah Hilton for Revisionstation
AS(7131) A-level (7132) Specifications For teaching from September 2023 onwards For as exams in May/June 2024 onwards For a-level exams in May/June 2025 onwards Version 2.0
This lesson covers:
The impact of changes in the political and legal environment on strategic and functional decision making:
The political and legal environment should include a broad understanding of the scope and effects of law related to competition, the labour market and environmental legislation
The impact of government policy related to enterprise, the role of regulators, infrastructure, the environment and international trade
This was written by Sarah Hilton for Revisionstation
AS(7131) A-level (7132) Specifications For teaching from September 2023 onwards For as exams in May/June 2024 onwards For a-level exams in May/June 2025 onwards Version 2.0
This lesson covers:
How to analyse data other than financial statements to assess the strengths and weaknesses of a business
Data other than financial statements should include operations, human resource and marketing data.
Data may be analysed over time or in comparison with other businesses
The importance of core competences
Assessing short and long-term performance
The value of different measures of assessing business performance
Methods of assessing overall business performance to include:
Elkington’s Triple Bottom Line (Profit, People, Planet).
This lesson was written by Sarah Hilton for Revisionstation
AS(7131) A-level (7132) Specifications For teaching from September 2023 onwards For as exams in May/June 2024 onwards For a-level exams in May/June 2025 onwards Version 2.0
This lesson covers:
How to assess the financial performance of a business using balance sheets, income statements
financial ratios
profitability (return on capital employed)
liquidity (current ratio)
gearing
Efficiency ratios:
payables days
receivables days
inventory turnover
The value of financial ratios when assessing performance
Data may be analysed over time or in comparison with other businesses.
This lesson was written by Sarah Hilton for Revisionstation
AS(7131) A-level (7132) Specifications For teaching from September 2023 onwards For as exams in May/June 2024 onwards For a-level exams in May/June 2025 onwards Version 2.0
This lesson covers:
Influences on the mission of a business
Internal and external influences on corporate objectives and decisions
Influences on corporate objectives should include the pressures for short termism, business ownership, the external and internal environment.
The links between mission, corporate objectives and strategy
The distinction between strategy and tactics
The impact of strategic decision making on functional decision making
Internal and external influences on functional objectives and decisions
The value of SWOT analysis
This lesson was written by Sarah Hilton for Revisionstation
AS(7131) A-level (7132) Specifications For teaching from September 2023 onwards For as exams in May/June 2024 onwards For a-level exams in May/June 2025 onwards Version 2.0
This lesson covers:
Influences on the extent and methods of employee involvement in decision making
Employee representation methods to include trade unions and works council
How to manage and improve employer – employee communications and relations
Value of good employer – employee relations
This lesson is written by Sarah Hilton from Revisionstation