Pearson A Level Business

Describes unlimited and limited liability, types of legal structure (e.g. sole trader, plc, Ltd, partnership), and franchising

Defines objectives, aims and strategy, and describes some long and short term objectives of businesses.

Describes the role of an entrepreneur (setting up a business, innovation, etc.), barriers to entrepreneurs, skills and characteristics of entrepreneurs, risk and rewards, and opportunity cost.

Describes the internal and external factors contributing to the failure of a business.

Explains what a statement of financial position (balance sheet) is, assets and liabilities, liquidity ratios (acid test and current ratios), and working capital

Describes a Statement of Comprehensive Income, profitability ratios (e.g. gross profit margin), how to improve profitability, and the difference between cashflow and profit

Describes the three types of budget (income, expenditure and profit), methods of setting a budget, variance analysis, and the advantages and disadvantages of budgets

Explains break-even analysis, the break-even formula, limitations of break-even, changes in break-even output and margin of safety.

Explains sales revenue, how to increase sales revenue, sales volume, sales forecasting, factors affecting sales forecasting, and the different types of costs (fixed, variable and total)

Describes what cash flow and cash flow forecasting is, how to calculate cash flow, the advantages and disadvantages of cash flow and why newly established businesses are vulnerable to cash flow problems

Describes the advantages and disadvantages of internal and external sources of finance and business plans, as well as explaining the difference between unlimited and limited liability

Explains the different types of legislation (e.g. consumer protection law, employee protection, environmental protection, etc.) and how it impacts the business.

Describes the economic environment, the business cycle, inflation, deflation, interest rates, exchange rates, the effect of economic uncertainty on the business environment, and the competitive environment

Describes quality management, quality control, quality assurance, total quality management (TQM) and Kaizen

Describes stock control diagrams (buffer stock, maximum stock level, re-order level, etc.), implications of poor stock control and Just-in-Time

Describes capacity utilisation, implications of under-utilisation of capacity (spare capacity), and ways of improving capacity utilisation.

Describes the different methods of production (e.g. batch or flow production), the advantages and disadvantages of each type of production, and how to chose the type of production. Also explains efficiency and productivity, and capital intensive and labour intensive production.

Describes the different causes of change (e.g. organisational size, new ownership), the effects of change, key factors in change, managing resistance to change, and scenario planning

Explains labour productivity, labour turnover, labour retention, absenteeism, and human resource strategies (financial rewards, employee share ownership, consultation strategies, empowerment strategies)

Describes gearing ratio (how to interpret it and the advantages/disadvantages of it), and Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)

Describes statement of comprehensive income and statement of financial position (balance sheets), and explains why stakeholders are interest in them. Also explains profit quality.

Explains ethical codes of practice and ethical objectives, the advantages/disadvantages of ethical behaviour, corporate social responsibility (CSR), pay and rewards, and the trade off between profit and ethics

Describes the difference between the stakeholder and shareholder approach, and the potential conflicts between shareholders and stakeholders

Describes corporate influences (corporate objectives, stakeholder perspectives, business ethics), corporate timescale, evidence based and subjective decision making, strong and weak corporate cultures, and Handy's corporate cultures (power, role, task, person)

Describes what a critical path analysis is, what a manager needs to know to use the technique, features of a critical path, key points of a critical path, and the advantages and disadvantages of it.

Describes what a decision tree is, uses an example to show how to interpret one, and explains the advantages and disadvantages of decision trees.

Explains the three types of investment appraisal - payback, average rate of return (ARR) and net present value (NPV) - including how to calculate them and the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Also includes qualitative factors to consider when making investment decisions.

Explains quantitative sales forecasting and why a business would construct a sales forecast. Also explains moving averages, variations from trends, forecasting using extrapolation, scatter graphs and limits of sales forecasting

Describes reasons for mergers and takeovers, what they are, the advantages and disadvantages of vertical and horizontal integration, financial risks and rewards of integration, hostile and friendly integration, and problems of rapid growth.

Describes the benefits of business growth (e.g. economies of scale, increased market power, increased profitability), the problems arising from business growth (e.g. diseconomies of scale, overtrading, poor communication), and organic growth.

Explains what a SWOT analysis and a PESTLE analysis is used for, the structure of markets, uncompetitive markets, and Porter's Five Forces

Explains the four segments of the Ansoff Matrix and Porter's Generic Strategy, the three Distinctive Capabilities, the Boston Matrix, and the effect of strategic and tactical decisions on human, physical and financial resources

Describes missions statements (the advantages and criticisms of them), corporate objectives, aims, corporate strategy, types of functional areas and their objectives, and the development of corporate objectives

Explains the impact of MNCs on the local and national economy, ethics and morals, stakeholder conflicts, and the benefits and drawbacks of controlling MNCs

Explains global marketing strategy, different marketing approaches, adapting the marketing mix to global markets, niche markets, and social/cultural factors.

Explains how multinational corporations are able to be more competitive, competitive advantage, Porter's Generic Strategy, and movements in exchange rate and how this affects competitive advantage

Explains the reasons for global mergers and joint ventures, e.g. spreading risk over different countries or securing resources and supplies

Explains conditions that prompt trade (e.g. push factors, extending the product lifecycle by selling in multiple markets, etc.) and the key considerations when considering a country as a market or production location

Describes the different types of protectionism (e.g. tariffs and quotas) and how they impact businesses in the home country and businesses wanting to export to the country with the protectionism. Also explains trading blocs (e.g. Free Trade Areas) and how they impact businesses.

Describes exports and imports, specialisation and competitive advantage, foreign direct investment (FDI) and business growth, globalisation, and trade liberalisation

Describes the economic growth of world markets (e.g. BRICS and MINT), the growing power of Asian, African and other countries, implications of economic growth for individuals and businesses, and indicators of growth