Business Studies Past Paper

Ideas

Investment criteria

• market

  • global, sustainable, under-served, market need,

• technical (IPR),

• people and team, financial, operational,

• major risks.

• y2020p9q3 (b), y2023p9q3 (b)

  • plans with risks and mitigations.

Marketing and selling

Marketing

Marketing is deciding what to sell, how to sell it, at what price and how to communicate with the market.

Customer adoption: ACCTO, diffusion of innovation.

• y2020p9q3 (c)
• y2022p9q3 (a)

Customer adoption curve: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, laggards.

• y2023p9q3 (a)

Market requirements document

• y2017p7q5 (b)

Selling

Selling is moving the product with customer contact, care and relationship management.

Stages in selling process

• y2022p9q3 (b)
• y2019p9q3 (c)
  • exit route

People and team

• y2021p9q3 (a)
  • Maslow’s Pyramid,
  • Adair’s group formation or
  • Tuckman’s team formation frameworks.
  • Managing Traumatic Change: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross model.

Disagreements and conflict resolution

• y2016p7q5 (c)

Money and finance

Debt vs equity financing

• y2018p27q4 (a,b), y2011p7q1 (a), y2009p7q6 (a)
  • a loan vs an overdraft

Accounting

Profit and Loss (P&L) statement,

• records income and expenditure at the time they are incurred.

cash flow statement,

• records cash flows, that is income and expenditure recorded when the cash is actually received or disbursed.
  • customers do not usually pay immediately and the company may pay invoices after 30 day.
• y2012p7q4 (a), y2016p7q5 (a, b, d)

working capital = current assets - current liabilities

• y2018p27q4 (c-d), y2012p7q4 (b)

balance sheet

• assets (debtors, cash, stock, fixed assets),
• liabilities (creditors, bank overdraft, long term loans)
• equity (share capital, retained earnings).
• y2014p7q4 (a), y2011p7q1 (c), y2010p7q6, y2009p7q6 (b)

suggestions

• (+) raising more capital or negotiating a higher bank loan.
• (+) faster payment or prepayment from customers,
  • for example by offering a discount for early payment.
• (+) factor outstanding invoices,
  • selling its unpaid invoices to a factoring company at a discount.
• (+) increase its prices.
• (-) delay paying creditors if possible.
• (-) reduce costs, for example by reducing staff or renegotiating contracts with suppliers.
• y2011p7q1 (d), y2010p7q6 (d), y2009p7q6 (b.iii), y2018p27q4 (e)

Valuation

• Market
  • such as its share value on a public market, or the previous funding round.
• Assets, capital invested, cost of replacement.
  • tangible assets owned by the company, that can be sold.
  • cost of replacement: intangible assets, such as brand, market share, or IPR that have a value to the acquiring company.
  • note for technical assets the cost of reproduction may be much less than the cost of the original research and development.
  • cor the customer base the switching costs may be higher.
• Comparison with similar companies of known value.
• Capitalisation of future earnings stream, price/earnings ratio
  • Net Present Value of future profitability.
  • Discounted Cash flow: cash flow (turn-over) is used as an analog.
  • EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation).
  • Probability-based methods: estimating the excess profit in each scenario and estimating their probability, then combining these results in a Bayesian fashion.

Past papers

• y2015p7q4
• y2014p7q4 (a), y2007p7q14 (b)

Stocks, shares, futures and options

Legal, Law

IPR

• y2017p7q5 (a), y2020p9q3 (a), y2013p7q4

Contract law

Tort (negligence, duty of care, liability)

Copy right

• y2006p7q13 (c)

Project planning and management

See IA Software engineering

Products and quality

Productization, standards

SWOT

• internal strengths and weaknesses,

• external opportunities and threats.

• y2012p8q7 (d)

  • newspaper?

• y2024p9q3 (a)

  • Head of Product Development

Growth and exit routes

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), Floatation (IPO), Management Buyout (MBO), liquidation (asset strip).

• y2021p9q3
  • Managing Traumatic Change: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross model
  • Maslow’s Pyramid,
  • Adair’s group formation or
  • Tuckman’s team formation frameworks.
• y2019p9q3
  • identify and choose path: marketing, valuation.
  • managing the process.

Insolvent, bankruptcy.

• directors must declare insolvency if they believe the company will not be able to pay its creditors as debts fall due.
  • does not mean that they have to have the money on hand, but have a reasonable expectation,
  • for example by payment of an undisputed invoice or raising additional capital or borrowing.
• y2011p7q1 (b)