BUSINESS GCSE FREE ASSESSMENT RESOURCE

CLICK HERE to go to the TES Frank BIZ Resources site to download your FREE copy of this assessment linked directly to the first unit in the IGCSE Edexcel course.

This resource includes a detailed mark-scheme as well as a separate skeleton answer format to help students to understand how to respond to longer-answer 9-mark Justify questions, requiring some analysis and evaluation.

Please upload any comments onto the TES site once downloaded if you have feel that this may be useful to you in any way - together with any added suggestions!

I hope that this proves useful to some of you anyway.

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE/ EXTENSION STRATEGIES

CLICK HERE to use this excellent up-to-date example from the Business section of the Guardian - showing how SAMSUNG are attempting to extend the life cycle of their flip phone Z - by continuing to innovate and to offer something new to the customer.  

Please feel free to offer some of your own no doubt excellent examples in the Comments section below too!

SUGGESTIONS :

- Ask students to read the article and to list how Samsung are attempting to update their Z phones.

- Get students to suggest what they might know about Apple's plans for new updates which might help to counteract the moves from Samsung.

- Offer students the chance to investigate for themselves how Apple and others (Huawei etc...) might be planning to innovate their mobile phone products in the near future.

- Consider how difficult it is to try to ensure that the product life cycle is continuously expanding upwards.  Try to link the concept of the product life cycle with the Boston Matrix as well.

- Which well-known products might be regarded as in the Maturity phase?  Introduce the example of the Big Mac for McDonalds - and ask them to explain how this lack of constant innovation to the product is hugely beneficial to the company...  Link again to the Boston Matrix and Cash Cows.

 JOINT VENTURES

The world of online video gaming now linking up with the Pop World?

Click HERE to read how Epic Games and Ariana Grande collaborated together to put on a digital concert for millions of Fortnite players around the world - to the mutual financial benefit of both.

SUGGESTIONS :

- Get the students to come up with a list of why two companies might choose to collaborate on a project together - for the mutual benefit of both.  Ask them to try to think of any real-life examples?  Then perhaps discusse the link between McDonalds and Pixar - and discuss how this joint venture works for the benefit of both.  

- Any ideas for joint ventures between companies in the future?

- After reading the link - get the students to describe how this particular joint venture might benefit both the pop artist and the company Epic Games.

INORGANIC GROWTH & EXTERNAL FACTORS

How and why do firms seek to grow by means of Takeovers or Mergers?  How might changes to external factors affect a business both negatively and positively?

Use the example of Tencent - one of the world's leading tech companies - by referring to two recent Business examples from The Guardian :

Read HERE to find out Tencent's plan to buy the UK-based video gaming firm Sumo.

Read HERE to find out about how Tencent has been affected and is likely to be affected in the future by the Chinese government's increasing concerns about young people spending too many hours of the day playing computer games.

SUGGESTIONS :

- Try to get students to list their own reasons why a business involved in the video gaming industry may wish to buy up another company in the same industry.  Get them to understand the concepts of horizontal integration in this context.  

- Ask the students to spend five minutes reading the article and offering specific examples of the potential benefits to Tencent of acquiring Sumo.

- Use an Open Discussion to find out student ideas on the different external factors outside of the control of the business that may affect firms involved in the video gaming industry.  If the recent pandemic has not been mentioned, or changes in consumer tastes - perhaps introduce these two ideas to add to the other student ideas.  Link to PESTLE Analysis.

- Get students to read the article.  In pairs - they are then to produce their own SWOT analysis for Tencent - following it's purchase of Sumo.  (A mixture of internal and external factors).

Feel free to leave your own thoughts and ideas on how to add to these suggestions in the Comments section!

 ADVANCED BUSINESS ASSESSMENT MATERIALS

Buy your reduced Bundle Business Assessment materials from Frank BIZ Resources NOW.

Click on HERE to go straight to the TES Shop and the Bundle of all four new hour-long assessments, together with detailed mark-schemes and suggested grade boundaries.

 INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Spanish Jamon Serrano has been increasing in popularity in China over recent years.  

READ the article here from theleader.info to find out more.

SUGGESTIONS :

- Ask students to identify reasons why China offers such a great opportunity for Spanish ham producers, based on the article

- Ask why the two Spanish firms Embutidos Fermin and Cinco Jotas have such a great advantage over other companies (get them to consider the importance of 'First Mover Advantage' and link this to the building up of brand recognition and brand loyalty in new markets...)

- Consider how Chinese barriers to trade have previously hindered Spanish ham sales in China - what they were and how important it is that these barriers have been removed.

- Ask students to consider how prices for Jamon Serrano in Spain might be likely to be affected by such a big increase in demand for the product in China in recent years.  (students need to think about how changes to demand and supply affect prices here...)

READ the article here to find out more about how Chinese demand may affect prices in Spain. (article taken from - theolivepress.es)