General Feedback
Students should:
- read the question carefully to ensure that they do not miss important components of the question
- have a clear understanding of key words in the question and recognise the intent of the question and its requirements
- use the first page of the answer booklet for an extended response to develop a plan to assist in the logical sequencing of information
- engage with what the question is asking rather than presenting a pre-prepared response
- relate to the question throughout the response rather than just at the beginning
- sustain their judgements, where appropriate, throughout the response with a clear connection to the question
- use relevant business terms and concepts, where appropriate, to support their response
- apply relevant business case study/studies and contemporary business issues where appropriate
- present a sustained, logical and cohesive response that addresses the question where appropriate
- review their response to ensure that it addresses the question requirements.
Section II
Question 21
In better responses, students were able to:
- respond to the question directly using correct terms, such as internal stakeholders and human resource influences.
Areas for students to improve include:
- interpreting the question including responding appropriately to key terms
- integrating examples and case studies into responses.
Question 22
In better responses, students were able to:
- identify the elements of a SWOT and reference its purpose in planning and developing marketing strategies
- understand the difference between pricing methods and pricing strategies
- provide reasons for use of an appropriate pricing method
- differentiate standardised marketing strategy from standardised operations
- provide supported reasons for the use of a standardised marketing strategy including global branding, economies of scale of promotional materials leading to reduced costs
- reference the guitar manufacturer of the stimulus.
Areas for students to improve include:
- referring to the purpose for conducting a SWOT
- distinguishing between pricing methods and pricing strategies
- understanding the impact of a standardised marketing strategy.
Question 23
In better responses, students were able to:
- identify the strategic role using the terms ‘cost leadership’ and/or ‘product/service differentiation’
- provide detailed ways the strategic role could be used to assist the business
- demonstrate knowledge of the influences and appropriate strategies for two relevant operations the business could use
- provide detailed implications of the strategies.
Areas for students to improve include:
- engaging with the stimulus material and not just rewording it
- knowing the difference between operations and marketing concepts
- improving the structure of their responses by clearly linking operations’ influences with the strategies
- providing analysis by drawing out relevant implications.
Question 24
In better responses, students were able to:
- engage with the stimulus material to correctly calculate key financial ratios using the correct units
- demonstrate their understanding of comparative ratio analysis by interpreting how the selected business compares to the industry standard
- assess business performance using comparative ratio analysis
- recommend and explain valid strategies to improve financial performance.
Areas for students to improve include:
- understanding place value when calculating ratios and using the correct units associated with each ratio
- demonstrating a clear understanding of key financial ratios and their interpretation.
Sections III and IV
Question 25
In better responses, students were able to:
- correctly provide characteristics and features of two distribution issues, such as transport, warehousing or inventory
- provide clear reasons in favour of a promotional strategy
- link possible changes the business needs to make to address both volume and quality concerns
- interpret and apply the stimulus material to make links across all three areas of the question
- address the different key words in the different parts of the question.
Areas for students to improve include:
- being able to describe specific physical distribution issues, for example, warehousing, inventory and transport
- clearly justifying a promotional strategy for this business, not simply explaining a promotional strategy this business could use
- relating operations processes to volume and quality. Some students were unable to adequately link the operations process to volume and/or quality
- greater integration of the stimulus material throughout the entire response, particularly the final section.
Question 26
In better responses, students were able to:
- provide a comprehensive explanation of a range of financial management strategies
- clearly articulate financial strategies in detail, with links to improving profit and growth
- evaluate appropriate financial strategies which businesses use to achieve profit and growth using criteria or evidence from case studies
- use integrated case study examples to illustrate profit and growth objectives
- respond in a sustained and logical manner, typically with one strategy linking to profit and/or growth objectives per paragraph integrating case studies, followed by judgement.
Areas for students to improve include:
- using effective methods of judgement in evaluating the relationships between financial management strategies and profit/growth
- making clear distinctions between financial management strategies and both growth and profit objectives, rather than simply implying that profit causes the growth of a business
- linking case study examples to illustrate the focus of the question, rather than a general unrelated description of a case study.
Question 27
In better responses, students were able to:
- choose the correct indicators and strategies
- provide a variety of detailed indicators that link well with the selected strategies
- provide depth of knowledge specific for each strategy using sub-points to expand, for example, internal versus external recruitment; details on how a grievance procedure can assist in workplace disputes
- make clear links between the indicator and the strategy
- make a clear judgement of the relationship between the strategies and indicators through the case study
- draw out both the positive and negative relationships between the strategies and the indicators
- demonstrate sustained judgement of each indicator throughout the response
- move beyond the indicator as the criteria of their evaluation and consider the other positive/negative impacts of implementing the strategy
- investigate more than one strategy that could be used to improve an indicator, or how one strategy could improve a number of indicators.
Areas for students to improve include:
- making specific judgements/criteria when evaluating, rather than just saying a strategy is effective. For example, the positive or negative impacts of using a strategy
- incorporating and applying case studies into their response rather than using them as a sentence at the end of a paragraph
- providing the why and the how of the relationship between strategies and indicators
- including sufficient depth to demonstrate an understanding of the strategies/indicators.
