HSC Business Studies Question Thread

[kiiaaa]

hey famm
i have my business studies half yearly in a week and i legit don't know anything. do you guys have any tips on how to embed all the content in my brain? I'm like desperate for help? I have made notes but i think i should focus on practicing right? Pleaseee help.
thank you

[jamonwindeyer]

hey famm
i have my business studies half yearly in a week and i legit don't know anything. do you guys have any tips on how to embed all the content in my brain? I'm like desperate for help? I have made notes but i think i should focus on practicing right? Pleaseee help.
thank you

Hey! Not a Business student so definitely wait for Isaac to give some advice too (he's our business expert round the forums, but he's just started a Law degree so might be a little quiet while he settles in)!

That said, practice practice practice - It's the best way to prepare. Maybe make some essay plans for any essays you may need to write, perhaps even make some palm cards with key terms on them? But practice should definitely be the main thing - It's what I tell everyone for Legal, and I imagine it is just as relevant for Business

[joyg]

hey famm
i have my business studies half yearly in a week and i legit don't know anything. do you guys have any tips on how to embed all the content in my brain? I'm like desperate for help? I have made notes but i think i should focus on practicing right? Pleaseee help.
thank you

I definitely agree with Jamon, practise as many questions as possible and also try to do it under a time constraint especially with past papers so you can get to know whether or not your spending too much time on any areas. Also make sure you memorise the syllabus as all the questions come from the syllabus and some straight out of the syllabus, e.g. outline a financial institution. I've included a copy of a syllabus that you can print off and fill in as some of the words are missing, this method personally helped me to remember the syllabus

[yasmineturner]

Hello,
I was wondering if someone could please help me understand the difference between pricing methods and pricing strategies?
Thank you so much,
Yasmine

[kiiaaa]

Hello!
 I was wondering if someone could please explain me how each of the financial institution actually influence a business. Is truggle to get my hand around it
many thanks

[phebsh]

Hey! I'm currently working on an assignment; I am required to develop a marketing plan for IKEA based on research and assumption.
Does anyone have any relevant material that I can use or any recommendations on how to tackle this task? Thanks

[julia_warren13]

I've just got a question about section IV of the HSC paper (extended response/essay). Say for example, the question was:
"To what extent to the influences on operations affect business performance?"
Is it necessary to talk about all 8 operations influences or can you just choice 2-4 and discuss those in detail?
Thankyou!!

[rodero]

Hello,
I was wondering if someone could please help me understand the difference between pricing methods and pricing strategies?
Thank you so much,
Yasmine

Hey,
Pricing methods consider a variety of internal and external factors, such as the cost of the product, the current demand of the product in the market and competition. These influences will provide the framework for pricing strategies, such as skimming, penetration, loss leader and price points. Although I do agree you should know what pricing methods are, I don't think you need to get too caught up in it since it isn't mentioned in the syllabus.

[rodero]

I've just got a question about section IV of the HSC paper (extended response/essay). Say for example, the question was:
"To what extent to the influences on operations affect business performance?"
Is it necessary to talk about all 8 operations influences or can you just choice 2-4 and discuss those in detail?
Thankyou!!

Hey julia,
Personally, I would pick the influences which best suit my case study/ies. Is this the business report section? If it were me, i'd make sub-headings for each influence(Maybe 4-5?). But then again, how much is there to talk about on influences alone? If you feel you can talk of all 8 and keep up a good argument, i'd say go for it . Just know this isn't required of you and you still get the marks by mentioning a few, provided they are in detail (maybe more than 2 though?).

Based on the question and with no idea of what case studies you have been studying, I believe quality expectations and technology are good influences when talking about business performance. Customers expect a certain level of quality, so it is the operation's responsibility to achieve it. Technology will make business performance faster/more efficient. These are just a few ideas that flew into my head just now !

However, i'm no business studies expert so take my advice with a grain of salt 

[rodero]

Hey! I'm currently working on an assignment; I am required to develop a marketing plan for IKEA based on research and assumption.
Does anyone have any relevant material that I can use or any recommendations on how to tackle this task? Thanks

Hey,

The marketing plan consists of all of the syllabus headings under processes. I would recommend basing your response under those when tackling the task  That's just my 2c! I'm not studying IKEA so unfortunately I don't have any material, but i'm sure a web search or maybe someone on the AtarNotes forums could help you out

[sophroberts812]

Can anyone give me a brief overview of the "sequencing and scheduling – Gantt charts, critical path analysis" dotpoint in the operations syllabus?

Also, I've never managed to get my head around why you need to find the longest possible path for the critical path analysis to find the shortest possible completion time?

Thanks

[rodero]

Can anyone give me a brief overview of the "sequencing and scheduling – Gantt charts, critical path analysis" dotpoint in the operations syllabus?

Also, I've never managed to get my head around why you need to find the longest possible path for the critical path analysis to find the shortest possible completion time?

Thanks

Hey,
This is going to be my attempt to teach you a dot point that I myself have just learnt so I hope I can help you to some degree, despite being no business studies wiz.

Gantt Charts: A bar graph which schedules (allocates time) for a specific number of activities. This is great for a business as they can measure planned performance with actual performance by assessing whether the scheduled time frames have been met.
CPA: A flow diagram which is superior when sequencing (ordering tasks) as it clearly indicates which tasks can be completed at the same time.

When looking at a CPA, you'll generally be asked a question like 'What is the shortest amount of time for all tasks to be completed'. The key word here is all. This means you cannot take the short path and reach the end in 3 days, as there are still other tasks which may take longer. Thus, all tasks can only be achieved when taking the longest route. Think of the saying, you're only as good as your worst employee. In this context, the business is only as fast as its longest task. Keep in mind the longest possible path doesn't mean jumping back and forth... There's usually arrows to guide you. Don't go against these arrows.

Anyway, that's my input I hope it's not too confusing

[elysepopplewell]

Anyway, that's my input I hope it's not too confusing

We really value your help Rodero! Thanks for always lending a hand.

[Kekemato_BAP]

Hey guys, can someone explain the difference between quality control/assurance/improvement? Is it just the stages at which product quality is assessed?

[sophroberts812]

Hey guys, can someone explain the difference between quality control/assurance/improvement? Is it just the stages at which product quality is assessed?

Here are my notes for this dot point of the syllabus Let me know if you have any other questions!!



QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Quality management refers to those processes that a business undertakes to ensure:
- Consistency
- Reliability
- Safety
- Fitness of purpose of product   

Quality Control – (inspection, measurement and intervention)
Quality control reduces problems and defects in the product  by using inspections at various points in the production  process. 
- Pre-determined quality targets would be set and any  failure to meet the targets would need to be assessed  and appropriate action taken to correct any issue that  has caused quality standards to fall below expectation.
- Quality control management may require that labour be appropriately trained to apply quality standards throughout working processes.


Quality Assurance – International Quality Standards
Quality assurance involves the use of a system to ensure that set standards are achieved in  production. This is done through taking a series of measurements and assessing them against preI determined quality standards.

Aspects of quality that are important to QA include:
- The notion of ‘fitness for purpose’ or how well a product does what it is designed to do
- The desire to achieve ‘right first time’ so that products do not need to be reworked, which
wastes time, energy and other resources   
A widely used international standard is the International Organisation for Standardisation 9000 (ISO  9000).
 
Given that the production of components for a manufactured good such as a TV may come from  different suppliers from different countries, such standards are an important quality control  mechanism for ‘global’ companies. This ensures that the quality of the components from one nation is  also equal to the components of another supplier in another nation.
 
Quality Improvement
Quality improvement focuses on two aspects: continuous improvement and total quality management.    Continuous Improvement: is an ongoing commitment to improving a business’s goods or services. That  is, all staff is encouraged to demonstrate initiative and to suggest areas where improvements can be  made in improving the quality of the products being produced.
 
Total Quality Management: this concept focuses on managing the total business to deliver quality to  customers. It is an ongoing, business-wide commitment to excellence that is applied to every aspect of  the business’s operation. To achieve TQM objectives requires four elements: benchmarking, employee  empowerment, a focus on the customer and continuous improvement.
 
Benchmarking: evaluate (something) by comparison with a standard