Cambridge International AS and A Level Business

Cambridge Pre-U Business and Management 2016, 2017, 2018 syllabus mapping for Cambridge International AS & A Level Business / ASA Business book
1. The business environment
1.1 Enterprise
Entrepreneurship and business start-ups ■ Role and motives of entrepreneurs. Chapter 1: Enterprise
■ Practicalities of start-ups and government support.
1.2 Business and the economy
The market and competition ■ The impact of competition, price and non-price competition, Chapter 18: The marketing mix – product and price
anti-competitive behaviour and legal restrictions.
■ Supply and demand
■ Competition, globalisation and developing markets in economic Chapter 21: Globalisation and international marketing
regions e.g. southern Africa or the European Union (EU), the emergence
of India and China (BRICS) as global economic powers, the growth of
the EU as a single market
The business cycle ■ Causes, phases and implications for businesses Chapter 9: External influences on business activity
Taxation ■ Types of taxation, direct and indirect, and their impact on consumers Chapter 9: External economic influences on business
and businesses behaviour
Interest rates ■ Impact on businesses, the currency, investment decisions, consumers Chapter 9: External economic influences on business
and demand, foundation knowledge of interest rate decisions behaviour
Exchange rates Appreciation and depreciation and its impact on businesses, imports Chapter 9: External economic influences on business
and exports behaviour
Unemployment Types and impact on businesses Chapter 9: External influences on business activity
Inflation Measurement, causes and impact, deflation, Consumer Price Index (CPI), Chapter 9: External economic influences on business
cost push and demand pull behaviour
1.3 Objectives
Government macro-economic objectives ■ Low inflation, sustained trend growth and low unemployment Chapter 9: External economic influences on business
behaviour
Types of business objective ■ Tactical, strategic and corporate Chapter 4: Business objectives
Uses and problems of objectives ■ How objectives can help or hinder businesses and what makes a good Chapter 4: Business objectives
objective (SMART – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and
time-bound)
1.4 Stake holders
Stakeholders in a business ■ Owners, customers, managers, shareholders, pressure groups, Chapter 5: Stakeholders in a business
suppliers, employees and community

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Stakeholder objectives ■ The variety of objectives that stakeholders have and their differing Chapter 5: Stakeholders in a business
priorities
1.5 Classification of business
Legal structure ■ Sole trader, partnership, private limited company, public limited company Chapter 2: Business Structure
Sector ■ Public and private, differing objectives and ownership Chapter 2: Business Structure
Size ■ How size can be measured and how businesses can expand, the Chapter 3: Size of business
reasons for and methods of growth and the benefits of small firms:

Economic sectors ■ Primary, secondary and tertiary, trends within the sectors, emergence Chapter 2: Business Structure
of the service/knowledge economy
1.6 Business opportunities and
constraints
Social ■ Demographic changes, such as ageing population and falling birth Chapter 8: External influences on business activity
rates, impact on businesses (A Level)
Legal ■ Legislation and its impact on business, basic knowledge of key legislation Chapter 8: External influences on business activity
facing businesses such as the Data Protection Act, Employment Equality (A Level)
(Age) Regulations and Disability Discrimination Act

Technology ■ Benefits and threats of technology, new technologies and their impact Chapter 8: External influences on business activity
on business and customer (A Level)

Environmental ■ External costs, environmental policy and audits, the growth of the Chapter 8: External influences on business activity
‘green pound’ and the response of business (A Level)
Business ethics ■ Possible conflicts and resolutions, ethical code, ethical investments, Chapter 8: External influences on business
Fair Trade activity (A Level)

1.7 Planning ■ Strategic planning, important decisions and the long term effects Chapter 38: Strategic analysis (A Level)
■ Contingency plans, preparing for unlikely or unwanted scenarios such Chapter 40: Strategic implementation
as a severe recession or a global flu epidemic
■ Porter’s Five Forces model – business behaviour and success is Chapter 39: Strategic choice (A Level)
affected by five key factors: buyer power, supplier power, entry threat,
substitute threat and rivalry
1.8 Corporate issues ■ Corporate culture – the values, attitudes and beliefs associated with a Chapter 40: Strategic implementation
business
■ Corporate governance, who has power in practice, the role of
shareholders, institutional investors and managers
1.9 Equities ■ The stock market, impact of share price movements on a business, Chapter 28: Business finance
determinants of share prices, private equity

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Cambridge International AS and A Level Business

2. Marketing
2.1 Marketing and objectives ■ Definition of marketing, marketing objectives Chapter 16: What is marketing?
■ Customer relationship management (CRM)
■ Market and product orientation
■ Market segmentation, reasons for and examples
■ Market growth and share, calculation
■ Niche and mass marketing, examples in practice and relative merits
■ Market positioning and re-positioning, unique selling point (USP)
2.2 Market research
Types of research ■ Methods of market research, primary and secondary Chapter 17: Market research
Sampling ■ Sampling methods and their relative merits and problems, pros and Chapter 17: Market research
cons of sampling in general
■ Use of normal distribution and calculation of standard deviation,
significance of results, problems and benefits of using normal
distribution analysis
Forecasting ■ Quantitative and qualitative methods of forecasting, such as the Delphi Chapter 20: Marketing planning
technique and time series analysis moving averages, trend, variation,
plotting, line of best fit and predicting future values/extrapolation
2.3 Elasticity
Price elasticity of demand (PED) ■ Definition, diagrams, calculation, determination of optimal pricing Chapter 18: The marketing mix – product and price
policy (total revenue changes), general uses and problems of the
method, factors affecting PED, how PED is estimated
Income elasticity of demand ■ Definition, calculation and interpretation of income elasticity of Chapter 18: The marketing mix – product and price
demand.
Advertising elasticity of demand ■ Definition, calculation and interpretation of advertising elasticity Chapter 18: The marketing mix – product and price
of demand.
2.4 The marketing mix
Price ■ Pricing strategies based on cost, such as contribution (also see Chapter 18: The marketing mix – product and price
section 3.1 ‘Costs, revenue, contribution and profit’), including special
order decisions, customers/market such as price discrimination, and
competition based such as destroyer pricing
Place ■ Channels of distribution, e-commerce, intermediaries, wholesalers, Chapter 19: The marketing mix – product and place
agents, choosing a distribution channel
roduct ■ The product life cycle, the product mix, extension strategies, the Chapter 19: The marketing mix – product and place
Boston Matrix and new product Development

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Cambridge International AS and A Level Business

Promotion ■ Above- and below-the-line and constraints on advertising Chapter 19: Marketing mix – promotion and place
■ AIDA (awareness, interest, desire, action), from awareness to action,
reviewing advertising, the uses and problems of the model
■ DAGMAR (Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results),
assessing the effectiveness of advertising, from unawareness to action
2.5 The marketing plan ■ The elements of the marketing plan such as the marketing audit, SWOT Chapter 20: Marketing planning (A Level)
(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
2.6 Marketing law ■ Marketing and the law such as the Sale of Goods Act and the Trade Chapter 8: External influences on business activity
Descriptions Act (A Level)
2.7 International marketing ■ International marketing, the pros and cons of selling in overseas Chapter 21: Globalisation and international marketing
markets whether it be the EU or non-EU (A Level)
2.8 Marketing strategy ■ The Ansoff Matrix, reviewing risk with products and markets, from Chapter 39: Strategic choice (A Level)
market penetration to diversification
■ Offensive marketing strategies, examples of and reasons for.
■ Marketing myopia, the danger of a short-sighted approach, recognising
and changing to consumer wants
3. Accounts and finance
3.1 Costs, revenue contribution and
profit
Costs ■ Variable cost, average cost, fixed cost, total cost, marginal cost, direct Chapter 29: Costs
cost, indirect cost, definition and examples
Revenue ■ Total revenue, marginal revenue Chapter 30: Accounting fundamentals
Contribution and profit ■ Calculation of contribution and profit; distinction between the two Chapter 29: Costs
■ Cost and profit centres, their purpose and usefulness in organisations
3.2 Budgets
Types of budget ■ Historical and zero-based budgets Chapter 33: Budgets (A Level)
Purpose of budgets ■ Problems of setting budgets, uses of budgets Chapter 33: Budgets (A Level)
Variances ■ Calculation and meaning of favourable and adverse variances Chapter 33: Budgets (A Level)
3.3 Sources of finance
Types of finance ■ Internal versus external sources, external long term sources and short Chapter 28: Business finance
term sources
Determinants of source of funds ■ Interest rates, gearing, size of business Chapter 28: Business finance

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3.4 Investment decisions

Methods of investment appraisal ■ Payback Period (PBP) and Average Rate of Return (ARR), Discounted Chapter 36: Investment appraisal (A Level)
Cash Flow (DCF), Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
Factors influencing investment decisions ■ Motives, business confidence, interest rates
3.5 Cash flow ■ Methods of improving cash flow, cash flow forecasts Chapter 31: Forecasting and managing cash flows
3.6 Break-even analysis ■ Break-even analysis, margin of safety, calculation of the Chapter 29: Costs
break-even output
3.7 Accounts ■ The Balance Sheet and Income Statement, the components of the Chapter 30: Accounting fundamentals
financial statements and their uses and problems
■ Ratio analysis, profitability, activity, liquidity, gearing and shareholder Chapter 35: Analysis of published accounts
ratios, calculation and interpretation of, uses and problems with
3.8 Depreciation ■ Depreciation straight line and declining balance, calculation of, Chapter 34: Contents of published accounts (A Level)
reviewing the book value of a non-current (fixed) asset
4. Operations and management
4.1 Production methods ■ Job, batch, flow, cell, lean, just in time (JIT), flexible specialisation Chapter 23: Operations planning
4.2 Efficiency ■ Economies and diseconomies of scale, diagrammatic representation, Chapter 22: The nature of operations
types of economies of scale, internal and external sources

4.3 Capacity ■ Over- and under-capacity utilisation, reasons for, the coping zone Chapter 25: Capacity utilisation (A Level)
4.4 Quality ■ Quality assurance, built-in and inspected quality, total quality Chapter 22: The nature of operations
management, Kaizen, benchmarking, customer service, quality circles Chapter 26: Lean production and quality management
(A Level)
4.5 Inventory ■ Types of inventory, inventory control charts, buffer inventory, Chapter 24: Inventory management
re-order levels (ROL), re-order quantities (ROQ), lead times,
vendor rating, stock out
4.6 Managing projects ■ Project management, critical path analysis (CPA) Chapter 27: Project management (A Level)
■ Location of businesses, infrastructure, business parks, industrial
inertia, grants and subsidies
4.7 Competitive advantage ■ Research and development (R&D), its role in keeping a competitive Chapter 38: Strategic analysis (A Level)
edge, in-house and externally sourced and
Chapter 20: Marketing planning

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4.8 Reducing waste ■ Waste management and control, waste minimisation, benefits and Chapter 26: Lean production and quality management
problems of waste management and factors influencing waste (A Level)
management
4.9 Trends in cost control ■ Outsourcing, cutting costs and/or better service, examples of and Chapter 25: Capacity utilisation (A Level)
reasons for
■ Off-shoring, reasons for and examples
■ Reshoring, reasons for and relative merits.
5. People in organisations
5.1 Motivation
Monetary and non-monetary motivation ■ Monetary methods Chapter 11: Motivation
■ Non-monetary methods
Employee participation ■ Worker directors, consultative committees, works councils, Chapter 11: Motivation
suggestion boxes
Motivational theory ■ Taylor, Maslow, Mayo, Herzberg, McClelland, Vroom, Equity theory Chapter 11: Motivation
■ The Hackman and Oldham job characteristics model, evaluating job
enrichment, psychological states and core job dimensions
5.2 Leadership and management styles
Styles of management ■ Autocratic, paternalistic, democratic, laissez-faire, McGregor’s Chapter 10: Management and leadership
Theory X and Y, suitability in different business environments,
leadership and facilitation
5.3 Management by objectives (MBO) ■ Drucker and MBO, inflexibility of approach, ideas and strategy Chapter 10: Management and leadership
from all levels
5.4 Labour turnover ■ Impact on the business and determinants, calculation, methods Chapter 13: Further Human resource management (HRM)
of reducing (A Level)
5.5 Absenteeism ■ Absenteeism, calculation, causes and remedies Chapter 12: Human resource management (HRM)
5.6 Human resource management and
workforce planning
Recruitment ■ Internal and external recruitment, methods of selection Chapter 12: Human resource management (HRM)
Training ■ Induction, on and off the job training Chapter 12: Human resource management (HRM
The workforce plan ■ The elements of the workforce plan, assessing the effectiveness of Chapter 13: Human resource management (HRM)
people management, impact of flexible working practices (A Level)

Organisational structure ■ Span of control, hierarchy, chain of command, delayering/downsizing, Chapter 14: Organisation structure (A Level)
relative merits of delegation, centralised and decentralised.

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5.7 Change management ■ The management of change, internal or external change, managing Chapter 40: Strategic implementation (A Level)
change and resistance to it
5.8 Employment law and collective ■ The main types of employment legislation and the costs and benefits Chapter 13: Further Human resource management (HRM)
representation of these for business. (A Level)
■ Trade unions, collective labour law, union recognition and union
density, pros and cons of union involvement in business activity.
5.9 Business communication ■ Purpose of communication Chapter 15: Business communication (A Level)
■ Barriers to effective communication
■ Communication methods

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