IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Employers association

Employers association Employers association are groups of employers who join together to give benefits to their member. Businesses join together to form their own association, and members pay an annual subscription fee in return for the benefits they would receive. Examples include National Farmers Union Society of British Aerospace Comapnies Federation of Samll Businesses National Federation of Builders Advantages...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Worker participation

Worker participation Worker participation refers to the influence that workers had on decision-making at management level. Representative workers of influence achieved this through their work on the various management-employee committees. Advocate workers of influence used formal, individual meetings with management to influence their thinking. Informal workers of influence give input to management thinking in informal arenas such...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Industrial actions

Types of Industrial Actions Strike: when employees refuse to work Picketing: When employees stand outside the workplace and prevent the smooth functioning of the firm. E.g. they may stop the movement of Lorries in and out of factory. Work to Rule: It is when workers purposely follow all the rules in order to delay the progress of work. Go slow: It is when the employees work at...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic ; Types of training and its objective

What is training? Training involves improving the skills, knowledge and attitudes of employees so as to become more efficient and productive. Objectives of Training Improve the efficiency of workforce Make workers multi-skilled and flexible Introducing a new process or new machinery Reduce wastage of material and time Adapt to change Types of Training Induction Training It involves introducing a new employee to its work environment....

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Recruitment and Selection Process

Recruitment and Selection Process The recruitment process starts with a vacancy arising. Job analysis and description Once a vacancy arises the human resource manager will first identify and record the responsibilities and tasks which are related to the job. After analysing the responsibilities and tasks they are noted down which becomes the Job description for the job. It includes: ...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Manpower Planning

Manpower Planning It involves the planning for the future and finding out how many employees will be needed in the future by the business and what types of skills should they possess. It depends on the following factors The number of people leaving the job The projected growth in sales of the business Technological changes Productivity level of the workers...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Functions of Human Resource Department

Functions of Human Resource Department A typical Human Resource Department is carries out the following functions: Manpower Planning It involves the planning for the future and finding out how many employees will be needed in the future by the business and what types of skills should they possess. It depends on the following factors The number of people leaving the job The projected growth in sales of the business Technological...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : What is a Recession?

What is a Recession? Recession is defined as a period of reduced economic activity, a business cycle contraction. The U.S.-based National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) defines economic recession as: "a significant decline in [the] economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP growth, real personal income, employment (non-farm payrolls), industrial production, and...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Business Cycle or Trade cycle

Business Cycle The business cycle or economic cycle refers to the fluctuations of economic activity about its long term growth trend. The cycle involves shifts over time between periods of relatively rapid growth of output (recovery and prosperity), and periods of relative stagnation or decline (contraction or recession). These fluctuations are often measured using the real gross domestic product. There are four main...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Social Cost and Social Benefits

Social Cost and benefits Every business activity which takes place has some benefits and costs attached to it. The benefits go both to the owners of the firm as well as to external stakeholders. In the same way the owners and the external stakeholders have to pay a cost for the activities of the business. Talking about… Private cost It is the cost of setting up the business. The owner(s) pay for the hire of machinery, buying of materials,...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Cost Benefit Analysis

Cost Benefit analysis Cost Benefit Analysis is typically used by governments to evaluate the desirability of a given intervention in markets. The costs and benefits of the impacts of an intervention are evaluated in terms of the social benefits or social cost. The guiding principle is to list all of the parties affected by an intervention, and place a monetary value of the effect it has on their welfare.The process involves monetary value...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Government macroeconomic objectives and policies

Economic Objectives of the Government Most of the governments round the world have four main objectives. These are Keep inflation under control Maintain a low level of unemployment Achieve a high level of growth rate Maintain a healthy balance of payments. Government Economic Policies Government influences the economy through its economic policies. These are Fiscal Policy It is related with taxes and government spending. This policy is...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Governments control over business activity

Why government controls business activities? Businesses are usually profit motivated. Many times in order to gain more profit the business might neglect issues like environmental protection and production of harmful and dangerous products. Large business might take the advantage of their size and exploit consumers, employees and even use unfair tactics to overcome competition from small businesses. Business might use media to portray a...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : How government helps businesses

How does government help businesses? Providing cheap loans and giving grants. Providing advice and information centres for businesses. Providing college courses and training programmes for entrepreneurs. Offering subsidies or tax reduction to businesses. Maintain a stable exchange rate of the currency. Just a moment… Why does government help businesses? To help small businesses to survive and encourage competition in the economy. To encourage...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Economic Environment factors

Economic factors affecting  business These are some of the economic environment factors which affect business At what stage of the business cycle is the economy If the economy is going through a recession it is obvious that businesses generally will not be doing well due to low aggregate demand in the economy. On the other hand, a boom period will lead to higher business profits and revenue for most of the businesses in the economy. Inflation...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Legal environment factors affecting business

How government controls business activity? Governments control the business activities is many ways both direct and indirect. We have already covered government’s economic policies. However, government can control business activities in a more direct way. These are as follows: Controlling what to produce In order to safeguard the interest of the community government may ban or limit the production of certain goods and services. For example,...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : How fluctuation in exchange rate affects business

  Who gains and Who loses How fluctuation in exchange rate affects business. Let’s take the example of Britain and US. If the value of US$ fluctuates in comparison to UK Pound, then, how will it affect different businesses in United States? Affect of Appreciation of currency US Dollar becomes expensive as compared to British Pound. In order words, there is an Appreciation...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Exchange rate | Appreciation and depreciation of currency

Exchange Rate Exchange rate is the rate at which one country’s currency can be exchanged for another country’s currency. How is exchange rate determined? A fixed exchange rate system refers to the case where the exchange rate is set and maintained at same level by the government irrespective of the market forces. Floating exchange rate system means that the exchange rate is allowed to fluctuate according to the market forces without...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Globalisation - its benefits and drawbacks

What is globalisation Globalisation means the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and the spread of technology. According to dictionaries Globalisation (n) is the "process enabling financial and investment markets to operate internationally, largely as a result of deregulation and improved communications" (Collins) or - from the US -...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : External environment factors | PESTEL analysis

External environment factors PESTEL analysis stands for "Political, Economic, Social, and Technological, Environmental and Legal analysis". It is a part of the external analysis when conducting a strategic analysis or doing market research and gives a certain overview of the different macroenvironmental factors that the company has to take into consideration. Political factors, or how and to what degree a government intervenes in...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Multinational businesses

What are Multinational Businesses? Businesses which have their operations, factories and assembly plants in more than one country are known as Multinational Business. They are also known as Transnational businesses. Advantages of being a Multinational Multinational can set up their business operations in countries where the labour and raw material is cheaper, which can give them cost...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Centralisation and Decentralisation

Centralisation and Decentralisation Centralisation implies the concentration of authority at the top level of the organisation while decentralisation means dispersal of authority throughout the organisation According to Allen Centralisation is systematic and consistent reservation of authority at central points within an organisation. Decentralisation applies to the systematic delegation of authority in an organisation context. Advantages...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Functions of a manager

Functions of the manager There are basically four management concepts that allow any organization to handle the tactical, planned and set decisions. The four basic functions of the management are just to have a controlled plan over the preventive measure. These Functions can be summarized below: Planning Planning is the first tool of the four functions in the management process. The difference between a successful and unsuccessful manager...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Franchise - Features, advantages and disadvantages

What is franchising? The term "franchising" can describe some very different business arrangements. It is important to understand exactly what you're being offered. Business format franchise This is the most common form of franchising. A true business format franchise occurs when the owner of a business (the franchisor) grants a licence to another person or business (the franchisee) to use their business idea - often in a specific geographical...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Cooperatives - Features, advantages and disadvantages

What is a Co-operative? A cooperative is defined as an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.A cooperative may also be defined as a business owned and controlled equally by the people who use its services or who work at it. There are different types of co-operatives: Housing cooperative A ...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Types of Public Sector Organisations

What is Public Sector? The public sector is a part of the state that deals with the delivery of goods and services by and for the government, whether national, regional or local/municipal.Examples of public sector activity range from delivering social security, administering urban planning and organizing national defenses.The organization of the public sector (public ownership) can take several forms, including: Direct administration funded...

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IGCSE BUSINESS STUDIES Topic : Public Limited companies

Public Limited company Limited companies which can sell share on the stock exchange are Public Limited companies. These companies usually write PLC after their names. Minimum value of shares to be issued (in UK) is £50,000. Advantages  There is limited liability for the shareholders. The business has separate legal entity. There is continuity even if any of the shareholders die. These businesses can raise large capital sum as there is...

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