A2 Business Unit 4 Revision Checklist, A2 M4 Revision

Syllabus Content Notes 1 2 3

1Understanding Mission Aims and

Objectives

• what are mission statements, why are theyy used and how useful are they?

• What is the difference bewteen corporate aims and coporate objectives? How

useful is it have these?

• Why are coporate level strategies used? How are they derived from aims and

objectives?

• Why is the point of view of different stakeholder different and why is this important

to the success of a business? How can different stakholders influence decision

making in a business? Why can't all stakeholders be kept happy at the same time?

2The Relationship between Businesses

and the Economic Environment

• What are the positive and negative effects on businesses of the following: the

business cycle, interest rates, exchange rates, unemployment, inflation, economic

growth, changes in the trends of the business cycle, interest rates, exchange rates,

unemployment, inflation, economic growth; globalisation of markets; the existence

of and increasing strength of "emerging markets".

• What are the strategies business might deploy in response to any of these things

and the positive sna negatioves of each strategy..

3The Relationship between Businesses

and the Political and Legal environment

What are the effects of: government interventionon businesses? What are

government economic policies such as monetary policy, fiscal policy and supply

side policy? How can political decisions affect trade and access to markets? eg the

enlargement of the European Union and moves towards greater freedom of trade.

What is the impact of legislation & government regulations relating to businesses?

Impact of Legislation eg employment law, consumer protection, environmental

protection and health and safety legislation on businesses.

4The Relationship between Businesses

and the Social Environment

• What are the effects of: demographic factors and environmental issues on

business success and business strategies

• Are the responses of businesses to issues with stakeholders guinine or just a form

of public relations?

5The Relationship between Businesses

and the Technological Environment

• What are the effects of technological change? eg marketing

opportunities,changing the culture of the business and changing the processes and

systems used within the business

• How do you evaluate the response of businesses to technological change?

6The Relationship between Businesses

and the Competitive Environment

• What are the effects of new competitors, dominant businesses, takeovers,

mergers, changes in the buying power of customers and/or changes in the selling

power of suppliers?

• How can Businesses respond to these Changes. What are the ads & disads of

each strategy.

7 Internal Causes of Change

• What would cause a businenss to want to change its size? What are the effects on

a businness of changing it size? What are the advantages and disadvanatges of:

mergers, takeovers, organic growth and retrenchment?

• What are the effects on a businenss of new owners / new leaders?

• What is the kind of poor business performance that could be a cause of change?

8 Planning for Change

• What is a corporate plan? What is the purpose of a corporate plan?

• What are the internal and external influences on corporate plans? How effective

are coporatte plans?

What is contingency planning? How important is it to have contingency plans?

9Key Influences on the Change Process:

Leadership

• What does leadership mean? What is the difference between leaders and

managers?

• What are the different types of leadership styles?

• What are the internal and external factors that influence leadership style?

• How important is leadership in managing change?

• How important is leadership?

10Key Influences on the Change Process:

Culture

• What are the different types of organisational culture? eg power, entrepreneurial

and task (there are others).

• What are the reasons for and problems of changing organisational culture?

•What is the importance of organisational culture in a businesses success?

11 Making Strategic Decisions

• What is information management? How important is getting a businensses

information managememt right?

• What are the different approaches to decision-making. eg scientific, intuition?

What are the advanatges and disadvantagges of each? What are the influences on

corporate decision-making eg ethical position (real or perceived), the resources

available and relative power of stakeholders?

A2 Business Unit 4 Revision Checklist, A2 M4 Revision

11 Implementing and Managing Change

• What techniques are available to implement and manage change successfully? Eg

Project champions, project groups. What are the advantages and disadvantages of

each?

• What factors promote successful change what factors cause resistance to

change? Eg : clear objectives, resources and training. How important are each of

these factors?

12 SWOT AnalysisWhat are the internal what are the external causes of change? What strategies can

businnesses use to deal with strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?

Hints

Use this tick list thoroughly. Every time that you revise one of the topics on the list tick it off

Try to revise every topic as often as you can. The more times that you repeat the work the

more likely you are to remember it.

DO NOT revise by just reading your notes. Make summary notes from your main notes

then fill in the gaps by referring to your textbook or teacher for help