...guidance, support and resources at aqa.org.uk/7132 You can talk directly to the Business subject team E: business-studies@aqa.org.uk T: 01483 477 863 AS (7131) A-level (7132) Specifications For teaching from September 2015 onwards For AS exams in May/June 2016 onwards For A-level exams in May/June 2017 onwards Version 1.0 19 August 2014 aqa.org.uk G00395 Copyright © 2014 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. AQA retains the copyright on all its publications, including the specifications. However, schools and colleges registered with AQA are permitted to copy material from these specifications for their own internal use. AQA Education (AQA) is a registered charity (number 1073334) and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (company number 3644723). Our registered address is AQA, Devas Street, Manchester M15 6EX. AS Business (7131) and A-level Business (7132). AS exams May/June 2016 onwards. A-level exams May/June 2017 onwards. Version 1.0 Contents 1 Introduction 5 1.1 Why choose AQA for AS and A-level Business 1.2 Support and resources to help you teach 2 Specification at a glance 2.1 Subject content 2.2 AS 2.3 A-level 5 6 8 8 8 9 3 Subject content 10 Strategic decision making (A-level only) 3.1 What is business? 3.2 Managers, leadership and decision making 3.3 Decision making to improve marketing performance 3.4 Decision making to improve operational performance...
Words: 8644 - Pages: 35
...fa Factors Effecting Small and Medium Enterprises, Selection of Market Entry Mode Naveed Hussain Malik (naveed.hm@gmail.com) 770325-3059 Masood Hussain Chudary(zindagi03@hotmail.com) 801014-5855 Supervisor: Eva Wittbom Masters Degree Thesis in Business Administration School of Management Sciences Date of submission Abstract Development in infrastructure limits the communication gap, speedy travel and low cost tariff barriers as well other drivers of globalization have made overseas markets easier to get small firms and gave more opportunities to SME´s internationalize. The market entry mode choice or selections have strong effect the success or failure of the company. For instance an insufficient or wrong entry mode selection can decrease opportunities and limit important choice for the firm and could lead to high financial loss as well as lose control on overseas market. The purpose of research study is to provide a deep and better understanding of the factors those effecting SME´s selection of market entry mode. Research question how can the influence of internal and external factors on the selection of market entry mode. A frame of reference led to the building of summary which in turn became the basis for data collection. Two qualitative case studies for Pakistani SME´s namely socks knitter Pakistan and RK International were undertaken. The main findings shows the clear link between the theories claim to be internal and external...
Words: 21311 - Pages: 86
...FACTORS INFLUENCING IMPLEMENTION OF CONSTITUENCY DEVELOPMENT FUND PROJECTS IN GARISA COUNTY BY ABDIKADIR ADEN FARAH A RESEARCH PROPOSAL SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF GOVERNANCE AND ETHICS OF MOUNT KENYA UNIVERSITY OCTOBER, 2014 DECLARATION This research proposal is my original work and has not been presented for a degree in any other university or for any other award. No part of this study should be reproduced without authority of the author or/and of Mount Kenya University. Signature:_______________ Date:________________ Abdikadir Aden Farah MGE (DL) 111/23452 This research proposal has been presented for examination with our approval as the university supervisors Signature:______________ Date:________________ Mr. Godfrey Kinyua School of Social Sciences Mount Kenya University Signature:_______________ Date: _________________ Prof. Geoffrey Owino School of Social Sciences Mount Kenya University DEDICATION This study is dedicated to my dear family for their love, understanding and support during the many long hours committed to this program. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am highly indebted to my supervisors, Mr. Godfrey Kinyua for his availability, and also for providing the necessary guidance through each and every stage of this proposal. I am grateful to the Library staff of Mount Kenya University, for helping...
Words: 10606 - Pages: 43
...Sinkovics Manchester School of Management, UMIST United Kingdom Email: Rudolf.Sinkovics@umist.ac.uk 1 The authors would like to thank Handelsbanken’s Research Foundations for financial support. FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT – LOCATION ATTRACTIVENESS FOR RETAILING FIRMS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION Abstract For politicians and country representatives it is becoming more and more important to look into ways to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI). Not only are successful location decisions of multinational companies good news for surviving in the political system, but related economic and social development implications necessitate a more comprehensive view on whether there is a race to attract FDI in Europe. And if so, what are its implications on different industries and societies within the EU. This paper focuses on the retailing industry and mandates an understanding of managerial decision making: Why do retailing companies enter particular country markets and what are the factors that determine a country’s attractiveness? A conceptual model is developed to understand the factors, corporate as well as market characteristics, which influence companies in their location selection decisions. This will help us understand the impact of the incentives, if any, given by governments. We study two cases, Wal-Mart in the UK and Germany and Toys‘R’Us in Sweden to verify our model and to draw conclusions that can be useful for firms as well as policy makers in the EU. -2- Introduction ...
Words: 9518 - Pages: 39
...EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Multi-domestic organization needs a good corporate strategy as the basis to help them to compete successfully at a business level by adding values to the separate parts of the business or by using synergies or channeling resources between business units. This report on Whitbread will be oriented in answering this question: What market or businesses should whitbread invest in, including diversification in related activities, entering new market, new geographies and how much to invest in each business so as to maximise its long-run profitability? First, after giving the mission and vision of the company, we discuss the internal and external environment with relevant models. Secondly, the design formulation of the business portfolio strategy to answer our question and thirdly, we give a conclusion. This approach will help the corporate parent to use its core competencies in an effective and efficient manner to help its multi-domestic strategy to earn above-average returns. WHITBREAD ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS 1. INTRODUCTION Established in 1742, Whitbread is one of the UK’s oldest and well-respected companies. The story really begins in August 1720 with the birth of Samuel Whitbread, who began his brewing apprenticeship in 1736, then founded his first brewery six years later. In 2001, Whitbread become the company it is today. They sold their breweries and left the pub and bar business, refocusing on the growth areas of hotels and restaurants. Their reinvention as...
Words: 4355 - Pages: 18
...换一个你的 School of Management, University of Glamorgan Research on Internal Audit Participate in Risk Management-Based on the ERM Framework of COSO By: Weichen Zhu Candidate no: 学号 September 2012 Supervised by: 你导师的名字 The dissertation is submitted as part of the requirement for the award of Masters of Science: 你专业的名字 Declaration This Dissertation has been prepared on the basis of my own work and that where other published and unpublished source materials have been used, these have been acknowledged. Word Count: Student Name: __________________ Signature: ______________________ Date of Submission:______________ Acknowledgement This is my first time to go aboard for studying. During different campus life in the UK, it is wonderful with deep impression. I learned how to use my internal power to make things happen and how to live my own life. All efforts contribute to my growth, but I cannot forget people who encourage and help me. Probably, I am not happy to study in my whole postgraduate time without support. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor 你导师的名字. He helps me develop the ideas and complete this dissertation. Especially, when I make a survey in China, I communicate with him through email. Sometimes, I am afraid that my timetable could have bad effects on him. However, he usually gives me feedback as soon as possible. Therefore, I only use 20 days to finish my survey. This kind of strong professional ethic is worth to learn...
Words: 20009 - Pages: 81
...everyone equal * Intensive and rapid flows cross border flows (eg product, finance) * Not just economic but social, culture also. * Implication for nation states (countries)- a loss on power for the countries on politically as well as economically. * “ Globalization is about growing mobility across frontiers- mobility of goods and commodities, mobility of information and communications products and services, and mobility of people” ( Robins 2000). * Globalization has become a leading concept in doing business during last few decades, there are various aspects of globalization that influencing in doing business such as Competition, exchange of technology, knowledge/information transfer. * Competition: there is increase in competition. It can relate to product, service cost, price, target market, technological adaptation, quick response, quick production by companies. Company needs to focus on production with less cost to sell cheaper in order to increase its market share. On the other hand, customers also have a large multitude of choices in the markets and it affects their behavior: they want to acquire goods and services quickly and in more efficient way than before with high expectation in quality and low prices. * Exchange of technology: One of the most striking manifestations of globalization is the use of new technologies by entrepreneurial and internationally oriented firms to exploit new business opportunities. It is also one of...
Words: 12315 - Pages: 50
...Global and Transnational Business: Strategy and Management Second Edition Global and Transnational Business: Strategy and Management Second Edition George Stonehouse Northumbria University David Campbell University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Jim Hamill University of Strathclyde Tony Purdie Northumbria University Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 8SQ, England Telephone (þ44) 1243 779777 Email (for orders and customer service enquiries): cs-books@wiley.co.uk Visit our Home Page on www.wileyeurope.com or www.wiley.com All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP, UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 8SQ, England, or emailed to permreq@wiley.co.uk, or faxed to (þ44) 1243 770620. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services...
Words: 155276 - Pages: 622
...world is characterized by more competition, diverse work force, continuously changing customers’ needs, and new technological changes, etc. The adoption of emerging technology in business is broadly studied but the resulting research has produced inconsistent results (Brandyberry, 2003). An organization is define as a group of persons that team up together to work to achieve the organization strategy. Organizational strategy can be defined as a plan for interacting with the competitive environments to achieve organizational goals. According to Charlesmore Partners International (2008), organizational strategy is a clear definition of how the organization needs to change – over time - in order to be able to deliver the strategy of the enterprise and an actionable plan of how to make the transformation. This requires both the thinking and analysis to compare current state to desired state and define the gap, and the execution capabilities to make the requisite changes happen. Other definition of organizational strategy is a plan for interacting with the competitive environments to achieve organizational goals (Daft, 1995, p. 49). To achieve the organizational strategy, the organization need to come up with some new technology that might help the organization. Technology is one of the central and most significant elements that related to effective operations management in an organization. Internet technology has a direct impact on companies, customers, suppliers, distributors...
Words: 11702 - Pages: 47
...Advanced Management and Marketing Summary of the management part Book: Exploring corporate strategy Authors: Johnson, Scholes and Whittington Table of contents Chapter 1 Introducing strategy 2 Chapter 2 The environment 3 Chapter 3 Strategic capability 4 Chapter 4 Strategic purpose 7 Chapter 5 Culture and strategy 9 Chapter 6 Business-level strategy 12 Chapter 7 Strategic directions and corporate-level strategy 14 Chapter 8 International strategy 18 Chapter 10 Strategy methods and evaluation 21 Chapter 11 Strategy development processes 23 Chapter 1 Introducing strategy Strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long term, which achieves advantage in a changing environment through its configuration of resources and competences with the aim of fulfilling stakeholder expectations. Strategic decisions are about… * The long-term direction of an organization * The scope of an organization’s activities * Gaining advantage over competitors * Addressing changes in the business environment * Building on resources and competences capabilities * Values and expectations of stakeholders which affect operational decisions Therefore strategic decisions are likely to be complex in nature, are made in uncertain situations, affect operational decisions, require an integrated approach and do involve considerable change. Levels of strategy 1. Corporate level strategy is concerned with the overall purpose...
Words: 8666 - Pages: 35
...INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: Definitions of IHRM: Scullion (2005) tracked the evolution of definitions of IHRM. He observed that although there has been little consensus, definitions have broadly concentrated on examining the HRM issues, problems, strategies, policies and practices which firms pursue in relation to the internationalization of their business. Schuler et al (2009) similarly recently positioned the different views that have existed about the nature of IHRM. IHRM encompasses: ‘. . . the worldwide management of people in the multinational enterprise’ (Poole, 1990; p1) ‘. . . human resource management in an international environment . . . problems created in an MNC performing business in more than one country, rather than those posed by working for a foreign firm at home or by employing foreign employees in the local firm’ (Briscoe and Schuler, 2004; p1) ‘. . .how MNCs manage their geographically dispersed workforce in order to leverage their HR resources for both local and global competitive advantage’ (Scullion, 2005; p5) ‘. . . a branch of management studies that investigates the design of and effects of organizational human resource practices in cross-cultural contexts’ (Peltonen, 2006; p523) ‘. . . all issues related to the management of people in an international context [including] human resource issues facing MNCs in different parts of their organizations [and] comparative analyses of HRM in different countries’ (Stahl and Björkman...
Words: 11695 - Pages: 47
...(03-09-1983, Thailand) Title Internationalization of IKEA in the Japanese and Chinese markets Supervisor Leif Linnskog Problems Why did IKEA internationalize into Japanese and Chinese markets? And what factors did influence IKEA’s success in Chinese market but failure in the Japanese market of the first round? Purpose The aim of thesis is to understand the internationalization of IKEA in Asia by comparing between Japanese and Chinese markets. Method This master thesis based on qualitative approach in order to investigate the internationalization of IKEA in Asian markets as a case study since it is beneficial in understanding the observation and explanation of behavior in the certain cases. Conclusion IKEA is considered as retailer internationalization who expands into Japanese market as a result of deregulation and asset-based advantage while internationalize into Chinese market because of supporting environments such as political, social and economic conditions as well as transaction advantage. To success and failure, psychic distance and learning, strategic decision making process, degree of adaptation of retail offer, entry strategy, characteristics of organization and management characteristics are the influencing factors on...
Words: 20792 - Pages: 84
...including partnership agreements (strategic alliances). This paper, investigates which partner selection criteria that are important for this group of firms when they are selecting partners. Based on case studies of three Norwegian firms targeting the UK market, five selection criteria have been identified as important (trust, relatedness of business, access to networks, access to market knowledge, reputation), one has been identified as partly important (sharing of financial risk), and ten have been identified as having limited importance. Further, the paper discusses the implications of these results for managers of small firms entering international markets and presents recommendations for further research. Keywords: International marketing,...
Words: 8758 - Pages: 36
...the most important parts in the market for manufacturing goods. And for the garment industry, China is the largest export country in the world. When we go shopping, we can see a lot of tags about ―made in China‖. Referring to China’s exporting capability in the garment industry, we want to find out why most of international clothing companies choose China as their manufacture market for their production basement. And whether the ―made in China‖ tagged in clothes is influencing consumer behavior or not. Moreover, the authors would like to provide some feasible suggestions on the management for the Chinese garment manufacturers, especially in the labor force problem. Methodology - This paper mainly takes the methodologies of literature review, both qualitative and quantitative analysis in case study, and questionnaire survey. The literatures reviewed here include company articles, academic papers, books, and website information. And in consumer behavior part, we use questionnaire as our research tools. Findings - According to our research, it is clear that many firms choose China as their manufacture manufacturing basement because of Chinese low labor cost. Country-of-Origin (Made in China) affects little in final consumer behavior compared with many other elements influencing consumer behavior in clothes purchasing. The human...
Words: 15651 - Pages: 63
...of the general and competitive business environment, (b) To develop an understanding of strategic management concepts and techniques, (c) To be able to solve simple cases. Contents 1. Business Environment General Environment–Demographic, Socio-cultural, Macro-economic, Legal/political, Technological, and Global; Competitive Environment. 2. Business Policies and Strategic Management Meaning and nature; Strategic management imperative; Vision, Mission and Objectives; Strategic levels in organisations. 3. Strategic Analyses Situational Analysis – SWOT Analysis, TOWS Matrix, Portfolio Analysis – BCG Matrix. 4. Strategic Planning Meaning, stages, alternatives, strategy formulation. 5. Formulation of Functional Strategy Marketing strategy, Financial strategy, Production strategy, Logistics strategy, Human resource strategy. 6. Strategy Implementation and Control Organisational structures; Establishing strategic business units; Establishing profit centres by business, product or service, market segment or customer; Leadership and behavioural...
Words: 44130 - Pages: 177