AQA · 8132
AQA GCSE Business
30 topics and 448 questions for AQA's two written papers.
The two written papers
- 8132/1 Influences of operations and HRM on business activity. 90 marks, 105 minutes.
- 8132/2 Influences of marketing and finance on business activity. 90 marks, 105 minutes.
AQA reads break-even from a chart, uses the Boston Matrix and the income statement, and asks about procurement and TQM. Questions on those carry the AQA tag.
Business in the real world AQA Papers 1 and 2
- AQA 3.1.1Practice
The purpose of business and enterprise
- Tell goods from services and needs from wants, and name the factors of production
- Explain why new business ideas come about, and the risks and rewards an entrepreneur weighs
- Explain how businesses add value and what an entrepreneur does
- AQA 3.1.2LessonPractice
Business ownership and limited liability
- Compare sole traders, partnerships, private and public limited companies and not-for-profit organisations
- Explain limited and unlimited liability and who carries each
- Judge the best legal structure for a given business, including a franchise
- AQA 3.1.3Practice
Business aims and objectives
- Name financial and non-financial aims and objectives
- Explain why objectives differ between businesses and change as a business grows
- Judge success by more than profit
- AQA 3.1.4Practice
Stakeholders
- Name the stakeholders of a business and what each wants
- Explain how business decisions affect stakeholders and how stakeholders influence businesses
- Analyse a conflict between two stakeholder groups
- AQA 3.1.5, AQA 3.1.6Practice
Location and business plans
- Weigh the factors that decide where a business locates, including selling online
- Name the sections of a business plan
- Explain how a plan reduces risk and helps raise finance, and its limits
- AQA 3.1.7LessonPractice
Business growth and economies of scale
- Compare organic growth with mergers and takeovers, and the role of franchising
- Explain purchasing and technical economies of scale and the causes of diseconomies of scale
- Calculate and interpret average unit cost
Influences on business AQA Papers 1 and 2
- AQA 3.2.1Practice
Technology and business
- Explain how e-commerce, social media, digital communication and payment systems change business
- Link technology to sales, costs and the marketing mix
- Weigh the benefits and drawbacks of new technology for a business
- AQA 3.2.2Practice
Ethics, the environment and sustainability
- Explain what behaving ethically means for a business
- Analyse the trade-off between ethics or sustainability and profit
- Explain how pressure groups can change a business's decisions
- AQA 3.2.3, AQA 3.2.4LessonPractice
The economic climate
- Explain how interest rates, unemployment, consumer income, inflation and tax affect businesses
- Explain how a stronger or weaker pound affects importers and exporters
- Suggest how a business might respond to a change in the economy
- AQA 3.2.4Practice
Globalisation and international trade
- Explain globalisation, imports, exports and multinationals
- Explain tariffs and trade blocs as barriers to trade
- Explain how UK businesses compete abroad
- AQA 3.2.5Practice
Legislation
- Outline employment, health and safety and consumer law
- Explain the costs of meeting the law and the consequences of breaking it
- Explain the benefits of a safe and fair workplace
- AQA 3.2.6Practice
Competition, risk and uncertainty
- Explain what a market and competition are
- Compare a business with competitors on price, quality, location, range and service
- Explain why every business faces risk and how it can reduce it
Business operations AQA Paper 1
- AQA 3.3.1Practice
Production processes
- Compare job, batch and flow production and when each suits
- Explain lean production and just in time
- Weigh the cost, productivity, quality and flexibility of new technology in production
- AQA 3.3.2LessonPractice
Procurement, stock and suppliers
- Compare just in time with just in case stock
- Read a bar gate stock graph (Edexcel)
- Weigh price, quality, reliability and trust when choosing a supplier, and explain supply chain management
- AQA 3.3.3Practice
Quality
- Tell quality control from quality assurance
- Explain total quality management
- Explain the costs of poor quality and how quality gives a competitive advantage
- AQA 3.3.4Practice
The sales process and customer service
- Explain the stages of good service: product knowledge, engagement, speed and post-sales service
- Explain the benefits of good service and the dangers of poor service
- Explain how websites, e-commerce and social media change customer service
Human resources AQA Paper 1
- AQA 3.4.1, AQA 3.4.2Practice
Organisational structure and ways of working
- Read an organisation chart: span of control, chain of command, delegation and delayering
- Compare tall and flat, centralised and decentralised structures and their effect on communication
- Compare full-time, part-time, flexible, temporary, freelance and zero hour working
- AQA 3.4.2Practice
Recruitment and selection
- Put the stages of recruitment and selection in order
- Tell a job description from a person specification
- Weigh internal and external recruitment for a given business
- AQA 3.4.3LessonPractice
Motivation
- Explain why a motivated workforce matters: retention and productivity
- Compare wages, salary, commission, bonus, profit sharing, promotion and fringe benefits
- Compare non-financial methods: management style, responsibility, job rotation, enrichment and autonomy
- AQA 3.4.4Practice
Training and development
- Explain induction, on the job and off the job training, formal and informal training and self-learning
- Explain how training links to motivation, retention and new technology
- Explain target setting and performance reviews
Marketing AQA Paper 2
- AQA 3.5.1, AQA 3.5.3LessonPractice
Customer needs and market research
- Explain why identifying customer needs matters
- Compare primary and secondary, qualitative and quantitative research and judge reliability
- Use research data, including market size and market share, to make a decision
- AQA 3.5.2Practice
Segmentation and market mapping
- Segment a market by age, gender, location, income and lifestyle
- Read a market map to spot a gap and the competition (Edexcel)
- Explain why targeting a segment helps a business
- AQA 3.5.4Practice
Product, design and the product life cycle
- Use the design mix: function, aesthetics and cost
- Read the product life cycle and choose an extension strategy
- Explain USPs, branding and differentiation, and the Boston Matrix (AQA)
- AQA 3.5.4LessonPractice
Price
- Explain skimming, penetration, competitive, loss leader and cost-plus pricing
- Explain how costs, competition, segments, technology and the life cycle shape price
- Judge the best pricing strategy for a business
- AQA 3.5.4Practice
Promotion and place
- Match advertising, sponsorship, trials, special offers and branding to segments
- Explain targeted online advertising, viral marketing and e-newsletters
- Compare retailers, e-tailers, e-commerce and m-commerce as ways to sell
- AQA 3.5.4Practice
The integrated marketing mix
- Explain how each P affects the others
- Explain how a business changes its mix as customer needs, competition and technology change
- Recommend a marketing mix that builds competitive advantage
Finance AQA Paper 2
- AQA 3.6.1Practice
Sources of finance
- Tell internal from external and short-term from long-term finance
- Weigh loans, overdrafts, trade credit, share capital, retained profit, crowd funding and the rest
- Judge the best source for a start-up and for an established business
- AQA 3.6.2LessonPractice
Cash and cash flow
- Explain why cash matters and the difference between cash and profit
- Complete net cash flow and opening and closing balances in a forecast
- Evaluate ways to solve a cash flow problem
- AQA 3.1.6, AQA 3.6.3LessonPractice
Revenue, costs, profit and break-even
- Calculate revenue, fixed, variable and total costs, and profit or loss
- Find break-even output and the margin of safety from a chart, and with the formula (Edexcel)
- Explain how a change in price or costs moves break-even, and the limits of break-even analysis
- AQA 3.6.3, AQA 3.6.4LessonPractice
Profit margins, investment and financial performance
- Calculate gross profit, net profit and their margins, and the average rate of return
- Read an income statement and statement of financial position (AQA)
- Use financial and market data to judge performance, and know its limits