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Reply 20
cdpuk
My class has a talk today from one of the examiners who helped write the paper. He mentioned some very useful things and gave us a load of handouts.

I've written up a summary of what he said at the bottom of this page:

http://wikinotes.cdpuk.net/wiki/AQA_Business_Studies_June_2006_Case_Study
(See "Advice and possible hints from examiners" section)

-Chris


Cheers!! It wasn't Ian Marcouse lol was it? He seems to be everywhere! :biggrin:

If there are gonna be no 15 mark questions on economics, what will they be on? and lol my business studies teacher was *SURE* that a SWOTanalysis might come up on the exam, bless her!


the 15 markers in the exam really are gonna be the death of me - 5 marks for evaluation?? ouch!
Reply 21
angel eyes
anyone has royal mail as their case study¿¿¿???? wat kinda questions might come up??? i have some questions:
QUESTIONS:
1)what are marketing objectives identify royal mail;s possible objectives
2)what is marketing? evaluate royal mails current marketing efforts.
3)what is a marketing mix?explain royal mail;s elements of marketing mix.
4)what is market segmentation? on what basis does TRM segment its market.
5)what is marketing research? which is more appropriate for royal mail- field research or desk research?

my teacher is predecting the qs now.i will give them to u later.
Karvel
Cheers!! It wasn't Ian Marcouse lol was it? He seems to be everywhere! :biggrin:

If there are gonna be no 15 mark questions on economics, what will they be on? and lol my business studies teacher was *SURE* that a SWOTanalysis might come up on the exam, bless her!


the 15 markers in the exam really are gonna be the death of me - 5 marks for evaluation?? ouch!

For our BUS3 mock examination paper we had our two 15 mark questions on the Kaizen Approach Competition Legislation, and also performing a SWOT analysis. Oh, and the examiner says that those question are UNLIKELY to come up, i wouldnt want to risk the reletive success of my performance on such a weak "hint" like that.
Reply 23
keep it going post more hints peeps XD...
Reply 24
Shaon
my teacher is predecting the qs now.i will give them to u later.


HEy, thanx a lot, i really need them, cos my teachers in da hospital since long, so he hasnt been able to prepare us properly, so ya...thanx a lot:biggrin::biggrin:
For those interested here are the provided mock examination papers which our teacher provided us both BUS2 and BUS3;

Unit 2 Mock Examination Paper:

1. Outline the benefits to S4U of offering a high quality, custom made product. 6 marks.

2. To what extent would S4U benefit from introducing a kaizen philosophy across the business. 15 marks.

3. Examine the benefits to S4U of Billy using internal recruitment to recruit departmental managers. 6 marks.

4. After S4U moved to Bradford they implemented a mroe traditional hierachy based on functional departments. Analyse two benefits the company might experience as a result of implementing this organisational structure. 8 marks.

5. Using motivational theory, evaluate how successful Billy and Michelle were in motivating their staff. 15 marks.


Unit 3 Mock Examination Paper:

1. Explain two ways which which the increases in interest rates in 2006 and 2007 will affect S4U. 6 marks.

2. Billy decided not to persue the big multinationals over the pressure put on the UK sports retailer to drop S4U. Discuss whether legislation on competition policy is worthwhile. 15 marks.

3. Explain, with examples from the case study, the difference between a shareholder and a stakeholder. 6 marks.

4. Explain why S4U might have benefited from the clear company objectives being set out. 8 marks.

5. Evaluate the opportunities and threats that S4U needs to consider when weighing up whether to choose to continue to trade or sell to the French retailer. 15 marks.
Reply 26
thanks for the ques benson..do u haf the mark scheme as well? Could u post the mark scheme s well if u haf it ^^:smile:
vultac
thanks for the ques benson..do u haf the mark scheme as well? Could u post the mark scheme s well if u haf it ^^:smile:

I'm scanning the mark schemes onto my computer and i'll attach them later on. As you expect i dont find retyping 5 pages of text the most exciting thing to do a bank holiday monday!
Michael you are a star. My class hasn't done a single practice paper for unit 2or 3, and we spent about 5 minutes on one for unit 1:smile:
Reply 29
Do examination boards differ that much? I'm with WJEC.
Reply 30
I'm gonna order the tutor2.net today S4U thing today, but what's the difference between the £5.95 one and the £25.95 one??

edit: you have to order a minimum of 5 copies of the £5.95 one which works as more than the £25.95 one.
Reply 31
Hey, did anybody go to the conference thing in Leeds with ian marcouse giving a lecture about the case study? It was a while back. Was quite useful.
I think we could get asked about disecons of scale, it just jumps out at me- disecons of scale happend for two reasons 1. they did not anticipate it and 2. they grew too quickly. Then you could go into all the implications disecons of scale involve- it even says it in the case study - poor coordination etc. Ian marcouse said that we shouldn't rely on predicted questions, which is logical but in some ways i think they can help by preparing you to argue some concepts but you shouldn't think that they are definatly going to come up.
I think the best tip is just to learn all the key terms in the case study and concepts behind them.
Good luck.
Reply 32
can someone please tell me definitions of what simultaneous engineering is and the main types of production:
flow
batch
job
any others..

i am retaking unit 2 again and dont have any revision guides, can remember most of the stuff just these ones are a bit fuzzy
Reply 33
I'll be breif:
Flow production is a continous flow of production, usualy the same product.
advantages are that you can benefit from econs of scale, you can expand that.
Disadvantage is that if there is one fault, it will halt the whole production line, creating an oppertunity cost because you are lossing output time, meaning that your fixed costs are not being spread.

Batch prdouction is where you make the same or similar products in small groups, for example pies at a bakery.
Can't remember what adv/disadv are.

Job production is where workers make there own individual product, like what S4U started to do.
Advantages are that the workers are likely to highly motivated because it's almost like there own work of art in a way, to the business, it allows value to be added because it takes a lot of time and likely to be high quality, which also creates an up market, prestigous brand image.
I think the disadvantages are long lead times, S4U have this. It's expensive because it is likely to require training. there is more but i think these are the main ones.
Reply 34
hmm simultaneous engineering definition is prob what im worried most about.. really cannot remember anything about it...

also any chance of some examples of the production methods like..

flow production is that like cars on an assembly line.
job like cakes being made to ur specification (name and happy birthday signs)
batch production is like when you make 100 coca-cola mini fridges and then 100 pepsi .. am i being right

i think advantages of batch production is that enables use of economies of scale also "bonding" between group members, producing batches... or is that job?
Reply 35
got this off bitesize:

There are four ways for manufacturing businesses to organise their production - job production, batch production, flow production and cell production.

Job production


This method of production involves an item being manufactured entirely by one worker or by a group of workers.

These items are often made to customer requirements, rather than being mass produced. This type of production is usually undertaken by small businesses and craft industries (e.g. carpenters), although larger businesses which specialise in ‘one-off’ products (e.g. bridges) may also use this production method.

Batch production


This method of production involves the manufacture of an item being divided into a number of small tasks. A collection (or ‘batch&#8217:wink: of items each have one of these tasks completed, and then the batch moves onto the next manufacturing task.

In other words, several items have the same task performed on each of them and then they move onto the next task together in a group.

This production method can result in the build-up of large amounts of stock and work-in-progress. This may be a problem if the business is in a fashion industry, where customers’ tastes can change quickly and unpredictably, leaving the business with much stock that it is unable to sell.

Flow production

This method of production involves the tasks which were identified in ‘batch’ production becoming continuous for each unit, often with the use of a moving conveyor belt (e.g. a car assembly line). Each unit is produced individually, instead of being produced in batches.

This type of production is usually undertaken by large businesses. This method of production was first established by Henry Ford in the 1920s, when he developed the world’s first automated production line. This involved each car passing the workers on a moving conveyor belt, rather than the workers continually moving to the car. This method should boost labour productivity and reduce average cost of production even further.

It is often argued that flow production leads to high rates of alienation, demotivation and absenteeism amongst the employees - it is for these reasons that much machinery is today used on these production lines to perform simple, repetitive tasks which humans may easily become bored in performing.

Cell production


This method of manufacturing an item organises workers into ‘cells’ within the factory, with each cell comprising several workers who each possess different skills. Each cell is independent of the other cells and will usually produce a complete item, and each cell will usually have an output target to achieve for a given period of time.

It is often argued that if the group of workers in each cell can see the completion of the finished product, then their work will have more meaning and therefore their levels of motivation and job satisfaction will be greatly enhanced.
Reply 36
I would say job is more bonding because lol call me sad but i remember in the soap emmerdale, Eric pollard and all his workers used to sit down painting, one model each and they all used to chat etc.
Reply 37
yeah that bit off bitesize about batch, applies to S4U because trainers are like fashion too so it could apply
Reply 38
i need a definition for simulatenous engineering !!!
Reply 39
google it, look on wiki.

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