Curriculum intent:

We want our GCSE Business Studies students to engage in the events happening around them. We want them to understand why businesses and governments might be doing the things they are. We want them to be able to analyse the effects of these decisions on consumers, employees, society and the economy so they better understand the world they live in, and will one day work in.  We want to sow the seeds of enquiry and interest that can be further developed through Economics A level. We want to equip students with the appropriate knowledge and skills needed to develop their employability and identify business problems and opportunities.

The aims of our GCSE course are to:

• Develop our students into being enterprising individuals with the ability to think commercially.
• Develop students to become independent and reflective thinkers
• Develop students to create and construct well argued, balanced and well-evidenced arguments
• Create students that are aware of and understand current business and economic issues and impacts of these
• Enable students to draw on real businesses to make informed business decisions and solve business problems.

So what do we learn?

Businesses in the real world
This is student’s introduction to businesses and the basics of what they do. Here students are introduced to some famous entrepreneurs and learn about the skills that are important in enterprise. We look at where business ideas come from and what makes some a success whilst many others fail. We find out about our local firms, who they are, what they sell, why are they located where they are and create a ‘Budeopoly’ game based on this research.

Influences on business
There are lots of external factors that have an impact on businesses, how they operate, decisions they make and essentially what products they bring to market. In this topic we look at how the economy, technology, legislation, competition, globalisation and ethics and the environment affects businesses.
The desire to be seen as green is becoming increasingly important but to what extent are businesses really trying to be environmentally friendly? Is it just about plastic? Are we more concerned by price than environmentally friendly products? What is ‘Green Washing’? E.g. the government ban plastic straws but still subsidise the fossil fuel industry. Coca Cola encourages recycling but has been accused of draining Indian village’s water supplies.

The importance of global business is undeniable. Globalisation has seen the world’s wealth increase and absolute poverty fall. Some businesses have become titans on the back of a global model. But does the pursuit for profits sit alongside ethical behaviour? Where do we get our things from? Why do we get them from there?
What is free trade, why is the free trade argument so important in the Brexit debates? Why can’t you get Coca Cola in Cuba or North Korea?
Why is the exchange rate so important for businesses? How can UK firms compete with cheaper alternatives from Asia? It used to be made in Taiwan, then it was made in China, where next? Why?

AQA GCSE Business Studies

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  Human resources
  In this unit we look at how businesses recruit workers and how this might vary depending on the business and the position. Students are encouraged to complete a recruitment project where students create a set of recruitment documents and take part in shortlisting activities.
  We investigate different motivation methods used by businesses to keep their workers happy. We consider why it is important to have happy workers and how this benefits the business as well as the worker. We look into case studies on Amazon, Facebook and Google as well as some smaller and local firms to see how they motivate their workers and ask ourselves whether these methods are successful. Does motivation matter more in some industries/jobs than others? Why? Is the desire for happy workers becoming outweighed by the desire for cheap workers?
  Finally we look into training methods and compare these to make judgements on suitability of various training options for specific firms.

   

  Year 11

Operations
In this topic we study how products are made. We ask what is the importance of efficiency? Does this link back to competition and globalisation? Why are the Japanese production methods so dominant? How do you choose your suppliers? What is most important? Price, speed, quality or is it ethical considerations?

 How important is quality? Are perceptions of quality more important? How does this link to the power of branding? How can a business ensure quality? What are the effects when they get it wrong? A tiny defect can have devastating consequences, Challenger exploded because of a faulty rubber seal, deaths occurred in the USA because Toyota’s accelerators got stuck. But even smaller mistakes can be damaging to businesses; fines, lost customers and negative press. Has the rise of social media made quality even more important?

Marketing
Probably the one area of business we are all most familiar with. There is a reason we buy a particular chocolate bar or pair of trainers and there will have been countless marketing decisions made to try and influence our buying behaviour. Businesses spend a fortune on marketing; Coca Cola spend an average of $3.8 billion on global advertising, Nike $3.75 billion.

We explore why marketing is so important and the different approaches businesses choose to take. We learn about how customers and their needs are identified, how businesses carry out research and what marketing mix (4P’s) they choose to use. We make lots of use of real examples to identify the power of branding, USP’s and sponsorship. We study product innovations and updates, the rise of e and m commerce, the psychology of pricing decisions and the role competition (or lack of) plays in these marketing decisions.

Finance
Finally we study finance. In this module students are introduced to sources of finance and are helped to analyse when different finances might be suitable. Students are also introduced to some accounting models of income statements, statements of financial position, cash flow and break even. Students have the opportunity to create and populate these documents and to hone their numeracy skills in this module with a number of simple calculations. Students are encouraged to use financial documents to make judgements on a business performance and suggestions for future improvements that are appropriate to a specific situation.

Post 16 opportunities and careers

GCSE Business Studies is a good stepping stone for a range of A level or other vocational Level 3 courses. These include Economics, Business and Law. In turn this can lead to careers in economics, finance, accounting, marketing, or management. In fact it is very useful whatever job/career you hope to go into!

GCSE Specification