AS/A2 Business Studies

Business Studies

Level: AS and A2

Exam Board: AQA

Syllabus No: AS 1131, A2 6131

What will I study?

The Business Studies course investigates the internal operations of a business and analyses how they are affected by the external environment. Students have to comment on and judge the strategies that firms could follow. The course will entail six main sections:

MARKETING:
How a firm ensures that it sells the products and services that the consumers want at a profit.

FINANCE:
How does a firm ensure that it never runs out of money? How does it calculate how much money it makes each year?

PEOPLE:
Do people only respond to money? Will they stay with an organisation forever? What is a good leader?

OPERATIONS:
Whats the most efficient way to produce a car? Why have the Japanese been so successful? Can we learn from them?

THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT:
Pressures on organisations and individuals: Economic (e.g. a change in interest rates); Social (e.g. decreasing birth rate); Environmental (e.g. GM food protests); Legal (e.g. the minimum wage); Political (e.g. a rise in income tax and national insurance); Technological (e.g. email replacing letters). We investigate how these factors affect firms and how they should best respond to the external environment.

OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY:
This draws all the above elements together to analyse how firms succeed and what strategies are used to achieve success. We look at how firms grow such as the Morrisons takeover of Safeway? We also consider why some firms fail through poor strategy or bad luck.

How is this course assessed?

The course is assessed entirely by examination. AS students complete a 75 minute examination in January and another 90 minute exam in June. A2 students complete a 105 minute exam in January and a further 105 minute exam in June. Many students elect to resit an exam in the second year to improve their overall grade.

What next?

Most career options are accessible from this subject, for example, Management, Accountancy, Advertising, Banking, Marketing and Personnel. Progression is wide and varied and there are numerous study options open to a student either in a directly related or similar area. The business area is now the most popular choice in Higher Education.