AS and A Level

Why choose Busi­ness Studies?

If you choose Busi­ness Stud­ies you will gain a good under­stand­ing of:

The internal func­tions of contem­por­ary busi­ness organ­isa­tions of all types.

The dynamic external envir­on­ment within which busi­nesses oper­ate and the effects this can have upon decision-making within a business.

Major topical issues that can gener­ate change for busi­ness organ­isa­tions and the ways in which busi­nesses respond to these issues.

The range of stake­holder perspect­ives that can be taken on busi­ness activities.

You will also gain a range of import­ant and trans­fer­able skills:

Data skills – you will be expec­ted to manip­u­late data in a vari­ety of forms and to inter­pret their results.

Present­ing argu­ments and making judg­ments and justi­fied recom­mend­a­tions on the basis of the avail­able evidence.

Recog­nising the nature of prob­lems, solv­ing prob­lems and making decisions using appro­pri­ate busi­ness tools and methods.

Plan­ning work, taking into account the demands of the task and the time avail­able to complete it.

Conduct­ing research into a specific theme in prepar­a­tion for one or more tasks.

Chal­len­ging your own assump­tions using evid­ence that has become available.

Specific­a­tion: AQA Busi­ness Stud­ies   AS 1131 A 2131
Click here to down­load the current specific­a­tion for this A level course.

AS
At AS Level, this specific­a­tion intro­duces candid­ates to the chal­lenges and issues of start­ing a busi­ness, includ­ing finan­cial plan­ning. It then focuses on how estab­lished busi­nesses might improve their effect­ive­ness by making tactical decisions at a func­tional level.

The AS specific­a­tion has 2 units:

Unit 1: Plan­ning and Finan­cing a Business

Topic list
Start­ing a Busi­ness - The chal­lenges and issues of start­ing a busi­ness; enter­prise; entre­pren­eurs.
Finan­cial Plan­ning - Essen­tial finan­cial concepts needed to start a busi­ness includ­ing: calcu­lat­ing costs, reven­ues, profits; using a break-even analysis and cash-flow forecasting.

Assess­ment
Writ­ten Paper: 1 hour 15 minutes (60 marks)
Weight­ing: 40% of total AS marks/ 20% of total A Level marks
Short answer ques­tions and exten­ded responses based on a mini case study.

Unit 2: Managing a Business

Topic list
Finance - budgets, improv­ing cash flow and profits.
People in Busi­ness - organ­isa­tional struc­tures, recruit­ment, train­ing and motiv­a­tion.
Oper­a­tions Manage­ment - oper­a­tional decisions, qual­ity, customer service, suppli­ers, tech­no­logy.
Market­ing and Competition- design­ing and using an effect­ive market­ing mix, market condi­tions and competitiveness.

Assess­ment
Writ­ten Paper: 1 hour 30 minutes (80 marks)
Weight­ing: 60% of total AS marks / 30% of the total A Level marks
Compuls­ory, multi-part data response questions.

A2
At A2, this specific­a­tion considers strategies for larger busi­nesses and how managers might meas­ure the perform­ance of the busi­ness. Finally, it considers the effects that external factors can have on busi­nesses and how a busi­ness can plan for and manage change, includ­ing lead­er­ship style and change in busi­ness culture.

The A2 specific­a­tion has 2 units:

Unit 3: Strategies for Success

Topic list
Func­tional Object­ives and Strategies - examin­ing their appro­pri­ate­ness in the context of corpor­ate object­ives.
Finan­cial Strategies and Accounts - making invest­ment inform­a­tion, meas­ur­ing perform­ance, finan­cial decisions.
Market­ing Strategies - analys­ing markets, and select­ing success­ful market­ing strategies, devel­op­ing market­ing plans.
Oper­a­tions Strategies - oper­a­tional issues, loca­tion, innov­a­tion, improv­ing oper­a­tional effi­ciency.
Human Resource Strategies - work­force plan­ning, adapt­ing organ­isa­tional struc­tures, success­ful employee relations.

Assess­ment
Writ­ten Paper: 1 hour 45 minutes (80 marks)
Weight­ing: 25% of total A Level marks
Ques­tions requir­ing exten­ded answers draw­ing upon AS mater­i­als. The focus will be on meas­ur­ing busi­ness perform­ance and assess­ing appro­pri­ate func­tional strategies to achieve success.
Unseen case study with a range of numer­ical data.

Unit 4: The Busi­ness Envir­on­ment and Change

Topic list
Corpor­ate Aims and Object­ives - purpose and nature of corpor­ate strategies, stake­holder perspect­ives.
Assess­ing Change in the Busi­ness Envir­on­ment - the effects of changes in the economic, polit­ical, social, ethical and tech­no­lo­gical envir­on­ment and responses of organ­isa­tions.
Managing Change - plan­ning for change, lead­er­ship and corpor­ate culture, making stra­tegic decisions, decision making.

Assess­ment
Writ­ten Paper: 1 hour 45 minutes (80 marks)
Weight­ing: 25% of total A Level marks
A two part paper - Section A will contain ques­tions based upon prior research. Recent topics have been “The Global Economy” and “Busi­nesses response to the reces­sion”.
Section B will be a choice of essay titles from which the candid­ate will select one. This will be a synop­tic paper and draw on all the specification.