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AS and A Level: Case Studies and Analysis

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What is corporate social responsibility?

  1. 1 This is where businesses behave in a way that is seen as being ethically acceptable and beneficial to all stakeholders including the wider community.
  2. 2 An example would be a commitment to only buying raw materials from fair trade suppliers. This may raise costs so the business is being socially responsible and not buying from the cheapest source.
  3. 3 Sceptics may say that the business only behaves in a socially responsible way for the publicity they get from it.
  4. 4 This may be the case but it still makes it in the best interest of the business to be socially responsible. Think of other benefits to a business e.g. in the motivation of staff, the long term profit.
  5. 5 The free market view would be that the business only has responsibility to its owners (the shareholders) and anything which raises costs in the interest of social responsibility will be passed onto customers in higher prices anyway.

Top tips for analysing a business

  1. 1 Internal sources of information about a business will include the company accounts, press releases, company website, adverts etc. Remember who is writing them and why. Treat them with some scepticism.
  2. 2 External sources of information include Wikipedia, newspaper articles and internet sites.
  3. 3 Consider why a business has taken a particular course of action. What are its corporate objectives? What are its competitors doing? Is this a response to external or internal factors?
  4. 4 When evaluating use comparisons with previous time periods, with competitors and with its declared objectives.
  5. 5 Be prepared to question. Do not take what a business says uncritically. You may not know the real situation but questioning issues will still be worth marks.

Five things you need to know about stakeholders

  1. 1 Stakeholders are any individuals or groups that have an interest in or are affected by the activities of a business. These include shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, government and local community.
  2. 2 Most businesses will need to take into account the interests and needs of the different stakeholder groups when making decisions. The relative strength and influence of the different groups may be reflected in the final decision.
  3. 3 When analysing a business you may need to consider the effects of any course of action on all the stakeholders. The effects will differ.
  4. 4 Stakeholder groups will usually have different interests that a business must resolve e.g. employees will want fair pay and job security while shareholders will want low costs.
  5. 5 Be prepared in your analysis to point out the winning and losing stakeholders. Some people criticise the whole stakeholder concept and say that businesses are only really interested in satisfying the shareholders.

419 AS and A Level Case Studies and Analysis essays

  • Marked by Teachers essays 22
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    Skills and Knowledge Needed to Work In A Business Environment

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    A comprehensive analysis of how to increase efficiency and reduce waste in a business. It could be improved by discussing a specific business but this may not be practical.…

    • Essay length: 3674 words
    • Submitted: 27/10/2012
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Dennis Salter 15/05/2013
    • Awarding body: Not known/Not applicable
  2. Marked by a teacher

    Does the increasingly global nature or business mean that all organisations need to change their strategies significantly to achieve higher profits?

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    The writer sticks closely to the question and makes the points well. There should be more evaluation and the writer could make more evaluation points during the essay itself…

    • Essay length: 1084 words
    • Submitted: 14/05/2012
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Dennis Salter 15/05/2013
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    Aims of tesco

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    This is a comprehensive analysis of how Tesco operate. The writer clearly has undertaken a lot of research and uses it well. My main criticism is over the confusion…

    • Essay length: 5008 words
    • Submitted: 23/01/2009
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Dennis Salter 15/05/2013
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    Explain different types of business information, their sources and purposes for Sainsburys.

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    A good attempt at quite a difficult unit. The requirement is to explain the different types of methods of communication and while there could be more detail, reasonable understanding…

    • Essay length: 871 words
    • Submitted: 09/10/2012
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Dennis Salter 15/05/2013
    • Awarding body: Not known/Not applicable
  5. Marked by a teacher

    Diversification case study. Reasons why GSK diversify

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    This is a well researched piece and the writer has discovered a lot of useful information about GSK. My main criticism is that they never define what they mean…

    • Essay length: 869 words
    • Submitted: 18/01/2012
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Dennis Salter 15/05/2013
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    Frederick Taylor's and Elton Mayo's theories applied in companies - McDonalds and Tesco.

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    The writer has clearly understood the theories of Taylor and Mayo and has researched into how McDonalds and Tesco operate but they have not made a strong case that…

    • Essay length: 1948 words
    • Submitted: 22/03/2011
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Dennis Salter 15/05/2013
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    Business Culture & Strategy Analysis Of JD Wetherspoon

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    The writer makes some good points and shows good understanding of the situation at Weatherspoons. There is too much repetition and at times I am less sure that the…

    • Essay length: 3544 words
    • Submitted: 12/03/2011
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Dennis Salter 15/05/2013
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    SWOT, PEST and Boston Matrix analysis for Sainsburys.

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    This has been a good and mostly accurate introduction to some key marketing concepts. The writer has attempted to apply the subject matter as well. It lacks depth but…

    • Essay length: 2467 words
    • Submitted: 30/06/2010
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Dennis Salter 15/05/2013
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    Cadburys Aims and Objectives

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    **** I like that the writer has used real information from Cadbury and then added their own comments but I would prefer to know when they are making their own…

    • Essay length: 917 words
    • Submitted: 04/05/2009
    • Marked by teacher: (?) David Salter 01/12/2012
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    Primark. The company I have chosen to look at is Primark, in this report I shall be looking into the operations management. Followed by the inputs, transformations and outputs to the company.

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    This essay improves as it goes on. Towards the end the writer is really getting into well applied detail on how Primark operate. It starts off poorly with many…

    • Essay length: 3287 words
    • Submitted: 17/02/2008
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Dennis Salter 01/05/2013
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Conclusion analysis

Good conclusions usually refer back to the question or title and address it directly - for example by using key words from the title.
How well do you think these conclusions address the title or question? Answering these questions should help you find out.

  1. Do they use key words from the title or question?
  2. Do they answer the question directly?
  3. Can you work out the question or title just by reading the conclusion?

  • In This unit I am gong analyse the product knowledge required by employees of the organisation. The organisation that I am going to analyse is Alton Towers.

    "Conclusion From my research I have found out a great deal about how Alton Towers runs its park. From my research I have examined the secondary research methods used by Alton Towers. From my secondary research I believe that the most effective type of method to delivery product knowledge is the use of the Alton Towers website. This is because it can be easily updated and changed to suit customer types or any up and coming events. I believe it is a quick and good method of delivering product knowledge as the amount of people that have access to a computer is constantly growing. I have concluded that Alton Towers has excellent product knowledge and that the majority of its staff where able to deliver accurate and reliable answers to any of the questions that I asked members of staff. From my research I conclude that the most affective type of primary research undertaken to get up to date product knowledge from staff is questionnaires. The only problem with this is that it is time consuming to find a member of staff and ask several questions. This type of research is affective if a person needs to know one or two questions but to find out lots of product knowledge I would recommend an educational talk."

  • With reference to the car market, discuss the case for and against engaging in niche marketing as distinct from mass marketing.

    "In conclusion, the most effective market for the motor industry is the mass market which is the volume car produces because there are many people who are interested in purchasing cars at affordable prices than for higher prices from the luxury car produces. This means the mass market are more likely to become successful as a whole because there will always be people who will be interested in purchasing affordable prices cars than for high end cars who generally cater fewer customers. Therefore, since there will be on-going purchases from the volume car producers they're likely going to become much more successful than the luxury car producers."

  • Analyse the arguments for First Cars car club proposal. June 2010 AQA

    "In conclusion, I think First Cars should take the risk. The evidence shows that the business has to take drastic action to stop further falls in profit. This strategy of market development (same product but new market) is not as risky as diversification but should be more profitable than trying to penetrate the car hire market further. Although First Cars may have to wait for several years before the proposal becomes profitable there is scope for a successful result, especially as the costs of running a car are forecast to increase which should raise demand for car clubs. The main factor which will influence success is whether the business, managers and workers can change their culture from a low price low customer service business into a high price and high customer service one. If they can do this then I think the car club will be successful and I recommend that First Cars goes ahead with it."

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