Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access for just £4.99 per month

GCSE: Case Studies

Discover fantastic essays... Learn from Teacher-annotated essays and dramatically improve your grades
Students learn faster on Marked by Teachers. Learning from worked examples accelerates learning by 29%. Use this accelerated learning to reach your potential

196 GCSE Case Studies essays

  • Marked by Teachers essays 4
  • Peer Reviewed essays 28
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. …
  6. 20
  1. Marked by a teacher

    Business in the UK case study. Adidas PEST analysis

    5 star(s)

    This is a good, well considered and comprehensive piece of work that carefully analyses many of the external influences on Adidas…

    • Essay length: 3299 words
    • Submitted: 27/09/2011
    • Marked by teacher: (?) David Salter 12/02/2012
  2. Marked by a teacher

    Recruitment and training at Perrys Motor Company.

    4 star(s)

    ****
    Many good points here and they have found out about the situation at Perrys. There are a number of omissions which I have put right in my comments. The…

    • Essay length: 1054 words
    • Submitted: 28/09/2010
    • Marked by teacher: (?) David Salter 21/03/2012
  3. Marked by a teacher

    Customer service at Thorpe Park visitor attraction.

    3 star(s)

    This deals well with the procedures but says nothing of the policy. It is also very uncritical and sounds like a rehash of what Thorpe Park want us to know.…

    • Essay length: 1780 words
    • Submitted: 06/04/2011
    • Marked by teacher: (?) David Salter 12/02/2012
  4. Marked by a teacher

    Activities at the Marriott hotel. The way in which the Marriott ensures that they achieve guest satisfaction is by firstly having many rooms and different types of rooms.

    3 star(s)

    ***
    This essay is strong on the product that Marriott offer but not on their other marketing activities which are just as important. Students should consider the whole marketing mix…

    • Essay length: 1453 words
    • Submitted: 28/02/2010
    • Marked by teacher: (?) David Salter 21/03/2012
  5. Peer reviewed

    Mcdonalds Training

    4 star(s)

    In summary, the report is quite good. The report states a number of different ways that McDonald's use for training new employees. However some sections lack detail, such as the…

    • Essay length: 975 words
    • Submitted: 04/01/2011
    • Reviewed by: (?) danielbeal 01/04/2012
  6. Peer reviewed

    Supermarkets compared - Pricing Low to high pricing Quality of the product and customer service. Availability 24 hours a day, easy to get, in stock Market segmentation

    4 star(s)

    In summary, the report is quite good. The report does state the processes that a number of retailers undertake. The student does link their academic understanding to their commercial understanding,…

    • Essay length: 1025 words
    • Submitted: 06/05/2010
    • Reviewed by: (?) danielbeal 02/04/2012
  7. Peer reviewed

    Competitive Advantage - Microsoft Case

    4 star(s)

    In summary, the report is quite good. The report states how Microsoft approach to business and IT, ensures that there company as a whole is successful. However there is a…

    • Essay length: 513 words
    • Submitted: 19/04/2009
    • Reviewed by: (?) danielbeal 19/03/2012
  8. Peer reviewed

    explain how each stakeholders or groups influence a business - Which in this case, will be Sainsburys.

    4 star(s)

    In summary, the report is quite good. The report states a number of stakeholders, and writes a little about each one. However the sections 'Shareholders', 'Suppliers' and 'Customers' are lacking…

    • Essay length: 1095 words
    • Submitted: 02/04/2009
    • Reviewed by: (?) danielbeal 31/03/2012
  9. Peer reviewed

    Type of Ownership

    4 star(s)

    In summary, the report is quite good. The report states each different type of business set-up, alongside their view and their option of an example business. However some area's lack…

    • Essay length: 730 words
    • Submitted: 09/02/2009
    • Reviewed by: (?) danielbeal 19/03/2012
  10. Peer reviewed

    Birmingham International Airport - Environmental Contraints

    4 star(s)

    In summary, the report is quite good. The student understands the impact that the business is having of the environment, and states how the business is resolving these issues as…

    • Essay length: 847 words
    • Submitted: 19/01/2009
    • Reviewed by: (?) danielbeal 02/04/2012
196 essays
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. …
  6. 20

What is SWOT analysis?

  1. 1 This is one of the commonest ways in which a business analyses its position. It will use a SWOT analysis as a basis for deciding on new strategies. It can also be used by business students to analyse a business as it methodically goes through the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by a business.
  2. 2 Strengths relate to internal factors that make the business better than the competition. It might be a wider product range, lower costs, better established brand name or any other factor that the business thinks it is strong in. Once identified it will look for ways it can build on its strengths.
  3. 3 Weaknesses relate to internal factors that the business feels it is worse in than its competitors e.g. less well known, less well developed in certain products or markets, lack of expertise etc. It is important for a business to be honest in assessing the weaknesses. It will look to minimising the effects of weaknesses or developing them.
  4. 4 Opportunities are external factors which the business could develop. They might relate to a market the business could move in to, a weak competitor, a new product area with strong possibilities of growth or a change in the law which presents business opportunities.
  5. 5 Threats are external factors that threaten the success of the business. It usually relates to a competitor’s action e.g. a competitor that is ruthlessly cutting prices or a new piece of legislation that is threatening to reduce the market. A business will look for ways to reduce the threats once it is aware of it.

How can I find out more about a business?

  1. 1 A company web site is a good place to start but bear in mind that this is written by the company itself and should be treated with some suspicion as a business will use its web site to sell itself.
  2. 2 For more detailed financial analysis, the annual report is a good source. Public Limited Companies must publish details of their finances e.g. profit and loss account and balance sheet. These can be accessed through the web site. Try going to investor relations if you are struggling to find it. The pay of all directors must be stated.
  3. 3 Newspaper articles will give useful information. Go to the web site of a quality paper or the BBC and search on the name of the company.
  4. 4 Try putting the name of the company onto a search engine. You will find that there often there are web sites giving a different perspective e.g. criticising their customer service, ethical policy or products. Do not put too many words into a search engine.
  5. 5 Develop the important skill of skim reading so that you can quickly see if a page is likely to have useful information. Follow links and skim them quickly as well.

How to analyse the external factors that affect a business

  1. 1 PEST analysis is a systematic tool which can be used to analyse the external factors affecting a business. Businesses use it on themselves when doing this and it is effective to use it as a student as it categorises the broad areas of external factors affecting a business. The word PEST comes from the initials of Political, Economic, Social and Technological.
  2. 2 Political factors can have a big influence on the laws affecting business, the purchasing power of consumers and the attitude of government to businesses. A business should analyse how politically stable a country is and any laws that will affect its operation.
  3. 3 Economic factors can have a big effect on the success of a business. It needs to analyse the economic state of countries it is in and the influence this will have on the business. If a country is in recession, this will affect the products and the best approach to marketing.
  4. 4 Social factors can have a big effect on business. Is the population ageing or predominantly young, what do the population think about 'green' issues, what is their attitude towards women?
  5. 5 Technological factors can have a big impact on business. Is a break through in manufacture likely, is there an advance in design and function that affects demand for a product, do customers increasingly want to buy this on the internet in some markets?

Meet the Marked by Teachers team

The teachers

Our team of teachers have over 435 years of teaching experience between them - that's a lot of essay marking.

Find out more about the team

TSR peer reviewers

The peer review team is a specialist squad of the brightest UK student talent, working together to provide rounded essay reviews.

Find out more about the team

Marked by a teacher

This essay has been marked by one of our great teachers. You can read the full teachers notes when you download the essay.

Peer reviewed

This essay has been reviewed by one of our specialist student essay reviewing squad. Read the full review on the essay page.

Peer reviewed

This essay has been reviewed by one of our specialist student essay reviewing squad. Read the full review under the essay preview on this page.