A-level Business_{DRAFT 7138}

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

• purpose and value of Corporate Social Responsibility
• Carroll’s Corporate Social Responsibility pyramid
• shareholder vs stakeholder approach
• CSR vs PR (eg Greenwashing, Bluewashing)

Environmental, social and governance (ESG)

• measures of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance including health and safety, emissions, resource usage, community investment and philanthropy, composition of governing body
• value of ESG reporting
• value of improving ESG performance
• value of code of ethics/ethical conduct
• Triple Bottom Line (Profit, People, Planet)

Competitive environment

• impact of, and how to influence Porter’s five forces

Political/legal environment

The opportunities and threats, and the impact on the functional areas of business, created by changes in the political and legal environment.

• trade agreements
• protectionism: tariffs, quotas, trade regulations
• consumer protection
• employee protection (including The Equality Act)
• competition policy
• environmental protection

Economic environment

The opportunities and threats, and the impact on the functional areas of business, created by changes in the economic environment:

• economic growth (GDP)
• taxation (direct and indirect)
• inflation
• interest rates
• exchange rates
• unemployment

Social environment

The opportunities and threats, and the impact on the functional areas of business, created by changes in the social environment:

• demographic factors
• consumer lifestyle/behaviour
• activism

Technological change

The opportunities and threats, and the impact on the functional areas of business, created by changes in the technological environment including:

• disruptive technologies including Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Strategy

• purpose and value of strategy

Influences on strategy

• mission, vision and objectives
• SWOT analysis
• stakeholder mapping: stakeholder power and interest
• actions of stakeholders and impact on business decisions

Selecting a strategy

• the Ansoff Matrix (market development, market penetration, new product development, diversification)
• positioning in terms of benefits and price including low-cost vs differentiation strategies

Implementation of strategic decisions

• factors affecting the successful implementation of strategy
• the difficulties of maintaining a competitive advantage
• reasons why strategies fail, including strategic drift

Strategic investment decisions

• purpose and value of investment/capital expenditure
• factors influencing investment including non-financial factors and risk
• the calculation, interpretation and analysis of data relating to payback, average rate of return and net present value

Business growth

• advantages and disadvantages of being a small or medium sized enterprise (SME)
• reasons why business grow
• internal growth and external growth
• methods of growth including mergers, acquisitions and franchising
• forms of integration: vertical (backward and forward), horizontal and conglomerate
• digital growth
• retrenchment
• impact of growth and retrenchment on functional areas

Globalisation strategy

• opportunities and threats of globalisation for a business
• benefits and drawbacks of being a multinational
• attractiveness of different countries as a market
• entering international markets: exporting, licensing, joint ventures, direct investment
• factors affecting the degree of globalisation
• reasons for, and challenges of, producing abroad
• attractiveness of different countries as a production base
• impact of global strategy on functional areas

Digital strategy

• benefits and challenges of a digital strategy
• impact of a digital strategy on functional areas

Change

• types of change: internal, external, transformational
• drivers of change
• benefits of change
• problems of change including Kotter and Schlesinger’s reasons for resistance to change
• management of change including Lewin’s Force Field analysis
• developing an agile organisation

Risk and uncertainty

• types of risk: financial, operational (eg cyber security), reputational and strategic
• importance of risk management – assessing and planning for risk
• methods of mitigating risk including contingency planning and crisis management
• methods of reducing uncertainty including scenario planning and forecasting
• benefits and challenges of reducing risk and uncertainty