HSC Business Studies Question Thread

[MisterNeo]

Hello everyone

Could someone please help me understand what market segmentation is exactly? and all that stuff relating to  the secondary target market. Like i get that you have specific people you aim your product towards but the rest i dont get.
Thank you!

Hi! First of all market segmentation has three ways of segmenting according to the syllabus.

-Mass market (everyone)
-Segmented market (a certain group)
-Niche market (a certain group in that group)

There are four ways to segment a market.

-Demographic (age, income, etc)
-Behavioural (attitude towards product)
-Psychographic (health and environment consciousness)
-Sociocultural (culture, society values)

For example, Coca-Cola.
They saw that their sugary drink sales were in decline due to shifts in the public's awareness to health. Most of their female customers had stopped purchasing their sugary drinks. The public has become more "health-conscious" to products that may damage health (in the syllabus). This is why Mount Franklin was introduced by Coca-Cola. It was designed to appeal to health-conscious young women aged between 14-35 (actual stat).

Now to your second question...
A secondary target market is a group of customers that the product may also appeal to but isn't the business' main focus.
As with Coca-Cola, their main target market for Mount Franklin is young women. However, another segment, such as athletes and middle-aged people, may also find bottled water appealing and willing to buy it. It wasn't Coca-Cola's main focus but people are willing to pay for it.

I hope this clears things up

[BarnesK01]

In class we are working on a plan for a past hsc essay question. But I don't where to start. The essay question is "Assess strategies that management may use to respond to influences on operations." Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

[kiiaaa]

Hi! First of all market segmentation has three ways of segmenting according to the syllabus.

-Mass market (everyone)
-Segmented market (a certain group)
-Niche market (a certain group in that group)

There are four ways to segment a market.

-Demographic (age, income, etc)
-Behavioural (attitude towards product)
-Psychographic (health and environment consciousness)
-Sociocultural (culture, society values)

For example, Coca-Cola.
They saw that their sugary drink sales were in decline due to shifts in the public's awareness to health. Most of their female customers had stopped purchasing their sugary drinks. The public has become more "health-conscious" to products that may damage health (in the syllabus). This is why Mount Franklin was introduced by Coca-Cola. It was designed to appeal to health-conscious young women aged between 14-35 (actual stat).

Now to your second question...
A secondary target market is a group of customers that the product may also appeal to but isn't the business' main focus.
As with Coca-Cola, their main target market for Mount Franklin is young women. However, another segment, such as athletes and middle-aged people, may also find bottled water appealing and willing to buy it. It wasn't Coca-Cola's main focus but people are willing to pay for it.

I hope this clears things up

Thank you so much Master Neo. It all makes sense now

[kiiaaa]

Hello, everyone!

I was wondering if anyone had any marketing case studies? (not on apple or Qantas tho) I looked at the 'notes' tab too and found one for apple and Qantas but I would like maybe some other businesses too perhaps. Ill really appreciate it if you can share some
Thank you very very much! ))

[kylesara]

Hi could you please just explain what price points are as part of a pricing strategy? Im looking at 2 different explanations so im a bit confused. Thanks.

[MisterNeo]

Hi could you please just explain what price points are as part of a pricing strategy? Im looking at 2 different explanations so im a bit confused. Thanks.

This definition is the best I can find for price points. It is basically a suggested pricing method based on the current business climate.

Suggested retail price of a product, determined in such a way as to compete with prices of other products. A product may be introduced with a specific price point, but that price may be altered depending on current demand and competition. Source: businessdictionary.com

There is also one other strategy of price points where businesses put their price as $4.99 instead of $5.00. I think that maybe an example of price points.

[_____]

In class we are working on a plan for a past hsc essay question. But I don't where to start. The essay question is "Assess strategies that management may use to respond to influences on operations." Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

The key word here is "assess", meaning basically you need to provide a judgement. On what? The question mentions strategies that may be used in response to operations influences. So you need to plan to assess operations strategies (how good they are likely to be or what they are useful for) but you also need to know about the influences on operations management and how the two relate. As always with business studies, the syllabus is your friend, so revise strategies and influences relating to operations for the HSC course in this document: https://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/business-studies-st6-syl.pdf

As for planning, I believe the question is not a report (on a hypothetical business), so use a typical introduction/paragraph/paragraph/paragraph/conclusion format. Each paragraph should focus on a key point (maybe an influence) and the number you choose to use will depend on the length of time provided for the task.

[BarnesK01]

The key word here is "assess", meaning basically you need to provide a judgement. On what? The question mentions strategies that may be used in response to operations influences. So you need to plan to assess operations strategies (how good they are likely to be or what they are useful for) but you also need to know about the influences on operations management and how the two relate. As always with business studies, the syllabus is your friend, so revise strategies and influences relating to operations for the HSC course in this document: https://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/business-studies-st6-syl.pdf

As for planning, I believe the question is not a report (on a hypothetical business), so use a typical introduction/paragraph/paragraph/paragraph/conclusion format. Each paragraph should focus on a key point (maybe an influence) and the number you choose to use will depend on the length of time provided for the task.

Thankyou very much for your help, I really appreciate it

[marcusgrahamm]

Has anyone done a operations study into apple?

If so could you advise any useful sources?

Thanks )

[_____]

Has anyone done a operations study into apple?

If so could you advise any useful sources?

Thanks )

Apple's an interesting one, great for operations. Plenty of interest due to its status as a blue chip in the US, so there's lots of news on new developments and stuff.

I haven't done a case study myself, but I'd suggest going through each syllabus dot point for operations and trying to find stuff relating to Apple.

For example, this video details how they make their products in China: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk-xqPKOxl4
You could relate this to outsourcing (as the factory is owned by Foxconn), transformation processes and CSR (workers' conditions).

Edit: this video is a more extensive version of the one above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RBW2bcMzuU

Another thing you could mention is how Apple aims to differentiate its products to maintain a competitive advantage, spending money on R&D to create innovative products etc (http://www.businessinsider.com/apples-cfo-explains-the-companys-10-billion-rd-budget-2017-2/?r=AU&IR=T).

Hope that helps a bit.

[Lachlan Morley]

Hi all

Anyone got any case studies for limitations of financial reports

[_____]

Hi all

Anyone got any case studies for limitations of financial reports

Might be a good idea to dig in financial reports for these. Not sure if you need multiple examples of limitations, but Virgin Australia's financial report illustrates a few: https://www.virginaustralia.com/cs/groups/internetcontent/@wc/documents/webcontent/~edisp/2016-asx-financial-report.pdf

P10 - "Net operating expenditure includes $440.5 million in restructuring charges in the current year. These charges primarily relate to the program of operational and capital efficiency initiatives announced on 15 June 2016 that are intended to simplify the Group’s business, help build scale and improve productivity."

Basically they're explaining why there's a massive restructuring cost on their income statement which is an example of notes appended to the financial statement.

The business also states that they use the "fair value" method of valuing assets (a common practice) for their balance sheets which illustrates the issue with valuing assets: there are various different methods so the company must mention which one they have decided to implement. Use CTRL+F to find a specific example in that pdf.

On P16 they also mention that "The Group completed a one for one pro-rata non-renounceable entitlement offer of $852.0 million in August 2016. A portion of the proceeds from the entitlement offer were used to repay the $425.0 million shareholder loan facility."

Basically they're explaining how their debt was repaid, an example of debt repayments as a limitation of financial reports (by default they aren't explained and can give a false impression).

If you need an example of one of the other points look for an ASX blue chip stock, Google their financial report (hopefully a PDF) and CTRL+F the term. Hope that helps somewhat.

[MisterNeo]

Hey, could someone help me with these questions please? Thanks!


(Image removed from quote.)

Hi!!
Pricing Methods
-Skimming: Setting the initial price high to get those rich people to buy first, then reducing price over time.
Eg. iPhone launches. A brand new iPhone on the release date may cost you $1300, but after a month, it will only cost $1100 because those willing to pay have been satisfied.
-Penetration: Setting the initial price lower than competitors to quickly gain market share.
Eg. Aldi. Part of their success in the Australian market is being much cheaper than Woolies and Coles that we loved it. Hence, their success in taking a big chunk of their market share.
-Loss Leaders: An item that is priced very low on purpose solely to attract customers into the store. Usually makes no profit or even a loss.
Eg. Frozen Coke at McDonalds. I've actually been with McDonalds managers, and they tell me that the Frozen Coke sells at a loss to get customers in.
-Price Points: A series of prices that are recommended to be marketed at. This will be determined by current supply/demand, competitor price, and the market.
Eg. A manufacturer may recommend or ask a retailer to set a specific price to their items.

Marketing Strategies
Market Segmentation: I have already written a guide on this. Just scroll to the top of this Question Thread page. (It's the first one on this page)
Product/Service Differentiation: Customers always want more bang for their buck. If a business can set themselves apart from their competitor, either that be better features or whatnot, this will set yourself apart from all your other competitors. This will usually perceive the business as higher quality and will gain more publicity.
Eg. When Apple first introduced their iPhone back in like 2007, their competitors such as Nokia could not compete with the smartphone because it offered much more features than a brick, and it really set Apple apart in the mobile market.

Branding/Packaging: A brand is a trademark used by a business that distinguishes a business' product from its competitors. This can be in the form of colours, pictures, shapes, etc. The brand is usually featured on the packaging itself so that customers can identify products easily.
Eg.
-Coca Cola has trademarked the distinctive shape of their Coke bottle.
-Cadbury has trademarked that certain shade of purple on their wrappings.
-The packaging of Cadbury's Favourites is trademark purple as well as having a transparent window. That allows the customer to see inside. The insides contain the many brands of chocolate that people are already well familiar of such as Dream, Crunchie, etc.

Promotions
-Advertising
-Personal selling and relationship marketing
-Corporate social responsibility also fits in here too.
-Opinion leaders: Famous people who advertise/endorse a product.
Eg. George Clooney and that coffee thing, Nespresso (?)
-Word of Mouth: People who have bought/tried the product, and are talking about it to their friends as reviews.
It is a chain reaction as their friedns may also tell their friends and so on. Thus, word of mouth is very risky and can lead to poor reputation because the business cannot control it.
Eg. If a Michellin reviewer calls your restaurant crap in their reviews, your business will suffer because Michelin writes guide books whatnot.

Market mix is basically the 7P's of marketing. A quick google should be able to answer that if it is an IDENTIFY question.
Hope this helpss sorry if it's a bit lengthy like a guide

[olliesfield]

does anyone have any human resources learn to notes?

[_____]

I have a gap in my understanding of costs vs expenses that I need to fill.

COGS is costs related to the purchase and transformation of inputs into outputs.

Expenses are other costs (typically fixed) - selling, administrative and financial.

The question I have is, where exactly is the line drawn? For example, if a business employed a ton of casual staff (pretty much a variable cost), this is still counted as a selling expense, right? Also, would say rental fees for a factory or a warehouse be counted as a selling expense or included in the COGS because it's directly related to transforming inputs? Apart from the purchase of inputs and perhaps logistics, what else would be included in the COGS?