HSC Business Studies Question Thread

[Razeen25]

Hii,

In a marketing extended response question which ends in "Assess... in achieving marketing objectives", to what extent would we need to talk about marketing objectives? Would stating the objectives in the introduction and then linking back to them after evaluating throughout the essay be enough? Also, in my exam I wrote profit maximisation and attaining a competitive advantage through implementation of strategies as marketing objectives, and I guess I failed because my teacher said those aren't really marketing objectives .

I wish marketing syllabus specified objectives like the Operations and Finance ones do (.

[Opengangs]

Hii,

In a marketing extended response question which ends in "Assess... in achieving marketing objectives", to what extent would we need to talk about marketing objectives? Would stating the objectives in the introduction and then linking back to them after evaluating throughout the essay be enough? Also, in my exam I wrote profit maximisation and attaining a competitive advantage through implementation of strategies as marketing objectives, and I guess I failed because my teacher said those aren't really marketing objectives .

I wish marketing syllabus specified objectives like the Operations and Finance ones do (.

Hey, Razeen25.

I would think that you would need to mention something about marketing obejctives throughout your response, and not just the intro. Just the intro is very risky, because it essentially gives the markers an impression that you've rote learnt your content rather than applied your understanding to the question. Obviously, you wouldn't need to dive deeply into the marketing objectives, but mentioning it periodically throughout your paragraphs should be solid enough to a marker.

Marketing objectives are more to do with promoting the business' products and services to its customers. Profit comes under finance, while marketing would be more related to:

- increase sales.
- brand awareness.
- improve market share.
- target new customers and expand existing customer base.

So, essentially anything to promote the products and services (obviously, there is more than just "promotion") would fall under marketing.

Hopefully, this helps clear anything up!

[Mada438]

Hii,

In a marketing extended response question which ends in "Assess... in achieving marketing objectives", to what extent would we need to talk about marketing objectives? Would stating the objectives in the introduction and then linking back to them after evaluating throughout the essay be enough? Also, in my exam I wrote profit maximisation and attaining a competitive advantage through implementation of strategies as marketing objectives, and I guess I failed because my teacher said those aren't really marketing objectives .

I wish marketing syllabus specified objectives like the Operations and Finance ones do (.

Hey!
If you mean the strategic role of marketing, then you need to look at your notes on the role of marketing as well as other peoples notes. For example, the ATAR Notes ones list profit maximisation, choice, standard of living, employment, brand awareness and market share as the 'strategic role of marketing goods and services'

On the other hand...When you say 'marketing objectives' aren't you just referring to 'marketing strategies'? If so, , then just look at the strategies on the syllabus!
If your teacher says that, then that's what I'm guessing she means. Otherwise, you need to ask her what she specifically means.

Perhaps this is just a regurgitation or contradiction of my earlier point, but when you have a question like that, I'm guessing they're asking about strategies. You would talk about how successful a particular strategy is in achieving a particular aspect of the strategic goal of marketing (USING A CASE STUDY).
I'd say definitely look at all aspects of the strategic role of marketing in your intro and link back in every single paragraph

Hope this helps! 

[Razeen25]

Hey, Razeen25.

I would think that you would need to mention something about marketing obejctives throughout your response, and not just the intro. Just the intro is very risky, because it essentially gives the markers an impression that you've rote learnt your content rather than applied your understanding to the question. Obviously, you wouldn't need to dive deeply into the marketing objectives, but mentioning it periodically throughout your paragraphs should be solid enough to a marker.

Marketing objectives are more to do with promoting the business' products and services to its customers. Profit comes under finance, while marketing would be more related to:

- increase sales.
- brand awareness.
- improve market share.
- target new customers and expand existing customer base.

So, essentially anything to promote the products and services (obviously, there is more than just "promotion") would fall under marketing.

Hopefully, this helps clear anything up!

Ah thank youu for answering this! I did refer back to marketing objectives, linking case studies/my points to it. I think I just messed up since I referred to marketing objectives as more financial than improving market share/brand awareness (actual marketing objectives rip). This was really stupid but oh wellll, "I'll mAke iT up in tRIals!!1!"

Hey!
If you mean the strategic role of marketing, then you need to look at your notes on the role of marketing as well as other peoples notes. For example, the ATAR Notes ones list profit maximisation, choice, standard of living, employment, brand awareness and market share as the 'strategic role of marketing goods and services'

On the other hand...When you say 'marketing objectives' aren't you just referring to 'marketing strategies'? If so, , then just look at the strategies on the syllabus!
If your teacher says that, then that's what I'm guessing she means. Otherwise, you need to ask her what she specifically means.

Perhaps this is just a regurgitation or contradiction of my earlier point, but when you have a question like that, I'm guessing they're asking about strategies. You would talk about how successful a particular strategy is in achieving a particular aspect of the strategic goal of marketing (USING A CASE STUDY).
I'd say definitely look at all aspects of the strategic role of marketing in your intro and link back in every single paragraph

Hope this helps! 

Yess you're right! It was about promotional strategies and how successful they are in achieving marketing objectives. I did do what you said so I hope I passed lol. Thank you

[BiggieT]

Hii,

In a marketing extended response question which ends in "Assess... in achieving marketing objectives", to what extent would we need to talk about marketing objectives? Would stating the objectives in the introduction and then linking back to them after evaluating throughout the essay be enough? Also, in my exam I wrote profit maximisation and attaining a competitive advantage through implementation of strategies as marketing objectives, and I guess I failed because my teacher said those aren't really marketing objectives .

I wish marketing syllabus specified objectives like the Operations and Finance ones do (.

I think they would be more looking for a response incorporating the objectives specified in Business Studies in Action:
- Increasing Market Share
- Expanding the product mix
- Maximising Customer Service
And then the rest is built on your ability to elaborate and incorporate case studies into your response.

Despite often being quite convoluted and even vague at points, Business Studies in Action provides a good guide for your response if the specifics of a question aren't elaborated upon in a question.

Hope that helps

[fr123_]

does visibility in operations mean ability to see the actual operations process taking place or customer contact through feedback which is then put back into the operations process? both tetxbooks that i've been using have different definitions so which one fits better?

[emilyygeorgexx]

does visibility in operations mean ability to see the actual operations process taking place or customer contact through feedback which is then put back into the operations process? both tetxbooks that i've been using have different definitions so which one fits better?

Hey!

Definitely would define visibility in relation to the customer contact that occurs in the transformation process. For example, customised products have a high level of customer contact as the business has to interact with the customer to find out their needs and wants, which is conducted through market research. This is also due to the fact that there is an increased level of complexity and value adding occurring.

Businesses who want to reduce costs, increase speed and decrease lead times will produce standardised products to meet the homogenous needs of a mass target market, in which there would be a low level of visibility (customer contact). By producing standardised products this also gives businesses the opportunity to exploit efficiencies such as economies of scale.

Hope this helps!

[Mada438]

does visibility in operations mean ability to see the actual operations process taking place or customer contact through feedback which is then put back into the operations process? both tetxbooks that i've been using have different definitions so which one fits better?

Just to add onto Emily's answer (she's 100% right)
I would define visibility as the extent to which customers can see an operations process in action.
But that would also mean customer contact (like if your business is a service, then your operations process could involve his customer contact)
An example (case study) of visibility is dominos. When you walk into dominos, you can literally see the operations process regarding your order. From being created on the make line, to be being put into the over and then finally cut up and boxed. You can see it happening. Subway has the same thing!

Also, an example of visibility relating to businesses creating standardised products is a factory (e.g. cars, a specific utensil). Because the products are standardised in factories typically, there's no need for high visibility/customer contact.

[thalialucifero]

What are some good case studies for operation strategies- global factors specifically scanning and learning?

[emilyygeorgexx]

What are some good case studies for operation strategies- global factors specifically scanning and learning?

Hey!

I feel like the case studies for global factors, aside from global sourcing and economies of sale, can be vague at times especially with scanning and learning as it is just essentially businesses reviewing the strategies of its competitors and analysing its own performance to see how they can engage in continuous improvement - ie. kaizen. In an essay I did, I used Qantas as my case study for scanning and learning so I'll pop it in below. I was on time constraints so didn't have enough time to put in some stats but that can be easily done with just a quick google search!

Due to increased globalisation that brings increased competition, Qantas constantly stays abreast and fully informed of global developments and continually test for their application to current operations. Management at Qantas has found, absorbed, learnt from and tested an increasing volume of data and information from a variety of customers in order to take corrective action and alter their operations process to satisfy business and consumer demands.

Hope this helps!

[zanibalh]

Hey guys,

Can someone please explain the critical path analysis please?
Is it the longest path taken to complete the entire project?

[emilyygeorgexx]

Hey guys,

Can someone please explain the critical path analysis please?
Is it the longest path taken to complete the entire project?

Hey!

So a critical path analysis is basically a sequencing tool used in the transformation process to see what tasks needs to be carried out, what order they should be completed in and the time taken to complete each task. Essentially, the critical path analysis is the shortest time it takes to carry out all the tasks/activities the business requires.

However, to calculate the critical path you must always take the longest path!

The easiest way to look at it, is when you have two options, you always take the path that has the most amount of days. Eg. say you have path AB which is 3 days and then AC is 6 days, then you would take AC and then repeat the same step over again.

I hope that makes sense!

[BrittyG]

Hi everyone,

This seems like an extremely silly question and I really should know this, but I'd like a clear definition of what an asset is, what a liability is and how to find total equity (as seen in debt to equity ratio)

Thanks in advance!

[Mada438]

Hi everyone,

This seems like an extremely silly question and I really should know this, but I'd like a clear definition of what an asset is, what a liability is and how to find total equity (as seen in debt to equity ratio)

Thanks in advance!

Hey!
So assets are what the business owns and liabilities are what a business OWES. They are both split into current and non current assets. Basically like short (current) and long term (non-current)

The debt to equity ratio is not to find total equity. It is found by the equation: TL÷OE
In other words: Total liabilities (so both current and non-current) divided by a businesses owners equity. It is used to find the solvency/gearing of a business and is described using a ratio or percentage.
It is found on the balance sheet by adding current and non-current liabilities together to form total liabilities and dividing that by whatever figure is listed under the heading owners equtiy

However if that heading is blank but the balance sheet does balance than you can find owners equity by rearranging the balance formula of A=L+OE or...Assests=Liabilities+Owners equity. To find owners equity from this you would rearrange it to be OE=A-L as then both the OE and L should equal the assets.

Hope this helps but let me know if you need any further clarifacation! 

[BrittyG]

Hey!
So assets are what the business owns and liabilities are what a business OWES. They are both split into current and non current assets. Basically like short (current) and long term (non-current)

The debt to equity ratio is not to find total equity. It is found by the equation: TL÷OE
In other words: Total liabilities (so both current and non-current) divided by a businesses owners equity. It is used to find the solvency/gearing of a business and is described using a ratio or percentage.
It is found on the balance sheet by adding current and non-current liabilities together to form total liabilities and dividing that by whatever figure is listed under the heading owners equtiy

However if that heading is blank but the balance sheet does balance than you can find owners equity by rearranging the balance formula of A=L+OE or...Assests=Liabilities+Owners equity. To find owners equity from this you would rearrange it to be OE=A-L as then both the OE and L should equal the assets.

Hope this helps but let me know if you need any further clarifacation! 

thank you so much !! This clears everything up, if I could respect more than once I would!!