Pearson Edexcel • Business

Explains what a SWOT analysis and a PESTLE analysis is used for, the structure of markets, uncompetitive markets, and Porter's Five Forces

Describes the benefits of business growth (e.g. economies of scale, increased market power, increased profitability), the problems arising from business growth (e.g. diseconomies of scale, overtrading, poor communication), and organic growth.

Describes reasons for mergers and takeovers, what they are, the advantages and disadvantages of vertical and horizontal integration, financial risks and rewards of integration, hostile and friendly integration, and problems of rapid growth.

Explains quantitative sales forecasting and why a business would construct a sales forecast. Also explains moving averages, variations from trends, forecasting using extrapolation, scatter graphs and limits of sales forecasting

Explains the three types of investment appraisal - payback, average rate of return (ARR) and net present value (NPV) - including how to calculate them and the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Also includes qualitative factors to consider when making investment decisions.

Describes what a decision tree is, uses an example to show how to interpret one, and explains the advantages and disadvantages of decision trees.

Describes what a critical path analysis is, what a manager needs to know to use the technique, features of a critical path, key points of a critical path, and the advantages and disadvantages of it.

Describes corporate influences (corporate objectives, stakeholder perspectives, business ethics), corporate timescale, evidence based and subjective decision making, strong and weak corporate cultures, and Handy's corporate cultures (power, role, task, person)

Describes the difference between the stakeholder and shareholder approach, and the potential conflicts between shareholders and stakeholders

Explains ethical codes of practice and ethical objectives, the advantages/disadvantages of ethical behaviour, corporate social responsibility (CSR), pay and rewards, and the trade off between profit and ethics