Level 1
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90842: Carry out and review a product-based business activity within a classroom context with direction
Updated December 2017. This document has been updated in its entirety to address issues that have arisen from moderation.
Planning
All aspects of business planning must be documented before the activity takes place.
The following areas should be covered:
- SMART objectives with a focus on sales and profit targets
- an introduction describing what the product is to be sold
- marketing, at the very least an analysis of the 4Ps in relation to the product
- a SWOT analysis
- some indication of the people in the business and what each person will do
- sufficient financials to make it clear what the potential sales are, what costs are expected to be, and break-even point
- an operations section, explaining how the students intend to make/buy the product, and how they will make it available to the consumers.
At Merit, there should be more detail about promotion, detailed points in the SWOT analysis, a realistic budgeted income statement, and a detailed guide to the intended operations. At Excellence, the business plan will be cohesive (even if written by different people) and comprehensive. Business knowledge will be linked throughout. The reader would be left with a clear indication of how the activity will operate.
At all levels, there must be evidence of business knowledge, i.e. relevant business language, correctly used. For example, a pricing strategy will be named at Achieved and explained at Merit. The integration required for Excellence would link the pricing strategy to another section, such as the target market or promotion.
Reviews
An important aspect of students’ reviews is reporting on progress towards SMART objectives. At Achieved, the student will also state what went well and what did not. Such reflection must be linked back to the plan. At Merit, the students need to be more reflective, discussing reasons why objectives were or were not achieved and how well the plan was able to be implemented.
A comprehensive plan (Excellence) would see all or almost all sections explained in detail with integrated business knowledge. This would enable a comprehensive review that also integrates business knowledge. For example, 'We used a competitive pricing strategy, and this was successful because we reached our projected sales target, which enabled us to reach our business objective of…'.
As reviews are inextricably linked to the planning of the activity, an Achieved level plan that lacks the planning detail and depth of business knowledge required at Merit level is unlikely to be able to generate an in-depth review. Similarly, a Merit level plan is unlikely to be able to generate a comprehensive review.