What is meant by the digital revolution?

The digital revolution is the shift from analogue and mechanical technology to digital technology, which allows information to be stored, copied and sent almost instantly and at almost no cost.

How does analysing large volumes of customer data create value for a retailer?

Patterns across millions of transactions show what to stock in each store, when to reduce prices and which customers to target with which offer, which raises sales and cuts markdowns.

How has the digital revolution changed the way a business reaches its customers?

It can sell directly through its own website or app rather than through intermediaries, and it can advertise to precisely defined audiences online instead of paying for mass media.

How has digital technology changed the way businesses compete on price?

Prices are visible and comparable in seconds, so a business charging more than a rival is found out immediately and must justify the difference through service, brand or convenience.

Why has the digital revolution hit newspapers and travel agents harder than plumbers?

What they sold was largely information and arrangement, which can be delivered online at almost no cost, whereas plumbing is a physical service that must be performed in person.

OCR A-Level Business (H431) H431

Introduction to Business

Topic overview Entrepreneurs, enterprise and the value they create Land, labour, capital and enterprise Sectors of industry, forms of ownership and the reach of a market Sole traders, partnerships, companies and limited liability Choosing a legal structure and what it means for stakeholders Franchising and co-operatives The functions of a business and how they depend on each other Measuring the size of a business, and what limits its growth Joint ventures and strategic alliances

Business Objectives and Strategy

Topic overview Aims, objectives and the hierarchy that links them Setting SMART objectives Communicating and revising business objectives Stakeholders and their objectives Stakeholder conflict and its management Stakeholder power and influence Mission statements and business purpose Corporate social responsibility and the profit trade-off Building and judging a CSR profile Strategy, tactics and implementation The business plan and the Plan-Do-Review cycle Risk and reward Quantifiable and unquantifiable risk Uncertainty and its causes Opportunity cost in business decisions Contingency planning and crisis management Porter's Five Forces Porter's generic strategies and competitive advantage The purpose of performance measurement Financial measures of business performance Ratio analysis: profitability, liquidity and efficiency Non-financial measures of business performance Forecasting and its limits Qualitative forecasting methods Forecasting sales, costs, profit and cash flow Time series analysis and moving averages Correlation, extrapolation and index numbers The business decision-making process Decision trees and expected values Ansoff's matrix Conflicting results from decision-making tools Causes, types and barriers to change Change management models: Lewin, Kotter and 7-S Leading change and using external consultants

External Influences

Topic overview The market, its size, growth and share Market structures and a firm's decision-making power Demand, supply and their determinants Equilibrium, shortages and surpluses Market forces and the dynamic market Physical and non-physical markets Competition, and barriers to entry and exit Market dominance and how it is regulated Globalisation and the forces driving it Multinationals, global strategy and global brands International trade, its barriers and its practicalities Exchange rates and currency conversion Free trade, trading blocs and the European Union Emerging markets and the changing global environment Political factors and political stability The business cycle and key economic indicators Taxation, government spending and subsidies Monetary, fiscal and supply-side policy Social factors and changing consumer lifestyles Technology in business and technological change The digital revolution and the information age Business ethics and ethical trading Managing conflicts between ethical and other objectives Legislation, compliance and the cost of breaking it Environmental issues and environmental policy Sustainability in practice Reading the external environment and the cost of ignoring it

Accounting and Finance

Human Resources

Topic overview Human resource objectives Chain of command, span of control and delegation Tall, flat, matrix and divisional structures Organisational culture and what shapes it Formal and informal communication and group norms Verbal, non-verbal and electronic communication The communication model and barriers to communication Workforce planning Flexible working practices Recruitment and the choice between internal and external hiring Selection methods: interviews, tests and references Training methods and training needs analysis Appraisal: 360°, peer and self-assessment Measuring workforce performance: turnover, absenteeism and productivity Redundancy and fair dismissal Unfair dismissal, grievance procedures and employment tribunals The functions of management Leadership theories and styles Maslow, Herzberg and the theories of motivation Monetary and non-monetary motivation in practice Employee relations and employment legislation Trade unions and employee participation External influences on human resources The human resources strategy

Marketing

Topic overview Marketing objectives and why a business sets them Marketing resources and SWOT analysis Primary market research and trial marketing Secondary market research and desk sources Sampling methods and sample reliability Normal distribution and standard deviation Market share and market growth Using market analysis to make decisions Consumer buying behaviour and the marketing models Niche marketing and mass marketing Customer orientation, product orientation and customer service Market segmentation Customers, consumers and business-to-business marketing The product life cycle and its stages Extension strategies The marketing mix and the marketing strategy Product, USP, branding and differentiation The Boston matrix, Ansoff's matrix and portfolio analysis Pricing strategies Price and income elasticity of demand Cross elasticity and advertising elasticity of demand Place and channels of distribution Promotion above the line, below the line and digital Service marketing and the extended marketing mix External influences on marketing

Operations Management

Topic overview Operations objectives and operations strategy Added value and how it is measured Innovation and research and development Job, batch, flow and cell production Specialisation and the division of labour Service provision and customer service Project management and Gantt charts Critical path analysis and network diagrams PERT and the limits of project planning Productivity and how to raise it Economies and diseconomies of scale Capacity utilisation and capacity management Stock control charts and reorder levels Reordering systems and the cost of holding stock Lean production, just in time and kanban Technology in operations Quality control, quality assurance and TQM External quality standards and benchmarking Choosing a location for a business Logistics and supply chain management Outsourcing, offshoring and re-shoring External influences on operations

External Influences

The digital revolution and the information age

1 thing to know
Components 01, 02 and 03

Overview

Recall questions on the digital revolution and the information age, analysing customer data, reaching customers directly, price transparency, which businesses digital disruption hits hardest, the opportunities and threats for businesses, financing investment, the effects on employees, customer service expectations, and fragile reputations.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What is meant by the information age?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What is meant by the digital revolution?
Model answer
The digital revolution is the shift from analogue and mechanical technology to digital technology, which allows information to be stored, copied and sent almost instantly and at almost no cost.
2
What is meant by the information age?
Model answer
The information age is the period in which information itself has become the key economic resource, so much of a business's value comes from the data it holds and how well it uses it.
3
How does analysing large volumes of customer data create value for a retailer?
Model answer
Patterns across millions of transactions show what to stock in each store, when to reduce prices and which customers to target with which offer, which raises sales and cuts markdowns.
4
How has the digital revolution changed the way a business reaches its customers?
Model answer
It can sell directly through its own website or app rather than through intermediaries, and it can advertise to precisely defined audiences online instead of paying for mass media.
5
How has digital technology changed the way businesses compete on price?
Model answer
Prices are visible and comparable in seconds, so a business charging more than a rival is found out immediately and must justify the difference through service, brand or convenience.
6
Why has the digital revolution hit newspapers and travel agents harder than plumbers?
Model answer
What they sold was largely information and arrangement, which can be delivered online at almost no cost, whereas plumbing is a physical service that must be performed in person.

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Introduction to Business

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External Influences

Accounting and Finance

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Customer means the person who buys a product and pays for it.

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