2nd Prelim

Question 1

Benefits of Market Research

Answer 1

To find out the size of the market
Gather information on customer needs/wants
Gather information on consumer behaviour
Gather information on the competitive environment
Reduce risk of launching new products
Avoid costly financial mistakes

Question 2

Types of Market Research

Answer 2

Desk Research - secondary information from existing sources e.g newspapers, websites
Field Research - primary information direct from consumer e.g personal interviews, surveys, observation

Question 3

Market Research

Quantitive V Qualitative

Answer 3

Quantitative- represented as numbers/stats. Useful as it contains measurable data that is easy to interpret.
Qualitative - expressed as opinions/ideas
Useful as they are more detailed and give a better understanding of a situation.

Question 4

Role of the Manager

Answer 4

Planning - looking ahead, setting targets
Organising - obtain/organise resources
Coordinating - coordinate procedures and resources
Commanding - give instructions and use delegation
Controlling - review performance and take action where needed

Question 5

Types of Decisions

Answer 5

Strategic - long term, sets out operational goals, made by owners/directors/senior managers
Tactical - medium term, tactics to achieve operational goals, made my middle managers/supervisors
Operational - short term, need to ensure smooth running of organisation, made by supervisors/employees

Question 6

Factors affecting decision making

Answer 6

Finance
Employees
Equipment
Management

Political
Economic
Social
Technology

Question 7

Centralised decision making

Answer 7

Strong leadership
Highly skilled managers
Fast decision making
Holistic approach
Promotes unified culture

Less delegation demotivates employees 
Alienated management
Slower decision making
Little room for creativity
Over powering culture

Question 8

Decentralised decision making

Answer 8

Delegated leadership
Managers with greater departmental knowledge
More responsive to change

Less management skills
Too focused on own needs not organisation as a whole

Question 9

Creating corporate culture

Answer 9

Common approach to beliefs/core values
Common approach to physical aspects
Common approach to polices/procedures

Question 10

Benefits of culture

Answer 10

Employees feel they belong
Increased motivation
Strong employee relationships
Positive attitude
Customers identify with and feel comfortable with business

Question 11

Negatives of culture

Answer 11

Can create ‘group think’, people feel they can’t speak out and can struggle to be the same as everyone else

Stifles creativity as employees lose ability to think independently