Unit 1 Flashcards
What is business activity?
The process of producing goods and services to satisfy consumer demand.
What is a need?
A good or service which is essential to living?
What is a want?
A good or service which people would like, but it is not essential for living.
What is the economic problem?
Unlimited wants cannot be met because there are limited factors of production. This creates scarcity.
What are the factors of production?
The resources needed to produce goods and services - land, labour, capital and enterprise.
What is land?
It is all natural resources such as minerals, ores, fields, oil and forests.
What is labour?
It is the number of people available to work.
What is capital?
It is machinery, equipment and finance needed for production of goods and services.
What is enterprise?
It is people who are prepared to take the risk of setting up businesses - they are known as entrepreneurs.
What is scarcity?
There are not enough goods and services to meet the wants of the population.
What is opportunity cost?
The benefit that could have been gained from an alternative use of the same resource.
What is specialisation?
It is when people and businesses concentrate on what they are best at.
What are some advantages of specialisation?
- Leads to increased labour productivity.
- Skill development- workers are trained to do a specific task and master their skills
- Production costs are reduced, which can be reflected at the end price of goods/service.
What is division of labour?
Production is divided into separate tasks and each employee does just one of those tasks.
What are the different types of goods and services that businesses produce?
- Consumer goods.
- Consumer services.
- Capital goods.
What are consumer goods?
Products which are sold to the final consumer. They can be seen and touched, for example computers and food.
What are durable consumer goods?
Durable consumer goods can be used over and over again, for example televisions, computers, cars, tables and chairs.
What are non-durable consumer goods?
Non-durable consumer goods can only be used once, for example food and drink.
What are consumer services?
Non-tangible products such as insurance services, transport.
What are capital goods?
Physical goods, such as machinery and delivery vehicles, used by other businesses to help produce other goods and services.
How can you add value?
- Branding.
- Excellent service quality.
- Product features.
- Convenience.
How do you add value with branding?
Bigger companies are able to charge a higher price than their competitors. Branding increases added value because people want to feel they should buy the item from this particular company.
What is an example of an industry that uses branding?
Coca-cola.
How do you add value with excellent service quality?
Providing a high quality personalised experience can be the difference between being able to charge a high price or one which is much lower. The cost of materials used will be very similar, but the personalised service increases the added value.
What is an example of an industry with excellent service quality?
Tailors or made-to-measure suit makers.
How do you add value with product features?
Products that have more features and functions than similar products on the market will allow the producer to charge a higher price. Although these additional features will increase costs, consumers are prepared to pay a much higher price for an elevated product.
What is an example of an industry with unique product features?
The mobile phone market.
How do you add value with convenience?
Many consumers lead busy lives and they’re often prepared to pay a higher price for goods and services which they can have immediately or which save them time.
What is an example of an industry with convenience?
Ready meals.
How are businesses classified?
- The primary sector.
- The secondary sector.
- The tertiary sector.
What is the primary sector?
A firm whose business activity involves the extraction of natural resources.
What is an example of a business in the primary sector?
- Farming.
- Fishing.
- Forestry.
- Mining.
What is the secondary sector?
Firms that process and manufacture goods from natural resources. They usually take the resources produced by the primary sector activity and turn these raw materials into finished goods.
What is an example of a business in the secondary sector?
- Refining.
- Manufacturing.
- Construction.
What is the tertiary sector?
Firms that supply a service to consumers and other businesses - to the final consumer.
What is an example of a business in the tertiary sector?
- Shops.
- Restaurants.
- Banks.
- Cinemas.
- Airlines.
What is the chain of production?
The production and supply of goods to the final consumer involves activities from primary, secondary and tertiary sector businesses.
What is an example of the chain of production?
1) Drilling oil (primary).
2) Refining the oil (secondary).
3) Petrol or gas station (tertiary).
How do we know if a country is a less developed country?
- Small industrial sector.
- Lower standard of living compared to other countries.
How do we know if a country is a more developed country?
- High levels of industrialisation.
- People have a higher average income and enjoy a higher standard of living compares to less developed country.
What indicates if a business is developing or developed?
The size of a countries different sectors of business.
Why has the importance of business classification changed?
- Industrialisation.
- De-industrialisation.
What is industrialisation?
The growing importance of secondary sector business activity and the reduced importance of primary sector business activity. The emerging economies of both China and India are good examples.
What is de-industrialisation?
The growing importance of the tertiary sector and the reduced importance of the secondary sector. The UK and the USA are good examples of this type of economic activity.
What could the change of business classification also be due to?
- Higher incomes.
- Better education.
- More leisure time.
How does higher incomes impact this?
Consumers demand better quality and a wider choice of products.
How does better education impact this?
Consumers expect better products and know that they can buy goods from suppliers in a different region or country through e-commerce.
How does more leisure time impact this?
Consumers work fewer hours than they used to. The demand for leisure activities, such as cinemas, restaurants and holidays, has increased.
What could the change in business behaviour resulting from?
- The need for finance to fund expansion so that businesses can compete in global markets.
- There need to be able to communicate internally and externally quickly and as cheaply as possible to take advantage of the opportunities of wider markets.
- The need to provide better services for employees, for example canteens; this in turn increases business demand for the goods and services of other businesses.
What is a mixed economy?
An economy where the resources are owned and controlled by both the private and the public sectors.
What is the private sector?
The part of the economy that is owned and controlled by individuals and the companies for profit.
What is the public sector?
The part of the economy that is controlled by the state or government.
How do private sector businesses decide on what to produce?
Consumer choices help businesses to decide what they produce.
How do the private sector businesses decide on how to produce?
They want to make profit so they choose the lowest cost so that they can make a profit when the products are sold.
How do the private sector businesses decide on who to produce for?
Their products will be bought by people who have enough money to pay the price charged. Some consumers will not be able to buy products that they want because they do not have enough money. So it will be based on the consumers’ buying power.
How are the decisions made in the public sector for what, how and for whom to produce their services for?
They are all made by the government.
What is the main objective of the public sector?
To provide essential public goods and services as well as ensure that everyone has access to these Goods.
What is an entrepreneur?
A person who has an idea for a new business and takes the financial risks to start it up and manage it.
What is enterprise?
A project, business or company. A commercial/ private Enterprise is a business run for profit.
What can entrepreneurship be about?
- A new idea.
- A new way of something already existing.
- Offering something existing in a new location.
What are characteristics of a successful entrepreneur?
- Strong leadership qualities.
- Innovative.
- Risk-taker.
- Self motivated and determined.
- Initiative.
- Goof at networking.
- Self confident.
- Result driven.
- Multi-skilled.
What is a business plan?
A detailed written document outlining the purpose and aims of a business which is often used to persuade lenders or investors to finance a business proposal.
What does a business plan describe?
- The business.
- The business opportunity.
- The market.
- The objectives of the business.
- Financial forecasts.
What will the business part include?
This part of the plan includes details of the entrepreneur, the idea for the business and information about the skills and expertise of the managers or employees who need to be recruited.
What will the business opportunity part include?
Here you will find information about the product and why the entrepreneur believes customers will buy it; this part of the plan includes market research.