9609_s21_qp_23
A paper of Business Studies, 9609
Questions:
2
Year:
2021
Paper:
2
Variant:
3
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1
Bilal’s Homes (BH) Bilal is a sole trader, who buys and sells apartments for a profit. Bilal left university two years ago and moved back to his parent’s home in city W. He lacks social skills but he has always been good at self-management, so he wanted to start his own business. Bilal bought his first apartment using money that he borrowed from his parents. He spent some time and money improving and upgrading the apartment and was able to sell it for a profit. Bilal paid his parents back and then had enough capital to purchase his second apartment. Since then, Bilal has bought three more apartments. Table 1.1 shows some financial details about the last three apartments that Bilal bought and sold. Table 1.1: Financial details about the last three apartments that Bilal bought and sold Apartment Purchase price ($) Cost of improvements and upgrades ($) Selling price ($) A 58 000 8 000 80 000 B 120 000 10 000 150 000 C 65 000 15 000 70 000 Bilal has done some market research and has found out that customer demand for buying apartments in city W is increasing. He knows that he needs to purchase as many apartments as he can before the prices increase. However, he is limited by the capital he has in the business. Bilal has been approached by Sophie, another entrepreneur, who also buys and sells apartments. Sophie would like to enter into a business partnership with Bilal. She has provided Bilal with some details from the last year about her business. Bilal can use this data to help him decide if he would like to enter into the partnership (see Table 1.2). Table 1.2: Details about Sophie and her business in 2020 Number of apartments bought and sold Number of apartments that made a profit Number of apartments that made a loss Profit margin 11% Capital available at end of year $150 000 Sophie’s main competencies Social skills and social awareness Define the term ‘market research’ (line 15). Explain the term ‘social awareness’ (line 29). Refer to Table 1.1. Calculate the profit margin Bilal made on the last three apartments that he bought and sold. Explain one way in which Bilal may add value to the apartments he buys. Analyse two factors which could influence the demand for buying apartments in city W. Recommend whether Bilal should enter into a business partnership with Sophie. Justify your recommendation.
5. Finance and accounting (AS Level)  →  5.1. Business finance
10. Finance and accounting (A Level)  →  10.2. Analysis of published accounts
Open
2
Belted Up (BU) Belted Up (BU) is a manufacturer of hand-made leather belts for clothing. The business makes a range of sizes and colours of belts using batch production. Table 2.1 shows some details of BU’s best-selling belt, the Classic. The price of each Classic belt is $11. Table 2.1: Details of BU’s Classic belt Size Colour Number of belts sold in 2020 (000) Small Brown Medium Brown Large Brown Small Black Medium Black Large Black BU has an objective of internal growth. The directors of BU have decided to manufacture a new belt that can be reversed, so that it is black on one side and brown on the other. This could affect the amount of inventory held by BU and its liquidity. The directors have proposed process innovation so that the new belt can be produced by machine. The factory manager has been promoted within the business and a new factory manager is needed. An extract from the job advertisement for this vacant position is in . Job title: Factory manager We are looking for a factory manager to drive the process innovation needed to develop the production of belts. The factory manager will manage all of the 70 production workers and 8 supervisors in the factory. The manager will also meet regularly with the worker representatives. The factory manager will also manage the inventory and be responsible for the warehouse operations. : Extract from the job advertisement for the new factory manager Define the term ‘liquidity’ (line 15). Explain the term ‘internal growth’ (line 13). Refer to Table 2.1 and any other relevant information. Calculate the total revenue from selling the Classic belt in 2020. Explain one advantage and one disadvantage to BU of selling a range of sizes and colours of the Classic belt. Analyse two disadvantages to BU of the proposed process innovation. Evaluate the usefulness of Mintzberg’s roles of management for BU when recruiting a new factory manager.
4. Operations management (AS Level)  →  4.1. The nature of operations
4. Operations management (AS Level)  →  4.2. Inventory management
Open