Business (AS & A Level) · Oct / Nov 2024 · Paper 22 · Question 1

Pot Plants (PP) PP is a private limited company that grows and sells plants in pots. PP has 12 large shops in country Q and uses a variety of promotion methods. The shops are located in the countryside and PP owns large fields near each shop where the plants are grown. The business is split into two divisions: growing and retail. Table 1.1 shows some human resource data about the divisions. Table 1.1: Human resource data about PP’s divisions Growing Retail Average workforce for the year 450 120 Number of employees who left in 2023 100 14 Trade union membership 100% 25% Payment methods Salary and piece rate Salary and commission PP’s plants are all sold in plastic or clay pots. The manufacture of these pots is outsourced between two businesses. • Clay Containers (CC) manufactures clay pots in one size and one colour using flow production. CC is based in country Q. PP would like a larger variety of pots, but CC does not want to pay the capital expenditure that this would require. CC has a lead time of three days for PP’s pots. • Fantastic Flexible (FF) manufactures plastic pots in a large factory in country S. The use of mass customisation means that it can produce any size and colour of pot. The lead time is one month for PP’s pots. 5 10 15 20

Read automatically from the paper; the printed page above is exact.