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Business Studies · May / June 2024 · Paper 21 · Question 2

0450

As printed in the paper

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  • 2(a)[8]

    Explain two advantages and two disadvantages of using external recruitment to find EP’s new manager. Award 1 mark for each relevant advantage/disadvantage (max 2 advantages and max 2 disadvantages). Award 1 additional mark for each explanation of the advantage or disadvantage in context. Relevant advantages might include:

    There will be new ideas in the business – which may make the business more competitive with other pottery manufacturers
    There may be no rivalry between the new manager and existing employees – there will not be jealousy amongst the 7 marketing employees who did not get the promotion
    The quality of the candidates may be high/more experienced/more skilled
    Wider choice of applicants to choose from
    There will be no new vacancy to replace the internal applicant Relevant disadvantages might include:
    Recruitment may take longer – as advertisements are needed which may take time to be read and respond to applicants/interviewing applicants for the job of Marketing Manager
    The person is not known to the business – risk of employing someone who does not have the skills and expertise required to understand the production of products such as cups and bowls
    May be more expensive than internal recruitment
    May be less effective for a time after first being employed – as the new person will take time to understand the tall organisational structure of EP
    It may be demotivating for existing employees as not able to be promoted For example: There may be a wider choice of applicants (1)

    who have more experience in the production of pottery products (app). Application could include: pottery;

    cups;

    plates;

    bowls;

    high-quality products;

    private limited company;

    trading for 40 years;

    new Marketing Manager;

    Managing Director;

    want sales to increase;

    plastic or bamboo products;

    information from Appendix 2.

  • 2(b)[12]

    Consider the following three ways EP could use to increase the sales of its products. Which would be the best way for EP to use? Justify your answer.

    Advertising using social media
    Emailing special offers to existing customers
    Setting up a website Level Description Mark Sound application of knowledge and understanding of relevant business concepts using appropriate terminology. Detailed discussion of two or more ways. Well-justified recommendation. Candidates discussing the three ways in detail, in context and with a well-justified recommendation, including why the alternative ways were rejected, should be rewarded with the top marks in the band. 9–12 Sound application of knowledge and understanding of relevant business concepts using appropriate terminology. Detailed discussion of at least one way. Judgement with some justification/some evaluation of choice made. Candidates discussing two or more ways in detail and applying them to the case should be rewarded with the top marks in the band. 5–8 Limited application of knowledge and understanding of relevant business concepts. Limited ability to discuss the ways with little/no explanation. Simple judgement with limited justification/limited evaluation of choice made. Candidates outlining the three ways in context should be rewarded with the top marks in the band. 1–4 No Creditable Response Relevant points might include: Advantages Disadvantages Advertising using social media
    Can target specific demographic groups such as higher income earners
    Viral marketing/share information with family and friends enables recommendations for plates and cups to be spread quickly and to a large group of potential customers
    Potential customers will see an advert for the shops to look for EP’s pottery when they go to sites such as Facebook, which increases awareness of EP’s products
    Social media widely used by consumers – large scale exposure
    Can easily be ignored as there are a lot of adverts on social media
    Can be expensive for EP to pay for pop-ups to ensure its pottery is seen by a large group of people
    Potential customers may not use social media and therefore they will not be aware of EP’s products
    Easier to leave bad reviews can lead to fewer purchases of cups and the bad reviews may be unfair if only a small proportion of reviews are bad Emailing special offers to existing customers
    Low cost/cheaper way to get information to a lot of existing pottery customers
    Emails go direct to existing customers, who may be more likely to purchase EP’s products due to the high-quality
    May be used to direct customers to retailers’ websites – by including links in the email
    Email may go into spam and so be ignored
    No guarantee the email address is correct and therefore will not be seen by all EP’s customers
    Existing customers of plates may see this as annoying and get a negative view of EP
    Only sent to existing customers/some customers may not have email so not targeting new customers/may be less effective Setting up a website
    Makes information about EP’s pottery more accessible to potential customers searching for its products – makes them more likely to purchase a set of dinner plates
    Have complete control over the way its pottery is shown in the adverts
    Prices can be quickly updated
    Can include interactive adverts/videos, which are more attractive to customers
    Website can be used for online ordering – more accessible for customers living further away from retailers
    Increased costs of paying for a specialist to set up the website/ improvements
    Cost of postage and packaging
    On-going costs of maintenance of the website, e.g. updating prices of plates
    Search engines may not bring up EP’s products on the first page of a search unless EP pays for this which can be expensive
    Relies on people finding the website/may be relatively unknown Recommendation Justification might include:
    Social media is the best way to choose as the advert for pottery is more likely to be seen than on a website, which has to be searched for and social media will appear immediately. Viral marketing means that people using social media can more quickly spread information than the website and emails to existing people about EP’s products and may not increase sales as these customers already have EP pottery.
    Using emails is the best way to choose as an email is less likely to be ignored and targets people who have already been a customer and therefore may be more likely to read the email and purchase additional products to match their existing pottery plates.
    Setting up a website is the best way to choose as it can include a lot of information about EP’s high-quality products which the other two alternatives do not. It can include interactive sections that may be attractive to potential customers and therefore increase sales.
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