Business Studies Practise Flashcards

Comprehensive practice flashcards covering the core HSC Business Studies modules: Marketing, Finance, Human Resource Management, and Operations Management.

Marketing Role

A total system of interaction designed to plan, price, promote, and place (distribute) products to current and potential customers.

Strategic Role of Marketing

The use of customer-oriented thinking to increase brand awareness, sales, and market share to achieve profit maximisation.

Production Approach

A historical marketing approach (1820s–1920s) focused on output volume rather than product differentiation, based on the idea 'if we make it, they will buy it'.

Selling approach

A marketing approach (1920s–1960s) that emphasised persuasion and increased spending on advertising to stimulate demand, often neglecting customer needs.

Resource Market

A market consisting of those engaged in primary production, such as farming, mining, and fishing.

Intermediate Market

A market where wholesalers and retailers purchase products and resell them for a profit.

Niche Market

A narrowly selected, concentrated, or micro target market.

Psychological Influences

Personal characteristics and ways of thinking, such as perception, motives, and attitudes, that affect consumer buying behaviour.

Bait and Switch Advertising

A deceptive practice where a few products are offered at a reduced price to entice customers, only for the business to direct them to higher-priced items once the stock runs out.

Implied Conditions

Unspoken terms of a contract assumed by law, such as the requirement that products must be of acceptable quality and fit for purpose.

Sugging

The unethical practice of attempting to sell a product under the guise of conducting market research.

SWOT Analysis

A situational analysis tool used to identify internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats.

Primary Data

Facts and figures collected from original sources, such as through surveys or observation, specifically for the marketing problem at hand.

Market Segmentation

The process of subdividing the total market into groups of people who share common characteristics like geographic, demographic, psychographic, or behavioural traits.

Sales Promotion

A direct inducement to customers, such as coupons, samples, or limited-time offers, in an attempt to sell more products.

Profitability

An objective of financial management referring to the business's ability to make a return on investment, serving as an indicator of wellbeing.

Liquidity

The ability of a business to pay its short-term obligations as they fall due.

Solvency

The extent to which a business can meet its long-term financial commitments, often measured through gearing.

Factoring

A short-term debt source where a business sells its accounts receivable asset to a specialist firm to create immediate cash inflow.

Debentures

Long-term loans issued by established companies on the ASX that are secured against the assets of the business.

Ordinary Shares

Equity that provides part-ownership in a public company, which may involve new issues, rights issues, placements, or share purchase plans.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)

An independent statutory commission that regulates corporations and financial services to ensure honest and fair market operations.

Current Ratio

A liquidity ratio calculated as $\text{Current Assets} \div \text{Current Liabilities}$, with an ideal result of $2:1$.

Debt to Equity Ratio

A gearing ratio measuring solvency, calculated as \text{Total Liabilities} \div \text{Total Equity}.

Accounts Receivable Turnover Ratio

An efficiency ratio calculated as $\text{Sales} \div \text{Accounts Receivable}$, determining how many times per year a business is paid.

Normalised Earnings

A limitation of financial reports where unusual or one-off events are removed from statements so that profit is not distorted.

Capitalising Expenses

An unethical practice where a business counts an expense as an asset on the balance sheet to make net profit appear higher.

Strategic Role of Human Resources

The function of attracting, training, motivating, and retaining talented staff to achieve long-term business goals.

National Employment Standards (NES)

Eleven minimum entitlements for employees in Australia, including maximum weekly hours, annual leave, and notice of termination.

Awards

Legal documents outlining the minimum wages and working conditions for all employees within a particular industry.

Acquisition

The HRM process of identifying staffing needs, recruitment, and selection to meet current and emerging business requirements.

Monetary Rewards

Extrinsic incentives that have a monetary value attached, such as wages, bonuses, or superannuation.

Autocratic Leadership Style

A leadership style characterized by an emphasis on immediate action and top-down communication: 'Do it the way I tell you'.

Polycentric Staffing

A global HRM approach where subsidiaries are treated as distinct entities managed by local Host Country Nationals (HCNs).

Strategic Role of Operations

The goal of achieving a competitive advantage through cost leadership or good/service differentiation.

Cost Leadership

A strategy aiming to have the lowest production costs in the industry through standardisation, technology, or economies of scale.

Transformed Resources

Inputs that are converted by operations processes, categorized as materials, information, and customers (MIC).

Transforming Resources

Inputs that cause the change in other resources, categorized as human resources and facilities (HF).

Critical Path Analysis

A flow chart showing the sequence of tasks and identifying the longest route through a project to assist in resource assignment.

Just in Time (JIT)

An inventory management method where stock levels are kept low by producing goods only as demanded and obtaining supplies only when needed.

Quality Assurance

A proactive quality management approach that establishes procedures to prevent product defects and errors.

Economies of Scale

Cost savings that result from spreading fixed costs over an increased output, leading to a lower average cost per unit.