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2009 HSC Notes from the marking centre
2009 HSC Notes from the Marking Centre – Business Studies

2009 HSC Notes from the Marking Centre – Business Studies

Introduction
Section II
Section III
Section IV

Introduction

This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 course in Business Studies. It contains comments on candidate responses to the 2009 Higher School Certificate examination, indicating the quality of the responses and highlighting their relative strengths and weaknesses.

This document should be read along with the relevant syllabus, the 2009 Higher School Certificate examination, the marking guidelines and other support documents which have been developed by the Board of Studies to assist in the teaching and learning of Business Studies.

Teachers and students are advised that, in December 2008, the Board of Studies approved changes to the examination specifications and assessment requirements for a number of courses. These changes will be implemented for the 2010 HSC cohort. Information on a course-by-course basis is available on the Board’s website.

General comments

Teachers and candidates should be aware that examiners may ask questions that address the syllabus outcomes in a manner that requires candidates to respond by integrating the knowledge, understanding and skills they developed through studying the course. It is important to understand that the Preliminary course is assumed knowledge for the HSC course.

Candidates need to be aware that the mark allocated to the question and the answer space (where this is provided on the examination paper), are a guide to the length of the required response. A longer response will not in itself lead to higher marks. Writing far beyond the indicated space may reduce the time available for answering other questions.

Candidates need to be familiar with the Board’s Glossary of Key Words which contains some terms commonly used in examination questions. However, candidates should also be aware that not all questions will start with or contain one of the key words from the glossary. Questions such as ‘how?’, ‘why?’ or ‘to what extent?’ may be asked or verbs may be used which are not included in the glossary, such as ‘design’, ‘translate’ or ‘list’.

Section II

Question 21

Better responses clearly named two features of an employment contract. Other responses only named one feature or named items that were not features of an employment contract.
1. Better responses sketched in general terms two advantages of using casual employment contracts for a business. Commonly sketched advantages related to flexibility and reduced costs. Other responses only sketched one feature and named one other or named two only. Some candidates referred to advantages to the employee rather than advantages to the business.
2. Better responses sketched in general terms two disadvantages of using casual employment contracts for a business. Commonly sketched disadvantages related to costs of employing casual labour, training costs and disruption to the business caused by staff turnover.

Question 22

Better responses clearly named two relevant skills. Other responses either named one or attempted a description of a skill.
Better responses clearly provided why and/or how relevant strategies could be used to reconcile a potential conflict of interest and made reference to issues from the stimulus. Weaker responses provided characteristics and features of a reconciliation strategy or referred to a conflict of interest or a reconciliation strategy. Candidates who attempted to answer the question without using the context of the stimulus did not manage to give adequate clarity.

Question 23

Better responses clearly identified a social or cultural influence and then applied it to a relevant business related activity. Many of these responses gave examples of interactions between religion/food, tastes/products etc.

Weaker responses did not clarify which social or cultural influence management should consider, instead providing generalised cultural or social commentary. These responses failed to relate it to a specific business activity and did not use business terminology.
Better responses tended to refer to currency fluctuations and interest rates. They provided examples of how financial influences had an impact on the business. Examples included sales and profit implications. Common responses made reference to how movements in the exchange rate had an impact on export sales. Many candidates described the link between global interest rates, economic activity and export sales.

Weaker responses did not clearly identify financial influences, instead giving generalised descriptions of their effect on a business. Generally those candidates who chose overseas borrowing as an influence found it harder to draw out implications for the business when exporting.

Question 24

Better responses gave clear characteristics and features of one advantage and one disadvantage for obtaining finance through the Australian Stock Exchange. Characteristics of advantages included the use of ASX in the primary market, and access to a large volume of capital that can be raised by the business as they can access many investors. Characteristics of disadvantages included new shareholders would have input into the business which may lead to conflict, dividends needed to be paid to shareholders which may impact negatively on profits and the process is lengthy and requires a prospectus to be produced.

Weaker responses made reference to the operation of the Australian Stock Exchange or sketched in general terms either one advantage or one disadvantage for a business obtaining finance through the ASX. Most responses contained one feature of each, or one or more general references to the ASX. Common responses made reference to the operation of the ASX included the selling of shares, new shareholders and fluctuations of share price.
In better responses, candidates demonstrated comprehensive knowledge and understanding of debt finance and made a judgement based on criteria of the use of debt financing to fund a major expansion of a new product. Common responses provided detailed explanations of long-term finance such as mortgages and made an informed comment as to the appropriateness of finance to fund a major expansion into new products. Candidates detailed the impact of a successful new product on the ability to service the debt financing.

Weaker responses demonstrated limited knowledge and understanding of debt financing and consequently provided few characteristics of debt financing. Common responses contained an attempt to outline various types of finance, many of which were inappropriate to fund a major expansion into new products.

Question 25

Better responses clearly stated the meaning of and identified essential qualities of customer orientation. Weaker responses only identified some qualities of customer orientation. Other responses wrongly referred to product orientation.
Better responses showed how TWO features of the advertisement could be seen as deceptive or misleading. Higher quality responses correctly named two of the three deceptive or misleading aspects of the advertisement’s claims and offered substantial reasons how they are misleading or deceptive.

Weaker candidates did not give reasons, or else incorrectly named other features listed in the stimulus/advertisement as being deceptive/misleading.
Higher quality responses addressed the issue of the reputation of the business being the objective and how the advertisement attempts to achieve this objective. Weaker responses did not address the objective of trying to improve the reputation or stated other incorrect objectives.

Section III

Question 26

Better responses presented a sustained, logical and well-structured answer, which was clearly communicated in the form of a business report, using relevant business terminology and the information provided. These responses sketched two social responsibilities relevant to an Australian cosmetics company expanding into Asia. These social responsibilities included, but were not limited to, ecological sustainability, quality of working life, technology, globalisation, managing cultural diversity and e-commerce.

These responses provided detailed reasons in favour of a global marketing strategy, focusing particularly on the need for successful differentiation if global expansion were to be successful. Candidates made evident the link between two key influences on employment relations and the management of employees. Better responses also demonstrated application of business theory to the stimulus. For example, reference was made to DalinX’s desire to maintain its superior employment relations in Australia and/or the need to manage employees based in Asia.

Average responses also sketched in general terms two relevant social responsibilities for DalinX. These responses, however, tended to describe a global marketing strategy to achieve differentiation without providing reasons in favour of its use. Many responses provided detailed descriptions of more than one strategy, which was not required for this question. Responses typically described two key influences affecting employment relations at DalinX but did not make evident the relationship between each influence and the management of employees.

In respect to social responsibilities, weaker responses often contained general information, which may not have been relevant to the stimulus and/or the question. Some responses confused social responsibilities with social influences. Many responses often simply outlined a marketing strategy with little or no reference to the global context. Weaker responses tended to provide a brief description of some employment relations strategies rather than key influences on employment relations.

Section IV

Question 27

Better responses clearly demonstrated the implications of the relationship between the type of customer a business has, its marketing strategies and its financial planning cycle. Responses in this range integrated all three parts of the question and supported their answer with a single, detailed case study or a range of smaller case studies. The types of customers most commonly referred to were consumers, households or businesses.

The best responses developed a sustained analysis of the influences of customer type on marketing strategies and the various elements of the financial planning cycle. Responses in this range provided evidence of thorough knowledge, sound case study material and relevant business terminology, and were presented in a logical and well structured way.

Average responses showed some links between the type of customer and marketing strategies or the financial planning cycle. Responses in this range were often very descriptive, indicating good knowledge of marketing strategies or the financial planning cycle but not always making the link with customer type. In many cases, these responses did not clearly indicate customer type or make adequate reference to case studies.

Weaker responses sketched in general terms some general information relating to customers, marketing or finance. Many responses in this range made little or no reference to case study material or business terminology.

Candidates are reminded that it is essential to refer to a relevant case study or studies in this section of the examination paper.

Question 28

This question focused on the topics of Marketing and Financial Management.

Better responses drew out and related the implications of the relationships between the market research process, the development of the marketing plan and the achievement of the objectives of financial management.

Responses in this range integrated all three parts of the question and supported their answer with a single, detailed case study or a range of smaller case studies. These responses referred to the relevant syllabus dot points to produce a sustained, logical and well-structured answer, using relevant business terminology and concepts. The best responses used case study material as evidence for establishing clear links between market research, the marketing plan and the achievement of financial objectives. Of these, growth and profitability objectives proved to be easier to analyse than efficiency, solvency or liquidity.

Average responses tended to provide a description of market research activities, elements of the marketing plan or the objectives of financial management. Most responses in this range did not address all parts of the question in sufficient detail or show the relationships between the different parts of the question. Answers were generally well structured but use of case study material and relevant business terminology was limited.

Weaker responses merely sketched in general terms some aspects of market research, the marketing plan or financial objectives. In most cases, there was little if any reference to business case studies or relevant business terminology.

Overall, most responses were logical in their sequence and demonstrated some use of relevant business terminology and concepts; however, case study material was often quite limited in its application to the question.