Introduction to Business and Business Activity

What the resources cover

The page opens with the mind map Business Studies - HSC Course, which breaks the course into Operations, Marketing, Human Resources and Finance, then looks at the roles of operations management, influences and operations processes. Other maps tackle Nature of Business, Business Activity, Stakeholders, Factors Of Production, Revenue and costs and PESTEC.

Where to start

If you are new to the topic, begin with a broad map such as What is a business? or Understanding Business. Then move to vocabulary. The deck Business Studies Key Terms and the CSEC CXC POB flashcards ask what enterprise, capital, labour, profit and specialisation mean. The deck Higher Business Management: understanding business covers the sectors of industry with examples.

Practice with exam-style questions

1. Work through the HSC multiple-choice decks, such as the 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 sets, on functions like operations, outsourcing and human resources.
2. Try BUSINESS IGCSE MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS - 2020, which asks about variable costs and what a sole trader can pay on profits.
3. Check your sums with the Business Unit 1 Formulas deck, covering revenue, profit, breakeven and market share.

Using quizzes and maps together

Read a map first to see how ideas connect, then take a quiz on the same theme, for example Stakeholders Quiz after the stakeholder maps. Note which questions you missed and go back to the matching branch of the map. Teachers can set a map as a starter and a quiz as a quick check.

Where it fits

This unit sits in the Business Foundations strand of Business administration and management (incl. project management). It supplies the basic ideas that later business topics build on.

Choose one map, then see how much of the matching quiz you can answer without looking.