GCSE Business Studies - Human Resources

Describe what is meant by ‘business ethics’? Ideas about what is morally correct or not, applied in a business situation. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

Describe what is meant by ‘pressure groups’? An organisation that supports causes such as workers’ rights, the environment, animal welfare and world poverty. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

Describe what is meant by ‘trade-off’? The cost of choosing one option over another. For example, the trade-off in being ethical as a business might be that you have to pay more costs and therefore your profits might be lower. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

Describe what is meant by ‘trade-off’? The cost of choosing one option over another. For example, the trade-off in being ethical as a business might be that you have to pay more costs and therefore your profits might be lower. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

Describe what the short-term effects are of businesses on the environment? Traffic congestion Air, noise and water pollution GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

Describe what the long-term effects are of businesses on the environment? Climate change Resource depletion (reducing the amount of resources available) E.g. Oil GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What is an ‘import’? An import is the purchase of a good or service which comes INTO the UK. The money therefore goes OUT of the country to the company you buy it off. DON’T FORGET – They will want paying in their home currency, so a changing of £s to Euros etc may be required. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What is an ‘export’? An export is the sale of a good or service which EXITS the UK. As a result, money flows into the UK GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What are ‘protectionist policies’? Measures designed to reduce foreign products coming into a country but give an advantage to domestic firms to sell products at home or export them abroad. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What are ‘tariffs’? Taxes put on goods imported into a country which make them more expensive for buyers. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What are ‘quotas’? Limits on the physical number of goods that can be imported over a period of time. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What are ‘export subsidies’? Measures that reduce the price of goods sold abroad. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What impact does the government and the EU have on business? Taxation Corporation tax VAT Income tax (on employees and sole traders) Regulation These are rules which businesses have to follow. For example: Submitting financial accounts to Companies House. All vehicles have to be insured. All products sold have to meet the Trades Descriptions Act. Disposal of waste according to the law. Planning regulations for buildings. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What is a ‘commodity’? Raw materials such as coal, oil, copper, iron ore, wheat and soya. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What is meant by the term ‘demand’? The amount customers are willing and able to buy at a given price. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What is meant by the term ‘supply’? The amount sellers are willing to offer for sale at any given price. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What is meant by the term ‘shortage’? When the demand for the good or service is greater than the supply. When there’s a shortage, there tends to be a price increase. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What is meant by the term ‘surplus’? When the demand for a good or service is less than the supply. When a surplus exists, the prices tend to decrease to attract people to buy the left-overs (surplus). GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What is meant by the term ‘interest rate’? The percentage reward for saving… AND/OR … the cost of borrowing money for the bank, for example. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What is the ‘Bank of England’? The central bank for the UK. Its job is to look after the banking system and supply money to the banks (basically, be the bank to the banks!). One of its most important jobs is to decide what to set the interest rates at in the UK. NOTE – although the BoE sets the base interest rate, high street banks can, and do, set their own interest rates too. But this tends to be based upon the BoE base rate and tends to be just a little higher. This is one of the ways banks make money! GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What is a ‘variable interest rate’? An interest rate that can change over the lifetime of the loan depending upon what is happening to other interest rates (such as the Bank of England base rate). If this goes up by 1% and you have a variable interest rate, then you may see your interest rate on your car go up by 1% too! GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What is a ‘fixed interest rate’? An interest rate that does not change over a given period of time. E.g. The fixed interest rate might stay at 6% for 5 years until the loan is paid back. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What is an ‘exchange rate’? The price of buying other currency (such as a Dollar $). It tells you how much of that currency you will get for £1. GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What is meant by the term ‘strong pound’? This is when you can buy more of a currency with your £1. For example: In April £1 : $1 In June £1 : $1.50 GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

What is meant by the term ‘weak pound’? This is when you can buy less of a currency with your £1. For example: In April £1 : $1 In June £1 : $0.75 GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

Describe the effects on exporting when the pound strengthens. When the pound strengthens you can buy more of the other currency for your £. Alternatively, it costs the other currency more to buy our currency. Therefore if the pound strengthens against the dollar, then it will cost more for someone in America to buy the product. E.g. In May … £1 : $1. A t-shirt costing £10 and made in the UK will cost $10 for the US to buy. This is because we want paying in ££££. In June … £1 : $2. Here the same t-shirt would cost $20 to someone in the US. This ultimately means that the demand for UK products from other countries might decline! GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

Describe the effects on importing when the pound strengthens. When the pound strengthens you can buy more of the other currency for your £. Alternatively, it costs the other currency more to buy our currency. Therefore if the pound strengthens against the dollar, then it will cost less for someone in the UK to buy a product from the US. E.g. In May … £1 : $1. A t-shirt costing $10 and made in the UK will cost £10 for someone in the UK to buy. This is because they want paying in $$$$$. In June … £1 : $2. Here the same t-shirt would only cost £5 as they only want $10. This ultimately means that IMPORTS ARE CHEAPER when the pound STRENGTHENS! GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

Describe the effects on exporting when the pound weakens. When the pound weakens you can buy less of the other currency for your £. Alternatively, it costs the other currency less to buy our currency. Therefore if the pound weakens against the dollar, then it will cost less for someone in America to buy the product. E.g. In May … £1 : $1. A t-shirt costing £10 and made in the UK will cost $10 for the US to buy. This is because we want paying in ££££. In June … £1 : $0.50. Here the same t-shirt would cost $5 to someone in the US. This ultimately means that the demand for UK products from other countries might increase! GCSE Business Studies – Wider World

Describe the effects on importing when the pound weakens. When the pound weakens you can buy less of the other currency for your £. Alternatively, it costs the other currency less to buy our currency. Therefore if the pound weakens against the dollar, then it will cost more for someone in the UK to buy a product from the US. E.g. In May … £1 : $1. A t-shirt costing £10 and made in the UK will cost $10 for the US to buy. This is because we want paying in ££££. In June … £1 : $0.50. Here the same t-shirt would cost £20 to buy for someone in the UK. This ultimately means that IMPORTS ARE MORE EXPENSIVE when the pound WEAKENS! GCSE Business Studies – Wider World