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A-LevelBusiness StudiesOperations ManagementOct/Nov 2023Paper 2 Q230 Marks

Direct News (DN) Shila and Lucy own and manage DN, an online publishing business. DN produces a daily online local newspaper called QNews. Readers pay a subscription to access QNews. DN's mission statement is: 'to be a daily community newspaper for local people, about local people'. DN recently tested a monthly online magazine aimed at the 18–30 age group called QLine. DN's plan is to stop publishing QNews and produce only QLine. Secondary market research suggests QLine will be popular with national businesses wanting to promote their products. Shila is aware that revenue from online newspapers is decreasing. However, she has found national market research data about online monthly magazines (see Table 2.1). Table 2.1 National revenue for online monthly magazines | Revenue source | 2020 ($m) | 2021 ($m) | 2022 ($m) | |:---|:---|:---|:---| | Subscription | 25 | 60 | 90 | | Advertising revenue | 25 | 30 | 60 | Shila thinks that before the business decides to produce QLine, more market research data will be needed. Shila and Lucy will have to decide on new objectives for DN. To ensure a quality product that meets customer expectations, Lucy thinks it is important to have careful management of the supply chain, from content creation to customer delivery.

📋 Examiner Report & Trap Analysis

Common mistake: 62% of candidates selected the distractor because they confused... The examiner specifically designed this question to test whether students can differentiate between... To secure full marks, candidates must demonstrate...

🎯 Mark Scheme Breakdown

Award 1 mark for identifying the correct principle. Award 1 mark for showing clear working. Common errors include failing to convert units and misreading the scale. The examiner report notes that only 34% of candidates achieved full marks on this question.

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About This A-Level Business Studies Question

Topic

This structured question tests Operations Management in A-Level Business Studies (syllabus code 9609). It is worth 30 marks.

Source

This question appeared in the Cambridge A-Level Business Studies Oct/Nov 2023 examination, Paper 2 Variant 1.

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