ALB is a large bank. It has 300 branches and 5000 employees. ALB provides a range of financial services to its business customers. As it operates in a competitive market, ALB aims to maintain customer loyalty. Last year ALB's profit decreased to $3000m. The Managing Director is analysing ways to reduce ALB's costs. She also has to decide how new legal controls over employment issues might affect the business. The Government plans to improve protection of employees by changing laws on the minimum wage and health and safety.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2020). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [2] Profit is the amount of money that a business makes once costs have been subtracted from the revenue
2. [2] Total revenue minus total costs
3. [1] Partial definition e.g. money left after costs paid
4. [1] Might use a lot of machines,
5. [1] Difficult to count part-time employees
6. [2] Reduce number of employees [k] by making some of the 5000 employees redundant [app]
7. [2] Close number of branches [k] from 300 [app]
8. [2] Reduce amount of wastage [k] by using less paper when dealing with business customers [app]
9. [3] Communicate with customers e.g. newsletters, social media [k] so that they remember your business [an] when they next need financial services/help from bank [app]
10. [3] Offer good quality service [k] so customers want to return [an] to the 300 branches [app]
11. [3] Train staff [k] so all 5000 employees [app] are able to offer a good quality service [an]
12. [3] Ask for feedback e.g. surveys [k] to find out how/what they need to do to improve [an]
13. [3] Resolve complaints quickly [k] so that customers don't change to another bank [an] as it is a competitive market [app]
14. [3] Offer rewards/loyalty programs [k] such as discounts for business customers who also use them for its personal banking [an]
15. [1] Offer extra services such as online/mobile phone app [k]
16. [1] Health and safety changes could mean needing to provide more training [k]
17. [1] increasing costs [an]
18. [1] but leading to more motivated/more efficient employees [an]
19. [1] Can depend on how much the minimum wage increases [k]
20. [1] as may already pay above the new rate so may not affect them [an]
21. [1] Can depend on the type of business [k]
22. [1] as health and safety maybe more of an issue if it is a manufacturing business [an]
23. [2] Yes, because any changes in legal control are likely to result in the business at least having to do something even if it is only to check they are compliant, which will cost time and money to do. [eval] [eval]