DNG provides electricity to 16 million customers. It is a limited company which means DNG's shareholders benefit from limited liability. DNG is planning to stop using coal to produce its electricity. Pressure groups had an influence on this decision. The Managing Director knows there will be an opportunity cost to making this change. She is considering the best way to communicate this important information to DNG's 6500 employees.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2022). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [2] The next best alternative foregone / given up
2. [2] OR The benefit that could have been gained from an alternative use of the same resource
3. [2] OR A benefit, profit, or value that a firm gives up in order to achieve something else
4. [1] Partial definition e.g. what you must give up / forgo
5. [1] Does not account for capital intensive business / depends on method of production used
6. [1] Could have many part-time employees
7. [1] May give a different indicator of size to other measures used.
8. [k] Shareholders risk is limited to the amount invested; [app] in this electricity business
9. [k] Protects personal assets; [k] in case the business decision to contribute to sustainable development does not work; [app]
10. [k] Encourages (potential/existing) shareholders to invest
11. Shareholders risk is limited (to the amount invested) [k] in the electricity company [app] protecting their personal assets [k] in case the decision to stop using coal does not work [app]
12. [k] Create (negative) publicity / publish information / write to newspaper; [app] about the impact of using coal; [an] damaging its reputation
13. [k] Organise customer boycotts; [app] of its 16 million customers; [an] leading to fewer sales / less revenue
14. [k] Demonstrations / protests; [app] about electricity production; [an] which could reduce investment in the business
15. [k] Petition / send letters to government; [app] against this limited company
16. [k] Lobbying
17. [k] Take legal action
18. [k] Meeting / briefing / video conference; [an] workers receive the message at the same time; [an] but workers will not be working so output may fall
19. [k] Email; [an] message can be sent to multiple people at the same time; [an] but people may not be able to access the internet
20. [k] Phones; [an] allows for immediate feedback
21. [k] Text / SMS; [k] contains only very limited information
22. [k] Posters / noticeboards
23. [k] Announcements
24. [k] Internal newspapers
25. [k] Social media such as Whatsapp
26. [k] Letter
27. Email [k] would allow the business to send the same message to multiple people [an]. A meeting [k] will allow employees to ask questions to confirm their understanding of the important information [an]. Email is better as it may not be possible to get all employees in a large business together at the same time [eval]. Whereas with an email all employees receive information which they can refer back to later. [eval]