CPK operates 5 sports clubs. Each club offers a range of activities including gym and yoga classes. CPK uses job enrichment to keep its 60 employees well-motivated. Having the right marketing mix is important to CPK's success. The Finance Director is analysing CPK's financial statements. An extract is shown in Table 3.1. He wants to know how an increase in taxation might affect CPK's business. Table 3.1 Extract from CPK's financial statements | | 2020 | 2021 | |:---|:---:|:---:| | Current ratio | 1.6 | 1.3 | | Profit margin | 12% | 10% | | Non-current assets | $2m | $2m |

Mark scheme

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

1. [2] Resources owned by a business which will be used for a period longer than one year
2. [2] OR Items owned by a business for more than one year
3. [1] Partial definition e.g. items owned by the business
4. [1] Items in the business for more than one year
5. [1] Two from: Price, product, place, and promotion
6. [k] Less profit; [app] to help improve the sports clubs
7. [k] Decreased demand; [app] at the 5 locations
8. [k] May have to increase prices; [k] affecting its marketing mix
9. [k] Can increase expenses / cost of buying materials
10. [k] Decreased / fallen / worsened / deteriorated [k] or [app]
11. [an] May need to reduce creditors / trade payables [k] to avoid cashflow problems; [app] in the sports clubs
12. [an] May need to improve cash by selling more products or sell unwanted non-current assets
13. [an] May have problems paying its short-term liabilities / less liquidity / less cash available
14. [an] May make it harder to obtain finance
15. [an] Suppliers may be less willing to provide goods (on credit)
16. [k] Decreased / fallen / worsened / deteriorated [k] or [app]
17. [an] May need to increase prices; [k] to improve profit margin; [app] in the 5 clubs
18. [an] Need to look for ways to increase added value
19. [an] May look for ways to lower variable costs / expenses
20. [k] Business able to make most / full use of employee's skills; [k] which can help increase labour flexibility; [an]
21. [k] Training may be needed; [k] which can increase expenses; [an]
22. [k] Workers gain more job satisfaction/ feel recognised/valued
23. [k] Not all workers are able / want to do more complex work; [k] leading to mistakes/ waste; [an]
24. [k] Not easy to add extra tasks to some jobs
25. [k] Time consuming to redesign tasks
26. [k] May create conflict between employees (as may not be possible to offer opportunities to all)
27. [k] Money is a major motivator for many employees
28. [k] Can help build team spirit / sense of belonging / common goal
29. [k] Not everyone is motivated by money
30. [k] If business makes low/ no profit, then there is little/ nothing to share; [k] which could decrease motivation; [an]
31. Job enrichment can help the business make the most use of employee's skills [k] increasing productivity [an]. A business making no profit, has nothing to share [k] which could decrease rather than increase motivation [an]. I think job enrichment is better as making the job more interesting is more likely to motivate employees every day. [eval]. Profit-sharing is at the end of the year, and therefore is likely to have less impact on daily effort. [eval]