Motivation · AS Level Business

CC manufactures a range of cola drinks aimed at the mass market. The company is the market leader for cola drinks in country N. CC produces four variants of its cola drink:

• Original cola
• Sugar‑free cola 5
• Caffeine‑free cola
• Cherry cola The company uses market segmentation to plan the marketing of each of the four variants. CC uses cost‑based pricing by adding 80% to the cost when calculating the price of all products. CC sells 50 000 bottles of Sugar‑free cola each month. Table 1.1 shows the cost 10 information for one bottle of Sugar‑free cola.

CC’s sales of Cherry cola have decreased by 12% over the past year. The marketing
manager is planning to carry out market research to investigate the reason for this
decrease. The research will collect qualitative data. The marketing manager will use this
data to make decisions about a marketing campaign to increase sales.
CC has 4 factories in country N and employs 1750 employees. All employees are paid 20
using a time‑based payment method and the work is repetitive. Operations are capital
intensive. The human resource manager is concerned that employees lack motivation,
leading to high labour turnover. Labour turnover has increased by 8% over the past year.
The human resource manager is considering changing the employee payment method from
time‑based to piece rate. 25

JT is owned by Jo as a sole trader business that provides school bus services to local public sector schools in city K. JT’s main customer is the local government. Established in 2015, JT is building a brand reputation as a safe and reliable transportation method for school children in city K. JT offers a range of services: 5

• Daily school bus transportation
• Field trip transportation
• After‑school activity transportation JT receives payments for the services from the local government in city K but there is a three‑month time lag between providing the service and receiving payment. JT has to use 10 its overdraft to cover payments during the three‑month period. Table 1.1 shows some of JT’s financial information for 2025.

JT has 50 buses and 100 employees. Jo encourages employee participation at all levels of the business operation. Jo would like to implement customer relationship marketing (CRM) at JT, to improve 20 its relationship with the local government. To set up a CRM system will require $3m investment in computer systems, software and staff training. Jo believes that CRM could help JT become the leader in a very competitive school transport market.

TRA is a quaternary sector business. It is the market leader in providing social media data to food manufacturers in country F. TRA’s market has grown by 40% over the last year. DF is a multinational business that specialises in non-alcoholic drinks. DF has asked TRA for data about a new bottle of water with pod attachments. The pods give a fruity flavour which is combined with sparkling water. TRA has sampled 8000 potential consumers on 5 social media to identify their favourite fruity flavour (see Fig. 1.1). None, 6% Watermelon, 14% Banana, 18% Lemon, 34% Strawberry, 28%

TRA employs 65 researchers. Since 2020, all of these employees work from home. They are provided with all the necessary IT equipment and a high-speed internet connection. However, motivation is poor, and this has led to high labour turnover. The Human Resource 10 Director has received some feedback from employees. Fig. 1.2 shows some of this feedback.

• I hate being so isolated – I never get to speak to any other employees.
• I have to use my own electricity, and the cost has doubled in the last two years.
• I know some employees are not working very hard, but they get paid the same as 15 me. It’s not fair!

PH owns student rental accommodation in all the major cities in country Y. PH used demographic segmentation in its market research. This research identified that university students would pay a premium for high specification rental accommodation. PH has specialist teams focused on sales, maintenance, customer service and finance. There is little opportunity for internal promotion. PH pays low salaries, however, it offers 5 profit sharing to motivate its 150 employees. This has been effective as PH has had low labour turnover. In the last two years, profit levels have fallen by 75%. In 2024, 45 employees left PH. Complaints about maintenance and customer service have increased due to the lack of experienced employees in PH. 10 The Finance Director is reviewing PH’s existing sources of finance, shown in Fig 2.1. Bank loans 8% Owner’s Mortgage investment 42% 28% Overdrafts 22%

Frank, the Operations Director, wants to improve the sustainability of PH’s operations. He plans to:

• stop renting out accommodation in some lower-income cities, and sell these buildings 15
• upgrade accommodation in high-income cities
• reduce the size of the workforce.

Kaia left university with a degree in textile design. Using her entrepreneurial qualities, Kaia set up PB as a sole trader. Her current objective is to break even. Kaia uses job production to make blankets which are personalised with a picture. Each customer logs into the PB website and chooses the size of blanket. The customer then uploads a picture that they want printed onto the blanket. 5 Many of Kaia’s customers buy the blankets as gifts for special occasions. Kaia has employed a social media influencer to promote her blankets. The influencer will be paid a salary of $250 a week and a 5% commission on revenue that comes directly from the influencer. Fig 2.1 shows the revenue that came directly from the social media influencer in February. 10 Revenue ($) Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

Kaia would like to relocate PB to larger premises. She is applying for external sources of finance, and she has written a five-year business plan to support her applications.