Netherlands VWO 5 Business Economics

Chapters: 3

1. Internal organisation and personnel

Internal organisation · Personnel policy (HRM)

Business Organisation: Forms, Structure and Leadership – An organisation is a group of people working together for a goal. A business can be one owner, a partnership, a company or a co-operative, and the legal form decides who carries the debt. Inside, the structure (tall, flat or by department) shows who reports to whom, managers plan, organise, lead and control, and leaders can decide alone, with the team, or leave a free hand.
Human Resource Management (HRM) – Human resource management is planning, finding, developing, rewarding and keeping the people a business needs. HR objectives include employee engagement, talent development, training, diversity, alignment of values and a right-sized, cost-effective workforce. HR performance is measured with labour turnover (leavers ÷ average staff × 100), retention rate, labour productivity (output ÷ workers), labour cost per unit and employee costs as a percentage of revenue. Hard HRM treats staff as a cost; soft HRM treats them as an asset.

Investing · Financing

Investment Appraisal: Payback, ARR and NPV – Investment appraisal means judging whether a big spend (a machine, a shop, a new product) is worth it. Payback period = how long until the cash coming in repays the cost. ARR = average yearly profit ÷ initial cost × 100. NPV = sum of future cash flows discounted to today − initial cost; a positive NPV adds value. Firms also test sensitivity (what if sales fall?) and weigh risks and non-financial factors.
Sources of Business Finance – Every business needs money for long-term assets (fixed capital) and daily running (working capital). This money comes from two big pools: owners' funds (equity shares, preference shares, retained earnings) that need not be paid back, and borrowed funds (debentures, bonds, bank and institution loans, public deposits, trade credit, inter-corporate deposits) that must be repaid with interest.

Aims and organisation of marketing · Marketing policy · Marketing, consumer and society

Marketing Management – Marketing means finding out what buyers need and meeting that need in exchange for value, at a profit. It has many functions (research, planning, branding, labelling, packaging, pricing, promotion, distribution, service) and five philosophies (production, product, selling, marketing, societal). The marketing mix is the 4Ps: product (with branding, labelling, packaging), price (shaped by cost, demand, competition, government rules, objectives and marketing methods), place (channels and physical distribution) and promotion (advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations).
Business Ethics: Concept and Elements – Business ethics are the moral rules of right and wrong that guide how a business behaves. They ask for more than the law: honesty, fairness and care for people. A firm builds ethics through five elements: top management commitment, a published code of conduct, a compliance mechanism, involving employees at all levels, and measuring results.