IB Diploma Programme Business Management HL (first assessment 2024). This topic covers the BUSINESS MANAGEMENT TOOLKIT and the HL-only PAPER 3 (the social-enterprise paper): the analytical tools (SWOT, Ansoff, STEEPLE, Porter's five forces, force field analysis), the quantitative tools (descriptive statistics, decision trees, critical path analysis) and the action-planning format Paper 3 rewards. The worked case is the shared repair business converting into a COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY — repairs at concession prices for jobseekers, funded by full-price trade — so every number cross-checks with Units 1–5.

Must-know for the toolkit:

SWOT analysis SWOT分析 sorts the factors of a decision: STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES are INTERNAL (today), OPPORTUNITIES and THREATS EXTERNAL (tomorrow) — and the analysis earns its keep when it PAIRS them: strength × opportunity (use it), weakness × threat (fix or hedge it). STEEPLE scans the external macro-environment — Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, Ethical — one factor per letter, cited from the case, never invented. PORTER'S FIVE FORCES 五力模型 (HL) grade an industry's profit pool: COMPETITIVE RIVALRY (strongest in the trade), the THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS (low barriers in bike repair), the THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES (public transport, new-bike purchases), BUYER POWER (high — many independents) and SUPPLIER POWER (low — parts are commodities). The verdict writes the strategy: strong forces → differentiation or exit. LEWIN'S force field analysis 力场分析 maps DRIVING forces for a change against RESTRAINING forces and scores each — the change proceeds when the driving total beats the restraining total, and management works on weakening the restrainers, not only pushing harder.

Growth direction: ANSOFF'S matrix 安索夫矩阵 crosses product (existing vs new) with market (existing vs new): MARKET PENETRATION (existing both — promote harder: lowest risk), PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT (new product, existing market — the subscription fleet), MARKET DEVELOPMENT (existing product, new market — the neighbouring country from Unit 4), DIVERSIFICATION (new both — the concession-repair CIC: highest risk, highest need for new competence). A business plan 商业计划书 gathers all of this for a funder: summary, ownership and objectives, market and marketing, people, operations, finance and risks — the toolkit's writing-up form.

Descriptive statistics 描述统计 summarise data. Daily repairs over eight days: $16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 24, 26, 30$. MEAN $= 184/8 = 23$; MEDIAN $= (22 + 24)/2 = 23$; MODE $= 24$; RANGE $= 30 - 16 = 14$. The interquartile range 四分位距 $= Q_3 - Q_1$ measures spread through the middle half: lower half $16, 18, 20, 22$ gives $Q_1 = 19$; upper half $24, 24, 26, 30$ gives $Q_3 = 25$; $IQR = 6$ — robust to the outlier that would distort the range. The box plot shows the five-number summary (min 16, $Q_1$ 19, median 23, $Q_3$ 25, max 30) at a glance.

A decision tree 决策树 prices a choice under uncertainty: launch the concession service nationally (A) or pilot it in one district (B). A costs $20\,000$ and has a 60% chance of $80\,000$ revenue and a 40% chance of $10\,000$: gross expected value $= 0.6 \times 80 + 0.4 \times 10 = 52$ thousand, so net of its cost EV(A) $= 52 - 20 = 32$ thousand. B costs $5\,000$ and has a 70% chance of $30\,000$ and a 30% chance of $5\,000$: gross EV $= 0.7 \times 30 + 0.3 \times 5 = 22.5$ thousand, so EV(B) $= 22.5 - 5 = 17.5$ thousand. A wins on expected value — but the tree also shows A's downside branch (net $-10$ thousand) and the softness of the probabilities, which is exactly the evaluation Paper 3 wants. CRITICAL PATH analysis (HL) schedules a project's activities: opening the community workshop needs A permits (3 weeks) → B fit-out (5) → C staff training (2), with D tools order (4) running parallel to A and B but before C. Path A–B–C takes 10 weeks; D–C takes 6: the critical path 关键路径 is A–B–C, and D carries FLOAT $= 10 - 6 = 4$ weeks — the project's completion date is the critical path's length, and only critical activities delay it.

A social enterprise 社会企业 trades to meet a human need: the TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE — PEOPLE, PLANET and PROFIT — sets objectives a pure profit firm lacks. The circular economy 循环经济 closes the loop on the planet leg: reduce, reuse, recycle (refurbished bikes and parts, not landfill). HL PAPER 3 presents an unseen social enterprise in trouble: Section A tests the toolkit on the stimulus (define, calculate — the statistics and decision-tree arithmetic above); Section B offers two possible actions with financial data and asks for a reasoned choice; the 17-mark Section C integrates everything into a PLAN OF ACTION: identify the HUMAN NEED the enterprise exists to meet, choose the action, then cost it (finance), price and promote it (marketing), deliver it (operations), staff it (HR), weigh the impacts on EVERY stakeholder group, name the risks with contingencies, and conclude with a judgement that the human need leads and the numbers follow. The CIC case in one sentence: concessions for jobseekers fill weekday slack (capacity is at 80%), protect the 37.5% margin of safety on full-price work, and fund themselves through the 10-per-repair contribution — a social objective that the operations arithmetic supports.

• SWOT with pairing; STEEPLE with one cited factor per letter; five forces graded strong/weak with the strategic verdict; force field analysis scored and acted on.
• Ansoff's four strategies ranked by risk with the CIC as diversification; the business plan's contents.
• Statistics: mean 23, median 23, mode 24, range 14, $Q_1$ 19, $Q_3$ 25, IQR 6 — and why the IQR beats the range at outliers; the box plot's five numbers.
• Decision tree: net EVs $32\,000$ vs $17\,500$, with the downside and probability critique.
• Critical path A–B–C = 10 weeks; float on D = 4; only critical activities move the date.
• Paper 3's shape: toolkit on the stimulus, a reasoned choice between two costed actions, and the 17-mark plan of action led by the human need.

Boundary notes: Paper 3 is HL ONLY and reward-weighted [17] on the final plan — practise the section order and the stakeholder sweep; the statistics, EV and critical-path arithmetic are worth showing in full because Section A marks them method-by-method. All worked numbers are original on the shared case.