IB Diploma Programme Business Management SL, Unit 1 Introduction to business management (first assessment 2024). Unit 1 is common to SL and HL; SL is assessed by Paper 1 (the pre-released case study), Paper 2 (quantitative stimulus) and the internal business research project, with no Paper 3. This topic covers syllabus sections 1.1-1.6 in full: what a business is, types of business entities, business objectives, stakeholders, growth and evolution, and multinational companies. Unit 1 is common to SL and HL in full; the difference is depth of assessment, not content. The four course concepts — CHANGE, CREATIVITY, ETHICS and SUSTAINABILITY — run through every section and reappear as the research project's conceptual lens, and the worked examples below use one small shared firm, a bicycle-repair business, so that every number cross-checks.

Must-know for Unit 1:

A business 企业 (1.1) is an organisation that combines human, physical and financial RESOURCES to create goods or services that satisfy needs and wants. It is organised into four FUNCTIONS — human resources, finance and accounts, marketing, and operations — which are the four remaining units of the course. Businesses sit in four SECTORS: primary (extraction — farming, mining), secondary (manufacturing and construction), tertiary (services — retail, repair, transport) and quaternary (knowledge — research, software, consultancy); as economies develop, employment and output shift from primary toward tertiary and quaternary. An entrepreneur 企业家 takes the risk of starting a business; an INTRAPRENEUR does the same innovating inside an existing firm. Starting a business faces challenges (finance, lack of experience, competition, legal requirements) and opportunities (unmet demand, new technology, independence).

Types of business entity (1.2). The PRIVATE sector is owned by individuals and firms, the PUBLIC sector by the state. A sole trader 个体经营者 is one owner with unlimited liability — quick decisions, full control, all profit, but limited finance and continuity. A partnership 合伙企业 shares capital, skills and risk among two to twenty partners, still usually with unlimited liability and with the risk of disagreement. Incorporation creates a separate legal entity with LIMITED LIABILITY: a PRIVATELY HELD company sells shares privately, keeping control; a publicly held company 上市公司 sells shares on a stock exchange, raising large capital at the price of disclosure, takeover risk and shareholder pressure. A social enterprise 社会企业 pursues social or environmental aims through trading: for-profit social enterprises (private companies, public-sector companies and COOPERATIVES owned by their members) reinvest surplus in the mission; non-profit social enterprises (NGOs, charities) rely on grants and donations.

Worked example. The repair business starts as a sole trader with $20\,000$ of savings. Taking a partner who adds $20\,000$ doubles capital and shares the 40-hour week, but each partner is now liable for the other's decisions; a privately held company would protect both owners' homes, at the cost of registration and published accounts.

Objectives (1.3) form a hierarchy. The VISION statement says what the business aspires to become; the mission statement 使命宣言 says what it does, for whom and how. STRATEGIC objectives are long-term and set by senior management (market share, growth, profit, protecting shareholder value, ethical objectives); TACTICAL objectives are the shorter-term, departmental steps that deliver them. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) makes ethical and environmental aims explicit objectives — a cost in the short run, a brand and recruitment asset over time; the concept of ETHICS asks whether an objective is right, not only profitable.

A stakeholder 利益相关者 (1.4) is any individual or group affected by the business. INTERNAL stakeholders are owners (shareholders), managers and employees; EXTERNAL stakeholders are customers, suppliers, financiers, government, competitors, pressure groups and the local community. Their interests CONFLICT: shareholders want dividends while employees want wages; customers want low prices while suppliers want high ones; the community wants quiet while the business wants to expand. Management resolves conflict by prioritising, negotiating, or redesigning the decision so that more groups gain.

Worked example. The repair business sets the strategic objective of 30% local market share in three years; the tactical objectives are opening Saturdays within six months and a customer-review target of 4.5 stars. The Saturday opening pleases customers and the owner but costs employees their weekend — a conflict settled with a rota and a weekend premium.

Growth and evolution (1.5). Economies of scale 规模经济 lower average cost as output rises — purchasing (bulk discounts), technical (bigger machines), managerial (specialists), financial (cheaper loans), marketing (spreading advertising). DISECONOMIES set in when size breeds coordination and communication problems, slower decisions and lower morale, so average cost rises again. Small firms keep flexibility, personal service and owner control; large firms gain market power, finance and resilience. INTERNAL (organic) growth expands from within — more branches, new products; EXTERNAL growth joins with others: MERGERS (two firms become one), ACQUISITIONS or TAKEOVERS (one buys another), JOINT VENTURES (a new jointly owned firm for a defined purpose), STRATEGIC ALLIANCES (cooperation without ownership) and FRANCHISING (selling the right to trade under the brand and model, for a fee and royalty).

Worked example. At $1\,000$ repairs a month total cost is $50\,000$, so average cost is 50. Opening a second workshop raises output to $2\,000$ repairs at total cost $80\,000$: average cost falls to 40 — an economy of scale of 10 per repair, worth $20\,000$ a month. If a third workshop lifted output to $3\,000$ at total cost $126\,000$, average cost would rise to 42: the diseconomy has begun, and the owner should franchise rather than expand directly.

A multinational company 跨国公司 (MNC) (1.6) operates in more than one country. For the HOST country the impacts are two-sided: jobs, investment, tax revenue, skills and technology transfer, more choice and competition — against repatriated profits, pressure on local firms, cultural and environmental costs, and influence over government policy. Evaluation weighs these for the specific host, the specific MNC and the time horizon; the concept SUSTAINABILITY frames the environmental side, CHANGE the competitive one.

• Business as a combiner of resources; the four functions and four sectors; entrepreneur vs intrapreneur; start-up challenges and opportunities (1.1).
• Private vs public sector; sole trader, partnership, privately and publicly held companies with liability and finance compared; for-profit and non-profit social enterprises incl. cooperatives (1.2).
• Vision and mission; strategic vs tactical objectives; CSR and ethical objectives (1.3).
• Internal and external stakeholders; conflicts and how management resolves them (1.4).
• Economies and diseconomies of scale with the 50 → 40 → 42 average-cost example; small vs large; internal vs external growth with the five external methods (1.5).
• MNC impacts on host countries, both sides, evaluated for the specific case (1.6).

Boundary notes: Paper 1 (pre-released context, unseen case) asks for definitions [2], explanations [4] and discussion [10]; Paper 2 is quantitative and may ask for the average-cost arithmetic above; the research project asks for a business issue analysed through a conceptual lens, so the 1.2 social-enterprise forms and the 1.4 stakeholder map are the research project's starting kit. All worked numbers are original.

IB Diploma Programme Business Management SL, Unit 2 Human resource management (first assessment 2024). This topic covers the SL content of syllabus sections 2.1–2.7: the introduction to HRM and HR planning, organisational structure, leadership and management, motivation and demotivation, and communication — organisational culture (2.5) and industrial/employee relations (2.7) are HL only and are left out. The worked examples follow the shared repair business, now grown to 80 employees across four workshops, so every number cross-checks with Unit 1.

Must-know for Unit 2:

Human resource management 人力资源管理 (2.1) plans, recruits, trains, appraises and rewards the workforce so that the business has the right people in the right roles. HR PLANNING responds to INTERNAL factors (the firm's objectives, finance, structure) and EXTERNAL factors: demographic change (an ageing workforce), changing labour mobility and immigration, flexi-time and remote working, and the GIG economy of short contracts. Workers RESIST change for five classic reasons — self-interest, low tolerance of uncertainty, misinformation, misunderstanding and a different assessment of the situation — and Kotter and Schlesinger's responses run from education and communication, participation and facilitation, through negotiation, to manipulation and coercion as last resorts.

Structure (2.2) is described by its vocabulary. The span of control 管理幅度 is the number of subordinates one manager directs; the CHAIN OF COMMAND is the line of authority from top to bottom; LEVELS OF HIERARCHY count the layers; delegation 授权 passes authority (not responsibility) downward; BUREAUCRACY is rule-bound administration; CENTRALISATION keeps decisions at the top while DECENTRALISATION pushes them down; DE-LAYERING removes levels. A TALL structure has many levels and narrow spans — clear promotion paths but slow communication; a FLAT structure has few levels and wide spans — faster and cheaper but heavier loads on each manager. Charts may be drawn by FUNCTION (HR, finance, marketing, operations), by PRODUCT or by REGION; a MATRIX structure crosses functions with projects, giving each person two managers. Project-based structures and Handy's SHAMROCK (core staff, contractors, flexible workers) are the modern shapes.

Worked example. With 80 staff, one owner-manager and four workshop managers each supervising 19 mechanics gives three levels and a span of 19 at the bottom — too wide for coaching, so the owner adds a senior mechanic in each workshop: four levels, span of control 9–10, and the chain of command for a customer complaint lengthens by one link.

Management (2.3) plans, organises, directs and controls; LEADERSHIP sets direction and inspires. The leadership style 领导风格 chosen should fit the task and the people: AUTOCRATIC (leader decides, fast but demotivating), PATERNALISTIC (decides in the workers' interest), DEMOCRATIC (consults and shares decisions — better ideas, slower), LAISSEZ-FAIRE (hands off, for experts) and SITUATIONAL (switches style by circumstance).

Motivation 激励 (2.4) theories: TAYLOR — scientific management, pay by output; MASLOW — a hierarchy from physiological needs through safety, belonging and esteem to self-actualisation; HERZBERG — HYGIENE factors (pay, conditions, policy) prevent dissatisfaction while MOTIVATORS (achievement, recognition, responsibility, growth) create satisfaction; McCLELLAND — acquired needs for achievement, affiliation and power; DECI AND RYAN — self-determination through autonomy, competence and relatedness. Labour turnover 员工流动率 measures the outcome: leavers divided by average staff, times 100 — 12 leavers from 80 is 15% a year, costing recruitment, training and lost knowledge. HR practices: an appraisal 绩效评估 may be formative (developmental), summative (judging), 360-degree (all round) or self-appraisal; recruitment is INTERNAL (cheap, known, but no new ideas) or EXTERNAL; training is INDUCTION, ON-THE-JOB or OFF-THE-JOB. FINANCIAL rewards: salary, time and piece wages, commission, performance-related and profit-related pay, employee share ownership, fringe payments; NON-FINANCIAL: job enrichment, rotation and enlargement, empowerment, purpose and teamwork.

Communication 沟通 (2.6) is FORMAL (meetings, reports, emails through the chain of command) or INFORMAL (the grapevine); barriers include language and jargon, information overload, poor channel choice, physical distance and lack of trust. Every structure and style above is only as good as the communication that carries it.

Worked example. The 15% turnover is concentrated among mechanics on piece rates who feel their effort is unrewarded when parts arrive late. Herzberg reads late parts and pay disputes as hygiene failures to fix first - and the effort-to-reward link the piece rate was meant to create is broken. The owner moves to a base salary plus a team bonus and a formative appraisal; turnover falling to 8% (6 of 80) would save the cost of six replacements.

• HRM's role; the five external HR-planning factors; the five reasons for resistance and the Kotter–Schlesinger ladder (2.1).
• Span of control, chain of command, levels, delegation, bureaucracy, (de)centralisation, de-layering; tall vs flat; function/product/region; matrix, project-based, shamrock (2.2).
• Management vs leadership; the five styles with when each fits (2.3).
• Taylor, Maslow, Herzberg, McClelland, Deci and Ryan; labour turnover 12/80 = 15%; appraisal types; recruitment and training; financial and non-financial rewards (2.4).
• Formal and informal communication; the barriers (2.6).

Boundary notes: Paper 1 asks for motivation theories applied to the case, not recited; Paper 2 may ask for the labour-turnover calculation and an organisational chart; the research project often takes an HR issue through the conceptual lens of change or ethics. All worked numbers are original on the shared repair business.

IB Diploma Programme Business Management SL, Unit 3 Finance and accounts (first assessment 2024). This topic covers the SL content of syllabus sections 3.1-3.8: the role of finance and its sources, costs and revenues, final accounts, profitability and liquidity ratio analysis, cash flow, and investment appraisal — the debt/equity ratio analysis (3.6) and budgets (3.9) sections are HL only and are left out. The worked accounts below belong to the shared repair business in its second year as a company, so every figure cross-checks.

Must-know for Unit 3:

Finance (3.1) exists to fund CAPITAL EXPENDITURE (non-current assets: workshops, machines — spent once, used for years) and REVENUE EXPENDITURE (day-to-day: wages, parts, rent — spent to keep trading). The two must be matched to the right source: funding a workshop with an overdraft, or wages with a long loan, is a classic Paper 2 error.

Sources (3.2) divide first by origin. INTERNAL sources need no outsider: retained profit 留存利润 (free and flexible, but limited by what was earned), the sale of unwanted assets, and the owners' own savings. EXTERNAL sources bring outside money: share capital 股本 (permanent, no repayment, but dilutes ownership — available to companies), long-term LOAN CAPITAL (large sums with interest and often collateral), OVERDRAFTS (small, flexible, expensive per pound, repayable on demand), trade credit 商业信贷 (suppliers' 30–60 days, interest-free but risks a poor credit reputation), LEASING and hire purchase (use assets without buying them), CROWDFUNDING (many small sums, often pre-sales), MICROFINANCE providers (small loans to those excluded from banks) and BUSINESS ANGELS (investors who also advise, for equity). The choice weighs cost, control, flexibility, risk, the time period, and the firm's existing borrowing — a heavily indebted firm should prefer equity.

Worked example. The second workshop (cost $120\,000$) was funded half from retained profit and half from a five-year loan at 8%: the asset earns over years, so a long-term source fits; the parts bill ($45\,000$ a month) rides on trade credit; a December wage squeeze uses the overdraft for eleven days.

Costs and revenues (3.3). A fixed cost 固定成本 does not vary with output (rent, salaries, depreciation, insurance); a VARIABLE cost does (parts, piece rates). DIRECT costs attach to a single product or department; INDIRECT costs (overheads) are shared. Revenue = price × quantity; the repair business bills $2\,000$ repairs a month at 25 on average, so $600\,000$ a year.

Final accounts (3.4). The INCOME STATEMENT (profit and loss) measures performance over a period: revenue $600\,000$, cost of sales $360\,000$, giving GROSS PROFIT $240\,000$; expenses $150\,000$, giving PROFIT FOR THE YEAR $90\,000$ (before interest and tax, in this simple form). The STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION (balance sheet 资产负债表) photographs the business on one day: NON-CURRENT ASSETS $320\,000$ (workshops and equipment at cost less accumulated depreciation); CURRENT ASSETS $80\,000$ (inventory $30\,000$, trade receivables $40\,000$, cash $10\,000$); CURRENT LIABILITIES $40\,000$ (payables $25\,000$, overdraft $5\,000$, short-term loan $10\,000$) — so working capital 营运资金, current assets minus current liabilities, is $40\,000$; NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES $160\,000$ (the five-year loan); EQUITY $200\,000$ — and the sheet always balances: $320\,000 + 80\,000 = 200\,000 + 160\,000 + 40\,000$.

Depreciation 折旧 spreads an asset's cost over its life. Straight-line: a $22\,000$ diagnostic machine with a $2\,000$ residual value over four years costs $(22\,000 - 2\,000)/4 = 5\,000$ a year — charged as an expense and deducted from the asset's book value. (The units-of-production method charges by usage instead: the same machine rated for $20\,000$ diagnoses at 1 per diagnosis.)

Ratios (3.5) read the two statements together. PROFITABILITY: gross profit margin $= 240\,000 / 600\,000 = 40\%$; profit margin $= 90\,000 / 600\,000 = 15\%$; return on capital employed (ROCE) $= 90\,000 / (320\,000 + 40\,000) = 25\%$ — compare ROCE with the 8% loan rate: the loan earns its keep. LIQUIDITY: the CURRENT ratio $= 80\,000 / 40\,000 = 2.0$ (a guideline band of 1.5–2); the ACID TEST drops inventory: $(80\,000 - 30\,000) / 40\,000 = 1.25$. Improving profitability: cost control, better buying, premium pricing, higher-margin services. Improving liquidity: sell inventory, collect receivables faster, delay payables, longer-term finance — each traded against profitability or supplier goodwill.

Cash flow (3.7) is NOT profit: profit is revenue matched to costs in the period; cash is the money actually moving. A profitable business fails if cash runs out (inventory and receivables absorb cash). Motives for holding cash: TRANSACTIONARY (day-to-day), PRECAUTIONARY (safety), SPECULATIVE (opportunities). The cash flow forecast 现金流量预测 tabulates opening cash, cash IN (sales receipts, capital) and cash OUT (payments) to give closing cash month by month — and is adjusted for expected changes, not just repeated. Cash-flow problems are treated by the improvement levers above, by an overdraft, or by emergency cost cuts.

Worked example. March opens with $12\,000$; receipts $42\,000$; payments $48\,000$ → closing $6\,000$. April opens with $6\,000$; receipts $44\,000$; payments $55\,000$ (quarterly insurance and the parts bill land together) → closing $-5\,000$: an overdraft is needed, and the forecast shows it two months early.

Investment appraisal 投资评估 (3.8) judges a capital project three ways. The third workshop costs $120\,000$ and is expected to add NET cash flow of $40\,000$ a year for four years. PAYBACK $= 120\,000 / 40\,000 = 3$ years — simple and risk-focused, blind to everything after payback. AVERAGE RATE OF RETURN: total returns $4 \times 40\,000 - 120\,000 = 40\,000$, so average annual profit $10\,000$ and ARR $= 10\,000 / 120\,000 = 8.3\%$ — comparable with the loan rate. NET PRESENT VALUE discounts at the cost of capital, 6%: the four payments are worth $37\,720 + 35\,600 + 33\,600 + 31\,680 = 138\,600$, so NPV $= +18\,600$ — positive, so the project adds value that the payback and ARR alone cannot see.

• Capital vs revenue expenditure; internal vs external sources with each one's cost, control and risk; matching source to time period (3.1–3.2).
• Fixed/variable, direct/indirect costs; revenue; the income statement $600\,000$ → $360\,000$ → $240\,000$ → $90\,000$; the balance sheet balancing at $400\,000$; straight-line depreciation $5\,000$ (3.3–3.4).
• GPM 40%, profit margin 15%, ROCE 25% vs the 8% loan; current ratio 2.0, acid test 1.25; the improvement levers (3.5).
• Profit vs cash; the three motives; the March–April forecast with the $-5\,000$ April (3.7).
• Payback 3 yr, ARR 8.3%, NPV $+18\,600$ at 6% — what each can and cannot see (3.8).

Boundary notes: Paper 2 is the quantitative paper — every ratio, the depreciation, the forecast and all three appraisal methods above are examinable with a calculator; show the formula, the substitution and the answer with its sign. Paper 1 asks for sources of finance and cash-flow strategies evaluated in context; the research project often takes a finance issue through the lens of sustainability or ethics. All worked numbers are original on the shared repair business.

IB Diploma Programme Business Management SL, Unit 4 Marketing (first assessment 2024). This topic covers the SL content of syllabus sections 4.1-4.5: the role of marketing, marketing planning, market research, and the seven Ps of the marketing mix — sales forecasting (4.3) and international marketing (4.6) are HL only and are left out. The worked example keeps the shared repair business, whose local market runs $8\,000$ repairs a month, of which the firm completes $2\,000$ — a 25% market share — so every figure cross-checks.

Must-know for Unit 4:

The role of marketing (4.1) is to identify and satisfy customer wants profitably. A MARKET-ORIENTED business researches customers first and builds what they want — responsive, but followership; a PRODUCT-ORIENTED business starts from what it can make — distinctive, but risky if wants move. Market orientation 市场导向 is the modern default, and the distinction is a favourite two-mark definition. MARKETING OBJECTIVES (market share, sales growth, brand loyalty, product leadership) derive from the corporate objectives and are set on the evidence of a MARKETING AUDIT — internal (the 7Ps as they stand) and external (PESTLE, the market, the competition). Market share 市场份额 $=$ sales of the firm over sales of the market, times 100: $2\,000 / 8\,000 = 25\%$.

Marketing planning (4.2) turns objectives into strategy. The marketing plan 营销计划 states objectives, audit findings, strategy, budget, controls. The strategy runs S–T–P: SEGMENT the market (demographic, geographic, psychographic, behavioural), TARGET the attractive segments, POSITION the offer in the target's mind (value map). The marketing mix 营销组合 is the 4Ps of PRODUCT, PRICE, PLACE and PROMOTION — extended to the 7Ps for services by PEOPLE, PROCESS and PHYSICAL EVIDENCE — chosen as an INTEGRATED whole. Porter's GENERIC STRATEGIES frame the competitive position: overall COST LEADERSHIP, DIFFERENTIATION, or FOCUS (cost or differentiation in a niche) — a firm that commits to none of them is "stuck in the middle".

Market research 市场调查 (4.4) reduces risk by collecting data. PRIMARY research is new, for the purpose: surveys 问卷调查 (quantitative, scalable, question-design risk), focus groups 焦点小组 (qualitative, deep, small), observation and test marketing. SECONDARY research reuses what exists: government statistics, trade data, company records, syndicated reports — cheap and instant, but dated, biased or simply not fitting. QUANTITATIVE data counts; QUALITATIVE data explains. The RESEARCH PROCESS fixes the problem, sets objectives, chooses method, collects, analyses, presents — and every method faces the LIMITATIONS of cost-versus-benefit, reliability, validity and representativeness (sample size and design). Technology has changed the scale: big data, loyalty records and online behaviour observe millions cheaply, at the price of consent and privacy questions the concept ETHICS keeps alive.

The mix in detail (4.5). PRODUCT: types (consumer, industrial, services), brand 品牌 and packaging, the product life cycle 产品生命周期 — development, introduction, growth, maturity, decline — read with its strategies, extension strategies among them, and the BOSTON MATRIX that plots RELATIVE MARKET SHARE against MARKET GROWTH: stars (high, high), cash cows (high share, low growth — fund the rest), question marks (low share, high growth — invest or divest), dogs (low, low — harvest or sell). PRICE: cost-plus, competitive, PENETRATION (low to buy share), SKIMMING (high at launch, then down), loss leader, psychological, price discrimination. PLACE: distribution channels from producer to consumer — direct, retailer, wholesaler, agent — and the channel choice that balances control, cost and coverage. PROMOTION: ABOVE THE LINE (paid advertising to a mass audience) and BELOW THE LINE (targeted: sponsorship, sales promotion, direct marketing, personal selling, PR), in PUSH (toward the retailer) and PULL (toward the consumer) logics. For services: PEOPLE (recruitment and training of front-line staff), PROCESS (the service journey), PHYSICAL EVIDENCE (the workshop's look, uniforms, invoices). E-commerce has forced omni-channel place, dynamic pricing and search-led promotion. The test is INTEGRATION: a penetration price with a premium brand promise contradicts itself.

Worked example (original): the portfolio placed. The repair firm's four lines on the Boston matrix. The van-fleet tracking app: relative share the city's highest, the market still growing fast as fleets digitise — a STAR, consuming cash now to become tomorrow's cow. The legacy paper-map subscription: share high, growth negative — the CASH COW whose margin funds the app. The city-scooter pilot: share low in a fast-growing niche — a QUESTION MARK, invest or divest within the year. The puncture-drone line: share low, growth low — a DOG to harvest. Paper 2 pays for exactly this: product, quadrant, the share/growth reason, and where its cash flows.

• Market vs product orientation; objectives from corporate objectives; the audit; market share $2\,000$/$8\,000$ = 25% (4.1).

• The plan's components; S–T–P; the 4Ps extended to 7; Porter's three generic strategies with "stuck in the middle" (4.2).

• Primary vs secondary; quantitative vs qualitative; the process and the four limitations; big data and ethics (4.4).

• PLC stages with strategies; Boston matrix quadrants and cash-flow logic; the price ladder; channels; above/below the line, push/pull; people, process, physical evidence; integration (4.5).

Boundary notes: Paper 1 loves the mix applied to a case (recommend TWO Ps together, not one); Paper 2 calculates market share and PLC/Boston placements; the research project often studies a marketing issue through the lens of change or creativity. All worked numbers are original on the shared repair business.

IB Diploma Programme Business Management SL, Unit 5 Operations management (first assessment 2024). This topic covers the SL content of syllabus sections 5.1-5.5: the role of operations and the transformation process, operations methods, location, and break-even analysis — lean production and quality management (5.3), production planning (5.6), crisis management and contingency planning (5.7), research and development (5.8) and management information systems (5.9) are HL only and are left out. The worked numbers extend the shared repair business, and they reconcile with Unit 3: price 25 per repair, variable cost 15, fixed costs $12\,500$ a month.

Must-know for Unit 5:

Operations management 运营管理 (5.1) turns INPUTS (labour, parts, premises, information) through a PROCESS into OUTPUTS (goods and services), aiming at EFFICIENCY (output per unit of input — doing things right) and EFFECTIVENESS (meeting the objective — doing the right things). The key measure is productivity 生产率: output over input. LABOUR productivity $=$ repairs $/$ staff: $2\,000$ repairs a month with 80 employees is 25 repairs per employee; productivity rises by more output from the same staff (training, tools, layout) or the same output from fewer.

Operations methods (5.2) choose HOW to produce. JOB production makes one custom item at a time (a racing-bike build) — high value, high skill, high unit cost. BATCH makes groups of identical items then switches (e-bike service visits by district) — flexible between lines, but change costs and idle time between batches. FLOW (mass) production runs one standard product continuously (a puncture-repair line) — lowest unit cost, but inflexible and deskilling. Mass customisation 大规模定制 uses flexible technology to offer choice at near-flow cost — the subscription bike configured online, serviced on a flow line — the modern ideal and the classic evaluative contrast.

Location (5.4) weighs QUANTITATIVE factors (site cost, labour cost, grants, transport costs — a weighted-score or break-even table can rank sites) against QUALITATIVE ones (image, labour skills, infrastructure, proximity to customers and suppliers, regulation, environmental limits). For a service like repairs, CUSTOMER PROXIMITY dominates; for parts storage, cost and access dominate — the fourth workshop sits by the station, the parts depot by the ring road.

Break-even analysis 盈亏平衡分析 finds the output where total revenue equals total cost. CONTRIBUTION per unit $=$ price $-$ variable cost $= 25 - 15 = 10$ — each repair contributes 10 toward the fixed costs of $12\,500$ a month. Break-even quantity $=$ fixed costs $/$ contribution $= 12\,500 / 10 = 1\,250$ repairs a month: below it the month loses money, above it every extra repair adds 10 of profit. The margin of safety 安全边际 is actual output minus break-even: $2\,000 - 1\,250 = 750$ repairs, or $37.5\%$ of sales — the fall the business can absorb before losses. TARGET output for a chosen profit $=$ (fixed costs $+$ target profit) $/$ contribution: a $15\,000$ monthly profit needs $(12\,500 + 15\,000)/10 = 2\,750$ repairs. The chart plots TR and TC against output, crossing at $1\,250$. LIMITATIONS: costs and price are assumed constant, output assumed sold, step-fixed costs ignored — it is a model, and a fragile one far from the current output.

Worked example (original): the chart under change. At $1\,500$ repairs: revenue $25 \times 1\,500 = 37\,500$; total cost $12\,500 + 15 \times 1\,500 = 35\,000$; profit $2\,500$ — the margin of safety $250 \times$ contribution $10$, as the chart's widening TR–TC gap shows. Now price rises to $27$ (contribution $12$) but rent steps up $3\,000$: BEQ $= 15\,500/12 \approx 1\,292$ — barely moved, yet the margin of safety falls $750 \to 708$. A higher price need not mean more safety: that is the evaluative sentence the model exists for.

• The transformation process; efficiency vs effectiveness; labour productivity $2\,000$/80 = 25 (5.1).

• Job, batch, flow with benefits and limitations; mass customisation as the synthesis (5.2).

• Quantitative vs qualitative location factors with the service/cost split (5.4).

• Contribution 10; BEQ $1\,250$; margin of safety 750 = 37.5%; target $2\,750$ for $15\,000$; the chart and its limits (5.5).

Boundary notes: Paper 2 examines every calculation here — productivity and the full break-even arithmetic — with the formula, substitution and answer; Paper 1 examines methods and location in context; the research project often takes an operations issue through the lens of sustainability or efficiency. All worked numbers are original and reconcile with the Unit 3 accounts.