Scheme of work

Following the announcement that from September 2012 (for two-year courses) GCSE specifications will move to linear assessment, this scheme of work has been adapted to help you implement the Edexcel GCSE Business Short Course or Full Course specification in a linear way. It can be used to deliver the teaching models presented in the Course Planner, but is not intended to be prescriptive and is provided in editable Word format to make adaptation as easy as possible.

Other course planning support

In addition to this revised Scheme of Work, we have also produced an updated course planner that offers examples of possible models that you should feel free to adapt to meet your needs. This is a free downloadable resource that you can access at:

Teaching resource exemplars

The Schemes of Work contain suggestions for resources that you can use to support your teaching of this specification. These are suggestions only of material you may find useful and you are encouraged to use a wide range of resources that suit the needs of your students.

Edexcel Subject Advisor – Colin Leith

Colin Leith, the Economics and Business Subject Advisor, is available to help you with implementation of this specification.

You can contact him by e-mail at by phone on 0844 372 2187.

Edexcel Additional Support

  • Ask the Expert puts you in direct e-mail contact with Edexcel examiners. You can access this service via
  • Edexcel's community pages are designed to enable you to access peer-to-peer support from fellow Edexcel teaching and delivery staff in schools and colleges. Visit:

Other Edexcel teaching resources

Pearson produces a range of paid-forEdexcel resources for this specification, including:

  • Student books — full colour textbooks for each unit of the specification.
  • Teacher guides – suggested answers and mark schemes for questions in the student books.
  • ActiveTeach — digital teaching resources on aneasy-to-use CDROM.
  • Exam Skills Practice workbooks — two separate write-in workbooks with activities designed to support C/D borderline students and to stretch your higher achievers.

You’ll find details of all of these at

Paid-for resources, including those endorsed by Edexcel, are also available from other publishers, including Hodder Education.

Edexcel’s paid-for resources, as well as those endorsed by Edexcel, are not a pre-requisite for the delivery of Edexcel’s specifications.

Year 10

Unit 1: Introduction to Small Business; Unit 2: Investigating Small Business

Week / Content coverage/
key questions / Learning outcomes / Exemplar activities / Exemplar resources
1 / Topic 1.1 Spotting a business opportunity/What is a business? /
  • To be able to state what a business does.
/
  • Students debate and discuss issues involved in spotting a business opportunity.
  • Students look at a case study in the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business on a business giving motorcycle lessons — explaining the nature of business, its resources, its customers, and evaluating why it might be successful.
  • Students take part in an interactive activity from Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach to help understand important terms in business, such as ‘market’ and ‘supplier’.
  • Students use different resources including the internet to look at what businesses do. For example, they discuss what different businesses produce using photographs.
/
  • See the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business, Chapter 1.
  • See Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach CD.
  • See ‘Introduction to Business Activity’ at
    lesson/intro1.htm

2 / Understanding customer needs. /
  • To be able to state why customer needs are central to a business.
/
  • Students look at a case study in the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business on a cake-making business, explaining how the business used market research and evaluating whether this was successful.
  • Students take part in an interactive activity from Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach to identify different types of market research using images.
  • Students investigate market research figures produced by a business and explain what they show.
  • Students discuss customer needs using case studies.
/
  • See the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business, Chapter 2.
  • See Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach CD.
  • For market research figures, see Business Case Studies for GCSE Business Studies by M. Hancock (Pearson, 2007) — Case Study 14, Market Research.
  • For customer needs, see resources from Edexcel eBus (GCSE Business Studies Email Support Service): Sept 2006 — Heelys; Feb 2007 — Look investigation, and March 2007 — Reggae lesson starter.

Week / Content coverage/
key questions / Learning outcomes / Exemplar activities / Exemplar resources
3 / Analysing customers. /
  • To be able to identify customers.
  • To understand the types of customers that are being targeted.
  • To understand the position of a business in order to spot a gap in the market.
/
  • Students look at a case study in the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business on a hairstylist to explain how a business can use market mapping to identify target customers and a potential gap in the market, and to evaluate whether this will help the business to be successful.
  • Students choose different brands within a product range and construct a market map related to price and quality.
  • Students analyse the position of different businesses on a market map, using Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach.
  • Students use a series of resources looking at customers and market segments. For example, they look at the Yellow Pages or Thomson Local Directory to identify 20 different businesses and write down what type of customers these businesses might have. They match market segments with types of business, using photographs and examples.
/
  • See the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business, Chapter 3.
  • For brands and market mapping, see Business Active, Volume 3 Number 2, Spring 2008, ‘What’s the use of branding?’, market mapping task.
  • See Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach CD.
  • For knowing your customers, see
    lesson/customers1.htm

4 / Analysing competitors. /
  • To be able to recognise the importance of competitors in business planning.
  • To be able to state at least three potential strengths and three weaknesses of competitors that might affect business planning.
/
  • Students look at a case study in the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business on a gym to identify and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses.
  • Students take part in an interactive activity from Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach to explain the strengths and weaknesses of a taxi service compared to its competitors.
  • Students examine how strong brands can benefit competitors.
/
  • See the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business, Chapter 4.
  • See Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach CD.
  • For branding, see Business Active, Volume 3 Number 2, Spring 2008, ‘What’s the use of branding?’, pp 10–12.

Week / Content coverage/
key questions / Learning outcomes / Exemplar activities / Exemplar resources
5 / Adding value. /
  • To understand the meaning of the term ‘added value’.
  • To be able to recognise added value in three examples of products.
/
  • Students look at a case study in the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business on a garage to identify how a business adds value, whether it has a USP, and evaluate whether that USP will make the business successful.
  • Students take part in an interactive activity from Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach to evaluate which businesses add most value from alternatives.
  • In groups, students take three products, break them down into their component parts, and describe which raw materials were used and what other costs would have been incurred in their production. They discuss why consumers are prepared to pay the price for the product, and the main ways that the business adds value.
/
  • See the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business, Chapter 5.
  • See Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach CD.

6 / The options available in starting up a business. /
  • To recognise that there are different options available in starting up a business.
  • To understand the main principles of a franchise.
  • To be able to state at least two advantages and two disadvantages of a franchise.
  • To recognise the importance of location in setting up a business.
/
  • Students look at a case study in the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business on franchising to calculate the costs, examine the factors affecting the choice of franchise, and evaluate which franchise a business should choose from two alternatives.
  • Students research existing franchises to compare their advantages and disadvantages for the franchisee and franchisor.
  • Students discuss the Toni & Guy franchise from video material in Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach.
  • Students take part in an interactive activity from Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach to understand the potential advantages and disadvantages of franchising.
  • Students examine the factors affecting a franchisee, such as Rosemary Conley or Domino’s Pizza.
  • Students examine the factors affecting choice of a franchise from a variety of articles relating to starting up in business via a franchise.
/
  • See the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business, Chapter 6.
  • See Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach CD.
  • For advantages and disadvantages of franchising, see Business Active, Volume 1 Number 3, Jan 2006, ‘Is franchising a good idea?’, pp 14–16.
  • For Rosemary Conley, see Business Case Studies for GCSE Business Studies by M. Hancock (Pearson, 2007) — Case Study 10, Rosemary Conley.
  • For Domino’s Pizza, see Business Active, Volume 2 Number 1, Sept 2006, ‘Delivering pizza’.
  • For starting up in business via a franchise, see BBC GCSE Business Studies Bitesize Revision: Different Types of Business; Edexcel eBus (GCSE Business Studies Email Support Service): Jan 2007 — Franchising; and

Week / Content coverage/
key questions / Learning outcomes / Exemplar activities / Exemplar resources
7-8 / Topic 1.2 Showing enterprise/What is enterprise? /
  • To be able to state at least four features of being enterprising.
  • To understand the difference between a good and a service.
  • To understand how mind maps can be used by entrepreneurs to spot opportunities.
/
  • Students look at case studies in the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business on horse-riding stables, a machine-repair business and gift-wrapping services, to understand the skills required by entrepreneurs and evaluate to what extent entrepreneurs will be successful.
  • Students take part in interactive activities from Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach to analyse the factors that make successful entrepreneurs, whether products are goods or services, and the features of mind maps.
  • Students take part in a series of activities involving starting a business. For example, they make a list of the reasons why they think a person might want to start up a business, ranking the reasons in order of priority. They design a poster advertising the benefits of starting up a new business, taking into account the fact that it needs to attract attention and include information about starting a business.
  • Students take part in an enterprise task to encourage lateral thinking and creativity, based on a scenario where they are stranded on a desert island with few resources.
  • Students read business articles and discuss the factors affecting business start-ups.
  • Students take part in the Young Enterprise programme.
/
  • See the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business, Chapters 7, 12 and 14.
  • See Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach CD.
  • For starting a business, see ‘What is Enterprise?’ at
    lesson/enterprise1.htm
  • For lateral thinking and creativity, see Edexcel eBus (GCSE Business Studies Email Support Service): Oct 2006 — Thinking.
  • For factors affecting business start-ups, see Business Active, Volume 1 Number 1, Sept 2005, ‘Innovation and enterprise’, pp 14–16; and Startups — Entrepreneur Skills at
  • See the ‘Entrepreneurship Masterclass’ run by Young Enterprise,

9 / Being creative and enterprising. /
  • To understand the role of creative thinking in business enterprise.
  • To be able to identify key questions that entrepreneurs ask.
/
  • Students look at case studies in the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business on businesses making greeting cards and wedding albums. They identify lateral and ‘blue skies’ thinking, and questions that entrepreneurs might ask. They evaluate the importance of these questions.
  • Students take part in interactive activities from Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach on ‘thinking hats’ and questions that entrepreneurs ask.
  • Students take part in a ‘thinking hats’ activity from Edexcel eBus based on a circus that has to think creatively to solve a problem when a storm wrecks the circus tent.
  • Students take part in an activity from Edexcel eBus to help them think creatively about a business problem.
  • Students take part in short exercises from Edexcel eBus based on different scenarios designed to encourage creative thinking.
/
  • See the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business, Chapters 8 and 9.
  • See Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach CD.
  • For the circus activity, see Edexcel eBus (GCSE Business Studies Email Support Service): Sept 2006 — Deliberate creativity.
  • For the business problem activity, see Edexcel eBus: Sept 2006 — Penbrella: A business problem.
  • For short exercises in creative thinking, see Edexcel eBus: Nov 2006 — Unlock your creativity.

Week / Content coverage/
key questions / Learning outcomes / Exemplar activities / Exemplar resources
10 / Invention and innovation. /
  • To be able to state clearly the difference invention and innovation.
  • To understand the steps that an entrepreneur can take to protect ideas and products.
/
  • Students look at a case study in the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business on identifying innovation and invention, examining the benefits of patents, and evaluating continued innovation.
  • Students take part in an interactive activity from Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach explaining the difference between invention and innovation.
  • Students investigate ways to protect inventions.
  • Students discuss a summary of a copyright dispute between Mattel and the makers of Bratz dolls over who owns the copyright for the design of the doll.
  • Students research and debate the issues relating to invention and innovation, including copyright, patents and trademarks.
/
  • See the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business, Chapter 10.
  • See Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach CD.
  • For protecting inventions see ‘How to protect your invention’,
  • For Bratz dolls and copyright see
  • For legal issues connected with start-ups, see

11 / Calculated risk. /
  • To recognise that business involves degrees of risk.
  • To appreciate that business can also bring rewards.
  • To understand how to balance out the risk–reward ratio.
/
  • Students look at a case study in the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business on an engineering business, identifying upsides and downsides and evaluating success using calculated risk.
  • Students take part in an interactive activity from Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach identifying upsides and downsides of a decision.
  • Students research how businesses can measure success.
  • Students research what business failure means, and the causes of business failure.
  • Students look at a short case study from Edexcel eBus on a business start-up and discuss some of the issues that need to be considered.
/
  • See the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business, Chapter 11.
  • See Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach CD.
  • For measuring success, see ‘Business Success and Failure 1’ at
    lesson/success1.htm
  • For business failure see ‘Business Success and Failure 2’ at
    lesson/success2.htm
  • For a start-up case study see Edexcel eBus (GCSE Business Studies Email Support Service): May 2007 — Bernie’s start-up.

Week / Content coverage/
key questions / Learning outcomes / Exemplar activities / Exemplar resources
12 / Topic 1.3 Putting a business idea into practice/Business objectives. /
  • To be able to state at least three financial and three non-financial objectives for starting up a business.
/
  • Students look at a case study in the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business on two chemists, identifying financial and non-financial objectives and comparing the objectives of the two businesses.
  • Students take part in an interactive activity from Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach classifying types of objectives.
  • Students create a mind map showing the overall issues relating to business objectives.
  • Students examine business objectives using case studies.
/
  • See the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business, Chapter 13.
  • See Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach CD.
  • For a business objectives mind map see
    strategy/presentation/busobjectives2_map.htm
  • For case studies on business objectives, see BBC GCSE Business Studies Bitesize Revision: Business Objectives — pp 20–21; and Business Case Studies for GCSE Business Studies by M. Hancock (Pearson, 2007) — Case Study 8, Fitness Friends.

13-15 / Costs and revenues. /
  • To be able to state a definition of revenue, fixed costs, variable costs, price, total cost and profit.
  • To state two ways in which a new business might forecast sales.
/
  • Students look at a case study in the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business on a pet cleaning service, involving the calculation of costs, revenues and profit.
  • Students take part in an interactive activity from Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach using spreadsheets to calculate revenue and costs. They discuss how fixed and variable costs change, using graphs and an animation.
  • Students look at a short case study from Edexcel eBus on costs and revenues relating to a Chinese takeaway business.
  • Students discuss setting turnover targets.
  • Students look at case studies on analysing improving revenue and profit.
/
  • See the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies Student Book Introduction to Small Business, Chapter 15.
  • See Edexcel GCSE Business ActiveTeach CD.
  • For the Chinese takeaway case study, see Edexcel eBus (GCSE Business Studies Email Support Service): 2005 — The Ho-li takeaway.
  • For turnover targets see ‘How to best set a turnover target’ at
  • For profit and loss and a case study, see