GCSE

Imagine running a major electrical retailer just weeks before Christmas. Customers are looking to buy televisions, laptops and washing machines, but your suppliers are increasingly reluctant to let you buy goods on credit. How do you fill your shelves if you haven't got enough cash? That was part of the crisis facing Comet in 2012. Founded in Hull in 1933, Comet became one of Britain's best-known electrical retailers, eventually operating 236 stores. But by 2012, the business

For many Business students, stakeholders are introduced as a list. Customers. Employees. Shareholders. Suppliers. Government. Local communities. But stakeholder influence becomes much more interesting when different groups want different things from the same business decision. A trip to the supermarket provides a surprisingly good example. Over recent years, self-service checkouts have become increasingly common across UK supermarkets. For retailers, the attraction is fairly

For many students, the term sole trader first appears as a definition in a textbook: one person owns and controls a business. But what does that actually look like when somebody has to turn an idea into a functioning business? A recent BBC News story provides a useful example. At just 21, Mia Wallace is running Dolly’s Coffee in Lowestoft, Suffolk. She took over the lease of an existing café premises when she was 20, refurbished and rebranded it, and established herself as a

What is a sole trader? A sole trader is a business owned and controlled by one person. It is one of the simplest forms of business ownership and is particularly common among small businesses such as hairdressers, tradespeople, tutors, photographers, cleaners, dog groomers and independent retailers. The owner makes the key decisions, receives the profits generated by the business after costs and tax, and takes responsibility for its success or failure. In the UK, a sole trader

Entrepreneurs are often described as risk-takers, decision-makers and opportunity spotters. But what do those characteristics actually look like when somebody is building a real business? The experience of Vivien Wong, co-founder of Little Moons, provides an interesting real-world example. From accountancy to ice cream At the age of 28, Wong left an accounting career paying around £80,000 a year to establish Little Moons with her brother, Howard. Entrepreneurship was not enti

As students gear up for their final examinations, the pressure to solidify their knowledge intensifies. With the Edexcel GCSE Business...