OCR GCSE Business Studies Business activity, marketing and people June 2025 question paper J204/01

Which option contains two secondary sources of market research?

A Focus groups and websites

B Internal data and newspapers

C Magazines and questionnaires

D Place and product

A young entrepreneur has decided to start up their own café.

The quality of communication will be important for this business because:

A all communications will be internal

B all of its employees will be new

C it will need to operate without risk

D it will use digital distribution channels

Two bakeries have different objectives.

What is a likely reason for this?

A Both bakeries use market segmentation

B It is illegal for food producers to set identical objectives

C One bakery makes bread and the other makes cakes

D The same entrepreneur owns both bakeries

An inventor is trying to develop a robot that can remove clothes from a washing machine and iron them. The inventor continues to try out new designs despite frequent setbacks.

Which entrepreneurial characteristic is the inventor showing?

A Delegation

B Determination

C Leadership

D Risk avoidance

What is not a likely advantage of improving the human resources function in a business?

A Better training opportunities

B Greater use of trialling

C Higher levels of employee motivation

D More staff development

A small garage sells low-priced second-hand cars.

Which market segment is the garage most likely to target?

A Cycling enthusiasts

B High earners with luxurious lifestyles

C Local residents with low incomes

D Teenagers from across the country

What is a form of staff development?

A A job description

B A person specification

C An apprenticeship

D An award scheme

A fancy dress shop operates as a partnership. Its four partners have produced a business plan outlining their aim to grow the business.

The business plan will be useful to the partners because it will:

A help identify new costume suppliers and suitable markets

B help raise finance by persuading new investors to buy shares

C include an estimate of the dividends payable to shareholders

D include photographs of all their current fancy dress costumes

A toy manufacturer wants to improve the way the business promotes itself. So far, it has been unable to do so due to a skills gap.

Which option would fix this problem?

A Advertise for more production workers so that more toys can be made

B Encourage the most innovative toy designers to apply for new roles

C Order better raw materials to improve the quality of the toys

D Recruit a marketing specialist with experience in the toy industry

SP Engineering plc makes gearboxes for tractors. Market data for tractor gearboxes are shown in the table.

The data shows that SP Engineering plc is:

A earning more profit year on year

B experiencing external growth

C losing market share

D operating in a declining market

A business whose main objective is ‘growth’ is likely to be:

A considering reducing the size of its workforce

B having difficulty keeping up with demand

C struggling to stay in existence

D trying to gain new customers

The organisation chart of a company is shown.

What is the span of control of the Managing Director?

A 4

B 8

C 134

D 138

A burger bar is running a children’s colouring competition. Young consumers can colour the paper placemat on their tray in the hope of winning a free ice cream.

This is an example of:

A a free sample

B a loss leader

C a point of sale promotion

D advertising

An ‘established business’ is a business that:

A has a good reputation

B has been operating for a long time

C is enterprising and creative

D is owned by more than one person

An e-book publisher is deciding on a marketing mix for its latest title.

The marketing mix for this e-book is likely to include:

A a range of physical distribution channels

B advertising that recommends similar titles produced by competitors

C promotional material that highlights the e-book’s unique content

D the use of census data to estimate demand

Text 1 _{Adapted from uk.linkedin.com/company/lidl-gb and www.google.com/search?q=how+many+new+stores+did+lidl+open+in+the+uk+in+2023&rlz=1C1GCEO_. Item removed due to third party copyright restrictions.} Lidl Ltd

Explain one purpose of planning business activity.

Explain three advantages for Lidl of operating as a private limited company.

Analyse on e likely reason why Lidl expands by using organic growth.

Other than pay, identify two financial methods of motivation.

Evaluate whether Lidl should continue to pay employees a higher wage rate than competitors.

Text 2 _{Adapted from www.denbypottery.com/all-about-denby?srsltid=AfmBOoqCmocamsMH7YokKTzrUcPD76_Yb_lZHqS-OTu8re8Rckdj-bKS and rocketreach.co/denby-pottery-company-ltd-profihttps://nohat.cc/f/common-daisy-clip-art-flower-clip-art/6481725316136960-201812162124.htmlle_b5d79652}Denby Pottery Company Ltd (Denby)

State two methods of selecting new employees.

Explain three reasons why Denby trains its production employees.

Analyse one advantage for Denby of using price skimming.

Analyse one impact on Denby of a shareholder objective.

Analyse one impact on Denby of a customer objective.

Recommend whether Denby should focus more on the objectives of shareholders or the objectives of customers. Give a reason for your answer.

Text 3 Shropshire Fruit Farm

Shropshire Fruit Farm (SFF) grows strawberries at its farm in the West Midlands. SFF is owned by business partners Mei and Felix. The strawberries are picked by temporary employees and sold to supermarkets and convenience stores.

Some of the temporary employees have a full-time contract and others have a part-time contract. This does mean that Mei and Felix find it difficult to plan operations, as employees work different numbers of hours on different days. Employee retention is also a challenge, as employees often leave the business for permanent jobs.

Demand for strawberries has decreased over the past three years and this has affected SFF’s revenue (see graph below). Felix suggests they should use market research to help plan for the future. However, Mei is concerned that, as profits have fallen by 45% over the past three years, any extra expenditure on market research would be wasteful.

Identify one way of communicating in a business.

Analyse two advantages for SFF of employee retention.

Mei and Felix have been reviewing the balance of full-time and part-time employees at SFF.

Analyse one advantage for SFF of recruiting each type of employee.

Full-time employees

Part-time employees

Recommend whether it is best for SFF to recruit full-time or part time employees. Give a reason for your answer.

* Evaluate, using the data in Text 3, whether or not SFF should use market research to help plan for the future.