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Cambridge International Examinations: Business 9609/12 March 2017
Cambridge International Examinations: Business 9609/12 March 2017
BUSINESS 9609/12
Paper 1 Short Answer and Essay March 2017
MARK SCHEME
Maximum Mark: 40
Published
This mark scheme is published as an aid to teachers and candidates, to indicate the requirements of the
examination. It shows the basis on which Examiners were instructed to award marks. It does not indicate the
details of the discussions that took place at an Examiners’ meeting before marking began, which would have
considered the acceptability of alternative answers.
Mark schemes should be read in conjunction with the question paper and the Principal Examiner Report for
Teachers.
Cambridge will not enter into discussions about these mark schemes.
Cambridge is publishing the mark schemes for the March 2017 series for most Cambridge IGCSE®,
Cambridge International A and AS Level components and some Cambridge O Level components.
The capital needed to pay for day-to-day running costs, e.g. raw materials and
credit offered to customers (2).
2(b) Briefly explain the difference between revenue expenditure and capital 3
expenditure.
Revenue expenditure is spending on all costs and assets other than fixed
assets (non-current assets) – includes wages, raw materials, and maintenance
of fixed assets.
Sound explanation of revenue and capital expenditure that clearly explains the
difference. (3 marks)
Sound explanation of only one of the concepts or a partial explanation of the
two concepts in an attempt to explain the difference. (2 marks)
Partial explanation of either revenue or capital expenditure. (1 mark)
Externally, the mission statement may well serve to support and communicate
the claims, aspirations of the business – in terms of customer, supplier,
community relationships and its treatment of employees in each of its different
locations.
Economies of scale occur when the costs of production fall (1) when the scale
of operations is increased (1).
0 No creditable content. 0
Answers may well initially define a public limited company – a company that
can sell shares to the general public on a stock exchange and has limited
liability.
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
• complex legal formalities to form a public limited company - costly and time
consuming
• strict controls and regulations to protect the interests of the ordinary
shareholder
• requirement to file accounts
• the original owners may lose control
• risk of takeover
• financial markets will determine the value of the company through the
trading of the shares
• greater public scrutiny of company performance and activities
• may lead to governance/management problems.
5(b) Discuss how ethics may influence the decisions of private sector banks. 12
In relation to private sector banks, answers may address some of the following
issues:
Answers may well refer to the banking crisis and crashes in recent times. Full
credit to be given to such references.
Good answers will analyse the key features of Maslow’s theory, review the
potential value of the theory for managers as they attempt to motivate
employees, comment on strengths and limitations of the theory, and make
evaluative comments and arguments directly relevant to the statement in the
question.
7(a) Analyse the importance of a Unique Selling Point (USP) to a mobile (cell) 8
phone manufacturer.