9609/13 paper 1 oct nov 2023

5 (a) Analyze two qualities an entrepreneur should possess to be successful. [8]

An entrepreneur is a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses,taking on

greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.

An entrepreneur has to have the quality of innovation.This means that the individual has to be
able to identify and fill the gaps in the market to attract potential customers.This is crucial for the
business to be recognised amongst competitors as it is clearly differentiated from other
businesses in the market.This allows the business to gain a competitive advantage in the
market due to the unique products/services offered.An entrepreneur must therefore have
creative and innovative ideas to present and promote in the market to ensure that their business
increases sales overtime and is successful.

An entrepreneur must have leadership skills.This means that the entrepreneur must be able to
lead a group of workers.The entrepreneur must set an example and motivate all the employees
by guiding them and providing a sense of direction.This is done by communicating
effectively.The responsibility of the business lies with the entrepreneur so it is important for
he/she to take responsibility for running the business and achieve objectives.An entrepreneur
must ensure that the organization is running smoothly and difficult situations are being dealt with
by leading the team.

(b) ‘Ethics should significantly influence the marketing activities of all retail clothing
businesses.’ Evaluate this view. [12]

Ethics refers to the moral principles and values which guide a person between what is right and
what is wrong,and a clear commitment to keep to that distinction when making decisions in a
business.

In retail clothing businesses,clothes are directly sold to customers.Marketing activities are

important in order to target potential customers by attracting them to purchase the wide range of
clothing offered by a retail business.The marketing activities include carrying out market
research,packaging design,pricing and advertising as well as customer service.

Ethics should significantly influence the marketing activities of all retail clothing businesses
because it has a significant impact on the reputation of the retail clothing businesses.Predatory
pricing strategies are unethical and should be avoided when trying to gain a larger market
share.If the marketing activities are ethical such as by ensuring fair pricing,this leads to positive
reputation within the market.Customer loyalty is gained for the retail clothing businesses as the
clothes are being sold with transparency, and the business is not doing unfair practices to attract
customers.This leads to higher sales for real clothing businesses in the long term.
A businesses’ ethics also include its social and environmental responsibility.If the production of
the clothes sold by the retailers is known to exploit employees,such as child labour,there may be
a risk of customer boycotting and a damaged reputation for retail clothing businesses.This
potentially leads to expensive court cases and heavy fines upon the business.This may
negatively impact sales and leads to a much lower sales revenue.The retail clothing businesses
should engage in ethical marketing activities will make sure that sustainable sourcing,labor
conditions and the environmental impact of the clothing is being taken account of.This will
appeal to customers that are socially and environmentally conscious.This means a much larger
market will be targeted by ethical marketing activities.

Additionally,marketing activities make a business be differentiated from competition within the

market.The advertising and promotion of the retail clothing businesses should not be
discriminatory to potential customers such as by limiting or advertising clothes in a way that are
limited to only certain groups of people such as by gender,age,race etc.This ensures that the
business is respectful towards society and is very diverse and open minded.This ethical
marketing advertising of the retail clothing promotes positive advertising via customers and
other platforms which increases brand awareness.This helps drive the growth of the retail
clothing businesses and gain a competitive advantage in the market.

However,not all retail clothing businesses follow ethical marketing activities because it doesn’t
necessarily lead to business success.Ethical practises are expensive,therefore some retailers
may turn a turn a blind eye to such issues.The clothing retailer businesses’ main objectives is
for the business to succeed and continue making profit whether or not ethical marketing
practices are being followed.Using ethical and fair-trade suppliers can add to business costs.For
example by retail clothing businesses being ethical and having a supplier that is paying fair
wages,the wage costs are increased.This increases costs for the retail clothing businesses as
the manufacturer will increase the prices of the clothes sold to the them.This reduces a firm's
competitiveness against other businesses that exploit cheap labor.

If more ethical conduct is demanded,the prices of the clothes being sold may have to be
increased in price.This may put off potential customers if they are not as concerned about
ethics.This may risk the business being unable to retain customers and generate sales revenue
which will make the businesses face difficulties to survive in the market.

In conclusion,ethics should significantly influence the marketing activities of all retail clothing
businesses.This is because of the long term benefits of prioritizing ethical marketing such as by
following anti-discriminatory laws,being socially and environmentally aware,there is less risk of
legal disputes,which potentially may lead to expensive court cases with fines.Alongside avoiding
poor reputation within the market and a negative brand image.Ethical businesses are more
likely to be awarded government contracts and subsidies which helps to fund the
businesses.By ethical marketing activities,the retail clothing businesses will be able to create a
positive work environment with employees that are satisfied with their work as fair practises are
being followed.Therefore,leading to committed and motivated employees to lead to the success
of the retail clothing businesses.Moreover,well qualified employees may be attracted to work for
the retailer companies that have ethical and responsible policies.This gives the retail clothing
businesses a competitive advantage by having a highly skilled and motivated workforce.
However,the primary goal of marketing activities is to drive sales and business
growth.Accordingly,the marketing decisions need to be based off how effectively they will
generate sales.The business objectives of the retail clothing businesses will influence the
marketing activities which may not always be ethical.The short-term costs of ethical practices
may be costly for some retail clothing businesses and lead to lower profit margins.