BUSS4 Section B - Prepare for Hybrid Essay Questions

I’ve been taking a close look through our AQA BUSS4 Topic Tracker to get a feel for how the Section B essay titles have been selected and structured in recent papers (and since the current spec was introduced). There is a clear progression in the style of the Section B essays and I suspect this has important implications for students refining their exam technique. I’ve jotted down a few thoughts about this below.

The early questions in BUSS4 Section B were quite straightforward and closely matched to individual elements of the spec. For example:

Jan 2010: To what extent can an innovative culture be relied upon to guarantee the future success of a business (the importance of organisational culture)

June 2010: What do you think are the main reasons for big businesses sometimes making bad decisions? (making strategic decisions)

However, I sense a subtle change in the BUSS4 examiner’s style - towards what might be called “hybrid essay titles” - those that invite the student to bring together two or more topic areas in Section B in order to develop a strong and logical chain of argument.

For example,

Jan 2012: Given the high levels of change in economic and political environments, is there any point in corporate planning (which brings together “relationship between business & political/economic environment” and “planning for change” in the spec)

Jan 2012: To what extend will a “cautious” business inevitably experience further falls in its market share (linking the competitive environment to organisational culture, with a hint of technological change thrown in for good measure!)

Jan 2013: To what extent has managing information effectively become the key to being market leader? (linking market structure & competition with technology)

Jan 2013: Do you think it is essential for managers to take ethics into consideration when making decisions nowadays? [linking ethics with strategic decision-making)

The switch to these hybrid essay titles makes sense. These questions encourage students to draw from a wider range of theory and evidence in developing their arguments and also encourages greater creativity.

Another advantage of hybrid questions is that they discourage topic or question spotting (e.g. preparing an essay on CSR, the economy or business legislation - although students that like to prepare answers for exams like BUSS4 are almost doomed anyway, so they are unlikely to be persuaded to take a different approach.

Thinking ahead to future BUSS4 papers, what kind of hybrid essay titles might arise in Section B?

Some possibilities include:

To what extent is new leadership required in order for a business to better respond to significant technological change?

Will a strategy of retrenchment inevitably fail if management are not able to overcome internal resistance to change?

Does scientific decision making hinder the ability of a business to innovate successfully?

Do the potential problems of corporate social responsibility outweigh the benefits of operating in emerging markets like China

To what extent should a business make sustainability the most important business objective in order to remain competitive?

Is it inevitable that market leaders will find their market share eroded substantially as a result of technological change?

The above is not intended to be a question-spotting exercise, but hopefully something useful for students to consider and practice as they prepare for BUSS4. The key is to consider the small number of points that could be made for essay titles like those above and which evidence might be useful to support/develop the chain of argument?

What points and evidence would you use?

I've also added a selection of extra practice Section B essay titles to have a think about.