Is OCR GCE Business Becoming a Joke Qualification?

I’m back on my soap box again having a good old rant about what I perceive to be wildy different exam standards for GCE Business Studies! The final OCR GCE Business (Unit F297) case study has done it again - making what I think is a mockery of an exam that is supposed to be about “strategic management”.

Several months ago I expressed an opinion (criticised by some, supported by others) that the January 2010 Unit F297 case study was a joke. The case study about a taxi firm was wholly unrealistic and had about as much geniune business strategy in it as an early heat of Britain’s Got Talent.

Have things changed for the summer 2010 exam? Have they heck.

Take the case study business. A highly specialised manufacturer, established for 30 years, with a full management structure and 20 staff. The turnover of the business? £638k p.a. Total rubbish.

Even a cursory glance at financial data from specialist engineering businesses in the UK shows that typical revenue per employee is around £175,000 per staff member. For the best businesses, it is much higher. That would put the turnover of this case study business to at least £4-5 million +

Staff costs? Well, let’s see.

The total operating costs of this long-established, specialised, highly-skilled design and manufacturing business (according to the case study) are just over £600k. That’s everything from gross pay, national insurance, marketing, factory running costs, travel & subsistence, directors pay, insurance, extensive travel costs of the design teams to visit customers. Oh, and add in the cost of raw materials (expensive aluminium), packaging, other production components, factory energy, rent, rates…

For a staff of 20 highly skilled craftsmen, including experienced directors, a business like that would be lucky to get much change out of £1m staff costs. Double that (at least) for raw materials, overheads, marketing & admin.

The numbers simply dont make sense. Didn’t someone look at this and question the numbers before it went to print?

I fear that this is a classic example of a case study being written to fit an exam spec rather than a genuine, realistic business case that students can get their teeth into. Like in Jan 2010, the case study reads like a “soap opera” story. Any one who has ever spent time working in a real UK manufacturing business would find themselves thinking - “who the heck wrote this?”. I don’t mean to get personal, but why can’t a crucial business exam case study be realistic?

I’m left feeling pretty disappointed for OCR GCE Business Students. Its a point I made last time, but I feel increasingly strongly about. Surely the final synoptic paper should be an opportunity for students to get stuck into a realistic strategic management challenge. Picking two tiny, make-believe businesses for the first two sittings of F297 simply doesnt cut the mustard, IMHO.

AQA’s BUSS4 has rapidly established itself as the gold standard exam for GCE Business. A stretch & challenging research task + some tough essay questions on real issues in strategic management. It a tough, tough exam. In comparison with OCR? Chalk and cheese. What a shame.

Of course I’m aware that writing something like this makes me even more unpopular with the OCR examining team - and perhaps some centres too! But maybe there’s someone out there teaching OCR who agrees.

End of rant V2.