OCR AS Applied Business Unit 3 - Brookside Farm

We’ve just completed our revision toolkit for students and teachers preparing for OCR AS Applied Unit 3, which this sitting is based on a dairy farm that wishes to diversify. I thought it would be useful if I summarised some of the key themes that have emerged from our analysis of the case study.

In no particular order, the main themes are:

• Private limited companies – advantages & disadvantages
• Family businesses – importance of succession; objectives and potential for conflicts
• Use of ICT to improve control over business activities and accounts, particularly use of speadsheets to control cash flow and investment
• Risks and returns from diversification for a small business
• Sources of finance to fund expansion
• Deteriorating economic environment on the business prospects
• Legal environment - setting up a food processing business
• Evaluation of the two expansion / diversification opportunities

Please add you thoughts on this list by contributing via the comments box below.