GCSE Business: Stock, Suppliers and Customer Service

This material covers the part of business operations that comes after production itself: keeping the right amount of stock, buying from the right supplier, getting goods to where they are needed, and looking after customers before and after they buy. It follows the DfE GCSE subject content for business, which asks for the role of procurement, the impact of logistical and supply decisions, and the sales process with product knowledge, customer engagement and post-sales service.

Stock control starts with the bar gate stock graph, described in words so that you can picture it: maximum stock, buffer stock, re-order level, re-order quantity and lead time, with short calculations of each and what a late delivery looks like on the graph. Some specifications ask you to interpret these graphs (for example Pearson Edexcel, topic 2.3.2); others, such as AQA, focus on evaluating just in time for a given business, so both are practised. You then weigh just in time against holding stock just in case: which businesses suit each, what each costs, and where lean production fits.

Supplier questions put figures in front of you: a cheaper supplier against a faster, more reliable one, with the extra cost worked out in pounds before you decide. Logistics and the supply chain are linked to costs, reputation and customer satisfaction. The customer service questions go through the sales process and ask what good service gains and what poor service loses, including how websites and social media have changed it.

The quiz has twelve questions and the flashcards hold the key terms. The written work has eight tasks, from a bar gate calculation to 'analyse' and 'discuss' answers set in a context. The oral exam asks one question at a time about invented businesses and ends with short feedback. The material is practice written by Zestly and is independent of any exam board.

• Read a bar gate stock graph described in words and calculate lead time and re-order quantity
• Explain the benefits and drawbacks of just in time and just in case stock control and choose between them for a given business
• Explain the aim of lean production
• Compare suppliers on price, quality, reliability and delivery, including the cost difference in pounds
• Explain logistics and supply chain management and their effect on costs, reputation and customer satisfaction
• Explain the stages of the sales process and the benefits of good customer service and the dangers of poor service

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the DfE GCSE subject content for business (December 2015: business operations) and, for example, Pearson Edexcel GCSE Business topics 2.3.2 and 2.3.4 and AQA GCSE Business 3.3.1, 3.3.2 and 3.3.4.