Theme 1 – Markets, Consumers and Firms

• Contextual Analysis

Scarcity, Choice and Potential Conflicts

• a) The economic problem
• b) Business objectives
• c) Stakeholders (economic agents) and their objectives

Enterprise, Business and the Economy

• a) Role of an entrepreneur in the economy
• b) Entrepreneurial motives
• c) Factors of production
• d) Specialisation
• e) The wider economic environment

Introducing the Market

• a) Demand
• b) Supply
• c) Price determination
• d) Price mechanism
• e) Understanding the consumer
• f) The competition

Role of Credit in the Economy

• a) Role of banks in the economy
• b) Risk and liability
• c) Types and sources of credit and the impact of credit within the economy

Market Failure and Government Intervention

• a) Market failure and externalities
• b) Government intervention and failure

Revenues, Costs, Profits and Cash

• a) Revenue and costs
• b) The relationship between revenue and costs
• c) Profit and loss
• d) Business survival and cash flow