5.  Distinction tasks

    To get a distinction, you will already have completed the merit tasks.  Therefore you should have already:      

•     Compared and contrasted the ownership, aims and objectives of two selected businesses

•     Explained areas of growth or decline in the primary, secondary and tertiary classifications of business activities

•     Explained the interaction of functional areas and how they related to each other in two selected businesses

    For a distinction you need to explain:

•    How well the functional areas interact and support the aims and objectives of the business. 

    To do this - split the task into two parts

    Part 1            

• Briefly recap or summarise (do NOT just copy and paste them from your earlier work) the main aims and objectives and then say which ones the organisation has achieved well.  E.g.

                    Does it make a profit? (private sector)

                    Does it meet its targets?  (public sector)

• Now say how the functional areas have interacted and communicated well in order to achieve these aims and objectives.  You could Google the company name and words like 'success' to see if you can find any examples.       

    Part 2

• What has the business not achieved as well?  Or, what has it done badly?

          To find out what a business does badly, you might need to do extra research.  The company are unlikely to answer this question for

          you.  It is up to you to decide for yourself using your knowledge of business.  It is thinking for yourself that earns you a distinction.

                For some examples of what can go wrong click on the links below:

                            Sainsburys - had a problem with its IT department click here and here

                            Tesco - for an example of communications problems click here

                            Oxfam - Had a few problems in 2000.  This is a little old but still useable

                            KFC - a problem with advertising

                            CWS - outsourcing IT services in their insurance business

                            NBS - staff problems and modernisation click here

• Now say how the functional areas might not have communicated or interacted very well which has resulted in a failure of some aspect of the business.