BTEB HSC Business Management & Technology (HSC BMT) cheat sheet

Management functions are planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling; controlling compares actual performance with standards and takes corrective action.

Span of control is the number of subordinates directly reporting to one manager; a narrow span creates a taller hierarchy, while a wide span creates a flatter hierarchy.

Unity of command means each employee receives orders from one superior; unity of direction means one head and one plan for activities with the same objective.

Common organization structures are line, line-and-staff, functional, and matrix; a matrix structure creates dual reporting and can produce authority conflicts.

Maslow's hierarchy orders needs as physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization; lower needs generally must be met before higher needs motivate behaviour.

Scientific management uses time study, motion study, standardization, and differential piece rates; administrative management includes Fayol's principles such as division of work and authority.

Decision-making steps are identify the problem, define objectives, gather information, develop alternatives, evaluate alternatives, select, implement, and follow up.

Delegation contains authority, responsibility, and accountability; authority can be delegated, responsibility can be assigned, but accountability remains with the delegator.

Centralization keeps decision authority at the top of the hierarchy; decentralization disperses authority to lower levels and can speed local decisions.

The accounting equation is Assets = Liabilities + Owner's Equity; every transaction preserves this equality.

Double-entry bookkeeping records each transaction in at least two accounts, and total debits must equal total credits after each entry.

Assets and expenses increase with debits; liabilities, owner's equity, and revenue increase with credits.

A journal entry shows the date, accounts debited, accounts credited, and narration; posting transfers journal entries to ledger accounts.

A trial balance lists ledger balances at a date; total debit balances must equal total credit balances, but equality does not prove the absence of all errors.

Accrual accounting records revenue when earned and expenses when incurred; cash accounting records revenue and expenses when cash is received or paid.

Straight-line depreciation = (cost - residual value) / useful life; reducing-balance depreciation = carrying amount × depreciation rate.

Bank reconciliation adjusts the bank statement balance for deposits in transit and outstanding cheques, and adjusts the cash book balance for unrecorded bank items.

Gross profit = sales - cost of goods sold; net profit = gross profit + other income - operating expenses.

Percentage change = (new value - old value) / old value × 100%.

Simple interest = principal × rate × time; compound amount = principal × (1 + rate / number of compounding periods)^(number of periods × time).

Markup on cost = (selling price - cost) / cost; margin on selling price = (selling price - cost) / selling price.

Break-even quantity = fixed costs / (unit selling price - unit variable cost); contribution per unit = unit selling price - unit variable cost.

Mean = sum of values / number of values; median is the middle value of ordered data; mode is the most frequent value.

Standard deviation is the square root of the average squared deviation from the mean; variance is the square of the standard deviation.

Index number = (current value / base value) × 100; the base year index is set at 100.

Probability of an event = favourable outcomes / total equally likely outcomes, and probability lies between 0 and 1 inclusive.

Compound interest exceeds simple interest over multiple periods because previously earned interest also earns interest.

The law of demand states that, other things equal, quantity demanded falls as price rises, giving a downward-sloping demand curve.

Price elasticity of demand = percentage change in quantity demanded / percentage change in price; absolute value greater than 1 is elastic, less than 1 is inelastic, equal to 1 is unit elastic.

Equilibrium price occurs where quantity demanded equals quantity supplied; a surplus pushes price down, and a shortage pushes price up.

Opportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative forgone when a choice is made.

GDP by expenditure = consumption + investment + government spending + (exports - imports); nominal GDP uses current prices, while real GDP uses constant prices.

Inflation is a sustained rise in the general price level; demand-pull inflation comes from excess aggregate demand, and cost-push inflation comes from rising input costs.

Fiscal policy uses government spending and taxation; monetary policy uses money supply, interest rates, and reserve requirements.

Business cycle phases are expansion, peak, contraction or recession, and trough.

Microeconomics studies individual consumers, firms, and markets; macroeconomics studies economy-wide aggregates such as national output, inflation, and unemployment.

The marketing mix commonly consists of product, price, place, and promotion; services add people, process, and physical evidence.

Product life cycle stages are introduction, growth, maturity, and decline; pricing, promotion, and distribution decisions differ by stage.

Market segmentation divides a heterogeneous market into homogeneous groups using demographic, geographic, psychographic, or behavioural variables.

The AIDA model sequences persuasive communication as attention, interest, desire, and action.

Cost-plus pricing adds a markup to cost; penetration pricing sets a low initial price; skimming pricing sets a high initial price.

The sales funnel stages are prospecting, qualifying, presentation, objection handling, closing, and follow-up.

Features describe product attributes; benefits describe how those attributes satisfy customer needs.

Customer lifetime value can be estimated as average purchase value × purchase frequency × customer lifespan, or with a profit-margin adjustment.

Push promotion targets channel members to stock and sell a product; pull promotion targets final consumers to create demand.

Entrepreneurship identifies opportunities, assembles resources, and bears risk to create value.

A business plan commonly includes an executive summary, company description, market analysis, organization, product or service, marketing plan, financial plan, and risk assessment.

Feasibility analysis tests market, technical, financial, and organizational viability before a venture is launched.

SWOT analysis lists internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats.

Equity finance provides funds in exchange for ownership and dilutes control; debt finance requires repayment with interest and raises financial risk.

A cash flow forecast records expected cash inflows and outflows by period; profit is not the same as cash.

PESTLE analysis examines political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental external factors.

A minimum viable product is a basic version released to test key assumptions with early users before full development.

Business risk categories include market, financial, operational, legal, and strategic risk.

The communication process includes sender, encoding, message, channel, receiver, decoding, feedback, and noise.

The 7Cs of communication are clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete, and courteous.

Active listening uses attention, paraphrasing, questioning, and feedback to confirm understanding; passive hearing does not ensure understanding.

A formal report commonly contains a title page, executive summary, introduction, methodology, findings, conclusions, recommendations, and appendices.

A business letter includes sender address, date, recipient address, salutation, body, complimentary close, and signature.

A memorandum is internal communication with To, From, Date, and Subject headings, and it usually omits salutation and complimentary close.

Email etiquette requires a specific subject line, one topic per message, a professional tone, and proofreading before sending.

Communication barriers include physical noise, semantic ambiguity, cultural differences, emotional state, and information overload.

Minutes record decisions and actions rather than verbatim dialogue, and they identify responsible persons and deadlines.

A computer system has input, processing, output, and storage components; the CPU contains the arithmetic logic unit and the control unit.

RAM is volatile working memory; ROM is non-volatile firmware storage; secondary storage retains data without a power supply.

An operating system manages hardware, files, processes, and the user interface.

A spreadsheet formula begins with =; relative references change when copied, while absolute references such as $A$1 do not change.

A primary key uniquely identifies each record in a database table; a foreign key links to a primary key in another table.

A LAN covers a limited area such as an office; a WAN covers a large area; the internet is a global network of networks.

Phishing fraudulently obtains credentials through deceptive messages or fake websites; verification and multi-factor authentication reduce risk.

The 3-2-1 backup rule uses three copies of data, two different media types, and one copy stored off-site.

E-commerce models include business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-consumer, and consumer-to-business.