What's new on InThinking Business Management?

One of the major advantages of using InThinking as a web-based resource is the dynamic nature of the online platform. The site was officially launched in October 2020, and now has content in excess of 517,000 words (that's about 129 Extended Essays!)

Whilst there is a significant volume of content on this site, and more resources added each week, it can be challenging to navigate everything. Subscribers do get regular updates and notices and the 'What's New?' section on the homepage gives notification of new pages as they are added. However, I hope this particular page (which you may want to bookmark) will provide easy access to the archive of updates and notices to the website.

Paul

A new Paper 2 Exam Practice Question, called Glori Fried Chicken, has been added (this time for Section A), testing the balance sheet. The resource has been created and shared by Dr. Rima Puri. To see the exam paper and mark scheme, click the link here.

For those teaching or reviewing Unit 2.4 Motivation theory, my talented IBEN colleague Tahmidul Haq Ansari has created some excellent posters that you can use with your students for revision purposes. Please see Tahmid's posters here.

Jason Chin, a highly experienced colleague from Hong Kong, has kindly contributed an EE article that provides top tips regarding reflections in the extended essay. To access this, click the link here.

A new case study for Unit 4.5 about the Boston Matrix, focusing on The Walt Disney Company, has been added. It covers the product portfolio of the world's largest entertainment company and includes an infographic that your students might like. To access this, click the link here.

There is a new case study and ATL Activity about the heroics of the staff at the Taj Palace Hotel in 2008 and its relevance and importance to contingency planning and crisis management for Unit 5.7. To access this, click the link here.

A new Paper 2 exam practice question has been added to the Exams section of the webpage, in recognition of International Women's Day on 8th March. I am grateful for my IBEN colleague Dr. Rima Puri for creating this. I will be adding the mark scheme for this shortly. The case study focuses on Priyanka Chopra Jonas, a former Miss World, and a highly successful singer, actress and entrepreneur . To access this resource, click the link here.

It's March already!

We now have IB World Schools across 79 countries using InThinking Business Management. Thank you for your continued support.

Almost all of the updates during the past month have been based on supporting teachers preparing students for the May 2021 Paper 1 exam (Multi Marketing). There are new (virtual or physical) classroom activities and ideas that have been added to the website. I have uploaded a mock exam paper, which will include a mark scheme soon. Please keep an eye of this webpage as it is updated several times a week: https://www.thinkib.net/businessmanagement/page/37729/may-2021-(multi-marketing). This part of the InThinking Business Management website has been the most popular during the past 14 days, understandably, with an average of 592 views a day.

Other updates include:

• Paper 2 exam practice questions and mark schemes. This section of the website does not have Student Access enabled. To access the questions and mark schemes, click the link here.
• Additional notes for Unit 3.5 (liquidity ratios). To access these, click the link here.
• Additional notes for Unit 4.5 (changing technology & promotional strategies), which is also appropriate for the Paper 1 Multi Marketing case study. To access this, click the link here.
• Additional notes and video recap on constructing break-even charts in Unit 3.3. To access these resources, click the link here.
• Numerous members have also asked for clarity about the need to teach/discuss concepts, now that the IB has confirmed the CUEGIS essay has also been removed from the M22 and N22 exams. The short answer is "yes" as CBL is an integral aspect of IB pedagogy, and the six concepts are also part of the actual syllabus (content wise). For example, updates have been made to this part of the website for Unit 2.6 (HR strategies for reducing the impact of change & resistance to change), covering change as a concept. To access this resource, click the link here. Note that this also has direct relevance to the Paper 1 Multi Marketing case study.

Finally, I'm pleased to say that the InThinking Business Management website is now in excess of 487,000 words (which is about 10,000 words more than the average InThinking subject website). This means updates and notifications will now be communicated on a monthly basis, at the start of each month. However, you can also see the alerts live by using this link https://www.thinkib.net/businessmanagement/last-updates at any time.

As always, do get in touch if there is anything I can help with: paulhoang88@gmail.com

With best wishes for the month ahead.

During the recent InThinking IB Cat 2 Workshops (12 - 14 Feb 2021), I shared the latest candidate numbers with workshop participants. For BM teachers, you'll be delighted to know that Business Management has, for the first time, overtaken Economics in popularity in the IB World. If you teach Economics as well as BM, then you'll be very pleased with the overall growth in both subjects. IB Economics has grown by 303% since 2005 (a higher rate than the increase in IB DP candidate numbers), whilst IB Business Management has increased by a phenomenal 550% in the same time period.

New ATL activities and questions have been added to the Paper 1 Multi Marketing case study webpage, including PEST and SWOT analysis activities, as well as additional exam practice questions. There are 11 ATL Activities that your students can use to engage in the case study. I've also included a new CUEGIS Quiz for the case study. Click the link here to access these resources.

On a separate but related note, as many of you have asked about this recently, I'm pleased to announce that L7E are now dispatching the latest Case Study Pack for the Multi Marketing Paper 1 exam (on 30th April 2021). Despite the SL and HL Paper 1 exams being shorter this May, this year's Case Study Pack is the most comprehensive yet, at over 180 pages. Please visit the publisher's website (www.level7education.com) for further details and sample pages.

Numerous teachers have recently asked about resources and ideas for CAS and BM. There are suggestions on this part of the website - click the link here to access these. I have also included a poster "Can it be CAS?" with the permission of Hodder Education to share this on the website.

For those teaching Unit 2.1 and/or reviewing this section of the syllabus in the context of the Multi Marketing case study, I have added a new exam practice question based on Marks & Spencer (M&S). Click the link here to access the resource.

If your students are looking for some inspiration for tools, theories and techniques beyond the IB BM syllabus for their EE, please direct them to this webpage of the site, which now has more than 10,500 words of content to help them. Click the link here.

It will also be important for students to have a 'toolkit' for the new syllabus, for first teaching in Aug/Sept 2022 (first exams in 2024).

I've also added some timely advice from IB alumnus, teacher and examiner, Kenneth Tang, about making the best of case studies - useful for Paper 1 and Paper 2 case studies. Read his top tips on how best to read case studies, like Sherlock Holmes, here.

As you know, the pre-release of the Paper 1 case study was released last week for the examination on 30th April. I have added several new activities to the Multi Marketing Paper 1 (May 2021) webpage here.

You may find it useful to bookmark this page, as more resources and ideas will be shared here.
These include a True or False Quiz, advice on key terms (definitions), and a "5,4,3,2,1 Quiz" that you can use with students in class or online. For a challenge, how about you have a go at these quizzes yourself, before using the quizzes with your own students?

I have also added an excellent PowerPoint resource produced by Gema Quintanilla. Gema is the Senior School House System Coordinator at Munich International School. She also teaches MYP Spanish and DP Business Management. Many thanks to Gema for reaching out and allowing me to share this resource on InThinking Business Management. To see Gema's resource, click the link here.

You will be aware of the changes to the timings, marks, and weights for upcoming IB Business Management exams (30th April and 3rd May). However, the IB documentation for this is split across three separate documents/updates, so I have put this into one simple document that you can access via the Multi Marketing homepage on the website (see link above). I hope you find this useful. The information can be accessed here.

For those teaching/reviewing Unit 4.7 (International Marketing), I have added some new case studies and notes, including one about BMW's terrible marketing mistake in the UAE. The role of cultural differences in international marketing is also of direct relevance to the Paper 1 Multi Marketing case study.

A new Exam Practice Question (L’Oreal and The Body Shop) has been added to Unit 1.6, with mark scheme. To access this, click the link here.

A revised version of the "ATL Activity 3 - Leadership quotes and their meanings", with additional quotes, has been update here. This is a good activity to get class discussions going; if your students are learning remotely and you are using Zoom, you can use the "breakout" function to get students in smaller groups to discuss these quotes.

Additional Exam Practice Questions have been added to Unit 3.2 to give students more practice on this section of the syllabus that often causes problems. Click the link here.

As a starting activity for Unit 5.4, get your students to have a go at the Location Nicknames Quiz - available here. You can also download a PDF version for use in the classroom.

Also, for Unit 5.5 (HL only), a new Exam Practice Question has been added. This one is about Carrefour's supply chain management. Click the link here.

For students completing their RPPF, direct them to this page where my esteemed IBEN colleague Dr. Rima Puri provides here Top 10 Tips on completing the RPPF (worth more than 17% of the final marks for the Extended Essay). To access the advice, click the link here.

For some variety to distance learning activities, let your students have a go at this new MCQ quiz with a difference to test their general business knowledge. There is a PDF version that you can download and use too. Perhaps you can also have a go at this quiz to see if you know which entrepreneur was the son of a Syrian immigrant in the USA, which business is the world's largest wheel maker, and which online business thrived during the coronavirus pandemic, declaring earnings in excess of $2,850,000 per hour throughout 2020. To access the quiz, click the link here.

If you are preparing a mock exam for your students, you might find this new exam practice question and mark scheme really useful. It'll save you hours of work. The case study and mark scheme has been created by my wonderful IBEN colleague, Dr. Rima Puri. She is a highly experienced IB educator and author, as well as a senior examiner. Her generosity is very much appreciated. Read more here.

You can also find two other exam practice questions plus mark schemes in the Teachers Only section of the website here. More Q&A will be added throughout 2021 to support teachers and students.

I've finally managed to get one of my own student's SL IAs onto the website (all permissions sought and granted). It has been anonymised, with my comments added to each section of the written commentary. I hope this helps teachers, especially those relatively new to the IB, as they embark on their own SL IA with their students. Find out more here. This particular student was awarded a grade 7 for the IA, and 44 points overall in her IB Diploma.

On a different but related note, some of you have asked about the upcoming IBID Press PowerPoint Pack for Business Management. IBID Press has been exhibiting this new resource during the IB Virtual Conference 2020, which came to a close on Friday. If you would like a complimentary PowerPoint file (for Unit 1.7, to help with the HL IAs in particular), then please email the publisher directly: jodie@ibid.com.au

A really fascinating story that I heard about recently was the business operations at London Zoo - a place that I intended to take my own children to visit, but couldn't due to the national lockdown. With fixed costs of over $1.344 million per month, and 19,000+ animals to feed, how on earth can such a non-profit organization survive during 3 months of lockdown? I've used this as a case study and created some exam practice questions for Unit 3.1. Read more about it here.

Do you know your ATLs from your ATTs? Newly added is the “Glossary of IB terms” - although this section of the website is aimed at supporting new colleagues to the IB, this reference point can be useful for all IB teachers as part of their own professional learning and development. Read more about this here.

As requested by one subscriber working with her students on the SL IA, I have added a list of tools, theories and techniques to the website, as well as answering that old chestnut of a question - "can/should SL students use tools, theories and techniques from the HL syllabus and/or those beyond the IB syllabus?" The information can be found here. Find out more here.

The mock (trial) exam season is approaching for many schools. The most significant addition to the website this week is the “exam questions topic tracker” to help your planning of the mock exams (rather like Question Bank). You can access the HL exam questions topic tracker here. As you'll see, certain topics such as decision trees have been very popular! I have also included a PDF version that you can share with your students.The SL topic tracker will be completed and added to the website before the end of the week. You'll be able to see just how popular Unit 3.3 (break-even analysis) and Unit 4.5 (the marketing mix) have been in the SL exams!