These six original cases practise the skills in how business functions depend on each other. Write each answer in full sentences before opening the model.
Practice questions
Question 1. A florist promises 90 bouquets in 3 days and can make 40 a day. Explain whether the promise is realistic and which functions are involved.
Answer
90 ÷ 40 = 2.25, so 3 working days are needed, which just meets the promise with no spare time. Sales promised the date and operations makes the goods.
“Sales should have checked capacity with operations, because any delay in flower supply would make the order late.”
Question 2. Trace the chain: a supplier is paid late, then delivers late, then a shop cannot fill orders. Which functions appear?
Answer
Finance (late payment), then operations (late materials and late production), then sales (unfilled orders).
Question 3. A gym owner cuts one front-desk worker to save RM1 500 each month. Explain two effects on other functions.
Answer
“Operations may suffer because queues at the desk grow at busy hours. Marketing may be affected if members cancel because of slow service, so the saving could be cancelled by lost fees.”
Question 4. A cafe owner wants to add a delivery service but knows only that a rider costs RM100 a day. List one missing fact and write a conditional recommendation.
Answer
Missing: the number of delivery orders per day.
“I recommend trying delivery provided daily orders bring more than RM100 in extra profit, so the owner should run a two-week trial.”
Question 5. Write a three-link chain for: a tuition centre’s air-conditioning breaks down in the hot season.
Answer
“The air-conditioning breaks, so classes become uncomfortable, which means some students may stop attending. As a result, fee income may fall.”
Question 6. A student writes the answer below.
“Costs go up. Customers leave. Sales fall. Profit drops.”
Why does this lose marks, and how would you improve it?
Answer
It is a list with no linking words and no case detail. Improve it: “Because the supplier raised prices, cost per item rose, so the shop raised prices, which may make customers buy less. As a result, sales and profit may fall.”
If you got some wrong
Questions 1 and 2 relate to tracing a late delivery. Question 3 links to staffing decisions across functions.
Question 4 uses identifying missing information, and questions 5 and 6 use a coherent sequence of effects.
Record repeating slips in the mistake log tool. A teacher can also help in online one-to-one Business tuition.