Student Worksheet 4

Business in context 1

Bus services are necessary in many communities. They are provide convenient means of travel at the right times and they can reduce pollution and traffic congestion. Rahim’s bus service links several small communities with a local town, which is the place of work for many and the site of many schools, the college, and the main shopping and leisure area. Before Rahim, a private firm, took over, a year ago, the bus service was run by the state.

Most buses are full in one direction and almost empty in the other depending on the time of day. In the last year the costs of running the bus service have increased sharply and gradually the service has become less reliable, the buses more uncomfortable and the attitudes of the drivers less friendly. Some morning and evening services have been canceled and the fares have been increased.

Question

1. How has the ownership of the bus service changed?(>)  
2.  What are the main problems faced by the bus service?(>)
3. What are the problems caused to users of the bus service? (>)
4. How might the problems you identified in question 2 and 3 be connected with the change in ownership of the bus service? (>>)
5. Who do you think should own and run the bus service: Rahim or the state? Give reasons for your answer! (>>>)

 Activity 1

1. Find out what industries in your country are nationalized! (>)
   
2. Give reasons why the industries you identified in question 1 were nationalized! (>)
3. Suggest other industries in your country that you think are appropriate for nationalization. Give reasons for your suggestions! (>>>)

Activity 2

1. Find out if any previously nationalized industries have been privatized in your country! (>)
2. Why were they privatized? (>>)
3. What do you think have been the positive and negative consequences of privatizing those industries? Give your reasons! (>>>) 

Business in context 2

Do you like chocolate? Have ever stopped to think about just what goes into making the bar of chocolate that you can buy in a shop and eat before you get home?

To see how a bar of chocolate is made, we will look at the process involved in producing a bar of Cadbury’s milk chocolate starts with farmers in America growing and harvesting cocoa beans. The raw beans are then shipped in cargo vessels to the UK, where they are transported by road or rail to Cadbury’s factory at Chirk. Here the beans are processed and turned into cocoa butter. This is then sent by road to the milk factory in Herefordshire.

At the milk factory, cooked full-cream milk and sugar are added to produce chocolate “crumb”. This is pulverized between heavy rollers, other ingredients added and the chocolate moulded into bars. Finally, the bars are wrapped, packed into cases and delivered to retail outlets for sale to customers.

Question

Look carefully at figure 4.3.

1. How many different stages of production are there? (>)
2. How many different business organizations are involved in the process, assuming that each time the product is moved from one location to another, a different transport company is used? (>)
3. Explain how businesses at different stages of the production process are interdependent, basing your answer on figure 4.3!(>>>)

 Resource: Chris J. Nuttall, IGCSE Business Studies, Cambridge University 2002