These eight questions use invented businesses, so you can practise the skills from the business environment cluster. Try each one before opening the answer.
Questions
Q1. Classify as internal or external: (a) the owner’s decision to train staff, (b) a rise in the price of cooking oil set by the supplier, (c) a new competitor on the same street.
Answer
(a) Internal, because the owner controls it. (b) External, because the supplier sets the price. (c) External, because the business cannot control who opens nearby. The test is in classifying internal and external factors.
Q2. A student writes: “Money is an internal factor.” Explain why this label fails, using two examples.
Answer
Money can be internal or external. The owner’s savings are internal, as the owner decides how to use them. A supplier’s price rise is external money. The label depends on control, not on topic.
Q3. A fictional tailor, Jahit Kita, has 250 customers each month. A rival begins offering online ordering and Jahit Kita loses 25 customers. Calculate the percentage lost.
Answer
25 ÷ 250 × 100 = 10% of customers. Always state what the figure means: one in ten customers has moved to the rival.
Q4. At RM40 per customer each month, what is Jahit Kita’s monthly loss from Q3? Suggest one response.
Answer
25 × RM40 = RM1 000 each month. A response that fits: add ordering by message and offer free alterations on a first order. The skill is in explaining technology and market changes.
Q5. Invented rule: “A shop must display its opening hours at the entrance.” Write the say, mean and affect sentences.
Answer
Say: opening hours must be shown at the entrance. Mean: the owner must make a sign and keep it correct.
Affect: a small cost to make the sign, and customers know when the shop is open. Do not add a fine or a law number, as the extract gives none.
Q6. A student adds: “The law says shops must pay RM300 a year for this.” Why is this a weak answer?
Answer
The claim and figure are not in the extract, so they are unsupported and might be wrong. Use only the supplied rule, and verify any real rule on the official source. See interpreting regulation from verified sources.
Q7. Nasi Kukus Ani sold RM5 000 each month, but after a competitor opened, sales fell to RM4 000. The owner has a loyal group of 40 regulars. Write an applied answer using pick, quote, link, respond.
Answer
Pick: the competitor, an external factor. Quote: sales fell from RM5 000 to RM4 000, a fall of 1 000 ÷ 5 000 × 100 = 20%.
Link: customers have moved to the competitor. Respond: reward the 40 regulars with a discount on the tenth meal to keep them.
Q8. Rewrite this generic answer as an applied one for Q7: “Competition reduces sales, so the owner should advertise more.”
Answer
“The new competitor is external. Nasi Kukus Ani’s sales fell 20% from RM5 000 to RM4 000, so the owner could advertise to the 40 regulars’ friends and offer a meal discount.” The frame is in applying environment analysis to a case.
If you got these wrong
Q1 and Q2 belong to classifying internal and external factors. Q3 and Q4 need technology and market changes.
Q5 and Q6 use regulation from verified sources. Q7 and Q8 use applying environment analysis to a case.
The business case answer planner and the mistake log help you repeat and track. For teacher support, see online one-to-one Business tuition.