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The new Business Management Toolkit (BMT) is a set of interrelated tools and techniques that can be used by students in different disciplinary and interdisciplinary contexts across the contents of the new syllabus, including assessments (such as the IA and the Business Management EE).
Situational tool
SWOT analysis considers the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a business at a specific point in time. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors that influence the business, while opportunities and threats are external factors which the business has no direct control over.
Decision-making tool
The Ansoff matrix is a framework of generic growth strategies for a business, based of providing new or existing products in new or existing markets. These four generic growth strategies are categorised as (i) market penetration, (ii) market development, (iii) product development, and (iv) diversification.
Situational tool
This framework considers factors in the external environment that affects a business. STEEPLE refers to the social, technological, economic, environmental, political, legal and ethical aspects of the external environment. It provides an overview of or insight into these external factors that are largely beyond the control of the organization.
4 Boston Consulting Group matrix
Situational tool
Decision-making tool
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix allows manager to assess their organization’s product portfolio based on measures of relative market share and market growth. It helps with long-term strategic planning and decision-making based on four categories of products: (i) question marks, (ii) stars, (iii) cash cows, and (iv) dogs.
Planning tool
This is an official guiding document that provides details of the organization's strategic goals and how the business intends to achieve these, with reference to the firm's human resources, finances, marketing, and operations management. It is also commonly used to secure loans from financial lenders as well as raising finance from investors.
Decision-making tool
This tool is a graphical representation of showing the probable outcomes of a business decision, based on the likelihood of success or failure of such a decision. The diagram shows the various choices faced by a business, including estimates of the costs and benefits in order to determine the probable risks of a specific courses of action.
Decision-making tool
This quantitative tool is used to summarise a given set of data to support statistical and data analysis. The various techniques help to present a large amount of quantitative data in a simplified and more manageable format. There are eight techniques specified for this tool: (i) Mean average, (ii) modal average, (iii) median average, (iv), bar charts, (v) pie charts, (vi) infographics, (vii) quartiles, and (viii) standard deviation.
Decision-making tool
These models explore how businesses create value for their customers and other stakeholder groups whilst also reducing the environmental impacts of their operations. There are five circular business models specified in the syllabus: (i) circular supply models, (ii) resource recovery models, (iii) product life extension models, (iv) sharing models, and (v) product service system models.
Planning tool
This visual tool helps managers to plan and schedule different tasks or jobs within a particular project. It illustrates the tasks or activities, their duration, and dependencies in order to determine the shortest time required to complete the project and helps managers to schedule resources to complete each task and to keep the overall project on track to be completed on time.
10 Porter's generic strategies (HL only)
Decision-making tool
This commonly used tool helps managers to explore how a business can gain competitive advantages to help determine its strategic direction. These generic strategies comprise of: (i) cost leadership (producing at a lower cost of competitors), (ii) differentiation (providing products with a distinctive or unique selling point), and (iii) focus (selling specialized product aimed at specific market segments). Focus strategies are further categorised as (i) cost focus and (ii) differentiation focus.
11 Hofstede's cultural dimensions (HL only)
Situational tool
This tool helps managers to understanding the cultural similarities and differences that exist between and across different countries. This helps them to determine more appropriate ways to conduct their operations given different national and international settings. The tool suggests that countries can be categorised into one of six different cultural dimensions: (i) power distance, (ii) individualism vs collectivism, (iii) masculinity vs femininity, (iv) uncertainty avoidance, (v) long-term vs short-term orientation, and (vi) indulgence vs restraint.
12 Force field analysis (HL only)
Situational tool
Decision-making tool
This visual and quantitative tool is used by managers to examine the forces for and against change to make more-informed business decisions. It is useful during the planning and decision making stages of corporate strategy and change management. It provides an overview, in an easy to understand format, by illustrating and adding statistical weights to each of the driving and restraining forces identified in the analysis.
13 Critical path analysis (HL only)
Planning tool
This planning tool helps project managers to schedule and oversee large and complex projects to ensure efficient resource use and for the timely completion of the project. It maps out all the individual tasks or activities needed to complete the project so that realistic deadlines for a project can be set. The syllabus specifies HL students need to be able to: (i) complete and analyse a critical path diagram. (ii) identify the critical path from a diagram, and (iii) calculate the free and total float from a CPA diagram.
14 Contribution (analysis) (HL only)
Decision-making tool
This quantitative tool is used to support business decision-making by enabling manager to analyse and evaluate different cost and revenue situations. This tool comprises of three techniques in the syllabus: (i) make or buy analysis, (ii) contribution costing, and (iii) absorption costing.
15 Simple linear regression (HL only)
Decision-making tool
This quantitative tool comprises of three techniques used to identify, describe, and/or predict the relationship between dependent and independent variables under investigation. The three techniques covered in the course are: (i) scatter diagrams, (ii) line of best fit, and (iii) correlation/extrapolation.
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