QCE Business past exams 2020–2025, by year and topic

The rest of the syllabus

Question-level mapping for these areas is still being verified. Every official paper covering them is in the year table above.

• Unit 1: Business creation — Legal and business fundamentals (seed stage of the business life cycle) · Business planning and strategic planning approaches (SWOT, PEST analysis) · Creation of business ideas, stakeholders, competitors and the business environment · Entrepreneurship and evaluating business ideas against competitiveness, effectiveness, efficiency and stakeholder satisfaction
• Unit 2: Business growth — Internal business environment in the growth stage (business/legal structure, operational processes and systems, facilities, inventory, scheduling, capacity, customer service) · External business environment for market entry (PESTLE analysis — political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, legal, environmental) · Human resources, marketing, finance and operations strategies to support growth · Analysing relationships, patterns and trends in the growth stage
• Unit 3: Business diversification — Topic 1: Competitive markets — business situations in the maturity stage, employer of choice strategies, diverse workforce and HR strategic planning, risk management · Topic 2: Strategic development — leadership styles and expansion strategies, strategic planning in a competitive market, diversification strategies · Evaluating diversification strategies using competitiveness, effectiveness, efficiency and stakeholder satisfaction
• Unit 4: Business evolution — Topic 1: Repositioning a business — post-maturity stage, internal/operating/macro environmental factors, sustainability, corporate social responsibility, ethical standards, mergers and acquisitions, public relations and crisis management, drivers of change (corporate culture, management styles, organisational structures, competition, legislative compliance) · Topic 2: Transformation of a business — change management theories (Lewin's force field analysis, Kotter's eight-step model), financial/HR/marketing/operational strategies for transformation, workforce redundancy, retraining and development · Analytical tools: SWOT, STEEPLE, force field analysis, Porter's Five Forces · Evaluating repositioning and transformation outcomes using business criteria to make decisions and recommendations