Industry Study

The Year 11 Industry Study asks you to investigate one individual business connected to your focus area, such as a small cabinet-making workshop, a vehicle service centre, a sheet-metal fabricator, an electronics assembler, a drafting studio or a multimedia production house. The syllabus groups what you investigate into factors. Structural factors describe how the business is set up and run: its organisation, its marketing and sales, its production and its workplace environment.

Organisation covers ownership and management. A business might be legally structured as a sole trader, a partnership, a company or a trust, and some businesses operate under a franchise agreement. An organisation chart shows lines of authority: who reports to whom, which sections exist (administration, design, production, dispatch) and how decisions travel. In a small business one owner may quote jobs, order stock and supervise the floor; a larger firm separates these roles into departments with their own supervisors.

Marketing and sales describe how the business finds customers and earns income: word of mouth, a website and social media, trade shows, showrooms, tendering for contracts or supplying another manufacturer. Production describes what is made or serviced, whether items are one-off (custom), batch or continuous, and how work flows through the site. Workplace environment covers the physical layout, lighting, noise, dust and fume extraction, amenities and the general conditions under which staff work.

Investigate structure with evidence rather than guesses: interview the owner or a supervisor, sketch a floor plan, record job titles and ask how an order moves from enquiry to delivery. Report your findings under a heading for each factor so a reader can see the whole picture.