Welcome to the first Updates and Notices of 2024!

I hope you all had a restful holiday season.

As with all InThinking IB and IGCSE websites, the InThinking IB DP Business Management website is updated every week, 52 weeks a year. Some of the recent additions to the site are highlighted below:

• For those looking for a quick 5 mins starter/plenary activity for the start of term, this new quiz may be of interest. It is a business trivial (general business knowledge) that should work well with Unit 1.1 or any aspect of the course really. The quiz can be accessed here.

• A new ATL Activity for Unit 1.6 (MNCs) has been added here. This focuses on the importance of understanding different cultures when conducting business in overseas markets. It also works well alongside BMT 11 (Hofstede’s cultural dimensions).

• For Unit 4.3 (HL only), a new interactive MCQ based on the contents of sales forecasting has been added here.

• For Unit 4.5, a new ATL Activity (What's in a (brand) number?) has been added here. This activity links well with creativity as a key concept as well as the contents of Unit 4 - Marketing.

• A new video and accompanying worksheet for Unit 5.3 (Quality control and quality assurance), based on Rolls-Royce, can be accessed here. Did you know that Rolls-Royce has a range of over 44,000 colours for its cars? This same page also has a new exam-practice question, based on Rolex, with a full mark scheme.

• A new 20-mark exam practice question for Unit 5.7 has been posted here. This is based on the widespread impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the operators of Princess Cruises.

• BMT 2 focuses on the Ansoff matrix. In December 2023, McDonald's launched its CosMc's Drive Thru to take on multinational coffee chains such as Starbuck. A new exam practice question and accompanying mark scheme based on this case study and its alignment with the Ansoff matrix have been added here.

• The CosMc's case study also aligns well with Porter's generic strategies (BMT 10). Whilst McDonald's traditionally uses a cost leadership strategy, the launch of the highly customizable coffee drinks at CosMc's is a clear example of a product differentiation strategy. Exam practice questions and the accompanying mark scheme can be found here.

• For BMT 13 (Critical path analysis), additional exam practice questions and a new interactive MCQ quiz has been added here.

• BMT 14 (Contribution) is a tricky one. To support HL students with this quantitative tool, a new interactive 25-question MCQ quiz has been added here alongside several exam-style questions.

• Following from a couple of workshops delivered in December, focusing on the Internal Assessment, several updates have been made, including:

1. A teacher comment sheet template has been updated and uploaded here. Please use this form to justify the mark allocation for each assessment criterion. This will help to support external moderators with the Internal Assessment (business research project).
2. Additional top tips and common mistakes to avoid when formulating the IA research question (RQ) can be found here.

• With many schools running mock/internal exams in January and February, please direct your students to this new section of the website with top 10 tips for revision and the exams here.

• In addition, a new page has been added that provides advice on writing frameworks for students to use when constructing answers to the extended response questions in Paper 1 and Paper 2 (both work 10 marks). These writing frameworks and accompanying top tips can be accessed here.

As many of you already know, we have migrated to a new WhatsApp group. If you wish to join the InThinking Business Management Teacher Support Group on WhatsApp, please check your profile settings to ensure that your full name is displayed along with an appropriate profile picture. Please also check your privacy settings to allow all Admin members to see your full profile. It is important that we know who the members of the group are for professional communications. The link to join the group is here.

Finally, many thanks to all the teachers who took part in our WhatsApp and Facebook group polls about CPD needs. InThinking is pleased to be hosting the following Think-In courses in January.

Please keep an eye out on the CPD page on the InThinking Business Management website for additional Think-Ins that will run in February and March.

On the final day of 2023, we had 2,225 teachers from 1,130 IB World Schools registered on the website along with 22,298 students (who all get to enjoy free access). Many thanks for your ongoing support; it is highly appreciated.

Wishing you and your students all the very best for the new year ahead!

Paul Hoang