A Level Business: Operations Management (A Level) — Practice Questions (Cambridge 9609)

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs — Cambridge International holds copyright in its own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available from your board.

Each question practises a skill tested in the June 2024 Paper 32. After each answer there is an examiner insight, a mark-scheme insight or a tip and, where one matches, the real question to try next.

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Questions

1. Define total quality management (TQM) and identify one problem a business might face when introducing it. [3]

2. Explain the difference between quality control and quality assurance. [2]

3. Define kaizen and state one benefit it can bring to a business. [2]

4. A small building project has five activities. Activity A takes 4 days and can start straight away. Activities B (3 days) and C (6 days) can both start once A is finished. Activity D (2 days) can start once B is finished. Activity E (5 days) can only start once both C and D are finished. (a) Identify the critical path and the minimum project duration. (b) Calculate the total float for activity B. [4]

5. A manufacturer is choosing between two sites for a new factory. It expects to sell 40 000 units a year at $14 each. At site X, fixed costs would be $240 000 a year and variable costs $6 per unit. At site Y, fixed costs would be $180 000 a year and variable costs $8 per unit. Calculate the expected annual profit at each site and state which site is better on this measure alone. [3]

6. Explain one reason why a business may suffer from diseconomies of scale as it grows. [2]

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Answers

1. TQM is an approach to quality in which every employee, in every part of the business, takes responsibility for quality, aiming to get things right first time and achieve zero defects [1]. One problem is the cost of training staff to check their own work [1], which may be high where many workers are unskilled or on short-term contracts, so each new group has to be trained [1]. (Other valid problems: resistance from staff given extra responsibility, the need to change the culture of the business, a short-term dip in productivity while changes bed in, or the cost of making quality inspectors redundant.)

Examiner insight (Cambridge 9609 June 2024 examiner report, Paper 32, Question 2): many candidates wrongly said a business using TQM would need to hire more quality inspectors. TQM makes workers themselves responsible for quality, so it replaces the need for inspectors; without this understanding, marks were limited.

Source for the examiner insights on this page: Cambridge International AS & A Level Business 9609 June 2024 Principal Examiner Report for Teachers, Paper 9609/32 section, paraphrased.

Try the real question next: Cambridge International AS & A Level Business 9609, June 2024, Paper 32, Question 2.

2. Quality control checks finished products (or samples of them) to detect faults after production, usually carried out by inspectors [1]. Quality assurance tries to prevent faults happening at every stage of production by setting and checking standards throughout the process [1].

Tip: use the words “detect” and “prevent” to make the contrast clear. TQM builds on quality assurance, so knowing this difference helps with longer questions on TQM.

Try the real question next: Cambridge International AS & A Level Business 9609, June 2024, Paper 32, Question 2.

3. Kaizen means continuous improvement: making many small, regular improvements to processes, often suggested by the workers themselves [1]. One benefit is that productivity and quality improve over time at low cost, because small changes need little capital investment (or: staff may feel more valued and motivated because their ideas are used) [1].

Tip: do not describe kaizen as one big change or a major investment. The key word is small, ongoing improvements.

4. (a) Path A → B → D → E takes 4 + 3 + 2 + 5 = 14 days; path A → C → E takes 4 + 6 + 5 = 15 days [1]. The critical path is A → C → E and the minimum project duration is 15 days [1]. (b) B’s earliest start time is day 4. E cannot start until day 10, so D must finish by day 10 and start by day 8, which means B must finish by day 8 (its latest finish time) [1]. Total float for B = latest finish time − duration − earliest start time = 8 − 3 − 4 = 1 day [1].

Tip: the critical path is the longest path through the network, not the shortest. Activities on the critical path have zero total float.

5. Site X: profit = 40 000 × (14 − 6) − 240 000 = 320 000 − 240 000 = $80 000 [1]. Site Y: profit = 40 000 × (14 − 8) − 180 000 = 240 000 − 180 000 = $60 000 [1]. On expected profit alone, site X is better by $20 000 a year [1].

Tip: a quantitative result like this should be one part of a location decision. Qualitative factors such as access to skilled labour, transport links and the owners’ preferences also matter.

6. As a business grows, communication becomes harder because messages must pass through more levels of hierarchy [1]. This can make decisions slower and lead to mistakes, which raises average costs per unit (a diseconomy of scale) [1]. (Other valid reasons: poorer coordination between departments, or lower motivation because workers feel distant from managers.)

Tip: link the problem to rising unit (average) costs; that is what makes it a diseconomy of scale rather than just a general problem.

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Where marks are usually lost

• Saying TQM means employing more quality inspectors; it makes every worker responsible for quality instead.
• Mixing up quality control (detecting faults at the end) and quality assurance (preventing faults throughout).
• Choosing the shortest path as the critical path, or forgetting that an activity must wait for all activities before it.
• Giving the location answer with no profit figures, or with no statement of which site is better.
• Describing a diseconomy of scale without linking it to higher average costs.