IB Business Management HLTopic 8 — Pre-Released Statement 2025Paper 1Exam practice~13 min read
Practice Questions to Try
This is where the preparation turns into marks. The Myt case gives you a complete company to argue about, so use it to practise the four skills examiners actually award: knowledge, application, analysis and evaluation. Plan lots of answers rather than writing a few perfect ones.
📚 What you need to know
10-mark questions are marked on four skills: knowledge, application, analysis, evaluation.
Application means specific Myt detail — 4,000 shops, six continents, acquisitions in 2023.
Analysis means using a business tool and showing the chain of consequences.
Evaluation means both sides, a decision, and what the decision depends on.
4-mark questions want two developed points, each with a Myt link.
6-mark analyse questions want two or three developed points, not six short ones.
What the four skills actually mean
Tick these four off in the margin as you write. It is a quicker check than rereading the whole answer.
2-mark define questions
🧩 Try these
Define the term diversification. [2]
Define the term external growth. [2]
Define the term portfolio. [2]
Define the term chain (of a business). [2]
Define the term corporate social responsibility. [2]
Define the term social media influencer. [2]
Define the term multinational company. [2]
Define the term pressure group. [2]
2-mark explain questions
WORKED EXAMPLE
Explain one reason why Myt PLC might want to use computer-generated avatars in its advertising. [2]
Step 1: the business point
Avatars let a brand run one consistent digital character across every market, which appeals to younger audiences used to online content. [1]Step 2: apply it
Since Myt already relies on social media influencers and operates on six continents, an avatar would extend that digital strategy without depending on dozens of separate personalities. [1]2 / 2Two sentences. The second one contains a case fact. That is the whole formula.
🧩 Try these
Explain one reason why acquiring Lotssa Coffee could be described as diversification. [2]
Explain one possible challenge Myt could face when reducing caffeine and sugar in its drinks. [2]
Explain one impact the Lotssa Coffee acquisition could have on Myt’s brand positioning. [2]
Explain one way Myt’s investment in greener factories could affect its supply chain. [2]
Explain one reason why entering the healthy snacks market could be risky for Myt. [2]
Explain one benefit to Myt of being a publicly held company. [2]
4-mark explain and describe questions
WORKED EXAMPLE
Explain one advantage and one disadvantage for Myt PLC of acquiring Lotssa Coffee and Honest Water. [4]
Advantage
The acquisitions reduce Myt’s dependence on sugary carbonated drinks, which face health criticism and sugar taxes. [1] Coffee and bottled water are both growing categories, so Myt now earns from markets consumers are actively moving towards. [1]Disadvantage
Running over 4,000 coffee shops is retail, not manufacturing, and needs completely different skills and cost control. [1] Buying both businesses in the same year means integrating two unfamiliar operations at once, which stretches management and raises costs. [1]4 / 4“Both in the same year” is a detail almost nobody uses, and it earns application credit immediately.
🧩 Try these
Explain one advantage and one disadvantage of Myt investing in avatars for advertising. [4]
Explain one advantage and one disadvantage of reducing sugar and caffeine levels. [4]
Explain one advantage and one disadvantage of modernising factories to be greener. [4]
Describe two possible risks to Myt of entering the bottled water market. [4]
Describe two benefits to Myt of using social media influencers. [4]
Describe two challenges Myt could face when entering the healthy snacks market. [4]
6-mark analyse questions
WORKED EXAMPLE
Analyse two potential financial impacts of Myt PLC’s investment in greener factories. [6]
Impact 1 — heavy costs up front
New equipment and technology have to be paid for before any saving appears. With factories on six continents, doing this at scale means a large capital outflow, and short-term profits fall while shareholders wait for the payback.
Impact 2 — lower running costs later
Energy-efficient equipment cuts electricity and water bills, and less waste means fewer materials wasted per unit. Across a high-volume drinks operation those savings compound into a meaningful improvement in margins.
The complicationNew processes can be slower or need special materials. If output falls or input costs rise during the changeover, unit costs go up rather than down, which makes competitive pricing harder in the short term.
Two impacts and a well-argued complicationFinancial impact questions want cost, revenue and margin language. Use it explicitly.
🧩 Try these
Analyse three ways Myt’s CSR initiatives could affect its brand image and profitability. [6]
Analyse two effects of government health regulations on Myt’s ability to stay competitive. [6]
Analyse two ways modernising factories could affect Myt’s operational efficiency. [6]
Analyse one advantage and two disadvantages of reformulating drinks to cut sugar and caffeine. [6]
Analyse the effects of changing consumer preferences on Myt’s product portfolio. [6]
Analyse how the BCG matrix could help Myt decide where to invest. [6]
10-mark discuss questions
🧩 Try these
Discuss whether Myt PLC should enter the healthy snacks market. [10]
Discuss whether Myt’s CSR initiatives are likely to give it a competitive advantage. [10]
Discuss whether modernising and greening the factories is a good long-term strategy. [10]
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages to Myt of acquiring Honest Water. [10]
Discuss whether relying on social media influencers is sustainable in the long term. [10]
Discuss whether cutting sugar and caffeine is the best strategy to remain competitive. [10]
Discuss the extent to which diversification into water and coffee will keep Myt competitive. [10]
The four-paragraph skeleton for every 10-marker
Define and frame → argue one way → argue the other way → judge and say what it depends on
How to practise efficiently. Give yourself six minutes per 10-mark question and write only the four paragraph headings plus the Myt evidence you would use in each. You will cover the whole list in under an hour, and you will be training the skill that actually fails under exam pressure: planning fast.
One last thing. Both statements — Myt in 2025 and Abraca in 2026 — are really the same exam in different clothes: a company whose old business is losing social approval, buying or building its way into a cleaner future. If you can argue that case for one, you can argue it for the other.
💡 Exam tip
Plan for one minute before every question worth six marks or more.
Name a tool in every analyse and discuss answer. It is the fastest route to the analysis mark.
One Myt fact per paragraph, minimum. Dates, numbers, brand names.
Never leave a 10-marker without a decision. Fence-sitting loses the evaluation marks.
Finish with “this depends on…”. It converts a conclusion into evaluation in one line.
Watch the clock hardest at the end. The last question carries the most marks and is the one people run out of time on.
⚠ Common mix-up
Describe is not explain. Describe wants what; explain wants why, in context.
Analyse is not list. Show the chain: this happens, so that follows.
Discuss needs both sides even if you strongly favour one.
Application is not repeating the company name. It is using a specific fact.
Length is not quality. Three developed points beat seven undeveloped ones.
Do not memorise essays. The full case study on the day will not match them.
That completes Topic 8. If you want more practice, go back to Pre-Released Statement: 2026 Session and run the same toolkit over Abraca — same skills, different company.
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