IB Business Management

50 EXCELLENT CUEGIS ESSAYS

Alric Chong & Lois Johnston-Walker
50 Excellent CUEGIS Essays page 6

Introduction

How to use this resource pack

This 263-page resource pack has been created by teachers for teachers and Business
Management students alike. All the essays in this resource pack have been written by
actual BM students and then marked by the authors. A great lesson activity is asking
students to mark one of the blank essays (in this resource pack), using the CUEGIS
assessment criteria. You can then compare and contrast the grades given, which is an
effective way to initiate classroom discussion. Making this a regular class activity leads to
a much better understanding of the CUEGIS concepts overall, in preparation for
assessment in Paper 2, Section C.

Here are our top tips for success for both SL and HL students:

1. Provide a definition of the concepts and the business management content given
in the question.

2. Make sure you consistently demonstrate a clear link between the title question and
the contents of your essay.

3. Use examples of real business organizations which are up-to-date and link to the
essay title question.

4. Avoid sweeping (generic) statements and make sure your arguments are
substantiated with examples and evidence.

5. Before starting the essay, take time to think about the most appropriate
organization and business management content to use.

6. Knowledge of and reference to the CEO or entrepreneur is a good way to identify

an individual’s perspective (Criterion E).

An Introduction to KARSI

Getting to grips with the assessment criteria for the CUEGIS essay can be daunting for
students, especially when there are five to cover in approximately 30 minutes, under exam
conditions!

A more effective way for students to remember the criteria, as opposed to A, B, C, D and
E is the mnemonic KARSI. This is a great word as it has many interesting meanings which
can be used in the classroom; our favourite being a long gone Game of Thrones character!

© Level7 Education Alric Chong & Lois Johnston-Walker

50 Excellent CUEGIS Essays page 7

The KARSI mnemonic

Description
IB Criterion KARSI Criterion
Knowledge and conceptual understanding
A K
Application
B A
Reasoned arguments
C R
Structure
D S
Individuals and societies
E I

For the following 50 essays, you will find each has been annotated by the authors with the
KARSI criterion. This has been done to show students and teachers alike how the criterion
can be applied and what the difference is between each of them. For example, where the
essay has been annotated with (K), this means the candidate has successfully shown
knowledge and understanding of one of the concepts or relevant business management
content. However, it does not necessarily mean the candidate has achieved full marks for
this criterion. To better understand how marks have been awarded, the feedback sheet
and overall comment should be referred to.

About the authors

Alric Chong spent 5 years studying at the University of Sydney and Macquarie
University in Australia, where he obtained his Bachelor and Master’s degrees in
Commerce (ASCPA Associate) respectively. He has over 15 years of teaching
experience, having worked in various educational institutions including Bendemeer
Secondary School (Singapore), Temasek Polytechnic (Singapore), Anglo-Chinese
School Independent (Singapore), Overseas Family School (Singapore) and Shanghai
Singapore International School (Shanghai, China). Alric currently teaches IB Business
Management, Economics and Individuals & Societies at Victoria Shanghai Academy,
Hong Kong. He is an experienced examiner for IB Business Management.

Lois Johnston-Walker studied for her Master’s degree in International Management at

the University of Sunderland after completing her BA in Business Administration. She
went on to complete a PGCSE in Business at the University of Huddersfield before
starting her teaching career in London, UK. She has over 12 years of teaching
experience, including working as Head of Business Studies at Ruislip High School in
London, and the British International School of Shanghai, where she taught IB Business
Management. In 2017, Lois moved to Hailyebury Astana in Kazakhstan where she
introduced Business Management as Head of Business Studies. She also has a wealth
of experience as an examiner.

© Level7 Education Alric Chong & Lois Johnston-Walker

50 Excellent CUEGIS Essays page 8

Testimonials

“Overall, I think this is a fantastic resource for both students and teachers. It is clearly
laid out and easy to follow. The KARSI annotations are a good inclusion, and the
comments for each criterion are also helpful. I wish the authors every success with this
resource!”
Fiona Charnely, Carey Grammar School, Australia

“What I like are the detailed examiner criterion feedback, the overall comments and links
to the assessment criteria.”
Keith Collins, Western International School of Shanghai

“A brilliant resource for BM teachers and students. Lots of good examples / case studies
to help students prepare for this difficult assessment component of the course.”
Jon M. Smith, ITS School, Hong Kong

“I found the essays very interesting, and the criteria based grading within the essay is
very useful.”
Prachi Gupta, IB Diploma Programme Coordinator, Yew Chung International School of
Beijing

You may also be interested in the CUEGIS Posters, created by Anson Miu. The six
posters are available as a password-protected PDF file, from Level7 Education, priced
at USD20 (order through level7education@gmail.com)

© Level7 Education Alric Chong & Lois Johnston-Walker

50 Excellent CUEGIS Essays page 32

10. Examine how change has impacted on the outsourcing strategy for an
organization of your choice.

The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation, which

manufactures and sells soft drink concentrates and syrups. A key factor of being a
successful globalized business can be an outsourcing strategy – a method of
reducing production costs by transferring non-core internal business activities to
external firms. The outsourcing method used by Coca-Cola has had both positive and
negative impacts on different individuals and stakeholder groups because of changes
implemented by Coca-Cola.

Changes in Coca-Cola’s production plans through outsourcing, such as the production

of its bottles, have brought lots of advantages for the business. Coca-Cola chose to
license a group of independent bottlers while imposing strict quality control. This
outsourcing method was very innovative at the time. Some years later there was
conflict between Coca-Cola and its outsourced, independent bottlers. Coca-Cola had
bought out several bottle-making alliance partners to develop its own internal capability,
and the bottling company Coca-Cola Enterprises was founded. However, this turned
out to be very expensive, so Coca-Cola decided to outsource its bottling production
again. The change in cost and profit margin therefore meant Coca-Cola implemented
a change whereby outsourcing was reintroduced.

Change in this case refers to the modification of the production strategy Coca-Cola
was using. This was a disadvantage for employees working at Coca-Cola’s bottling
plants as many were made redundant when the firm decided to outsource. However,
it was advantageous for the employees at independent bottlers as their jobs were likely
to be more secure with Coca-Cola’s business.

It wasn’t only bottling production that the Coca-Cola Company outsourced. It also
outsources production activities which involve extracting and refining processes for
beverage ingredients. Monsanto Chemical Company had provided saccharine and
caffeine to the Coca-Cola Company. Coca-Cola reduced labour costs as outsourced
employees are not directly part of its organization. Moreover, this is beneficial for its
shareholders as the outsourcing strategy, part of its long term plans, allows Coca-Cola
to reduce costs and therefore increase profits. Also, Coca-Cola has created more job
positions for low income groups through outsourcing, for example, sugar cane farmers
in El Salvador.

On the other hand, there were several unethical practises highlighted by the media
which affected Coca-Cola’s brand image. The exploitation of child labourers in El
Salvador sugar cane fields, one of the company’s subcontractors, resulted in lower
sales temporarily. Sugar cane farming is known to be a highly dangerous agricultural
activity and children are injured frequently. Coca-Cola’s CEO, Muhtar Kent, will need
to consider this because his reputation and the corporate image will be damaged if
news of child labour is not dealt with. If he shows an effort to deal with the issue and
ensure ethical standards of the company’s outsourcing strategy are applied, it could in
turn improve his and the organization’s reputation. This event had a positive impact on
the changes Coca-Cola made and they have continued to use outsourcing in a more
ethical manner.

© Level7 Education Alric Chong & Lois Johnston-Walker

50 Excellent CUEGIS Essays page 33

To conclude, Coca-Cola is using its outsourcing strategy to boost its profits by reducing
overall costs of production, but some drawbacks can be found in LEDC countries.
However, through mistakes made, Coca-Cola has learnt how to become more ethical
and ensure that its outsourcing strategy means employees are treated fairly.

Marks

Marks
Criterion
(out of 4)
A: Knowledge

B: Application

C: Reasoning

D: Structure

E: Individuals & Societies

Total

© Level7 Education Alric Chong & Lois Johnston-Walker

50 Excellent CUEGIS Essays page 141

10. Examine how change has impacted on the outsourcing strategy for an
organization of your choice.

The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation, which

manufactures and sells soft drink concentrates and syrups. A key factor of being a
successful globalized business can be an outsourcing strategy – a method of
reducing production costs by transferring non-core internal business activities to
external firms.(K) The outsourcing method used by Coca-Cola has had both positive
and negative impacts on different individuals and stakeholder groups because of
changes implemented by Coca-Cola.(S)

Changes in Coca-Cola’s production plans through outsourcing, such as the production

of its bottles, have brought lots of advantages for the business.(A) Coca-Cola chose to
license a group of independent bottlers while imposing strict quality control.(A) This
outsourcing method was very innovative at the time. Some years later there was
conflict between Coca-Cola and its outsourced, independent bottlers. Coca-Cola had
bought out several bottle-making alliance partners to develop its own internal capability,
and the bottling company Coca-Cola Enterprises was founded. However, this turned
out to be very expensive, so Coca-Cola decided to outsource its bottling production
again.(R) The change in cost and profit margin therefore meant Coca-Cola
implemented a change whereby outsourcing was reintroduced.

Change in this case refers to the modification of the production strategy Coca-Cola
was using. This was a disadvantage for employees working at Coca-Cola’s bottling
plants as many were made redundant when the firm decided to outsource. However,
it was advantageous for the employees at independent bottlers as their jobs were likely
to be more secure with Coca-Cola’s business.(R)(I)

It wasn’t only bottling production that the Coca-Cola Company outsourced. It also
outsources production activities which involve extracting and refining processes for
beverage ingredients.(K) Monsanto Chemical Company had provided saccharine and
caffeine to the Coca-Cola Company.(A) Coca-Cola reduced labour costs as outsourced
employees are not directly part of its organization. Moreover, this is beneficial for its
shareholders(I) as the outsourcing strategy, part of its long term plans, allows Coca-
Cola to reduce costs and therefore increase profits.(K)(R) Also, Coca-Cola has created
more job positions for low income groups through outsourcing, for example, sugar cane
farmers in El Salvador.(A)

On the other hand, there were several unethical practises highlighted by the media
which affected Coca-Cola’s brand image. The exploitation of child labourers in El
Salvador sugar cane fields, one of the company’s subcontractors, resulted in lower
sales temporarily(A)(R). Sugar cane farming is known to be a highly dangerous
agricultural activity and children are injured frequently.(I) Coca-Cola’s CEO, Muhtar
Kent, will need to consider this because his reputation and the corporate image will be
damaged if news of child labour is not dealt with. If he shows an effort to deal with the
issue and ensure ethical standards of the company’s outsourcing strategy are applied,
it could in turn improve his and the organization’s reputation.(I)(R) This event had a
positive impact on the changes Coca-Cola made and they have continued to use
outsourcing in a more ethical manner.

© Level7 Education Alric Chong & Lois Johnston-Walker

50 Excellent CUEGIS Essays page 142

To conclude, Coca-Cola is using its outsourcing strategy to boost its profits by reducing
overall costs of production, but some drawbacks can be found in LEDC countries.
However, through mistakes made, Coca-Cola has learnt how to become more ethical
and ensure that its outsourcing strategy means employees are treated fairly.(S)

© Level7 Education Alric Chong & Lois Johnston-Walker

50 Excellent CUEGIS Essays page 143

Feedback Sheet

Criterion Feedback Marks

There is relevant use of business management content, such

as outsourcing and quality control. The explanation is
A sometimes rather descriptive. There was an attempt to define 3
both concepts, but the explanation of change is somewhat
clearer than ‘strategy’.

The concepts and business management content are

B generally well applied but this needs to be developed further. 3
More contemporary examples could have been provided.

Balanced arguments have been included, although the

reasoning provided is limited in some areas, e.g. there is no
C explanation of why outsourcing of the bottles “was very 3
innovative “at the time” (paragraph 2). There are more justified
than unjustified arguments, so the best fit mark band is 3.

All structural elements present, and there is an attempt to

include fit-for-purpose paragraphs. However, the conclusion
D 3
does not directly answer the question (ethics are not part of
the title question).

Balanced consideration is given to the CEO and employees at

Coca-Cola or those working for subcontractors. There is also
E 4
consideration of the outsourcing strategy on Coca-Cola
Company’s shareholders.

Total 16/20

Overall Comment

A limitation of this essay is that it is too descriptive in some places. The candidate
seems to know a lot about the history of outsourcing at the Coca-Cola Company. The
example of outsourcing (ingredients) to farmers in El Salvador was good, but the essay
would have benefited from more contemporary examples.

The candidate could have improved the quality of the essay by providing (approximate)
dates for the events mentioned. For example, when did Coca-Cola decide to use
subcontractors for bottling for a second time?

The candidate considered employees of Coca-Cola and its subcontractors (such as

sugar cane farmers in El Salvador) in a balanced manner. This was also the case when
discussing the CEO, the individual selected for Criterion E.

© Level7 Education Alric Chong & Lois Johnston-Walker