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Home › IB Diploma Programme › IB Business Management
IB BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
IB Business Management tutor for SL and HL
Business management asks you to read a case like a manager and defend a decision like a consultant. IB Learning Star offers online IB Business Management tutoring for the Diploma course at SL and HL: the Paper 1 case study, the Paper 2 calculations, the HL social enterprise paper and the business research project. One-on-one lessons run live on Google Meet at times that suit your time zone, and your first class is a free trial.
SL and HL
Papers 1 to 3 and the research project
One-on-one on Google Meet
Free trial class
WHERE THE MARKS GO
Why strong Business Management students still lose marks
Business management rewards students who use evidence and judge it. The marks leak in a few predictable places.
1 Writing about the topic instead of the case.
Paper 1 is built on one case study you have not seen, after a short pre-released statement that you research for about five hours. Answers that explain a tool correctly but never touch the business in front of you stay in the lower bands.
2 Skipping the working in Paper 2.
Paper 2 has a quantitative focus. A wrong final figure can still earn marks if the method is shown, and a correct figure with no method can lose them.
3 Listing tools.
A SWOT with eight bullet points is a description. The marks sit in choosing the tool that fits the question, using the business’s own facts in it, and saying what the result means for the decision.
4 Treating HL Paper 3 as a case study paper.
Paper 3 is about a social enterprise. It asks you to describe a human need, explain the challenges facing the social entrepreneur and then recommend a plan. Students who stop at the challenges lose the largest block of marks.
5 A research project with a weak set of documents.
The project needs three to five supporting documents that give a range of views. Five documents from the same company, or five similar surveys, do not give balance.
6 A key concept added at the end.
One of the four key concepts (change, creativity, ethics or sustainability) must run through the whole project. It carries 5 of the 25 marks, and a paragraph on the last page earns little.
7 Going over 1,800 words.
Moderators stop reading at 1,800 words, so the conclusion can go unread.
We work on these from the first lesson, using your own class notes, your recent answers and the businesses your school has chosen.
Our tutors are certified IBDP tutors or have completed IBDP training, at least IB Category 2 workshops, and they teach in IB schools.
This page describes the course first examined in 2024. We will update it if the IB publishes a new guide.
THE COURSE
What the Business Management course covers: five units and a toolkit
Business management studies how organisations are started, run and changed. It sits in the individuals and societies group. Four key concepts run through the course: change, creativity, ethics and sustainability. Students use a toolkit of decision-making tools on every unit.
The recommended teaching time is 150 hours at SL and 240 at HL. The hours are below.
A
B
C
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Part
SL hours
HL hours
Unit 1 Introduction to business management
20
20
Unit 2 Human resource management
20
35
Unit 3 Finance and accounts
30
45
Unit 4 Marketing
30
35
Unit 5 Operations management
15
45
Business management toolkit
10
35
Research time for the Paper 1 pre-released statement
5
5
Internal assessment (business research project)
20
20
Total
150
240
Unit 1 covers what a business is, types of business, objectives, stakeholders, growth and multinational companies. Unit 2 covers organisational structure, leadership, motivation and communication, and at HL adds organisational culture and employee relations. Unit 3 covers sources of finance, costs and revenues, final accounts, profitability and liquidity ratios, cash flow and investment appraisal, and at HL adds efficiency ratios and budgets. Unit 4 covers the marketing plan, market research and the seven Ps, and at HL adds sales forecasting and international marketing. Unit 5 covers operations methods, location and break-even analysis, and at HL adds lean production and quality, production planning, crisis management, research and development and management information systems.
TOOLKIT
SWOT
Ansoff matrix
STEEPLE
BCG matrix
Decision trees
Descriptive statistics
Circular business models
Force field analysis
Gantt charts
Hofstede
Porter’s generic strategies
Contribution analysis
Critical path analysis
Linear regression
The toolkit includes SWOT analysis, the Ansoff matrix, STEEPLE analysis, the BCG matrix, decision trees, descriptive statistics and circular business models. HL students add force field analysis, Gantt charts, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, Porter’s generic strategies, contribution analysis, critical path analysis and simple linear regression. The tools are taught alongside the units, and every one of them is used at the analysis level or above.
HL students study the same core as SL students, plus extra content in each unit and the extra tools. The HL material is not simply more. It asks you to handle numbers such as net present value and critical paths and to judge decisions across the whole organisation.
PAPER 1
Paper 1: the pre-released statement and an unseen case study
Three months before the exam the IB releases a statement. It names a small number of contemporary topics that students research for about five hours, and it gives the first part of the case study. In the exam you read the rest of a case of about 800 to 1,000 words that you have not seen. Paper 1 is the same for SL and HL. It lasts 1 hour 30 minutes and is out of 30 marks. It is 35% of the grade at SL and 25% at HL.
3 months before
pre-released statement
›
about 5 hours
research the topics
›
in the exam
unseen case, 800 to 1,000 words
›
1 h 30 min
30 marks
SECTION A · 20
SECTION B · 10
Section A has structured questions on the case, 20 marks, and you answer all of them. Section B has two extended-response questions on the case, 10 marks, and you answer one. Most questions are qualitative, with some small calculations.
Our routine has three steps. First, research the pre-released topics in a form you can use: what they are, who is affected and how they link to the syllabus. Second, practise reading a case with the command term in mind: define and describe for the first marks, explain and analyse for the middle, discuss and evaluate for the top. Third, practise the extended answer in the same order each time: a short definition, a link to the case, a tool or theory used on the case facts, a counter-argument and a judgement.
CASE FILE · ZEST FOODS (INVENTED)
A worked extended answer: one invented company, one question
Here is a case we invented for this page, with a question and marks of our own. Zest Foods makes fruit snacks in one factory. Over three years its unit costs rose 14% while its main supermarket customer asked for lower prices. The board is thinking of moving some production to a cheaper country. The question: “Evaluate whether Zest Foods should move some production abroad.”
Step 1. Define briefly. Moving production abroad is a form of offshoring: the same company makes some of its goods in another country.
Step 2. Use the case. Costs rose 14% and the main customer wants lower prices, so Zest Foods has a profit squeeze. Offshoring could cut unit costs.
Step 3. Apply a tool. A decision tree puts the options side by side: stay and raise efficiency, move part of production, or move all of it. Each branch has a cost, a probability and a likely profit. The tree shows the choice with the highest expected value, and also shows how sensitive that figure is to the probabilities you guessed.
STEP 3 · DECISION TREE
Step 4. Give the other side. Savings may be cancelled by longer lead times, quality risk and the cost of a change in staff. A single factory also means local jobs and a local reputation are at stake.
Step 5. Judge. Moving part of production keeps some control and tests the savings. It is the better choice if the lower costs hold after transport and quality costs are counted, and the board should set a review point to check that.
PAPER 2
Paper 2: stimulus material with a quantitative focus
Paper 2 is built on stimulus material that you see for the first time in the exam. It is presented in parts, with a question after each part, and it mixes text with charts and infographics. SL and HL sit different papers. At SL it lasts 1 hour 30 minutes and is out of 40 marks (35% of the grade). At HL it lasts 1 hour 45 minutes and is out of 50 marks (30% of the grade) and it includes HL content. Most questions need numbers. Calculators are allowed.
Section A has structured questions on the stimulus (20 marks at SL, 30 at HL), and you answer all of them. Section B has a choice of two questions, each with some structured parts and an extended response (20 marks), and you answer one.
A worked case: one invented bakery, four questions
Here is a case we invented for this page. It is not an IB paper, and the numbers, questions and marks are our own. Corner Loaf is a small bakery. Its fixed costs are 24,000 a year. It sells each loaf for 8 and each loaf costs 3 to make. This year it sold 6,000 loaves.
Question 1. Calculate the break-even quantity. Question 2. Calculate the profit and the margin of safety this year. Question 3. A rival forces the bakery to cut the price to 7. Calculate the new break-even quantity and the profit if sales stay at 6,000. Question 4. Evaluate break-even analysis as a tool for this decision.
Step 1. Find the contribution. Contribution per loaf is price minus variable cost: 8 minus 3 is 5.
Step 2. Show the method every time. Break-even quantity is fixed costs divided by contribution per loaf: 24,000 divided by 5 is 4,800 loaves. Profit at 6,000 loaves is 6,000 times 5, which is 30,000, minus 24,000, which is 6,000. The margin of safety is 6,000 minus 4,800, which is 1,200 loaves.
Step 3. Repeat with the new price. Contribution falls to 7 minus 3, which is 4. Break-even becomes 24,000 divided by 4, which is 6,000 loaves. At 6,000 loaves the profit is 6,000 times 4, which is 24,000, minus 24,000, which is zero. The margin of safety has gone.
Step 4. Weigh for “evaluate”. Break-even analysis shows quickly how sensitive profit is to price. It assumes that every loaf sells at the same price, that costs stay constant, and that sales do not change when the price changes. In real life a lower price might lift sales, and the bakery may need to add staff above some output. Close with a judgement: the tool shows the bakery has no cushion at the lower price, so it should test demand with a trial before cutting prices across the shop.
Our routine has three steps. First, learn each calculation as a short method with units: write the formula, put the numbers in, give the answer with units. Second, practise reading charts and tables quickly, because the stimulus comes in parts. Third, practise the last parts of Section B, where a calculation leads to a judgement.
HL ONLY
HL Paper 3: a social enterprise and a recommendation
Only HL students sit Paper 3. It lasts 1 hour 15 minutes, has one compulsory question worth 25 marks and is 25% of the grade. It covers units 1 to 5, including the HL content. The stimulus is a short introduction to an organisation, a picture of its product and five or six extracts from documents such as emails, news items and social media posts.
The paper works in three steps. First, describe the human need that the social enterprise exists to meet. Second, explain the challenges that the social entrepreneur faces. Third, write a decision-making document that recommends a plan to meet the need. The last step carries the most marks, and it asks you to synthesise evidence, weigh it and decide.
In lessons we practise the recommendation from the start: choose a plan, say why it fits the need, name what could go wrong, and say how you would know it is working. A plan that is backed by two of the extracts and tested against one risk is better than a list of five ideas.
SL students do not sit Paper 3, but one of the Paper 2 stimulus options at SL may be a social enterprise, so the ideas still help.
INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
The business research project (the Business Management internal assessment)
The internal assessment is one task, a business research project on a real issue or problem facing one organisation, viewed through one key concept. The report is up to 1,800 words and is marked out of 25. It is 30% of the grade at SL and 20% at HL, and the requirements are the same at both levels. Your teacher marks it and the IB moderates it.
SEVEN CRITERIA
25 MARKS
Seven criteria are used. Integration of a key concept is worth 5 marks. Supporting documents is worth 4. Selection and application of tools and theories is worth 4. Analysis and evaluation is worth 5. Conclusions are worth 3. Structure and presentation are worth 2 each. That is 5 + 4 + 4 + 5 + 3 + 2 + 2 = 25.
The rules that cost marks are specific. You choose a research question about one business. You pick one key concept from change, creativity, ethics and sustainability and state it on the title page. You gather three to five supporting documents yourself, they must be recent (published within three years before submission), at most one may be a transcript of a video or audio file, and each should be no longer than about five A4 pages. You highlight the parts you use. Tables, diagrams, citations and bibliography do not count in the word limit, but definitions and quotations do.
A worked narrowing: from a topic to a question you can finish
THE QUESTION
Start broad: “marketing at a café”. That cannot be answered in 1,800 words. Narrow it to a decision at one business and pick a lens: “Should Café Kora, a small chain of three cafés, start a delivery service?” with change as the key concept. The question now has a real organisation, a decision and a lens.
THE DOCUMENTS
Then the documents. A good set gives a range: an extract from the chain’s own website, a local news article about delivery apps, a short survey of customers that you ran yourself (with a blank copy of the questions and the tally), and a government report on food delivery. Five documents from the café’s own social media would give you one view.
THE TOOLS
Then the tools. A decision tree can compare delivery with no delivery using costs and probabilities from the documents. A STEEPLE analysis can show the outside changes. The lens of change shows up in every section: how the change would affect staff, customers and costs, and how the café should manage it. The conclusion answers the question and says what is not yet known.
Your teacher reads one draft and gives advice, but does not edit it. If you also write an Extended Essay in business management, it must use a different organisation and a different approach. In lessons we help you test a question, choose and check documents, match tools to the question and check your report against the seven criteria, and you make the choices yourself.
ASSESSMENT
Assessment at SL and HL
The weights add to 100% at each level.
SL
Paper 1, pre-released statement and unseen case study, 1 hour 30 minutes, 30 marks:
35%
Paper 2, stimulus with a quantitative focus, 1 hour 30 minutes, 40 marks:
35%
Business research project, up to 1,800 words, 25 marks:
30%
HL
Paper 1, pre-released statement and unseen case study, 1 hour 30 minutes, 30 marks:
25%
Paper 2, stimulus with a quantitative focus, 1 hour 45 minutes, 50 marks:
30%
Paper 3, social enterprise, 1 hour 15 minutes, 25 marks:
25%
Business research project, up to 1,800 words, 25 marks:
20%
HOW IT WORKS
What an IB Business Management lesson looks like
The first lesson is a diagnostic. You show us a recent Paper 1 or Paper 2 answer, or your research question and documents, and we find where the marks went: in the reading of the case, in the numbers or in the judgement.
After that, each lesson takes one task. It might be a case read cold and answered against the clock. Or it might be a set of calculations from the finance unit, a check of your supporting documents, a decision tree built from case facts or a run-through of a Paper 3 recommendation at HL. You leave with a short exercise before the next lesson, so the habit builds between sessions.
Students writing an Extended Essay in business management, or working on Theory of Knowledge questions that business raises, can ask us to link those with the course.
Lessons are one-on-one on Google Meet, in your time zone.
FAQ
What Business Management students and parents ask us
Q01
What is IB Business Management?
⌄
Business management (often called IB BM, and sometimes searched for as business studies) is an IB Diploma course about how organisations work. It covers people, finance, marketing and operations, and it ends with a research project on a real business.
Q02
Which IB group is Business Management in?
⌄
Individuals and societies. Your school decides how it is combined with your other choices.
Q03
What is the difference between SL and HL?
⌄
HL has 240 recommended hours instead of 150, extra content in every unit, extra toolkit items such as critical path analysis and net present value, and a third paper on a social enterprise. HL Paper 2 is 1 hour 45 minutes and 50 marks, and SL Paper 2 is 1 hour 30 minutes and 40 marks. The research project is the same task at both levels, but it is 30% of the grade at SL and 20% at HL.
Q04
What is the Paper 1 pre-released statement?
⌄
Three months before the exam the IB releases a short statement with a few contemporary topics to research and the opening of the case study. You spend about five hours on it. The rest of the case is unseen.
Q05
How much of Paper 2 is calculation?
⌄
Most of it. The questions are quantitative, so you need the formulas and the habit of showing each step. A four-function calculator is enough, and graphic calculators are allowed.
Q06
What is the key concept in the research project?
⌄
One of change, creativity, ethics or sustainability. You pick it, state it on the title page and use it as the lens for the whole project. It carries 5 of the 25 marks.
Q07
How many words is the research project?
⌄
Up to 1,800 words. Moderators do not read past that. Tables, diagrams, citations and the bibliography are not counted.
Q08
Can I use the same work for the research project and the Extended Essay?
⌄
No. If you write an Extended Essay in business management it must use a different organisation and a different approach.
Q09
Is Business Management hard?
⌄
It is a different kind of hard. The content is varied, the papers ask for judgement as well as knowledge, and the calculations need practice. We do not quote grade statistics here, because they change each session and between SL and HL.
Q10
Who teaches the lessons?
⌄
Your tutor is a certified IBDP tutor or has completed IBDP training, at least IB Category 2 workshops, and teaches in an IB school. We match the tutor to your course and level.
Q11
Will lessons fit my time zone?
⌄
Yes. Lessons are one-on-one on Google Meet and we plan them around your school day, wherever you are.
Q12
How do I start?
⌄
Book a free trial class. We use it to see where you are, then suggest a plan and a lesson schedule.
Start with a trial class for IB Business Management
Tell us your level (SL or HL), your exam year and the part that worries you most: Paper 1, Paper 2, Paper 3 or the research project. We will plan the first lesson around it.
