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NSWBusiness StudiesQuick questions
Topic 3: Finance
Quick questions on Profitability management and global financial management (HSC Business Studies)
12short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is global financial management?Show answer
Australian businesses operating internationally face three types of financial risk: exchange-rate, interest-rate and counterparty/payment risk.
What is marketing-objective alignment?Show answer
Marketing budgets tied to specific revenue objectives (new customer acquisition, conversion rate, average basket size, customer-lifetime value). Marketing ROI is measured and the budget is moved toward channels and campaigns that work.
What is customer-mix management?Show answer
Shifting customer mix toward higher-margin products and segments. Coles and Woolworths have both expanded Own Brand ranges, which have higher gross margin than equivalent name-brand SKUs.
What are loyalty programmes?Show answer
Everyday Rewards (Woolworths), Flybuys (Coles, Wesfarmers), Qantas Frequent Flyer. Loyalty programmes lift purchase frequency and basket size in exchange for points cost. Well-designed programmes are profitability-positive; poorly-designed ones are a cost without revenue lift.
What is cross-sell?Show answer
Selling additional products to existing customers. Banks cross-sell (mortgage customers offered insurance, credit cards, super); telcos cross-sell (mobile customers offered home internet); supermarkets cross-sell (food customers offered insurance, mobile, fuel discounts via partnerships).
What are forward contracts?Show answer
Agreement to buy or sell currency (or a commodity) at a fixed rate at a future date. Eliminates uncertainty in either direction.
What are options?Show answer
Right (not obligation) to transact at a fixed rate. Preserves upside while protecting downside, in exchange for an option premium.
What are swaps?Show answer
Exchange of cash flows. Currency swaps exchange payments in different currencies. Interest-rate swaps exchange fixed-rate for floating-rate payments.
What are futures?Show answer
Standardised exchange-traded contracts. Common for commodities (oil, copper, gold) and equity indices.
What is worked example: Qantas fuel hedging?Show answer
Jet fuel is 25-30 percent of an airline's operating cost. Qantas runs a structured hedging programme using a combination of forwards and options to lock in some fraction of fuel cost up to 12-18 months ahead. The 2022 oil-price spike (Brent crude above USD 100 in places, after the Russia-Ukraine invasion) was partly cushioned by Qantas's hedged barrels.
What is worked example: BHP currency exposure?Show answer
BHP earns USD revenue and incurs largely AUD cost. The business does not aggressively hedge AUD/USD because its long-term shareholders are global (USD-thinking) and the natural exposure to USD is part of the investment proposition. Compared with a purely-Australian-cost business, BHP's earnings already include the currency tailwind or headwind, and shareholders prefer the transparency to a hedged programme.
What is plan?Show answer
Pick CSL; cover profitability strategy, global currency exposure, hedging approach, and an evaluation.