© Oxford University Press 2016 1
Oxford Big Ideas Humanities 7 Victorian Curriculum Teacher obook assess ISBN 9780190307363
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Student book questions
16.4 Apply strategies to resolve economics and business issues
Pages 459–460
Skill drill: Evaluating alternatives
Before looking at the different options in a business situation you must first do some work to find out more
about the topic. Once you know about the topic, you can then assess the options available and choose the
best one. This can be done using the following steps:
Step 1 Read through the different sources of information and find out what experts say about the topic.
Step 2 Make your own notes as you learn and write down any interesting facts, statistics or other
information that will help you to explore the different options.
Step 3 Next to each option, write the advantages and disadvantages, or costs and benefits.
Step 4 Get rid of the options that seem weakest based on their advantages or disadvantages.
Step 5 Concentrate on the strongest options and either decide which one is best or do further research
before choosing the best option.
Apply the skill
Let’s see how we could apply this skill to help a business owner make the right decision.
Tony runs a takeaway pizza restaurant in town that is becoming quite popular. So popular, in fact, that he is
finding it difficult to keep up with all of the customer orders for pizzas. He is worried that he will not able
to make enough pizzas in time to satisfy all customers, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights
when he is busiest. Tony is considering the following options:
a buying a new state-of-the-art oven that can reduce baking times from 15 minutes to 10 minutes, at a
cost of $80 000
b hiring a part-time employee to help out on the weekends for $17 per hour
c increasing the selling price of all pizzas by 50 per cent
