Syllabus: Cambridge - IGCSE Business Studies
Module: 3.1 Marketing Competition and the Customer
Lesson: 3.1.1 The Role of Marketing

Introduction

This article aligns with section 3.1.1 of the Cambridge IGCSE Business Studies syllabus, titled The Role of Marketing. It provides a framework for teaching the strategic role marketing plays in identifying and satisfying customer needs, establishing competitive advantage, and supporting business objectives. With increasing curriculum emphasis on real-world application, this unit offers an ideal opportunity to link theory to commercial awareness and workplace readiness—core pillars of the Enterprise Skills platform.

Key Concepts

As per the Cambridge IGCSE syllabus, learners should understand:

• What marketing is: The management process that identifies, anticipates, and satisfies customer requirements profitably.

• The role of marketing in a business: Helping to increase sales and market share, supporting brand loyalty, and responding to changes in customer needs.

• The relationship between marketing and the rest of the business: Especially how marketing links with production, finance, and human resources.

• Objectives of marketing: Including survival, growth, brand recognition, and customer engagement.

• Identifying customer needs: Through market research and understanding the target market.

• Changing customer needs: The importance of adapting to trends and consumer behaviour.

These areas build the foundation for more complex topics later in the unit, such as the marketing mix and market segmentation.

Real-World Relevance

Students often associate marketing with advertising alone. However, teaching the full role of marketing is a chance to unpack strategic business decision-making.

Mini Case Study: Netflix vs Disney+
Netflix’s original content strategy was a direct response to changing customer expectations and market saturation. Meanwhile, Disney+ entered the market by leveraging brand loyalty and content exclusivity. Both companies exemplify how marketing drives not just product promotion, but pricing, distribution, and user experience design.

Retail Insight: Greggs’ Vegan Sausage Roll
Greggs launched its vegan product in response to evolving dietary preferences. Backed by social media marketing and timed with “Veganuary”, it boosted both sales and brand awareness. This is a strong example of marketing responding to external change and consumer behaviour.

These examples allow students to engage in discussion about market-driven decision-making, stakeholder influence, and innovation.

How It’s Assessed

The Cambridge IGCSE Business Studies examination includes both structured and extended-response questions to assess understanding of marketing. Common formats include:

• Short answer questions: Define marketing or describe its role.

• Data-response: Interpret a marketing problem using a case study (e.g. customer trends or promotional strategies).

• Extended writing: Evaluate marketing approaches or compare two businesses based on their marketing strategy.

Key command words include identify, explain, analyse, and evaluate. Teachers should focus on helping students move beyond description to analysis—linking decisions to outcomes and showing awareness of context.

Enterprise Skills Integration

Marketing naturally embeds multiple enterprise competencies:

• Commercial Awareness: Students grasp how market forces and customer preferences shape strategy.

• Problem-Solving: Learners evaluate scenarios such as declining sales or competitive threats.

• Decision-Making: They compare strategies—e.g. mass marketing vs niche targeting—and justify choices based on market data.

• Stakeholder Understanding: Marketing decisions often require balancing conflicting needs: what the business wants vs what the customer values.

Teachers using Skills Hub Business or Futures can access mapped tools that bring these concepts to life through decision simulations.

Careers Links

Marketing connects directly to a wide range of roles—essential for meeting Gatsby Benchmark 4 (linking curriculum to careers). Related pathways include:

• Marketing Executive

• Digital Marketing Specialist

• Product Manager

• Market Research Analyst

• Brand Manager

• Customer Insight Manager

Skills Hub Futures includes careers sessions like Understanding Customer Focus and Innovation Thinking, both of which align to this module.

Enterprise Skills’ simulations and employer case studies also support Gatsby Benchmarks 5 and 6, offering students exposure to real workplace decision-making and employer encounters.

Teaching Notes

Practical Tips:

• Start with the student: Use real-life brands they know (e.g. Nike, TikTok, Aldi) to explain marketing in action.

• Interactive activities: Let students conduct a basic customer survey, then apply findings to develop a simple product concept.

• Use simulations: Skills Hub’s marketing tools allow students to respond to customer needs and evaluate the impact of marketing decisions across different departments.

Common Pitfalls:

• Confusing marketing with only advertising or promotion.

• Ignoring the importance of market research and feedback loops.

• Lack of clarity on how marketing links to business success metrics (profit, market share, growth).

Extension Activities:

• Compare how two competing brands meet customer needs (e.g. McDonald’s vs Leon).

• Ask students to role-play marketing departments pitching a new product to the board.

• Use Skills Hub simulation events where students take on departmental roles, including marketing, and must justify their strategies.