Business Paper 4 — Global Business
The 4-Mark Explain Guide
Provenance (checked 2026-09-29): no FINSTO baseline exists for WBS14 (see the sibling forge-tariff-4-mark-calculate-construct.md for the confirmed-empty search). Built from research/veridian/WBS14-verified-facts.md (read in full) and forge-exam-technique-guide.md §2 (read in full), then independently re-verified this session against three real Pearson mark-scheme PDFs, each converted with pdftotext -layout and read directly rather than trusted from the facts bank's paraphrase: June 2022 (WBS14_01_2206_MS, P71450A, fetched directly from qualifications.pearson.com), October 2023 (WBS14_01_MS_2310, P73259A, fetched directly from qualifications.pearson.com), and October 2024 (WBS14_01_2410_MS, P78408A, third-party mirror, internal codes confirmed genuine). Reference for shape only, not content: content/veridian/technique-hub/wbs12/forge-tariff-4-mark-questions.md (its Part 2 covers WBS12's own Explain tariff — a different paper, checked separately, not assumed to transfer).
WBS14 — The 4-Mark Explain
1. The real shape, confirmed across three series
AO split, identical on all three mark schemes read directly this pass: Knowledge 1, Application 2, Analysis 1. One knowledge mark for naming a cause/effect/advantage/disadvantage; up to two application marks for two genuinely different, contextualised pieces of extract evidence; one analysis mark for developing why the named point follows from that evidence.
Where this tariff sits, position-wise — cross-referenced from the sibling Calculate/Construct file: on June 2022 it sat at Q1(b); on October 2023 it sat at Q1(a), with the quantitative Calculate question moved to Q1(b) instead; on October 2024 it sat at Q1(b) again. The command word, not the letter, is what determines which technique applies — check both Q1(a) and Q1(b) before assuming.
A caution this pass is deliberately not extending: the WBS12 Explain tariff has a documented "K1-is-not-a-definition" trap, confirmed there across three separate WBS12 examiner reports (see the sibling document's own §2). Nothing in the three WBS14 knowledge-mark bullets read directly for this pass — "Provision of jobs/employment," "High level of competition," "Rising prices for consumers" — reads as a definition being mistaken for a reason; all three are already stated as a point/effect, not a term explained. No WBS14 examiner-report commentary confirming or denying this specific trap for this specific paper has been found in this pass's reading. Importing the WBS12 finding here without WBS14-specific evidence would be exactly the kind of cross-paper assumption this course's own standing discipline warns against — so it is deliberately not repeated as a WBS14 trap below.
2. Three real worked examples, verified directly against the primary mark schemes
June 2022, Q1(b) — Thailand's rubber specialisation
Real question: "Explain one advantage for Thailand of specialising in the production of rubber."
- K1 — "Provision of jobs/employment."
- App1 + App2 — Thailand is the biggest global exporter of rubber; 42.4% of that rubber goes to China, a growing economy.
- An1 — the demand this creates means enough people are needed to keep up with supply, generating jobs and incomes.
- The mark scheme adds, verbatim: "Accept any other appropriate response" — the jobs/income mechanism above is the exemplar, not the only creditable route.
October 2023, Q1(a) — the disadvantage of a saturated market
Real question: "Explain one disadvantage for a business of operating in a saturated market." (The extract concerns streaming services — the same HBO/Discovery+/Netflix case the paper's 8-mark Discuss on this series draws on; see forge-tariff-8-mark-discuss.md.)
- K1 — "High level of competition."
- App1 + App2 — over a dozen companies are competing for streaming business; Netflix lost 1.2 million subscribers in the first nine months of 2022.
- An1 — to hold on to or win customers, a business may have to cut price and/or spend more on promotion, both of which reduce profitability.
October 2024, Q1(b) — the disadvantage of reintroducing a wheat tariff
Real question: "Explain one possible disadvantage for Turkey of reintroducing the tariff on imported wheat." (Same source extract as the Construct diagram on this series — see the sibling Calculate/Construct file.)
- K1 — "Rising prices for consumers."
- App1 + App2 — the tariff is high, at 130%; it is intended to reduce wheat imports specifically from Eastern Europe.
- An1 — as supply is reduced, the price of wheat rises, raising the production costs of foodstuffs such as bread — a cost that can pass through to consumers.
What the three examples show, taken together, that no single one shows alone: the knowledge mark is always a named, directional point (an advantage, a disadvantage, a cause) rather than a general description of the topic; the two application marks are always two separate facts from the extract (a scale/scope fact and a distinct supporting fact — never the same fact restated); and the analysis mark is always one completed step of reasoning from that evidence to a stated consequence, not a second unrelated point. This is a structural pattern across three different real questions and two different examination series, not an inference from one.
3. What actually earns the analysis mark — a shared shape across the three
Look at the analysis sentence in each of the three examples above: "creating jobs and incomes" (June 2022); "reduce profitability" (October 2023); "may lead to increased prices for consumers" (October 2024). Each closes on a named, specific consequence — who or what is affected, and how — rather than a restatement of the knowledge point in different words. forge-exam-technique-guide.md already documents, from the June 2022 examiner's report directly, that candidates who correctly identified the advantage but didn't develop why it occurs lost the mark despite having the right answer — that finding is cross-referenced here, not re-derived, because it's already stated with its own citation in that file.
One thing all three worked examples share and this pass can confirm directly (not inferred): none of the three credited analysis points is a second, different reason — each is a single completed chain built on the same knowledge/application content already given. A second reason, however correct, has nowhere to attach a mark once K1 and both application marks are already spent on the first.
4. Self-mark checklist
- The knowledge sentence names a specific, directional point (an advantage/disadvantage/cause), not a general description of the topic area
- Two distinct pieces of extract evidence used for the two application marks — not the same fact stated twice in different words
- The final sentence names who is affected and how, closing the chain rather than restating the knowledge point
- One point fully developed, not two half-developed points competing for the same single analysis mark
- Checked which of Q1(a)/Q1(b) is actually the Explain question on this paper before writing — the position isn't fixed (§1)
- Answered the actual party/angle named in the question stem (Turkey's disadvantage, not a generic "a country's" disadvantage; Thailand's advantage, not a generic exporter's)
5. Verification log
Personally re-fetched and re-extracted this pass, pdftotext -layout, checked against each document's own Publications Code and Question Paper Log Number before transcription: June 2022 (WBS14_01_2206_MS / P71450A) — confirmed word for word against the facts bank's existing citation; October 2023 (WBS14_01_MS_2310 / P73259A) — the saturated-market question's full K/App/An content, not previously transcribed in the facts bank beyond its own paraphrase-only note for this series' Q1(c); October 2024 (WBS14_01_2410_MS / P78408A, mirror, codes confirmed genuine) — confirmed word for word against the facts bank's existing citation.
Checked and found absent, not merely unmentioned: a WBS14-specific "K1 is not a definition" examiner-report finding, of the kind confirmed for WBS12. None of the three primary sources read this pass states or implies this; it is not repeated here as a WBS14 trap (§1).
Sources
Primary (re-fetched and re-extracted directly this pass): Mark Scheme, WBS14/01, June 2022 (WBS14_01_2206_MS, P71450A); Mark Scheme, WBS14/01, October 2023 (WBS14_01_MS_2310, P73259A); Mark Scheme, WBS14/01, October 2024 (WBS14_01_2410_MS, P78408A).
Secondary: research/veridian/WBS14-verified-facts.md; forge-exam-technique-guide.md §2 (the under-development finding, cross-referenced not re-derived); content/veridian/curriculum/wbs14/globalisation-and-growing-economies.ts (names-the-advantage-without-developing-why trap-taxonomy entry, same finding, owned there).