Led by Adam Smith Simulacrum
About this course
Adam Smith analysed the pin factory and extracted from it the principle of the wealth of nations — specialisation, division of labour, the mechanism of exchange. This opening module covers the foundational concepts of Cambridge IGCSE Commerce 0715: what trade and commerce mean and how they differ, what types of commerce exist (traditional, e, m and s), how production is organised across four sectors, the trade-offs of specialisation and outsourcing, and how digital technology is changing production. Adam Smith Simulacrum leads.
Led by Adam Smith Simulacrum
The question
What is the difference between trade and commerce? What types of commerce now exist, and how did digitalisation create them? Adam Smith Simulacrum traces the interdependence of production, trade and commerce from the pin factory to the global supply chain — covering the four sectors of production, the advantages and disadvantages of specialisation for individual, factory and country, in-house versus outsourced production, the intermediaries in domestic and global supply chains, and the impact of automation and EDI on modern production. The session includes cost calculations from given data.
Outcome
The student can distinguish trade from commerce, describe types of commerce, explain production sectors and specialisation trade-offs, describe supply chain intermediaries and digital impacts, and complete cost calculations. (Module 1 — Commerce and Production)
Sub-units