Comparing And Contrasting The Successes Of Multiple Businesses

Introduction

In unit 1 of my coursework I had to undergo the pass criteria which included: Describe four different organisation in terms of purpose, ownership, size and scale. Describe the primary, secondary and tertiary classifications of business activities using local and national examples. Describe the purpose of setting aims and objectives for businesses. Describe the functional areas and their main purpose within business organisations.

The merit criteria:

Compare and contrast the ownership, aims and objectives of two selected businesses.

Explain areas of growth or decline in the primary, secondary and tertiary classifications of business activities.

Explain the interaction of functional areas and how they relate to each other in two selected businesses.

The distinction criteria:

Evaluate how the functional areas contribute to the aims and objectives of the two selected businesses.

Description of Tesco PLC.

Tesco is a private limited company founded by Sir Jack Cohen in 1924. The first three letters from the name of the tea suppliers name “T.E.Stockwell” and then joined these will his own surname this then formed the name “Tesco”. He liked this name so much it became the company’s own. Tesco is one of the United Kingdom’s largest supermarkets They sell varieties of clothes, household items, gifts, kids items and food items.  They produce their own breads and some product. They provide their own transport to carry their goods.  They provide Internet services. Tesco provide car insurances and house insurances. Tesco have 1982stores all over United Kingdom and they have 164,500 shareholders.

Tesco is one of United Kingdom’s largest supermarkets making 3millions profit a day.  Tesco employs over 300,000.  Tesco is a company dedicated to professional management of both people and property.  Tesco is a caring organisation that endeavours to exhibit pride and excellence.

Type of Ownership of Tesco

Tesco is a public limited company. Tesco is a supermarket where any person can buy shares. Tesco has 2291 stores around the world they have expanded over Europe and Asia. In Tesco the directors are just salaried employees. Shareholders own public limited companies like Tesco if the business is successful there will be increase in share value, which will increase overall the value of the company. If the business fails the shareholders may decide to sell their shares, which can lead to a fall in price this makes the company vulnerable.

 

Description of Vectone Gnanam Telecom Ltd

 Vectone Gnanam Telecom is one of the Telecommunication companies in London based at Regatta House 58-Marsh Wall London E14 9 TP.   They provide Telecommunication facilities by having shops, which provide telephone service and telephone cards.  They sell telephone cards worth £5, £10, and £20 etc.  Vectone Gnanam Telecom provides local and international telephone service at reasonable cost as a limited company. They offer special rates to India and Sri Lanka they offer good rates to various parts of the world by providing different types of cards like Gnanam, India Direct, Call Lanka, Euro City, World Call etc which are associated with Vectone Gnanam ltd. The business previous names are Vectone Telecom Centres Limited and Gnanam Telecom Centre Limited. Vectone Gnanam liked to do their business at an international level because there is a larger profit outside the United Kingdom in addition they advertise their products through leaflets and they mostly receive payments in cash rather than credit. They have to pay before using the services in telephone cards like Vectone Gnanam Telecom while business like British Telecom they use to pay after the services Users can access Vectone services by the Internet or telephone services from their landline, mobile phone, PC or directly from a web site. Vectone Gnanam Telecom operates in around 60 countries around the world.

Type of Ownership of Vectone Gnanam Telecom Ltd

Vectone Gnanam is a private limited company, which started as a sole trader. They provide cheap Telecommunication services. When they started to sell only Gnanam cards when they have a demand in local and international market they thought to provide various kinds of customers from different countries. They provide euro city for Europe and America, call Africa for different countries in Africa, and India direct for India. Their main drawback is that phone cards can be duplicated, which will spoil their reputation.

Description of McDonald’s

McDonald’s is the world’s leading food service retailer with more than 30,000 restaurants in 119 countries serving 47 million customers each day. It’s one of the worlds most well-known and valuable brands and holds a leading share in the globally branded quick service restaurant segment of the informal eating-out market in virtually every country in which McDonalds is in.

Type of ownership of McDonald’s

Franchising is the fastest growing form of retailing and McDonald has grown quickly by granting franchises. The term franchising has been used to describe many different forms of business relationships. This form of business ownership was first introduced in the U.K. It is a form of business organization that is becoming increasingly popular in the United Kingdom.

Description of NSPCC

NSPCC starting protecting children more than 100 years ago, their mission being “end cruelty to children”. The full stop action programmes emplaced to do this are:

The child in the family

The child in the school

The child in the community

Child protection

The child in the society

Type of ownership of NSPCC

NSPCC is a medium size organization (national), NSPCC is in the Voluntary sector, The Voluntary sector is a collection of non profitable organisations. These organisations are largely charity funded. This is, therefore, events such as sponsored events, fun days, workshops or “box” collections.

Voluntary organisations are set up and run in the community, by the community because they felt it necessary.

Organisations such as The NSPCC, (The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) were founded in 1889 by the Reverend Benjamin Waugh.

The three main sectors in the United Kingdom are

1)  Primary sector

2)  Secondary sector

3)  Tertiary sector

 Primary sectors:

The primary sector deals with producing or extracting raw materials. This can be a natural resource. It includes farming, fishing, mining, forestry, oil and gas drilling.

 Secondary sector

The secondary sector deals with manufacturing, processing, assembly and construction. Manufacturing is the process of turning raw materials from the primary sector into a finished product. This includes building construction, utilities like water, electricity and gas.  Manufactured goods can be either capital goods or consumer goods. Capital goods are used to help make other goods or provide services. Consumer goods are two types of them they are consumables, consumer durables.  Consumables are the product consumed, like pencils and food items.  They are not consuming for a long time where consumer durables lasts for a long time like electrical items like television and radio.

 Tertiary sector

The tertiary sector provides services to the public so it can also be called service sector. It divides into four sections they are

 All my businesses belong to the secondary and tertiary sector.

Tertiary sector includes business activities such as retailing, distribution and transport.  Tesco provides their own transport to carry their goods. Tesco provide retail services them sell household items, food items, kid’s items, and food items. In secondary sector they turn raw materials into finished products.  Tesco produces breads, bags and labels their products.

Tertiary sector includes services like communication services Vectone Gnanam provide Telecommunication services and they produce their calling cards that have bought for use by customers so they come under both sector.

United Kingdom employment according to trends

 

Sector

1989

1991

1993

1995

1997

1998

Secondary (%)

27.03

24.24

22.64

22.05

22.55

22.04

Tertiary (%)

68.96

71.16

73.09

75.62

75.9

76.45 

 

 

 

United Kingdom output according to trends

 

Sector

1989

1991

1993

1995

1997

1998

Secondary (%)

31.16

27.48

25.86

26.76

25.73

25.45

Tertiary (%)

61.65

65.36

67.12

66.39

67.92

69.1

 

 

The secondary sector has not grown in the last ten years according to trends, but tertiary sector has grown steadily but there is a slight change in 1995 where tertiary sector declined a little while secondary sector grew.                                                                                 

Secondary sector is the sector, which includes many different types of manufacturing industries and construction. In this sector the employment, and output has shrunk and trend has shrunken in last 20 years many industries such as textile and ship-building industries has vanished due to cheap imports. Production of fuel has not changed while the production of computers, tobacco, and electrical and optical equipment has increased by 60%. Construction performed well in 1990 but there is fear it is temporary. Foreign companies today own many factories. In Britain many of their goods are sell in abroad. The manufacture is decline in Britain’s according to trends.

 

Tertiary sector is growing compared to the other two sectors. Business and computing services have shown the most dramatic increases, while finance, communication and distribution industries also growing steadily.  The financial business has expected to grow 2% from between 1997 and 2007. In the future the majority of the new jobs will be expected in education and health trends. In tertiary sector where growth is not predicated within transport services in the United Kingdom most people prefer to travel by car rather than public transport. Government should introduce measures to force private car drivers off the road. However, the communication sector has grown but employment is low due to increased computerisation. The growth of communication industry is in form of mobile phones.

Describe the main purpose of setting aims and objectives

An aim is what they set out to do and the objective is the target they want to achieve. Businesses have aims and objectives to help them fulfill their ambitions by setting targets of what they would like to achieve and to become more and more successful or established. A successful business normally has a good ability to have a clear vision of what they hope to achieve and how to plan for the future.

Aims and objectives give a sense of direction to the employees and shareholders so that they can make an informed decision of whether they should work or invest money in the business. The aims and objectives are there to remind the employees, managers, directors etc of what they are trying to get to.

There is a good point in setting objectives because if the business does not bother to check if the targets have been met and measure how successful it has been in meeting its objectives.

If the business has not been successful it should ask itself why it has fallen short of its targets and should it take action either by changing the objective or by taking some other action to make sure it meets its targets in the future.

The aims and objectives of “Vectone Gnanam ” my sole trader are: To survive because if the business doesn’t then it will go bankrupt and will have to close down. In order to survive the business will need money. Vectone Gnanam can get a loan or do anything else to get money but eventually he will have to pay it back. To do this he will have to make a profit. If Vectone Gnanam wants to make a profit then he will have to sell as many products as possible and repair and service as many cars as possible. He may want to concentrate on the local community as he currently is by keeping all his existing customers and attract more from the local community. Vectone Gnanam ‘s aim is to attract more customers from local businesses. To do this he may need to advertise. The customers wouldn’t come unless they think he is providing a good service at a reasonable cost. Vectone Gnanam must make sure that the services he provides are at a high quality.

Vectone Gnanam ‘s business is now well established and his aim is to expand to make more profits. He needs to have enough money in order to expand but it depends on what he wants to do.

Their aims are to make Tesco satisfying to work in by giving the staff opportunity to be themselves, to employ people who reflect the diverse nature of society by respecting and trusting each other, to play a positive role in the community, to

Contribute to the capabilities of tomorrow’s workforce, to protect the environment using its commercial strength, to

ensure high standards in their entire fresh own brand products. Tesco has fulfilled all these aims.

Tesco’s target is to expand their sale of organic produce to £1 billion over the next 5 years.

Tesco’s aim is to make more profit by expanding more and more, there aren’t many things left Tesco can do to expand as it has done most of it.

Tesco is a very large business and Vectone Gnanam is a very small business which is why they don’t have much in common also because they are different types of businesses.

There are only three aims they have in common. These are that they both want to make a profit and they both want to expand. They both want to provide their customers with good quality services and provides.

Tesco is concerned about the environment; it helps charities and has recycling materials. Tesco also helps schools by giving “Free computers for school vouchers” to customers if they spend £10, this is only for a few months a year. Tesco does this because it wants to contribute to the capabilities of tomorrow’s workforce while they are still at school. Vectone Gnanam doesn’t have a aim about corporate social responsibility. Tesco’s aim is to make it a satisfying place to work where as Vectone Gnanam only has 1 worker and so isn’t too bothered.

Describe the Functional Areas that exist in the business:

The Human Resources Department in businesses.

The Human Resources Department (Personnel department) is the

department of a business deals with the employees and recruits new employees if needed. The main functions of a human resources department are:

· Planning

· Recruitment (including selection)

· Discipline

· Training

· Appraisal

· Staff welfare

· Health and Safety.

They have to make sure that the workplace is safe and if there are any accidents the employees report them appropriately. They also have to make sure that induction training is given to new employees. This is

where the new employee is told what their job involves, where to go in an emergency (report accident, first aid). They also have to know where to go if there is a fire (escape route), whom they will work with and any clothing they have to wear. They will also be told about any health and safety issues associated with the job e.g. the correct way to lift a box, the correct way to wash their hands etc.

Recruitment

The Human Resources Department at Tescos and MacDonald’s is responsible for recruiting staff. They might have to recruit staff because of new store openings, filling vacancies that have been created by employees leaving, employees retiring or by employees being dismissed. When the Human Resources Department at Tescos and MacDonald’s has to create a job specification and a person specification. They then have to advertise the job and interview anybody applying for the job, they also have to select the right person(s) for the job and discuss the contract with them. When Tescos and MacDonald’s wants to hire people they chose the appropriate method of advertising depending upon the job. This helps them to meet their objectives because they will be selecting the right person for the job and the new employee will be motivated keeping customers happy (customer service) and this meets the aim because the customer service will be unbeatable and the customers will have a pleasant shopping experience.

Training

The Human Resources Department at Tescos and MacDonald’s trains and develops its staff to make sure they meet the standards needed for the job, for example a checkout assistant would be placed on a till work course. They train the new cashiers by putting them on courses like till work, teaching them how to use tills. There is also an induction program for new staff – so they that they know what to do (especially in an emergency). Induction training is normally given to the staff on their first week of work. Training staff also motivates staff as it makes them feel more confident in the job they are doing – which is good for customer service and will help increase the firm’s profits.

The Finance Department in businesses

The Finance department in a business helps the business with any money going in and out of the business. The main functions of the Finance Department are:

· Paying wages- the Finance department arranges the payment of wages to the businesses employees.

· Creating wage slips- the Finance department creates a wage slip for each employee every time they get paid their wages.

· Allocating funds- the Finance department allocates the funds to the stores for refurbishment etc.

The Finance Department at Tescos and MacDonald’s

The Finance department at Tescos and MacDonald’s is at the head office and they look after the money going in and out of Tescos and MacDonald’s. They are also responsible for paying bills etc. and making sure the money balances against items sold and bills paid.

Wages

The Finance department at Tescos and MacDonald’s is responsible for paying the employees. They do this by paying the employees wages straight into their bank account (BACS). They then give the employee a wage slip which states how many hours the employee has worked, how much they are getting paid and also any national insurance and tax deductions that have been made. This helps Tescos and MacDonald’s to meet its aims and objectives because it makes the employee happy and motivated, and this will give the customers a pleasant shopping experience, which means that Tescos and MacDonald’s will have a good customer service.

The Administration department in businesses

The Administration department in a business is there to help the other departments and the business run smoothly. It does this by typing up any letters and sending them to the people they need to go to.

They are also responsible for the following:

· Helping to arrange events by contacting people.

· Photocopying any paperwork that needs photocopying.

· Sending out orders to the company’s suppliers.

· Organising emails from their customers.

· Creating any documents that the other departments need.

The Marketing & Sales Department in businesses.

The marketing and sales department in a business deals with layout of premises and advertising for products and for the company. The main functions of the Marketing and Sales department are:

Carrying out research and analysing it.

Suggesting ways of improvement from information gathered.

Promoting special offers or other products.

Advertising the company and its products/service

Deciding on the layout of the premises.

They have to make sure that they sell the product(s)/service(s) that customers want and that they are advertised and promoted properly so that they can attract existing and new customers to the company.

Market Research

The Marketing & Sales Department carries out market research by having specialist companies doing questionnaires and following customers, to find out ways they can improve the store, and to find out if any new products they want to produce will sell and if not how they can improve it. Specialist firms are used because they have the relevant experience and they are not biased so the information they receive will be accurate also it isn’t time consuming for Tescos and MacDonald’s because there is another company gathering the information for them so they can get on with their jobs.

The Finance department at Tescos and MacDonald’s is responsible for arranging the company accounts. They arrange the accounts for the public to view because Tescos and MacDonald’s is a PLC. This helps Tescos and MacDonald’s to meet their aims and objectives because the customers know how much Tescos and MacDonald’s is spending and how much Tescos and MacDonald’s is earning, which makes them happy giving Tescos and MacDonald’s a good customer service and a pleasant shopping experience.

The Administration Department helps Tescos and MacDonald’s to meet its aims and objectives by helping the other departments run smoothly which is reducing the workload of employees and this will make employees motivated increasing customer service standards and giving customers a pleasant shopping experience.

The Marketing and Sales Department at Tescos and MacDonald’s

The Marketing & Sales Department at Tescos and MacDonald’s helps it to meet its aims by making sure the store has what the customer wants and that what the products they sell are advertised and displayed properly.