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business-studies-prelim-study-notes-636045daed122

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SYLLABUS TOPICS
1. Nature Of Business
2. Business Management
3. Business Planning
NATURE OF BUSINESS
ROLE OF BUSINESS
1. Profit
- What business owners receive for producing goods and services
- Profit = Revenue - Expenses
2. Employment
3. Incomes
- Businesses provide income to shareholders, employees and other business
owners
4. Choice
- Consumers have freedom of choice to purchase goods and services
5. Innovation
- Existing products are improved or new products are created
6. Entrepreneurship and risk
- Businesses provide individuals with opportunities and ideas
7. Wealth
- Business activities result in high levels of economic growth
8. Quality of life
- Businesses offer a variety of products that improve our standard of living
TYPES OF BUSINESS
↳ Size and Geographical Spread
-
The size of a business is determined by:
● Number of employees
● Legal structure
● Source of finance
● Market share
Small Business
-
Less than 20 staff
Sole trader or Partnership
Source of finance comes
from owners
Market share = Small and
usually local area
-
Medium Business
-
20-199 employees
Partnership or private
company
Money can come from loans
and private shareholders
Market share = medium
Large Business
-
Geographical spread = how big the area is that a business sells to
● Local area E.G. corner store
● National area E.G. David Jones
● Global area E.G. McDonald's
200+
Public company
Money from loans, profits
or sale of shares
Market share = large and
nationally
↳ Industry Structure
= a group of businesses that are involved in similar types of production
1. Primary industry = production involves natural resources
- Farming and mining
2. Secondary industry = involves taking raw materials and making them into products
- Bakers take flour from the primary industry to make bread which is then sold
to consumers
3. Tertiary industry = involves performing services for other people
4. Quaternary industry = services that involve transferring and processing information
and data
5. Quinary industry = services that used to be performed in the home
like hairdressing and childcare
↳ Legal Structure
Liability = legal responsibility
- Unlimited liability (UNINCORPORATED) = the business and the owner are the same
- Limited liability (INCORPORATED) = the business is legally separate from the owner
and the corporation is responsible for all business debts
● Public Business Enterprises = businesses that are owned by the government (E.G.
Australia Post Office)
Types of Private Business Enterprises:
1. Sole Trader = owned and operated by one person
Advantages
-
Make all decisions(no manager
disputes)
Receive all the profit
Low start-up costs
Less expensive to operate
Disadvantages
-
Unlimited liability (if in debt sole
trader would have to sell
personal assets)
2. Partnership = owned and operated by 2-20 people
Advantages
-
Shared workload and
responsibility
Less costly to operate than a
company
Disadvantages
-
Unlimited liability
Employee disputes (can’t agree
on decisions)
3. Private Company = having between 2-50 people to be private shareholders
Advantages
-
Limited liability
Makes it easier to get finance
Disadvantages
-
Incorporation process to become
a private company is expensive
4. Public Company =a types of private company enterprises because they are owned
by private individuals
Advantages
-
Limited liability
Makes it easier to get finance
Disadvantages
-
Incorporation process to become
a public company is expensive
Have to publish financial reports
for the public to see
↳ Factors Influencing Choice of Legal Structure
-
-
-
-
Size
●
●
●
Small businesses = sole trader or partnership
Medium business = partnership or private company
Large business = public company
- Float = rasing money through the sale of shares to the public on the
ASX which makes business a public company
Ownership
● Complete control = sole trader
● Shared control = partnership or private company
● Control reduced when divided amongst shareholders = public company
- The amount of control you have is related to how many shares owned
Finance
● Unlimited liability (not separate from business) = sole trader and partnership
- High risk for investors and banks
- Most of their finance is limited to their own savings and small loans
- E.G. small businesses unlikely to get a large loan
● Limited liability (separate legal entity) = private and public company
- Easier to getg money from investors and banks
- Can raise money by selling shares
If owner wanted to use their own savings = sole or partnership with unlimited liability
If owner wanted to finance through shares = private or public company with limited
liability
INFLUENCES IN THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
↳ External Influences on Businesses
= factors outside business control
1. Economic
- Businesses experience economic cycles which are periods of growth and
decline (impacts production, income, spending and employment)
- Boom = expansion of the economy → increased spending, production and
employment (boom period can happen during Christmas)
- Recession = contraction of the economy → decreased spending, production
and employment
2. Financial
- Businesses can access money from overseas
3. Geographic
- Affects where businesses buy from and where they sell to
4. Social
- Businesses must identify and respond to changes in tastes, fashion and
culture
- As trends change businesses must change too
5. Legal
- Business owners face legal obligations in most aspects of the business
- Legal obligations include:
● Staff well-being
● Paying tax
● Workplace health and safety
6. Political
- How the government impacts business through policies and decisions
- Main things that affect businesses are
● Policies on the environment
● Taxation
7. Institutional
- Different institutional place regulations on businesses
- Regulatory bodies which monitor and review business actions
8. Technological
- Advances in technology make practices more efficient and easier
9. Competitive Situation
- Forces businesses to aim to produce the best product at a low cost
- Competitive advantage = the edge businesses have over competitors
10. Markets
- Different markets include:
● Financial
- Changes in financial markets make it easier for businesses to
access overseas funding
● Labour
- Changes in labour markets have increased demand for skilled
workers
● Consumer
- Changes in consumer markets have allowed businesses to sell
to a global market
↳ Internal Influences on Businesses
= factors within the business and can be changed by management
1. Products
- The types of goods and services produced influence the business
2. Location
- Where the managers decide to set up
- Bad location = customers not coming to business or don't know about the
business
3. Resources
- Human resources
- Information resources
- Physical resources
- Financial resources
4. Management
- The type of organisational structure the manager wants for the business
- E.G. if the manager wants one person for each role or wants fewer
employees who can do multiple roles (this is known as a flatter organisational
structure)
5. Business culture
- Ideas, values and beliefs shared by members of the business
- Businesses decide if they want a formal culture or casual culture of their
business
↳ Stakeholders
= anyone who isintersted in the business or is affected by what they do
- Main stakeholders include:
● Shareholders
- Are a type of owner of a business who bring shares to the company
- When a company gives some of its money to each shareholder it is
called a dividend
● Managers
- They are stakeholders because their job is to run the business
- Any decisions made will affect their work adn their income
● Employees
- Employees are stakeholders because they depend on getting paid
● Customers
- Are stakeholders to businesses as they are affected by changes from
the business (E.G. if the menu changes or the stor location)
● Society
- We are all affected by what businesses do (E.G.business donating tio
charities or holding public events)
● Environment
- The environment is impacted by product production when greenhouse
gases are released (businesses have to be environmentally careful)
BUSINESS GROWTH AND DECLINE
↳ The Business Life Cycle and Challenges
-
Establishment
● Starts as a small business and sole trader or partnership
● CHALLENGES → sales are slow and not constant and highest risk and
failure rate
-
Growth
● Increased sales and introduction of new products
● CHALLENGES: not to expand the business to quickly as it can be expensive
leading to high chances of going into debt and business failure
●
-
-
Merger = when two businesses agree to join together and form a new
organisation
● Acquisition = when one business buys another to have control and use of
their resources
● Vertical integration = when a business expands at different but related levels
in the product and seeling of a product
● Horizontal Integration = when a business expands with another firm that
makes and sells similar products
● Diversification = when a business expands with anothe business in a
completely different industry
Maturity
● When sales slow down and theres no more room in the market to keep selling
the product
● Business has grown into a medium or large business and is private or public
company
● CHALLENGES: no room is left is the market and sales level off
Post Maturity
● 3 options for a business once they reach this stage
1. Steady State (keep sales going)
2. Renewal (seel to other business)
3. Decline (sales fall and the business fails)
↳ Business Decline and Cessation
-
-
-
Reasons for the business decline:
1. Lack of management expertise
2. Insufficient funds
- Undercapitalisation (lacking finances for business operations)
3. Failure to meet consumer needs
4. Competition
Cessation = another word for ending (ending of a business)
Once a business enters decline there are 2 options:
1. Involuntary cessation = forced by others to close down
2. Voluntary cessation = owner’s choice to wind up operations
Involuntary cessation: Sole traders and partenerships end via bankruptcy hence
personal items are sold (because they have unlimited liability)
Private and public companies try voluntary administration (a person is hired to get the
business out of debt) otherwise they go into liquidation (bankruptcy)
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
FEATURES AND SKILLS OF EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT
↳ Features of management:
-
Managers coordinate what the business owns to achieve what they want, this
involves:
● Working with employees
● Using resources efficiently and effectively
↳ Skills of management:
-
-
Interpersonal
● Skills needed to work and communicate with other people to understand
their needs
● E.G. skills you would use in a group setting
Communication
● Effectively saying what you need and listening to other people
Strategic thinking
● Ability of the manager to see the broader picture (seeing the bigger picture)
Visions
● Shared sense of direction
Problem solving
● Searching for different ways to solve an issue
Decision making
● Choosing a solution
Flexibility
● Being able to anticipate and adjust to change
Adaptability to change
● Being able to anticipate and adjust to change
Reconciliation to conflicting interests of stakeholders
● Managers needs to satisfy both the stakeholders interests and they do this
be comprise and problem solving
● One way to reconcile their difference is by using a process called stakeholder
engagement
- Stakeholder engagement = sharing information with stakeholders
and asking for their opinions
BUSINESS GOALS AND ACHIEVEING A MIX OF GOALS
↳ SMART GOALS:
-
Specific
Measurable
Achieveable
Realisitc
Time Bound
↳ Business Goals (businesses aim to):
Financial Goals include:
● Maximise profits
● Increase marker share
● Maximise Growth
- Internal growth E.G, hiring more people
- External growth E.G. merging or acquiring other businesses
● Improving Share price
- Encourages people to invest ion the business
Social Goals include:
●
Community service
- Community events, educations and welfare activities E.G. businesses
sponsoring local sporting clubs
● Providing employment
- Hiring people from the local area to support the community mainly for local
cafes or restaurants
Environmental Goals include:
● Sustainability
- Managers set goals to operate sustainably by using less energy or recycling
↳ Staff Involvement (ways managers can get staff involved):
-
Innovation = giving staff the opportunity to be innovative (encouraging creativity)
Motivation = higher motivation = higher productivity (causes people to work
harder) managers use higher pay, bonuses or extra holidays to motivate employees
Mentoring → managers use mentoring programs therefore more experienced staff
members offer advice and guidance (used to offer support)
Training → include on-the-job training or seminars for their work (managers do this
because it improves productivity and skills)
MANAGEMENT APPROACHES
↳ Classical/Scientific Approach:
-
Function of this approach is to: Plan, Organise and Control
Organisation and
Allocation of Tasks
Business Structure Levels of
Management
Management Style
Jobs are broken
down into simple
tasks (only certain
people do certain
things)
Strict hierarchical
structure
Many levels of
management
Autocratic style
Clear lines of
communication and
responsibility
Decisions made by
top levels of
management
Manger makes all
decisions and
dictates work (can
be controlling)
Only gives financial
rewards
↳ Behavioural Approach:
-
Function of this approach is to: Lead, Motivate and Communicate
Organisation and
Allocation of Tasks
Business Structure Levels of
Management
Management Style
Importance of
teamwork
Flatter
organisational
structure
Democratic style
Social and financial
rewards
Staff involvement
Fewer management
levels
Focus on
communication
skills
Shared decision
making
↳ Contingency Approach:
-
Doesn’t have management function because it depends on the situation and which
approach (behaviour or classical) suits the situation better
Organisation and
Allocation of Tasks
Business Structure Levels of
Management
Management Style
Flexibility
Pyramid or flatter
structure
Depends on the
business
Adapting
management
approaches to suit
the circumstances
Varies
Depends on what is
effective in the
situation
MANAGEMENT PROCESS
↳ The Business Functions
1. Operations = activities to make a product
2. Marketing = activities to make consumers want and buy the products (who wants
the product, what it is going to look like, how will it be promoted)
3. Finance = activities involved in organising the business’ money and making sure it
is used effectively (keeping up with financial statements and keeping track of how the
business is doing financially)
4. Human Resources = activities involved with hiring and staff wellbeing
↳ Coordinating Key Business Functions and Resources
-
-
All the business functions depend on each other and if one makes a decision then
all other functions are affected
● Interdependence = the mutual dependence that the four functions
(operations, marketing, finance and human resources) have on each other
A manager’s role is to make sure that they are all working together to achieve
business goals
● E.G. If finances didn’t manage the money properly therefore business has
less money to spend → marketing wouldn’t have enough money to promote
the product therefore less people would buy it → if less people are buying the
product then operations wouldn’t need to produce as much → if needing to
make less product then the business needs less staff
↳ Ethical Business Behaviour
-
-
Triple Bottom Line → focuses on economic, environmental and social
performance
● Economic should focus on financial goals (under business goals point)
● Environmental focuses on caring for the environment
● Social impact by supporting community events, charities and acting truthfully
Managers make sure all the four functions aim for the Triple Bottome Line
●
E.G. operations may use solar energy to reduce greenhouse gases and
finance aims to write up truthful financial reports
↳ Operations (Business Function):
Activities that operations are in charge of:
1. Goods or services
- If a business makes goods operations rely more on machines
- If a business offers services businesses rely on people
Hence determining whether operations use machines or people to make the final product
2. Production Process
= the process of using resources and changing them into the final product
- Three steps to the production process:
1. Inputs → all the resources used to make the products (core materials = raw
materials, equipment, money, staff)
2. Transformation → the process of changing the inputs into the final product
3. Output → the finished goods or services
3. Quality Management
= making sure outputs meet customer expectations (the business only sells products that are
good quality to their customers)
- If a business can minimise faulty products then they can save money and time
because they don’t have to redo the product again
- Three ways operations can make sure products are of good quality:
● Quality control → using inspections at different points during the production
process
● Quality assurance → using a system to achieve certain standards
● Quality improvement → using ‘total quality management’ (focusing on
improvement in all business functions)
↳ Marketing (Business Function)
Identifying the Target Market
- Deciding who will want the product
- A business can aim their target market towards the:
● Mass Market → arent targeting any particular group of people (everyone)
- E.G. McDonalds and Google
● Market Segmentation → taking the mass market and dividing into groups
based on common characteristics
- E.G. ways to divide the market: demographic segmentation (age,
gender, income), geographic segmentation (country or city)
- Niche Market = a really small market segment (dog or cat owners)
- Once target market is identified the product is marketed towards that group
● E.G. Makeup brands would advertise then products in womens magazines
instead of men’s
The Target Market
= the group of people the business chooses to aim its marketing activities towards
- Business like Mcdonald's use mass marketing
- Businesses like Sephora use mass segmentation
Marketing Mix (the four P’s)
-
Once a business decides who the target market is they decide on the marketing mix,
this includes decisions on the:
1. Product
2. Price
3. Promotion
4. Place
Product
- Under product marketers make decisions on:
● Product positioning → where we think the product sits compared to other
products
- Businesses make decisions whether to sit themselves in higher quality
with expensive prices or lower quality with cheaper prices
● Packaging → what is the packaging going to look like?
- The packaging should tell customers a message about the product
● Branding → word or symbol that allows us to identify the product
- Allows us to identify the product
Price
= how much should we charge our customers?
- A price too high → no one will buy it
- A price too low → people think it is bad quality
- Methods of determining prices:
● Cost Plus Margin = adding up all costs to make the product plus a
percentage for profit
● Marketing Price = price depends on how much the product is in demand
(more or fewer people wanting the product)
● Competitors Price = price is determined by competitors (looking at what
other stores are charging)
Promotion
= informing and convincing consumers to buy the product
The four parts of promotion (promotion mix)
1. Advertising → paid form of promotion and communicates a message through a
mass medium (can be through TV, radio or social media)
2. Personal selling → face-to-face marketing by a salesperson
3. Sales promotion → involves activities to encourage people to buy the product
(using coupons or loyalty cards e.g. buy 2 get 1 free)
4. Publicity → free news story or article
Place (distribution)
= how the product gets to the consumer
Has different channels of distribution (the different ways the product can get to the
consumer):
1. Producer to customer → direct contact with customer
2. Producer to retailer to customer
3. Producer to wholesaler to retailer to customer
- Wholesaler is someone who buys large amounts of products then sells
smaller amounts to businesses
↳ Finance (Business Function)
- Stakeholders use the statements to read them and make decisions
- Managers can look at them and see how the business is going financially
- Useful for shareholders if they are looking to invest
Financial Statements include:
- Cash flow statement = cash going in and out of the business
● Done regularly (weekely or monthly)
● Tells about financial performance → they are done using data over a period of
time
● Cash inflow (cash sales, dividends, payments from debtors) money going in
business and cash outflow (paying creditors,expense such as rent, wages,
insurances) money going out of the business
● Only records cash
- Income statement = about measuring financial performance
● Done less regularly (done once or a few time a year)
● Tells about financial performance → they are done using data over a period of
time
● 5 steps of measuring financial performance:
1. Revenue → all income from seeling products and dividends
2. Cost Of Goods Sold (COGS) → how much it was to make the goods
that were sold
- Opening stock + purchases - closing stock = COGS
3. Gross Profit → = the Revenue - COGS
4. Expenses → the costs the business pays to make revenue
5. Net Profit → the leftover money the business keeps
- Gross Profit - Expenses = Net profit
- Balance sheet = allows the business to compare what the business owns to what it
owes other people
● Done less regularly(done once or a few times a year)
● Tell us about financial position → they are only using data on a set date
● Current assets kept for less than 12 months + non-current assets (land,
building, equipment, car) kept for more than 12 months
- Same with current and non-current liabilities
● Balance Sheet equation:
- Assets = Liabilities + Owners Equity
↳ Human Resources (Business Function)
HR includes the processes of:
- Recruitment
- Training
- Employing contracts (legally binding agreement between employers and employees)
- Separation-voluntary/involuntary (different ways people can leave the business)
Human Resources cycle includes 4 stages:
1. Acquisition → everything involved with hiring staff
- Recruitment and employment contracts come under acquisition stage
2. Development → developing staff and giving feedback for improvement
- Training comes under development
3. Maintenance → making the employees want to stay within the business
- Rewarding employees and keeping them motivated
4. Separation → deals with the ending of the employee and the employer relationship
MANAGEMENT AND CHANGE
= how managers are going to react to change in the business environment
- Proactive = anticipating change and doing something about it
● important for businesses to be proactive because if they don't adapt to
changes they will most likely fail
↳ Causes of Change: Responding to Internal and External Influences
→ change happens when businesses respond to the external and internal influences
- External includes → economic, social, political, technological, etc
● E.G. economic influence can cause change in interest rates as they may
increase the cost of borrowing money
● E.G. political influences cause changes in legislation which might affect
business standards such as environmental standards and product safety
- Internal includes → products , management, business culture, etc
● E.G. management can cause structural changes to the organisation such as
going from many levels of management to a flatter organisational structure
↳ Managing Change Effectively
Four different ways managers can manager change effectively:
1. Using business information systems
= a system that uses technology to gather data and analyse information
2. Setting achievable goals
- If business goals follow the SMART goal rules it sets a good aim for the
business and they can be used as targets during change
- This allows the business to keep the focus on the right things
3. Overcoming resistance to change
- Reasons for resistance → fear of job loss, disruption to their routine, the
financial cost of change or poor timing
- All part of managements job to help overcome these feelings of resistance,
managers can use strategies such as:
● Offer support and retraining hence reducing fear and anxiety of the
change
● Change happens during a reasonable time frame (no making frequent
changes all the time)
● Can communicate the change in advance so people have warning
4. Using management consultants
= hiring a management specialist to get guidance and help through business issues
→ which can include managing the change
- Provides the advantage that the consultant has lots of experience however
they can be very expensive
BUSINESS PLANNING
SMALL TO MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SME)
= SME’s are defined by their size (small to medium businesses)
- Factors that classify SME’s size include:
● Number of employees
● Geographic spread
● Legal structure
● Sources of finance
- SME’s main roles are to:
● Provide employment
● Provide a wide range of products
- SME’s economic contribution includes:
● Providing employment
● Contributing to exports
● Contribute to innovative products
- Success and Failure Rates → failure rates for SME’s are high
INFLUENCES IN ESTABLISHING A SME
↳ Establishing SMEs
1. Personal qualities of starting up a business:
- Qualifications and Skills
● Influences what type of business you start up and who else is involved
- Motivation
● The type of ways people are motivated to influence how they will start
up the business and their decisions
- Entrepreneurship
● How innovative someone is when starting up a business
- Cultural background
● Traditions and beliefs that influence our business decisions (influences
the type of products)
- Gender
● Women are more likely to start up their own business
2. Sources of information
= the different places and ways people can get advice and assistance
These include:
- Business contacts
- Businesses in the same market
- Online websites
- Trade associations
- Government agencies
3. Business Idea
= The initial idea that the business is based off
- Must be competitive and provide a sustainable competitive advantage
4. Establishment options
- The set up options faced when starting up a business:
● New business
- ADVANTAGE → make all decisions
- DISADVANTAGE → don't have a definite customer base
● Existing business
- ADVANTAGE → existing customer base and equipment
- DISADVANTAGE →can have a previous bad business image
and resistance to the change
● Franchise
- ADVANTAGE → use a well-established name and advertising
benefits (existing customer base)
- DISADVANTAGE → franchisor can be controlling and have to
share profits
5. Market Considerations
- Who will buy the product?
● Finding target market
- What's the best selling price?
● Using pricing methods to determine prices
- Where is the best location?
● Wanting a visible store or close to distribution and supply channels
6. Finance
= have to make a decision based on the type of finance and its cost
- Debt finance
= loans from banks and finance companies (money you have to put back)
- Have to pay interest
- Equity finance
= money put into the business generally by its owners (you own the money so
you don't have to pay back)
- Might not get a return on your investment
↳ Establishing SMEs: Legal, Human Resources and Taxation
1. Legal factors
= obligations of an SME to follow regulations when starting up and to operate a
business
- Business Name
- Zoning
● Regulations to separate activities that don't belong together
- Health Regulations
● Standards businesses have to follow to receive a license that allows
them to operate
2. Human resources
- The skills and costs considered when hiring employees
3. Taxation
= Both federal and state governments impose taxes. These include:
-
PAYG = employer takes a part of what they pay you to put towards your tax
Fringe benefits tax = tax on fringe benefits (the extra benefits to an
employees salary such as a company car)
GST = tax of 10% on the supply of most goods and services
Company tax = payment of a proportion of what the company earns
Capital gains tax = tax on any income received for selling assets
Stamp duty = paid documents that give evidence of transactions
THE BUSINESS PLANNING PROCESS
↳ Sources of Planning Ideas
-
-
A way of planning ideas is a Situational Analysis (SWOT)
● Strengths
● Weaknesses
● Opportunities
● Threats
SWOT gives an overview of the internal and extneral environment
↳ Vision, Goals and Objectives
-
Managers decide on a vision statement: the broad system thar states what the
business is aiming for it purpose and what it does
Making specific goals: the goals need to be SMART goals → can also have financial
and communit goals (businesses can sponsor others)
Businesses have an objective of the business: a specific statement detailing what
needs to be achieved oi order to accomplish the businesses vision’s
● Types of objectives managers can make
- Operation objectives = short term and are usually over a couple
days
- Tactical objectives = time frame of 1 to 2 years
- Strategic objectives = long term and planned to be achieved over 5
or more years (a series of plans to work towards the long term growth
of a business)
↳ Organising Resources
-
Managers will need to decide on the following when allocation resources
The Business Functions:
● Operations
- Type of equipment and raw material used
- Who are the suppliers
- Technical skills required by employees to make the product
● Marketing
- What is needed for the type of promotion
- What sales skills do staff need
- How do we get the product to the customer
● Finance
- What type of finance
- How much do we need
- Organising business accounts
●
Human resources
- Which skills are needed in the business
- What recruitment and selection process is needed
↳ Forecasting
= the businesses predictions about the future
- Total revenue and Total Costs
● Total revenue = the total amount received from the sales of a product
● TOTAL REVENUE = total selling price x the quantity of products sold
● TOTAL COSTS = fixed costs + variable costs
● Fixed costs = stay the same
- Rent
- Insurance
- Salaries
● Variable costs = change depending on how much the business produces
- Raw materials
- Wages
- Transport cost for the product
- Break-even analysis
= how much needs to be sold (total revenue) in order to cover costs (total costs)
● QUANTITY = total fixed costs / selling price - unit variable costs
● Break even point is where the business isnt making profit or losing money
- Cash flow projections
= uses the cashflow statements and budgets to predict cash inflows (receipts) and
cash outflows (payments)
● Helps managers figure out when to pay bills
↳ Monitoring, Evaluations and Taking Corrective Action
= after setting business goals the process includes: monitoring, evaluating and taking
corrective action
- Monitoring = the process of measuring actual performance against forecasts
- Evaluating = assessing how or why the outcome occured
- Taking Corrective Action = changes to the business as a result that will improve
faults
Same process happens when looking at…
● Sales
1. Monitoring → Forecasts sales vs actual sales
2. Evaluating → Why are sales increasing or decreasing
3. Taking Corrective Action → making changes (new marketing techniques)
● Budgets
● Profits
CRITICAL ISSUES IN BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE
-
Importance of a business plan
IMPORTANCE = without a business plan there would be less planning and
predicting the changing business environment
● Allows for organsiation and planning
-
-
-
-
-
-
● Helps manager to be proactive
● Ables to manager to assess the internal and external business environment
Management - staffing and teams
IMPORTANCE = using the right employees and with guidance the business is
more likely to achieve its goals
● How good the manager is will impact how good the business is
● A good manager will use the limited resources of the business to best achieve
the goals
● Uses staff and teams to achieve business goals
Trend analysis
IMPORTANCE = allows the business to be proactive in changing environment
and keep up to date with consumer wants
● Following external (fashion, economy, spending habits) and internal (sales,
past profits ) trends within the business
Identifying and sustaining competitive advantage
IMPORTANCE = helps differentiate the business from competitors over a long
period of time
● Competitive advantage = the strategies used by a business to ensure it has
an ‘edge’ over its competitors
- Competitive advantage - Price/Cost → the business aims to reduce
costs so that it can sell for a lower price
- Competitve advantage → Differentiation → to offer customers
something that is not already offered by competitors
Avoiding over extension of finance and other resources
IMPORTANCE = over extending resources leads to waste and business
inefficiencies hence increasing the risk of failure
= if resources are over extended then business may have to pay more than they earn
Over Extension can occur when:
- Buying too many assets
- Buying too much stock
- Having too many employees
- Borrowing too much money from the bank
To avoid over extension:
- Use equity over debt
- Lease equipment / rent buildings instead of buying them
- Do more market research
- Flatter organisational structure or outsource
Using technology
IMPORTANCE = keeping up with technology and embracing it as a business
can keep you ahead of the game through cost savings and product
development
= the internet is allowing people and businesses to buy and sell products online
- Business that dont keep up with technology can fall behind compared to
competitors
Economic conditions
IMPORTANCE = can manage these cycles and deal with fluctuations to avoid
failure
- Different economic conditions promote business success and failure
DEFINITIONS:
Manager = someone who coordinates the business’ limited resources in order to achieve
goals
Stakeholders = Anyone who is interested in or affected by business activities
Stakeholder Engagement = sharing information with stakeholders and asking for their
opinions
Private Shareholders = specific people that put money into a business in return for
owning part of it
Goals = a desired outcome to be achieved within a certain time period
Profit = the money left over after all the expenses have been subtracted from the revenue
Revenue = the money made from selling the products
Market Share = refers to the percentage of the total sales in a market earned by a
business
Share Price = how much each share costs to buy
Management Approach = organising and allocating tasks to staff, creating a business
structure, levels of management and the management style
Interdependence = the mutual dependence that the four functions (operations, marketing,
finance and human resources) have on each other
Debtors = people that owe the business money
Creditors = people the business owes money to
Liquidity = ability of the business to pay debts back quickly
Dividends = a sum of money paid regularly by a company to its shareholders out of its
profits
Liabilities = what the business owes other people
Owners Equity = the monet put into the business and it makes the two side of the
balance sheet (assets → what the business owns and liabilities → what the business
owes) equal eachother
Frachise = pay a set fee to open up a store under another company’s name
Franchisee = the person who runs the franchise
Franchisor = the business that allows someone to use their name
Resource Allocation = the distribution of resources to successfully meet the business’
goals and that have been established
● Merger = when two businesses agree to join together and form a new
organisation
● Acquisition = when one business buys another to have control and use of
their resources
● Vertical integration = when a business expands at different but related
levels in the product and seeling of a product
● Horizontal Integration = when a business expands with another firm that
makes and sells similar products
● Diversification = when a business expands with anothe business in a
completely different industry
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