Analysis of a business - Philip Markham Ltd

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Introduction

In this project I will investigate how a business works, my project will cover the following areas:

* Aims and objectives

* Functional Areas

* Equal opportunities

* Organisational structures

* Communication

* Customer services

For this project I will be focusing on one particular business, this is Philip Markham Ltd. It is a family run business supplying classic menswear since 1900.

The company has 20,000 private customers that order directly from the company and the company also supplies its goods to department stores and exclusive menswear retailers across the country. All business customers have private accounts with the company.

The main activities of Philip Markham are to make high quality clothing, and to sell clothing to its customers.

Aims and Objectives

What is an aim?

An aim is a long-term goal. All businesses have these targets to help them develop and progress.

What is an objective?

An objective is part of an aim that has been broken down into smaller steps. This makes the aim easier to achieve and can measure how near the business is to achieving this aim.

An Aim

Objectives

The purpose of aims and objectives

The purpose of aims and objectives is to provide the business with an overall goal to reach; the objectives break down the aims into easier, shorter-term, targets for the company to reach. All departments should work to reach these aims, as they are vital to the success of the business.

Business aims

All businesses have aims, here are some of the most used ones:

* Make a profit

* Provide goods or services to the community

* Provide goods or services to the wider community

* Survive as a business

* Expand

* Maximise sales

* Improve quality

* Provide a highly competitive service

* Provide a charitable or voluntary service

* Be environmentally friendly

All targets should be SMART

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Agreed/achievable

R = Realistic

T = Time constrained

These are the aims of Philip Markham:

* To make a profit

* To sell clothing at a fair, competitive prices

* To provide a rapid and responsive service to all its customers

Objectives of these aims

To make a profit- increase and maximise sales

To sell clothing at a fair, competitive prices- Sell more products to reduce prices

To provide a rapid and responsive service to all it's customers- Employ enough staff to respond quickly, train staff to deal with unhappy customers

Links between the activity and the aims and objectives

One of the activities is to sell clothing to its customers and one of the aims is to make a profit. They are linked because selling clothing will make money, resulting in a profit.

Functional Areas

All businesses have a purpose and so do the people who work there. Those purposes usually fall into five main areas:

Finance

Production

Marketing and Sales

Administration

Human Resources

The above areas make up the five main functional areas of any business. Each function operates to support all the other functions and contributes to the aims and objectives to the business concerned.

The interaction of one area with another is important in order for the business to be effective. For the business to be efficient the links between areas should be close and smooth running. It is to be remembered that the work of one area often depends upon and overlaps with the work of other areas.

Philip Markham only has four functional areas Human resources and administration are put together.

Finance

Finance keeps track of all money going in and out of the business.

Activities

These are the activities that finance is responsible for

* Prepare accounts

* Pay wages

* Budgeting

* Giving information

* Controlling debt levels

Preparing accounts

In this activity the finance department performs a range of activities related to the checking and recording of all amounts received and paid. These are entered into individual accounts of the customers.

Pay Wages

This involves totalling employees wages and bonuses, working all deductions such as tax and insurance. Then working out the N.E.T pay, which they take home.

Budgeting

This is allocating different areas a maximum amount of money they can spend in a year. Then keeping track of how much they are spending. This is important, so the company doesn't spend too much money.

Giving information

Another of finance's jobs is to give up to date information to Jack Markham and the directors on different money matters, such as: Income, expenditure, profits and bank balances.
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Controlling debt levels

This is making sure that customers keep up to date with the money that they owe to the company within their credit level. Also finance set credit levels for new customers and adjust levels for clients who haven't kept up with the money they owe.

Job Examples

Financial manager: Overseas that all jobs are completed properly

Accounts staff: Keep track of transactions within the accounts.

Interaction

Finance controls all money matters within the business, so it is important to be in close contact with other areas. Finance ...

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