Aims & Objectives

GCSE Business Studies

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Aims & Objectives: Theme A

Introduction

In this report I will define what is meant by aims and objectives. I will also

relate this to the businesses I am studying which are Tesco and Chester Zoo.

Business Aims

An aim is a list of things that a business wants to achieve e.g. making profit, being environmentally friendly. An objective is the targets that a business sets itself to check it is going to achieve its aims. At the end of secondary school I want to leave with at least 5 A*-C grades including Maths, English and science. This is an Aim. In order to achieve this aim I am going to try hard and complete all homework given to me, and also come to school all of the time, these are my objectives.

Tesco

All businesses have similar Aims and Objectives. Example:

Survival is continuing to be in business, even cope in hard times like when the recession takes place. All businesses need to survive first, in order to make profits. Tesco not only specializes in food it also specializes in different areas like clothes, entertainment and insurance etc. So if a customer stops buying food from Tesco it will still be able to make profits by selling clothes.

Profit is probably the most common and the most important objective. Tesco cannot survive for long unless it covers all of its costs. Tesco can only make profit if they sell its products or services for more than the price they got it from.

Growth means to expand the business. Growth occurs when a business e.g. Tesco becomes bigger. ‘Bigger’ may mean several things such as a larger share, a greater amount of capital employed, more employees and a greater turnover and profits before tax.

Prestige means to have a reputation and having a good impression. Tesco will want to have the prestige of becoming the market leader in their field of business.

Survival: Tesco has survived since 1919; this means that they have already achieved this aim. It was established as a single store and is now that UK’s leading supermarket chain. It has competed for supermarkets and taken them over (bought them out) such as Aldi, Netto and Sainsbury’s and other so called major superstores. Another objective to gain more customers is to have promotions and special offers which are cheaper than the competition. Tesco can examine the competitors that it has; they can do this by using market research, they can do market research by doing surveys and questionnaires. They do this because Tesco wants to know if everything they are doing is correct for example they might want to know from the public if they are helping the customers enough, they need to know this because if they didn’t care about them, Tesco’s customers might go to Asda for example, Tesco don’t want this so they need to ensure that everything about them is perfect, this helps them to survive.

Although the survival of Tesco in the UK is not in question because they make the most profit compared to the other leading supermarket and also they make a huge £120,000 profit everyday according to the BBC website, may not happen in the new markets it has entered, particularly the US, which is often a difficult and competitive environment for UK businesses. Also for Tesco to survive they will need to monitor their main competitors Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's to see if they are selling their products at the best price. They will also need to investigate new products and services that keep customers coming back. They need to make sure that they don’t over expand and ensure that they have products and services that sell in good economic times and in recessions.

Tesco has also diversified into a range of store size, competing also in city and town centres through Tesco Metro and Express. This means that it is now managing to compete with smaller ‘corner shops’ and sole traders as well as the larger supermarket chains. Tesco always have adverts on the TV to show that sales are going on. Sometimes in the adverts they compare prices of food and clothes. E.g. Tesco milk is £0.95, and Asda milk is £1.15 by doing this Tesco will appeal to new customers, because for example the recession has taken place, people will want to buy food at the best possible price. This will help Tesco to survive because if more and more people come to Tesco and shop they will mean more money.

Profit: Tesco has made a huge amount of profit but they are always looking about ways to increase that, to gain more profit Tesco has to reduce its cost and also increase its revenue. For higher revenue Tesco can purchase their stock from a different supplier for less and to increase the profit Tesco can also put on higher prices on each item.

Tesco has also given a range of products e.g. Tesco Finest, for people who are high class. Tesco Brand, are mid range products and last but not least Tesco Value, these are products which minimize Tesco cost’s by having cheap packaging. Tesco will promote financial services products, such as loans, savings accounts and insurance, more heavily in its stores as well as selling more business online.

They can also have special offers in newspapers, and they can hire more employees on a minimum wage. Tesco can gain even more profit by obtaining cheaper packaging from different companies. As Tesco has survived the world of business and is busy it should take into service other shipping companies so that there stock can arrive to stores at a faster pace.

Also for Tesco to reduce costs they will change their suppliers constantly this is because they will want to buy the lowest and best priced products from their suppliers and sell it from a more higher price to their customers to make a profit. Also they will regularly review the number of staffs and to reduce costs Tesco will buy products from abroad.

The above table shows profits over time at Tesco from 2002 to 2006. There has been a 47% increase in operating profit from 2002 to 2006. Tesco is therefore already successful in managing to increase profits. Tesco lower costs on products by having huge sales, ‘but one get one free’ and discounts.

Tesco lower costs regularly in their stores to catch the attention of new customers, for instance they always have discounts, special offers and ‘buy one get one free’ etc. They have offers on because this will appeal to the general public. These days the recession has taken place, and most people will want to pay the lowest price possible for certain products. If Tesco have special offers going on a regular basis they will have more and more customers coming in which will lead to a fine profit (revenue). This will definitely help Tesco a lot for them to survive in the coming years, this is because if they make enough money to pay wages to the staff, pay the store expenses etc they will never go bankrupt or go into administration.

Growth: Tesco has grown and expanded significantly. It has done this by diversifying into other areas of their current business as a supermarket. They have diversified into other areas such as selling fuel, phones, clothing, and managing restaurants and cafes, but since they have been experts more on selling food and not on producing and serving fresh food. Even though Tesco is major in the UK, it has also expanded into other countries around the world, e.g. China, United States, Thailand, Turkey, Poland, Malaysia and also Ireland. Tesco have entered these different countries with different names e.g. Tesco entered ...

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Tesco have also grown not just in diversifying but also the fact that they now do door-to-door deliveries, all you have to do is order your food through the phone or the internet via their website (www.Tesco.com). In recent times Tesco have considered the matter of expanding into the Indian Market, these stores will be under the brand name ‘Tesco’ and will be cash and carries, Tesco have reflected on spending around £60 million, currently overseas retailers are barred by law at the retail level in India.

In the past Tesco have given us café’s but these have not been a great success so now that Tesco have now started to expand a bit more in the UK and are manufacturing lots more stores e.g. in Manchester there are around 7-8 stores and they range from all the different ones and they are still making them, they think that instead of making their own cafés for their own they have instead made a deal with a company called ‘Starbucks’ which have agreed to some form of a contract which allows them to rent out a part of the store and then annually pay rent whilst having their business there.

Prestige: Tesco has a good reputation (status). Prestige means to have a good impression. Tesco show their prestige through activities and being in charities. They also support other organisations through funding them and also sponsoring local companies. Tesco have a good reputation because they always make sure that their customers have a range of food and supplies. Tesco have brand loyalty which is when they show themselves in the market e.g. Tesco are in the food industry as a leading supermarket and that makes them able to have brand loyalty. Tesco have a scheme which helps bring people back into the stores, this scheme is the Tesco club card scheme, this scheme works by the customers applying for a card and then they gain points by shopping at the stores and then after a period of time they will receive a letter followed by a set of coupons and then you can go to the store and then either exchange them for hotel coupons and every £1 worth of coupons you exchange you get a £4 hotel coupon. Tesco also do special or annual events such as ‘Computers for Schools’.

These Other smaller stores are not all under the Tesco Brand but still are owned by them. Tesco Metro is a store that is the size between a Tesco Superstore and a Tesco Express store. A Tesco Home plus Store Stocks all of Tesco’s normal items except food and they are kept in warehouse units that are within Retail parks. Tesco also have a store called Tesco Extra and this is a store larger than a normal Tesco store and is mainly out of town hypermarkets that stock all of Tesco’s product ranges. All of the stores have a Tesco Brand and the public would know that it is a Tesco store but there is one store which hasn’t got the Brand name but is owned by Tesco, it is called One Stop and is the smallest from all the other types of Tesco stores and some have been converted to Tesco Express stores but others have stayed with their old name, they also have a different pricing system than all the other Tesco stores, there are around 500 stores. Another method of prestige is adapting to your environment. In Small Heath, Birmingham, Tesco has opened up a halal butcher because majority of their customers are Muslim.

Conclusion

Tesco has changed over time by diversifying into other area, such as selling phones, fuel and outdoor equipments and clothing. They also do door-to-door deliveries; this makes it easier for people because their food will be dropped right in front of their homes, the more people ordering the more money Tesco will make, this means that Tesco have met their aims by making a profit.

Also Tesco have expanded into overseas markets to continue to increase profit for shareholders and achieve growth. For Tesco to meet their aims, they are likely to monitor the countries where economic growth is to be highest e.g. USA and China before determining where to expand.

Tesco will also need to find partners in other countries rather than simply expanding growth itself. As well as finding partners in other countries Tesco now entirely owns its personal finance division having bought out the Royal Bank of Scotland. This is the first step towards Tesco becoming a bank in its own right and continues the expansion into financial services as part of continued diversification.

Chester Zoo

I will now outline the aims of Chester Zoo. I will begin with the generic aims that can be applied to most businesses. Firstly, the Zoo will still need to achieve survival as without this it will be unable to achieve any of its other aims. Profit will not be as important in the normal business sense of the word because it is a registered charity. The Zoo will need to have more money coming in than going out, but this money will be re-invested into the Zoo as there are no shareholders to satisfy. Growth will still be achievable as the Zoo will want to increase the numbers and species of animals and get even more customers. The Zoo will also try to achieve prestige as it wants a good reputation so that people will continue to visit in order to make money.

Introduction

Chester Zoo was opened in 1931 by George Mottershead and his family, who used as a basis some animals reported to have come from an earlier zoo in . It’s now one of the largest zoos in the UK. Chester Zoo is currently operated by the North of England Zoological Society, a founded in 1934. The Zoo receives no government funding. It is the most-visited wildlife attraction in Britain with more than 1.3 million visitors in 2007. Chester Zoo’s mission is “To be a major force in conserving biodiversity worldwide” The Zoo wide estate consists of approximately 500 acres of which 100 acres is the zoological gardens and the wider estate making up the remaining 400 acres. Chester Zoo is located in Chester Zoo, Caughall Rd, Upton, Chester, CH2 1LH.

Aims

They also have the same aims as a business, Survival, Profit, Growth and prestige.

Survival: Chester Zoo can use several methods for survival. First of all they can attract more customers through advertisements from TV’S adverts and through local newspapers (special offers) Chester Zoo should organize activities; these should be mainly for younger children because they are the ones who actually enjoy the facilities of the zoo.

The zoo always try their best when an animal is ill, because animals can die easily and less animal’s means that less people are going to come to the zoo meaning less money. The animals have regular checkups on their health so that early signs of diseases and infections can be spotted and be treated, e.g. an animal can get cancer and if it is found early then it can be treated and maybe the cancer can be removed, but if the animal is in pain and then the zoo keepers find out that the animals got cancer then they will most probably have to put the animal down (Mercy killing).

Also for Chester Zoo to survive they must be more successful than their competitors Blackpool Zoo, Knowsley Safari Park, Blue Plant, this is because Chester Zoo is a registered charity and if all their customers for example went to Blue Planet they might have to shut down their zoo, because of lack of money to buy resources for the animals such as food. Chester Zoo compete with the other close zoo’s around them buy having more exotic animals for the customers to see and also have sale and discounts going on regularly, this will attract people into coming to visit the zoo.

Chester Zoo will need to have more species of animals in order to survive because more and more of people will come to see the animals meaning more money coming in.

Chester Zoo will also need to have good heath and safety at Chester Zoo. If the animals die than people won’t come to Chester Zoo and if people aren’t happy with the safety at Chester Zoo and the safety of the public, they will stop going to the zoo and might go to other zoos such as Blackpool Zoo. Chester Zoo need to ensure that heath and safety is good at Chester Zoo, they can do this by training the staff first aid, incase of an accident and also have the gates and wall which keeps the tiger for example in their cage inspected because if it breaks letting the tiger loose it will kill people, Chester Zoo never want this to happen at the zoo. The consequences will be unpleasant and will defiantly affect the zoo’s business performance.

Survival is important for Chester Zoo for two main reasons, one to make a profit and second to educate people about the animals or how the Zoo operates as a business.

Profit: Even though profit isn’t the main agenda at Chester Zoo because they are a charity, they should still consider the fact of making a profit so that they can invest back into the company.

Chester Zoo does have a way of making a profit and this is by having a shop filled with merchandise, toys, clothes and food, there is one main and important problem with the store and that is that customers don’t appreciate what they buy because it is not worth the money they paid for it.

Also for the zoo to save money they can buy their animal food from another supplier, they can’t make a profit on this because they are not selling the animal food but using it.

Chester Zoo can save money by having their zoo keepers on minimum wages but make sure that the keepers are happy because along with the animals so are the keepers who you might see every now and again but the problem is that if the keepers aren’t happy then they’ll look negative with a bad body language and if the visitors see them they’ll think bad of the zoo.

Chester Zoo needs to make some profit so that they can pay for conservation activities and expansion of the zoo. Another way for Chester Zoo to make a profit is to increase the numbers of visitors. They can do this by having special offers, family packs and letting children under 4 enter the zoo for free.

Chester Zoo can also make a profit by second spend, this is done because the first spend is when people enter the zoo (entry fees) and the second spend can be going to shops, restaurants and rides. So it is very significant that Chester Zoo have enough shops and restaurant etc so that they can supply the customers with what they want or else.

Growth: Chester Zoo has many acres of land, yet not all of it is used as a zoo. This is because the land behind the zoo is theirs but they have rented it out to farmers. I personally think that they should stop renting the land out and instead use it for the zoo. They can use the land for enclosures so that any new species or any endangered species can have their own enclosure within the zoo without intercepting other animal’s enclosures.

The zoo can easily be themed and turned into a theme park, and the zoo wouldn’t need to buy any land because they already have it and lots of it. Producing theme parks is one of a variety of activities that Chester zoo can set-up and use to expand the zoo and make the visitors’ trip enjoyable.

Chester Zoo can also use the land for other parts of the zoo, e.g. the land can be turned into restaurants and cafes so people can see animals whilst enjoying a meal and a drink. What’s more they should use the available land to grow their own animal food to the best of their ability. Moreover Chester Zoo with lots of good planning should use their unused land, and use it to expand the zoo.

Chester Zoo can grow by having overseas involvement with zoos and conservation. If they have another zoo in Africa they can get important information about animals at Chester Zoo which they don’t know about specific animals.

Prestige: Chester Zoo’s prestige is excellent and this is proven by the fact that described it as one of the best fifteen zoos in the world. I think that one of the factors for such a good result is that zoo inspectors are happy with what they are shown when they visit the zoo for inspections.

Another factor is that Chester Zoo has a breeding program for which it is proud of and is very successful, this program is for exchanging from around the world. Chester zoo have made great progress within the program as they have been successful enough to breed new and endangered species. The way that the animals are dealt with and how they are transported to other zoos around the world is respectable.

These animals are exchanged because they are of good use to other zoos, e.g. male tiger Taj was sent to another zoo because that other zoo had a female of the same species so he was sent to that other zoo so that the pair can breed and produce cubs. Taj was a star in the hit documentary ‘Zoo Days’, which featured Chester Zoo as their zoo and this has shown the viewers of the documentary that Chester zoo is a great zoo and would be fun day out. Chester zoo have a wide range of animals and a large quantity of animals.

Conclusion: Chester Zoo will need to build new enclosures so that they can attract more people, they can do this by massively investing in the new elephant enclosure. Also Chester Zoo can construct better Cafés – Café Tsavo caters for some 270 visitors in one go, so Chester Zoo need to build more bigger cafes so that more people can come to the zoo and enjoy.

Chester Zoo can get new rare species of animals to the zoo, more and more people will want to come to the zoo to see the rare animals especially children. Chester Zoo can hold new activities and exhibitions so that customers who have already visited to zoo keep on going back, if this happens the zoo will make money (profit) and get good prestige.

Chester Zoo can be involved more with the media e.g. Granada Reports, Zoo days can be free to the public; this will raise the profile of the zoo. Also Chester Zoo needs to be in partnership with other Zoos and organization involved in conservation.

The aims above for Chester are the same aims that a business would have but Chester zoo has some very specific aims that are mainly for their zoo and won’t be aims that will suit all businesses. The following Aims are very important to the zoo, these are:

Conservation, this is about breeding animals and programs also about exchanging animals from around the world.
Scientific Investigation, this is very similar to animal research and it’s to find out why and how animals die out.
Education, this is for the zoo to teach people about animals and the people can learn something new.
Enlightened Leisure, this is mainly for the visitors who enjoy the zoo (mainly younger children, they can learn something new through their visit whilst enjoying it.

Conservation: Chester Zoo is a conservation organization with a mission to help save wildlife from extinction. This mission is achieved at Chester through education, conservation breeding, research, and advances in animal welfare. These are all conservation activities that occur within the Zoo, this is called ex-situ conservation.

To boost the conservation within the zoo, the keepers and staff as well as managers can start breeding programs for animals which are new species, along with the breeding program for endangered animals. They can also make other zoos that are local and global about what animals they have and what they are considering to do with them, e.g. if Chester has a giraffe which Blackpool zoo wants then they can make sure that the Blackpool zoo is aware of their animal and see if they are happy with the offer of taking the giraffe for their own breeding program. Naturally animals roam freely in the wild and have their own natural habitats, so when an endangered species is taken off the endangered species list then the zoo can happily return the animal back into the wild, where they have their own natural habitats.

Chester zoo is a zoological garden which means that they enclose and display animals, but the animals would feel uncomfortable and will most probably not breed, so the enclosures should be as close as possible to the real habitats of the animals, so that they are comfortable with their surroundings and environment, this will encourage the animals to breed because they are not worrying about where they are. Mainly Chester zoo should do what conservation means and that is that they should increase animal population so that the Zoological Society don’t have to worry about endangered animals, it also means to increase the population of new species.

Each year the Zoo is involved in many conservation projects working directly with threatened species in the wild. Chester Zoo participates in conservation outreach through Conservation Programmes, Conservation Grants and a number of other initiatives.

Scientific Investigation: Chester Zoo should have onsite laboratories so that they can examine corpses of deceased animals without having to transport the dead animal to another laboratory which is a lengthy trip away. Animals will obviously become ill every now and again and it would be suitable to have an animal medical centre at the zoo, this is also to ease the task sending the animal away to a medical centre which isn’t close.

To help with scientific investigations the zoo can let universities work with them; this is a benefit to the zoo as well as the university who can use the investigation as research and delve further into science about animals. For scientific investigation, Chester zoo will need a fund and this fund can come from: local charities; who would like to help financially with the investigations, The Lottery can fund the investigations and a plaque can be put up around the facility thanking the lottery. Even if the government is not funding the zoo itself, they can still give grants to the zoo for scientific investigations, some sponsors who already sponsor animals can also pay for the scientific investigation e.g. Jaguar the car manufacturer already sponsor the Jaguar enclosure at Chester zoo, but they can also fund the scientific investigation. Not just businesses that can sponsor the scientific investigation, so can the public and other organizations.

Scientific investigation can be used in many different ways and one of them is to research into animal diseases and to also experiment so that they can make medicines used to prolong animal’s lives, these are mainly animals which have terminal illnesses. Scientific Investigation can be of use to help detect early signs of diseases or illnesses which can be treated before the animal cannot be cured.

Education: Chester Zoo can teach people about animals and their wellbeing. Different methods can be used, one of which is to introduce visitors to the animals information (Booklets, Posters, etc ;). The zoo can prepare seminars for schools and colleges and even for universities; these are a great boost for the pupils’ intelligence in animals. These seminars can also be held for families as well. With funds, Chester zoo can open and set-up workshops and clubs for members to come and visit. Chester zoo can contact local schools and let them know that there are work placements within the zoo; these are mainly for high-school students in year 10 looking for work experience, volunteering work can be use as local charities or even local groups can help out around the zoo.

The zoo can print out little booklets filled with information about animals, or even DVD packs with information about the zoo. Little groups can be made where a keeper teaches everyone of how the animals are maintained and of course why they are there (why the animals are in the zoo). Safety is important and a very high priority within the zoo, so is global warming and how it’s affecting animals safety, e.g. in the arctic penguins are dying because they don’t have enough ice to settle in, so less time on ice means more time in water and too much time in water is not good for penguins. Keepers and volunteers can visit the local schools to have assemblies and presentations on animals and Chester zoo.

Enlightened Leisure: This means to learn something either physically or mentally. Chester Zoo can have themed restaurants can help children learn about new foods, e.g. in a Jackie Chan themed restaurant you can have delicacies like sushi. The land behind the zoo is actually owned by the zoo and it is rented out to farmers, this land can be taken off the farmers and given to businesses, e.g. A McDonald’s franchise can be opened on the land and the restaurant can be entered via the zoo, this’ll benefit not just McDonalds but also will please the visitors because McDonalds is very popular with everyone and also benefit Chester zoo.

Chester Zoos main target audience is little children and there are some abilities that younger children don’t have but enjoy learning, Chester zoo can open an ice rink with the farming land and let the people who like visiting the zoo play about and enjoy themselves in the rink, an ice rink is a good way of enlightened leisure because if a little youngster saw an ice rink they would love to go on it, at first they may not be able to skate but later on they can teach themselves or be taught and when they can ice skate they know that they have learnt something new and that is ice skating. With their excess land Chester zoo can transform their land into an amusement park, this is great for the visitors because they can learn how to handle rides, etc. they can also pick up other stuff at amusement parks and use them as skills.

Chester Zoo is a very big area and if only there was a single information point then it would get crowded, but if a few information points were dotted around the place then there would be less hassle in finding information. These information points can be used to entertain the user, e.g. you may have to cycle really fast for the machine to print out a map of the zoo. Physical games can be prepared, e.g. a scavenger hunt can be set-up, children can be taught how to hunt and be given a few tips on hunting. Like theme parks, a monorail can be built for visitors to travel from one part of the vast zoo to another faster than walking. Buildings can be shaped for children to play, e.g. an ark shaped building can be built to let children wander in and look around the inside of the ark. Small statues of animals can be made for children to play on, e.g. a statue of a lion lying on its belly can be displayed and children can jump on its back, etc. visitors would want to leave with their own unique souvenir (Mainly young children) and this can be done by them having face painting and photos. Activities can be prepared for children to make stuff like paintings, arts and crafts, etc.

Exhibitions can be held of the zoo and its history and who started Chester Zoo (George Mottershead). Visitors can hold and touch things, e.g. an ostrich egg can be held at the museum because it is one of the biggest eggs created. Chester zoo can hold activities for different festive seasons, e.g. Christmas, a Santa can be hired to talk to children about what they would like for Christmas (this is similar to what they do in shopping centers).

Websites I have used