Unit 1

“Business at work”

The business that I have chosen to study as part of this assignment is Sainsbury’s. Sainsbury’s is a Plc (public limited company) in which is very successful and internationally known. I have chosen to study this particular business as I have an interest in Sainsbury’s and also that I shop their regularly and this will enable me to access information much more efficiently and effectively then any other business I would study. Another thing is that I know former employees that had worked at Sainsbury’s and this again may help me to obtain any information I may need in this assignment.

The Plc that I am currently studying about (Sainsbury’s) has a more complex form of ownership owned by shareholders. A public limited company allows anyone from around the world purchase shares from the stock market for the company that they wish to purchase shares from. As the customer doing this is allows them to have a small part of the business and in return the customer will receive a small dividend from the profit to them for how many shares that the customer will have purchased from Sainsbury’s. There are also benefits and constraints to being a shareholder. Some of the benefits of being a shareholder are that first of all there may be an increase in the share price which would be very beneficial as the shareholder will gain more capital. Another advantage of being a shareholder is that dividends are received to them by Sainsbury’s. The dividend that is given to the customer by Sainsbury’s is basically the shareholders share of the profits that Sainsbury would make and will be paid to the shareholder at six-monthly intervals (an interim dividend) or at the end of the year (a year-end dividend). As being a shareholder you will be a part owner of Sainsbury’s business concerns and will be able to attend and vote at shareholders meetings. Also as a customer may have purchased shares in Sainsbury’s they may get reduced costs on Sainsbury’s products, travel discounts and other things inside of the business. Shareholders also have limited liability which is a good thing. This basically means that the amount of money that the customer has put in to buy these shares only looses all the money that he or she has put in and therefore his or her wealth is not at risk.  Some of the constraints of being a shareholder are that the share holder may loose all his money that he may invested in Sainsbury’s as the stock market goes up and down. Many of the share prices will go up if a new successful company is introduced nearby increasing in competition and this will increase the price of shares as they will go very expensive as many people may want to purchase them.  Sainsbury’s would have many boards of directors who are business experts who are shareholders of the company. These people basically make all of the decisions that go on within the organisation and basically are in charge of everything that goes on within this organisation. The board of directors at Sainsbury’s will not always stay the same this may be because they are not doing there job properly and would therefore there will be a annual general meeting in which new board of directors would be selected and may discuss any other problems that the staff or shareholders may have.

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Sainsbury’s Plc has limited liability. As I have explained earlier in this task limited liability is at advantage to shareholders as they are only loosing money that they put in to Sainsbury’s.

Sainsbury’s will have many competitors wherever they are located. There local competitors are supermarkets located nearby and newsagents, green grocery shops and also butchers and Sainsbury’s international competitors are other supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda who are very successful at the moment. These supermarkets will all be competing for the amount the customers that they attract to the business. This would be a crucial thing ...

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