In my assignment I will be finding out How Businesses Develop. I will be choosing two companies
Introduction.
In my assignment I will be finding out How Businesses Develop. I will be choosing two companies.
The first company is Belvoir which is a letting agency. Belvoir was founded in 1995 by Mike and Stephanie Goddard and the first franchise Elgin was launched in June 1996, it now has over 80 franchisees. Belvoir is now recognised as the fastest growing and arguably the largest specialist lettings Franchise Company in the UK.
Belvoir has achieved this success through careful selection of the right people to offer the Belvoir franchise and the consistent application of sound business principles in guiding the individual franchisees to their success.
For the franchising concept to work there must be an even balance of benefits and Belvoir has spent significant resources in developing a number of unique and important products for their franchisees.
Belvoir is offering Business Opportunities throughout the UK, based on sound franchising principles, to own and run a Residential Letting and Property Management Agency.
Belvoir's Aim
Belvoir's aim is to provide every community in the UK with a professional lettings service which embraces the principles of quality and customer care.
The second company is Tesco. This is a company which sell variety of goods such as groceries .Tesco was founded in 1924. Over the past 79 years, as the retailing market has changed, the company has grown and developed, responding to new opportunities and pioneering many innovations. Today it is Britain's leading food retailer.
The founder of Tesco was Sir Jack Cohen. He used his gratuity from his Army service in the First World War to start selling groceries in London's East End markets in 1919. The brand name of Tesco first appeared on packets of tea in the 1920s. The name was based on the initials of T.E.Stockwell, a partner in the firm of tea suppliers, and the first two letters of Cohen. The first Tesco store was opened in 1929 in Burnt Oak, Edgware.
Task 1
In this task I will be explaining the ownerships of each business that I have chosen to investigate on and explain the business activity and the ownership of the business.
A franchise is a way of owning a business without taking the risks of starting up your own. Belvoir is an example of a franchise. This is enterprise where a small shop is run by a franchisee, which has been given permission by a franchiser to operate the business. The franchiser is an organisation that owns and controls the products that are being sold in that business. The franchiser is the person who supply's the raw materials or stocks for sale for the business they also provide displays for the shop and give advice and help to the franchisee. The franchisee has the responsibility of running the business and they can also keep most of the profits made by the business.
Franchises are operated in areas. These include:
Care services for the very young and the elderly
Goods and services sold to the customers.
Production plants
Tesco is a business which gets there product themselves and some of there product come from outside. Like the clothing they get are from other companies. In the business the main franchisers are the customers. The customers are the people who buy the products and the whole point of the store is for the customer and their needs of the goods which they need for their daily life and they have it so the company themselves can make a profit. With this Tesco is making money and also helping people by providing the goods which every person needs or uses. Customers are pleased with they way Tesco is organised. This way Tesco is making a profit and getting more customers.
Belvoir provides a high level of on-going support to the Franchisee to ensure that the business is up and running quickly and efficiently and that any problems or queries are resolved immediately and satisfactorily
Marketing - Using our recognisable brand, through the national network, we will assist with PR, local campaigns, national advertising, your website and we can provide a library of marketing material for your use which is updated constantly. Head office will design brochures, leaflets and other promotional materials and also help assist with buy-to-let evenings.
IT - You will have ongoing training and support with our bespoke lettings management system, which also gives you access to the Belvoir bulletin board that provides a wealth of help and advice.
Support - Head office will provide a legal help line which can help on any legal issue or advice you require in the lettings market answered and updates issued to you. Accounting advice for your business needs. An area manger will be able to help with any queries or advice in the running a lettings franchise.
Training & development - On going training courses are held at Head Office for Franchisees and staff members covering a wide rang of issues from customer service to management skills, as well as access to NAEA qualifications at discounted rates. Regular seminars are held at Belvoir's prestigious Head Office in Grantham and provide franchisees with a chance to meet and listen to eminent speakers on a variety of important topics to further develop their skills to grow their business.
Research & Development - Research and development into new products, marketing tools, in house systems, Internet etc. ...
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Training & development - On going training courses are held at Head Office for Franchisees and staff members covering a wide rang of issues from customer service to management skills, as well as access to NAEA qualifications at discounted rates. Regular seminars are held at Belvoir's prestigious Head Office in Grantham and provide franchisees with a chance to meet and listen to eminent speakers on a variety of important topics to further develop their skills to grow their business.
Research & Development - Research and development into new products, marketing tools, in house systems, Internet etc. Our aim is to give you systems that enable you to work more efficiently, sourcing cheaper and better quality suppliers to achieve higher profit margins and by developing products that give you market leadership.
Tesco is known as a PLC. A PLC is known as a Public Limited Company. These are the largest type of privately owned enterprise in the UK. Many businesses in the UK normally start of as private limited companies and then launched on the stock exchange. Anyone can buy of shares in a public limited company. A private limited company issues shares to its owners. Each share represents a share of the company. There are differences in shareholders and directors of the company. Directors simple pay salaries to the employees and pay money to help run the business.
A public limited company is owned by the shareholders so its ownership may be constantly changing as shares are bought and sold.
The advantage of public limited company is increase size usually means the company can reduce its operational costs for each unit of produced.
Liability limited is to the amount of their own investment. This is known as LTD. This has to be part of the business. This is so if the business doesn't make much and fails the owners of the company don't get bankrupt. They don't lose much.
Task 2
In this task I will be describing the areas of activities carried out by the two businesses
There are three different sectors, one that is the primary sector, then there's the secondary sector and the last one is the tertiary sector.
Primary sector is concerned with producing raw materials. The secondary sector is concerned with manufacturing, processing and construction. Most of this relates to manufacturers of consumers and industrial goods. The tertiary sector is often called the service sector. This includes all the providers and service to the business and to individuals. The tertiary sector can be divided into four sections these are: Public services, Financial and business services, Transport and communication and Retailing, distribution, hotels and catering.
In countries sectors seem to change or expand. Businesses would only produce goods or offer service that customers want to buy and are prepared to pay for. There are more demand for sales and service for example mobile phones. More and more people are buying mobile phone and this is an opportunity to make a profit.
In Belvoir the customers are important as they would be the ones that will be making the business go high and they also will be making profit for the business. The supplier's job is to meet the needs of the customers and have everything ready and make sure nothing goes wrong such as when cutting a customers hair being very careful that nothing goes wrong so they won't be any complaints. Tesco also has the same roles they teach their staff to be kind and helpful to every customer that comes in the store. They also have to make sure that what ever the customer needs is there. If the customer are happy with the way they are treated by the staff that work there the company itself would be making profit.
In the sectors the two businesses I have chosen both fit in the Tertiary sector. This is because Tesco is a wholesale and retail trade, it has restaurants w
here customers who are shopping can go in and get something to eat. Belvoir also fits in the Tertiary sector, as it is a hair salon, which provides people with public administration and defence, compulsory social security. And they also fit in other community, social and personal service activities.
Tesco, as it's a big store it could have many people working there. However Belvoir has many independent staff working at there own shop
There are two factors in a sector. These are employment and output. Employment in a sector is increasing the industry and is helping it to expand. If the employment is falling then the industry is declining. Fewer people are now employed this way it would be easier and more work could be done by the machines and computers.
Output is the total value of goods produced by the sector. If the industry is expanding then the contribution should be rising. If an industry is declining then its contribution is falling.
These to factors together give a good indication of whether a sector is increasing or decreasing.
Tertiary sector growth rises. In UK most people still prefer to travel by car rather than public transport, which may limit opportunities for growth unless the government introduces measures to force private car drivers off the road. In communication the sector is increasing.
Task 3
In this task I will be explaining the activities in the two businesses that I have chosen. I will explain what activities are used in Belvoir and Tesco. Every business has one or more activities. Every business operates in sectors, primary sector, secondary sector and tertiary sector. Some businesses operate just in one sector and others in more then one. Businesses that operate in fishing, agriculture are operated in primary sector. A manufacturer operates in the secondary sector for example factory shops. Manufactures act as a retailing and selling to the general public. Retailing, transport and communications are all service sector activities there are more services for example health care, leisure and sport.
The core business activity is the most important activity for the business and usually generates the largest amount of income. Some businesses are easy, they simply concentrate on one activity and other businesses try to do other things as well, to maximise their income. A large supermarket such as Tesco has a core business activity of selling food and household consumable items. Tesco also sell flowers, clothes, newspapers, magazines, and alcohol and in some large stores pharmaceutical products. It also operates as a bank; you can open a saving account with Tesco and pay on or withdraw money whenever you visit a store. A Tesco aim is to provide one stop shopping. This is so they can sell more then one item in one store where the customers can get everything they need under one roof. But they mainly sell food and household things. Tesco expand their business by opening stores everywhere and selling more variety of goods. This helps by they make more profit from all the goods they sell.
Company's now mostly try to have one stop shopping. This is where you have one store, which has a variety of products in it. This can meet the needs of any customers and is easier as if a customer needed something they could just go look around in that store and find what they need then going out of the store and going in another one.
In the pervious activity Tesco started selling mobile phones and Boots is moving more strongly into men's grooming. Their activities are therefore changing as they try to perceive what customers want and need in the daily life. When a business is changing they are sometimes affected by various factors. These factors include:
New legislation and standards introduced by the government
Social trends, which affect how people spend their money and time
The type of staff they can attract and wage rates
There are lots more factors which all have a different effect to it, depending on the exact business activity, type of customers, employees and size of the store itself.
Task 4
In this task I will be explaining where my two businesses that I have chosen are located and I will explain what external influences are affecting the two businesses in the UK.
Every business is influenced by the world around them. Businesses can chose where to located there business. Mostly businesses chose to locate them in a busy area where there are more people, this way the business itself would be making more profit as it would have a lot of customers. But in some cases it isn't much important where to locate the business. Every business try's to locate there business where they think it would be successful. If they already have staff working there, raw material to produce products, customers and keep their cost low as possible then their reason for choosing a particular location starts to make sense. All organisation need to employ staff so locating it where there are more people would be a better place.
Tesco is located in an area where there are more people. This is so they get more customers and will be able to expand there business more. Tesco is located all around UK. Tesco has more then one store for example Tesco has Tesco express which is a small store Tesco which is a big store. As it is a partnership it is located around every area sp many people can go and shop there. If you needed one item you could just go to Tesco express and get it from there but if you needed more then one item you could go and shop at the big store where they have more varieties.
The property rental sector has been fuelled by social changes, reduced job security, population mobility, favourable legislation and taxation and stable interest rates.
The market is also recession proof as people will always need a place to live and buying is no longer seen as the only option.
Locating a business in a busy area can mean making more profit and expanding the business. That's why to the owner of the business locating could be very important.
This all involves around the area for example is it a busy area, would the shop be able to make profit or will it make lost and lots more. These things the owner of the business has to think about.
The main points a business has to think about when locating a business are:
-1- local labour supply
-2- the cost of premises
-3- financial help from the government
-4- transport link
Local labour supply is organisations need to be able to employ staff. So this is why it is better to locate a business where most people live.
It wouldn't be right having to open a business in the motorway as not many people would go there so the business wouldn't be making much of the profit and they wouldn't have much staff. As for service stations they have to pay transport for the staff.
Cost of premises is determined by the forces of demand and supply. The greater the demand for premises - the higher the cost. So for the premises in the city it would be more expensive as lots of people want to open a business there.
Financial help from the government this depends on the area the business in located in. governments want ever regions to be equally prosperous.
Transport link involves around many businesses which need to be able to obtain suppliers easily and transport finished goods quickly to their customers.
Many businesses locate near their suppliers and raw material. This is because if they are dependent on specialist suppliers for their product.
Businesses are influence by many other people for example external influences may have competitors, economy, governments and immigrations effect the business.
Task 5
In this task I will be explaining who the stakeholders are of the two businesses I have chosen.
Stakeholder is mainly the customers. As it is the customers who have interest in the business for example what the business is selling, what's new and lots more. Customers can influence the way the business operates. People are known to be a stakeholder anywhere. It's where you spend money which makes you a consumer. Being a stakeholder is being interested for example if they closed down hair and beauty or relocated it or if Tesco don't have the items that you need then you would probably be inconvenienced.
Customers are one important part of a business. They can pass suggestions on how they can make the business better like pointing out something they would like in the business and the business would try to listen so the customer would be happy and the business many not then lose on the profit they are making.
There are more people who are known as stakeholders in a business. These people are the:
-1- Customer
-2- Employees and managers of the business
-3- Shareholders
-4- The local community
-5- The government
Employees and managers have different kind of interest in the business. They would be mostly interested in the way the staffs are treated, the rates of pay they get of working there and whether the business is secure to close down any day. The employees would even like the company to allow you time off work for emergencies, or get paid even when your sick or on holiday, to employ managers who treat there staff equally and to be more supportive.
Shareholders are people who invest money in a company. They can only invest in a public limited company. They invest on the stock market. Shareholders are mostly interested in two main things. One is if the company will do and value of your investment will increase. The second is that the company will pay a good dividend twice a year. This is the businesses turn to invest the money on the shareholders.
Local community has vested interest in the type of business activities in the area. The customers would take interest if a large factory was built next to them and operate 24hours.
However there are many issues that are concern communities and which they may object to. Theses things can involve around the building of new ring roads and motorways which will spoil the countryside.
The government has a very positive interest in all businesses. That's why the government try's to encourage businesses with initiatives such as regional aid. Businesses create employment opportunities. People who are employed and earning wages are more likely to save for their retirement. They tent to spend money which helps the economy.
The government is aware without any regulation some undesirable business activities may take place. Smaller businesses would be at the mercy of more powerful enterprises. Employees may be treated shabbily. This is why legislation is needed to control the way businesses work. So the government is needed by the businesses as it can influence the business as it makes an illegal and controls business operations.
Government not only controls the business but helps it as well. As health and safety not only helps the employees but also gives employers legal protection against unsafe actions by workers.
Task 5
I will be explaining how there might be conflict of interest among different stakeholders in any other businesses.
The type of interest shown by different groups of stakeholders is different. The number of stakeholders in a business also varies. The more varied the stakeholder groups and the more active they are.
An example of this in one business is veterinary. Vet has a limited number of stakeholders. These stakeholders are:
-5- The animals which are the patients and their owners. The animals are unlikely to be argumentative stakeholders.
-6- A few employees - a veterinary nurse and a receptionist.
-7- A local community - who ignores the vets unless something goes wrong.
-8- The government - they would just check if the vet is simply abiding by the laws which relates to the practice.
The vet is more likely to listen to the views of its customers and suggestions from the staff. These two stakeholders have the most influence on the business.
Where as Tesco's have many stakeholders which are
-9- The customers which are the buyers. Theses customers are ones that would be able to complain if not happy with any of the services or goods sold.
-10- The employees - these are the ones who help out customers when they need help and handle any goods that a customer might not be happy with.
-11- The local community - who would shop at the store when need more suppliers at home
-12- The government - they would check if Tesco is running well and are making a profit.
Stakeholders mostly include:
- Existing customers who use of the complexes in different parts of the country.
- Potential customers who would like to use the complexes but cannot because there isn't one in there area, existing employees and managers.
- Shareholders who have invested in the company - both private and institutional. They want the company to expand so that it earns more profit.
- Local communities - in areas where the complex are already situated and in areas where future complexes are planned.
- The government - the local planning authorities.
This list is how a business is involved and its scale.
Task 6
Evaluation
In this evaluation I will be explaining what I found out in the two businesses that I had chosen. The two businesses that I had chosen to research on were: Tesco and Saks hair and beauty. Saks hair and beauty is a franchiser and Tesco is a franchisee. Tesco is a big company that is known by many people and is located in many areas, whereas Saks hair and beauty is a beautician, which is only located in one area because it is not well known by many people as it is a small shop.
They both come under Tertiary sectors; this is because they both provide service for people for example, Tesco's provide food, household products, and clothing. Saks hair and beauty provide hair cuts and facial treatments.
The activities that Tesco uses is advertising there business by showing some of the products on the television making
In Tesco the main stakeholders are the customers as Tesco aim is to meet the needs of there customers and make them happy so they would come again so Tesco would make a profit with is there other aim. The customers can pass suggestions on how they can make the business better like pointing out something they would like in the business.
Saks hair and beauty the stakeholders are the same.
The things that influence the two businesses are where they are located. Businesses chose to locate them in a busy area where there are more people, this way the business itself would be making more profit as it would have a lot of customers.