Introduction to Business Assignment

Authors Avatar

Amish Patel

Peter Eskesen

Report

Introduction to Business Assignment

To: Peter Eskesen

From: Amish Patel

Subject Title: ITB

Date: 11/10/2003

AIM: I have been requested by Peter Eskesen to look at two contrasting business organisations and one of who must operate in the secondary/manufacturing industry and the other corporation must be a service provider from the tertiary sector.

I must then look at the activities that each of them fulfil and look at the effectiveness of them within each organisation.

1.1 I have decided to look at the activities of G.E lighting which is an American company and a direct division of the biggest company in the world G.E and the second company of which I have decided to look at is Sainsbury’s who is amongst some of the most dominant market leading companies operating in the U.K in the supermarket sector.

Both of the companies that I have decided to look at are both owned by shareholders which means that people have bought shares into them. However having said that, as G.E lighting is an American company it means that it will not be listed on the London Stock Exchange but will alternatively be listed upon the New York stock exchange market.

If a person wanted to buy shares in GE lighting then they would have to contact a broker. Furthermore, Sainsbury’s is also a Public Limited Company because it is like before, listed upon the London Stock Exchange.

1.2 Today General Electric is made up of many departments/divisions. For example G.E Lighting in Enfield is part of a Global Business, which operates in over 100 worldwide countries and also holds work for over 300,000 people worldwide too. Television programming, Plastics and G.E Aircraft Engines for example, is the biggest engine maker and supplier in the world with operations in over 40 different countries. On the next page you will find GE’s product portfolio.

GE Product Portfolio

1.3 G.E Lighting is the General Electric’s oldest functioning business and is a global leader with regards to lighting with, manufacturing, distribution, sales and customer service operations in both North and South America as well as in Australasia, Africa, Europe and the biggest continent in the world, Asia. So as you can see G.E lighting has colonised upon some of the main capital making continents.

It is what we call a multi or transnational company which means that it has its main headquarters in one or a few countries, and the other outlets/branches distributed within the globe. Having said that, G.E lighting has its main HQ (Headquarters) in:

  • Budapest, Hungary (European HQ)
  • Shanghai, China (Asian HQ)
  • Cleveland, USA (American HQ)

G.E Lighting provides employment for some 32,000 people worldwide. There are surprisingly only 2 of these factories located in the United Kingdom.

These two regions are Leicestershire and Enfield, London as well as a distribution centre which is based up North in the Northants. G.E lighting also is a supplier of lighting to many well known retailers such as Sainsbury’s, ASDA, Homebase, Wilkinsons and B&Q.

1.4 The other company that I have chosen to look at is the second largest operating supermarket in the U.K and has many sub units/divisions and is Sainsburys. The company which was formerly the largest company ‘has announced a drop in profits for the second year running’.

Sainsbury’s supermarkets was first established in 1869 by John James and Mary Ann Sainsbury’s and is Britain’s longest serving major food retailing chain.

The founders principle’s and value guide us strongly as they did back then in 19th century –

  • ‘to be the customers first choice for food shopping by providing high quality products, value for money, and excellent service and attention to detail’

1.5 Sainsbury’s supermarkets employ over 145,000 people (including Savacentre). Of these 145,000 people, 60% are part – time based workers and 40% are full – time workers. 62% of the labour forces are women which show that since the 19th Century equal opportunities have shifted and women have the same rights as men – to be able to work.

Furthermore, Sainsbury’s Supermarkets serves well over 11 million customers a week and as from May 2003, had 535 stores open throughout the UK.  

Nearly 60% of their stores are located upon town centres and others built on the edge of centre locations – in the greenbelt areas where land is cheaper and have better connections. Like GE, Sainsburys also have sub divisions or Subsidiary companies that they own.

For example the other activities that they operate or run besides Groceries, include a chain of Sainsbury’s Banks, Shaw’s, JS Development and Sainsbury’s Property Development.

Their Companies

 

1.6 Shaw’s Supermarkets Inc. has been a completely owned Subsidiary of J Sainsbury’s plc since 1987 and partly owned since 1983. Shaw’s serves over four million customers a week, and as at May 2003 had 193 stores open in New England, USA.

In June 1999, J Sainsbury’s plc acquired the entire share capital of Star Markets for a total consideration of $497 million dollars which is the equivalent to £313 million British pounds. Star Markets operates in the Metropolitan Boston area, Washington DC.

The acquisition took Shaw’s Supermarkets to the number 2 position in New England and as the dominant market leader in Houston, Massachusetts.

Like Sainsbury’s Supermarkets, the US operations place an emphasis on high quality food at value for money prices, and are persistently recuperating and improving their range of fresh foods.

The corporation offers approximately 50,000 different lines, up to 35,000 per store at any one time. Some 5,000 popular brand products account for 40 per cent sales and as at June 2003, Shaw’s employs some 28,400 associates.

1.7 Sainsbury’s Bank opened for business on the 19th February 1997. A joint venture between J Sainsbury’s plc and the Bank of Scotland, Sainsbury’s bank was the first Supermarket bank in the UK. The ground breaking venture has attracted over 1.25 million customers with deposits in excess of £2.0 billion pounds and advances, including undrawn commitments, of £1.0 billion. Sainsbury’s Bank continues to lead the field in the research and delivery of new products to meet the needs and wants of their customers. Their current product range includes; Instant Access Saving’s Account, Direct Saver Account, Personal Loans, Sainsbury’s Bank Drive and many more such as Mortgages, home and travel insurance.

 

1.8 JSD was formed in 1993 and is a wholly owned Subsidiary of Sainsbury’s plc. JSD is a property development trading company which acquires new sites and constructs new buildings, lets and then sells the investment of the development on practical completion of the scheme, rather than holding onto the developments for investment purposes.

JSD is predominantly a retail developer but has since diversified into mixed used schemes, including other elements such as leisure, offices and residential. JSD is looking for development opportunities in out-of-town, edge-of-town and town centre based locations throughout the UK.

JSD has developed over 3.5 million sq feet of space in the past 9 years that it has been trading and is scheduled to construct 425,000 sq ft of new space during the current financial year.

1.9 Sainsbury’s Property Company (SPC) was formed in November 2000 with the aim of maximising value from Sainsbury’s Supermarkets property portfolio. With over 450 stores based in the UK, valued at £4.5 billion, it is one of the tenth largest, corporately occupied portfolios in the country.

SPC is looking to develop mixed used schemes, such as housing, leisure and offices on up to 50 sites over the next 4 years, as well as developing more Supermarkets’. Through increased asset values, reduced capital expenditure and enhanced levels of service, SPC will generate financial benefits from the under-exploited supermarket portfolio. Since February 2000, in excess of £566 million has been raised through the development of innovative ‘sale and leaseback’ schemes.

Based on the information mentioned above, it can be said that Sainsbury’s focal/main business activity is selling groceries simply because it has more outlets open in comparison with its other activities that it participates as well such as Sainsbury’s banks and Shaw’s Supermarkets and is generating more sales and profits over the other companies that it owns too.

Join now!

2.0 Organisations need to have aims and objectives to be able to focus on the clear direction needed for success in the modern business world.

The aim is the overreaching goal for the organisation, which can then be broken down into a subset of objectives to achieve their ambition.

Establishing objectives may be done in a number of ways for example, looking at corporate aims in terms of looking at the company as a whole and once this has been recognized, it can be segmented into divisional objectives.

For e.g. the main segmented ...

This is a preview of the whole essay