Aims and Objectives
I have found more similarities for this section compared to the ownership. A similarity I have found would be that both Sparsholt and Russ Berrie aim to survive as businesses. Neither of the companies wants to fall too much into debt or have to declare themselves as bankrupt as this would mean the company is out of business and would have to shut down meaning that both owners would receive no income from the businesses. Another similarity that I have noted would be that both the companies; Sparsholt and Russ Berrie want to turn over a profit at the end of each year, this would apply to all companies as without the profit the company wouldn’t survive very long.
A similarity I noticed about the aims was there one to be better than the competitors. Both companies are aiming to be the best and so is all the other companies and competitors for Russ Berrie and Sparsholt.
However I have noted differences in the two companies’ aims and objectives, Russ Berrie aims to increase the amount of products it can produce whereas in comparison to this Sparsholt aim to improve their milk quality.
In contrast to those differences though I have discovered more similarities between the two companies; Neither of the companies produced very smart objectives, which could be very useful for making the companies more productive, an example of this would be Sparsholts objective “To promote animal welfare” as you can see its very simple likes Russ Berries objective to “Increase the sales of Russ Berrie Products” this objective is very similar in the way that it is not very specific and there is no time scale which makes it too generic and not nearly as effective. Another similarity I have noted between the two companies would be the aim to improve the quality of their products that are distributed to their customers. I have found that both the companies aim to improve the quality of their products, Russ Berrie aims to “produce high quality goods” whereas Sparsholt also aims to “To produce high quality milk” both these aims are similar and based on the same idea of making better products.
However I have noted another difference between the two companies aims and objectives, Sparsholt is trying to promote a better understanding of animal welfare to locals and customers etc in comparison though to Sparsholts aim promote animal welfare Russ Berrie has no environmental objectives which could relate to Sparsholts objective to promote animal welfare. The last difference I noticed was the amount of objectives each company has listed, Russ Berrie has got three objectives listed however in comparison Sparsholt has got eight listed down, this is more than twice as many objectives for Sparsholt to try and achieve. This could be easier for Sparsholt to do though as it’s a much smaller company and therefore changes would be easy to change and results would be more visible.
Location
I found more differences when reasearching the similarities and differences between Russ Berrie and Sparsholt. One of the differences I found it that Russ Berrie ships its products around the world and uses lorries to deliver its products up and down the country, whereas Sparsholt only uses two refrigerated lorries to carry the milk from Sparsholt to Watsons which is a 20 minute drive compared to Russ Berrie having to ship goods around the world. Another difference I found is that Russ Berries new location was built upon a Brownfield site meaning the company got a small grant for doing so whereas Sparsholt had to be built on a Greenfield site because it needed the grass for the cows to graze upon. A similarity though was that neither company built in an area that had unemployment rates and therefore neither company received grants for doing so. The two company’s suppliers are far in difference as Russ Berries suppliers are mainly from China, India and other eastern countries and are brought it by ships; whereas in contrast Sparsholts suppliers are almost all UK based and transport their goods to Sparsholt via Lorries. Another difference I have noted is the company’s customers and where theyre Russ Berrie has customers all over the world and in order to ship the goods to them location is important, however in comparison Sparsholt on the other hand has only one customer that’s situated in the UK not very far from Sparsholt its self.
Another similarity of the companies is that both are situated in the UK. The cost of land in the UK is very expensive, however a difference I noticed was that Sparsholt was bought many years ago when land was cheaper but Russ Berrie recently moved when the land prices were very high. Another difference I noted was that Russ Berrie is more urbanely located which in comparison to Sparsholt which needs to be in the rural areas for the green land and peace for the cattle. One of the last similaritys I found was that Russ Berrie and Sparsholt both have competitors however a difference between the two companies is that Russ Berrie must be better than them in order to survive whereas Sparsholt does not have to worry so much as the milk quota given to dairies stop competition from becoming to extreme. The last similarity I could find was that the labour laws and rules is the same for both companies as they’re both in the same country and the same labour and wage laws apply for both of them.
Activity
I have found many differences between Russ Berrie and Sparsholt and very few similarities. For example Russ Berrie is a secondary type business, this means they make products out of raw materials in comparison to Russ Berrie though Sparsholt is a primary type business as it gets its products from the cows which is a raw material and involves no manufacturing of any kind. I also found another difference between Russ Berrie and Sparsholt about where they’re products are produced. Russ Berrie does not make its products instead it employees factories in other countries to produce the product for them and then imports them to sell on to their customers, in contrast to this Sparsholt does all the produce making work it’s self by milking the cows and loading up the lorries to transport it. I found a difference about the two companies about their location and history. In recent years Russ Berrie has had to move because of financial difficulty in contrast to this though Sparsholt has not had to move recently or ever since the business opened many years ago, as they have had no serious financial trouble which has forced them to do so.
A similarity between the two companies that I found is that Russ Berrie is a retail company to its clients in the Uk and abroad and so is Sparsholt to its only customers Watsons, however a difference is that Russ Berrie sells products to all over the world and to many difference clients whereas in contrast Sparsholt only distributes products to the one customer and is that is located in the same country and county. Another similarity between the companies is that in recent year’s events have taken part it the companies day to day running. For example the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001 which was one of the worst outbreaks in recorded history which fortunately didn’t effect Sparsholts cows but has caused Sparsholt and other farms to change hygiene procedures, in comparison to the recent foot and mouth events Russ Berrie has had its own problems with Carte Blanche, this rival company has had to force Russ Berrie into thinking of new ideas and new products in order to stay in the market, which in turn has near totally changed the company.
