The methods of gathering information that I will use will include: sending letters and e-mails, having direct telephone conversations, and meeting directly with people. I will also gather information from certain web sites, the web site that I will be looking at will be:
Beechdean Dairies - www.beechdean.co.uk
De Roma Ice Cream - www.deromaicecream.co.uk
The Ice Cream Alliance - www.ice-cream.org
Ben & Jerry’s - www.benjerry.com
Walls Ice Cream - www.walls.com
Cadbury - www.cadbury.co.uk
Organisational Structure
This is a suggested organisation chart for Venetian Ices Ltd:
This organisational chart shows that Toni Seghini is the company owner and is responsible for the managing director. The managing director has a span of control over four directors who are all of equal rank. Each of these directors is responsible for all of his/her departmental managers. For example the personnel director would be responsible for an employment manager, a training manager, a salaries manager, a company relations manager, and a safety and welfare manager. These managers would each be responsible for the workers within their department. This organisational chart shows a clear chain of command, from the directors, to the managers, to the workers.
To complete this task I used my existing knowledge of Business Studies theory along with the pre-reading material. The pre-reading material helped me by giving me an initial insight into the organisation of the business.
Aims and Objectives
The aims of Venetian Ices Ltd could be to, increase/make a profit, to expand, to improve the awareness of their product, to fight competition, and possibly most importantly, to survive.
The objectives which will help Venetian Ices Ltd to achieve these aims will include: -
To increase their market share, to increase the number of shops at which their ice cream is available, to increase the amount of ice cream that is produced. These objectives will help Venetian Ices Ltd to meet their aim to expand.
If Venetian Ices Ltd were to increase turnover and to reduce their costs, then this would help them to achieve their aim to increase or make a profit.
If Venetian Ices Limited were to price their products more competitively then this would be an objective that would help them to achieve their aim to fight competition.
If Venetian Ices Ltd were to increase the amount of advertising they do, or to improve their marketing strategy, or to launch a marketing campaign. Then this would help them to achieve their aim to improve the awareness of their product. This would be an objective for the marketing department.
A specific example of an objective of the marketing department could be to market ‘own label’ take-home ice cream to supermarkets. This would help Venetian Ices Ltd to achieve their aim to expand and also to increase their market share.
These objectives will affect the running of the business in that they will give the employees of Venetian Ices Ltd clear targets that they will strive to meet. This motivates workers and if these targets are met employees will feel a sense of job satisfaction and a sense worth within the company.
The main source of information that I used was a BBC video documentary titled ‘Ice Cream Wars’. This helped me in my investigation by demonstrating some of the issues that may arise when running an ice cream business. I also used my existing knowledge of Business Studies theory.
Constraints
External constraints
The external constraints to Venetian Ices Ltd have included the regulations imposed by the Food Safety Act 1990, and the taxation of ice cream. These constraints cannot be overcome; therefore Venetian Ices Ltd have had to work around them.
A possible external constraint to Venetian Ices Ltd could be their competitors’ behaviour. An example of this would be if Venetian Ices Ltd introduced a unique selling point to their ice cream such as unusual flavours and a rival company copied their idea. This would be completely out of the control of Venetian Ices Ltd and they would some how have to work around this constraint.
Another possible external constraint to Venetian Ices Ltd could be that they could not distribute their product to the store where they wish to sell it. This could be largely due to their competitors’ behaviour. A company called Ben & Jerry’s experienced a similar situation when a rival company called Hagen Daz gave their distribution company an ultimatum. This to either solely distribute Hagen Daz ice cream or to lose the custom of Hagen Daz. Naturally the distribution network decided to solely distribute Hagen Daz ice cream. This constraint was beyond the control of Ben & Jerry’s and they had to work around it.
Constraints on decision-making
Venetian Ices Ltd could experience constraints on decision-making. This would mean that they could not make a particular decision in complete freedom and without restriction. This can in some ways make the decision process easier by eliminating some possible decisions.
Internal constraints
A possible internal constraint to Venetian Ices Ltd could be that there is a lack of communication between departments. One possible affect of this could be that the production process was slowed down. Internal constraints can usually be overcome. To overcome this particular problem Venetian Ices Ltd could install a telephone line between the production room and certain manager’s offices.
Most of my information for this task has come from the BBC video documentary ‘Ice Cream Wars’, along with my existing Business Studies knowledge. The documentary has helped me by giving me an insight into the competitive ice cream market.
