Business Location
Location is a critical factor if the business wants to succeed. The internet has had an impact on business locations because it may mean you can locate anywhere. But it all depends on what sort of operations the business needs to do. Factors that may influence the location include:
- Availability and cost of labour skills
- The cost of premises- for example you are going to have to pay much more money for a location in London than you would in the south
- Government charges- for example the government are going to charge more taxes if your business is private and in London than you would if you were private and in the country
- Financial help
- Transport links for supplies and distribution- For example if the distribution factory for Tesco is in the centre of main locations
- Where the customers are- for example if you would put a Tesco in the middle of nowhere or in a high street
- History and tradition
Type of Ownership
Tesco
The type of ownership that Tesco has is in the private sector. It is a public limited company. The reason for Tesco being a public limited company is so the organisation can make a profit by being able to sell shares on the stock exchange.
An advantage of being able to sell shares is if the business is doing well the share value will rise in value.
Tesco also have “limited liability” which means that the owners and shareholders of Tesco are not personally responsible for the business’ debt and will not have anything repossessed etc.
Tesco will use economies of scale for their advantage because they will be able to buy more at a time and borrow cheaper and this is an advantage because it means that they can sell the product for cheaper than a competitor may sell the same product. A disadvantage of selling shares is if the business is not succeeding the value of the shares will drop in value and means Tesco will not get as much per share as usual.
Another disadvantage is that Tesco has a possibility of takeover because the shares can be bought by anyone and this might cause an argument over who has more power to the company.
Chelmsford College
Advantages
Chelmsford College is owned by the government which means it comes under the public sector. This means that it is not there to make a profit and all the money that comes into Chelmsford College is paid by taxes. There is no liability involved if you work in the public sector which
means that the business’ debt will not have any action taken because it is run by the government.
Chelmsford College doesn’t have to worry about the economy as much because it doesn’t affect them for example they would not have to take notice about the credit crunch or any problems that is going on except if the government has money to spent elsewhere.
Disadvantages
A disadvantage of being in the public sector is that if you go over the budget you may be restricted to future funding to make up for the expenditure before.
The student numbers affect the funding that the college get so if students are not coming in or they are sick the funding will go down and will affect the budget that the college gets.
If the government have anything else they would have to spend money on for example if the country goes to debt that may mean the college funding money may be reduced.
Location
Tesco
Tesco use different types of store in different locations. The different types of store are:
- Tesco Extra- This is the largest type of store. It is usually on the suburbs of town areas. It has foods and non-foods inside.
- Tesco Superstore- This is mainly located in smaller residential areas. It is usually a food specialist.
- Tesco Metro- Located in city centres and busy high streets. Mainly selling food essentials.
- Tesco Express- These are just small stores located in petrol stations or local residential neighbourhoods.
Tesco would also have to worry about the location of the supplies factory if it is in a main city located in the centre of other main locations. Tesco have a distribution centre in Basildon and Harlow which means it is easy to get to other main location where Tesco have stores.
Chelmsford College
Chelmsford College is based in Chelmsford but has 3 sites in Chelmsford. These are based in:
- Moulsham Street
- Princes Road
- Copelstan Court (Central Essex Training)
The location is based upon where the customers are maybe looking at where a lot of secondary schools are and get the students from there. It is also depending on the transport for customers for example if it easy for students to get in by bus and whether there are enough buses. They may depend on whether there are enough alternatives in the region to support the government education policy.