Marks and Spencer's website solely focuses on the interests of its shareholders and it draws attention to its contribution to society at large by explaining the recent news and funding it is involved in. On the website, they do not advertise or concentrate on the customer stakeholder section as much as Tesco's and Barclays have. On the Marks & Spencer's site, they display a few offers around the site and show some of the departments of the store. On this website, it seems that they do not have to continuously update it. Marks & Spencer uses 100 hour part-time secondments to community projects as one of the range of training and development options open to staff. The company's "Look behind the Label" marketing campaign has been very successful. This campaign informs consumers of the ethical credentials of Marks and Spencer food and clothing. Although the front page of the website does not need updating often, there is a link to an investors section. Here they constantly update information to keep investors, shareholders and other people interested or involved, up-to-date. I think this website is trying to communicate with its owners and shareholders, banks other local businesses, customers and the managers. It has links to explaining in more detail for several stakeholders which provides more information. I think they concentrate more on the financial and director side of stakeholders because customers rarely go online to do their shopping unlike Tesco's.
We were told to locate the websites of 3 UK councils. I decided to work on the London Borough of Sutton, the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the Manchester City Council.
2. The London Borough of Sutton offers a wide range of services to everyone in the community. On the website, they give links to services for everyone; the adults and the children and more A-Z services. I think this borough definitely meets the needs of the local community because citizens in the borough have left comments and petitions on the site and the London Borough of Sutton have tried very hard to sort out the problems. The London Borough of Sutton has 5 key services: health and care, housing, education, environment and careers. The Sutton Borough attempt to give equal access to all services and provide the health and care from the NHS for those all in need. For all sorts of illnesses and disabilities they provide all sorts of aid and help. In the borough of Sutton, housing is very important and council tends to provide as much support and help needed for those looking for a home. New housing services have been constructed for the growing population and the London Borough of Sutton focus on their citizen's living lifestyle. Education, a need and key service of every council in the UK; the London Borough of Sutton have a "Children, Young People and Learning Service" which aims to promote school improvement and high pupil achievement amongst all groups of pupils. This service also ensures that children are safeguarded. The London Borough of Sutton is very cautious about their environment and tries to keep it as clean as possible. They have two major projects associating with the environment, "DIY Planet Repairs" and "Green Guardian Awards". London Borough of Sutton has a variety of roles available to social workers of all experiences and backgrounds. There are job centres all over Sutton and the borough is always more than welcome for more employers.
The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames offers a variety of services which are most important to the borough. I think this council concentrates more on what the local citizens of the borough needs than what the council think is necessary. Therefore I do think that this council does a better job in meeting the needs of the local community. On the website, they have 8 key services however I think that the most important ones that the website concentrates on are: business, education and learning, housing, transport, streets and parking. Businesses in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames have a very high demand. The council aims to build as many business opportunities for the local community possible. On the website, they have many links to different areas of business, such as: starting a business, business rates, business regulations. Everything you would possibly want to know about the businesses in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. Similar to other councils, this council also concentrates on the education and learning and try to produce good results from all children studying. Unlike the London Borough of Sutton, the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames advertises on their site housing options and ways in which the local community can benefit from their services. Cleanliness and the environment is a very serious issue in this borough and the council has set up several ways to improve the community's living.
Manchester City Council offers various services for the needs of the local community - just like all the other councils. The website focuses on the citizens of the community and displays all upcoming events and key information for everyone. Similar to the other two councils, the website shows 11 of its services. 5 of Manchester City Council's key services are: business, community and living, environment and planning, health and social care and also leisure, libraries and culture. By looking at the website's Business section, it is clear to say that business is an important aspect of the Manchester's community. According to the site, "Manchester is the largest and fastest growing economy outside London and is the economic powerhouse of the North West". Around 440,000 people live in the city of Manchester and so the community and living is very important and has to be kept at an acceptable standard. There are many links to ways of keeping Manchester's environment clean and planning for further development. Just like the other two councils, Manchester City Council also aims to reduce the numbers of health problems within the borough. On the website, they explain health and social care services for children, young people, adults and their families. The council tries to "help people in Manchester who need care and support, enabling them to get the most out of their lives and become as independent as possible". Lastly, Manchester is well known for its football team and many other leisure and cultural festivals. The website gives a lot details about the city's "ideas about making the most of your leisure time in the city".
I think these three councils feel anxious to stress the "good" work they do because they all need to maintain their standards in London because they are quite well known councils in the London borough. Also, these websites are not only viewed by the local citizens of the boroughs, but other people hoping to start a new life in these areas; to appeal to these new citizens, the council would definitely have to display interesting and information which would make them sound more welcoming.
3. I think that the differing priorities of the public and private sectors do appear obvious from my assessment of their websites; reason being, public sectors attempt to appeal to their shareholders whereas private sectors, appealing to their shareholders would not really by any point. Public and private sectors have very different priorities however sometimes they have the same priorities at different levels.
