BUSINESS

AT

WORK

ZAINAB

GULZAR

Contents Page

Introduction.

The organisation that I have chosen to base my assignment on is Asda. The reason why I chose Asda was because my parents do their shopping from Asda, so if I need some information I can easily go there with them.

The aim of this company is to make profit. Also, another reason why I chose Asda is because it is a well-known company.

Asda provides products in the form of goods and services. It sells all sorts of products such as clothing, home, leisure and foods, which are frozen, tines and refrigerate. It is well known for its cheap, fresh and good quality fruit.

It also sells alcohol, sweets, cigarettes, newspapers and magazines. Asda usually has good promotions on their products. That way they sell more and at the same time they satisfy their customers too.  

Asda is said to be Britons best value retailers, it became part of the Wal-Mart family in June 1999. Asda was formed by a group of farmers from Yorkshire and now has 259 stores and 19 depots across the UK. It employs people and they have a well-deserved reputation for being the best and the friendliest in the industry.

Asda has been running for 5 years and has been voted for the top 10 UK employer.

Brief Description of the Assignment.

In this assignment, I am going to write about Asda as I have chosen to base my assignment on Asda.

Firstly, I am going to describe Asda’s ownership type and will go on to writing about its advantages and disadvantages of that particular ownership type. I will also explain Asda’s objectives and will go onto writing about how successful it is at meeting those objectives.

Than, I shall describe Asda’s main functional area helps Asda meet its objectives. After that I shall give a description of the management style and culture of Asda.

Secondly, I will describe the use of ICT in internal and external communication at Asda and will go onto giving a detailed analysis of the impact of ICT upon the internal and external communication. After completing all that, I will evaluate how important the organisational structure, business culture, management style and ICT are in achieving its objectives.

Finally, I shall give a clear explanation of how the production process and quality assurance/control system employed by the business, helps it to add value to its product or services. Also, I will evaluate an alternative approach to quality control or quality assurance and the effect it could have on the functions of Asda and how it achieves its objectives. 

Describe your business ownership type.

Asda is a Public Limited Company, which has limited liabilities. It can offer its share for sale on the stock market in order to raise finance.

Public limited company’s has its shares available for any one to purchase on a stock exchange. In order to become a public limited company a company needs to have £50,000 worth of its shares purchased and a quarter of them must be fully paid up. That is to say, their owners must have paid to the company the fully asking price.

PLC tend to be ‘the big league’ or first division of business companies.

‘Money makes money’ and many public companies like Asda take the form of multiples companies with many branches, stores or outlets.

The trading edge of the larger PLC’s derives from the capital and human resources skills they command. A company like Asda can pump millions of pounds into research and development and sometimes come up with a world-beating product. Asda originally is an American company by Wal-Mart. As Asda is a company with limited liabilities, it is a type of business ownership, which combines several features of corporation and partnership structures.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of this type of ownership?

The advantages of Asda being a public limited company is that it has limited liability of share holders. This means that the shareholders only lose the value of the share, they don’t lose their personal assets.  Also, it is easier to raise large amounts of capital to extend. This is possible because there are so many people that have shares in businesses. People such as business workers, investors, they could be either male or female.

The shares are freely transferable on the stock exchange and it is also easier to borrow money from the banks as well. E.g. you could always take a loan out.

The disadvantage of Asda being a public limited company is that the whole organisation can become very large and impersonal meaning, people may not feel that they belong to the organisation, because so many people become involved in the business. Once the organisation becomes quiet large, it can be very difficult to manage. This is because the shareholders may be doing some kind of fraud and taking other members money.

Shares can be easily brought on the stock exchange, so there is a risk of someone overtaking if their bid is higher. If this happens, then the person that bids higher is buying al the shares, leaving the other bidders with nothing to buy. They are left angry, and they unfortunately can’t afford the shares but where interested in buying one.

As the organisation that I have chosen has limited liabilities, it means that the business is a separate entity to the owner. The owner is not personally responsible for the debts of the business. Owners may lose value of shares in the business.

Explain your business objectives.

An objective is a goal the business wishes to achieve.

Asda aims to increase food sales while developing its non-food business, offering the convenience of one stop shopping to its customers.

Asda’s main objective is to make profit and have continuous sales growth. They do this by beating the competition around them. Beating the competition can be done in many ways.

  • Growth: A policy of expansion to increase sales and market share (market share is the percentage of the market taken by the product of a business).
  • Price cutting: Asda also has an objective of providing quality products and customer service. Asda makes sure that all of its products are of satisfactory quality, if that is met than customers don’t bring any kind of compliant in the future.

As the customers pay for the goods and services, Asda has to ensure that the whole workforce is involved in the quality process.

Another objective of Asda is to build up a skilled workforce. A quality manufactured product or service can only b provided by employees who are trained in the necessary skill. At Asda, all the employees are trained to an extent, so that they can deal with the customers in a professional way.

I would say that Asda’s main objective is to make profit. This objective relies on all the other objectives. This is because, if the other objectives are not achieved than it effects the profit overall. If all the objectives are met than Asda is more likely to make good profit.

Asda would also like to expand, what I mean by this is that it will like to open up new stores across the world, this will l lead to recruiting more people and making more profit. Asda can always achieve this objective because they are already making good profit.

Asda would also like to improve its working environment They can do this by making sure that I is a safe place for its customers and workers. Also, Asda helps the community every now and then by giving money to the charity.

Asda would like to deliver value for their shareholders. By them trying to do this, it shows the shareholders that Asda really does care about them. It would be nice if Asda can expand their products in areas that the customers would like them to. They can find out what customers would like, by asking them to fill in a questionnaire.

Asda has been quiet succesfull at delivering good value for its shareholders, I know this because it has more shareholders than Sainsburys and Tesco’s.

Asda’s objective is to also branch out successfully internationally. Once it does that it will be more known around the world. This will eventually lead too Asda recruiting more people.

Asda has been very succesfull at branching out. This is mainly because of its good reputation and excellent profit, which has been increasing yearly.

Asda opened up its first ever store in the UK in 1999 and now has 262 stores in the UK.

Asda provides special service for its disabled customers, which are disabled toilets and parking spaces. Also, Braille guns were rolled out in 2000 to label goods for our partially sighted and blind customers.

Asda cares for its environment because it gives money to the ‘Tickled Pink’ breast cancer care. Asda has already raised over £1 million.

In November 2002, Asda raised £1.2 million for BBC children in need. It is still continuing to support BBC children in need.

Overall summary of Asda’s objectives –

  • To make profit
  • Survival – beating the competition
  • Increasing sales and market shares
  • Providing quality goods and services
  • Developing a skilled work force
  • Caring for the environment
  • Have low labour turnover  
  • Improve the environment
  • Branch out successfully

How successful is the company at meeting its objectives.

Asda is very successful at meeting its objectives. This is obvious because it is making good profit and is recruiting more and more people.

Asda has a brilliant reputation, I am certain of this because the customers that buy there goods and services from there are satisfied with them and shop from there repeatedly. (Repeat business)

Asda provides a un – rivalled value to its customers in the quality of the goods they sell, in the commitment of their prices and in the range of choice they offer. Also, Asda provides a working environment where there is concern for the welfare of each member of staff, all the staff has the opportunity to develop their ability’s and where each is rewarded for their contribution to the success of the business.

Asda is one supermarket that is well known for selling good quality, cheap products and services. Every year, Asda’s profits are increasing. As Asada is cheap and makes a lot of profit, it has opened up many stores. Furthermore, this means more profit for Asda, customers are satisfied and so are they.

Customers with low income would like to buy products for low prices. (Good value for good money)

Asda is cheap in the first place, so the customers don’t need to worry about the price.

Join now!

People with good income, may want luxury products and Asda provides these to. At Asda, customers can pay by credit or debit card, cash and cheque too.

Asda also offers wide range of facilities, Such as:

  • Offering credit
  • Delivery o your home
  • Internet shopping
  • Car park (the big Asda’s)

I believe Asda is very successful at meeting its objectives. I myself shop from Asda and so does my family.

GOING TO DO SOME GRAPHS. COMPARING THE PRICE OF PRODUCTS FROM TESCO AND MY CHOSEN ORGANISATION, ASDA.

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