Franchise
Big companies make agreements for private individuals to buy the right to sell their goods, for example fast-food outlets like Burger King. The franchisee runs a private business, buying products from the company franchisor that is given a percentage of the profits. In return, the franchisee can use the company's logo and have the shop fitted out in the company style. The franchisee benefits from specialist training and the company's own national advertising. The franchisor can expand without financial risks.
Workers’ cooperative
Sometimes groups of workers buy out their company if it is in financial difficulties. By co-operating with each other, they can share expertise, buy more expensive equipment. The members of the co-operative invest their own capital, and share the profits.
Size
This term in business is meant whether the business has a small or large number of staff, and the size of business can be broken down into four categories. Micro which is a business with less than 10 employees, Small which is a business with up to 5o employees, Medium which is a business with up to 250 employees and Large sized business with 250 employees and more.
Scale
The scale in business means is whether the organisation provides its products or services within an area, particular region or throughout the country or world. The scale of the organisation could be Local (within an area), Regional (for example in within Yorkshire), National (within the UK), European (all over Europe) or Global (throughout the world).
My next step is to look at my chosen organisations and relates them to the above mentioned terms.
Tesco:
Tesco is a Public limited company (PLC), and it is in the private sector which means it is owned by shareholders. Tesco is the biggest employer in the UK with over 250,000 employees and over 1,800 stores. Tesco has four different store formats, each tailored to customers' needs, and these four store formats are, Express, Metro, Superstore and Extra stores.
Purpose
The main business activity of Tesco is to sell food products. Tesco’s purpose is to sell products and make a profit as it is owned by shareholders and want to expand by making profit, and to make their organisation survive Tesco aims and strive to make profit as it is not like other organisation that obtains the money by donations or funded by the government.
Ownership
Tesco is a Public Limited Company (PLC), so it is owned by shareholders. Tesco is run by management who also have shares in it as anyone who works for Tesco has shares with this big company. Tesco has shares for staff who works for it. The shares are not just limited to directors and senior managers, 65% of the people who work for Tesco own shares. All the staff with more than one year’s service received shares worth 3.6% of their salary.
Size
Tesco is a big company and it is the biggest employer in the UK with over 250,000 employees. Tesco serves market in 12 different countries. It operates some 3,250 stores worldwide, and over 1,800 stores in the UK. Tesco plan to open 559 new outlets in the next 12 months.
Tesco’s market worth is estimated to be around £29.090 billion as in October 2006. The sales of Tesco worldwide climbed 11% to £47 billion, with £36 billion coming from the UK. Tesco shares, which climbed 40% in 2006, closed up 6p at new high of 461.75p. Tesco UK trading profit climbed 9% to nearly £2 billion. In 2005 the turnover of Tesco was £30 billion.
So if we compared the turnover of Tesco to other businesses or companies, we will find that Tesco is a very big company, and also it makes huge profit which makes it one of the largest companies in the world.
Scale
Tesco is a multinational company and it has been expanding abroad rapidly. Tesco is the third largest world’s grocery retailer and it has over 1800 stores in the UK and operates more than 800 stores abroad.
Red Cross:
Red Cross strives to help people in crisis whoever and wherever they are. Red Cross is a part of a global voluntary network, responding to conflicts, natural disasters and individual emergencies. Red Cross enables vulnerable people in the UK and abroad to prepare for and withstand emergencies in their own communities. And when the crisis is over it helps them to recover and move on with their lives.
Purpose
The main purpose of Red Cross is to provide a service, and this service includes helping the needy people in crisis whoever and wherever they are. Red Cross does not aim to make profit in its activity as it is a charity organisation which earns the money and operates its activities through the donations from different sources. there different sorts of help and assistance Red Cross provide people in crisis such as, buying food, water, shelter materials and medicine. Red Cross also respond to disasters and conflicts around the world.
Ownership
Red Cross is owned and run by the trustees of the charity. It is a charity which means that it gets the money by raising money by activities or people donate for the Red Cross through donations and Aid tax, legacies and from individuals, in addition it obtains the money from the government as well, by the fact that charities do not pay tax on any donations.
Size
Red Cross is massive global organisation as it is considered one of the biggest charities in the world. The British Red Cross has eight overseas branches, six of which are in the Caribbean: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and Turks and Caicos. The other two branches are in Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands.
These countries are classed as British Overseas Territories, meaning they are subject to the British Government. Since a Red Cross National Society is an auxiliary to its Government, it means that the branches on these islands also form part of the British Red Cross. The British Red Cross has nearly 35,000 trained volunteers and 2,500 staff working in almost every community around the UK as well as in many countries overseas.
In 2005 Red Cross had remarkable year where its income got to £247.6 million and the expenditure was £226.1 million which means that the money lift is not profit but it is lift for any possible disaster.
Scale
Red Cross is an international organisation and it is a major part of the largest fair organisation in the world. The Red Cross responds to series of disasters on a global scale. It provides the help to anywhere in the world and operates branches in eight different countries and distributed in different continents based on the continent that is need for help such Africa, Asia and South America.
MacDonald’s:
MacDonald’s is a big food company, it is a PLC but it is run as a franchised company and it is in the private sector which means it is owned by shareholders or it might be owned as a sole trader. MacDonald’s is the biggest employer in the UK with over 250,000 employees and over 1,800 stores. Tesco has four different store formats, each tailored to customers' needs, and these four store formats are, Express, Metro, Superstore and Extra stores.
Purpose
The purpose of MacDonald’s is to sell food. and the main purpose of MacDonald’s is to make a profit as it is a franchise company and need to make profit to be able to survive and continue its business activity. MacDonald’s also aims to concentrating on kids as key customer for their business and the reason for targeting the kids is because they are aware that the kids will not come by their selves, they kids are normally accompanied with their parents which means the parents will make a purchase as well, so the company can achieve massive sales with big profits as a result of targeting a specific kind of people. That does not mean that MacDonald’s targets only kids, it aims to different kinds of people which is based on the age, gender and the outcome.
Ownership
MacDonald’s is a franchise company which means that an agreement only offer to individuals, not to partnerships, absentee investors or families. The franchisee has the obligation to pay the franchisor certain fees and royalties in exchange for these rights as well as the franchisor has the obligation to provide these rights and generally support the franchisee. More than 70% of McDonald's restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local men and women.
Size
MacDonald’s is massive company and it is the world’s largest chain of fast-food restaurants. There are currently more than 1,000 McDonald's restaurants throughout the UK and restaurants in 120 countries and territories around the world and serve nearly 54 million customers each day.
Net profit of MacDonald’s was $762m (£380m) in the quarter to the end of March, from $625m in the same period a year earlier. Revenues increased 11% (7% in constant currencies) driven by a global comparable sales increase of 6.3%. MacDonald sales increase rapidly in U.S.A sales increased in 3.5%
Europe sales increased 3.5% and Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa comparable sales increased 10.3%.
Scale
MacDonald's is an international organisation and it has stores in 120 countries around the world. MacDonald’s is one of only a handful of brands that command instant recognition in almost every country of the world. McDonald's began with one restaurant in the US in 1955 and today there are more than 26,500 restaurants in 120 countries, serving around 39 million people every day - making McDonald's by far the largest food service company in the world.
Alsultan Shop:
Alsultan shop is in the private sector and it is classed as small business that provides its customers with eastern food. It also has a butcher and provides its products to the big surrounding environment of the Arab community in Upperthorpe area as well as other communities that are interested in the eastern food such as the English, African and Asian communities. Alsultan shop was founded in 2004 and succeeds to gain a good reputation in that area based on providing the customers of the surrounding areas with what they need of good quality of food products.
Purpose
The purpose of Alsultan shop is to sell food products. Alsultan shop is in the private sector so it is aiming to make profit to be able to survive and also to expand its activity to be including different areas of Sheffield.
Ownership
Alsultan shop is owned by individuals so it is classed as a sole trader. It is owned by one person and gets all the profit.
Size
Alsultan shop is a small business and it only has three employees. it operates its activity in Upperthorpe area in Sheffield and plans to open another branch in another area of Sheffield by the beginning of next year. The sales in Alsultan shop is estimated between £2000 and £2800 per day and it is expected that the sales will increase by 10% in the next two months after introducing the Pay Point service by the 20th of may 2007. Last year the turnover of Alsultan shop was £50,000.
So compared to the surrounding competitors of Alsultan shop in Upperthorpe area, we will find that it has the highest sales and it is likely these to increase in the next few months which will make Alsultan shop able to compete in other areas of Sheffield and other cities if planned.
Scale
Alsultan shop is a local organisation as it is a sole trader. It is located in Upperthorpe area in Sheffield and it is well known shop in that area. Alsultan was founded in 2004 and it has the ability to expand in other areas of Sheffield.
