By 1981 the company was operating from five different sites and the desision was made to consolidate every thing on one site in Corby. The move from London was completed 1984 and the company transferred to a purpose built warehouse and offices. Since then the warehouse has been expanded.
RS component is now Europe’s distributor of electrical, electronic and mechanical components, instruments and associated tools. Their six massive catalogues are available on CD ROM, a medium which is provided increasing popular. There is also a WEB site. Products orders before 8PM are dispatched the same day and they take approximately 15000 orders a day with an average of £90 an order. Each one of the orders is being ‘picked’ within 11 minutes of being received. RS also operate a number of trade counters, currently 15 of them are based in the UK. They are in:
- Aberdeen
- Birmingham
- Bristle
- Corby
- Crawley
- Glasgow
- Leeds
- London-East-Bow
- London-West-Heathrow
- London-North-Watford
- Manchester
- Newcastle
- Nottingham
- Southampton
- North Wales
At the RS Components in Corby customers can collect goods or ask for the special courier service, which allows door to door delivery within for hours. In addition, an RS Components is now present in many controls including France, Germany, Australia, Italy, Spain, Austria and New Zealand. They export to 150 countries and also have sales and production offices in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
RS say that they provide its customers with a service that is second to none. I think this must be true as they keep making even bigger profits each year so customers are loyal to them and keep coming back with more orders It also provides its staff with challenging work, good benefits package and a chance to work for a successful and growing organisation. It has got a good reputation in Corby as a good place to work at and they have over 250 people each month sending in their CVs asking if they have got any jobs. I think people would like the opportunity to work for a big company with all the training and benefits and also because there is job security.
About RS Components
The business activities at RS Components
RS Components a business-to-business company that supplies businesses with any one of thousands of components and products. It sources and buys thousands of products from all over the world and then sells them to other companies through catalogues. There are six catalogues that divide the products into certain groups.
In business a company operates in a type of sector. There are three types of sectors:
- Primary sector- this compromises those industries concerned with growing natural products such farming and growing crops and extracting mineral resources like coal or gas or oil . The primary sector then sells on its raw materials to other companies in the secondary sector.
- Secondary sector- uses raw materials and includes business involved in manufacturing and construction, often using products from the primary sector. They take the primary sector products and process them into other products. Companies in the secondary sector are the ones supplying RS Components with its products. In other words they are manufacturers
- Tertiary sector- is made up of businesses providing services to other companies or customers – this involves .
RS is a company that buys, sells and distributes products and services and this means RS is a tertiary sector company.
Aims and objectives at RS Components
Aims are long-term goals of the business. A business tries to achieve one or more aims. Most businesses tend to have similar aims and the aims of a business could be:
- Make a profit
- Provide good and services
- Survival
- Growth or expansion
- Maximise sales
- Improve the quality of the product.
At RS Components the aims are:
- To be the best
- Increase the profit
- To grow the business
- To accelerate growth in length in high potential areas.
- To drive profit growth data higher rate than sales.
This sounds like technical jargon but it is all explained to the staff so that all the departments know what the company is trying to do. Each department then sets its own objectives and they work towards helping the company get its strategic objectives.
It important for RS Components Ltd to set aims because the company needs to know where its going. It is like having a plan or using a map and everyone in the company shares in that information. The aims and objectives sometimes has to be changed to suit the business so it will help the business improve income, have more customers, sell more products or be able to increase sales. A business can only increase sales when every one is happy with the prices and the quality of the product that they are buying or the service that they are getting.
For example, if RS Components decided to start making some of the products that they buy off other companies then they would need more money to set up factories and employ people and invest in technology and research. This would cost loads of money. At the moment they are a limited company that is a division of PLC. To raise money to pay for the new factories they might change RS to a PLC division and float it on the Stock Exchange where people buy shares in the company and become the shareholders. This means the profit would get shared out between the shareholders and not go direct to the PLC parent like it does now. It is very complicated ownership.
Ownership
An ownership is the type of way a company is owned. Here are some examples of different types of ownership:
- Private limited company
- Public limited company (Plc)
- Sole trader
- Partnership
RS Components is a private limited company that is part of a PLC. An Ltd company has limited liability. This means that the bank or the creditors cannot take your personal belonging away if your company owes a lot of money to the bank or creditors, or the business goes bankrupt. Ltd companies often tend to be relatively small but not at RS Components. It is the biggest company in Corby. As a LTD company they can’t sell their shares on the stock exchange to raise funds. Share holders are people or organisations who own a company by buyin gshares in it. They can be individual people or big companies or banks.
RS Components features of ownership are very complex to explain. There is RS who is a part of a company called Electrocomponents Plc, but RS is a Ltd division of that PLC. Many Ltd’s are relatively small but RS is actually a world wide global company.
Being a PLC has its disadvantages and its advantages:
Its advantages are:
- The owners on the business (the share holders) benefit from limited liability. Reducing the risk to share holders makes it easier to raise capital.
- Public limited companies can sell their shares on stock exchange and this allows them to raise capital to develop new products and purchase new buildings and machinery.
- Companies benefit from continuity. If a share holder dies, the shares are sold on to some one else and the business carries on.
Its disadvantages are:
- Companies have to fulfil a number of legal formalities. For example, they are required to publish a annul report containing financial information about the business. Competitors are able to study this information.
- Companies, and especially public limited companies, have their business affairs discussed in the newspaper and on television. It is easy for them to attract bad publicity. At RSs Components they do a lot of work in the community and help charities and have to do this to give a good public image in the community.
- It is much more expensive to start a public limited company than a sole trader. But a sole trader could never be as big as RS components as it would be too risky to own all that stock.
Suggest how and why the ownership, and aims of the business may need to change in order to respond to a change in business activities.
If Rs Components decide to source and sell quality products at low prices. Products like electrical goods, to sell them to the public and not just the others businesses. I would recommend that they do this as a franchise rather that staying the same as an Ltd. I think that RS Components is a very well known company with a lot of respect given to it by its customers and by the public. If RS had had franchises then people will be familiar with the company and they will be on top of the problems and debts straight away within a few months. If they do this then they will have to change their monthly objectives to meet their new targets. It would be easy for RS to find people who will be interested into buying a franchise. All they have to do is put it on the website that advertises franchise and automatically people will apply to own a franchise because of the companies success previously.
RS Components- Executive management team (EMT)
Business functions
In all businesses there are many different functions or jobs that need to be done. Often a company has a special department to do these jobs. If you are a sole trader you have to do all the functions yourself or pay someone to help you do it (eg. Have an accountant). Here are some examples:
- Finance
- Admin
- IT support
- Human resources
- Marketing and sales
- Customer service
- Research development
The reasons for having business functions are:
- So the business can carry out a range of activities.
- So the business can be successful in all of its activities.
- It will make sure that the business will operate efficiently.
- It will help the business meet all of its aims and objectives.
- It will help the business make goods.
At RS Components all the different functions try to work to help each other. They have a communication system and a Management Information System that means all the staff have a computer and can share information. They have security so you can’t see all the company information but people are allowed to know what they need to know to do their jobs better.
Here are the main functions at RS and they are all in different departments on different floors.
Administration
At RS Components there is a central admin department but there is also admin support in every department.
Admin duties include running the big reception area where visitors report in and are taken to their meetings, health and safety, clerical work like sending letters and faxing information, security, cleaning and maintenance.
At RS Components the HR department had two admin clerks. They word processed letters, made telephone calls and book accommodation for staff who have to visit customers or go to meetings.
When I was working for my work experience, I had to help the admin department by opening mail and putting them in the right box for the different people who worked in the department and I had to type up memos and send them away.
The admin also organise meetings and keep records of the agreed decisions at the meeting of HR staff that takes place every week.
The admin department store all the information that they got from the meeting, records of telephone calls, and information about health and safety on to two different computer systems that can only be accessed by the first assistant and manager of the admin area. Only one of these managers can access one set of the files and the other can only access the other. This will prevent any changes that might be changed. This gives them security. If a change is made on the computer about the agreements on a meeting, the outcome might be terrible for the company.
The quality management system and its controlling processes are aligned with the Organisation's strategic aims and the requirements of the ISO9001:2000 Management Standard. ___________________________________________________________
Although RS Components' internal management systems address the needs of all business stakeholders, the primary focus for the quality management system is the outputs of processes, procedures and activities that ensure customers' needs are understood and that appropriate products and services are offered to satisfy those needs.
The quality management system is an integral part of the overall business management system and, through effective monitoring of relevant processes; it ensures that the following principles are upheld:
- The Organisation communicates with, and listens to, its customers.
- It is proactive in anticipating customers' needs and
expectations.
- It safeguards its customers and itself by maintaining legal and regulatory compliance.
- It provides marketing, technical and support information that is readily accessible and easily understandable.
- it constantly strives to improve operating processes, product and services for the benefit of the customers.
- satisfy their needs, wherever possible, we ensure that our systems and processes comply with recognised international standards.
Finance
The finance area handles everything that has something to do with money.
The finance departments job is to:
- Pay wages and salaries, which is paid out every month.
- Preparing accounts
- Prepare balance sheets cash flow forecast.
- Prepare accounts.
- Obtain capital and other resources.
- Keep a record of how much money it put in, taken out of the business.
- Arrange a pension scheme for some of his employees.
- Give a budget to all the areas in the business. E.g. if he need a new television then the human will use the money they have fro the budget that.
Marketing
Marketing is a department of a company that advertises the company products and finds out what the customers and other people want from the business. Some of the objectives of the marketing department are
- Consumers’ reactions to the firms existing products
- What new goods and services the consumer wants from the business and the prices the consumer is willing to pay for a particular product or service
- What new products will prove popular
- How the consumers expect from by the employees.
There are two major sets of ways to find out this information. There is primary and there is secondary
Primary- discovers customer’s needs through market research, for e.g. telephone interviews and questionnaires.
Secondary- advises customers of production through promotion e.g. advertise, special offers and public relations.
RS Components marketing department
Promotional methods
The most known marketing activity is promotion, which can include:
- Sales promotion, such as giving free samples or buy 1 get 1 free offers
- They can also promote their company through
- Broachers
- Word of mouth
- Catologs
- Posters
- Promotional gifts e.g. mugs and key rings
- Advertisements
- Radio
- TV
- Newspaper
- Trade magazines
- Consumer magazines
- Exhibitions
- Web sites
- Direct mail
- Competition
- Leaflets
- Directors
Promotional methods
The most known marketing activity is promotion, which can include:
- Sales promotion, such as giving free samples or buy 1 get 1 free offers
- They can also promote their company through
- Broachers
- Word of mouth
- Catologs
- Posters
- Promotional gifts e.g. mugs and key rings
- Advertisements
- Radio
- TV
- Newspaper
- Trade magazines
- Consumer magazines
- Exhibitions
- Web sites
- Direct mail
- Competition
- Leaflets
- Directors
Human resources
The HR department has one of the most objectives on a company. Here are some of there actives
- Recruiting new employees- they could hire people that already work in the company or they could do it externally.
- Keeping excising employees- firms do not want to lose their highly trained staff. Recruiting new ones will require training.
- Dismissing employees-sometimes the employee does not do their job properly so most of them are made redundant.
- Providing good working conditions- if your in a office there need to be warmth and cleanness in the work place
Customer service charter
A customer service charter is made for:
- Makes the customer feel more safe about their product
- It attracts more customers
An RS component has a customer service charter. Here it is.
We RS promise that all of our prices are reasonable and our products are of the best quality. We also have a very reliable delivery service. We also a special delivery service to customers who want the goods at a certain time.
If you have any inquires about the prices or the products please let us know by and we’ll do our best to meet your problem. we can exchange or refund your product with no questions asked, in the time limit within 14 days. We cannot refund used products unless it can be proven to be faulty. If you have any problem with this or RS Components, please contact us by phone, email, fax or just come in and someone will talk to you.
RS Components
The type of people that RS could recruit, factory workers, office workers, Lorie drivers and people for the trade counters. They also recruit technical supporters, officers who work for RS.
Introduction training is given on the first day of work. They take the person a tore around of the building e.g. trade counters, offices, stock in, stock out, the storage places etc.
Production and operations
The quality management system and its controlling processes are aligned with the Organisation's strategic aims and the requirements of the ISO9001:2001Management Standard.
Although RS Components' internal management systems address the needs of all business stakeholders, the primary focus for the quality management system is the outputs of processes, procedures and activities that ensure customers' needs are understood and that appropriate products and services are offered to satisfy those needs.
The quality management system is an integral part of the overall business management system and, through effective monitoring of relevant processes, it ensures that the following principles are upheld:
- The Organisation communicates with, and listens to, its
customers.
- It is proactive in anticipating customers' needs and
expectations.
- It safeguards its customers and itself by maintaining legal
and regulatory compliance.
- It provides marketing, technical and support information that
is readily accessible and easily understandable.
- It constantly strives to improve operating processes, product
and services for the benefit of the customers.
- Upholds it its core business values.
To give customers confidence in our ability to satisfy their needs, wherever possible, we ensure that our systems and processes comply with recognised international standards
Communication at RS Components
RS Components commutates in different ways to people and other businesses, they commutate internally and externally. It is important for RS Components commutate because each person who works within the business needs to know what’s new and what has change in the business. E.g. if RS Components has started to sell a new product, if Marketing department didn’t advertise it then the product wouldn’t be sold and then the business wouldn’t operate properly. RS Components could improve their communication skills by being more commutative with their delivery service company
The WEEE Directive affects the following products:
- Large Household appliances
- Small Household appliances
- IT and telecommunications equipment
- Consumer equipment
- Lighting
- Electrical and electronic tools (with the exception of large scale, stationary industrial tools)
- Toys, leisure and sports equipment
- Medical devices (with the exception of implanted and infected products)
- Monitoring and control instruments
- Automatic dispensers
The RoHS Directive affects all these product types with the exception of:
- Medical devices
- Monitoring & control instruments
Customer
RS Components have a wide verity of competitors so they have to keep their customers that they have. They have many ways in doing this. Some of them are:
- Offering fair prices, good quality products and reliable delivery.
- Providing customers with detailed information and advice about products before they buy them.
- Operating efficient ordering systems, so that products can be ordered quickly and easily and customers can find out when the delivery is due.
- Offering efficient after sale services. Such as repair and maintenance and the replacement of faulty products or parts.
- Responding to enquiries about the business and/or its products.
- Dealing with written complaints from customers promptly and fairly.
- Offering customers credit. Many businesses arrange loans to help customers buy their products. This can often be done immediately, allowing customers to have their goods straight away.
- Delivering goods it is normally for business to deliver bulky or heavy items, but delivery of goods as a consumers buy more on the internet.
Competitors
RS Components has not got any competitors that do exactly the same thing as RS components because RS has so many areas in the company and sell a wide range of things that covers every need for a small business. E.g. they sell account book to key locks. But it does have lots of competitors that sell the things as RS does which is actually harder for RS to compete. It would be easier to compete with one other competitor, rather than 15 competitors.
Here is a list of the competitors that RS have:
- Kaiser and Kraft plc
- Kellys
- Keyind
- Black box
- Newey and Eyre
- MSC
- Slingsby
- Rexel senate elec supplies
- Digi-key catalogue
- Arw
- Buck and Hickman
- CEF
- Fisher
- Wyko
RS compete with its competitors by doing these things:
- Help lines- they have help lines that you can phone up and help you chose what tool is best for the job and the one most suited for the job and for your budget.
- Catalogues- RS has 7 catalogues they are all have a different types of products and they always have 3 or 4 promotional magazines for each month.
- Delivery- RS have joined with another company to deliver the customers goods within 24 hours if necessary.
- Order online- you can order online if you want and all the info will be on the website.