Evaluate the strategies that a business can adopt during a recession
Evaluate the strategies that a business can adopt during a recession A recession, two negative quarters of GDP in an economy, is inevitably going to lead to a business getting less customers. Its overhead costs will be the same, but its unit costs will be higher because it will not be producing as many products but will still have these fixed costs. This will make the business less profitable in the short-term and so strategies must be implemented to try to improve the business's short-term and long-term prosperity. Such strategies might include improving its cash flow position, downsizing, decreasing its costs, decreasing its gearing and managing its receivables and payables more carefully. A strategy of improving cash flow will involve many aspects. They will need to decrease their fixed costs so that their unit costs will decrease and it will be easier to make a profit in the difficult economic climate. This may involve selling off excess machinery or ordering less inventories, or it may involve increasing its operational efficiency by holding less inventories and thus lowering its storage costs. Ultimately, improving its cash flow will enable the business to remain more liquid in hard times, where investors (e.g. banks) will be less financially lenient, in the way of loaning money to businesses, during a recession. Thus it is more crucial than ever for a business to
Working in a business environment
Outcome 1: Understand how to respect people at work. .1 Describe what is meant by diversity and why it should be valued. Diversity means that people are valued for their differences, meaning that they are placed in a job that is well suited to them, creating a more productive workforce. An example of this would be having a receptionist that has a bubbly personality, who is always smiling and willing to meet new people, as opposed to a grumpy, antisocial person who does not want to be there. It should be valued as it means everyone can produce their best work and people will work harder at a job they enjoy and are good at. .2 Describe how to treat other people in a way that is sensitive to their needs. To be able to be sensitive to other peoples needs, first you have to work out and decide what their need is, this could be either obvious or less obvious, for example they may use wheelchair. Once you have understood their needs, you need to work out and understand how to treat them. Carrying on with the use of a wheelchair, the employee should not be treated any differently than other employees in the sense that they should all have the same opportunities for progression in the workplace as others, however, to aid them on a day to day basis, it may be polite to hold open a door for them, or ensure that there is ample parking room in place. .3 Describe how to treat other
Skills and Knowledge Needed to Work In A Business Environment
Victor Stephenson-Henshaw Unit CU678 EDI Level 2 Certificate In Principles Of Business And Administration Unit CU678 – Work In A Business Environment Victor Stephenson-Henshaw Assessor – Rob Allen ________________ Understand How To Respect Other People At Work ,1 Describe What Is Meant By Diversity And Why It Should Be Valued Diversity can be differences in race, belief systems, physical appearance, mental capabilities, etc. It is also a variety of something such as opinion, colour, or style. Diversity should be respected and valued because not everyone is completely the same even in the example categories; they are not the same as everyone else. Some people like to eliminate what is dissimilar. Our opinions can lead to environmental problems such as violence and hatred because of diversity being a key ingredient to a good and safe environment. Everyone in the workplace is treated equally. Every individual has a unique something to offer and this can help the company. Diversity should be valued because without diversity, the company or the people at the work environment wouldn’t have knowledge on other cultures this can be helpful to the company as it opens the company or people to experience a different perspective other than the usual culture. Diversity should be valued because in case a unlawful discrimination may cost the company if
Does the increasingly global nature or business mean that all organisations need to change their strategies significantly to achieve higher profits?
Exam Question June 2011: The business world is becoming increasingly global. As a result of this, many companies, such as Costa Coffee and Dyson, have changed their strategies in relation to the markets they target or where they produce. Does the increasingly global nature or business mean that all organisations need to change their strategies significantly to achieve higher profits? Justify your answer with reference to Costa Coffee, Dyson and/or other organisations that you know. (40 marks) The world is becoming a smaller place due to globalisation. It has helped communication around the world making everyone more connective. Companies all of a sudden have access to different countries and have more potential to grow and expand as developing countries have recently under gone rapid growth and industrialization causing new emerging market businesses can enter. This has put pressure on Weston business to expand into theses new regains because if they don't expand they would not be able to compete with competitors increase in expansion and corporate power. Looking at Gap Inc I discovered that they changed their Ansoff Matrix strategy in order to expand and grow. Gap Inc decided it would be best to use the strategy market development, this is where a
How employee performance is managed and measured at a business
Assignment 4-How employee performance is managed and measured at a business .0 Introduction I will write a report regarding an employee working at Tesco, and analyse how Tesco look at their employees and review their performance and see how they manage them. This is so that they can get the best performance out of them, as different people need different ways of managing them. This leads to performance improvement, the measures leading companies use to effectively manage employee development, rewards and recognition, recruitment and selection, and employee satisfaction and morale. 2.0 Findings 2.1. How Tesco manage and measure a performance of an employee Tesco is a global company and for them to remain one of the best they must man manage their staff, and measure how well they are performing as an employee, this not only benefits the company as sales will be better but also the employee can see what areas they are exceeding at, but also what areas they can improve upon. Performance Management- There is many approaches that Tesco take upon to the development of a sound performance management system with employees. Tesco believe that an employee must have clear work plan objectives that are aligned with the goals of the company, measurements to assure whether an objective has been achieved, such as has the employee reached their sales total of the day. An assessment of
McDonalds Marketing Analysis. Explain the marketing techniques used by a given organisation and analyse how and why these techniques have been chosen.
Introduction In this assignment I will explain the marketing techniques used by a given organisation and analyse how and why these techniques have been chosen. The marketing techniques I will talk about are SWOT and PESTLE analysis and also the Marketing Mix. The organisation I have chosen for the purpose of this assignment is McDonalds. a) PESTLE analysis Marketers use PESTLE analysis to investigate the outside environment in which an organisation is operating. SWOT analysis A common approach by marketers is to use SWOT analysis to draw together all the evidence from the various analytical techniques used. It is a way of producing a summary which then provides the basis for developing marketing objectives or aims and ultimately strategies or plans. Marketing mix The marketing mix provides an excellent framework for developing marketing plans. The marketing mix is considered to be made up of four parts price, place, product and promotion. Source: BTEC national business book 1, 2nd edition, etal David Dooley Now I will explain how marketing techniques have been used by McDonalds. PESTLE Political factors McDonalds have used PESTLE analysis to identify ways in which their business is affected by the outside environment in which a business is operating. PESTLE helps McDonalds to identify the political policies such as the national minimum wage and the amount of tax
Marketing Management - Swisher Mower and Machine Company.
MBA5009 Marketing Management Group Report Of Case 5 Swisher Mower and Machine Company Submitted by Zeng Min, Bernice Ellen Novidia Adisoebrata Tan Xiao Ling, Linda Liu Bei, Pat Paul Lim Suparto Quach Thi Thu Hien Huang Yue Hong, Sarah NUS Business School National University of Singapore Wayne Swisher, President and Chief Executive Office of Swisher Mower and Machine Company (SMC), was weighing the proposal of a private branding arrangement for SMC's line of riding mowers. He thought the inquiry presented an opportunity but details should be studied more closely. Situation Analysis: Company Background: Established in 1945 by Max Swisher, SMC grew steadily with unit volume for SMC riding mowers peaking at 10,000 units with sales of $2 million in 1966. In the 1990s, the unit volume remained constant with around 4,250 riding mowers per year. Compared with 1,263,000 unit sales in riding mowers and tractors industry, SMC only occupied around 0.3% market share. Max Swisher, the current CEO, thought maintaining a small company image had also been an important aspect of his business philosophy, which led to the good personal relationships with dealers and customers alike. SMC produced limited but differentiated products. SMC's flagship product, the Ride King, was credited with the first zero-turning-radius riding mower. SMC also produced a trail-mower called T-44
Aims of tesco
Aims and Objectives of Tesco Tesco like any other company has aims and objectives that they create and try to meet within a set time. Operating on such a large scale requires a clear path for overall success and to sustain market position, therefore Tesco obviously takes setting aims and objectives as a serious task. Clearly Tesco has been successful and I believe this has been through setting 'SMART' objectives which provided firstly the company with a clear path on where they want to go, and each store with a path on what they must do to meet the overall goals of Tesco as a whole. Realistically in today's modern world there is now more need to concentrate on other factors than just financial ones for a company to be successful. Companies need to evaluate ethical factors as well as customer centred factors and examine how to meet them. Tesco states that their core purpose is 'to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty' as their success depends on it. Tesco believe in treating their customer and staff in the best way possible and try to best meet their needs. Tesco believes that if their team find the job rewarding then they are more likely to give a better service to their customers, thus creating a better shopping environment. In order to try and meet their overall aim Tesco introduced the 'Every Little Helps Strategy'. This strategy was the result of
Roles and Responsibilities of Staff Members at McDonalds.
Part A: Investigating a local business. Task 1 - Choosing a business. The business chosen to investigate is McDonalds, McDonalds is the worlds largest fast food chain with over 58 million customers using the restaurants daily. It has 1231 restaurants in the UK alone which is a total of roughly 48,000 employees in the UK and 1.5 million employees worldwide. McDonalds can be found in 119 countries around the world with more than 31,000 restaurants worldwide. Although it is criticised for being very unhealthy it has tried to change that by adding fruit and vegetables onto the kids menu to encourage children to eat 5 fruit and vegetables a day. McDonalds offers a quick and easy service, there are varieties of ways to order either order at counter and/or then get it delivered to your car, drive through, eat in or take away. At McDonald's restaurants there are lots of facilities along side the food including: toilets, phones and information leaflets. McDonalds has so many customers going to their restaurants everyday because the food is of a cheap price and so is easy for anyone of any income to buy, it is also easy to eat as it does not need any cutlery or plates. It is fast to buy and then to eat as it is intended to be. Another thing is that McDonalds is such a large business that it can afford to have lots of franchises, this means that there is always a McDonalds around
Easyjet
From: Pablo Cortez To: Tracy Feist Date: 29/09/08 Overview: The following is a report into a private sector organisation known as Easyjet. Easyjet is a Public Limited Company and trades on the London Stock Exchange. It is a financially strong company being Europes No.1 Air Network. Easyjet's principal activity is providing airline services on short-haul and medium-haul point-to-point routes within Europe. Flying 872 times a day, It operates a fleet of 137 aircraft through 77 airport networks in 21 countries with a workforce of 5493 employees. This report will look into the purpose of the easyjet, how easyjet is run, its mission statement , concept, culture, overall performance, financial information, and other general operating activities. Main Findings: The airline was founded by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 1995, and he and his family remain major shareholders in easyJet PLC . easyJet currently operates throughout the UK and mainland Europe. The fleet of aircraft consists of 55 owned and 82 under operating lease, comprising of 107 Airbus A319's and 30 Boeing 737-700's. easyJet favours an informal company culture with a very flat management structure, which it believes eliminates unnecessary and wasteful layers of management. easyJet has a casual dress policy for all office based employees and bans ties with the exception of pilots. The airline is based at Hangar
