Aims and Objectives of two contrasting organisations (boots and oxfam)

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Aims and Objectives of a Business

Strategic aims and objectives of two different organisations

  • Aims are just general statements briefly

            outlining what a business plans to achieve.

  • Objectives are

            much more specific and should clarify

            the aims in more detail.

  • A Business Strategy is the conduct of drafting,

      implementing and evaluating cross-functional

     decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its long-term objectives.

Aims are broken down into individual objectives which are SMART;

Specific – the objective will have a purpose

Measureable – growth can be measured

Achievable – It will not be impossible to achieve

Realistic – It

Time specific – It will be able to be achieved within a certain time frame

 Strategic plans enable a business to achieve its Objectives.  They are based on what is happening in current marketplace.  So a business must do research and find lots of different information about its, customers, competitors, sales, market shares, price, costs and profits.  This information is found by doing Market Research.  This information can either be Quantitative or Qualitative.

Quantitative data – information easily gathered by numbers.

Qualitative data – information based on opinion, beliefs, feelings.

A strategic plan considers the future of current decisions, overall policy, organizational development, and links to operational plans.  .  It establishes imperatives, goals, strategies, and performance measures for the organization that can be used as a management and communications tool.

Strategies for the Public Sector

A hospital may have the aim to provide better customer service.

Their objectives;

  • Make sure all patients in A&E are seen within 15mins
  • Always having ambulances ready
  • Answering all phones within ten seconds

Plans to achieve this:

  • Constantly checking the quality of customer service
  • Buying more ambulances and hiring more ambulance staff
  • Provide services at cost, below cost or free where appropriate

It is then up to the management to ensure that these plans are executed properly so that taxpayers’ money is well spent in providing these health services.  There most important stakeholder is us.

Strategies of the Private Sector

The most important stakeholder in a Private Sector organisation is the owner.  

They would aim to;

  • Maximise profit
  • Increase sales
  • Cut costs
  • To survive
  • To breakeven
  • To expand

To maximise profits the long term strategy would be to;

  • Increase prices
  • Reduce costs
  • Increase sales

Sometimes in order to make money you have to lose money first.  A business might reduce its prices to gain more sales and customers and in order to do this their profits have to fall.  However, a business must make a profit in the long term or it will go bust.

A Short term strategy to maximise sales would be to;

  • Reduce prices
  • Improve product quality
  • Add new products
  • Spend more on advertising
  • Spend more in market research

Cutting costs

  • Reduce number of employees
  • Reduce wastage of materials
  • Conserve energy

If a firm decides to get rid of employees it has to be careful not to get rid of staff who might be needed in the future or even be hired by a rival company.  It is also important to keep the standard of quality high, if you choose to go to a low cost supplier you might lower your standard of quality and customers might go to a rival store.

Survival

  • In this economic climate the main aim of a business may be to survive.  They may have to drop prices drastically and cut costs.

Breakeven

  • All businesses must at the very least cover all their costs in the short term
  • Their revenue must cover their fixed and variable costs
  • Fixed costs are those unaffected by sales; e.g. rent, rates, insurance etc.
  • Breakeven can be measured using a graph, chart or formula
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Growth

  • In order to become a market leader  a firm has to grow
  • Growth can be internal or external
  • There are three ways to measure growth; profit, sales, and market share

Private Sector Objectives

  • Maximising profits – may benefit shareholders and managers but at the expense of employees, customers and suppliers if the business decides to increase prices and/or reduce costs.
  • Maximising Sales – to maximise sales a business may have to reduce prices, increase quality, or even introduce a new product.

Public/Voluntary Sector

Businesses in these sectors usualy serve the ...

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