Business

• Inorganic growth stops similar competition but can clash of cultures
• Latest TV adverts refer to the business as "Carry's"
• Takeover


  Buying out another business to stop competition, dominating the market, control pricing and suppliers. It is costly and might damage public image. Might lead to monopoly and the government might oppose it
• PLC


  Public limited company that floats shares on the stock market to raise funds quickly
• PLC


  • Expensive and firely administration costs
  • Accounts are exposed
  • Dividends paid to shareholders (who own shares in the business)
• Multinationals


  Trade and operate in more than one country
• Globalisation


  • Import goods and services from abroad to the UK
  • Export goods and services from the UK abroad
• Offshoring


  Operating away from your country's shores, borders
• Barriers to trade


  • Tariff
  • Quota
  • Trading blocs (EU)
  • Subsidies
• Tariff


  The business will increase the price to cover the cost, making the goods and services less competitive. The business might stop trading with your country
• Quota


  Limit on the amount of goods that can be imported
• Subsidies


  Grant incentives e.g. Dyson in Singapore
• Why barriers to trade?

  To protect the domestic trade "protection"
• Reasons for offshoring


  • Less transport costs
  • No barriers to trade
  • Lower operating costs
  • Relaxed legislation
• LIC


  Lower income countries where businesses choose to operate and are welcomed because they invest in the country, provide jobs & training, and pay tax
• Emerging markets


  Footloose (not loyal, don't care about the environment, top jobs to own people)
• Trade off


  A choice a business makes between two options e.g. Profit vs Ethics
• Ethical choices


  • Fairtrade
  • Non testing on animals
  • Paying minimum wage
  • Health & safety regulations
• Equality act


  No discrimination according to race, age, gender and disability
• Pressure groups


  Organised groups that oppose to government and business decisions by demonstrating, boycotting, campaigns, petitions. They cannot force change yet damage brand
• Pressure groups


  • Greenpeace, BLM, Fathers for Justice
• Methods of production


  • Job (one off, unique handmade)
  • Batch (group of identical goods)
  • Flow (mass production, automation)
• Job production


  • Expensive, timely, specialist staff and equipment e.g. made to measure wedding dress
• Batch production


  • Flexible machinery, some waste between batches, monotonous job e.g. bakery rolls
• Flow production


  • High initial costs, specialist to fix yet increase production, less wastage, less salaries e.g. Coke
• Stock


  Raw materials, semi-finished and finished goods
• Reasons for managing stock

  • Not meeting surge of demand
  • Obsolete goods
  • Outdated trends
• Bar agile diagrams


  Used to manage stock and reorders
• Logistics


  Part of the operational department in charge of production, packaging, storing, transporting goods
• Asos is known for its high-quality logistics
• Organisational structures


  Charts that show job role and responsibilities of staff
• Types of organisational structure

  • Tall/hierarchical (lots of levels of authority, managerial salaries, communication is slow but good promotional opportunities)
  • Flat (few levels of authority, effective communication but poor task and promotional prospects)
• Centralised


  Decisions made by senior management, all have same policies, prices, look but slow communication and gap between management and shop floor
• Decentralised

  Decisions made at local level by local managers who know customers best but depends on the experience of those managers
• Downward communication


  Can lead to demotivation, isolation of staff
• Types of staff


  • Full time (35 hours)
  • Part time (less than 35 hours)
  • Temporary (event of permanent contract)
  • Remote (work for home, can get easily distracted, might feel isolated)
• Recruitment process


  • Business produces advert, job description, job specification, application form
  • Candidate produces CV, cover letter, application form
• Recruitment methods


  • Internal (cheaper, know the candidate)
  • External (expensive, large pool of candidates, current ideas)
• Training


  • On the job (cheaper, informal)
  • Off the job (expensive, formal)
• Motivation


  Increases productivity, attendance, and staff morale