Bk

• Types of utility


  • Utility of Form
  • Utility of Place
  • Utility of Time
  • Provision of services
• Goods


  • Tangible things such as clothes, furniture, sugar, etc.
• Services


  • Intangible tasks that cannot be "stored" or replicated exactly
• Production facilities


  • Land
  • Labour
  • Capital
  • Entrepreneur
• Types of production/industries


  • Primary industries/producers
  • Secondary industries/producers
  • Tertiary industries/direct services/producers
• Primary industries/producers


  Involve the obtaining of raw materials from nature through extracting process
• Manufacturing industry


  • Converting raw materials into finished goods e.g. sugar, clothes
• Secondary industries/producers


  Involve all the activities necessary for a produced product to reach the consumer in good condition
• Commerce/Commercial services


  • Banking and finance
  • Transportation
  • Insurance
  • Warehousing
  • Advertising
• Tertiary industries/direct services/producers


  Provide a social structure to enable production to take place smoothly
• Tertiary industries/direct services/producers


  • Health
  • Education
  • Defence
• Direct production


  A person produces everything they need to satisfy their own needs or wants
• Indirect production


  Each producer specialises in one product and produces more than they need, then exchanges the excess for other producers' products
• Outsourcing


  Any task, operation, job or process that could be performed by employees within an organisation, but is instead contracted to a third party for a significant period of time
• Advantages of outsourcing


  • Allows an institution to concentrate on core business
  • Can bring better management skills
  • Provides staffing flexibility
  • Allows risk-sharing
  • Lowers cost of operation and labour
• Advantages of outsourcing


  • Allows an institution to concentrate on core business
  • An outsourcing institution can bring better management skills
  • Staffing flexibility
  • Risk-sharing
  • Lower cost of operation and labour
• Disadvantages of outsourcing


  • Risk of exposing confidential data to a third party
  • Losing management control of business functions
  • Outsourcing institution motivated by profit may compromise on quality
  • Lack of customer-focus
• Types of industry


  • Primary (Extractive)
  • Secondary (Manufacturing)
  • Tertiary (Services)
• Types of trade


  • Home trade
  • Foreign trade
  • Aids to trade (Transport, Insurance, Banking, Warehousing, E-Commerce, Advertising)
• Specialisation


  Concentration of resources in production of narrow range of products (or one product) rather than a wide range of products
• Types of specialisation


  • Specialisation by individuals
  • Specialisation by regions
  • Specialisation in countries
• Specialisation by individuals


  • The job that an individual could do best may not be available
  • The individual may not wish to do the job for which he/she can expect the best economic reward
  • The individual may be a bad judge of what he/she is best at or he/she may simply be unaware of the opportunity
• Specialisation by regions


  • Trained labour force available locally
  • Raw materials close at hand
  • Sources of power easily available
  • Access to the market is relatively easy
• Specialisation in countries


  • Suitability of climate
  • Availability of raw materials or resource endowment
  • Readiness of market
  • Skill of labour force
• Merits of specialisation


  • Increases and sharpens skills
  • Saves time in training of factory workers
  • Saves skill
  • Makes possible greater use of machinery
• Demerits of specialisation


  • Monotony
  • Loss of craftsmanship
  • Increases risk of unemployment
  • Increases dependence between sectors of the economy
• Retail


  Selling goods in smaller quantities to the final consumer
• Functions of the retailer

  • Anticipation of consumer's demand
  • Buying large and selling small
  • Making goods immediately available to customers
  • Grading, packing and sorting
  • Storage
• Possible personal services of a retailer

  • Advice and information
  • Delivery service
  • After-sales service
  • Credit facilities
• Types of retailers


  • Those who sell in shops and those who use other methods
  • Small scale and large scale retailing
  • Those who are solely retailers and those who combine retailing with manufacturing and/or wholesaling
• Small scale retailing


  Selling a limited variety and quantity of goods within a local area
• Examples of small scale retailers

  • Unit shops/Independent retailers
  • Mobile shops (Itinerant traders)
  • Roadside traders
• Advantages of small scale retailing

  • Provides personal service to customers
  • Provides a convenient source of supply
  • Can sell in very small quantities
  • Trade for long and irregular hours
• Disadvantages of small scale retailing

  • Holds a small amount of stock and variety is limited
  • Costs and prices tend to be high
  • Often short of capital
• Large scale retailing


  Retailing on a large scale, often with multiple branches and economies of scale
• Contributing factors to growth of large scale retailing

  • Development of cheap and adequate transport facilities
  • Growth of transport allowing people to move further from where they work/live
• Multiple shops


  Large companies with numerous branches operating under the same style
• Departmental stores


  Many shops under one roof (and the same ownership), providing a complete range of shopping services
• Supermarkets


  Self-service shops with at least 186m2 of floor space, concentrating on food and household goods
• Superstores


  Self-service shops with at least 2500m2 of selling space, selling wide range of food and non-food items