BTEC First Diploma in Business
2007 - 08
Unit 1: Exploring Business Purposes
‘The Business World’
Name: _______________________________
Assignment Manager:
Hand out date:
This assignment has four tasks.
The overall deadline for the whole assignment to be complete and handed in is:
__________________
The following guidelines should be used when completing your assignment:
- You must refer to the criteria banner and the content of the unit throughout the assignment.
- You should make sure you do detailed research and have a good understanding of the subject you are researching. Keep a note of the resources you use as you go along.
- Before handing in you must:
- Check that you have completed all tasks
- Label work appropriately
- Present tasks in the correct order
- That your name appears clearly in the header of each page and the page number appears in the footer of each page.
For further details refer to the ‘Student Guidelines’ that were issued to you at the start of your course.
Scenario You have just finished your BTEC First Diploma in Business and have started working for the Business Development Department of the local council. This department gathers information about local and national organisations. Your line manager has asked you to put together a small guide for the other departments of the council to understand about businesses. You can include illustrations, diagrams and charts in your guide, if this helps explain what your organization does. |
Task 1: (P1)
The first section should be entitled ‘The nature of business and ownership’.
Choose four different types of businesses, one from each ownership category (sole trader, Public Ltd, Private Ltd, Franchise) and for each one;
- Describe its business purpose (what it makes, sells etc)
- the type of ownership (Sole trader, Partnership, Plc, Ltd, Franchise)
- size (Small, medium, large) and scale (Local, Regional, National, International) of the business
To achieve M1 select two of these businesses and compare and contrast the ownership and their aims and objectives.
You must consider the following;
Purpose – supply of goods and services e.g. at a profit, free, at cost, for sale below cost
Ownership – e.g. sole trader; partnership; limited companies (private – Ltd, public – plc); charity; voluntary organizations; franchises; co-operatives
Size – small; small-medium; medium; large
Scale – local; regional; national; European and global organisations
Task 2: (P2)
The second section should be entitled ‘Classification of Business Activities’.
Your manager wants you to include a presentation which must describe the meaning of the following classifications - primary, secondary and tertiary.
For each sector you must give examples of businesses, both locally and nationally, explaining why they fall into that sector.
To achieve M2 you must explain areas of growth or decline in the primary, secondary and tertiary classifications.
You must consider the following:
Primary: e.g. farming, forestry, fishing, extraction/mining
Secondary: e.g. manufacturing, engineering, construction
Tertiary: e.g. private service industries, local and national public services, voluntary/not-for-profit services
Relative growth/decline by sector: decline of primary and secondary industries; growth of tertiary service industries
Task 3: (P3)
You have been asked to include a section entitled ‘Business aims and objectives in different sectors’ to help them understand, you must include the following;
- What are aims and objectives?
- What are the aims and objectives of Cancer Research UK Ltd, Tesco and NHS?
- Describe the purpose of setting aims and objectives for businesses
You must consider the following:
Aims and objectives: aims (the long-term visions or goals of a business), objectives (specific, measurable targets to help achieve the overall aims of a business); purpose (to provide a business focus) e.g. survival, break-even, growth, profit maximization, service provision, expansion of market share; relationship with other businesses
Sector: e.g. private; public; not-for-profit and voluntary
Task 4: (P4)
Your final section should be entitled ‘Main functional areas that support business organisations’. Chose one of the businesses you have already researched and answer the following;
Describe the different functional areas of the business
Describe the main purposes these functions have within business organisations
To achieve M3 you need to choose two business organisations and for each one explain the interaction of their functional areas and how they relate to each other.
To achieve D1 you must evaluate how the functional areas contribute to the aims and objectives of the two selected businesses used in M3.
You must consider the following;
Functional areas: e.g. administration, customer service, distribution, finance, human resources, ICT, marketing, sales, production, research and development (R&D); purposes of functional areas e.g. to support business aims and objectives, to develop new markets, to support continuous professional development
Relationships: links and interactions with other functional areas
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