BTEC National Award in Business
2007 - 08
Unit 1: Exploring Business Activity
‘The Business World’
Name: _______________________________
Assignment Manager:
Hand out date:
This assignment has five 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 National Award 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, focusing on The Rare Breed Centre and Odeon. You can include illustrations, diagrams and charts in your guide, if this helps explain what your organisation does.
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Task 1: (P1)
Research both the Rare Breed Centre and Odeon and for each describe the following;
- Type of business
- Purpose
- Ownership
You must consider the following;
Types of business activity – local; national; international; global; public; private; not-for-profit/voluntary; sectors of business (primary, secondary and tertiary)
Business Purposes – reasons why businesses exist; how products and services may be supplied for profit, at cost and below cost by local, national, and global business organisations; how businesses supply products and services to consumers, other businesses, and central and local government agencies in response to demand
Ownership – public, private and voluntary sectors; types of ownership, e.g. sole trader, partnership, private and public limited companies, franchise, government departments, governments agencies, worker cooperatives, charitable trusts
Task 2: (P3)
Research both organisations aims and objectives.
Outline the reasons for these strategic aims and objectives for both organisations.
You must consider the following:
Strategic planning process: quantitative and qualitative analysis of current situation; setting aims and objectives; planning strategies
Public and voluntary sector strategies: service provision: public sector services, e.g. primary health care trusts; voluntary sector services; service level agreements; quality assurance; provision at below or at cost
Private sector strategies: profit maximization; sales; products’ services at cost profit; increasing revenue and cutting costs; breakeven; survival; marketing; competitors
Growth: profit; sales; market share
Task 3: (P2)
Describe the different stakeholders of both The Rare Breed Centre and Odeon.
For each stakeholder describe how they influence the purpose of both organisations.
To achieve M1 you must explain why different stakeholders seek to influence the strategic aims and objectives of each organisation.
You must consider the following:
Key Stakeholders: customers; employees; suppliers; owners; pressure groups; trade unions; employer associations; local and national communities; governments; links and interdependencies
Task 4: (P4)
Describe the functional activities for each organisation and the interdependencies between them
To achieve M2 you must compare the factors which influence the development of the internal structures and functional activities of each organisation
You must consider the following:
Organisational structure: organisation charts; purposes; division of work; geographic; span of control
Functional activities: finance; human resource management; research and development; production; service delivery; marketing; procurement; information technology service; sales; customer service call centres; management information systems; logistics; how range of functional activities are managed in small and micro businesses
Relationships between functional activities: flow of work; interdependencies; out sourcing of functions, e.g. call centres; administration; delivery; production; supply chain
Influencing factors - size; business environment, strategic plans
Task 5: (P5)
The final part of your guide should focus on external factors that influence / impact on businesses and their activities |
For each organisation carry out a PEST analysis (political, economic, social, technological)
Choose three of these external factors for each organisation and describe how these factors impact on their business activities and their stakeholders.
To achieve M3 analyse how external factors have impacted on each organisation.
To achieve D1 evaluate how these external factors, over a period of time, may impact on the business activities, strategy, internal structures, functional activities and stakeholders of one organisation
You must consider the following;
Political factors: national and international law, e.g. employment, contracts, consumer rights, environmental issues, fraud; government, e.g. taxation and subsidies
Economic factors: pay levels; cost of credit; competitive pressures; globalization markets; labour, supply and demand; energy prices
Social factors: e.g. aging population, hosting of major sporting or cultural events, celebrity culture
Technological factors: increased access to broadband; telephony developments
Impact: new organisations; winding up of existing organisations, take-overs and mergers; revision of strategic plan; impact on stakeholders; functional activity changes
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