Product
Refers to both goods and services
Goods
physical products - clothes, books, food
Services
Intangible products - transport, education, healthcare
Customer
People/organization who purchases a product
Consumer
people that use products
Consumer goods
products sold to the general public - rather than to other businesses
Capital goods / Producer goods
products bought by businesses to produce other goods/services
Cooperatives
For-profit social enterprises that are owned run by their members - employees or customers.
Incorporation
There is a legal difference between the owners of the the business and the business. Owners will be protected by limited liability,
NGOs
Private sector, not-for-profit social enterprises that operate for the benefit of others rather than profit.
Partnership
Private sector business entity owned by 2-20 people.
Privately held company
business owned by shareholders with limited liability - shares cannot be bought through the stock exchange
Publicly held company
limited liability company who’s shares are on sale to the general public on the stock exchange.
Social enterprise
revenue generating business with social objectives at its core - can be for or not-for-profit but all profits are reinvested rather than going to shareholders
Organizational Objectives
Measure and control, motivate, direct
Common Business Objectives
Grow, Profit, Protect shareholder value, ethical objectives
Ethical Objectives
Actions organizations that are considered to be morally correct employ
Pro VS Con Ethical Objectives
Pro
Improves corporate image
Increased customer loyalty
cost cutting
Improves staff morale and motivation
Cons
Compliance costs
Lower profits
Stakeholder conflict
Subjective nature of business ethics
Strategies
Medium-long term plan of action to achieve strategic objectives - Market standing, image/reputation, market share
Tactics
Short term plan of action to achieve tactical objectives - survival, sales revenue maximixation
Vision statement
Outlines an organization’s aspirations for the distant future - focused for long term, allow people to see what could be
Mission statement
simple declaration of the underlying purpose of an organization’s existence and core values - updated more frequently, outline values
CSR
consideration to ethical and environmental practise relation to business activity
Polices and practices need regular revues due to evolving expectations
Provides firms with a competitive advantage and long-term sustainability
SWOT
situational tool used to access the internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats of a business
Offensive Strategies
enables a business to gain max benefit from a favourable external situaition
Defensive strategies
strength meets an external threat (risk) - business needs to defend itself
Reorientation Strategies
favourable external factor but internal weakness. Business needs to adjust policies and practices.
Survival Strategies
Max threat. Survival policies are aimed to minimize any effect.
Ansoff Matrix
Analytical tool to help managers choose and devise product and market growth strategies
Market Penetration
Business chooses to focus on selling existing products in existing markets
Product Development
Selling new products in existing markets
Market Development
Selling existing products in new markets
Diversification
Selling new products in new markets
Related Diversification
less risky - products are in the same industry
Unrelated diversification
growth by selling completely new products in untapped markets
Business Plan
A formal report detailing the key aspects of a business idea or proposition and how the organization sets out to achieve this