People in Business notes

Stakeholders = all the various parties affected by the business and its actions

Stakeholder relationships change over time

Consumer

  • Uses goods for private purposes

  • Aims to satisfy needs & wants within a budget

  • Seeks personal satisfaction

Entrepreneur

  • Promoter of the business

  • Combines factors of production into a business unit

  • Takes risks & initiative after spotting gap in the market

Investor

  • Supplies the finance after examining business plan

  • Expects adequate return (dividends)

  • Shareholders are the investors of a company

Producer/Supplier

  • Transforms raw materials into finished products for consumers

  • Provide raw materials for producers, provide finished goods for consumers

  • Main objective is profit

  • Compete for market share

  • Like to get paid within 30 days

Employers

  • Hire employees to produce g&s in return for wage/salary

  • Organise all aspects of the business

  • Wish to make a profit

Employees

  • Provide labour in return for wage/salary

  • Affected by Trade Union membership, tax rates, PRSI, USC, health and safety and the state of the economy

  • Priority is job security and they look for a higher standard of living

Interest groups

  • AKA pressure groups

  • A representative organization outside of the political system which puts pressure on other bodies to achieve an aim

  • Pressure can take the form of demonstrations, bad publicity, letters, petitions, strikes etc

  • They attempt to influence policy decisions

  • They lobby various institutions to achieve change

  • E.g. The Consumer Association of Ireland - they put pressure on the Irish gov to change the rules to protect consumers

Lobbying = The deliberate effort to influence the main decision-making process by promoting a particular point of view with government or MEPs or with other organisations

Irish Farmers Association (IFA)

Irish Business and Employee Confederation (IBEC)

Irish Management Institute

Chambers of Commerce

Government and Society

Cooperative relationship

  • Joint effort is required to enable people to work together so that all parties have mutual benefit

  • Parties work towards common goal

  • WIN/WIN relationship

  • E.g. Two carrot producers lobbying for flood assistance from the gov

Competitive relationship

  • Exists when people inside & outside the business have common areas of competition & compete against each other

  • E.g. Coca Cola vs Pepsi

  • Mutually exclusive goal

  • Compete on a basis of price, quality & labour

  • WIN/LOSE relationship

  • One party benefits at the expense of the other