My trial lesson

• Praktische economie
• MBO
• Studiejaar 1

The Business Environment

Learning outcomes:

- Know the range of businesses and their ownership

- Understand how businesses are organised

1.1, 1.2, 1.3 Range of businesses and their owners

- Local, national, international and global

• Local in one location, national across a country, internationally in multiple countries and globally.

- Public and private businesses

• Public companies are owned by the government while private are owned by citizens.

- Not-for-profit/voluntary businesses

• Charities and non-profit organisations belong to this group.

- Primary, secondary and tertiary sectors

• The primary sector extracts raw materials, secondary produces products while the tertiary sells products and services.

1.4

Above you can see the key stakeholders

2.1

Purpose

An organisation should be designed to:

- Divide up the work

- Establish lines of control

2.1

Types of organisation structure:

- Function

- Geographical area

- Product groups

- Type of customer

2.1 Organisational Chart

2.2 Functional areas

Types of functional areas.

The functional areas are the specialist areas of activity within an organisation. These include:

• Finance

• Marketing

• Production

• Customer service

• Sales

• Human resources

2.3 Strategic planning

Mission and values

Most organisations today set out two statements that guide their actions, these are:

• A mission statement setting out the purpose of the organisation, usually in one of a small number of sentences. It needs to be clear to communicate the key purpose of the organisation to all stakeholders

• A values statement setting out the core values of the organisation and what it believes in. these values should shape all of the relationships between members of the organisation and other stakeholders.

Cascading of objectives

The objectives that are set for the organisation as a whole cascade down into objectives set for the various components of the organisation as follows.

Use of SMART objectives

In business a good set of objectives should be SMART.

• Specific

• Measurable
 • Achievable 

• Realistic
 • Time related 

2.4 Influencing factors

• Stakeholders
• Business environment
• Business type and ownership

Private sector aims

• Break-even
• Survival
• Profit maximisation
• Growth

Public sector aims

• Service provision
• Cost limitation
• Value for money
• Meeting government standards
• Growth of range of provision

Because funds are raised through taxes, what activity should public services apply to their spending?

1. Service provision
2. Time related
3. Cost limitation
4. Mission statement

Which of these is not a functional area?

1. Janitor
2. Finance
3. Human resources
4. Production

Which of these is missing; specific, achievable, realistic, time-related.

1. Measurable
2. Efficient
3. Managable
4. Active

Is Coca Cola a private or public company?

1. Private
2. Public

Is connexxion a private or public company?

1. Private
2. Public