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business unit 1 assignment 1-exploring business, P1,P2,P3,M1,M2,D1
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- Exploring business unit 1
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business unit 1 assignment 1 exploring business
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Assignment 1 Unit 1:Sophie Brooks Smith
In this assignment, I am going to be analysing and comparing two businesses; one from the
private sector and one from the not-for-profit sector. The two businesses I have chosen are
Apple for the private sector and British Heart Foundation for the not-for-profit sector. I will be
explaining the features of both of these businesses and analysing how they communicate and
are influenced by their stakeholders. I will be exploring how each company is structured and
identify their individual goals. I am also going to develop the reasons why both businesses are
successful. Apple is a multinational company that specialises in technology, it was established
by Steve Jobs in 1976, Apple became a public limited company in 1980 and is now worth $3
trillion, this is the largest public company in the world. British Heart Foundation is a not-for-profit
organisation that provides support for people with heart and circulatory problems, they raise
money to help fund research. This foundation is rated one of the top charities in the UK.
P1-
Features of businesses:
Ownership and liability
Businesses are split into three categories: private, public and not-for-profit. Private businesses
are owned by citizens and the main goal is to make profit, this means they will be accountable
for the business and its decisions, they are not owned by the government. The government runs
and possibly sets up the public businesses, these are businesses that will help the community.
The final category is the not-for-profit businesses, these businesses have no aim to make profit
they only aim to make enough money to keep their businesses running. The not-for-profit
businesses are independent and are usually charities.
There are many different types of private business ownership: Sole traders, this is when one
person owns the business, partnership this is when two or more people own the business,
private limited company this is when a business is owned by a few shareholders, public limited
company is another type of ownership this is owned by shareholders however the shares are
traded publicly. Another business ownership is franchise; this is when the owner buys into
another company’s name. Cooperatives are companies whose members are in control of many
aspects of running the business. Limited or unlimited liability represents how much risk the
business is willing to take. Limited liability is when the owners are only responsible for the
businesses debt, meaning creditors can only take assets from the business. On the other hand
unlimited liability is when owners are personally responsible for any debts the business takes
on, this means creditors can take personal assets from the owners. The public businesses are
owned by the government department and not citizens. Not-for-profit organisations are usually
corporations and do not have owners, they are run by volunteers.
,Apple is a public limited company that is owned by its shareholders. Apple has limited liability
this is beneficial for the company as they would not be held fully accountable if the company
went bankrupt meaning they would not be at risk of losing any personal assets. British Heart
Foundation is a charity run by volunteers and staff members, there are 25,492 volunteers
currently working for British Heart Foundation alongside 3,000 members of staff. This charity
was founded by a group of medical specialists in 1961.
Purpose
The purpose of a business is to supply the community with a product or service, however some
will be for-profit and some will be not-for-profit. The aim for companies in the private sector is to
make profit for the owners and shareholders. Whereas not-for-profit companies' only goal is to
provide a service or support while only making enough money to keep the businesses running.
There are many differences between these businesses such as not-for-profit businesses do not
have to pay income tax; this is because they are not providing their services with the intention to
make profit.
Apple is a for-profit business, their purpose is to make new, high quality products for their
customers, in 2020 Apple made $365 billion in revenue. On the other hand, the British Heart
Foundation is not-for-profit. Their purpose is to raise money and awareness about heart and
circulatory problems, in 2020 they raised £84 million, 67p out of every pound donated goes
towards research.
Business sectors
There are four different business sectors which goods must go through before they are ready for
the customers: the first is the primary sector, this is where the raw materials come from such as
wood and agriculture. Secondary sector processes these raw materials so that they are able to
be sold. Tertiary allows the goods to be distributed in places such as retail shops. The final
business sector is quaternary; this is when technology is used to communicate the operations of
the business through things such as emails.
Apple is considered a secondary, tertiary and quaternary business; Apple produces and makes
their own products which makes them secondary, they then go on to sell the products worldwide
in their stores and online, this is the tertiary sector. The final business sector for Apple is
quaternary, this is achieved as Apple uses their technology to communicate with their
stakeholders from emails and to advertise their products.
The British Heart Foundation is in the tertiary sector as it is a charity, they have over 500 stores
in the UK and sell things such as clothes and furniture, this is why they are considered to be in
the tertiary sector. They do this to raise money for the charity.
Scope of business activities
This is the reins that the business covers; local businesses are owned locally and only provide
for their local area; this would be business such as a mobile hairdresser or a gardener working
in Hertfordshire. National businesses provide for many different locations around a country. An
international business allows transactions to take place in multiple different countries. The final
scope of a business is global, this is when a company sells their products all over the world.
, Apple is a global business; there are over 500 Apple stores around the world, they are set up in
many different countries, and are available for most people around the world to purchase. The
British Heart Foundation is a national business that provides goods and services only in the UK,
they have 500 stores over the UK.
Size
You can measure the size of a business by looking at the turnover, amount of employees,
capital employed, profit and stock market value. There are three sizes of businesses: micro this
is when there are nine or less members of staff, small and medium enterprises(SMEs), for a
small business there will be like 10-49 staff members and for a medium business 50-249. A
large business will have 250 members of staff.
Apple is a large business with 2,000,000 staff working for them just in the US, this is a very
large business and a fast growing business. Similarly the British Heart Foundation is a large
business; it has over 4,000 staff members alongside all the volunteers.
Reasons for success
Many businesses aim for profit, however not all businesses use profit to measure their success.
Not-for-profit businesses only aim to make enough to keep their business running.
Apple made $152.836B of gross profit in the year of 2021 this is a large increase from the
previous year when the gross profit was $104,956B. There are many reasons why Apple is so
successful; one of these reasons is the value of the brand, they are very well known for their
high quality, unique products and their happy customers. Another reason they are so successful
is due to their wide range of products. Apple has created many new products and are always
working on their next one, they are very consistent with releasing new technology.
The British Heart Foundation is a successful charity in the UK a reason for this success is all the
volunteers across all the stores, this allows them to maximise the amount of money that can go
towards research as they do not need to pay them. Another reason for the success of this
charity is due to the amount of awareness, most people in the UK are aware of this charity,
there are many fundraising events for this charity that allows communities to contribute towards
the research and gain more knowledge of the charity.
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