Unit 1: The Business Environment
P1 – Describe the type of business, purpose and ownership of TWO contrasting
businesses.
In this task, I will be outlining my chosen businesses and contrasting both businesses in terms of
their ownership, business structure and their purpose of the businesses.
Business 1:
The business name that I have chosen as a Private sector is Oxfam. Oxfam is a charity shop who sell
products that are second hand, donated by some customers who have unwanted items that they
would like to donate to charity. Oxfam was founded in 1942 located in Oxford, owned by Mark
Goldring. The purpose of Oxfam is to support people who are in bad living conditions and the charity
uses the donated items to supply what people from around the world need and want in order to
survive. Oxfam is a Tertiary sector as they have services and retail stores internationally, since they
have located their stores in countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland etc. Also, Oxfam
is a private sector because they're not funded through the government as they're a charity shop,
therefore they do not need the support from the government, just donation from the general public.
Furthermore, Oxfam is a Not-for-profit business because since they’re a charity organisation they do
not worry about the business expenses and profits as they’re receiving donations from the public,
therefore they’re not worried about profits due to being a charity organisation. To the extent of
owner’s liability for debts, Oxfam have limited liability as the charity wouldn’t lose any personal
possessions but their organisation would be shut down.
Business 2:
The name of the business that I have chosen as a Public sector is Apple. Apple is a company where
they sell they’re very own technology such as phones, tablets, computers (Apple Macs) etc. Apple
was first founded in 1976, who was founded by the owners Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald
Wayne. Apple is a secondary and tertiary sector combined as they develop their own products and
they have their services of selling their products in their own retail stores. Furthermore, Apple is a
profit business because they aim to sell their products in order to make a profit. Apple is global as
their retail stores are located around the world. To the extent of the owner’s liability for debts, the
owner of Apple (Steve Jobs) has limited liability since he wouldn’t lose his personal possessions if
Apple went bankrupt or couldn’t pay off for extremely high debts, therefore only the company
would be lost.
P2 – Describe the different stakeholders who influence the purpose of TWO contrasting
businesses.
In this task, I will be describing what stakeholders influence the two businesses I have chosen and
how the stakeholders affect the businesses.
Business 1:
Oxfam have many different stakeholder groups that have an interest or are involved in the business,
whether internally or externally. One of the main stakeholders that are involved in Oxfam are
Employees, who are internal stakeholders. The employees have an interest in the business because
they want to get paid for working in their retail stores, therefore it would motivate the employees to
work. Employees will have an influence on Oxfam as money is going out of the business since they’re
increasing their expenses which is the wages of staff. Another main stakeholder that is involved in
Oxfam are the customers, who are external stakeholders. Customers have an interest in the business
