Jack Collins Unit 1-Exploring business
Assignment 1-p1
In this assignment I will talking about two contrasting businesses, which are McDonalds and
Gunnersbury, which is a private sector and a public sector. I chose McDonalds as it is a private that
provides a variety of fast food, which was founded in 1940 by Richard and Maurice McDonald – the
McDonalds brothers, in San Bernardino, California, United States sector, now today the business is a
multinational company with 35,000 stores, with an annual turnover of 27 billion dollars. This is in
contrast to Gunnersbury catholic school it’s a public sector that provides free education to teenagers
so that they can get good GCSE’S and A level results, which was founded in 1919 by father William
Roche as a small school, now today it has over 1200 students, the school a non-profitable
organisation and its goal is for its students to get good results.
Ownership and liability –
McDonalds is a publicly limited owned company, which has their shares in the stock exchange at
around 150 dollars per share which is extremely high as there is over thousands and thousands of
shares. This is appropriate for their business because McDonalds are always constantly expanding
and from the shares this allows the business to constantly expand as the company can buy
land/property to build upon and lease it to different people who wants to run the franchise, for the
business to produce revenue from the rent. Due to this the business can operate in over 120
countries. Also, the business also uses the money from their shares the refurbish their restaurants,
this is good because recently the business has installed tablets in most of their restaurants in the UK
to attract a lot of customers and the self-service machines to speed up the ordering process so that
more customers will be able to go to the restaurant. Being a public limited company, McDonalds
shareholders have a limited liability, which is extremely good as the shareholders / the ceo of
McDonalds won’t be personally legally responsible for any debts that they are in so they don’t have
to put more of their money in the company so this means that the people who invested won’t be in
debt it, it’s only the money that they have invested that will be gone if it goes bad so the debts are
limited, this makes people attracted to the shares which helps to make them successful. Being a
public limited company also suits them because if the company was a private limited company they
would not be able to sell their shares to anyone, which means that they wouldn’t have the money to
expand their businesses like buying more land to build on.
In contrast, Gunnersbury Catholic School ownership is a public sector, which means it is owned and
controlled by the government instead of being controlled by individuals or groups. The advantages
of it being a public sector is that it’s a state own school also provides free education, which means
the government funds the school although there is a small fee to pay from parents, so that the
school will be able to pay any necessary bills, so for example the teachers wages, utility bills and any
necessary equipment that is needed for Gunnersbury to operate. This is why people pays tax so that
it can go towards state schools, social housing and NHS.Being a public sector is the most appropriate
form for Gunnersbury’s as it allows the school to give free education to children that cant afford to
go to private schools, so that young children can still get the opportunity for a good future ,which is
what Gunnersbury offers as they are one of the top performing comprehensive schools in London.
Purpose and sector
McDonalds main purpose is to maximise their profits. For their business to achieve their main
purpose the company provides fast food internationally at a fast pace, so that people won’t have to
wait for their food for a long time instead they will be able to receive it quite fast and enjoy it, which
1
, Jack Collins Unit 1-Exploring business
gives them a unique selling point for their restaurant. Also, the business also sells other products to
attract a variety of customers, so for example people that are health conscience can order a salad
option from the franchise, this helps to attract a variety of customers. This is good as the revenue
that the business produces helps for the business to constantly expand by ordering new franchises
so that the company will be able to achieve their purpose of maximising their profits.
The sector that McDonalds operate in the industry is primary sector. They are a primary sector as
the company is responsible for farming animals, so meaning they make sure the animals are raised
properly so that they can be ready to be slaughtered so that the company will be able to sell it to
produce revenue. Another sector that the business operates in is secondary sector, this is because
the company converts their raw materials in to products such as packaging since it is an international
business, so the business will be able to gain their brand recognition form the packaging. Another
sector that the business operates in is tertiary sector, this is because this is the that McDonalds
provides for its customers such as advertising or selling food to consumers. This is good because if
their business provides bad customer service it can be very un-attractive for customers meaning
people might not want to go to their business.
Gunnersbury main purpose is for it’s students to get outstanding results. To do that the school uses
a variety of methods to help their students to get the best possible outcomes for their future. For
example, the different methods that they use to get good results for the students is that they have
extra lessons after school for the students that are doing their GCSE’s and A levels, that way the
students will be able to get the best opportunity to get the results as the teachers targets is to
reinforce what the students have learnt so that way the students will be able to have a good
understanding of the topic. Another method that the teachers use for the students to help the
students to learn is that Gunnersbury is very strict, the purpose of this is to make sure that the
students know that Gunnersbury isn’t just a place where the students can just mess around, it’s
strictly an environment where students can learn. Also, another method that Gunnersbury does is
that it organises Saturday lessons for students that would really benefit from it, so the students can
get the possible results for their future.
The sector that Gunnersbury operates in is tertiary sector. This is because the school provides a
service to the students, which is a free education. The school is able to do this because the
government funds the school through the taxes that is mandatory for adults to pay depending on
their salary. This is good as this pays the teachers’ salaries and any bills that the school would have
to pay in order for the facility to operate.
Scope of activities
The scope of activities for Gunnersbury is that it’s local, so it will have small purposes compared to
international businesses. Gunnersbury is a local organization as it provides an education service to
local populations, which are the students. Being local is good for Gunnersbury as the organization
has small purposes, which is to enable most of its students to go to university and it includes 20 per
cent of its students going to Russell group universities including imperial college, Cambridge etc. This
is because of the intensity studies that the children have to go through while they are in
Gunnersbury, so that they can achieve the best grades that they are capable of getting, which is
why they have great reputation for their results .
In contrast, the scope of activities for McDonalds is that it’s international, so their purposes will be
big. The business is international because it operates throughout multiple countries. Their purpose is
2
