Business at work — страница 7

low prices. To meet this aims, Tesco: works closely with suppliers to ensure products are of the highest quality and are delivered to stores in the best possible condition. makes sure that its staff are committed to giving the best possible quality of service. aims to create in its stores an environment which makes shopping easy, interesting and comfortable. For example, in 1993 Tesco introduced Value lines, which offer exceptional value for money, followed by New Deal Pricing on leading commodities and brands in 1994. In 1996, Tesco introduced Unbeatable Value with the pledge that nobody would sell the equivalent product for less price. E3 Organisational functions. All organisations require resources to carry out their functions. One way of judging the success of a business is

to compare the resources it uses with the value of the product that results. For example if it is a small business running by it’s owner, for example small shop, so it doesn’t need any workers, large piece of land and big capital, owner can work alone. But if it is a very large business like car manufacturing so it requires a lot of workers, very large piece of land and big capital. The resources of the business. One way of considering the resources used by a business is to classify them into the factors of production. The main capital of production are capital, labour and land. CAPITAL refers to any manufactured product used by the business to make other products. This category therefore includes all machinery, vehicles and office equipment used in businesses. It also

includes the company’s buildings. Business Activity LABOUR is the human resources used by business organisations during production. LAND – site on which the business is located and natural resources it might use. ENTERPRISE – owners and shareholders. Functional areas. All businesses combine factors of production as an essential part of their production activities. To combine these factors, to engage in production and to achieve their objectives organisations undertake a number of functions. The major business functions include: finance production human resources administration research and development Business requirements for functional areas depends on its size, for example small business might merge many of these functions within their administration department, with

responsibility in the hand of one or two people. As a business grows the number of people required to carry out these functions increases. The financial function. Extensive use of IT Advises managers and budget holders Records all financial data Monitors and analyses financial data Chases up slow payers Finance department accountants account technicians account clerks Advises board of directors Collects payments from customers Analyses costs Provides information to external bodies Produces standards cost data Customers Auditors Inland Revenue and (price list) (accounts) Custom & Excise (information relating to tax liability) Figure 1.3: The financial function A separate department normally carries out the finance function of the business. The finance department carries out a

number of key activities: records all financial data chases up slow payers collects payments from customers provides information to external bodies analyses costs advises board of directors monitors and analyses financial data advices managers and budget holders Production function. Production covers all the activities that must be undertaken to make the firm’s products, from the receipt, of raw materials through to the output of the final product. The production function concentrates primarily upon planning and controlling the various stages of production so that the most efficient use is made of business resources. Production manager responsible for: maintaining supplies of components and raw materials to ensure continuous production ensuring that the precise requirements of

customers are met monitoring quality to insure that finished products meet the quality standards expected by customers using resources – people, machinery and production space – as efficiently as possible to make the business competitive in the markets in which it trades. One of the most important issues in production is quality. Modern businesses compete just as strongly on the quality of their goods and services as they do on price. For example it is vital for a washing machine manufacturer to produce a high-quality product. If the machine is not reliable or does not have a wide range of functions, customers are more likely to purchase a competitor’s product. Figure 1.4: The links between the production function and other departments Finance department Production