Land - natural resources of the world; land, water, air and plants
Labour - The people employed by the business
Capital - man-made resources needed to make a product/service.
Enterprise - Combining all factors at the hands of an entrepeneur
Sectors of Industry
Primary - work with raw materials
Secondary - use raw materials to make a consumer product
Teritary - Provide a service
Types of Business Organisations
Private
Sole traders
Advantages
Small and easy to set up business
All profits retained by owner
The owner can choose when to work and when to take holidays
All decisions made solely by owner
Disadvantages
Nobody to share workload and responsibility with
Hard to raise capital
Unlimited liability
Hard to achieve economies of scale
Partnerships
Advantages
Workload and responsibility is shared
Different partners offer different experience and skills
Finance raised more easliy
Customers and Suppliers might see a partnership as more trustworthy to deal with
Disadvantages
Profit is split
Unlimited liability for each partner
Arguments could slow decision making
Legal profit-splitting document must be created
Private Limited Companies
Run by a board of directors who may or may not
own shares. Business is owned by shareholders
who all own a small piece of the company and in
return receive dividends or a share of the profits.
Advantages
Limited liability for shareholders - they will only lose the money
they have invested into the business.
Finance easily raised by selling shares
Shareholders and directors can bring different experience and skills
Disadvantages
More complicated to set up, complex legal process involved.
Rules laid down by the law, The Companies Act, have to be followed.
Financial accounts must be published showing their
annual financial position
Setting up cost can be high.
Public
National Government
UK Parliament
Scottish Government
Manages the finance of Scotland and organises Local Government
Organisations to follow budgets set by MSPs in the UK parliament
Decides where taxes are going to be spent and allocates budgets
Local Government Organisations
Made up of local elected councillors decide what to do with their budgets
Third
Non-profit organisations
Charities and voluntary organisations set up to support specific causes. They are
regulated by the government and their income is put towards a specific cause.
E.g. The RSPCA uses its income to prevent animal cruelty and to promote animal welfare
Social enterprises
Have a main social or environmental aim which they stick to.
Run like a business and at least 50% of their profits are invested into
their aim. Because of this they do not rely on on grants and donations
E.g. the Big Issue
Customer Satisfaction
Providing the highest possible quality product
A good quality product will impress the customer leading to satifsfaction
Making sure employees are properly trained
Employees who are knowledgeable are trained to deal with customers will improve customer satisfaction
Having a customer care strategy
Lets customers know the level of service that they will be provided and how complaints will be dealt with
Having a customer complaints procedure
Allows customer problems and complaints to be handled in the best way possible
Having an after-sales service
Gives customers the opportunity to ask questions about their recent purchase
Objectives
Survival
Ensuring the business makes enough profit to cover its costs.
Profit
Maximising the money the business makes
Provision of a service
To provide people with a service they want
Customer satisfaction
To make customers happy to encourage repeat purchases
Enterprise
Satisfying customer needs and wants by combining resources to create a worthy product