Business Objectives and Strategic Decisions Flashcards
Organisational aims
A business aim is the goal a business wants to achieve. A primary aim for all business organisations is to add value and in the private sector this involves making a profit.
Corporate/business objectives
Corporate objectives are those that relate to the business as a whole. They are usually set by the top management of the business and they provide the focus for setting more detailed objectives for the main functional activities of the business.
Strategic objectives
Strategic objectives are long-term organisational goals that help to convert a mission statement from a broad vision into more specific plans and projects. They set the major benchmarks for success and are designed to be SMART translations of the mission statement that can be used by management to guide decision making.
Tactical objectives
A tactical objective is the immediate short term desired result of a given activity, task or mission, usually entrusted to the lower positioned management in a three-tier organisation structure or front desk, middle and executive management.
Operational objectives
Operational objectives are short-term goals who achievement brings an organisation closer to its long-term goals.
What’s the difference between tactical objectives and operational objectives?
Operational objectives are short term goals whereas strategic objectives are long term goals.
What are SMART targets
Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic Time bound
Importance of SMART targets to a business and its stakeholders
- employees know what the business needs to achieve precisely.
- customers are more likely to have a reliable project as staff know what they are meant to achieve
- employees know the time constraint’s on what they are achieving
Hierarchy of objectives
The hierarchy of objectives is a to that helps analyse and communicate the project objectives. It organised these into different levels of a hierarchy or tree.
The approach organises objectives into 3 broad levels
- policy
- strategic
- operational
Impact and importance of setting aims and objectives.
Staff know what they need to do.
Sets clear aims
Everyone is trying to achieve the same thing
It allows for easier decision making
How does the sector in which a business operates affects its aims and objectives.
A business in:
a public sector organisation sets objectives on what service they need to produce.
A private sector is more likely to set objectives such to maximise profit though customer satisfaction etc.
How can objectives be communicated?
Company website
Word of mouth
Meetings with staff.
Evaluate the consequences of mis-communicating objectives to a business and its stakeholders
Staff- won’t know what they are meant to be achieving/ are aiming for. This could cause staff demotivation
Customers- might lose confidence in the brand if a business isn’t being productive due to the miscommunication of objectives
Shareholders- may not invest into a brand if they don’t know what the clear aims and objectives businesses are trying to invest in.
Ways in which aims of a business could be better communicated.
Written out and given to staff that they can refer back to when needed
Displayed clearly on the company website.
Why might the objectives of a business need to be changed.
New legislation Release of a new product Have a new end goal Introduction of new management Completion of previous objectives
Recommend and justify the aims and objectives for a business and how any changes may be implemented
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What is a stakeholder?
A persons with an interest or concern in the business (and its success)
What are the internal stakeholders of a business?
Employees Owners Board of directors Managers Investors
What are the external stakeholders of a business
Suppliers Customers Creditors Clients Intermediaries Competitors Society Government
What are the objectives of the stakeholders of a business
Staff:
Be productive
Keep jobs
Shareholders:
Get the maximum dividend
Government:
To get maximum tax from a business
Suppliers:
To maximise own income buy supplying a lot to the businesses
Competitors:
To be competitive with the other businesses
Managers:
To manage staff effectively to gain maximum profits
ETC
Reasons for conflict for different business stakeholders
They all want to achieve different end goals and these sometimes conflict with each other.
Why does a business need to manage the conflicting objectives of its stakeholders.
To ensure that the conflict in interests doesn’t make problems for the productivity and running of the business
What is the impact on a businesses stakeholders having conflicting interests?
less productivity
Cause uncertainty in the business
Demotivated staff
Less profitability
Recommend and justify how a business should deal with conflicting objectives of stakeholders
- Establish and make known your integrity in relation to your role in the project management team.
- Establish and make known the significance of your role in a project undertaking.
- Make a written report of any known conflicting proposal that can affect the potential outcome of a project, through proper channels, beginning with your immediate superior
- Examine the company policies and procedures on how the issue should be reported.
what influence do different stakeholders have on a business
they influence:
aims and objectives
decision making,
behaviour and performance.
What are the impacts of a business’s decision on different stakeholders groups
Employees: change in how and why something needs to be from. employees will have to make changes.
Customers: change in the good and services they receive
Government: may increase or decrease the money they receive through taxation
Suppliers: may cause a change in the products the business orders.
what is meant by a joint venture?
A commercial enterprise undertaken jointly by two or more parties which otherwise retain their distinct identities.
What is meant by a strategic alliance?
A strategic alliance is an agreement between two or more parties to peruse a set of agreed upon objectives needed while remaining independent organisations… Strategic alliances occurs when two or more organisations join together to pursue mutual benefits.
what is the impact and importance of a strategic alliance to a business and its stakeholders
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what is a mission statement
A mission statement gives a general idea of what the business exists to do and its purpose is to set this down for the benefit of all stakeholders
Recommend and justify a suitable mission statement for a business
E.G:-
-Cadbury’s UK limited: ‘our core purpose us working together to create brands people love.’
Advantages to a business of having a mission statement.
- provide directions
- helps to resolve conflicts
- removes any Ambiguity surrounding the existence of a company
- acts as a communication tool
- a framework for decision making
Disadvantages to a business of having a mission statement.
- on its own it can be ambiguous and worthless
- focused more on short term issues and internal in nature
- can sometimes lead to conflicts and inconsistencies
- wastes management’s time and resources
- can be unrealistic in reality
What is the impact of changing a mission statement on a business and its stakeholders.
- can cause confusion if this isn’t correctly communicated
- customers may be uncertain what to expect
- whilst it changes conflicts may arise.
What is meant by corporate social responsibility (CSR)
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a business approach that contributes to sustainable development by delivering economic, social and environmental benefits for all stakeholders. CSR is a concept with many definitions and practices.
Explain the potential conflict between CSR and profit and other objectives.
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what is the impact and importance of a CSR policy to a business and its stakeholders
- can change the way customers view a industry
- bad publicity is less likely to occur
Advantages of a business’s CSR profile to the business and its stakeholders.
- A good reputation makes it easier to recruit employees.
- CSR will help you retain staff. Employees may be motivated stay longer, reducing the costs and disruption of recruitment and retraining.
- Employees are better motivated and staff productivity will increase.
- CSR helps ensure you comply with regulatory requirements.
- Activities such as involvement with the local community are ideal opportunities to generate positive press coverage.
- Good relationships with local authorities make doing business easier. See work with the local community.
- Understanding the wider impact of your business can present opportunities to develop new products and services.
- CSR can make you more competitive and reduces the risk of sudden damage to your reputation (and sales). You may find it easier to access finance as investors are more willing to back a reputable business.
Disadvantages of a business’s CSR profile to the business and its stakeholders.
- Shift from the Profit-Making Objective
- Company Reputation takes a hit
- Customer Conviction
- Increase in Cost of Production
Recommend and justify how a business could improve its CSR profile.
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Evaluate the impact and importance of CSR to a business and its stakeholders.
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What is meant by a strategic alliance?
A strategic alliance is an agreement between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon objectives needed while remaining independent organizations. Typically, two companies form a strategic alliance when each possesses one or more business assets or have expertise that will help the other by enhancing their businesses. Strategic alliances can develop in outsourcing relationships where the parties desire to achieve long-term win-win benefits and innovation based on mutually desired outcomes.
What is the impact and importance of joint ventures to a business and its stakeholders.
?
What is the impact and importance of a strategic alliance to a business and its stakeholders
?
What is a mission statement? What is its purpose?
A mission statement is a statement that defines the essence or purpose of a company – what it stands for i.e. what broad products or services it intends to offer customers.
What are the advantages of a mission statement?
1) Provide Directions (for staff)
2) helps to resolve conflicts both within the business and with customers and suppliers
3) removes any ambiguity surrounding the existence of a company: managers and other stakeholders will know the primary aim of the company
4) acts a communication tool
5) can help with the decision making process.
What are the disadvantages of a mission statement?
1) on its own it can be ambiguous and worthless
2) focused more on the Short Term issues and internal in nature
3) can sometimes lead to conflicts and inconsistencies
4) wastes managers time and resources.
5) can be unrealistic
6) customer/ stakeholders expect a mission statement.
Impact of changing a mission statement on a business and its stakeholders
?
What is meant by corporate social responsibility?
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a business approach that contributes to sustainable development by delivering economic, social and environmental benefits for all stakeholders.
what is the purpose of a business plan?
A business plan conveys the organizational structure of your business, including titles of directors or officers and their individual duties. It also acts as a management tool that can be referred to regularly to ensure the business is on course with meeting goals, sales targets or operational milestones.
what is the purpose of a business plan?
A business plan conveys the organizational structure of your business, including titles of directors or officers and their individual duties. It also acts as a management tool that can be referred to regularly to ensure the business is on course with meeting goals, sales targets or operational milestones.
what is included in a business plan?
A business plan is a written description of the future of your business. It’s a document that tells the story of what you plan to do and how you plan to do it.
advantages of having a business plan?
It makes an entrepreneur consider every aspect of the start up so they can try to eliminate failures.
•It makes the entrepreneur aware of what skills they are missing so that they are missing so that they can hire experts in that particular field.
•Venture capital may be available to the business if investors like the business plans.
disadvantages of having a business plan?
The business plan is only a plan and does not guarantee success. For example, sales may be lower than predicted as they can be affected by a range of issues.
•If the plan is too rigid some problems may arise, it must be flexible to adapt to market changed.
•High sales expectations may cause overspending in other areas such as stock and staffing.
What is meant by the ‘Plan-Do- Review’ cycle?
Planning is about…
•Planning what the organisation wants to achieve for the year
•Planning objectives for employees
•Making sure employees are focused
•Making sure employees have the skills to deliver
•Making sure employees feel motivated to deliver
Doing is about….
•Creating Action Plans
•Ensuring the right things are done day to day
•Empowering employees but keeping in touch as a manager via 121s
•Coaching for performance
•Nipping underperformance in the bud
Reviewing is about….
•An annual review at minimum
•Encouraging managers and leaders to have regular 121s
•A formal opportunity to recognise results
•Ensuring employees have quality 121 time with their manager
•Re-establishing objectives for the year ahead