Business and Management

the actual process of producing the output

Where the busniess has any dealings with the consumer

Where the business manages its flows of cash and profit

where the business has any dealings with employees

the extraction of materials form the natural world

the processing of materials inputs into physical output

the processing of outputs into non-physical output.

These businesses are "not for profit" and have public service goals: either to provide a particular service.

Here the State owns the enterprise, and control is exersiced by the government of the day.

Here the ownership and control of the enterprise is exercised by and individual or a groups of individuals.

A (short) sentence or two that sets out the philosophy, values, beliefs and culture of a business as it currently operates. As such it should be a reflection of the corporate goals of the enterprise.

where the mission statement is about the present, the vision statement is more about the future direction and broad development of the business.

• To provide a focus for all employees, from senior management down to the shop-floor workers, of the business' goals.
• Communicate this purpose to the outside world (stakeholders)

But...

• the statement must be used carefully; if it is percived as nothing more than a piece of (clumsy) PR, then is can actually work against the business.

The long-term general goals of the organization, often unguantifiable and qualitative

the long-term specific goals of the organisation, which should be quantifiable

the long-term plans developed by the business to achive its aims and objectives .

These are the decisions, taken by the senior levels of management, affecting the direction of an organization. They tends to:

• Be multidimensional, effect many aspects of the organization
• Solve a general, rather than a specific problem, through definition and analysis, but not necessarily action.
• Be concerned with unique and major problems, whose solutions will have long-term implications.
• Be qualitativ, rather than quantitative

the short-term ,routine, even day-to-day activities of te business to put its strategy into operation

These are the decisions made on a day.to-day basis to implement the strategic decsisions of the organisation. They tends to be:

• based opon a procedure or a precedent set by senior management
• taken at a relatively low level in the hierarchy
• numerous

A widely used tool available to the decision maker is the SWOT analysis. Here, management must look at both the internal and external environment and assess:

Strengths and Weaknesses - of the organization

Opportunities and threats- to the organisation

Profit = Total revenue - Total total cost

where the firm increases its output through investment in new capacity, although this might require expanding into overseas markets. Once a firm operates, in a number of countries, ecpecially its production facilities, it becomes multinational.

where the firm purchased sifficient shares of other companies to give them total control and thus make them subsidaries. Some firms, holding companies, specialise in simply owning other companies and have no core activities of their own.

where two firms work together to a common objective