18/10/2010

Today we had our first business quiz. Below you can find the notes I took while we were discussing the answers and some other additional notes I took during the lesson.

1) Define private sector

Private sector is the sector of business which has nothing to do with the government. It’s independent from the government.
2) What are the service sectros of an economy?

Tertiary and quaternary sectors of an economy are the only service sectors.
3) What is the difference between these sectors?
Tertiary sector - sells goods to the customer
Quaternary sector- the activities are not related to the primary, secondary or the tertiary sector e.g.education institutes, hair dressers, advertising, marketing, financial works or individual business.
4) The mission of a business defines- its purpose of existence
5- Why do we need to do an analysis of the external environment of a business?
We need to do an analysis of the external environment of a business to plan what you will do with the business. In order to plan the future you must now where you are now (your current position).

SWOT

"SWOT" stands for; strengths, weaknesses, oppotunities and threats in a business.
The SW part of SWOT:
It stands for the internal factors affecting a business.
Strenghts are positive internal factors , while the weaknesses are negatively affect.

These internal factors are called the 7S Matrix ;

Strategy-the path/mission organization chose for its development

Structure- the way the organization developes itsself.

Systems-the procedures and processes of the organization

Skills-the capabilities of the organization

Staff-the human resources of the organiation

Style-the approach of the organization

Shared Values- the values of the organization

All the S's in the 7S Matrix are related to one another so, all are need for a successful business, if one is missing than the company cannot be successful.

The structure, strategy and systems are called Hard S's because they cannot be changed. They do not depend on a single thing.

The skills,style and and staff on the other hand are Soft S's, they are related to individuals in a business organization. They are the part of the 7S Matrix which can change.

The OT part of SWOT:
It stands for the external factors affecting a business.
The opportunities are the positive external factors and the threats are the negative ones.

The external factors affecting a business as we can remember is STEEPLE( social, technological, economic, ethnic, politics, legal and environmental)

STEPS OF PLANNING

SWOT
1-Where are we now?
STRATEGY
2-What should we do to get where we want to be? What is your strategy?
OBJECTIVES/GOALS
(These are not purposes, the purposes don’t change and could be find in the mission section however the goals of a business company can/must change from time to time)
3-Where do we want to be (in time/horizon X)?
CONTROL
4- How do we know we are getting there?

ALL OF THE STEPS OF PLANNING HAPPENS IN TIME X WHICH DOESN'T CHANGE.

TIME is a very important factor in business, everything is related to time. Thus time should be pricise to constantly improve.