2013-14 BTEC Business Level 3 Unit 1 Assignment brief Essay

1. Know the range of different businesses and their ownership 2. Understand how businesses are organised to achieve their purposes 3. Know the impact of the economic environment on businesses 4. Know how political, legal and social factors impact on business. Context This assignment you will be required to research organisations that operate in different business environments. In the first part of the assignment you will have to research the purposes and ownership of a range of local organisations. The second part of the assignment will look at organisations based in another country. The research carried out in this unit can be used as a basis for more detailed study in later units. Scenario You work as a journalist at Northampton’s Chronicle & Echo newspaper which is planning to run a feature article on local businesses. You will need to visit two local businesses in order to carry out your research. Assignment 1.1: You have been asked to prepare a Presentation for the Editor that may later be used as the basis for preparing an article aimed at the readership of your local newspaper. The first slides to your presentation should include: a brief introduction to the two local businesses one business should be profit-making, e.g. Marks & Spencer; one business should be not-for-profit, e.g. Malcolm Arnold Academy your two businesses should vary in size a description of the types of your businesses a description of the purpose of your businesses, including the aims and objectives of your organisations a description of the ownership of your businesses. This should include an accurate, but not necessarily detailed, statement as to the extent of owners’ liability for debts. DESCRIBE the type of business, purpose and ownership of two contrasting businesses Deadline Friday 27th September 2013 Assignment 1.2: You should continue to develop the presentation you started in Assignment 1.1 with: a description of the different stakeholders who influence the purpose of your two different organisations an explanation of the viewpoints of different stakeholders and how these seek to influence the aims and objectives of your business organisations an evaluation of the influence of different stakeholders on one of your two organisations a priority ranking of the stakeholders of your organisation, e.g. 1 = most important, 5 is least important a statement about the importance of each stakeholder and why you believe this to be the case. Your opinions should be supported by evidence from different sources. For each piece of evidence state how reliable you think it is and why. DESCRIBE the different stakeholders who influence the purpose of two contrasting businesses EXPLAIN the points of view of different stakeholders seeking to influence the aims and objectives of two contrasting organisations EVALUATE the influence different stakeholders exert in one organisation The Chronicle & Echo plans to give a report as a follow up to your presentation, which was well received. In this report you will need to choose one of the two organisations from your initial article and compare it with an organisation from another country. This requires you to research a different economic environment, e.g. China or India, and to look at one business from that country. This business will then be compared with your UK business. Draw up a table of economic data for the UK and one other, contrasting, economic environment. Choose at least three economic topics and collect relevant data from two different countries, e.g. GDP, inflation or interest rates. Using the data collected in your table describe the influence of two contrasting economic environments (i.e. the economic data collected) on business activities within your selected organisations. Compare the challenges to their business activities that your two organisations face due to their economic environment, e.g. how does the inflation rate impact on supply costs or demand for your two businesses? Write at least one paragraph for each piece of economic data for each business. DESCRIBE the influence of two contrasting economic environments on business activities within a selected organisation COMPARE the challenges to selected business activities within a selected organisation, in two different economic environments Deadline Friday 18th October 2013