Billion Essays

Tag: Business

  • Promotion and Types of Promotion.

    Promotion is the publicizing of a product, organization, or venture so as to increase sales or public awareness. Companies/firms promote their business and product in order to introduce a new product onto the market or increase sales of an existing product, improve the business’s image and to compete with other companies/firms. There are two types of promotions; informative and persuasive. Informative promotion is the type which attempts to give information about the product or service in an impressive sounding way. Usually when a product or service is launched, it is promoted through informative promotions. Persuasive promotion attempts to target the audience by establishing a needs of the product/service.
    Promotion is done by sales promotion, advertising media or public relations. Sales promotion is when a company/firm launches different schemes over the product/firm. A few common sales promotion methods are discounts, gifts, vouchers, after sale services and credit. Advertising media is the most commonly used method of promotion. Businesses use different types of advertising media depending on their promotion budget. For example, a company with a high budget would use all print, broadcast and visual media. A company with relatively lesser budget would rather use broadcast media, but one with a low budget might only afford print media. Public relations is a department often in large companies that makes sure that any new stories about the company and its products is in good light. For example, companies sometimes carry out news events about their own company, which can either be positive or negative which may result in only promotion of the company and its products. In public relations, a company uses product placements. It is when company pays television and film companies to use their product in their films and TV shows.

  • Product Life Cycle

    Alike anything a product also has a life cycle. A product life cycle has five stages, introduction, growth, maturity, saturation and decline. Introduction is the most difficult and expensive stage. It is when the product has to launch itself and has a small market; having lesser sales and lesser profit. However, growth stage is when the business gains more profit and expands itself. Saturation is when a product has made a mature position in the market and gain consistent profit. However, there is a decline stage, where a product starts to shrink. It could be through other competition or because the product might be outdated.

  • Marketing Mix: 4Ps of Marketing.

    A marketing mix is the combination of product, price, place and promotion in order to make a perfect product. In order to start a business, the producer needs to create a product, which fits the needs the needs and wants of the people. While creating a product many product decisions are to be made, and these decisions put an affect on the marketing mix. Before putting a product in the market, pricing is very important. Major consideration in pricing is the costing of the product, the advertising, marketing expenses, any price fluctuations in the market and distribution costs etc. Changes in pricing put a major effect on the marketing mix. Place where the product is to be sold or the distribution channel where the product is sold. Distribution has a huge effect on the profitability of a company, hence a major effect on the marketing mix. Promotions in the marketing mix includes the complete integrated marketing communications. Promotions are dependent a lot on the product and pricing decision. All these 4Ps of the marketing mix, create a product. Taking note of all these factors, creates a perfect product.

  • Market Research: Primary Research and Secondary Research.

    Market research is the systematic gathering and interpretation of information about individuals or organisations using statistical and analytical methods and techniques of the applied social sciences to gain insight or support decision making. There are two types of market research; primary and secondary market research. Primary research is the research carried out to answer specific questions, and is conducted by the researcher himself/herself. Such a research can be conducted via questionnaires, surveys and interviews. Secondary research is the type of research which is made on the basis of information by previously made researches, e.g:reports by the government, newspapers, journals, magazines, and radio and TV stations.

  • Communication: Effective communication and barriers.

    Communication can be defined as the process by which a message is exchanged from a sender to a receiver. It can be either internal or external. Internal communication is the one one done within the business, and external is the one done outside the business. Internal communication is very important as it ensures that all employees follow the same goal, and it is also used to motivate employees to increase productivity. Examples of internal communication are; Formal meetings and briefings, e-mail, conference calls & webinars, message boards and training packs (e.g. induction materials). External communication is made in order to keep contact with the stakeholders. It can be made through press releases, social media feeds, marketing materials (e.g. adverts, brochures, direct mailings), published financial information (e.g. accounts), letters, emails and telephone conversations with customers and suppliers and reports to government and other agencies.
    Effective communication is one of the most important factors, for a successful business. However, there are some barriers that hinder effective communication. Communication through a wrong channel. There are several channels for communication, but not all cannot be used, in all situations. Business which fail to communicate according to the situations, face failure. For effective communication, ensuring that the message is understood is very important. Communication is not only delivering a message/ information, but also ensuring that it is understood by the receiver. In a process of communication, the receiver holds immense importance as it is the target audience. If a business doesn’t receive a feedback from the receiver, it may also be a barrier to effective communication. While communicating the audience needs are also supposed to be met in order to keep it effective. Businesses often communicate messages to employees without understanding the employees’ level of awareness, understanding or concern about a particular issue. This may result in ignorance of the topic of concern. In order to keep communication effective, it should take care of the needs, feedback and understanding of the audience.

  • E-Commerce: Benefits and Drawbacks.

    E-Commerce is a digital market where goods and services are sold. It has many benefits and drawbacks too. It is an easier and convenient way, and people use it to save time and energy. People can also compare prices, instantly, and can invest in the better and economic product. It is beneficial for both supplier and consumer as it has instant payment techniques. However, people don’t trust online shopping or e-commerce as they don’t want to invest into a completely unknown company. People can also not feel the products and test quality and gave to trust the claims made by the companies themselves. As a whole, in the modern age, e-commerce is a convenient source of shopping.

  • The Break-even Chart

    A break-even chart is a line graph used in break-even analysis to estimate when the total sales revenue will be equal to the total costs, or the point where loss will end and profit will begin to accumulate. Usually, the number of units are plotted on horizontal ‘X’ axis and total sales dollars on vertical ‘Y’ axis. The point where the two lines or curves intersect is called the break-even-point. The break-even chart is also called the break-even graph

  • The 4P’s of Marketing

    The marketing mix is a business tool used in marketing and by marketers. The marketing mix is often crucial when determining a product or brand’s offer, and is often associated with the four Ps:

    ▪️ Price: What the price of the product should be.
    ▪️ Product: A product that satisfies the wants and needs of the consumers.
    ▪️ Place: Where the product or service should be sold.
    ▪️ Promotion: Ways to let consumers know that that product or service exists and can be bought.

  • Equilibrium Price, Equilibrium in the Market

    The equilibrium price is where the supply of goods matches demand or the price at which the quantity of a product offered is equal to the quantity of the product in demand. Equilibrium is the state in which market supply and demand balance each other and, as a result, prices become stable. Generally, when there is too much supply for goods or services, the price goes down, which results in higher demand. The balancing effect of supply and demand results in a state of equilibrium.

  • Methods of measuring a business

    Following are the methods of measuring a business:

    ▪️ Amount of sales turnover
    ▪️ Amount of profit
    ▪️ Capital employed
    ▪️ Stock market valuation
    ▪️ Number of employees
    ▪️ Number of shops/offices

    These methods however are not always completely accurate as a small business for niche’ products can sell products at absurdly high prices but not a lot in number. That does not make it a large business regardless of the profit it makes.

  • E-Commerce

    E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services, or the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the Internet. These business transactions occur either business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-consumer or consumer-to-business. E-commerce allows consumers to electronically exchange goods and services with no barriers of time or distance. Electronic commerce has expanded rapidly over the past five years and is predicted to continue at this rate, or even accelerate. In the near future the boundaries between \”conventional\” and \”electronic\” commerce will become increasingly blurred as more and more businesses move sections of their operations onto the Internet.

  • Entrepreneurs

    Entrepreneurs occupy a central position in a market economy. Entrepreneurs seek disequilibrium, a gap between the wants and needs of customers and the products and services that are currently available. The entrepreneur then brings together the factors of production necessary to produce, offer and sell desired products and services. They invest and risk their money to produce a product or service that can be sold at a profit. Entrepreneurs are future oriented; they believe that success is possible and are willing to risk their resources in the pursuit of profit. They’re fast moving, willing to try many different strategies to achieve their goals of profits. And they’re flexible, willing to change quickly when they get new information. Entrepreneurs are skilled at selling against the competition by creating perceptions of difference and uniqueness in their products and services.

  • Joint Ventures

    A business arrangement in which two or more parties agree to pool their resources for the purpose of accomplishing a specific task. This task can be a new project or any other business activity. In a joint venture each of the participants is responsible for the profits, losses and the costs associated with it. However, the venture is its own entity, separate and apart from the participants’ other business interests.

  • Franchise Businesses

    A franchise is a business system in which private entrepreneurs purchase the rights to open and run a location of a larger company. The franchising company, or franchiser, signs a contractual agreement with the franchisee, explaining in detail the company’s rules for operating the franchise. Franchises are a very popular method for people to start a business, especially for those who wish to operate in a highly competitive industry like the fast-food industry. One of the biggest advantages of purchasing a franchise is that you have access to an established company’s brand name; meaning that you do not need to spend further resources to get your name and product out to customers.

  • Limited Companies

    A limited company is an organisation that someone can set up to run their business, it’s responsible in its own right for everything it does and its finances are separate to the owners’ personal finances. Any profit it makes is owned by the company, after it pays Corporation Tax. The company can then share its profits. Every limited company has ‘members’ the people or organisations who own shares in the company. Directors are responsible for running the company. Most limited companies are ‘limited by shares’. This means that the shareholders’ responsibilities for the company’s financial liabilities are limited to the value of shares that they own but haven’t paid for. Company directors aren’t personally responsible for debts the business can’t pay if it goes wrong, as long as they haven’t broken the law.
    There are two types of companies, Private Limited ones and Public Limited ones. In Private Limited companies directors or shareholders financially back the organisation up to a specific amount if things go wrong while in Public Limited companies, the company’s shares are traded publicly on a market.

  • Business Partnerships

    A partnership is a single business where two or more people share ownership. Each partner contributes to all aspects of the business, including money, property, labor or skill. In return, each partner shares in the profits and losses of the business. Because partnerships entail more than one person in the decision-making process, it’s important to discuss a wide variety of issues up front and develop a legal partnership agreement. This agreement should document how future business decisions will be made, including how the partners will divide profits, resolve disputes, change ownership (bring in new partners or buy out current partners) and how to dissolve the partnership. Although partnership agreements are not legally required, they are strongly recommended and it is considered extremely risky to operate without one.

  • Problems with Business Growth.

    Majorly, the purpose of a business is to gain profit, hence expansion is inevitable. However, while expanding a business might face many problems. Usually, businesses try to expand as quickly as possible, and face diseconomies of Scale, which are the factors which cause a large firm to produce at increased average. When a business is way too big it may be difficult to manage. However, in order to manage a large business, should use specialization. Specialization is a process when people are assigned with tasks they are good at, and work is divided into different units.
    Most large businesses lead to poor communication, causing trouble in decision making. In order to improve it businesses use expensive latest IT equipment telecommunications, which increase the total cost of the business, and can make the company/firm may end up bankrupt.
    Mismanagement is a very common yet the most important factor of integration. Integration with other business may create problems due to different ways of management experienced by each business.

  • Ways to Grow a Business

    The growth of a business is either internal or external. Internal growth occurs when a business expands its existing operations, however external growth is when a business takes over or merges with another business. An example of internal growth would of a fast food restaurant, which would expand itself by opening another branch in another part of the city or country. External growth is divided in three different ways of expansion; horizontal integration, vertical integration( forward and backward) and conglomerate integration.
    Horizontal integration is when one firm merges with or takes over another firm in the same industry at the same level of production, e.g when a textile mill takes over or merges with another textile mill. This type of integration is beneficial to the firm because it creates more opportunities for economies of scale. It also reduces competition, and it has a bigger share of the total market.
    Vertical integration is when one firm merges or takes over another firm of the same industry but at a different stage of production. This type of integration is divided into forward vertical integration and backward vertical integration. Forward vertical integration is when a firm merges or takes over a firm in the same industry which is at a later stage of the production i.e closer to the consumer. Forward vertical integration benefits a business as it assures an outlet for the product. Also, the profit margin of the retailer increases. Backward vertical integration is when a firm merges or takes over a firm in the same industry which is at an earlier stage of production i.e closer to primary production. This merger or take over assures the supply of raw materials or important components. It also increases the profit margin of the supplier. It may also prevent the supplier from supplying other manufacturers. It can also control the cost of supplies for the manufacturer.
    Another way of integration or growth is, conglomerate integration. It is when one firm takes over or merges with a completely different industry. It is also known as diversification. This is a very expensive form of expansion, as it has more activities. However, there might be a transfer of ideas between the two industries in some certain fields, allowing more room for vast ideas.

  • Sectors Of Business Activity.

    A business is divided between three sectors; primary, secondary and tertiary. Each sector deals with a section of a business. The primary sector is smallest one, dealing with the extraction of natural resources, e.g mining. However, the secondary sector deals with the manufacturing of products. And, tertiary sector is responsible for providing goods and services; e.g retailing and transportation.

  • Needs, Wants, Scarcity

    As you probably know, we all have needs and wants. Needs are things we require to live, like water. I’m sure you can live without a Rolex for as long as you live but you can’t live without water for more then 3 days. Wants are things you can live without but they might make your life easier and make you feel good about yourself. All these needs and desires cost money, which we can only have so much of. Money is in limited supply and not everyone has an equal amount. The idea of having a limited resource is called scarcity.

  • The Purpose Of Business Activity

    Basically, as humans we all have needs and wants. Needs are the things we can’t live without while desires are things we can live without. We as humans have unlimited wants. Business activity exists to satisfy these needs and wants.

  • Should developing countries pay more attention towards education or improving business standards?

    Country’s fundamental structure stands on its literacy rate, in other means you can say that its education which is the backbone of a country’s growth.
    For developing countries, they should put more efforts and extra money on their education sectors because if they have educated and skilled people, they can develop exponentially. Through education they can make employment opportunities and developed countries will be glad to open business opportunities because of skilled and educated people.
    Education will not only help country in it development but also raise the bar over all in all aspects of other fields of work.