Business Theory

Opportunities in the business environment are those factors that provide possibilities for a business to expand so as to make more sales and profits....

Our national government as well as the European Union play a big part in influencing business activity today: through taxation and spendingthrough laws, directives and...

Businesses operate in an external environment in which as well as competition from rivals businesses have to take account of legal, political, social and...

Big businesses command a lot of power and are able to choose between working in a way that benefits only the owners, and in...

There are a number of laws that protect the customer against the actions of unscrupulous manufacturers and sellers. Particularly important are the Sale of Goods...

Before creating business plans or when evaluating existing ones it is important to 'scan' the external environment. This takes the form of a SLEPT analysis,...

Two of the most important financial statements for a business are the Profit and Loss Account, and the Balance Sheet. The Profit and Loss...

Sales of products will eventually decline, as outlined in the four stage product life cycle. Businesses will often attempt to phase out existing products...

A forecast is an estimate of future figures based on experience. You can make forecasts about all sorts of events e.g. the weather, the...

Two of the most important financial statements for a business are the Profit and Loss Account, and the Balance Sheet. The Profit and Loss...

Accounting principles involve the recording and interpretation of business activity in figures (recording accounts). Records are kept of business transactions and full sets of accounts...

Banks provide a number of important financial services to business: Loans Provide businesses with expansion capital. A secured loan is one that is guaranteed by some...

Demand and supply for goods and services The demand for a product is the quantity that buyers will be willing to purchase at a given...

Marketing and the business environment demand the identification and understanding of target markets. These are highly dynamic: expanding and contracting, shifting in new directions...

Competition occurs when two or more organisations act independently to supply their products to the same group of consumers. There are two bases on which...

The term demand refers to the quantity of a given product that consumers will be willing and able to buy at a given price....

Forecasting and business trends a projection into the future that is based on evidence of past results, or on other appropriate information (e.g. what...

A marketing strategy is an overall marketing plan designed to meet the needs and requirements of customers. The plan should be based on clear...

Organisations have a formal structure which is the way that the organisation is organised by those with responsibility for managing the organisation. They create...

Information Technology (IT) refers to techniques used in business for transmitting, storing, manipulating and retrieving all kinds of data, including speech, text, movies, graphics...

Control of business activity takes place at two levels - control from within the organisation and external control. Internal control Internal control involves the creation of...

Critical Path Analysis (CPA) is a management tool designed to ensure the most efficient scheduling of any project. Suppose that a minor building project consists...

Production is the functional area responsible for turning inputs into finished outputs through a series of production processes. The Production Manager is responsible for...

Operating activities (or operations) are the ongoing activities that a business is involved in - e.g. processing a customer's order in an Argos store,...

Disputes between employers and employees (and/or their representatives) usually occur when all the available channels of discussion and negotiation have been tried. Reasons for...

In the past large sections of the workforce worked on full-time permanent contracts. This was typical of most large British companies. Since the 1980's...

Human resources are the people that work for an organisation, and Human Resource Management is concerned with how these people are managed. However, the...

Negotiation involves discussion to make agreements where the parties involved have some difference of interest or simply negotiation of how a task or project...

Managers are people who steer an organisation towards meeting its' objectives. Management has been described as: 'the process of planning, organising, leading and controlling...

Core competencies are the skills that allow a business to deliver a benefit to customers, and capabilities that are critical for a business to achieve a...

Business expansion presents potential benefits and drawbacks, some owners are even unwilling to take the risk of growing a business, instead deciding to stay small....

The owner of a business is the person who owns the business - i.e. has put the financial capital into the business and takes...

Businesses can grow either organically i.e. through internal growth where profits are ploughed back into the business or through external growth such as through...

In the UK and most other countries, business is structured in such a way that most activity takes place within the private sector with...

The basic economic problem is that resources are scarce relative to the purposes for which they could be put. As a result, choices have...

Start up businesses have a very high failure rate in this country with as many as 1 in 3 failing in their first three...