Business Talks – Podcast episode 1 : Business Sector
Though there are different ways of classifying business activities, one popular method is the classification based on’ the stage of production they are engaged in.
Good Morning!
Welcome to Business Talks, podcast episode.
Today, I am talking about, Business Sectors.
Primary Sector.
This sector refers to businesses involved in extraction, harvesting, and conversion of natural resources. Examples include, fishing, mining, harvesting, and oil extraction.
Secondary sector refers to businesses involved in construction of facilities and manufacturing products. Examples include manufacturing firms, construction firms, and energy production companies.
Tertiary sector refers to businesses involved in providing services to the general population and other business organisations. Examples include retailing, transportation, banking, healthcare, and insurance., And, finally.
Quaternary Sector.
Quaternary Sector, refers to businesses involved in intellectual, knowledge-based activities that generate and share information. Examples include scientific research, research and development, and ICT.
Thank you, and Happy learning!!
Business Talks – Podcast episode 2 : Business Growth
Have you ever seen, any business which remained same in terms of its size, legal structure, revenue, profit, number of employees, and the range of products offered over the period of time?
The big answer is, mostly “NO”. Think for a while, why does this happen?
Good morning!
Welcome to Business Talks, a podcast episode.
Today’s topic is, ‘business growth’.
No decision is made in business without knowing its costs and benefits. Business decisions are implemented, only when the benefits overweigh its costs. Let ‘s take an example of a restaurant which is planning to add more tables to its dining areas to accommodate 10 percent more customers.
Is this business growth?
Absolutely yes.
This decision will offer many benefits like:
- More purchases of ingredients like vegetables groceries, meat and other raw food. The restaurant will get a big discount on bulk purchases.
- This will help the restaurant ,to spread the cost of promotion, and other overheads, over larger sales. Means cost per meal decreases. This is popularly called, ‘Economies of Scale.
- There are different types of economies of scale; Technical, managerial, marketing, financial, purchasing , and risk-bearing.
- Adding more tables means, more customers and hence increased sales revenue and profit.
- Now, the restaurant has a better chance to absorb external risks like competition,and price fluctuation.
- Expansion can also give, an impression of greater financial viability of the business.
However, business growth means, loss of control, communication problem, compromised quality and so on.
It is important to understand that business growth can affect every single aspect of your business ,and put pressure on your staff, resources and finances. This is why you need to plan carefully, and ask yourself the critical question – is my business ready to grow?.
Thank you for listening!
Have a great day!!
Business Talks – Podcast episode 3 : Ansoff matrix
Is your business revenue growth rate, below your expectations?
Are you planning to :
- Sell more in in the existing market?
- Enter into a new market?
- Develop a new product?, or
- Move away from the existing core business?
If your answer is Yes, then this analytical tool, is definitely useful to you.
This is a 2 by 2 matrix, which offers, 4 different business growth options for business organisations.
Can you guess, what I am talking about!!
Good Morning!
Welcome to Business Talks, a podcast episode.
Today, I am talking about, business analytical tool , Ansoff matrix.
The Ansoff Matrix is a strategic planning tool that provides a framework to help executives, senior managers, and marketers devise strategies for future growth. It is named after Russian American Igor Ansoff, an applied mathematician and business manager, who created the concept.
There are four possible growth strategies!
Market penetration, Here business firms seek to achieve growth rate with existing products in their current market segment. This is a the least risky strategy.
Market Development, here firms seek to achieve growth by selling existing products in the new market segment.
Product development, here, firms seek to achieve growth by offering new products in the existing market segment., and finally,
Diversification, his strategy focuses on reaching new markets with new products. Diversification can be either related, or unrelated.
To sum it up,
Ansoff matrix offers, four different growth options:
- Market penetration.
- Market Development.
- Product Development, and
- Diversification
For more Business Talks podcast episodes, please visit our blog www.teacherrk.com.
Thank you, and Happy learning!!
Business Talks – Podcast episode 4: Limited Company
Hello, guess me, who am I?
Welcome to business Talks, a podcast episode.
Let me describe myself. Listen carefully.
I am a kind of business organisation owned my members called shareholders.
I got a valid certificate called a certificate of incorporation. It gives me a separate legal identify from its shareholders. That means, I have a long life. If something happens to any of my members, my existence is not affected.
All my members enjoy, limited liability, means, they will not loose more than what they have invested. For their investment, I give them return called ‘Dividend. My shares are available to general public for trading.
But, you know, I come into existence, only after passing through a long legal procedures. Whoever, wish to start me, they need to complete two important documents. They are,
Memorandum of Association, and,
Articles of association..
Though my formation is little complicated, I offer, many advantages. These are;
- Limited liability.
- Financial strength.
- Economies of scale.
- And
- Greater status.
However, I am not free from certain disadvantages, like,
- Lengthy Legal formalities.
- Have to disclose financial information.
- Because of my size, and operation, there will be communication problem. And,
- Since my shares are available to general public, I always have a threat of takeover.
Did you guess? Who I am?
I am none other than. Mr. Public Limited Company.
Thank you, for listening, and happy learning.
Business Talks – Podcast episode 5: Change Management
Change is the law of life. The change is inevitable to respond to the fast-moving business, and external factors. Local, and global economies are integrating, technological advancement is at its fast pace. Hence, work place process, strategies, systems, objectives, must continuously change for an organisation to remain competitive. Change affects the entire organisation but seriously its employees who can express their emotions, satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Responding to employees need, and reaction for smooth transition is need of the hour.
Good morning!
Today, I am talking about ‘the change management’.
As change is inevitable, the only solution is to see that employees are guided through the change journey which will be beneficial both for employees, and the business. Business success is not based on its ability to simply change, but it is based on your ability to change faster than your competitors, customers, and other stakeholders. As a manager, there are six key steps to effective change management process.
The first one is: Clearly define the change and align it to business mission and vision.
At this stage, People who are involved in the change management must conduct a critical review against organisational mission, vision, objectives to ensure that the change will carry the business in the right direction strategically, financially and ethically. This step can also assist you to determine the value of the change, which will quantify the effort and inputs you should invest.
The second step is to determine its impact and people who will be affected.
Once you have defined exactly what you wish to achieve and why, you should then determine the impacts of the change at various organizational levels. Review the effect on each business unit, employees and other stakeholders. This information will start to form the blueprint for where training and support is needed the most to minimize the impact.
The third one is, develop a communication strategy.
Although all employees should be taken on the change journey, the first two steps will have highlighted those employees you absolutely must communicate the change to. Determine the most effective means of communication for the group or individual that will bring them on board. The communication strategy should include a timeline for how the change will be incrementally communicated, key messages, and the communication channels and mediums you plan to use.
The fourth step is, Provide effective training.
Once the change message out in the organisation, it’s important that employees know they will receive training, formal or informal to learn the skills and knowledge required to operate efficiently as the change is implemented. The management can plan for on the job or off the job training to help employees who are affected by this change decision.
The fifth step is, Implement a support system.
Providing the support system is essential to assist employees adjust themselves to the change and build proficiency needed to achieve desired results. Some change can result in redundancies or restriction. The management should offer financial support, or moral support to those affected.
The final step is, Measure the impact of change process.
Throughout the change management process, a structure should be put in place to measure the business impact of the changes, and ensure that continued reinforcement opportunities exist to build proficiencies. The management should also evaluate the change management plan to determine its effectiveness and document any lessons learned.
In conclusion, as John F. Kennedy said, Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” The leaders of global business should consider change requirement in advance and identify potential problems and possible solutions to be competitive.
Thank you, and happy learning!
Business Talks: Podcast episode 6: Market Oriented Approach
Every business organization will have a well-defined vision and mission to accomplish. In this highly dynamic and competitive globalized business, business organizations adopt different marketing strategies to reach target customers.
Good morning!
Welcome to Business talks, a podcast episode.
In this episode, I am talking about one of two important approaches, that is the market-oriented approach.
Market orientation is a business philosophy where the focus is on identifying customer needs or wants and meeting them. When a company has a market orientation approach, it focuses on designing and selling goods and services that satisfy customer needs in order to be profitable. The successful market-oriented company discovers and meets the desires and needs of its customers through well-designed primary research and secondary research, and then modifying the product mix accordingly.
Market-oriented organizations prioritize surveys and research and use that information to determine the needs and wants of their target customers. They want to know what is important to their customers in order
It is important for marketing-oriented companies to know what their customers are looking for, and they can do this by reviewing the feedback they receive. When the company knows what they want to offer, they try to provide it.
For instance, Nike has a huge selection of products and is well-known around the world. They have adopted a market orientation technique and tailor their products to specific countries and regions which helps target their customers’ needs.
Market orientation approach offers many benefits like:
- Customers are the lifeblood of a business and the marketing orientation will help the company grow as the products are in sync with the market and customers’ demands.
- A customer-centric approach can help avoid wasted resources. The company already knows about the needs and wants of its existing customers, meaning they’re better equipped to offer solutions.
- Businesses that adopt market orientation know that customers are the driving force behind their business strategies. They often go to great lengths to create products tailored to the individual needs of their customer. This leads to increased customer satisfaction and greater success rates.
However,
There are a number of disadvantages to a market-oriented approach.
One is that the market can change rapidly and may not be able to keep up with the company’s efforts.
Another disadvantage is that the company may have difficulty in identifying new opportunities in the marketplace as the market becomes dynamic and ever-changing.
In addition, a market-oriented approach does not allow for innovation and creativity because it follows what already exists.
In conclusion, though, there are difficulties in identifying exactly the needs and demands of the market, the market orientation approach helps business organizations to reduce risk if not eliminate risks completely.
Dear students, it’s time to research and think. List five companies that you think their strategy is market-oriented approach and justify your findings with evidences.
Thank you, and happy learning.
Business Talks: Podcast episode 7: Peacewick University Pre seen case study M22
Peacewick University (PU) was founded as a teacher training college specialising in post-16 education in 1935 but became a university in 1992. Today, PU provides a full range of subjects. Adriana Cortez, the president, has ensured that the university has an emphasis on meeting the needs of 21st-century society, so it has strong IT, business, electronics, medicine, engineering and media faculties. Traditional courses, such as history, are still taught but do not have a high profile. The university has both teaching and research functions in all its faculties. The growth in research into artificial intelligence and medicine at PU has been particularly impressive, and these research developments have enabled the university to compete effectively with older, more established universities. In October 2019, PU was one of the most popular universities in the country, with five applicants for each available student place. Furthermore, measures of student satisfaction were very high in a January 2020 survey.