A-level Business Induction 2020

PLEASE SEE THE INDUCTION PPT BEFORE COMPLETING THIS TASK:

Business research activity:

Introduction
o Choose one national business; this means a business that operates throughout the
United Kingdom.

o Carry out in-depth research into this business, using the questions within this
document as a guide.

o Your research is likely to be completed online for this assignment. Your research is,
however, unlikely to come from one single source and you are likely to have to do
some hunting around on websites to find as much detail as possible on your chosen
business. Apart from sources, avoid copy and paste when competing this work.

o If you cannot answer most of the sections for this project, then you would be
advised to choose a different national business to focus your attention on.

Which national business have you chosen to research?

Answer space:

Research the history of the business; where did this business start and how did
it get to what it is today? Include ownership types within your answer (current
and previous).

 The first McDonalds restaurant was started in 1948 by brothers Maurice and Richard McDonald in San Bernardino,
California, so was a private limited company
 They bought appliances for the restaurant from salesman Ray Kroc, who admired the simple and efficient format
the brothers used to sell huge quantities of food at low prices (e.g. a hamburger was half the price of the nearest
competitor), with self-service counters and customers receiving food quickly as cooked products were ready ahead
of time and warmed under heat lamps
 Kroc saw great promise and offered to begin a franchise program for the brothers, which they accepted – on April
15 1995, the first franchise opened, and in the same year he launched the McDonalds corporation, before buying
the brothers out in 1961 to assume sole ownership.
 The number of McDonalds outlets would top 1000 at the end of the decade which led to the company trading
publicly in 1965.
 The public face was created in 1963, worn by a clown named Ronald McDonald, while the yellow arches became
the most recognisable symbol – later, flagship products such as the big mac also became part of the McDonalds
brand.
 Number of restaurants reached 10,000 in 1988 and there were over 35,000 outlets in over 100 countries in the
early 21st century
 Success of McDonalds did bring some criticism, with a perceived association with obesity, leading to more healthy
options on the menu.
 https://www.britannica.com/topic/McDonalds
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What is the purpose of the business (why does it exist)?

 Same purpose as any business – to make money, make a substantial profit.

What are the activities of the business (what does it do)?

 It’s a commercial restaurant, provides food to people
 Involved in charity work

What are the activities of the business (what does it do)?

List and explain the business’s aims and objectives.

 As per the McDonalds website ‘McDonalds main aims are to serve food for great value in a friendly, fun
environment, as well as being a socially responsible company that provides good returns to our
shareholders’
 In addition, McDonalds objectives will be to achieve growth and expand, increase profits, increase stock
value etc.

Do you think this business is meeting their aims and objectives? Why do you
think this?
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 Mcdonalds are meeting their objectives – eg one of their main objectives (to make a profit) has been met
consistently from 2005 to 2019, with profits ranging from 2.4billion us dollars to 6.03 billion dollars

Who are the business’s main competitors?

 Other fast food chains, such as KFC, Burger King etc.

How does this business try to trade ethically?

 McDonalds supports an environmentally friendly supply chain, only contracting those who have positive
effects on the environment
 Attempted to avoid selling products which can cause obesity, following advice of nutritionists
 Was recognised for its massive efforts in reducing greenhouse emissions, winning the energy star partner
of the year award for its advancements in 3 main areas – energy efficiency, sustainable packaging and
waste management

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What functional areas does this business have? What role does each
functional area have within the business?
 Mcdonalds has all functional areas
 Marketing – increases customers, increasing sales and therefore increasing profit
 Finance – sorting out mcfonalds finances
 Technology – customer support, customer interface, ordering, preparing food
 Equipment – see technology
 Human rescources – dealing with employees and recruitmeent

How do the functional areas communicate with one another inside the
business? Give example scenarios of when the functional areas within the
business will need to communicate with one another.
 marketing impacts on finance – increased use of marketing will most likely increase sales, leading to
more money being brought into the business and finance having to deal with this additional costs. Eg
may need more supplies so finance will have to ensure this happens


Who do the functional areas communicate with outside of the business? How
do they communicate with these groups of people?
 Finance area communicates with suppliers, financiers etc
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Which methods of communication do you think are most important to the

business? Why?

Answer space. Include web addresses to show the sources of your information.

Make a list of the stakeholders this business has. Rank them in order of
importance
from the most important to the least. Say what interest each group of
stakeholders
has in the business.
 Owners – want the business to make a profit and gain money
 Employees – rely on the business to make money
 Suppliers – same as above
 Shareholders/investors – want returns on their investment
 Local community – require employment and benefits for the community
 Government – require taxes to fund their budget etc
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Which groups of stakeholders might conflict? How? Give two examples.

 Owners and employees – owners want lower wages, employees want higher wages
 Customers and owners – customers want low prices for high quality, owners want high prices

How does this business attract new customers?

 Huge amounts of advertising
 Lots of discounts/deals

Sources:

How does the business try to retain (keep) existing customers?

 Through marketing and advertising to keep customers aware of deals

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Give the names of two laws that have an impact on this business. How does
each law have an impact on the business?
Income tax- mcdonalds will have to pay huge amounts of tax to governments, reducing profit and therefore
reducing profit

Minimum wage – mcdonalds have to pay adults a minimum amount of money per hour, which may have
been an increase on previous wages, increasing costs, reducing profits, reducing growth.

Do you consider this business to be a success? Give reasons for your answers.
Yes – has a positive impact on the community, provides food for many, makes a huge profit, is sustainable,
creates huge amounts of jobs

What do you think the future holds for this business? Why?

Answer space.