P1 Understanding Business Research

Assessment Activity Front Sheet

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Learner Name Assessor Name
Date Issued Completion Date Submitted on

Qualification: BTEC First in Business
Unit 1: Exploring Business Purposes

Assessment Title – Exploring Business Purposes

Criteria reference To achieve the criteria the evidence must show that the student is able to:
Task no.
Page numbers
P1 Describe four different types of business organisations in terms of purpose, ownership, size and scale 1
P2 Describe the primary, secondary and tertiary classifications of business activities using local and national examples 2
P3 Describe the purpose of
setting aims and objectives for businesses 3
P4 Describe the functional areas and their main purposes 4
M1 Compare and contrast the ownership, aims and objectives of two selected businesses 5
M2 Explain areas of growth or decline in the primary, secondary and tertiary classifications of business activities 6
M3 Explain the interaction of functional areas and how they relate to each other in two selected businesses 7
D1 Evaluate how the functional areas contribute to the aims and objectives of two selected businesses 8

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Learner signature: Date: Unit 1 – Exploring Business Purposes

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Assignment – Exploring Business Purposes

Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to provide a framework in which the learner can:
• Understand the nature of business and ownership
• Understand the classification of business activities
• Understand business aims and objectives in different sectors
• Know the main functional areas that support business organisations

Scenario: You work for the Department of Trade and Industry who would like you to investigate the current state of UK businesses.
You will need to feed back to them with the following information. Task 1

You will need to look at four business organisations and be able to describe their purposes, size, ownership and scale.

The four businesses need to be from the following categories: Sole trader Partnership (Green Fingers) Private limited or public limited company (Sainsbury’s) Voluntary organisation, charity, franchise or co-operative

1. For each business clearly describe what each business
does.
2. For each business clearly describe the type of ownership and the main advantages and disadvantages of each type of ownership.
3. For each business explain the scale of operation. Is this a local, national or international business? How many employees does it have and where is it based?
This provides evidence for P1
Task 2

You will need to show an understanding of the three classifications of business activities giving local, regional and national examples

1.
Describe what is meant by primary, secondary and tertiary classifications of business activities

2. Provide local and national examples of each one of these in a table.

This provides evidence for P2

Task 3

You will need to describe the purpose of setting aims and objectives for businesses

1. What is the difference between an aim and an objective – why is it important for businesses to have these?

2. For each of the four businesses that you have looked at describe what their aims and objectives are.

This provides evidence for P3

Task 4

You will need to investigate four functional areas of two of the businesses that you have written about.

1. Explain what the links are between each functional area and other functional areas in the business.

2. Why is each functional area important in helping the business to run smoothly?

This provides evidence for P4
Task 5

You will need to compare and contrast the ownership aims and objectives of two selected businesses. You will need to make sure that the businesses that you choose are very different. For instance one may be an international plc and the other a privately owned local
business.
What are the differences and the similarities of the aims and objectives for the two businesses or organisations?
Why are there such differences between the two?

This provides evidence for M1

Task 6

For this section you will need to explain areas of growth or decline in the primary, secondary and tertiary classifications of business activities.

1. Provide examples of national and local growth or decline.

2. Why are some areas growing and others declining?

This provides evidence for M2
Task 7

You will need to add to the work that you have already done on functional areas. This will need to be much more detailed and you will need to explain how each of the functional areas interacts with each other and how they help the business to be successful. For example how is the human resources function related to all the other functions in the business?

In order to appreciate why functional areas are important you will need to refer back to the research that you did in one of the earlier tasks. Take two sets of aims and objectives for one of the businesses and set out some notes to explain how the separate functional areas in the business will need to work together to achieve these objectives.
This provides evidence for M3

Task 8

You will need to evaluate how the functional areas contribute to the aims and objectives of two selected businesses. There should be specific examples setting out whether or how functions have contributed to the aims and objectives of the business. E.g. has the sales department managed to raise sales by a certain amount?

This provides evidence for D1