To: Mrs Shanaz Kashif From: Athena Tsouvallaris Introduction: I have been assigned a work placement in the council in the economic development unit at my local council, whom are committed to aid businesses to begin and bloom. The purpose of my assignment is to compare and to contrast two businesses that I have chosen, I have chosen to do McDonalds which is a PLC as well as a franchise, the contrasting business I have chosen to do is the National Health Service teenage and young adult cancer unit (NHS) which is a non-profit organisation and government funded.P1:Explain the features of two contrasting businesses:McDonalds is the world’s largest chain of fast food restaurants, McDonalds is global in around 119 countries. McDonald’s is also spreaded in approximately 37, 000 outlets. McDonald’s restaurant is operated either by a franchise or an affiliate or the corporation itself, McDonalds is the second largest private company globally. McDonalds as well as global is also a local successful business.McDonalds is maintained by entities and shareholders, Like most organisations in the private sector, McDonalds is definitely profit oriented, with 30,000 restaurants global in quite a few countries in and out of the European union, including outlets and franchises, McDonald’s key focus is to earn money off the service it provides to its customers, McDonalds also comes under the secondary sector as well as the tertiary sector as they primarily receive the raw meats and ingredients to make meals such as happy meals, big macs,mc chicken sandwiches, and distribute the foods to their customers.
McDonald’s its self has had many features and has also had a long line of history from been involved in sustainability, the signature programs that McDonald’s have now become a key part of their sustainability and social responsibility. Through sustainability McDonald’s prominent attributes and aspects consist of food, sourcing, planet, people, and community, McDonalds also plans to start up in America with new technological features where everything is voice activated and the customers receive free fries. Its economical footprint is that its franchises employ 4000,000 people in Europe, half a million European farmers supply McDonalds beef, McDonalds also created 60,000 new jobs in a span of three years, beginning from 2007-2010.McDonalds is satisfying customer requirements by having a extensive range of products that’ll cater around customers dietary and religious requirements for instance:McDonald’s has launched a food menu for vegans and vegetarians, the menu consists of salads, vegetarian burgers, and wraps for vegans and vegetarians as they do not consume any meat or foods sourced by an animal. McDonalds also promises and guarantees all of their foods are 100% meat from British farmers, as they have a rigorous set of standards governing animal welfare practices.Furthermore, McDonald’s menu also has foods which are free from ingredients containing gluten, so people who have glucose issues can still come and enjoy a McDonald’s, the foods included are the following: French Fries, which are cooked in dedicated fryers using a non-hydrogenated vegetable oil ,Hash Browns, Fruit Bags, Carrot Sticks and Garden Side Salad ,as well as some McFlurry desserts, such as the Crunchie and Dairy Milk, All of the McDonald’s drinks are free from ingredients containing gluten except the Cappuccino, as the Chocolate sprinkles do contain a trace of gluten, McDonalds also does cater for people with coeliac further, McDonalds aims to continually build its brand by listening to its customers to satisfy their needs, once they hear their needs they discuss and elaborate and make these changes to satisfy their needs further.McDonalds is a enormous global and local successful business organisation, so they would ideally need a strong vision, as they have constant rising competition with other successful businesses operating in the same market as McDonalds such as, burger king, five guys, kfc,so they always need a to plan strategically ahead and bring out new foods, drinks and ice creams and stand out from their competitors (have a USP).McDonald’s is a franchise organisation, so it primarily has unlimited liabilities meaning this refers to the legal obligations general partners and sole proprietors because they are liable for all business debts if the business can’t pay its liabilities.
The opposing business I have selected is the national health services (NHS), the NHS is a government funded health care system which is primarily run in the United Kingdom, and it is predominantly the longest operating free health care amenity in the world. The NHS is also predominantly funded through the general taxation system and is also over looked by the Department of Health, the system provides healthcare to every single legal resident in England, with most services free at the point of use. Some services, such as emergency treatment and treatment of virulent diseases are free for every person, including visitors- the only thing that the Although the NHS is privately funded, it falls in the private sector, meaning its in the private sector as its always used private contractors such as your general practitioners, dentists,opticians,the NHS primarily would collapse if it wasn’t working with the private sector, or funded, and had private companies input as they fund the equipment, all the medicines, and build the hospitals and new wards, etc, as well as storing private and confidential patient information and hospital records on a IT data based filing system, on the other hand it also operates in the public sector meaning its providing various governmental services itself as a whole and is governmental funded. The NHS also comes under the tertiary business sector as it is a service that supports.The features of the NHS date back to 1948 (Universal healthcare for the whole population)The features of the NHS include:•People having equal access to healthcare to a certain standard •Prescriptions, which are free for elderly, children in full time education, people who have disabilities or claim benefits, whilst others pay (except Scotland, where they are all free regardless of age, financial position.
) •The NHS also features in Private Healthcare for patients who are terminally ill with a terrible disease meaning it’s a faster process, as well as access to better consultants faster, some better care, for instance staying in Private Hospitals or specialist units.•The NHS also features in additional voluntary contributions.P2: explain how two contrasting businesses are influenced by their stakeholders:Introduction on stakeholders:Stake holders are a group of people who have an interest in a business organisation, they can be seen as either external to the organisation or internal, but some maybe both. Internal stake holders are those who are “members “of the business organisation such as:•Owner•Supervisor•Customer•Suppliers•CommunityExternal stake holders could be:•Local Residents•GovernmentThe shareholders of the businesses will have a decision in the decision making, and will be invited to join and attend annual meetings, having shareholders also means that you will have to make your accounts public.The accounts are generally scrutinised and analysed by the government.
The advantages of this are you make profits and investments giving up shares on the other hand the disadvantages are you won’t be in total control within the decision making of the business.McDonald’s: McDonald’s stakeholders include customers, financial investors, suppliers, public, communities, internal and external people.One stakeholder of McDonalds would be its employees as the employees working in McDonald’s are internal stakeholders as they work inside the company and have an interest and influence the way it is run. The influence the employees have on McDonalds is providing a good service and good experience to its new and existing customers, on the other hand they could be influences such as demanding better pay and better working conditions- this influence could lead to staff leaving and McDonalds needing to train new staff all the time. Employees also often do have staff meetings with managers where they can talk about what they think is running smoothly and what is running in McDonalds, this is why employees are internal stakeholders as if they think something needs to be changed they can influence this change to happen so satisfy customers and demands.Customers are external stakeholders this is because they don’t work for the franchises but they still buy products from them so they have an interest in McDonalds.The influence that customers have on McDonalds is paying for the service that’s been provided for them, they also help McDonalds influence their menu as McDonalds will change up and scrap items on the menu with low sales compared to other items.Suppliers are also internal stakeholders as they also work with McDonalds.
McDonalds use many suppliers for the things in their store for example they get the food from one supplier and then the drinks from another.The suppliers influence McDonalds by helping out with discounts and deals.The government is an external stakeholder as they also hold an interest and influence in the corporation McDonalds. The government is interested in McDonalds because McDonalds offers a variety of opportunities for the unemployed to get a job and come off benefits, this benefits the government as it will help with the countries financial state.The government also influences McDonalds as the government opposes new laws and regulations which could affect McDonalds.Local communities are external stakeholders to McDonald’s.Local Communities could influence McDonald’s as a business corporation by petitioning against building and planning permissions or they could complain about traffic and loudness coming from McDonald’s drive through for instance.
Managers of McDonald’s are internal stakeholders.Managers influence McDonald’s daily by the decisions they decide to make, this could therefor influence the products they sell and what services they have to offer and provide for their customers. The managers also influence who works at McDonald’s so they hire and fire. The managers at McDonald’s also implement the companies policies and rule out rules and regulations and formulate a strategical strategy which affects the profits of McDonald’s.Trade unions are external stakeholders as they work outside the business.All of the new employees who join the McDonalds team are selected based on their ability to work as part of a team and teamwork forms a large part of their training programmes and performance appraisals.
When working in the restaurants employees can be part of a number of dedicated teams, for example the Front Counter, Kitchen, Dining Area, Drive Thru and Management team.McDonald’s also follows the Forming – Storming – Norming – PerformingNational Health Service (NHS):The patient’s interests are to be able to have a service provided to them free of charge, and to have local clinics when they need to speak to general practitioners, nurses, when in need of minor medical attention or general check-ups or tests such as blood tests.The influence of the above is recruiting a substantial amount of trained medical staff because when or if there are a vast amount of people using the NHS service then they will need to recruit more staff to ensure patients have someone who is able to see them, furthermore the NHS can also influence redundancy because if the client aren’t satisfied with the service being provided then they might go to private clinics which could lead to staff becoming redundant and not having a job leading to no regular income for themselves.The Tax-payers Interests are to make sure that the money they’re getting taxed on from their regular income job is to fund the NHS.The influence for the above is that the tax payers fund the NHS through their taxes.The Government’s interests are to make sure that the national health services in England are predominantly been run safely and properly, so the patients are satisfied.The influence for the above is pretty negative as the government has the authority to close down hospitals and clinics if there aren’t a lot of investments been made, or the governments could decrease funding, meaning hospitals and clinics won’t have the latest technology or resources etc.
The Employees interests are to see as many clients as possible and to also provide a safe and stable environment for the patients as well as providing a good and clean service.The influences for the above are the staff may demand better working conditions, and demand pay rises, this could lead to strikes. Using my research, I have been able to come to the conclusion that McDonalds and the NHS have similar stakeholders, both internally and externally,but the stakeholders of the businesses have different means and purposes, and different influeneces.P3: McDonald’s aims and objectives:McDonald’s aims and objectives and pretty straight forward and simple, McDonalds organisational structure:McDonald’s organisational structure was rehabilitated on the first of July in the year 2015 to advance the company’s conduct of its global operations. A firm’s organisational structure states the system through which organisational components coordinate to achieve business objectives. McDonald’s organisational structure facilitates managing markets based on performance levels. As the largest fast food restaurant chain in the world, McDonald’s keeps evolving to address current and emerging markets.
McDonald’s predominantly has a divisional structure for its organisation, each division is segmented and controls a specific operational area within the organisation, the aim of the structure is to support autonomy flexibility. McDonald’s structure follows the following features arranged according to the organisations significance:1)Global hierarchy2)Performance based divisions3Function based groupsGlobal hierarchy:McDonald’s currently has a global hierarchy to cover all of its operations globally, this emphasises corporate control, for instance McDonald’s chief executive leads the events of all business areas, mandates are approved from the Chief executive down to the mid, and then onto the restaurant managers and personnel. This characteristic of McDonald’s administrative structure is typical of most global business organisations.Performance based divisions:The performance based divisions are the most distinct feature of McDonald’s organisational structure. The company recognised its structure on the first of July in the year 2015, before the recognition, the geographic divisions in McDonald’s organisational structure was: U.S.A, Europe, Asia, Pacific, Middle East and Africa.
Function based groups:McDonalds upholds its function based groups in its structure, for instance under corporate operations the organisation has a human resource managerial group, a supply chain and a franchise/affiliate group, as well as a legal group.This characteristic of the organisational structure empowers McDonald’s to discourse the elementary functions in its business.McDonald’s Organisational Structure Advantages ; Disadvantages:An advantage of the hierarchy in McDonald’s organisational structure is its support for monitoring and control of international operations. Also, the performance based divisions have the advantage of enabling McDonald’s to implement strategies based on market performance resemblances, on the other hand, a disadvantage of McDonald’s organisational structure is that it tends to generalise strategies for the performance based divisions, McDonald’s has limited flexibility because of this feature of the organisational structure.The NHS aims and objectives:The NHS aims and objectives are To provide medical care free at point of use for residents in England and for people whom come to visit England if they have something serious wrong with them and in need of medical aid,The NHS have also aimed to provide free health care for both the rich and poor people in England, further conveying the NHS have also strategically done a plan where they see the most ill and life threatening stated patients first and then the others.The NHS organisational structure:Principally the NHS doesn’t have an organisational structure, it has gone with the flow over time, and has had constant changes,for instance in the years 1948-74 the NHS had an Administrative organisational structure, in the years 1974-82 the NHS had a new Planning organisational structure, in the years 1982-90 the NHS had a Managed organisational structure, in the years 1990-97 the NHS had a Market organisational structure, from the years 1997 until present day the nhs has scrapped the above organisational structures and came up with the “new NHS”.The NHS Administrative organisational structure phase:In the years 1948-1974 the nhs believed to have an administrative organisational structure, which was orientated around Persistence of inequalities, as well as socially, geographically categorised by patient.
The NHS Planning organisational structure phase:In the years 1974-1982 the nhs organisational structure was orientated around themes of effectiveness, efficiency and equity. The NHS was then Managed by agreement.The NHS Management organisational structure phase: In the years 1982-1990 the nhs was management orientated, the NHS had something called a “Griffiths report” which was needed and managed for good MGT and for financial accountability of clinicians. The management phases were good for the NHS as they had stronger lines of accountability.The NHS Market organisational structure Phase:in the years 1990-97 the nhs had a huge influence on their organisational structure by Thatcher’s belief in free markets efficiency and was structured around that, although there was fund holding, in this period of time there was a huge decrease in quality, decreased choice, no market place and an increase in bureaucracy, due to this the NHS scrapped the old structures and came up with “the new NHS”. Current ideas for the NHS1.
The NHS believe a good idea would be Partnership working so there is joined up thinking and more ideas.2.Inequalities and Our Healthier Nation.3.
The NHS believe a good idea would be Devolving decision making to General practitioners.M1: Asses the relationship and communication with stakeholders of two contrasting businesses using independent research. Without effective business communications a business is not likely to succeed.
McDonald’s use a variety of different communication methods in everyday business activities in order to achieve the aims and objectives they have set for their corporation, McDonald’s use; television adverts, Internet Services, leaflets and bus ticket promotional offers to either advertise the business or new jobs for instance.Formal Methods McDonalds use to Communicate with their stake holders consist of:•Meetings-McDonald’s hold meetings and invite their stake holders to come along to annual meetings, the reports are scrutinised. •Conference Calls- These days this is the most common communication method as it does not require the time and expense of travel to annual meetings to see stakeholders.
•Email-this method utilises any updates needed• Letters are a formal method of communication between a business and stakeholders as they contain a written method of communication from a stakeholder to a business.Informal methods McDonalds use to communicate with their stake holders;•Voice mail- this is often underutilised since email is so common regarding communication, but voice mails are statistically shown to be more often listened to compared to an email been read. This can be a solo voice mail, a voice mail broadcast to large team or you could pursue use of automated calling to get the word out depending on the size of audience.McDonald’s may also use Vertical communications which basically are messages sent between staff belonging to different levels of the organisation hierarchy.Horizontal communications are messages sent between staff on the same level of the organisation hierarchy.As for the relationship between McDonald’s and its stakeholders overall McDonald’s maintain a very good relationship and a close bond with all of their stakeholders.
McDonalds believe that each relationship with their stakeholders is an intangible asset within their business corporation.By McDonald’s effectively managing and maintaining a good relationship with increasing the opportunities and lowering the risks, a business like McDonald’s can enhance the quality of its intangible assets and therefor increase the overall value of their business. Formal Methods the NHS use to Communicate with their stake holders consist of:•Meetings-NHS hold meetings and invite their stake holders to come along to annual meetings, the reports are scrutinised. • Spoken communication-This is the spoken face to face communication. It is perhaps the most common way that places such as the NHS use to communicate with their internal stakeholders. The spoken word has the benefit of being able to make a point directly to the stakeholder, the stakeholder can see the face and body language of the other person and therefore give direct verbal feedback. Spoken communication can also be used during PowerPoint presentations at a stakeholder conference meeting• Social media and Electronic- this method of communication has become a huge part of todays society as everyone uses it to connect with each other. It is important in a place like the NHS to communicate with stakeholders whom are both internal an external.
The NHS use a diverse range of different methods internally and externally such as the following: e-mail, fax, the telephone, video, podcasts, teleconferencing and webcasts and webinars. The advantage of the NHS using the above mentioned as a means of communication with stakeholders is a huge advantage, as they can communicate with them and at the same time they don’t necessarily need to be in the same area to communicate• Telephones-The telephone is over the phone contact, no actual face to face encounter with the stakeholder.• Internally on the odd occasion the NHS also use Paper-based communication to communicate with their internal stakeholders, although its rarely used due to the huge social media and online communication developments.• The NHS also use Image and silent communication, although it isn’t always apparent and it’s a less obvious form of communication, it is still used and it also reveals important aspects of the NHS’s communication. Generally, these sorts These are less obvious forms of communication, the NHS spends time and money on this so they can project to their stakeholders, this may have something to do with a logo, imagery, colour, designs, facts and statistics etc.As for the relationship between the NHS and its stakeholders overall NHS maintain a very good relationship and a close bond with all of their stakeholders. By McDonald’s effectively managing and maintaining a good relationship with increasing the opportunities and lowering the risks, a business like McDonald’s can enhance the quality of its intangible assets and therefor increase the overall value of their business.M2: analyse how the structures of two contrasting business allow each to achieve its aims and objectives:McDonald’s structure is very practical and strategical as they follow their line of control:At the top are the chairmen, chief executive officer, and the chief operating officer.
Below that, the departments are broken down into the following: corporate affairs, marketing, human resources, national operations, regional managers, finance, information, and strategic planning followed by all the workers. The reason being why its practical and strategical is because everyone has a point of call when needed, and everything is kept under control, without this McDonald’s would be all over the place and there would be no control neither would the aims and objectives be met “there aims and objectives are to provide its customers with food of a high standard, quick service and value for money.” Meaning if the aims and objectives aren’t met they will loose their good reputation, and end up loosing profits which would lead to cashflow problems etc.McDonald’s may need to change the aims and objectives over time depending upon external influences on a business.
As we have seen over the past few years McDonald’s have been introducing more and more healthy eating products into the wide range of fast foods they provide. This is because more people from the public have been getting conscious about healthy eating. This is a perfect example of how the McDonald’s aims and objectives will change over time. There can be many different reasons why McDonald’s aims and objectives will change over time. How business activity helps McDonalds achieve their aims and objectives:Many people go to McDonalds to buy a “BIG Mac burger”. But this would not be possible if McDonalds stopped providing them.
But now many people want to try vv something different. So McDonalds have started making new burgers and other meals which helps them to achieve their aims of providing fast food to the public and maximise profits.The nhs structure is very practical and strategical as they follow the new nhs procedure as shown in the picture below: The reason being why its practical and strategical is because everyone has a point of call when needed, and everything is kept under control, this is a good thing as with the new nhs structure patients are seen when needed, patients are diagnosed and put in the correct hands to be cared for, without this the NHS would be all over the place and there would be no control nor will patients get the treatments, or the correct help, either would the aims and objectives be met “To provide medical care free at point of use for residents in England and for people whom come to visit England if they have something serious wrong with them and in need of medical aid,to provide free health care for both the rich and poor people in England, further conveying the NHS have also strategically done a plan where they see the most ill and life threatening stated patients first and then the others.
” Meaning if the aims and objectives aren’t met the NHS would crumble and fall apart as they wont get any governmental funding or funding from general taxation and if this did happen due to aims and objectives not been met many people will be left in critical conditions and untreated and undiagnosed.D1: Evaluate the reasons for the success of two contrasting businesses, reflecting on evidence gatheredCritical Success Factors for McDonald’s Aggressive Business Goal Hello, I’m the new McDonald’s supervisor, we’re going to run you out of business” was infamously said by Ralph Lanphar to a competitor nearby. Although this saying might come out as aggressive and rude, looking at it from a different perspective, it could very much be a manifestation of pride and the eagerness to grow bigger and stronger. From this statement, it is evident that McDonald’s was committed to build the strongest superior operation firm. This pride and eagerness has been carried on until today.
All staff, employees and top management have been engrained in their early stages of training to love the company, to understand that there are benefits for them and that together McDonald’s and they can grow together. They should take pride in the success. Even to this day and age, the mission to instil loyalty to the company could be seen today. Charlie Bell, McDonald’s CEO in 2004, used to say that the people at McDonald’s people must be ” proud of where we work, proud of what we do, proud to wear the McDonald’s pin, proud of our food offerings, proud to eat our food offerings and proud to be part of McDonald’s. Going back to the fact where McDonald’s has a sturdy and aggressive business plan, McDonald’s plans to make everybody in the world know their corporation McDonald’sUncompromising StandardsOne of the most influential influences that made the preliminary set of McDonald’s possible would have to be credited to the restaurant’s extreme commitment to their aimed standards of consistency and their motto of “Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value.” In which both were created by Kroc himself. Even customers knew that no matter where they travelled, they could rely on those qualities at every McDonald’s they visited.
Tom Peters said “keeping it simple in amidst of the growing complexity. Uniformity.” ConsistencyIn 1955, Kroc incorporated his company as McDonald’s corporation and opened his first very own restaurant in Illinois. Placing his concern over the consistency and uniformity from store to store, he decided to establish strong restaurants first before franchising them out. Wants McDonald’s to be a multi local and not a multinational corporation.
The reason that McDonald’s is a global succession is because McDonald’s is readily to take risks is that the company realises that it is important to adapt to the wants and needs of customers and continue to keep up with existing wants and needs of customers, for instance McDonald’s have broadened their horizons to adapt to new wants and needs such as offering more healthier options as people are becoming more health conscious about their wellbeing and image, further more with resiliency, McDonalds has been a huge success for so long is its ability to weather storms. Though the trajectory for McDonald’s has been primarily upward throughout its existence, the company has had to weather several challenges and controversies. Throughout the many years McDonald’s has had many lawsuits directed at them for various issues, and have been the subject of a large amount of negative press. The resiliency is shown through as despite the law suits and press issues McDonald’s have stayed on top.Willingness to AdaptMcDonald’s success is reliant on adapting to its customers’ existing needs and demands McDonald’s franchise and affiliate business has not only survived but thrived throughout the years and has survived recessions and has successfully reacted to consumer trends. It was one of the first franchise restaurants to post nutritional information about its menu, and now offers salads and other healthy options in recent years.
Also, the key to McDonald’s global success is that people all around the globe know what to expect when they pass through the golden arches (the yellow M of McDonald’s). This does not, however, mean that the corporation has resisted change or refused to adapt when local customs require flexibility. Although the NHS has a different sort of success in comparison to McDonalds, The NHS has had many reasons of success over the years the top reasons for the NHS are that the NHS have worked hard over the years consistently and have managed to significantly reduce the waiting times in the waiting room to be seen and examined.The nhs have also improved access to primary care meaning that there is more access to people such as general practitioners, nurses, dentists and opticians.The nhs have also had a huge reduction in MRSA and C difficile infection rates due to new treatments.
The NHS has Sustained reductions in deaths due to cancer and cardiovascular disease due to success over the years in their laboratories The NHS have also Sustained reductions in rates of smoking due to a high success rate in their campaigns and help from the primary care general practitioners and nurses encouragement.The reports I have gathered have also shown observations that the reporting of safety incidents has improved, meaning this is another success for the NHS.The nhs have also had success with the following bullet pointed:•Improving productivity, which has declined since 1997.•Embedding a stronger safety culture across the NHS.
•Increasing access to out of hours GP care.
