Study guide: Business Organisations and Vocabulary

📋 Course Outline

1. Organisation Types and Purposes
2. Company Size Resources and Sectors
3. Company Structure and Locations
4. Business Relationships and Market Position
5. Business Vocabulary and Definitions
6. Company Examples and Statistics

📖 1. Organisation Types and Purposes

★ Must-know

📌 The grid distinguishes private-sector companies, public-sector companies, and non-profit organisations such as charities and associations.

• A private-sector company is characterised by market activity and the purpose of making a profit.

Further detail

• The legal structures named for private companies are LTD (private limited company) and PLC (public limited company).

💡 Memory Hook

Profit-making companies contrast with non-profit charities and associations.

📖 2. Company Size Resources and Sectors

★ Must-know

• The four company-size categories are:

  • micro-businesses with fewer than 10 employees
  • small companies with 10–249 employees
  • medium-sized companies with 250–4,999 employees
  • large companies with more than 5,000 employees

• Organisational resources are:

  • human
  • financial
  • material
  • immaterial
  • technological

• The primary sector involves extracting raw materials, including mining, fishing, and agriculture.

Further detail

• Human resources include employees and interns; financial resources include capital, profit, loans, and a share of turnover; material resources include buildings, equipment, factories, and manufacturing units; immaterial resources include patents, diplomas, logos, reputation, and websites; technological resources include technical equipment, expertise, and websites.

• The secondary sector processes materials and produces finished goods, including through factories and construction.

• The tertiary sector provides intangible goods and services, including retail, tourism, banking, entertainment, education, and IT services.

📖 3. Company Structure and Locations

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Headquarters: The main office of an organisation.
• Holding company: An owning company that controls another business through ownership of more than 50% of its voting stock.

📝 Essential Points

📌 A parent company owns or controls a subsidiary, while a branch office is an establishment away from the firm's main location that conducts the same line of business.

• An organisation's nationality is identified by the location of its headquarters, and its geographic scope may be local, national, European, or international.

📖 4. Business Relationships and Market Position

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Annual turnover: The amount of business done by a company in a year, expressed as the amount of money earned in that year.
• Profit: A financial gain measured as the difference between an initial outlay and the subsequent amount earned.
• Market share: A company's proportion or percentage of the market.
• Market leader: A company that is in first place in its market.
• Competitor: A rival company in the same kind of business or one trying to sell a similar product to the same market.
• Supplier: A person or firm that provides something.
• Customer: A person or company that buys from or does business with another company.

📖 5. Business Vocabulary and Definitions

★ Must-know

• The vocabulary distinguishes a product range, meaning a selection of items, from a brand, a specific name given to a product, and a trademark, a registered design, name, or logo used to identify goods and prevent unauthorised use.

Further detail

• A wholesaler sells goods in large quantities to another company or shop, while a retail outlet is a shop that sells goods to the public.

• Business premises are company offices or other work premises; a production site is a factory or plant where goods are manufactured; and components are parts needed for production.

• A division is a subdivision describing a company's area of activity, and a company may be specialised in a particular product, service, or area of work.

• The vocabulary includes:

  • founded: initially created or launched
  • located in: situated in
  • in charge of: responsible for or overseeing
  • do business with: work or collaborate with
  • worldwide: spread across different countries
  • well-equipped: furnished with necessary equipment

📖 6. Company Examples and Statistics

📝 Essential Points

• Smith plc was founded by David Smith in 1901.

• Tricon Restaurants is the parent company of Pizza Hut, and Kentucky Fried Chicken is another subsidiary in the group.

• Nestlé Waters is a division of the Nestlé Group, with the brands San Pellegrino, Contrex, and Aquarel.

• The example company has 67 production sites in different countries producing bottled water worldwide.

• The example company's permanent workforce is about 10,000 people, with numbers varying according to seasonal demand.

• The example company has its head office in London and a branch office near Manchester where its marketing team works.

• The example company's biggest customer, Elf, buys 60% of its total production.

• The example company reported annual turnover of £26 million and profit of £2 million in the previous year.