Analysis of The Features of Two Contrasting Businesses: Marks and Spencer and Nspcc

I have chosen two businesses, Marks and Spencer and NSPCC. Marks and Spencer is a multi-millionaire international company which began in Leeds in 1884. Marks and Spencer operates stores all around the world, from The United Kingdom to India in Asia. They currently have around 1035 store in The United Kingdom and 428 international stores that operate in 57 different countries and employ 80,787.

Marks and Spencer have been investing into the Food, Clothing and Home business but also have other services like M&S insurance and M&S Bank which all generate them money. In 2018 Marks and Spencer had a group revenue of £10.7bn, the sector that was generating them the most money was the Food sector that generated £5.9bn while the sector that generated the least money was the Clothing and Home sector, which generated £3.7bn. However, Marks and Spencer made £66.8 million profit before tax which shows that they made a small amount of profit in 2017/18.

The private sector is a part of the economy which is not run by the Government in the country but is run by people or organisations. For example, sole traders, which are those that work alone like in off license shops or corner shops. The businesses in the private sector are owned by individuals or organisations. Other types of businesses in the private sector are partnerships like Dentistry’s, accounting and large companies like Apple, Tesla and Samsung. Mark and Spencer is a retail company and food company and is owned by their shareholders, therefore they are in the private sector. The public sector is the opposite of the private sector; it is owned by the Government. For example, Prisons, Metropolitan Police and Hospitals are in the public sector as they are owned by the Government.

The Not-for-profit/Voluntary sector is a part of the economy that is owned by non-profit organisations. This sector is also not owned by the Government but is usually controlled by the public and their cooperation. Businesses in the Voluntary Sector are businesses like Oxfam, St Luke’s Hospice, Breast cancer now and Red Cross.

Liability means being responsible for a business. Person or material. There are two types of Liability’s, unlimited and limited. Unlimited liability means that the organisation will be responsible for everything and means you can suffer from financial crisis. Limited liability means the people/organisation are only responsible for what they invested and will not suffer personal financial risks from bankruptcies. The purpose of a business is to grow, become successful and gain profit over time. M&S purpose is to provide good services for the public and goods at high quality standards. Businesses operate in four different sectors, primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary. The primary sector is responsible for extracting the materials for products. For example, agriculture, mining and fishing. The secondary sector is responsible for making a product out of the raw materials extracted. For example, cans, marble floors, coffee and sugar. The tertiary sector is responsible for providing services for others, for example transport, schools, restaurants and hospitals. The last sector, the quaternary sector is responsible for expertise of certain knowledge for services to work. For example, ICT and media. Marks and Spencer is in the tertiary sector as they sell the products that were manufactured by businesses in the secondary sector, like clothes and food.

There are difference ways an organisation can operate, for example, local, regional, national, international. Local means in your surrounding area like an off license shop. Regional means in in your region like England, an example is Wenzels bakery. National means throughout the whole country. While international means throughout the whole world like Nike and Adidas which have shops in many countries. Primark is a type of business that started of locally in Dublin 1969 but then expanded to many countries around the world. Marks & Spencer has a very large scope which means they are an international business; they have stores in 57 different countries around the world. They sell both goods and services to public like clothing, food and services like insurance and bank. Mark and Spencer’s also aim to maximise profit for their shareholders as they are a private limited company.

Organisations of are of many different sizes, for example; micro, medium and enterprise. Marks & Spencer is an enterprise, this is because they employ 80,787 employees and their budget or revenue was around £10.7bn which shows us that they are an enterprise. Organisations always aim for success and for profits to be at its highest for it to grow. One business that is very successful is Apple, Apple was created by Steve Jobs in 1976 and became widely known around the world, now it is leading the smart phone industry in the 21st century. Another very successful business it Microsoft, Microsoft was found in April 1975 by Bill Gates. One business that was unsuccessful as it became bankrupt is BHS. BHS is a British business that sold clothes and home accessories. BHS became bankrupt in 2015 and the business was sold for £1. Another business that became unsuccessful was Woolworths, Woolworths became bankrupt in 2008 as it was put under pressure due to the internet. If a business concentrated on increasing it sales, then it would not mean an increase in profit. This is because for a profit to happen, there has to be a necessarily amount of sales for a business to have, to cover the cost of productions. If there aren’t enough sales, then no profit will be made. If a small business employs a specialist, this will not have a direct effect on their profits in the short run, but it will have an effect on their profits in the long run. This can be as the specialist can advise the business to run in a certain way that will help increase sales and bring in profit. Non-profit organisations need regular donations from the local community in order for them to survive. They then release all the money back into the public to help improve it. Organisations like charities will judge their success on their development in helping the local community or others in the world. Marks & Spencer’s objectives are to gain profit over time and increase sale, they also aim to improve their products quality at its highest standard. NSPCC is a charity that protects children that have been abused by parents and carers. They are not government run as it is a charity, most of their employees work free as they have volunteered. NSPCC was founded in 1884 by Benjamin Waugh. They operate all around the United Kingdom, Wales, Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands. NSPCC yearly income in 2017 was £127.4 million and their total expenditure was £114.7 million. NSPCC currently employees around 2500 people while 1700 are volunteers. NSPCC is an enterprise as they have 2500.NSPCC is a non-profit organisation. The money they raise they put it back into the community, so they don’t gain a profit or a loss, so NSPCC operate in the Voluntary sector as they are not run by the Government but run by a group of 15 trustees. Currently, NSPCC is run by their chairman Gregory Mark Woods who controls and ensures all donations are spent sensibly and properly and that they have a plan that will be carried out properly. NSPCC have a limited liability as charities are only given limited liability if they show that they are a non-profit organisation. This mean that NSPCC will only be responsible for what they put into the organisation, so their own personal life, cars, houses will not be affected if they go bankrupt.

NSPCC purpose is to assist children that have been abused or hurt in their life and protect them. NPSCC is in the tertiary sector as they provide a service to children that have been hurt and abused in their childhood. The tertiary sector is a sector that provides services to the public. However NSPCC also sell goods to the public, they operate shops in multiple locations and sell products like bags, books and homeware.

Currently, NSPCC have around 2500 employees and around 1700 volunteers. NSPCC provides services for children all over the United Kingdom. Like in Wales, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands so NSPCC is a national business.In 2016-2017, NSPCC yearly income was £127.4 million. NSPCC try to collect more money by doing fundraisers, advertising their organisation and their plan on television and direct contact. They have been doing this to boost their revenue so they will have the money to help those children in need.

NSPCC have many objectives, their main objective is to prevent people from hurting children in their home environment, prevent cyber bullying online so kids can be safe on the internet and to help children that have been abused to live their life normally. Over the years I would say that NSPCC have been doing a great job as they have reached out to millions of children and protected them. I would say that they have been really successful as they have a very well plan which and goal which is to reach 5 million children in 5 years.