Ocr Level 2 Cert (business) 8 Assessment Objectives

Unit 1 Investigating Business

Introduction

Unit 1 Investigating business has asked me to use internet resources and business books to investigate and define key points in all points of business.

At the moment in Unit 1 we are studying the biggest bank in the UK, Lloyds TSB provides a wide range of competitive products and services for the UK and international markets. Services like:

* Insurance ranging from home insurance to life insurance

* Mortgages

* Loans and loan protection

* Banking

* Business accounts

History of Lloyds TSB group PLC

The origins of Lloyds TSB bank stretch back to 1765, when John Taylor and Sampson Lloyd set up a private banking business in Birmingham, England. Two sons of the original partners followed in their footsteps by establishing a bank - Barnett Houres Hanbury and Lloyd - in London's Lombard Street. Eventually, this became absorbed into the Lloyds Banking company.

Over the years, Lloyds Bank expanded through a series of mergers, including the Wilts and Dorset Bank in 1914 and the Capitol and Counties Bank in 1918. By 1923, Lloyds Bank had made some fifty takeovers, one of which was the last private firm to issue its own bank notes - Fox, Fowler and Co. of Wellington, Somerset. By the early 1990's, Lloyds Bank had offices in 30 countries, from Argentina to the USA.

On August 1st 1995, Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G) joined the Lloyds Bank group. Later the same year, on the 28th of December, Lloyds Bank group merged with TSB group to form Lloyds TSB group PLC. In September 1996, Lloyds Abbey Life became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lloyds TSB group.

Unit 1 Investigating Business

Assessment Objective 1

Business Aims - These are what a business sets out to achieve. They are quite general. For example a Businesses aims could be to make profit, expand and be competitive.

Businesses have aims and objectives because if they do not have aims and objectives set they will not be efficient and will not have a clear idea of what they want to achieve.

Other objectives may be:

* To survive

* To build up a good reputation resulting in increased custom

* Increase the size of the customer base

* Develop a new range of products

* Become more efficient

* Maximise turnover

* To breakeven

Four aims Lloyds TSB may have

* To build up a good reputation - Example: Lloyds TSB would honour legitimate insurance claims, look after loyal customers, have competitive Loan/Interest rates and good customer services.

* Provide a wider range of services - They may achieve this by researching products and services provided by all the main competitive banks and then try to incorporate those products and services into Lloyds TSB.

* Become a bigger icon in international banking - Lloyds TSB could reach this goal by expanding into new Countries and Areas and again, maintain low competitive rates.

* Increase the amount of people who use Lloyds TSB services (customer base) - They could accomplish this by lowering rates to match and beat competing banks and offering no hassle, safe, easy to use services.

Unit 1 Investigating Business

Assessment Objective 2

There are six different forms of business ownership, these are:

* Sole Trader

* Partnership

* Private Limited Company (LTD)

* Public Limited Company (PLC)

* Franchise

* Co-Operative

Sole Trader- Sole traders are people who own their own business on their own, such as a corner shop or a cafй. Advantages of being a sole trader are that you decide everything from the name of the business to the products you sell; you also keep all profits to yourself. Disadvantages are that you have unlimited liability, lack of capitol and expertise.

Partnership- Partnerships are businesses owned by two or more people. A contract called a deed of partnership is normally drawn up. This states the type of partnership it is, how much capitol each has contributed, and how profits and losses will be shared. Doctors, dentists and solicitors are typical examples of professionals who may go into partnership together. They can benefit from shared expertise, but like the sole trader, have unlimited liability. A partnership can also have a sleeping partner who invests in the business but has no dealings in the day to day running of the enterprise.

The main Advantage of a partnership over a sole trader is shared responsibility. This allows for specialisation, where one partners strengths can complement the others. For example, if a hairdresser were in partnership with someone that had a business background one could concentrate on providing the salon service, and the other on handling the finances.

The main Disadvantage of a partnership comes from shared responsibility. Disputes can arise over decisions that have to be made, or about the effort one partner is putting into the firm compared with another. The distribution of profits can cause problems. The deed of partnership sets out who should get what, but if one partner feels another is not doing enough, there can be dissatisfaction.

Private Limited Company/Public Limited Company- All limited companies are incorporated, which means they can sue or own assets in their own right. Their owners are not personally liable for the firm's debts (Limited liability). The ownership of a limited company is divided up into equal parts called shares. Whoever owns one or more of these is called a shareholder. An example of a Limited Company would be Lloyds TSB group PLC.

Private Limited Company- Advantages for being a Private Limited Company are that it is easy and inexpensive