Areas of conflict between stakeholders

Due to the demands placed on businesses by so many different stakeholders, it is no surprise that there are often disagreements and conflict between the different groups.

Shareholders and management

Profit maximisation is normally the main objective of shareholders which results in large dividend payments for them. On the other hand it is likely that the managers of the business will aim to profit satisfy rather than profit maximise which means that they will aim to earn a satisfactory level of profits and then use the remaining resources to conduct other objectives.This conflict between these two groups is normally know as divorce of ownership and control.

Customers and the business

If the product that has been purchased is of poor quality or is poor value for money customers are less likely to continue to be loyal and repeat purchasing from the business. More customers are willing to complain about the quality of products and after-sales service than ever before. The business must ensure that it has a number of procedures in order to satisfy the unhappy customer, refund any financial loss that they may have happened and also to persuade them to remain loyal to the business.

Suppliers and the business

Suppliers are often known for complaining about the lack of payments from businesses for deliveries of the raw materials. If this became a regular problem, the suppliers could refuse credit to the businesses. They could even stop all dealings with them. However, many businesses have been known for complaining about the late deliveries from suppliers. They could also complain about the uncertain quality of the parts once they have been inspected.

The community and the business

The local community can often suffer  because of a large company through the negative consequences of pollution, noise, obstruction and the building of new factories in areas of the community that people may believe is beautiful. On the other hand, the company may decide to relocate to another area if the business faces protests from local residents and also from pressure groups that are concerned about its actions. This causes unemployment and falls in investment in the community that it leaves behind.

My stakeholders.

My stakeholders.

In my business I have will have a variety of internal and external stakeholders. 

The internal stakeholders of my business are the owner, manager and the employees. 

I am the owner of my business. My interest in the business will be making decisions on how the business is run. However I will be interested in the profit of the business. This is extremely important as I will be a sole trader therefore I have unlimited liability for everything that occurs in the business. Therefore profit is important. The reason for this is that if the business doesn't make a profit or even makes a loss I will be held responsible and have to pay for the business out of my own pocket. 

I will also be the manager of my business. My interest in the business as a manager will be its financial resources, tangible resources and human resources. I will be interested in the financial resources as it is the management of money which is used to achieve the objectives of the business and this makes it possible for the business to grow. I will be interested in the tangible resources as these contribute particularly to the value of the business. I will also be interested in the human resources as it focuses on the recruitment, management and providing direction for the people who work in the company. If done correctly this helps to provide a remarkable service in terms of customer satisfaction.

I believe that I will be hiring at least three employees to work for me. Their interests in the business will be receiving a reasonable wage for the job they do. This is important because somebody is not going to be happy and want to continue to work at the company if they are not getting paid fairly. They may also be interested in learning new skills or even meeting new people for example other employees or customers. Learning new skills is especially important as it could potentially help them to get a promotion or even be able to move onto doing something else in the business. Meeting new people would help build confidence for the employees which is also a great thing to help them move up in the business.

The external stakeholders of my business are the customers, suppliers and the community. 

The customers will be anyone from the community. Their interests in the business will be primarily the quality of the products and also the standard of the service. Customers will be interested in the quality of the product so that they know that they are receiving their money's worth. They need to know that the amount of money they pay for the product matches the quality of it. The customers will also be interested in the standard of the service for similar reasons. They are not going to want to pay money for a service where they don't feel welcome or comfortable. Customers will also feel better about coming back to use the company again if the service was good. They may even recommend it to others which is a plus for the business as there will be more customers. 

The supplier will be Pro Studio Supply. Their interest in my business will be for it to be loyal and keep buying and using their products, components or materials. They will be interested in this as it makes them money and helps their business to grow. They will also be interested if our business was to sign long-term contracts or placed orders of large quantities. This would be important to the supplier as they would be potentially making a lot of money from this. My business using their products could also promote them in a way because if customers see that these things are made by them they could also be potential customers for our supplier too. 

The community will be everyone in Corby. They will be interested in my business because they will want to know about the activity of the business as this effects the local environment and also the business in general.They will want to know that the local area will still be peaceful and uncontaminated. An example of this is that the community wont be happy if there are noisy deliveries in the middle of the night as this will disturb the local area. The community will be interested in the business in general as it is a major component of and a huge contributor to the strength of the local economy. The business will also create new employment opportunities which is a key interest of the community.

Stakeholders Explained.

Stakeholders explained.

A stakeholder is anyone who is interested in a business.  
Stakeholders can be individuals, groups or organisations that are affected by the business. A stakeholder can be an owner, manager, worker, customer, supplier, lender or even the community. 

There are two different kinds of stakeholders. 
These are internal stakeholders and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders are groups within a business for example owners and workers. External stakeholders are groups outside of a business and examples of this are the customers and the community. 

Different stakeholders have different interests in a business. Internal stakeholders are usually interested in different things within a business compared to external stakeholders.

-The interests of internal stakeholders are of owners, managers and workers. These groups are all generally interested in money. Owners are normally interested in how much profit the business will make. Managers are typically concerned about their salary and workers commonly want to earn higher wages and primarily keep their jobs.

-The interest of external stakeholders can be about many things and not just one specific thing. External stakeholders interests are of customers, suppliers, lenders and the community. Customers mainly want the business to produce quality products and also want the prices to be adequate. Suppliers always want the business to continue to buy their products. Lenders naturally want to be paid back on time and always in full. The community is predominantly interested in the activity of the business and how that might involve the local people or the local environment.

Questionaire

   Market research for LC Family Photography

             Hello, my name is Lara and I am considering setting up a family photography business in the local area. Would you please spend a few moments of time to help me with my planning by answering the following questions?

1)		Are you male or female?
	a.	male
	b.	Female
2)		How old are you?
	a.	18-24
	b.	25-30
	c.	30+
3)		Have you ever used a professional photographer?
	a.	yes
	b.	no
4)		Would you like to go to a studio or have photos taken within your own home/garden?
	a.	studio
	b.	My own home
	c.	My garden
5)		How much would you be willing to pay for an hour session?
	a.	£10-14
	b.	£15-20
	c.	£21-25
	d.	£26-30+
6)		Are there particular times of the year you would use the service?
	a.	Winter
	b.	Summer
	c.	Spring
	d.	Autumn
7)		Would you prefer your photographs in black and white or colour?
	a.	Black and white
	b.	Colour
8)		Would you like the option of having your photographs framed or non-framed?
	a.	Framed
	b.	Non-framed
9)		Would you like the option of having your photographs in an album?
	a.	Yes
	b.	No
10)		What is your opinion of this business?
	a.	Very good idea
	b.	Good idea
	c.	An ‘alright’ idea
	d.	Not very good idea
	e.	Very bad idea

11)                    Is there anything you would like to add in terms of the planning of the business?

             Please note below.

My aims and objectives.

My aims and objectives.

1) Have the business survive the first year.

-Break even by the end of the first six months.
In order to do this I would advertise my business a lot so as many people would know as much about the business as possible. I would hand out leaflets every two weeks on a Monday and a Thursday in two different locations. The locations would be two different public places such as the town centre and a well known supermarket. The leaflets will have 10% discount vouchers attached to them and hopefully this would draw in more customers. The vouchers would be coded. This would make it easier to know what area the customers got the vouchers from and where the leaflets got taken from the most. It also enables us to know how many vouchers have actually been used.

-Have a good reputation by the end of the first year. 
To achieve this I would also use advertisement but I would rely on the customers that have used the service to tell others about the business to promote it in a way. I would post photographs on social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram etc. This would happen on a Sunday every week. There will also be a website for the business where photographs will be uploaded too. This will show potential customers the quality of the service provided. New photos will be uploaded every week. This advertisement will stay and be an every week thing. 

2) Have happy and loyal stakeholders by the end of the first year.

-For the customers.
To satisfy the customers I will receive I intend to produce the same outstanding quality product for them time after time. To do this I will own the most suitable equipment in order to achieve this. The equipment will get constantly monitored but once every week it will get a full check over. This will happen on a Wednesday as it is directly in the middle of the week. This will make sure that our equipment never has to be out of order and the service will run smoothly. 

-For the workers.
Keeping employees happy will also be a priority. I would do this is to invite the employees to share what they like about their job and their work environment once every two weeks on a Monday for between half an hour to an hour. This will take place in the form of an employee satisfaction survey. It is a simple and easy way to keep staff feeling like they can provide ideas for a more positive working environment. This will also help to allow the employee to feel like they are a part of a team and contributing to the success of the company.

3) Internal growth for the business after the first two years.

-Achieve a wider customer base.
For this to be achieved the business could hold 'open days'. This enables new customers to come in and try the service with a discount as a one off thing. They will get an idea of what the business is like for less money and therefore would receive the best service and would feel the need to come back and use the service for the normal amount of money to feel the complete full effect. This would happen once every three months. This means that it wouldn't happen all of the time and is just a one time thing for potential customers. 

-Research and develop new ideas/products to replace declining products.
I believe this could be easily researched by using the customers personal opinions. To know of their opinions a questionnaire/survey could be used. This is useful to find out what would interest the customers again and what they think would make the business better in terms of the products/services. This could be given to the customers once every six months. A company card is another idea. This enables me to collect their details and then emails and leaflets could be sent to them directly to ask their opinions and suggestions.This six months between each questionnaire gives time for new products to be developed from the results.

Aims and Objectives Explained.

Aims and Objectives.

An aim is a target or goal. A business can have more than one aim and they have to be suitable for the business in terms of its activity and its size. Aims provide a focus for the business and makes it able to highlight the main areas of development. 

Objectives are the steps taken to achieve the aim. Objectives should also be appropriate but they should also be regularly monitored to make sure that they are the right steps in order to achieve the aim. Objectives enable the aim to be broke down which makes it easier to achieve. They can also be shared out so that more than one person i responsible for achieving it. This means objectives effect everyone in the business. 

Examples of the aims of a business could be anything to do with survival, stakeholders needs, sales revenue or profit. Objectives that a business could have to achieve these aims could be things such as breaking even within the first year, achieving a profit within the next 12 months or even advertise for the next three months to attract new customers. Its important to have objectives that link directly to the aims of the business and that they are relevant for the business to move forward. This makes it easier for the business to develop and grow. 

In order to be able to achieve the best objectives for the aims the business has, using SMART objectives is ideal. SMART stands for...

S- SPECIFIC

M- MEASURABLE 

A- ACHIEVABLE

R- REALISTIC

T- TIMED 

Introduction.

Introduction.

In this project i have to set up my own small business. I have to create an original idea for the business and also have to learn how businesses manage and review their finances and other resources. I will find out how businesses study their performance and also how important knowledge of financial management is for effective planning and evaluation of a business.

The name of my business- LC Family Photography

I have chosen this idea as photography is one of my interests and that i extremely enjoy doing. I will also benefit from meeting new people when working.

In my business I will be a sole trader. This means i will be completely responsible and all the profits will be mine. However i could have chosen to have a partnership which is where me and one other person own the business together. Problems may have arose from this such as arguments about the business and its future. I could have also had a Franchise. This is a business which is a set of stores that are bought and sold. I will have employees to work for me to be able to satisfy more customers needs. This will also enable the business to be the best in the local area in terms of quality.

The service will provide professional photographers to take photographs of families in the studio. The product of the business will be small, medium and large edited or unedited printing's of the available photographs took in the session. There will also be a DVD option where up to 20 photographs can be chosen and put on the DVD. These can also be edited or unedited depending on what the customer wants. There will be special packs available too such as prom packages.

I will be working from a shop/studio. As well as customers coming in to the shop to book a session they will also be able to book over the phone and on the website. The location of the shop/studio would be in the town centre in Corby as that is a local public place therefore people will see it all the time.