Unit 1: Business organizations & environment
An advantage of this form of business is that it qualifies for government grants and subsidies. It does not generate ‘profit’ that is distributed to owners (eg. in the form of dividends), instead any ‘surplus’ (income remaining after all costs have been paid) is reinvested back into the organisation, for example PU will use student tuition fees to pay for costs such as employees, building maintenance (line 56) and marketing expenditure (line 62).
What is a non-profit organization?
In the History Faculty this is high (line 87). Low morale at PU may increase this more. 10% of staff being made redundant (line 58) will add to this.
What is labour turnover?
Peacewick University has to pay these costs even if there are no classes happening at the teaching campus. Examples include staff salaries, insurance and rent.
What are fixed costs?
PU uses this form of primary market research to find out how satisfied students are with the university.
What is a survey?
This form of sustainability has improved at PU because fewer employees and students being at the teaching campus has led to significantly lower energy consumption; this form of sustainability also means less waste, less use of water, less pollution, and a reduction in PU’s carbon footprint. For the first time, all of PU's electricity is coming from solar panels installed on some unused land near the research facilities.
What is ecological sustainability?
Six consecutive months of negative economic growth. Happening throughout 2020/21 in Country A and it may continue for several years (line 23).
What is an economic recession?
Being dismissed from your job due to performance or disciplinary issues, compared to losing your job because the job no longer exists (through no-fault of your own).
What is difference between dismissal and redundancy?
- PU earns tuition fees for educational services to national and international students.
- Sales of AI technology-related patents used to detect contamination.
- Sale of medicines that treat exposure to dangerous chemicals
What are PU's revenue streams?
- Increase the number of students
- Address the social and environmental sustainability issues.
- Restore the brand image in light of significant ethical issues
What are PU's marketing objectives?
(HL only)
This key term is calculated by: [current output level / maximum output level] x 100 = ....%.
Adrianna thinks that the university cannot continue as it did in the past, with many facilities underused outside of term time (line 142).
What is capacity utilisation?
This is a form of growth strategy under the Ansoff's matrix where a business sells its existing products into new markets e.g. Peacewick University wants to open another campus in country B (line 69).
What is market development?
This set of policies and guidelines can be beneficial from a HR perspective, because it can help recruit, motivate and retain employees. PU have an issue with staff morale following redundancies, (line 141) and PU can strengthen this set of policies and guidelines by paying attention to sustainability as they rebuild the damaged parts of the campus (line 130).
What is a corporate social responsibility (CSR)?
Spending on fixed assets including IT equipment, research facilities and buildings. Opening another campus in country B will require a large amount of this type of expenditure.
What is capital expenditure?
- Research achievements have enabled the university to compete effectively with older, more established universities (lines 7-9).
- In October 2019, PU was one of the most popular universities in the country, with five applicants for each available space (lines 9-10). Measured by very high student satisfaction surveys in January 2020 (lines 10 & 11).
What are PU's competitive advantages / USP?
(HL only)
This type of innovation is being created at PU by the Faculty of IT who have produced prototype equipment using AI that enables improvements in the ability to detect and identify contamination (line 75).
What is product innovation?
These factors are beyond the direct control of the organization. For example, in September 2021 there was a catastrophic accident at a nearby chemical plant. The explosion caused a large amount of damage to nearby buildings, including to student accommodation, lecture theatres and other university buildings.
What are external (environmental) factors?
A flexible organizational structure with three parts: core workers, flexible workers and outsourced workers. This structure encourages the buying-in (outsourcing) of services as needed, potentially reducing overhead costs such as full-time staff salaries, and associated staff benefits. PU are heading in this direction by moving 20% of staff to part-time contracts.
What is Charles Handy's Shamrock organization?
This is a medium or long-term external source of finance. Examples of this are funding from the public sector to research medicines to reduce the impact on people and animals of exposure to dangerous chemicals. The government and some computer manufacturers also provided IT equipment for students and employees.
What are government grants?
The Faculty of Medicine is probably at this stage of the product life cycle because its research into medicines has already had positive results. The Faculty of Medicine creates a competitive advantage for PU and has received funding from pharmaceutical companies and a large amount of funding from the government (line 42)
What is the maturity stage of the product life cycle?
For PU, refurbishing teaching facilities that were damaged by the accident (line 138) would be an example of this growth strategy under Ansoff's matrix.
What is market penetration?
This form of orientation applies to PU because they are focused on meeting the needs of a 21st-century society, so it has strong IT, business, electronics, medicine, engineering and media faculties.
What is a market-orientated business?
Due to the chemical accident and destruction of buildings, the university had to offer this new type of work pattern for staff where teachers need to utilize advancements in telecommunications and internet technologies to teach and work online.
What is teleworking or work from home (WFH)?
This formula is how PU will calculate its closing cash balance at the end of the month. PU suffered from declining enrollment but still had to pay their fixed costs. This means PU now have cash-flow problems.
What is opening balance + net cash flow?
Intangibility, Heterogeneity, Perishability.
What are the characteristics of services?
This type of creativity can create large competitive advantages for an organization, including gaining a first-mover advantage in a market. This type of creativity involves creating new products and/or processes. The Faculty of Medicine’s research into medicines is an example of this type of creativity. Financial support from pharmaceutical companies could result in commercial production of the medicines, once approved (line 72).
What is innovative creativity?