IB Business & Management Topic 1 – Business Organisation and Environment

Learning Objectives Explain the importance of setting objectives in managing an organisation Explain the purpose of mission statements and vision statements Distinguish between objectives, strategies and tactics and discuss how these interrelate Analyse the potential conflicts between corporate objectives and why objectives might change over time Examine the reasons why organisations set ethical objectives and analyse the advantages and disadvantages of these Explain the different views that firms may take of their social responsibility in an international context HL – Evaluate the need for firms to change objectives over time HL – Discuss why a firm’s view of its social responsibilities and its strategies towards them may change over time

Business Objectives Businesses of any size will benefit from setting clear objectives Small businesses, sole traders, these objectives may not be written down but the owners will have a clear idea of what they want to achieve Partners need to ensure they agree on objectives to ensure there are no future disagreements

Importance of objectives Help to direct, control and review the success of business activity For any aim to be successfully achieved, there has to be an appropriate plan or strategy in place to ensure that resources are correctly directed towards the final goal Strategy could be constantly reviewed to check whether the business is on target to achieve its objectives Both aims and strategies adopted will often change over time A change of objective will almost certainly require a change of plan too

SMART objectives Explanation Example

Aims, objectives, plans and strategies MISSION CORPORATE OBJECTIVES DIVISIONAL OBJECTIVES INDIVIDUAL TARGETS

Aims, objectives, plans and strategies Corporate aims are the long term goals which a business hopes to achieve Core of a business’s activity is expressed