Реферат: Business at work

The letters ‘plc’ at the end of its name distinguishes a public limited company from a private limited company. Most of Britain’s famous businesses such as Marks and Spencer, ICI, BP, and Manchester United are public limited companies. All companies with share prices quoted n the London Stock Exchange are public limited companies.

To become a public limited company, a business must have an issued share capital of at least £50,000 and the company must have received at least 25 per cent of the nominal value of the shares. Public limited companies must also:

· be a company limited by shares

· have a memorandum of association with a separate clause stating that it is a public company

· publish an annual report and balance sheet

· ensure that its shares are freely transferable – they can be bought and sold.

Benefits:

· All members have limited liability.

· The firm continues to trade if one of the owners dies.

· Huge amount of money can be raised fom the sale of shares to the public.

· Production costs may be lower as firm may gain economies of scale.

· Because of their size plcs can often dominate the market.

· It becomes easier to raise finance as financial institutions are more willing to lend to plcs.

Constraints:

· The setting up costs can be very expensive – running into millions of pounds in some cases.

· Since anyone can buy their shares, it is possible for an outside interest to take control of the company.

· All of the company’s accounts can be inspected by members of the public. Competitors may be able to use some of this information to their advantage. They have to publish more information than private limited companies.

· Because of their size they are not able to deal with their customers at a personal level.

· The way they operate is controlled by various Company Acts which aim to protect shareholders.

· There may b a divorce of ownership and control which might lead to the interests of the owners being ignored to some extent.

· It is argued that many of these companies are inflexible due to their size. For example they find change difficult to cope with.

Tesco plc. is large, private sector organisation. As it is providing-service organisation I can classify it as tertiary sector organisation. Tesco plc. is a national company, but it is becoming to multinational. Main objective is to make a profit.

As Tesco is a limited company that means all owners have limited liability. If a company has debts, the owners can only lose the money they have invested in the firm.

Main source of finance is selling shares and borrowing from the banks. Tesco has a thousands of owners, every man who has any shares is owner; but these people can’t control the company, so company has a board of directors and chairman who control the company.

Tesco has a heavy programme of capital expenditure, investing in new stores and upgrading existing ones. In the year ending 28th February 1998, the group capital expenditure was £841 million, compared to £758 million in the year ending 28th February 1997. This £841 million was divided into £737 million spend in the Great Britain, £63 million in Ireland, north and south, and £41 million in Europe. Tesco anticipates that in the 1998-9 financial year, capital spending will rise to about £950 million, with most of the extra spending being concentrated in Ireland and Central Europe.

Profit is also distributed to shareholders in the form of dividends.

For example, in 1998 the profits from Tesco after tax were £505 million. About 50% of the profits were distributed to shareholders as dividends. Subsequently approximately £250 million was retained by the company for investment in new stores and improving their service to customers.

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Objectives of the business.

The objectives of the business can vary enormously A charity’s overriding objective might be to alleviate poverty in the developing world; on the other hand many companies’ major objective is to generate the maximum profits possible. An organisation’s mission statement gives an indication of the purpose of the business and dovetails with the objectives the organisation set itself.

Mission statement.