business Lesson 18.10.2010

Today, we had our first business quiz. It contained 5 questions that Mr. Sen wrote on the board.  Below are the notes I took on the answers we discussed in class.

The service sectors of an economy can be considered as the tertiary and quarternary sector.  The service that the quaternary sector provides to consumers isn’t related to the process of using natural goods. Google is an example of a business in the  quaternary sector.

The service sector (tertiary sector) is related to a process from bringing a product to customer.

The mission of a business can be defined as providing the needs and wants of people.  The mission is clarified in the mission statement of a business. The mission must also answers the question  ‘why do we exist?’ for a business.

A business should take action according to the external factors. External factors are essential in planning actions.  One can only look ahead and decide what he will do if he knows where the business is now. 

After we discussed our quiz answers we were introduced to a new topic called SWOT. At first this term was unfamiliar but then, as we talked more about this term, we noticed that it actually contained the external factors of a business ( STEEPLE ) that we had already went over.

Basicly  for business and non business organizations

7S+ STEEPLE = SWOT   There are SWOT= strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

7s is internal, Steeple is external factors that affect a business or non business organization.

The external environment is divided into STEEPLE. 

In order not to mix these two different “factor groups” for a business or non business organization we should know that The 7s matrix tells one where his strengths and weaknesses come from and The steeple analysis tells one about opportunities or threats.

All the negative things in an environment can be considered as threats. Opportunities are positive.

In further detail, Swot analyses is the analyses of where businesses are now. It is the first step in planning.  Planning is essential for a business to continue functioning. Planning containes the four main questions below;

1-where we are now,  ( swot is the technique to identify the first question)'

2-where do we want to be at a particular time in the future,  (objectives, targets, goals are used to answer this question)

3-what should we do to get where we want to be,  (strategy is needed for this question to be understood and fulfilled)

4-how do we know we are getting there? ( control is used to verify the firm is getting closer to its goals )  ( this question can sometimes be defined separate from planning ) 

Time x =  the Horizon should always be considered when planning, answering the questions above.

For example : if you want to walk to Ankara : how far are you from Ankara now, when will you get to Ankara, how will you get to Ankara? can be considered as your planning.