Assignment 1 – Unit 1
Type of business and aims & objectives
Foot Locker is a public, for profit organisation/business and is an American sportswear and retailer. It is a business that mainly focuses on clothing and footwear. Foot Locker is in the tertiary sector as they buy their footwear and apparel from suppliers and then go on to sell it to consumers/customers in their many stores around the world. They also advertise their product meaning they are in the tertiary sector. They are not in the secondary sector as they do not package their own products and therefore, they are not in the primary sector as they do not gather their own raw materials in order to make the products they then go on to sell. The main purpose of Foot Locker is to make a profit for shareholders like many other private companies. Also, they aim to increase their market share and to expand or develop the business further. Other purposes of Footlocker is to make a profit generally, Foot Locker insures good customer service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This will keep up a good reputation for their business. They also offer special offers online and in store with sales, this could insure customer loyalty as more customers will shop at Foot Locker due to the cheaper prices, this will increase sales, therefore, increasing the profits made by Foot Locker.
Contrasting to this, the NSPCC is a Voluntary Organisation or a charity; it will be regulated by the Charities Commission Nationally and is managed by volunteer directors, meaning they get no pay. It is an organisation that is limited by guarantee and it is a UK charity but has subsidiaries in Scotland. NSPCC is operating in the tertiary sector as they are helping children directly through the donations they receive from the public. They could also be seen as operating in the secondary sector as they are educating children and making them more comfortable and confident. They are not in the primary sector as they are not going out and raising money to fund their projects to benefit children. NSPCC’s main aim is to end cruelty to children. The have a vision of a society in which all children are loved, valued and able to fulfil their potential. They look to achieve cultural, social and political change. They also seek to influence legislation, policy, practice, attitudes and behaviours and to deliver services for the benefit of children and young people. Other purposes include raising awareness about the charity and how young children are being treated in their own households; they are helping parents keep their children safe through campaigns like the Underwear Rule and Share Aware. Also to raise awareness to children by visiting primary schools and helping them understand what abuse is and giving them the confidence to speak out and seek help if they ever need it.

Ownership of the business
Foot Locker is a private company. It operates as an athletic footwear and apparel retailer. The company is based in London in the United Kingdom and was incorporated in 1990. Foot Locker UK Ltd operates as a subsidiary of Foot Locker Europe B.V.
NSPCC is a voluntary organisation, which relies on donations from the public and different communities to keep operating. As it is not a business, it won’t operate franchises but it will rely on public donations and grants to be able to fund their services. It is not a global organisation as it is a UK charity, therefore, doesn’t operate in countries all around the world. It can be called a national organisation however, as it operates in subsidiaries in Scotland, which is a part of the United Kingdom.
Different stakeholders
The different stakeholders of Footlocker are the owners, the suppliers, the consumers and the staff. The owners influence the purpose of Footlocker as they are the people who keep the business running so it doesn’t face any downfalls or losses in business opportunities. They also have a big say in how the aims of Footlocker are decided as they have to make sure that they are realistic aims and aims that they are able to meet in order to keep the business successful.
The suppliers influence the purpose of Footlocker as they are the people who supply the business with their raw materials and equipment, if a business didn’t have a supplier, they would have a difficult time trying to run their business without any materials and equipment. This means that they wouldn’t be able to produce their products, meaning they won’t have anything to sell in their business. The suppliers aim to help the business expand as if they expand, as Footlocker has been with that supplier, they will then stick to the same supplier for their other stores where they expand to, this for the suppliers is increasing customer loyalty if the supplier is good to Footlocker. The consumers influence the purpose of Footlocker as they are the people who are buying the products, if Footlocker had no consumers, their business would be failing and they would probably be going into debt or having to shut down their business. As Footlocker has a large amount of consumers, they are able to keep their sales high and make a large amount of profit which will help them in expanding their business further. Also, if a business ignores the concerns of consumers, they may end up losing these customers and their sales to their competition/rivals. The consumers seek to influence the aims and objectives of Footlocker as if they allow the sales to increase and for the business to gain a larger profit, Footlocker can then expand and this will benefit some consumers as new stores may open up closer to them.
Finally, the staff influence the purpose of Footlocker as they help finalise the purchase a consumer wants to make, they help the business run successfully and can be the reputation of the business due to good customer service as if the staff treat the consumers well, those consumers will then advertise the business and their service in a good manner through word of mouth. This can then lead to the business’ sales increasing and can allow the business to grow/expand. The staff members want to influence the aims and objectives of a business as if they are able to help the business grow and be successful, they may be able to get a promotion, meaning that they will gain a higher level of pay.

The different stakeholders in NSPCC are slightly similar to Footlocker as they have owners and staff members, however, NSPCC also have volunteers and donators instead of consumers as their consumers in this organisation are the children receiving the help. The owners influence the purpose of the organisation as they are the people who manage any events going on which may help raise money for the organisation, they are also in control of the advertisement and the dispersion of the donations for example what money is spent on which products or factors for the children in need of help. The owners want to influence the organisation on a whole as they want to make the charity increase, they in the end will be able to offer more help to the children suffering. If the organisation has a good reputation due to the good decisions made by the owner, it will lead to things such as word of mouth advertising which is basically free advertising and it also may lead to a higher amount of donations.
The staff influence the purpose of the organisation as they are the people who help the manager or owner in the running of the organisation, they improve the efficiency of the business as if there was no staff working for the organisation, it would be very difficult for people to make donations or even to be aware of the aims of the organisation. If the people interested in making a donation to help the organisation make a change in children’s lives, have questions or queries in how the help is given or how their donation can help towards the cause can call the helpline in which the staff answer their questions. Therefore, people willing to make a donation or to help the business, may be very confused if there were no staff to answer questions or to help then when they are making a donation. The staff seek to influence the aims and objectives of NSPCC as they want the organisation to succeed in order to help the children needing help, they will also have a satisfaction of being able to work for an organisation that isn’t profit based but based on donations that are for a good cause. Volunteers influence the purpose of the organisation as they give extra help to the business which is needed as the organisation is quite large, they work for free which allows the business to divide the workload between more people and to save the money that could be spent paying them if they were staff. This saved money could go towards raising awareness of the organisation or could go towards the children in need as a form of a donation. Volunteers seek to influence the aims and objectives of the organisation as they simply want to be giving their help and services for a good cause, this will give them the satisfaction that they are being able to help children who have a worse lifestyle than they have or that they may have had as a child.
Donators influence the purpose of the organisation as they are the people who are allowing NSPCC to provide their service and supplies to the children in need due to the money they donate. Even if it is a small amount, if there are a large amount of donations, it will make the whole organisation’s success. If NSPCC didn’t receive donations, it would be very difficult for them to run their organisation as they would have to either use their own money or they would have to try and get it from other sources such as the government. Donators seek to influence the aims and objectives of NSPCC as they want the organisation to grow in order for them to be able to give a larger amount of aid to the children who are receiving the help from their donations.

Amount and importance of influence from stakeholders
Footlocker’s stakeholders hold quite a lot of influence which is fairly important for the business. The owners influence the business greatly as without them, the business would have a difficult time in operating and having a high efficiency. Many decisions may go unattended to or may be made poorly which could fault the business and lead to downfalls in reputation or customer loyalty.
Footlocker’s suppliers have a slightly similar amount of influence as they are the people who give the business the raw materials in which they make the products which they then go on to sell. If Footlocker didn’t have any suppliers, they would have to make the products with the raw materials they find themselves and this would be very difficult as it means that selling and the development of the business will be delayed, also production will be slower.
Footlocker’s consumers hold a smaller amount of influence on the business but still a fairly large amount as they buy the products and generate sales and therefore increase profit for the business. This is important as if Footlocker had no consumers, they would have no one to sell their products to and this would mean they would be making no profit, in other words, they would be making a loss. This would therefore cause the business to fail as overtime other shareholders will lose interest in the business due to non- payments for example: Nike.
Footlocker’s staff have probably the smallest amount of influence on the business as they are the people who work for the business and they don’t really influence any decisions made in relation to what products to sell or how to run the business differently. However, they are responsible for good customer loyalty which could have a large impact on consumers and their sales if the customer service is poor. This is important as Footlocker could lose sales to their rivals.

NSPCC’s owners influence the organisation greatly, similar to Footlocker’s owners, this is due to the fact that without the owners, the organisation would have a difficult time in making any decisions. This is important as the wrong decisions may be made for example, some donations may be funded towards things that are less in demand in order to make the organisation succeed and to help the charity function in the proper way. This could be if money is funded too much towards things that are less important like advertising and not enough towards the actual services and supplies given towards the children in need.
NSPCC’s staff workers, have a larger influence than Footlocker’s as they help the organisation in functioning. This is important because without the staff to help function the organisation, things may be left undone and questions or queries from donators may be left unanswered which h may lead to withdrawn donations and a decrease in the level of awareness of the organisation.
NSPCC’s volunteers have a lower amount of influence in the organisation as they are only there to give a helping hand in the organisation. Although they are much appreciated by NSPCC, they will not be a factor that largely influences the decisions made by the organisation.
Finally, NSPCC’s donators influence the organisation by a large amount, this is due to the fact that they are the people who allow the organisation to buy the resources they need in order to provide their service to the children in need. They allow NSPCC to do this due to their donations, therefore, this is very important as without these donations, the organisation will be restricted to the amount of help they can actually give to the children suffering from the cruelty in their lives.