Features of Public Limited Companies

Answer a. Features of a public limited company are Limited liability, capital, transferable shares, board of directors, life span, number of members and financial privacy. 

Example of Public limited company- Tesco PLC is counted in the list of largest retailers in the world, with more than 2300 stores and supermarkets. They provide employment to 326,000 people (Reuters, 2017). The main business of Tesco PLC is in Britain, where it is the largest food retailer. 

Tesco Board and Executive Committee- The Board of Tesco involve the Chairman, Chief financial officers, Group Chief Executive and Non-executive Directors (Tesco PLC, 2017).

Liability of shareholder is limited in a company up to their contribution in shares only. This makes a company a separate legal entity. A person cannot own whole company, person can only own a part of it. 

Shares of Tesco PLC are traded in the stock exchange market. Shares of Tesco are transferred to its members and people who are trading in the stock exchange. 

The death of one shareholder of a public limited company does not affect the company, but the shares of the shareholder are transferred to his/her family and company continue its operations. If the director of the public limited company dies then an election is placed to replace deceased director (Mack, 2017). 

Public limited company raise capital by issuing shares to the public. In PLC additional capital can also be raised by issuing bonds and debentures in stock market. 

Answer b. (1). Listed companies must adopt and follow provisions of company law and listing rules. Listing rules for example in UK company has to adopt Combined code, it applies a number of requirements on PLC like committee structures, non-executive directors, etc.  

On the other hand, it is important for Charitable organizations to obtain recognition by a charity authority of the country to work and then they get the discounts that charitable status confers. This contains sympathetic tax treatment and altered reporting requirements. Since charities are not public companies they do not require to follow listing rules but depending on the rules of the country they need to be an audit and should fulfil some requirements for reporting.  

(2). PLC survive mainly to make profits and financial return for their stockholders. It means they appoint people, including director to increase their long-term profits and cash flows. By creating the shareholder wealth value can be added and it can be measured in terms of cash flow, profits, share price, etc. 

Differences between Charities and Listed Companies

On the other hand, the main purpose of a charitable organization is to support the generous cause of the organization. It is likely to be a social cause and donation is provided to support that generous cause (Strategic Management Accounting Knowledge. 2011).   

Who is a ‘customer’? Give THREE reasons businesses must understand customers.

With at least one example, describe how ‘perception’ influences consumer demand?     

Answer a. A person that takes or consumes products and services with the capability to select a supplier of the related product (Marketing Teacher. 2017). The customer is also known as a purchaser, buyer or client. Customers are categorized into two types:  An entrepreneur who purchases goods for resale and end user who purchases goods for consumption.

Reasons  for businesses to understand customers

Business can design their marketing programs according to their customer’s need- Today it is possible for a business to understand what customer cares about which was not possible before. The internet and social media creates an unparalleled range of transparency in the market and can help business to understand what’s there in the mind of the customer.

Business can concentrate on the customer’s business problem- It’s a saying, but a true one: customers buy solutions not the product. But until business will not understand what their customers are trying to solve but can’t provide them a solution, and understanding customers will provide the details of the solution that customers are searching for.

Business can line up the solutions according to the customer’s changing needs- Whereas it has been said that customer is always right, but the truth is they may be not what they are searching for or asking the right solution. This is because the customer does not know about the options available in the market or they have a budget problem (Herscher, 2012). 

Answer b. The ability of the business to maintain and attract customers that are ready to buy goods and services at the reasonable price is the reason for the business success. Perception of the consumer defines how existing customers and potential customers see product and services of the company (Mack, 2017). Perception of the consumer is very important for the profit of the business as it influences the behaviour of the consumer. For influencing the perception of the consumer business spend a large number of resources. For example- If the reputation of a restaurant is of providing the best pizza in the town, so the normal perception of a consumer in the town will be positive and will refer others to visit there to experience delicious pizza. This feeling will influence the profit of the business and demand of the customer. On the other hand, the negative perception of the consumer can hamper the reputation and success of the company (Hamel, 2017).   

Importance of Consumer Perception

Answer a. The movement of people, goods, and services freely across the world smoothly and a combined way is known as Globalization. Globalization can be done by opening the business in other country and increase in the trade between different nations. In other words, trade between two countries and foreign investment open their economies and go global is the result in improving the relations and economies of the world is known as Globalization. Further, the meaning of globalization is that the different countries ease up their rules and regulations by welcoming foreign investments. It means countries open their economies to attract global capital. Further, for the smooth movement of people from one country to another, countries liberalize their procedures and rules of visa (Management study guide, 2017).

Globalization is based on the comparative advantage theory which says that countries that produce a particular product of good quality can export that product in other countries which are not efficient in producing that particular product. According to assumption all the countries are not good at producing all the goods effectively that is why they initiated trade with each other. In addition to this, due to difference in the wage system of different countries, they gain the benefit of trading with each other. Countries follow rules and regulations formed by the World Trade Organization of trade between different countries.    

Globalization provides foreign capital and technology advancements to the poor countries that help them to develop their economies and by scattering wealth, generates the circumstances in which equality and respect for human rights may develop.

Slowly Globalization is helping in creating world power instead of classified power sectors. Politics integration and decisions that are taken is for the benefit of the people all over the world.

Globalization results in knowing the different cultures of different countries and respect for other cultures increases. It also increases the knowledge of culture and helps country to know more about the people of the different culture which will be beneficial for the country while trading with another country (Collins, 2015) .

It is being said that Globalization is making the rich wealthier and making the non-rich poorer. Globalization is pleasing for investors, managers, and owners, but hell for workers.

Globalization generally results in an increase in imports as compared to exports. It makes one country to depend on another country for some particular goods.

Globalization encourages the technology development and increase of productivity helps in increasing the job opportunities and increment in salary but from last few years, such changes in technology in countries results in loss of jobs (Sethy, 2017).   

Describe TWO advantages and TWO disadvantages of ‘group decision-making’ from the staff perspective.   

Diversity in opinions- There are number of members in a group who come from different backgrounds with unique ideas and perceptions about the matter they are working. All the ideas in a group may be unique and are better as compared to the individual decision making. With the help of unique ideas, business will develop various alternatives and can result in the success of the business.

Participation- If an individual is focused and interested towards his/her work then that person provides more innovative ideas. When interested individual provide their idea in the group then there will be the participation of all the members in the discussion. The active members may not be the subject expert but their views are important due to their dedication and participation. 

Time-consuming- Method of group decision making generally consumes more time in providing the solution or conclusion which is accepted by all the members or the group because each member of the group has their own, unique idea and perception that provide number of options that to be considered. 

2 Differences in ideas and opinions- Group is comprised of number of members with their own ideas. The difference in ideas and opinions bring disputes among the team members which is not good as it leads to the personal conflicts between the members. This results in the barriers to the decision-making process and decreases the efficiency and quality of decision making (Wise step, 2016). 

References: 

Differences between Charities and Listed Companies, <https://apmstuff.blogspot.in/2011/08/differences-between-charities-and.html> accessed 17 November 2017. 

Features of Public Limited Company, <https://smallbusiness.chron.com/features-public-limited-company-18143.html> accessed 17 November 2017.

Globalization: Meaning, Advantages and Disadvantages, <https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/globalization/globalization-meaning-advantages-and-disadvantages/63041> accessed 17 November 2017.

Group Decision Making, <https://content.wisestep.com/group-decision-making-top-advantages-disadvantages/> accessed 17 November 2017. 

Importance of Consumer Perception, <https://bizfluent.com/info-8406791-importance-consumer-perception.html> accessed 17 November 2017.

Role of Perception in Consumer Behavior, <https://smallbusiness.chron.com/role-perception-consumer-behavior-67136.html> accessed 17 November 2017.

Tesco PLC, <https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/company-profile/TSCO.L> accessed 17 November 2017.

Tesco’s Board and Executive Committee, <https://www.tescoplc.com/about-us/board-and-executive-committee/board/> accessed 17 November 2017.

The Pros and Cons of Globalization, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikecollins/2015/05/06/the-pros-and-cons-of-globalization/#459e8a43ccce> accessed 17 November 2017. 

Top 5 reasons to understand your Customer’s Customer, <https://www.huffingtonpost.com/penny-herscher/top-5-reasons-to-understa_b_1498320.html> accessed 17 November 2017. 

What is Globalization? – Meaning and its Importance, <https://www.managementstudyguide.com/what-is-globalization.htm> accessed 17 November 2017.

Who is a customer? <https://www.marketingteacher.com/what-is-a-customer/> accessed 17 November 2017.