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1.3 Business Aims and ObjectivesUnit 1: Exploring Business Purposes

1.3 Business Aims and Objectives

Unit 1: Exploring Business Purposes

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Contents

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For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation

Teacher’s notes included in the Notes Page

Flash activity (these activities are not editable) Extension activity Printable activity

Key skills

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Business objectives

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SMART objectives

In this section, you will learn about business objectives and how they help businesses to achieve their aims.

Matching aims with objectives

Factors that affect objectives

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The definition of an objective

An objective is more specific than an aim.

Aims can often seem overwhelming; however, breaking them down into smaller objectives allows businesses to be clear about:

what they are doing when they plan to do it.

Whereas a business’s aims reflect its long-term goals, its objectives are the targets that help it achieve this vision.

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SMART objectives

What does each part of a SMART objective mean?

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SMART objectives

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Aims and objectives

Objectives should be agreed by the people who have to achieve them in order to improve the chances of success.

Creating objectives can help an organization to measure its performance – to make sure that it is achieving its aims.

Write down a personal aim. Set a SMART objective and explain how it will help you to achieve it.

Aim: make a profitObjective: increase sales by 10% in the next twelve months

Here is an example of an aim with its SMART objective:

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Matching aims with objectives

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Objectives case study: Hair of the Dog

Hair of the Dog is a small dog grooming business owned and run by Rachel Callaway.

Rachel’s aim is to improve her profits. She has set herself the SMART objective of increasing her sales by 15% over the next three months to help her to achieve her aim.

Are there any reasons why Rachel might fail to meet her objective?

Rachel loves being her own boss, but wants to

make some more money.

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Factors which can affect objectives

How might these factors impact on Hair of the Dog?

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Objectives case study: Hair of the Dog

Regularly measuring her progress will allow Rachel to identify and correct any mistakes she may be making; she can also review her objective and make changes to it if necessary.

How can Rachel measure her performance to make sure she completes her objective?

Rachel should measure her sales daily, weekly and monthly to check that she is meeting her objective.

Measure ReviewCorrect

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Assignment: Questions about aims and objectivesAssignment

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1. What are aims and what are objectives? Give three examples of each.

2. Why do organizations set aims and objectives for themselves?

3. Tesco wants to increase its sales over the next year. Is this a SMART objective? Explain your answer.

Answer the following questions