BTEC NATIONAL CERTIFICATE IN BUSINESS – YEAR 1

UNIT 1 – Business Environment

P1 HELPSHEET

“Describe the type of business, purpose and ownership of two contrasting organisations”
(P1)

Scenario

You have recently been appointed as a junior journalist for the local weekly newspaper i.e. Gazette. Over the
next few weeks the editor is planning to run a series of features on local businesses. The series will be
known as ‘Businesses on our Doorstep’. For the next two weeks he asks you to put together articles
featuring two local, contrasting organisations. The idea is to raise the profile of local business and, where
appropriate, highlight their success. The editor asks you to bear in mind the following when selecting the
businesses:-

• The businesses should include one from both the profit and not-for-profit sectors

• They should be different in terms of size and scale

To achieve P1 you need to:

• Research one not-for-profit/voluntary organisation and one private sector organisation.

• The two organisations suggested are TESCO (tesco.com) and Naomi House
(www.naomihouse.org.uk) Children Hospice.

Books:

Pages 1 – 12 of the BTEC National Business textbook will help you with the theory.

Here’s a link to another BTEC National Business textbook that will also help you with the theory

http://www.nelsonthornes.com/documents/btec/Business%20Nat%20Bk%201%20Unit
%201%20web.pdf

To achieve the P1 criteria, you must complete the following:

1. Create a newspaper business report. You must start with the following:

Newspaper Series Title: Businesses on our Doorstep

By: Student Name

Date: (Use the deadline date)

Article Title: An Investigation into two different types of organisation

in Hampshire from different sectors.

2. Write an introduction to your report (a couple of sentences on what your report is about). And
also whether the businesses operate locally, nationally and globally.

3. Define what a public sector or voluntary/not-for-profit organisation is. Make sure you also
answer the following:
• Who owns a public sector or voluntary/not-for-profit organisation organisation?
• Who funds a public sector or voluntary/not-for-profit organisation organisation?
• Who is a public sector or voluntary/not-for-profit organisation organisation run on
behalf of?

The following links would help you with the definitions and theory.

http://www.bized.co.uk/educators/level2/busactivity/activity/intro15.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/business/aims/publicsectorrev1.shtml

4. Define what a private sector organisation is. Make sure you also answer the following:
• Who are the relevant owners of the following private sector organisations:
• sole trader,
• partnership,
• private limited company (ltd)
• public limited company (plc)
• franchise
• Where does a private sector organisation get its capital from

http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/theory/theory--public-private-sectors--234.php

http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/theory/theory--industrial-sectors--389.php

5. Describe what your public sector or voluntary/not-for-profit organisation organisation does

 • You will usually find the information you need in the “about us” section of your chosen
organisation’s website
• For Naomi House, you could get the information from the following link,
o http://www.naomihouse.org.uk/pages/about-us/
o You could also go through the pdf document uploaded on viewpoint named
‘2009AnnualReview - Naomi House’.

6. Describe what your private sector organisation does

• You will usually find the information you need in the “about us” section of your chosen
organisation’s website
• For TESCO, you could get the information from the following link,
o http://www.tescoplc.com/plc/about_us/
o http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesco

Make sure you also answer the following:

• Whether it is a sole trader, partnership, private limited company, public limited company
or a franchise
• Whether it is a local, national, international or global private sector organisation?
• Who owns and who runs your private sector organisation on behalf of whom? (If it is a
plc, it will have shareholders – the general public and institutions like banks)?

7. Write a short conclusion to your individual report which sums up the information you have written
about.