Schedule N Flashcards
(99 cards)
reasons firms will grow (4 points)
- economies of scale
- economies of scope
- benefit from the experience curve
- acquiring other businesses creating synergies
reasons for retrenchment (2 points)
- economic downturn
- suffering from diseconomies of scale
how do businesses retrench? (5 points)
- reduce physical stores
- reduce number of employees
- reduce output
- reduce portfolio size
- reduce geographical area
when does change occur
when businesses alter their structure, size or strategy to respond to internal or external influences
reasons for change (4 points)
- to meet objectives e.g. gain market share
- to respond to external forces e.g. consumer demand
- respond to internal forces e.g. employee pressure
- gain a competitive advantage e.g. economies of scale
reasons a business may want to grow (4 points)
- increase shareholder value
- increase market share
- decrease average costs
- stakeholders perception of success
reasons for retrenchment (4 points)
- restructure to increase efficiency
- turn around poor performance
- focus on core businesses
- sell off less profitable parts of business to increase overall performance
organic growth
when a business expands in size by opening new stores, branches, functions or plants
benefits of organic growth (5 points)
- low risk
- get to maintain control
- less disruption
- typically more sustainable
- incremental growth
disadvantages of organic growth (3 points)
- takes a long time
- dont gain synergies
- slow gain of market share
external growth
when a business expands in size by either merging with or taking over another business
advantages of external growth (6 points)
- quick access to new markets
- quick growth
- material impact of market share
- become a more diversified business
- access to new technology
- overseas business will mean you gain their experience
disadvantages of external growth(3 points)
- expensive
- high risk
- managers of business may lack experience in new market/business
economies of scale
the advantages enjoyed by a business as it increases the scale of its current operations leading to a fall in unit costs
technical economies of scale
the benefits enjoyed when a business is able to spend more on larger and more efficient machinery leading to a decrease in average unit costs
purchasing economies of scale
the benefits enjoyed when a business is able to negotiate greater discounts with suppliers for bulk buying to lower average unit costs
managerial economies of scale
the benefits enjoyed when a business can employ specialist people leading to a fall in average costs
financial economies of scale
the benefits enjoyed when a business gets bigger and has more assets
economies of scope
the advantages enjoyed by a business as it increases its operations by expanding its range of activities leading to lower AUC
the experience curve
the advantages enjoyed by a established business as a result of having both managers and employees who are experienced with the running of the business
diseconomies of scale
the disadvantages suffered as a result of the business increasing its operations scale leading to increased unit costs
rising unit cost will force a business to… (2 points)
- increase selling price of product
- sell less products to decrease costs (retrenchment)
diseconomies of scales (communication issues) (3 points)
- larger firms struggle to communicate internally
- increased costs for communication methods
- lots of workers = harder to communicate with them all
diseconomies of scales (coordination and control) (2 points)
- large firm = more people = harder to organise
- may become harder to delegate and moderate