Communication in business

A young entrepreneur has decided to start up their own café.

The quality of communication will be important for this business because:

A all communications will be internal

B all of its employees will be new

C it will need to operate without risk

D it will use digital distribution channels

Text 3 Shropshire Fruit Farm

Shropshire Fruit Farm (SFF) grows strawberries at its farm in the West Midlands. SFF is owned by business partners Mei and Felix. The strawberries are picked by temporary employees and sold to supermarkets and convenience stores.

Some of the temporary employees have a full-time contract and others have a part-time contract. This does mean that Mei and Felix find it difficult to plan operations, as employees work different numbers of hours on different days. Employee retention is also a challenge, as employees often leave the business for permanent jobs.

Demand for strawberries has decreased over the past three years and this has affected SFF’s revenue (see graph below). Felix suggests they should use market research to help plan for the future. However, Mei is concerned that, as profits have fallen by 45% over the past three years, any extra expenditure on market research would be wasteful.

Identify one way of communicating in a business.

Analyse two advantages for SFF of employee retention.

Mei and Felix have been reviewing the balance of full-time and part-time employees at SFF.

Analyse one advantage for SFF of recruiting each type of employee.

Full-time employees

Part-time employees

Recommend whether it is best for SFF to recruit full-time or part time employees. Give a reason for your answer.

* Evaluate, using the data in Text 3, whether or not SFF should use market research to help plan for the future.

What is a benefit to a patient of receiving communication from their hospital doctor by email rather than by letter?

A Doctors receive confirmation of receipt when the email is opened

B Emails can contain hyperlinks to further information about treatments

C Emails save money by reducing stationery, printing, and postal costs

D Multiple medical appointments can be sent out at the same time

Text 3 SJ Salon

SJ Salon is a hair salon owned by Sam and Jamila. The business partners met whilst studying hairdressing at college. The partners’ creativity has helped make the salon very successful. SJ Salon is currently the only salon in town and uses cost-plus pricing.

Sam and Jamila are qualified hairdressers who work full-time in the salon. Until recently, the partners employed one part-time and one full-time worker who works 40 hours per week. However, due to increasing customer demand, two additional part-time employees have recently been recruited.

Sam and Jamila have just found out that a national hairdressing chain is planning to open a new salon in their town. They are concerned about the impact of this competition. The partners asked 200 current customers to complete a short questionnaire. The results show that:

• 130 of the customers have used SJ Salon since 2019

• 104 of the customers were aware of the national hairdressing chain

• 84 of the customers would consider trying the new hair salon, if its prices were cheaper

• 66 of the customers consider quality of service to be more important than price.

When SJ Salon was set up in 2014, Sam wrote a business plan. He has not written another one since then, as the business has been profitable. However, Sam now thinks that a new business plan should be written to help the business succeed against any new competition. Jamila disagrees, as the original business plan took Sam 30 hours to write. She feels that his time would be better spent keeping current customers satisfied.

Creativity is one characteristic of an entrepreneur.

Identify one other characteristic of an entrepreneur.

Analyse two advantages for SJ Salon of using cost-plus pricing.

Sam and Jamila want to improve communication with their employees now that the size of the workforce has increased. They are considering two methods:

• a weekly team meeting which all employees will be expected to attend

• a weekly email sent to all employees.

* Evaluate, using the data in Text 3, whether Sam should write a new business plan.

Text 1

Nina’s Knitting Supplies

Nina runs a successful business selling knitting wool and sewing products. She opened her first shop 15 years ago. The business has grown organically and now sells products from 10 shops and a website. Nina uses market segmentation to target customers. Nina employs 80 people. She works hard to meet the shared objectives of her employees, as well as external stakeholder groups such as customers, suppliers, lenders and the local community.

Nina produces a weekly update that is sent by email to all employees every Friday. The updates contain information about the future development of the business, plus other stories of interest to employees. Recent stories include congratulating an employee on the birth of a child and the charity fundraising activities of one shop.

Nina plans to develop the business further over the next five years, especially as knitting is becoming an increasingly popular pastime. This has led to more competitors entering the market.

Explain one way that a business can segment its market.

Explain how the objectives of three external stakeholder groups can be satisfied by Nina’s Knitting Supplies.

Analyse one likely reason why Nina sends a weekly update to her employees.

Identify two methods of external growth that a business could use.

Evaluate whether or not Nina’s Knitting Supplies should continue to grow organically.

What is a disadvantage for a business of using digital communication?

A It is a slow method of communication

B Pictures and videos cannot be shared

C The technology on which it relies can fail

D Worldwide communication is not possible

An NHS hospital is concerned about the quality of its business communication.

The quality of business communication is particularly important for the hospital because:

A all of its communication is external

B all of its employees have academic qualifications

C it cannot afford to lose customers

D it deals with lots of confidential information

A farmer needs to order a spare part for a tractor. The part is needed urgently but the farmer does not know the name or code number of the part.

Which of the following is the best way for the farmer to deal with this situation?

A Post a message on social media saying that the tractor has broken down

B Send a letter to the parts supplier showing a sketch of the part required

C Send an email to the parts supplier attaching a photo of the part required

D Upload a video to the farm’s website showing the importance of the tractor

16

Text 1

Waitrose

Waitrose is a supermarket chain with over 300 stores throughout the UK. Waitrose specialises in good quality food, targeted at customers with high levels of income. The company is owned by its employees, who receive a range of benefits including profit sharing. Waitrose continues to offer profit sharing to its employees, even though another UK supermarket chain has replaced this type of benefit with higher rates of pay.

Waitrose has over 50 000 employees. Many employees are recruited externally. As part of the selection process, potential employees take part in lengthy interviews, group activities and tests. References are requested for all new employees. Once appointed, all employees receive regular training.

The supermarket industry is very competitive, so new product development is important to Waitrose. Qualitative market research data is collected using methods including focus groups and customer trials. This data then needs to be communicated effectively between employees at Head Office.

Explain what is meant by a focus group.

Explain one advantage for Waitrose of using customer trials.

Explain one benefit for Waitrose of having good business communication between employees at its Head Office.

Explain one advantage for Waitrose of using external recruitment.

Analyse one likely reason why Waitrose provides its employees with regular training.

Waitrose is always considering new ways of motivating its employees.

Identify two non-financial methods of motivating employees.

Evaluate whether or not Waitrose should continue to offer profit sharing to its employees.