Business is often the most significant part of a society. It is the heart of commerce, politics, technology and the engine of human interaction. A business is defined by Wikipedia as an entering business or commercial organization engaged in professional, commercial, or industrial activity. Most businesses are for-profit organizations or non-profitable public organizations that work to meet a specific social cause or further a specific social agenda. A business may be privately owned and operated, or it may be publicly traded, including its stock market performance.
Learning Objectives The first learning objective of a business learning program is to identify all stakeholders in the business. Stakeholders are individuals, organizations, communities, groups and governmental agencies that have an impact on the day-to-day operations of the business. A company should seek to recognize, understand, and learn about all of its key stakeholders. Learning objectives can include learning about the contributions of key employees, customers, suppliers, regulatory agencies and key outside vendors.
Strategic Learning Each strategic learning objective has at least one strategy that will be used to address it. These strategies can include implementation, assessment, monitoring, improvement and change management. Each strategy is aimed at making the business more effective at serving its unique customer needs. Businesses should work to enhance their knowledge and understanding of the various activities that they do on a daily basis. They should also increase their ability to serve the needs of their customers by continuously improving internal operations. Companies should work with their customers to implement new practices that effectively serve their customers.
Strategies and Learning Strategies should include at least three learning objectives that will be used to address each strategic problem. The three objectives are to maximize profits, improve the customer experience, and build stronger corporate social responsibility and community involvement. When developing strategies to address these problems, a business should consider the key stakeholders and how each stakeholder’s interests are related. A company should work to align their strategies with key stakeholders’ interests. This will ensure that the goals of a business are in line with the priorities of key stakeholders.
Maximizing Profits Along with planning how to build stronger corporate social responsibility and community involvement, a company must also plan how to maximize profits. Many observers believe that profit is the most important factor that drives organizational decisions. Other observers argue that profits are only important to some extent, while other stakeholders are looking for systems that can maximize both profits and the environment. Both arguments have merit; therefore, a business should work to maximize profits while also minimizing its environmental impact.
Building Customer Loyalty Many businesses rely on their customers to help build and support their brands. For this reason, a business should work to build customer loyalty. One key point of consideration is that the key points involve customer loyalty or “bait-and-switch.” In many cases, companies set out to build loyalty by offering a product or service that is too good to be true. Unfortunately, it often doesn’t matter how good a product is, customers won’t buy it if it’s not backed by a strong reputation. To address this, a business should work to build an impressive reputation by focusing on core competencies and delivering the services that are necessary to keep customers loyal.
Developing Market Orientation A company should also consider developing a market orientation when determining how to measure the success of a business. The primary aim of this approach is to determine what consumers are searching for. With market orientation in place, a business can build upon its strengths and develop new offerings that will meet consumer needs. Furthermore, market orientation also involves aligning a company’s actions with the wishes of the consumers. To illustrate, many companies today use customer focus groups to determine how a product will fit into the lives of consumers. Consumer focus groups can help a business to understand what consumers are looking for and what they need.
Managing the Principal Purpose Along with developing a primary purpose, a company must also manage its resources in order to meet its goals and objectives. For example, the costs associated with maintaining a particular business can vary greatly depending on the level of engagement from employees, customers, and suppliers. Although it may seem unimportant in the long run, providing employees with sufficient training and opportunities for on-the-job learning can help reduce overall expenditures. Similarly, even within a company, different stakeholders can have differing requirements for the same resources, which can make managing these resources more complicated. A primary purpose can also become muddled if it is not properly managed.
