Supporting Business Development: Lectures and Seminars

Task 1: Informal Talk/Workshop for Those Considering Setting up Their Own Business

You have gained an internship with the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), an organisation that supports UK businesses through its London office and a network of regional offices. You are working in a regional office in an area of high unemployment and the CBI has been approached to offer a series of lectures and seminars to support business development in the area.  Some of the lectures and seminars will be aimed at those wishing to set up businesses; others will be aimed at established businesses, which may benefit from a more ‘global’ outlook.

You have been given the following tasks:

Task 1

You are to produce an informal talk/workshop for people who are considering setting up their own business. 

Prepare a presentation about the purposes of business organisations with supporting notes. Use hand-outs to provide detailed information which you can distribute to your delegates. Your presentation and supporting notes and / or handouts must:

• Explain the different types of organisations and discuss their purposes.
• Analyse responsibilities of organisations.

Merit Task

To achieve a Merit, your presentation and supporting materials must also analyse the extent to which a specific organisation meets its stated purposes.  You may select an organisation where you have worked or one that you will research.

Task 2

One of the seminars will focus on the structure of organisations.  You are in charge of this seminar.

• You will start by writing a discussion paper on the different organisational structures. This will be the first part of a handout package to be delivered to the participants. In the paper you must evaluate the different types of organisational structures.
• Secondly, you must prepare short case studies to be distributed to each of the five tables at the seminar. Each case study should explain the functions of different departments in organisational structures and their inter relationship.
• Thirdly, you should write an article for the delegate handout pack evaluating the influence of global factors on organisational structures.

Distinction Task

To achieve a Distinction, your handout package must include assessment of the organisational structure of a selected existing organisation. The critical assessment should identify areas for improvement, either with regards to specific structural elements or to their inter relationships.

Task 3

A day’s conference and networking opportunity has been set up for local business leaders who may be interested in government support and local partnerships. 

You have been asked to project manage the event and have arranged for experienced local business leaders, as well as local government representatives to present specific workshops.

You are required to prepare a written paper which will be sent to the local business leaders before the event and discussed during the conference.  Your written paper needs to:

• analyse the impact of supply and demand on the prices of goods and services in markets
• analyse possible planned interventions in the market place and their impact on organisations

To achieve a Merit, your paper must include an assessment of the response of a selected organisation to changes in its market.

Task 4

You must provide a leaflet which will help participants in the lectures and seminars pursue their business ideas.

The leaflet should be titled ‘The nature of the national environment in which organisations operate’.

You must ensure that the sections in the leaflet include:

• An explanation of the importance of national entrepreneurship strategy.
• An explanation of the role of monetary and fiscal policy and the possible impact on organisations and their activities.
• An evaluation of the impact of competition policy and other regulatory mechanisms on the activities of a specific organisation

Distinction Task

To achieve a Distinction, your leaflet must include a case study which compares and contrasts the benefits and challenges to a specific business operating in different economic environments.