Business Objectives

Business objectives are the ends that an organisation sets out to achieve. A business creates plans to enable it to achieve these ends. The objectives, and plans that an organisation creates are determined by balancing the requirements of the various stakeholders in the organisation. The stakeholders are those individuals and groups that are affected by and have an interest in how the business is run and what it achieves. Every business has a range of stakeholders, including:

The objectives that a company establishes are based on blending the various interests of these stakeholder groupings.

For example, an objective to be the market leader, will benefit all stakeholders because customers will receive high quality products, shareholders will receive high dividends, employees will receive good wages, and so on.

Organisations create a hierarchy of objectives. At the top level an organisation will often create a 'mission' setting out the purpose of the organisation. This will be followed by a set of objectives relating to such aspects as:

* Objectives about market share.

* Objectives about customer satisfaction.

* Objectives about employee satisfaction.

* Objectives about returns to shareholders.

* Objectives about cutting pollution.

* Objectives about reducing waste etc.

Objectives need to be SMART

S- Specific - Objectives should specify what they want to achieve.

M- Measurable - You should be able to measure whether you are meeting the objectives or not.

A - Achievable - Are the objectives you set, achievable and attainable?