Unit 4

Kristina Gaborova

DIFFERENT TYPES OF
INFORMATIONS
In this assignment I have been ask to describe the types of information
and sources of information by including both internal and external. The
next I am going to describe typical purposes of information used in a
business and relate how these apply to Living Fashion. Living Fashion is
large national retail store which selling a selection of ladies, mens and
children swear.
In order to run the business effectively, businesses needs different types
of information. This information may relate to employees, operations,
customers, suppliers or competitors. In many cases this information is not
required, so it needs to be safely and securely.
Verbal
Verbal communication is the best way how to communicate in a business.
The reason is that of the high degree of impact it can create on an
audience. Many businesses use this method to have staff meetings or
telephone enquiry from their customers. Living Fashion may use verbal
communication for their meetings or any conversation by involving two
people discussing a topic. Verbal communication in Living Fashion is done
by customer service and colleagues and advisors at store.
Written
Written communication involves a letters, emails, newspapers, books,
trade journals or government publications. These types of written
commutations help the businesses to receive important informations from
their stakeholders. Living Fashion is using letters, emails to receive
customers complaints, orders and completed applications forms received
from job applicants. They also use catalogues and magazines to give more
informations about their products and prices.
Online
Online communications is used to have online website and social media
(Facebook, Twitter). As like other clothing company, Living Fashion have
online website where customers have online access to buy different
products and find out useful information. They also use social networking
to promote their products and services. On the other side through online
website they promote jobs and recruit employees.

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Onscreen
This is method of meeting using teleconferencing facilities between
managers in business locations. For example Ling Fashion would use web
cam to communicate and discussing about different decisions in their
business. They also may use this method by TV advertisements where
they communicate with customers.
INTERNAL SOURCES

The sources of information that you use in your business can be primary
information or information that you obtain yourself inside your own
company. This is also known as INTERNAL INFORMATION. There are
different types of internal information such as financial, marketing, sales,
human resources and administration.

Financial
Financial information is information related to the performance and profit
and loss of the company. This is includes information on how much this
business pay for items, how much they pay for staff, the costs of rates and
the taxes that they pay as a business. This source of information helps
Living Fashion to analyse the performance of the business and finding out
the areas where the business may be doing well or identifying any
problems that require corrective action. To monitor financial information
they have a Financial Controller or Accountants to ensure that the
business continues to operate and generate the profit.
Marketing
Marketing information is used by the market team to identify what
products or services offered by the business are most successful. Living
Fashion marketing team collect information from different departments
such as sales to promote certain products or services based on current
success sales. They using surveys to see what customers like or dislike
about the products or service to improve their business and keep
customers happy. They also use marketing for advertising campaigns.
Purchasing
Purchasing information is collected by the purchasing department what
are involved with buying all of the products needed to run your business.
These products could be stationary or computers need for the day to day
running of your business. The purchasing department need to monitor the
cost and quality of all purchased goods to ensure they get the best deal
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and maximise profits for the company. Living Fashion uses this source to
cover their information on the suppliers of materials and services that
support their operations. And also consist of details of past and current
suppliers, goods or services supplied delivery and payments details by
including discounts.
Sales
Just like purchasing information sales information needs to monitor based
on the product or service offered by any company. Sales information for
Living Fashion is important. Details of past and current sales levels are
required to measure the current performance of products
and sales staff. This information may also be used to identify sales trends
so that production can be adjusted appropriately.
Human resources
The aim is to ensure the good customer service and increase the sales for
the business development. Living Fashion needs staff that knows the
products that the company is selling and knows how to put those
products, make great offers in order to catch the customer attention and
interest so they can buy them despite the actual economic situation. They
need to control the staff wages and salaries while keeping
competitiveness of the salaries. And also recruit employees and create job
profiles and descriptions to match the company`s needs.
Administration
Administration information links very much with personal information but
also involves communicating with external sources and storing
information on customers to build successful relationship with them.
Living Fashion my use this source to keeping the records of
communications with external groups such as customers or suppliers.
Operations
Records of production levels or the number of customers served are also
needed to measure and monitor performance. Information regarding stock
and quality levels can help a business to run more efficiently. Living
Fashion may use this source to monitor their performance in stores and
to make sure that everything runs how it would be.

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EXTERNAL SOURCES
External sources help companies to make correct business decisions. If a
company uses external sources of information then they must be sure of
the liability of the data sources Examples of external information sources
are: Government, trade groupings, commercially provided information and
research. Here I am going to describe these external sources.

Government
Information supplied by the government is definitely coming from reliable
source as this is the governing body that they business operated within.
As like other big clothing company Living Fashion needs to use important
legal information from the Government to help run their stores
successfully and legally. For example If Living Fashion have local store in
Keighley and had over 1,000 employees that were being paid the
minimum hourly rate as outlined by the Government and the rate changes
then the company needs to take this information on board and increase
the wages for the staff on this wage range.
Trade meetings
A trade grouping is a group of businesses that operate within the same
sector and not within the same location. For example tech companies
would be part of the Technical Trade Association and Farmers might be
part of the Farming Association within a country or region. Clothing
companies like Living Fashion, are in clothing or retail industry which
provides number of services including free downloadable guides, advice
and help in finding product suppliers.
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Commercially Provided
Living Fashion can use commercially provided information to help them
make the correct business decisions. These decisions are made based on
information made available to them from other companies like New Look
or Next.
Research
Companies can research information that might help them increase the
sales and level of interest in their business. The key thing to researching
information helps run your business to ensure it is accurate and reliable.
For example Living Fashion uses research to find out their competitors to
provide better prices to increase more sales.

PURPOSE OF INFORMATION
Business wants information about their customers, because that
information has value. Purpose of information is essential for effective
decision making. This information is needed by businesses for a number of
different purposes:

Updating knowledge
This means that Living Fashion should always update their knowledge. For
example is it a good idea to launch a luxury clothes or would a more price
conscious product be more appropriate. They should consider new laws
that might affect the way how they operate. Also they should update their
knowledge in how their markets are developing.
Informing future developments
Living Fashion needs to make sure that they complete effective market
research in order to lunch a new product or is there demand for the new
product.
Offering competitive insight
In order to be successful Living Fashion needs to research what their
competitors are doing for example stores price check. By providing better
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prices and more special offers the company will have more customers
base and makes more profit.
Communicating sales promotions
Promotional activity involves communicating messages to customers to
inform them and persuade them to buy a firm`s product. As other big
clothing company Living Fashion use online advertisement by offering
online website where customers can buy goods and find out useful
information about the company. They also may use TV adverts and
catalogues to promote their products in order to have more customers.
Inviting support activities
Information is also required when a business uses the services of another
to support its operations. Large firms like Living Fashion may find it more
cost effective to outsource certain functions such as personnel or IT. The
information needs to be passed between the businesses and stored
securely.

SWOT analysis
Swot analysis is a planning tool that is used to evaluate the Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats in a business.
Strengths show the positive things about the company that helps gaining
its goals.
Weaknesses shows what obstacles are in company which won`t let them
achieve its goals.
Opportunities show what external sources can help the company.
Threats are the sources that are harmful to the companies objective.
Swot analysis for Living Fashion might be:
Strengths:
1) Branding- they would has strong branding in the everyday basic,
from casual to work wear.
2) Infrastructure- that would allow for easy of distribution nationally.
3) Quality- consumer would trust in the quality built.
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4) Size advantages- they would have range of different sizes of clothes.

Weaknesses
1) Weak supply chain a weak supply chain can delay the arrival of
products to customers which can hurt the business over the long run
because customers will cancel the orders.
2) Lack of scale a lack of scale means that clothing cost per unit of
output is very high. Increasing volume, while maintain quality, would
help reduce those costs.
Opportunities
1) Increasing demand from an ageing population.
2) Increasing level of employment- which means that more disposable
income to spend on clothing.
3) Greater popularity for shopping as a part-time.
4) Massive opportunity to develop internet shopping for clothing.
Threats
1) Rapid changing fashion trends- which mean that any clothing store
that falls behind in these will lose out lot of its market share.
2) New products- expanding beyond clothing to include more shoes,
handbags etc..

M1

Now I am going to analyse different types of information and their

sources.
All businesses use different ways of communicating with each other. The
ways being: verbal, written, onscreen, multimedia and web based.
Living Fashion uses communication in various ways. Some of the key
components of verbal communication are sound, speaking and words.
They communicate face to face to their customers, member of staff and
manager. This could be so that misunderstandings are avoided because
the other person is able to tell from their facial expression and tone of
voice. They communicate over the phone too because it allows them to
contact other Living Fashion stores which is good for brief messages. This
method could be problem because if Living Fashion would operate
internationally, in other countries can have bad frequency and cost a lot.
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They hold staff meetings every month. At the meetings they discus about
the problems, solutions, new ideas, promotion ideas. The greatest
advantage of verbal communication is that is saving the time. Under this
system of communication the messages are communicates immediately
without consuming any time. Verbal communication is the only way out
during urgent condition and when immediate action is necessary. An
important advantage of verbal communication is that under this method
of communication, the sender of message can judge the reaction of the
message on its receiver. He comes know whether the receiver of the
message will follow it or not. As there is no formal method of
communicating the message, no help of any particular media of
communication is taken. This type of communication saves a lot of money.
Also this method of communication is more effective. It increases the
productivity of workers because they clearly understand it and follow it.
However, there are also many disadvantages of verbal communication.
The greatest disadvantage is that there is no proof of the message
communicated. As there is nothing in writing supporting the messages
communicated under this method, it is not suitable for future reference.
Living Fashion use written communication when they sending their
consumers email whether it is for promotional offers or it is for any inquiry
of the business. They also use this method for use catalogues and
magazines to give more informations about their products and prices and
letters to receive customers complaints, orders and completed
applications forms received from job applicants. Advantage of written
communication is that there is no personal contact. If the receiver and
sender of the message are at a distance, it is economical to communicate
the message n writing because communicating by post is cheap and quit
economical. Written messages are very clear. The receiver of the message
can easily follow it and understand it. It is also provides a proof for future
reference. If there is any point of this regard the message may be
referred. Written communication is also bringing disadvantages. The
greatest disadvantage is the delay in communication. The message is
writing is communicated after a certain process is completed. It is
prepared, verified and order by the concerned officer. Consequently, the
message is delayed. Another great disadvantage of written
communication is that secrecy cannot be maintained because these
messages can be read by anyone. A written communication involves
heavily expenditure. If the receiver and sender of message are near to
each other, it is fairly costly to communicate in writing.
Onscreen communication Living Fashion use when they are having a
meeting discussing a topic. They use television advertisement where they
can promote their products to consumers. Living Fashion use this method
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for meetings with their board of directors and their executive staff to
discuss matters such as product sales and finance. There are advantage
for using onscreen communication for instance you can use images to link
your information, bars and charts to make viewer of the presentation
understand clearly. Disadvantage for onscreen communication would be
that they need a lot of preparation and make sure the presentation does
according to plan. Also you might find it understandable but the receiver
might not.
The next method of communication is web based. Living Fashion use web
based communication for the website by having a website where they can
customers receive information and where they can have discussions
forums with other costumers. They also use this method to research their
competitors and see what products they have. Advantage of web based
communication is that it can be transferred worldwide to any location.
With the internet communication methods can be documented. There are
also many disadvantages to this as such as waiting for reply where as if it
was verbal face to face you would receive and reply instantly.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL SOURCES
The second section of my work is analysing internal and external sources
of information by including advantages and disadvantages. Every
business needs information to help it succeed. A combination of internal
and external business information can provide the background of current
performance and plan future progress. Knowing the types of information
resources that are most critical to business can help companies analysing
and using that information most effectively. Internal sources are good
because there are a variety of sources for example finance, sales and
human resources department. Collecting internal information allows
marketing can show their results that have been undertaken by the
organisation and to see if they have had a success in any marketing
activities. Also it is easily accessible and it is only available to the
organisation. The disadvantages of this are that it requires a lot of
administration work to be done in short amount of time. Also the
information may be out of date or it is limited in nature. The internal
sources of information are more reliable then external because it comes
from the business and it is only available to them so it is more trustful.
Now I am going to analyse main sources of information starting by
internal.
Financial information would Living Fashion to have ability to gather
information about employees, about sales and customers and also take
corrective action of there are issues or problems that they may arise.
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Advantage of this information is that businesses can sales figures, keep

employees records and send out managers reports. On the other side
disadvantage of financial information could be that financial statements
such as balance sheet or cash flow are based on the market at the given
time.
Human resources help Living Fashion to have more information about
staffing and training needs. They do that by the process of recruiting
suitable candidates for the organisation and identifying and meeting the
training needs of existing staff. Advantages of human resources
information is that they control the staff and provide staff training.
Disadvantages of this source could be that it cost money to employ
human resources staff and find these staff can be hard.
Marketing information mainly helps the Living fashion to advertise their
business, products and advertise different campaigns to gain more
customers. They use this method to inform the decision making process
and the planning of future campaigns or changes to the marketing mix.
The greatest advantage of marketing information is the promotion of the
business and attention of your target audience across a wide or specific
market. Also is achieving brand recognition. Over time potential
customers and member of public will begin to recognise your logo and
your brand with your business. Also it is bring some disadvantages. The
first disadvantage of marketing information is the cost. Advertising and
marketing costs money. So it is important do your research and keeps
your costs to a minimum.
Purchasing information keeps the records of numbers of sales. This
source of information is important for Living Fashion because it helps to
covers information on the suppliers of clothes and services thats support
their firm`s operations. This source includes details of past and current
suppliers, as well as goods or services supplies, delivery and payment
details. Advantage of purchasing information could help to ensure that the
business is using the right supplier to meet its needs. On the other side
purchasing information can cause problems on online website such as
hackers can use this information for their own needs.
Sales information is important to measure the current performance of
different products and sales staff these figures may form the basis of
performance by relating pay and staff bonuses. Advantage of sales
information may be used to identify sales trends, so that production can
be adjusted appropriately. Also to keep record to see if the sale is
improving. Disadvantage of this may be that sales information is not
always up to date.
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SWOT analysis is to help you develop a strong business strategy by

making sure you have considered all off your business`s strength and
weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats it faces in the
marketplace. Strengths and weaknesses are internal to the company
(such as reputation, patents, location). You can change them over time
but not without some work. Opportunities and threats are external such as
suppliers, competitors, prices. Existing businesses, like Living Fashion, can
use swot analysis at any time to assess a changing environment and
respond proactively. Companies use the SWOT analysis to structure
strategic planning sessions which facilitate the evaluation of business
alternatives. For example, SWOT analysis is effective in analysing the
introduction of new services and products. Also it is useful in assessing
vendors, product markets and technologies. One of the greatest
advantages of SWOT analysis is that it helps to summarise and clarify
opportunities and issues are facing a business or project. For this reason s
SWOT analysis is often advantage and can play a key role in how a
business sets its objectives and develops strategies for achieving goals.
Another advantage of SWOT analysis is that the primary cost involved in
the process is time. A SWOT analysis makes it possible for new ideas be
generated without costing the business much in the process. On the other
side a SWOT analysis is simple to do, which causes disadvantages. The
disadvantage to the simplicity of this type of analysis is that is usually
creates a very simple list that is not presented critically. If company is
focused only on the creation of the list, then it may not be enough on how
it can actually achieve all of its objectives.
External
External sources come from outside the business. This information is
gained out with the organisation such as Government statistics or
competitor accounts. The advantages of this are that the information has
been already published. For example the government are able to publish
statistics that is supplied from the office of national statistics. When
collecting research externally it is and advantage because it can allow the
researcher to gain more knowledge as well as facts. There are also
disadvantages to external sources because it can take a long time to find
out information of it`s coming from outside the business and also some of
the information that`s are published may not be reliable enough and could
be false. Also sometimes external information can be expensive to gain
and could be biased.
Government information helps Living Fashion to keep records so that
they can collect taxes on behalf of the government. So business needs to
obtain regular information about the taxation and what actions it needs to
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take. This information is useful to businesses because government

produces data on economic and social trends which can help to increase
demand of sales and generate ideas for new products. Disadvantage of
this could be that the business need to aware of key legal areas such as
environmental legislation, health & safety regulation and employment law.
This information is reliable because it comes from government.
Trade meetings are generally group of people that work in same
industry by same location. Advantages of trade meetings are that it
provides free downloadable guides, help in finding product supplier and
provide support to their members. Disadvantage could be that members
on trade meetings are not always agree between each others which could
cause problems.
Commercially provided-There are number of commercial organisations
that have been set up to generate information for business use.
Advantage of this information is that it helps the businesses make correct
decisions by looking at information available from others companies. Firms
which provides commercially provided information might not updated
their online websites in regular basis which brings disadvantage to other
businesses.

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