Commercial Awareness

Susan Rhodes
Careers Adviser

September 08 1
 WORKshop aims
• Discuss what ‘commercial awareness’
means
• Look at why it’s important to you
• Introduce business analysis tools
• Use these to explore an organisation and
its sector
• Identify activities that can develop your
commercial awareness
September 08 2
 Plan for the afternoon
• Commercial awareness – the basics?
• What is commercial awareness
• Looking at a business
• Break 10 mins
• A business in context
• Analysing a business
• Review and action planning
September 08 3
 Quiz

September 08 4
 1. Arcadia
2. Bank of England
3. Public Limited Company
4. UK, US, Canada, Russia, Japan, France, Germany,
Italy
5. New York Stock Exchange listing
6. Alastair Darling
7. Royal Bank of Scotland
8. Santander
9. Private Finance Initiative
10. Small and Medium Sized Enterprises
September 08 5
 1. 3.0%
2. 0%
3. Business to Business
4. Key Performance Indicator
5. NHS Civil Service, Local Gov, NHS, University
6. It is pink
7. 20%
8. Mortgage to someone with a bad credit record
9. Home & EU students: UK Govt. International
students: university
10. Tesco
September 08 6
 What is commercial awareness?
• Ability to view situations from a commercial or
business perspective
• Being aware of the commercial context in
which an organisation operates
• An interest in business and an understanding
of the wider context it which it operates
• ‘a candidates general knowledge of business
and their understanding of the industry they
want to join’
September 08 7
 • Intelligent awareness about firm you’re
applying to / working in
• Awareness of the sector, competitors,
regulators and current issues

• And – have opinions -that you can justify

September 08 8
 Why is it important for you?
Employers want you to demonstrate commercial
awareness and give you opportunities to do so. They
look for evidence. For example:
• What do you know about our organisation?
• Tell me about your part-time job
• Why do want to work in this industry?
• Where do you see yourself in five years?
• What story in the business press has
interested you in the past couple of weeks?
September 08 9
 Habitus
• A set of acquired patterns of thought,
behaviour, and taste.
•
Scott, John & Marshall, Gordon (eds) A Dictionary of Sociology, Oxford University Press, 1998

• These patterns, or "dispositions", are the result of

internalization of culture or objective social structures
through the experience of an individual or group.

• Social spaces or forms of activity are organised

through distinct forms of behaviour
• If you know them you are an ‘insider’ and ‘belong’

September 08 10
 What does this mean for you?
• If you are commercially aware:

• You will be speaking the same language as the

employer

• You will recognise and understand the behavioural

norms of the organisation and be able to behave
appropriately

• You’re already on the way to belonging

September 08 11
 The academic view
When asked ‘what is commercial
awareness’, an academic in a non-
vocational discipline replied:

‘I have no clue what this phrase means,

which I have never encountered before.’

www.learnhigher.ac.uk Common themes taken from commercial awareness research conducted in 2006

September 08 12
 The academic view cont.
When asked what provision there was in
the department to help students become
more commercially aware, one replied:

I do not know - I hope there is none.

www.learnhigher.ac.uk Common themes taken from commercial awareness research conducted in 2006

September 08 13
 Looking at what a business does
• What sector is it in?
• What geographical sphere is it in?
• How is it structured?
• What are the main products / services?
• Who are the main competitors?
• How does it differentiate itself in the
market?
• Who are the target clients / customers?
September 08 14
 PEST
• This is a tool to assess the context in
which an organisation operates

• Looks at all external factors that may

influence activity and outcomes

September 08 15
 PEST

Political Economic

Organisation

Social
Technological

September 08 16
 SWOT
• A tool to look at the organisation itself

• Needs understanding of the environment

(PEST) and its resource capabilities

September 08 17
 SWOT Stoakes, Christoper Commercial Awareness Longtail 2006

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

What’s good about the organisation What’s bad about the organisation

INTERNAL

EXTERNAL
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

What customers / markets the What poses a threat in terms of external

organisation can seek competitors or context change

September 08 18
 Possible actions from SWOT
• Can take advantage of strengths for future
growth or sustainability
• Can move away from activities within areas
of weakness or
• Can develop strategy to improve weakness
• Threats / Opportunities contribute to
strategies for future.

September 08 19
 How to improve commercial awareness?

September 08 20
 Possible activities
• Internet research
• Business sections of newspapers
• BBC Working Lunch
• Careers seminars with employers
• Work experience
• Work placements
• Part-time work
• Careers Centre resources
September 08 21
 • Project work in some disciplines
• Talking to people
• Read occupational journals
• Research employers / organisations

September 08 22
 • podcast

September 08 23
 Work experience
Be ‘commercially aware’ in any job you do
• Gain an insight into the organisation
• Understand its structure, products or
services, its values
• Find out what challenges it is facing
• Are there opportunities it is exploring
• Is it part of a chain? An independent?

Ask questions!
September 08 24