Business Aims & Objectives
Aims vs Objectives
An aim is the big-picture destination — where the business wants to end up. An objective is a specific, measurable target that moves the business closer to the aim. If Costa Coffee’s aim is to be the UK’s leading coffee chain, one of its objectives might be to open 50 new stores this year. Aims tell you the destination; objectives tell you the route. Good objectives are usually SMART — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.
The Main Objectives Businesses Set
The specification names five common objectives: profit, survival, growth, providing a service, and market share. The first, and often the only one for a brand-new business, is survival — just keeping the lights on through the fragile early months. Once past that, most businesses aim for profit, making enough revenue over costs that the owners are rewarded for their work and risk. Growth, measured by sales, employees or by opening new sites, is another common goal — Greggs has grown from a Newcastle bakery to over 2,500 UK shops.
Market share targets focus on taking sales from rivals. Providing a service — supplying something customers genuinely need at a reliable standard — is the main objective for public-service organisations like the NHS, for charities, and for some private firms that market themselves on quality rather than cheap price. John Lewis historically pitched itself on service over price; Apple does the same.
The main objectives businesses set are profit, survival, growth, providing a service, and market share. Different objectives suit different stages of the business and different types of organisation.
Why Set Objectives at All?
Objectives give a business direction. Without them, staff pull in different directions and decisions are made reactively rather than strategically. Clear objectives motivate workers — a target to open five new stores by December gives everyone something concrete to aim at. They provide a yardstick for measuring success: did the business hit a 15% market share or not? They support planning because without a target, you cannot decide how much money, staff or stock you need. Finally, they help a business secure finance — banks and investors want evidence the business knows where it is going before they lend. Without clear objectives, a business also struggles to prioritise: when cash is tight, which project gets cut first? Objectives answer that question before the pressure hits.
Why Different Businesses Have Different Objectives
The specification explicitly asks why different businesses have different objectives. Three contrasting examples make the point. A sole trader setting up a freelance photography business in her first year will prioritise survival and a modest profit — she needs enough income to pay rent and buy kit, not global growth. A Plc like Unilever has survived the early stages and operates in dozens of countries, so it focuses on growth (new markets, new product ranges), market share (against Nestlé and Procter & Gamble) and shareholder returns. A charity like Oxfam drops profit entirely and sets service objectives — number of families supplied with clean water, number of schools rebuilt after a disaster. Oxfam’s success is not measured in pounds of profit but in people served.
The size of the business, the stage it is at, whether it is for-profit or not-for-profit, and the level of competition all shape the objective mix. The same decision — say, whether to cut prices — is right or wrong depending on whether the objective is market share, service quality or short-term profit.
A start-up’s priority is survival — profit can wait until customers and cash flow are stable. A multinational like Unilever has survived the early phase, so it focuses on growth, market share and shareholder returns. A not-for-profit like Oxfam drops profit altogether and sets service objectives (e.g. number of clean-water projects delivered). The level of competition also matters — in a crowded market like streaming, Netflix must fight to hold market share; in a niche market, providing a high-quality service may be enough.
Why Objectives Change as Businesses Evolve
Objectives evolve with the business. In its first year, a street-food start-up like a new burger van focuses on survival — cover costs, build a regular customer base. As it settles, it may target profit. If a second van follows, the focus shifts to growth. An established business like Tesco now talks heavily about sustainability and reducing plastic — service and reputation rise up the agenda once the basics are secure. Objectives can also change in response to external events: during the 2023 cost-of-living squeeze, many retailers quietly dropped ambitious growth targets and returned to survival and customer retention.
A business’s objectives typically change as it grows — from survival in year one, to profit and growth as it stabilises, and to service or market share once it is established. The same business may hold several objectives at once.
Yes — and this is where strong evaluation answers come from. Profit pushes businesses to cut costs; a service objective pushes them to maintain quality even when it is expensive. Growth can damage service quality if expansion runs ahead of training. Market share fights (heavy discounting) can damage profit in the short term. A good answer names the tension and weighs it — e.g. ‘aggressive growth might hit short-term profit because of the cost of new stores, but in the long term it locks in market share that protects future profit.’