Business activity
Business activities are concerned with meeting the needs of customers by providing a product or service that they demand. There are various stages in the production of finished goods, so business activity involves adding value to resources such as raw materials, to make them more desirable to the consumer. Of course, one of the biggest value added is branding. For example, a well known brand like Coca Cola or McDonald's adds a lot of value to the products sold by these companies because the brand is known by almost everyone.
A company like Shell, which is involved in oil and gas exploration, will get raw materials from deposits of oil and natural gas, which may have been under the ground for millions of years. These deposits are then brought from under the ground by drilling operations. The oil and gas is then refined to make petrol and a range of other products. Shell adds its own special ingredients to create petroleum products, which meet the needs of modern engines. The modern engines achieve the highest levels of performance and, at the same time, they have a minimum damage on the environment.
Business activity takes place at three stages of production: Primary activity involves making use of the gifts of nature and getting raw materials (e.g. drilling oil from the ground); Secondary activity involves manufacturing finished goods (e.g. refining oil and gas); Final activities involve providing services such as making finished goods and services available to the customer (marketing).
