Kingston University

MSc in International Business Management

BS7103 CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS STRATEGY

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

Submitted by: Maxie - k1270095Submission date: 14th August 2014

-------Lecturer: Dr Konstantinos Pitsakis

Words count: 2235 words

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EXCUTIVE SUMMARY

This report consists of three main sections that focus on analyzing and

evaluating the current situation of "The Big Issue Foundation" (a non-

profit organization which will be referred in short as 'TBI' in the

report). Through answering the requests, the report also offers a number of

suggestion for TBI' strategy that they should concern to keep promoting the

value of their brand and image in the future of next 5-7 years.

Methods of analysis include the use of analytical business models as SWOT,

Porter's Five Forces, McKinsey 7S to have a specific look for internal

capabilities of TBI as well as apply PESTEL to assess factors affecting

from the external environment. Then by using TOWS model, the report

proposes some recommendation for business strategies of TBI (e.g. how to

maximize the company' strengths to take advantage of their opportunities).

Results of data analyzed show that TBI can face the most with the impact

from the changes of technology in the present time as also in near future,

when more and more customers are moving towards the digital products.

Nonetheless, the report also indicates that TBI, with their unique

distribution model, accompanied by the distinct brand values, along with an

excellent leadership team would have the solution even for the worst case

scenario to their business. The general conclusion is that the current

situation of the company has no bad sign but their financial issues need to

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be considered further when most the funding of TBI depends mainly from the

external sources' contribution.

The report also investigates the fact that the analysis conducted has

limitations. All data and information were searching from the Internet and

analysis has mainly been focused on the financial statement of the

business; therefore, the report may not avoid some shortcomings as well as

the subjective perspectives. In addition, the most recent information in

the present time has not been announced and the predictions of the TBI's

business in the future are based on past performance.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXCUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................1

OVERVIEW OF THE BIG ISSUE FOUNDATION....................................3

QUESTION 1..............................................................4

INTERNAL STRENGTHS/ CAPABILITIES...................................4

Internal Micro Analysis........................................4

SWOT Analysis...........................................4

Internal Macro Analysis........................................5

Porter’s Five Force.........................................5

MCKinsey 7S.............................................1

EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS......................................2

PESTEL Analysis....................................................2

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ORGANIZATION CHART OF THE BIG ISSUE................................3

TOWS MODEL & STRATEGIC SUGGESTIONS.................................4

QUESTION 2..............................................................6

CORPORATE STRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE.................................6

FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION..............................................7

QUESTION 3..............................................................9

Stakeholder mapping...........................................10

CONCLUSION.............................................................12

REFERENCE LIST.........................................................13

APPENDICES.............................................................14

THE BIG ISSUE..........................................................14

BACKGROUND....................................................14

SOME ANALYSIS.................................................15

OVERVIEW OF THE BIG ISSUE FOUNDATION

As a street newspaper and magazine which been published around nine

countries, The Big Issue Foundation is currently one of the UK’s leading

social businesses and exist to support homeless people the chance to earn a

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steady wage (become vendors) and engage themselves back into mainstream

society.

TBI is also well-known as a non-profit and charity organization that

dependent upon government grants and public donations with 5 localized

editions of the magazine sold throughout the UK by their vendors.

According to the official website of TBI (2014), some main information and

highlight point of TBI Foundation in the UK can be illustrated as below:

Figure 1. Basic Facts about TBI (Big Issue, 2014a)

More details about the background of the company can be found in the

Appendices.

QUESTION 1Consider the internal strengths/capabilities and the external environment of the organization

and then draw a schematic of the organization’s operations. What suggestions about which

business areas would you make to the Board regarding the strategy of the “Big Issue

Foundation” using the TOWS model?

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INTERNAL STRENGTHS/ CAPABILITIESBased on research, this section of the report applies three frameworks,

SWOT analysis, Porter's Five Forces and McKinsey 7S to identify the

internal strengths and capabilities of TBI.

Internal Micro Analysis

SWOT Analysis

STRENGTH WEAKNESSES Cheap and important labor force

Unique brand image and method

of delivery

“Charity purpose” – Certified

charity status

Social change status UK

Present on four continents

Award and trust

Unique selling Proposition

Socially responsible by

providing the homeless with a

stable job

Good reputation

No control over workers

(unpredictable)

Not fully sustainable

Vendors nationally, lack of

trust

Mostly immigrants vendors

(Stereotypes)

Price and youth targeted

(Cheaper options)

Low brand loyalty

Low brand awareness

Weak presence

Reputation based on reputation

of homeless population

OPPORTUNITIES THREAT Increase in homelessness +

vendors + sales

Increasing number of social

enterprises

Studies on social

entrepreneurship (up)

Increasing number of events,

Decrease in the disposable

income

Free magazine

Online news service, technology

Effect of economic climate on

donations

Legislation on immigrants

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competitions

Further expansion into

international markets

Government & Taxes/ National

spending cuts

Work permit

Natural disasters

Rising critics

Threat of Substitution and New

Entries

Internal Macro Analysis

Porter’s Five Force

According to Morrison (2011),

Porter’s approach to firm

strategy concentrates on the

competitive forces.

ActingForce

Description Level

Supplie

r Power

As a big company, TBI, however, only had printed around

125,000 (data in 2011) copies per week as quietly having

a level of circulation lower than competitors. In fact,

The Big Issue is working for a special and different

orientation as suppliers would want to stay with them

Mediu

m -

Low

Buyer

Power

The competitive level of market is quite high because

technology is giving the customers a wide range of

similar product as more attractive and cheap

High

CompetitiDirec

t

TBI offers the distinct values with a unique

distribution system. However, their product is

not completely different than others in whole High

Key players

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ve

Rivalry

general market

Indir

ect

Technology changes the forms of communication,

such as TV, the Internet and the explosion of

digital media or social network (e.g. Facebook or

Twitter community) in recent years

Threat of

Substitut

ion

The dependence of consumer in technology has led to a

high threat of substitution for TBI. Currently, mobile

devices, tablet and Internet applications are almost

tied to the consumer lives. In addition, people now also

tend to build a more friendly environment by avoiding

wasting the use of resources. Publications such as

magazines, newspapers which are made of paper are

significantly reduced and people prefer to seek for news

and information via TV, Internet and so forth

Very

High

Threat of

New

Entries

The capital to participate in this market can be at a

modest level and the level of expertise is not also too

demanding. Thus, the new companies may also potentially

involved in the market, but with the rapid development

of technology as the replacement of the digital era, the

future profit of the industry is limited

Mediu

m

MCKinsey 7S

Shared

Values

StructureCEO

Board of TrusteesVendors

VolunteersSystemUnique

Involves all

member

StyleDemocrati

cStaff2000

vendors across UK

SkillsExperienc

ePassion

StrategyMarket

development

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Strate

gy

Differentiation. Competitive advantage is the social aspect of the

TBI magazines. TBI's market develops through their vendors, as

homeless people who are in trouble. TBI make a difference by

positioning as a non-profit organization

Struct

ure

The Big Issue Company, The Big Issue Foundation, The Big Issue

Magazine | CEO, Chairman and Board of Trustees, Vendors and

Volunteers

System

s

Writers and journalists of TBI always worked steadily for the next

issue of the magazine to be published weekly. Vendors are,

somewhat, more freedom in activities, but they often tend to come

over the streets and try to sell the most magazines to increase

revenue, while also increasing the circulation of buy-sell (Circle

system based on self- help)

Shared

Value

The organization's members are actively involved in the protection

of the common values and common goal (i.e. social, people,

professionalism and quality)

StyleThe motto of TBI's leadership is simply to give a direct guidance

to their vendors from the beginning and always give more support

if necessary. This is a unique approach that combines business

management and philanthropyStaff Vendors, volunteers (for the distribution) and professional

writers, editors, journalism

Shared

Values

StructureCEO

Board of TrusteesVendors

VolunteersSystemUnique

Involves all

member

StyleDemocrati

cStaff2000

vendors across UK

SkillsExperienc

ePassion

StrategyMarket

development

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Skills Because of the unique type of distribution, vendors work to feed

themselves and TBI does not require any special skills from them,

only focusing on spiritual and passionate, or having a sense of

responsibility. In contrast, other internal staff (i.e. writers,

editors) are highly demanding and rigorous professional skills

EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS

PESTEL Analysis

Political

Fits with national values

Government policies on homelessness

International, national, regional and local policies

European Publishers urge Google challenge

OFT (Office of Fair Trading) Decides Against Further

Investigation Into Newspaper and Magazine Distribution

New Press Regulator to Be Established

Economical

GDP, Gini Index

Rise in Unemployment/ Homelessness

Decrease in disposable Income (Recession period)

New Statistics Show No Double-Dip Recession But Economy

Still Flat-Lining

Social-

Cultural

Social-Cultural difference/ Change in people’s lifestyle,

addiction and needs

People are becoming financially careful

Different ethnic makeups

Stigma/ Higher level of education in the population

Perception/ Society is becoming more aware about social

concerns

Digital editions are more appeal to audiences High Internet usage

Rise in technology and innovation as the development of

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Technologi

cal

digital edition

Speed of delivery

Environmen

tal

Printing with environmental awareness

Few percentage of recycled paper used/ Street cleaning

Weather conditions (e.g. rain, temperatures, disaster and

so forth)

Legal Taxation/ Tax free

Media restrictions

Proving homelessness

ORGANIZATION CHART OF THE BIG ISSUE

According to the official website (Big Issue, 2014b), figure 2 illustrates

the current organizational chart of TBI:

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Figure 2. Organizational chart of TBI (Big Issue, 2014b)

In the case of The Big Issue, CEO is the true leader and the Chairman and

Board of Trustees simply oversees the Board. However, the number of board

members can fully show that the strategic decision of the company depends

on the responsibilities and duties of many people.

The Big Issue Foundation

Board of

Trustees

FounderJohn Bird

ChairmanSteve Round

Trustees

Eric Barnett

Harry McAdoo

Gisele Ryan

Carolyn Aitchison

Alison J Newman

Parveen BirdFounder's wife

Patrick Foster

Heidi Stewart

TreasurerJonathan Lachmann

CEOStephen Robertson

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TOWS MODEL & STRATEGIC SUGGESTIONS

Based on SWOT analysis above, using TOWS model is to emphasize the external

environment at a practical level as supporting to identify the suggestions

that the company should apply.

External Opportunities (O)

Increase in homelessness + vendors + sales

Increasing numberof social enterprises

Studies on socialentrepreneurship (up)

Increasing numberof events, competitions

Further expansioninto international markets

External Threats (T) Decrease in the

disposable income Free magazine Online news service,

technology Relate on donations Economic crisis Legislation on

immigrants Government & Taxes Work permit Natural disasters Rising critics Threat of Substitution

& New Entries

Internal Strengths (S)

Cheap labor force

Unique brand image and methodof delivery

Certified charity status

Present on four continents

Award and trust Socially

responsible Good reputation

With the high sociallyresponsible of peoplein current time, therewill be potentiallythe most successfulstrategy by utilizingthe numerous humanresources around the

world to takeadvantage of

opportunities in theglobal market

Promote brand image towardsmonopoly. Increasecredibility through

organizing social campaign(e.g. give speeches, do PR).

Maximize the potentialbenefits from the vendors

and build strong reputation.The economic crisis will

raise unemployment but lookon bright side, it extendsthe number of workforce

Maxi-Maxi Strategy Maxi-Mini Strategy

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Internal Weaknesses(W)

No control over workers

Not fully sustainable

Vendors nationally, lackof trust

Mostly immigrants vendors (Stereotypes)

Price and youth targeted

Low brand loyalty/ awareness

Reputation basedon reputation ofhomeless population

Strengths could beweaknesses sometimes.

With a number ofvendors are still

developing, areasonable strategy isto gather vendors insame area into groupswith some of them canbe leader of the team(i.e. has managers ineach group to givesupport, training,

experience as criticalawareness of the dutyto other members)

Minimize weaknesses bydeveloping management teamsto find flexible ways toovercome the potentialrisks. Concern about the

digital application duringthe current technology.Transform the risks and

weaknesses into theadvantage by emphasizing the

special values of TBI'sbrand in the market. Work in

Partnership with otherassociations to raise a

bigger budget and be able toimprove the magazine, expendin other markets and make

the brand known.Mini-Maxi Strategy Mini-Mini Strategy

TBI's main strategy is to create the image of a social and charitable

company, helping the homeless, jobless become their vendors and building a

unique distribution model. Because of large human resources which are

increasing worldwide at present, TBI requires the development in management

policies and manpower training to maximize their strength and should become

an exclusive brand to eliminate the threat of substitution or new entries.

Furthermore, TBI should also consider the current trend when technology

gradually affects in all areas of human life, especially the issues of

information transmission and communication as the core elements and values

of TBI's business model. As Mentioned in Keynote (2013), with the weakening

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of the economy, regular publications in the near future will be difficult

to compete with digital products (e.g. tablets, smartphones, e-readers...)

which are contributing to drive the market entirely.

On the other hand, TBI may also need to adjust their income stream while

the majority of their cash-flow mainly derived from external sources and

contributions such as personal, charitable organizations and businesses

(see Figure 3).

Figure 3. (Big Issue, 2014c)

QUESTION 2Evaluate the existing corporate structure and corporate governance of the “Big Issue

Foundation”. How should those two be adapted over the next 5-7 years, given your suggestions

in the previous question?

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CORPORATE STRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE

According to the Financial Statement of TBI last year (Big Issue, 2013),

Trustees of TBI serve for a three year period and may be re-elected

provided total service does not exceed nine years. New members are invited

to join the board by existing Trustees, Chairman, the senior management

team and the CEO.

Board of Trustees usually has quarterly meetings with the main objective is

to ensure to include a mix of skills and experience ranging from

homelessness as the homelessness service sector through to financial

management. A finance committee, comprising four trustees, meets every two

months and is charged with the responsibility of reviewing the charity’s

strategic plans, management accounts and performance against budget,

fundraising progress, and risk assessment. The committee prepares

recommendations and reports back to the Board of Trustees, who use the

information provided by the committee to make decisions.

With one subjective observations, the executive team and CEO of TBI are

involved in company operations as having a common purpose to support

society (i.e. solve social problems and aims to benefit the community). If

look at the thickness of operation and reputation of the company so far,

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the corporate structure and governance activities are still working very

effective.

Based on the description of the TBI Trustees on their official website

(2014b), all of nine members of the Board and the CEO had been taken the

key roles in many well-known companies. They all had strong experience in

many different business areas, especially the CEO and Chairman were

involved in many organizations of human rights or community and society

issues.

FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION

Based on the above analysis, as well as current results of TBI, the

corporate governance and structure of TBI in the next 5-7 years will remain

generally sustainable and there may be no change in their organization's

operating model. As mentioned in TBI's official website, it can be argued

that the CEO (Stephen Robertson) and Chairman (Steve Round) are currently

two most valuable assets of the company. Both of them has a strong

background and held executive positions for TBI during the past 7 years. In

addition, Stephen had a special role at Shelter (a.k.a. UK's biggest

housing and homelessness charity) for a position of Director of Commercial

Operations for 13 years before becoming CEO of TBI. Therefore, with

suggestions for strategies listed above, it may be believed that the years

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of service of Stephen will still play a major role in the success of the

TBI as long as he stays with the firm.

The main objective of TBI is to build the image of a non-profit

organization and they are still doing really well in this time. Through

their website (Big Issue, 2014), it can be seen that the policy of human

resource training are already deployed as much but not quite clear about

having a leadership and team for the vendors as suggested above for TBI's

strategy.

As mentioned in TBI’s financial report (2013), TBI is also instigating

partnership with other service providers. This eliminates duplication and

competition amongst the large number of homelessness agencies and is,

therefore, a much more efficient use of resources as also can be more

beneficial from public offering.

In next 5-7 years, the biggest issue for corporate governance and

leadership team of TBI is probably to face the technological change in

human life nowadays. Hence, TBI may have to think of converting some of

their core element in the production stage to keep up with demand of the

overall market. As mentioned in Keynote (2013), with forecasts of a slow

recovery of the economy in the next 5 years, the main growth of the

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magazine industry will gradually oriented to digital magazine

subscriptions. Nevertheless, the risk from the threat of new entries will

probably be minimized if TBI continues to promote and maintain their brand

differentiation by a unique pattern of distribution.

Global expansion has its implication on corporate governance when TBI is

now active on all 4 continents with 9 countries. With the orientation and

individual values, TBI will definitely be flexible to have the solutions to

the effects of political, economic, or social and beyond in every country.

Adding to this point, number of vendors is still developing and if look at

the most recent data for how TBI's vendors have achieved in March 2014 (see

Figure 4), the future scenario reveals a positive view in many ways. Next

5-7 years, if the brand awareness of the company still keeps growing, TBI

can be expected to continue expanding into few countries, especially

countries with high unemployment and homeless people.

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Figure 4. (Big Issue, 2014e)

QUESTION 3How likely is it that the strategic decision makers of this organization would adopt the options

which you have arrived at analytically?

Most of the options given above have been considered and implemented by TBI

somehow. Looking at the financial statements of TBI in 2013 as also at the

results and situation of the company in present, it is difficult to concern

that TBI is facing difficulties. However, the risk tends to be hidden and

when bad things happen, it was usually too late. The most notable problem

is probably the influence of technology as the risk of substitution from

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digital publications which will be strong and direct impact on the core

products of TBI. According to The Guardian (2012), TBI has started to

deploy to develop digital products via the access card, with price similar

to traditional hard-copy magazine from their vendors to customers. As also

mentioned in BBC News (2013), CEO of TBI, Stephen Robertson, has encouraged

the vendors on using smartphones to offer TBI’s customers the choice to pay

by credit or debit card.

Emphasized from the above analysis, by following the direction of two core

factors, as the CEO and Chairman, TBI must already been flexible and have

taken into account the worst case scenario from technological influences to

face future. From the subjective observations, it is evident that the

leaders of TBI are the good listener and being flexible in changing

strategy as knowing how to catch up the current trends.

The unique distribution model which is based on the vendors is TBI's core

internal strength that may not be changed, TBI obviously know what their

business is doing. Although the TBI founder, John Bird, did not deny once

in The Telegraph (2012) that to sell The Big Issue magazine is not a proper

job for the homeless, he also explained that by becoming a vendor, homeless

people have been supported to keep moving on. TBI gives their vendors

another chance to respect their life and themselves. In brief, a non-profit

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organization geared towards charity and community benefits will probably

always stand for all time.

Which stakeholders might inhibit them from adopting these options and how could the

decision makers resolve such conflicts?

Stakeholder mappingRather than the typical quadrants, this adapted version below illustrates

the relationship between power and interest of TBI:

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From all above analysis, TBI, as a non-profit organization, will be

considered to encounter the conflicts for making strategic decisions with

the six main stakeholders:

External stakeholders Internal StakeholdersGovernment

Charitable Firms

Public (Charity Fund Raising)

Partners (e.g. TSELF)

Customers

Vendors

As based on data from the investments of TBI to the present time (2014),

BII (Big Issue Invest) has invested over £ 25.5m in more than 310

organizations, directly benefiting 1.8m people and created 3,200 jobs.

Adding to this point, it has been mentioned in TBI's financial statements

(2013) that TBI Board has complied with the duty in Section 17 of the

Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s general

guidance on benefit which will be a key element to resolve the conflict

from their external stakeholders..

Moreover, TBI leaders should also consider more on promoting CSR that will

contribute to enhance and protect their business confidence in the

remaining stakeholders. For instance, develop more in some campaign for

human resource management by organizing training sessions for TBI's

vendors.

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In brief, if conflicts that may occur, the decision makers of TBI will just

need to focus on maintaining their valuable brand of the current time as

also remain committed to pursuing TBI's mission to protect the message that

they convey to the stakeholders. If necessary, TBI can always be ready for

a little change in the structure of their operation for the mutations of

technology on their business in the near future.

CONCLUSION

Overall, the report has fulfilled the requirements and issues posed. By

using the appropriate analytical models, first part of the report gave a

general outline on the internal capabilities and strengths of TBI as well

as the impact of external factors on the operating environment of the

business. Based on that, Tows model was applied to point out some strategic

suggestion that organization need to look to in the near future.

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The evaluation of corporate governance and structure showed that two key

factors of TBI is the CEO and Chairman who have extensive experience and

being recognized for their competence and proficiency. This partly

confirmed that in the next 5-7 years, TBI will continue to perform well.

The report provided recommendations that TBI will need to have a unified

objective to increase revenues and capital for funding their multiple

charity projects as also being consonance by responding to the change of

technology (digitalization). Additionally, TBI should also continue to

promote the advantages of the excellent long-lasting relationships with

their current vendors and new vendors in near future as well as their

alliances and partnerships who will support them for the additional capital

need and greater exposure of services.

Finally, the stakeholders might inhibit the strategic decision makers of

TBI from adopting the suggestions above, but the report has also indicated

that TBI will cope very well with the contradictions and conflicts.

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REFERENCE LIST

BBC News (2013) ‘Big Issue seller first to take card payment’, 4th December2013 [Online]. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25202904[Accessed: 8th August 2014]

Big Issue (2013) Financial Statements for the year ending 31 March 2013[Online]. Available at:http://www.bigissue.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/2013_signed_accts.pdf [Accessed: 8th August 2014]

Big Issue (2014a) BASIC FACTS ABOUT US [Online]. Available at:http://www.bigissue.org.uk/about-us/basic-facts-about-us [Accessed: 8th

August 2014]

Big Issue (2014b) WHO’S WHO [Online]. Available at:http://www.bigissue.org.uk/about-us/whos-who [Accessed: 8th August 2014]

Big Issue (2014c) FINANCIAL STATEMENTS [Online]. Available at:http://www.bigissue.org.uk/about-us/financial-statements [Accessed: 8th

August 2014]

Big Issue (2014d) SERVICE HIGHLIGHTS [Online]. Available at:http://www.bigissue.org.uk/about-us/service-highlights [Accessed: 8th

August 2014]

Big Issue (2014e) HISTORY AND ACHIEVEMENTS [Online]. Available at:http://www.bigissue.org.uk/about-us/history-and-achievements [Accessed: 8th

August 2014]

Big Issue Invest (2014) Official Website [Online]. Available at:http://bigissueinvest.com/ [Accessed: 8th August 2014]

Clegg, S., Carter, C., Kornberger, M. & Schweitzer, J. (2011) Strategy Theory& Practice. London: Sage

Clegg, SR. and Hardy, S. (2005) ‘Studying organization: theory andpractice. London: Sage

Dailymail (2013) ‘Big Issue, from street to the City: Homeless magazinebranches into fund management in bid to raise £250m’, 5th August 2013[Online]. Available at:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2385152/The-Big-Issue-Homeless-

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magazine-branches-fund-management-bid-raise-250m.html [Accessed: 8th August2014]

Keynote (2013) Lifestyle Magazines Market Update 2013 [Online]. Availableat: http://www.keynote.co.uk/market-intelligence/view/product/10830/lifestyle-magazines [Accessed:8th August 2014]

Morrison, J. (2011) The Global Business environment – Meeting the Challenges. 3rd edn.Palgrave Macmillan.

Sourcewatch (2014) Big Issue Foundation [Online]. Available at:http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ Big_Issue_Foundation [Accessed: 8th

August 2014]

Telegraph (2012) ‘Selling the Big Issue is not a proper job’, 18th January2012 [Online]. Available at:http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100130664/selling-the-big-issue-is-not-a-proper-job/ [Accessed: 8th August 2014]

The Guardian (2012) ‘Big Issue magazine goes digital’, 25th October 2012[Online]. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2012/oct/25/the-big-issue-digital-media[Accessed: 8th August 2014]

APPENDICES

THE BIG ISSUE BACKGROUND

Social enterprise

Allows the homeless to earn a steady wage, engage

themselves back into society

Dependent upon government grants and public donations

Founder: John Bird (Editor inChief) and Gordon Roddick

Type: Fortnightly independentmagazine, non-for-profit socialenterprise

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Industry: Entertainment

Founded: September 1991

Headquarters: London, UK

Founded: September 1991

Countries served: UK, The Republic ofIreland, Australia, Japan, South

Africa, South Korea, Namibia,Kenya, Taiwan, Malawi

Publisher: John Hunt

Category: street newspaper/Frequency: Weekly

Website: http://www.bigissue.org.uk/

Employees in UK (2014): approximate 2,000 vendors (including 500 in London)

Competitors: Telegraphs, The Guardian, Independent, The Economist, street

news.. etc..

Target audience: “a culturally engaged, socially aware audience – the

ultimate consumers with a conscience” (The Big Issue in the North, 2010).

The politically, social-engaged middle-class and students of Britain (The

Bubble, 2012)

Source of Income: Sales Magazine and Advertising – Re-invested in the

company or donated to The Big Issue Foundation

Additional Information: an award-winning entertainment and current affairs

magazine, the magazine covers arts entertainment, current affairs,

lifestyle, news and opinion

Current strategy: Help homeless get back into mainstream society, consolidate

it’s market share, product and market development, establish and maintain

relationships with long term donors (Freeriks, 2011)

Core competences: well established brand name, own printing facility, good

relations with journalists and knowledge of homeless, good links for

corporate donations

Slogan: “Helping people help themselves”

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Mission statement: “Our mission is to connect vendors with the vital support

and solutions that enabled them to rebuild their lives; to find their own

path in their personal journey away from homelessness”.

Objectives - Delivery mission: vendor-centric + Inclusive + non-judgmental

Source: Schmidhauser, T. (2013) [Online]. Available at:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/ppt-download/thebigissuemagazine finalreport-

130524103456-phpapp01.pdf

The Big Issue in the North (2010) [Online]. Available at:

http://www.bigissueinthenorth.com/advertise

The Bubble (2012) [Online]. Available at:

http://www.thebubble.org.uk/causes/what-s-the-big-issue

Metro (2014) [Online]. Available at: http://metro.co.uk/2014/06/10/big-

issue-4754765/

Freeriks, M. (2011) [Online]. Available at:

http://prezi.com/syaeaimcnbrb/strategic-evaluation-of-cargill-and-the-big-

issue/

SOME ANALYSIS

It is easy to see that the mode of operation of TBI is mainly based on the

vendors to reach customers. Activity diagrams can be represented as shown

below:

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Other releavant data and information from TBI’s official website can be

given as following:

The Big Issue

Buy the magazine cheaper from TBI to

sellReceive support in: housing, finance, health, future

planningOwn mini-enterprise

VendorsCorporate Donations

GrantsGoverment fundingCharitable Trusts

The Big Foundation

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1

Newest data of last month:

Source:

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Big Issue (2014) [Online]. Available at: http://www.bigissue.org.uk/