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A Brief History of John Lewis.

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A Brief History of John Lewis Spedan Lewis who was the son of the founder John Lewis believed quite simply that it was unfair for either the private owners of a business, or shareholders who invested money in it, to have a greater claim on its prosperity than those who invested their time and labour. The democratic nature and profit sharing basis of the business were continually strengthened and were ultimately secured by two Settlements in trust in 1929 and 1950. These provided for distribution of profits among Partners, established a written constitution for the business and transferred all Spedan Lewis's rights of ownership to trustees. It is this that has made the John Lewis partnership what it is today. John Lewis is the biggest partnership in the whole of the Untied Kingdom In 1864 John Lewis started the partnership when he set up a drapers shop in oxford street, London, which developed into a full-scale department store. In 1905 he acquired the Peter Jones department store in Chelsea, where his son, Spedan Lewis, began an experiment in sharing power with his staff. He set up a staff council, a 'Committee for Communication' (in which non-management staff could raise day-to-day issues) and a house journal; and in 1920 he started sharing the profits the business made among the employees. ...read more.


It then means that companies will not be able to afford new staff, which then means there will be a high unemployment in the country. A partnership means more than one person owns the business and the owners have unlimited liability. A partnership requires a deed of partnership, which detail, who is part of the partnership, how members can join and leave the partnership, the duties of each partner and how the profits will be shared. The advantages of an partnership is that it is easy to set up, not a lot of capital is needed at the beginning, all the profit can be kept and shared around the partners and all the partners could bring a range of abilities. Partnerships are usually small business. This is what makes John Lewis unique, as they are a large firm that has branches all around the UK. But for them to claim that they are a partnership they have to follow certain rules that all partnership has to follow such as the deed of partnership. Which they do very successfully. Types of business ownership The sole trader A business is called a sole trader when: * There is only one owner * The owner has to make all the decisions * The owner has unlimited liability Advantages * Easy to set up ...read more.


A franchise needs: * A well known brand * A one off fee paid by franchisee to franchisor * Royalties paid to franchisor Advantages * Safer way of starting a business * Franchisor must provide training, to help with management and materials Disadvantages * Franchisee must follow rules set by franchisor * Franchisee cannot sell business without permission * Franchisee had to pay percentage of profit to franchisor * Franchisee will never own their business Cooperative A business is a cooperative when: * It is owned by the workers * The workers own the shares * Decisions are made by workers voting * All the workers are responsible for the business * All the workers are paid the same and receive the same share of profits Advantages * Less disagreement as workers are owners * Workers receive profits and so have more incentive Disadvantages * New workers need capital to invest in the business before they can begin work * Often pressure to sell successful cooperatives * Expansion needs new workers who can invest in the business * Difficult to get good managers if all workers are paid the same Business at Work E1 - 4 - October 02 ...read more.

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