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What do businesses actually try to achieve, and how do their goals change as they grow?

Business aims and objectives: financial and non-financial aims (survival, profit, growth, market share, social and ethical aims), why objectives differ between businesses, and how objectives change over time.

A focused answer to the Eduqas GCSE Business C510 content on aims and objectives, covering financial aims (survival, profit, growth, market share) and non-financial aims (independence, social and ethical goals), why they differ, and how they change over time.

Generated by Claude Opus 4.811 min answerUpdated 2026-06-02

Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed

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Quick answer

An aim is a long-term goal a business is working towards; an objective is a specific, measurable target that helps it reach that aim. Financial aims include survival (staying in business), profit (the surplus of revenue over costs), growth (getting bigger), and market share (the percentage of total sales in a market that the business holds). Non-financial aims include independence, personal satisfaction, providing a good or ethical product, social aims (helping a community or cause) and environmental aims (reducing harm). Objectives differ between businesses because of their size, age, sector, owner's values and the state of the market: a new business usually prioritises survival, while an established one chases profit, growth and market share. Objectives change over time as a business moves from start-up to maturity, and as the economy, competitors and customer tastes change. Good objectives are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) so progress can be measured.

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What this topic is asking
Aims versus objectives
Financial aims
Non-financial aims
Why objectives differ
How objectives change over time
Try this

What this topic is asking

Eduqas C510 wants you to distinguish aims (the long-term goals a business is working towards) from objectives (the specific, measurable targets that get it there), to know the main financial and non-financial aims, to explain why objectives differ between businesses, and to show how objectives change over time. The exam often gives a business at a particular stage and asks you to judge what its priorities should be.

Aims versus objectives

Objectives turn a broad aim into something you can plan for and measure. Good objectives are often described as SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.

Financial aims

Non-financial aims

Not every business is driven only by money.

Why objectives differ

Two businesses in the same town can have very different objectives because of:

Size and age: a start-up prioritises survival; a large established firm chases growth and market share.
Sector: a charity has social objectives; a plc faces shareholder pressure for profit and dividends.
The owner's values: an owner who cares about the environment builds that into the objectives.
The market and economy: in a downturn even a profitable firm may fall back on survival.

How objectives change over time

Objectives are not fixed. A typical path is:

Start-up: survival, getting known, building a customer base.
Establishing: making a steady profit and covering costs reliably.
Growth: opening more outlets, raising market share, expanding the range.
Maturity: defending market share, improving efficiency, and often adding social or environmental aims.

External shocks (a recession, a new competitor, a change in tastes) can force a business to revise its objectives at any stage, which is part of the dynamic nature of business.

Using market share to judge an objective

Set out the figures

A juice brand sells $600{,}000$ bottles a year in a market where total sales are $4{,}000{,}000$ bottles a year. It sets an objective to reach a $20\%$ market share within two years.

Current market share

\text{Market share} = \frac{600{,}000}{4{,}000{,}000} \times 100 = 15\%.

Bottles needed for a 20% share (assuming the market stays the same size)

\text{Bottles for } 20\% = 0.20 \times 4{,}000{,}000 = 800{,}000.

The increase required

\text{Extra bottles} = 800{,}000 - 600{,}000 = 200{,}000, \quad \text{a rise of } \frac{200{,}000}{600{,}000} \times 100 \approx 33\%.

Interpret the result

The brand currently holds a $15\%$ share. To hit its $20\%$ objective it must sell $800{,}000$ bottles, an extra $200{,}000$ , which is a rise of about a third on its current sales. That tells the business whether the objective is realistic (is a $33\%$ sales rise achievable in two years?) and what marketing spend it implies. Expressing an aim as a measurable market-share objective is exactly what makes it SMART and lets the business track progress.

Try this

Q1. State two financial aims a business might have. [2 marks]

Cue. Survival, profit, growth, market share, maximising revenue.

Q2. A business sells $90{,}000$ units in a market of $600{,}000$ units. Calculate its market share. [2 marks]

Cue. $\frac{90{,}000}{600{,}000} \times 100 = 15\%$ .

Exam-style practice questions

Practice questions written in the style of WJEC Eduqas exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.

Eduqas 20182 marksState two non-financial aims a business might have. (Component 1)

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A 2-mark AO1 recall question, one mark per valid aim. Acceptable non-financial aims include: independence (being your own boss), personal satisfaction, providing a good or ethical service, social aims (helping a community or cause), environmental aims (reducing harm), customer satisfaction, and improving the welfare of staff. Markers want aims that are clearly not about money; "making a profit" or "growing sales" are financial aims and would not score here.

Eduqas 20226 marksA new bakery has 'survival' as its main objective in its first year. Explain why survival is the priority for a new business, and analyse how its objectives might change once it is established. (Component 2)

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A 6-mark question pairing explanation with analysis applied to the bakery. Why survival comes first: a new business has low brand awareness, an uncertain customer base and limited cash reserves, so in the early months simply staying open (covering costs and not running out of cash) matters more than profit; many businesses fail in their first year, so survival is realistic. How objectives change (chained): once the bakery is established with regular customers and steady cash flow, it can shift to making a profit, then to growth (a second shop or wholesale orders) and to increasing market share to compete with rivals. As it grows it may add non-financial aims such as ethical sourcing or improving staff welfare. The chain to credit is that early survival creates the stability that later, more ambitious objectives depend on. Markers reward a clear reason for the survival priority plus a developed sequence of how the bakery's objectives evolve.

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Sources & how we know this

WJEC Eduqas GCSE Business specification (C510) — WJEC Eduqas (2017)