Brief context

This answer is based on my employer, Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania). Sanlam General
Insurance (Tanzania) is a Tanzanian based insurer. Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania)
Limited is a subsidiary of the South African-based Sanlam financial services group. The core
activities of Sanlam Life Insurance Limited (Sanlam Life) include long-term insurance,
investment management and other related financial services activities. Sanlam Life is a
public company incorporated in terms of the Companies Act No 71 of 2008, as amended, in
South Africa(Sanlam.com, 2021).

Established in 2005 as the first specialist life insurer in Tanzania, Sanlam Life Insurance has
grown to become the no.1 life insurer holding a 70% market share of corporate business and an
overall 52% market share of life insurance business in Tanzania. We are also the leading
insurer by profititability among all 28 insurance companies in Tanzania, and cover more than
3,000,000 lives. Our six branches service clients throughout the country, in Dar es Salaam,
Mwanza, Arusha, Unguja (Zanzibar), Pemba and Mbeya (Sanlam.com, 2021)

Sanlam general insurance is located in Dar Es Salaam , Tanzania and is part of the Insurance
Carriers Industry. Sanlam general insurance has 20 total employees across all of its locations
and generates $3.80 million in sales (USD) ( Dun & Bradstreet, Inc.2021)

Explain briefly, three significant business objectives.

A business objective, in short, is what a company wants to achieve throughout the year. Many
times, business objectives are spelled out in a business plan and used as part of the strategic
planning process of a company going forward. The thing about objectives is that they're
measurable, specific, and tactical. Business objectives are a vital part of any business owner's
business plan. They are the life's blood of the business plan. They are the most important thing
a business owner can share with the company. They are a statement of specific, realistic,
measurable goals with a time component put on it that a company tries to adhere to. They serve
to aim the company towards the goals they are shooting for and hopefully let them attain them.
Business objectives can be broadly split into quantitative and qualitative(cio-wiki.org, 2021).

Businesses need to have objectives for the following reasons;

 Employees need something to work towards. Objectives help to motivate people. For
example, sales staff might get bonuses if they reach certain sales targets.
  Without objectives owners might not have the motivation needed to keep the business
going. Owners might lose grip and allow their business to ‘drift’. This might result in
business failure.
 Objectives help to decide where to take a business and what steps are necessary to get
there. For example, if a business aims to grow by 10 per cent, it might decide that
launching products overseas might be the best way to achieve this.
 It is easier to assess the performance of a business if objectives are set. If objectives
are achieved it could be argued that the business has performed well.

Three significant business objectives
The three business objectives of Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited are classified
as; Economic Objectives, Social Objectives, and Human Objectives.
a) Economic Objectives
Economic objectives of Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited refer to the objective of
earning profit and also other objectives that are necessary to be pursued to achieve the profit
objective, which include, creation of customers, regular innovations and best possible use of
available resources.
 Profit earning
Profit is the lifeblood of Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited, without which it cannot
survive in a competitive market. Infact profit making its primary objective for which it was
brought into existence. Profits must be earned to ensure its survival, its growth and expansion
over time. Profits helps Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited not only to earn but also
to expand its business activities by reinvesting a part of the profits. In order to achieve this
primary objective, certain other objectives are also necessary to be pursued by Sanlam General
Insurance (Tanzania) Limited, which are as follows:
i. Creation of customers; Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited cannot survive
unless there are customers to buy the products and services. Again Sanlam General
Insurance (Tanzania) Limited can earn profits only when they provides quality goods and
services at a reasonable price. For this it needs to attract more customers for its existing
as well as new products. This is always achieved with the help of various marketing
activities.
ii. Regular innovations; At Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited, innovation
means changes, which bring about improvement in products, process of production and
distribution of goods. Through innovation, Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited
 is able to reduce costs by adopting better methods of production and also increase their
sales by attracting more customers because of improved products. Reduction in cost
and increase in sales gives more profit to Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited.
iii. Best possible use of resources; For Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited to
run there is need for sufficient capital or funds. The amount of capital may be used to
buy machinery, raw materials, employ staff and have cash to meet day-to-day expenses.
Thus, business activities require various resources like staff, materials, money and
machines. The availability of these resources is usually limited. Thus, Sanlam General
Insurance (Tanzania) limited aims to try to make the best possible use of these
resources.

b) Social Objectives
Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited’s social objectives are those objectives which
are desired to be achieved for the benefit of the society. Since Sanlam General Insurance
(Tanzania) Limited operates in a society by utilizing its scarce resources, the society expects
something in return for its welfare. No activity of Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited
should be aimed at giving any kind of trouble to the society. If Sanlam General Insurance
(Tanzania) Limited’s activities lead to socially harmful effects, there is bound to be public
reaction against the Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited sooner or later. Social
objectives of Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited include production and supply of
quality goods and services, adoption of fair trade practices and contribution to the general
welfare of society and provision of welfare amenities.

 Production and supply of quality goods and services

Since Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited utilizes the various resources of the
society, the society expects to get quality goods and services from Sanlam General Insurance
(Tanzania) Limited. The objective of Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited is to
produce better quality goods and supply them at the right time and at a right price. It is not
desirable on the part of Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited to supply adulterated or
inferior goods which cause injuries to the customers. They should charge the price according to
the quality of the goods and services provided to the society. Again, the customers also expect
timely supply of all their requirements. So it is important for Sanlam General Insurance
(Tanzania) Limited to supply those goods and services on a regular basis.
  Adoption of fair trade practices
In every society, activities such as hoarding, black-marketing and over-charging are considered
undesirable. Besides, misleading advertisements often give a false impression about the quality
of products. Such advertisements deceive the customers and some companies use them for
the sake of making large profits. This is an unfair trade practice. The Sanlam General Insurance
(Tanzania) Limited aims not create artificial scarcity of essential goods or raise prices for the
sake of earning more profits since all these activities earn a bad name and sometimes make the
business liable for penalty and even imprisonment under the law. Therefore, the objective of
Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited is to adopt fair trade practices for the welfare of
the consumers as well as the society.

 Contribution to the general welfare of the society

Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited aims to work for the general welfare and
upliftment of the society through it different services.

c) Human Objectives
At Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited human objectives refer to the objectives
aimed at the well-being as well as fulfillment of expectations of employees as also of people
who are disabled, handicapped and deprived of proper education and training. The human
objectives of Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited thus include economic well-being
of the employees, social and psychological satisfaction of employees and development of
human resources.

 Economic well being of the employees

Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited, one of the aims is to provide employees
must be provide with fair remuneration and incentives for performance, benefits of provident
fund, pension and other amenities like medical facilities, housing facilities etc. By this they feel
more satisfied at work and contribute more for Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited.
.
 Social and psychological satisfaction of employees
Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited aims to provide social and psychological
satisfaction to their employees. This is possible by making the job interesting and challenging,
putting the right person in the right job and reducing the monotony of work. Opportunities for
promotion and advancement in career are also provided to the employees. Further, grievances
of employees are given prompt attention and their suggestions are considered seriously when
decisions are made. If employees are happy and satisfied they can put theirbest efforts in work
at Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited.

 Development of human resources

Employees as human beings always want to grow. Their growth requires proper training as well
as development. Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited can prosper if the people
employed can improve their skills and develop their abilities and competencies in course of
time. Thus, it is important and Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited aims at arranging
training and development programmes for its employees.

 Well being of socially and economically backward people

Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited is inseparable parts of society so it aims at
helping backward classes and also people who are physically and mentally challenged. This will
be done in many ways. For instance, vocational training programme will be arranged to improve
the earning capacity of backward/ poor people in the community. While recruiting its staff,
Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited gives preference to physically and mentally
challenged persons. Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited also strives to help and
encourage meritorious students by awarding scholarships for higher studies.

Analyse the extent to which the use of labour, as an economic resource, contributes to
the achievement of each of the objectives.
Through employing efficient workers at Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited,
machines are put to full use leading to production of more goods or services with the same
amount of resource, or produce the same level of goods and services with less resources. This
minimizes wastage of raw materials thus attaining the economic objective.

At Sanlam General Insurance (Tanzania) Limited, labour plays a key role in increasing
productivity which brings higher profit and opportunity for more investment and it also translates
to higher wages and better working conditions thus attaining human objectives.
employee goals is to ensure that their actions are contributing to the organisation's business
goals and objectives, even if that is simply improving aspects such as customer service or
response times.

• Recommend, based on your analysis, changes to the use of this economic resource that will
better achieve the business objectives.

REFERANCES
cio-wiki.org(2021), Business Objective. Retrieved on 30th of may 2021 from https://cio-
wiki.org/wiki/Business_Objective
Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. (2021). Sanlam General Insurance. Retrieved on 30th of may 2021 from
https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-
profiles.sanlam_general_insurance_.49a44cbb6f5c493f5a688944b608b168.html
sanlam.com (2021). About Sanlam Life Insurance. Retrieved on 30th of may 2021 from
https://www.sanlam.com/tanzania/about/Pages/life-insurance.aspx

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