Business and Business Environment assignment sample

• Introduction of Business and Business Environment

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The business world is becoming complex and different types of organisations had increased to a greater extent. In the assessment, the researcher would focus on explaining the types of organisations and the detail related to the interrelationship between organisational function and structure. Businesses are generally being classified on the basis of their ownership. In this report, the researcher would provide an overview of the private organisation, public organisation and voluntary organisation (Maloletko et. al. 2021). The report will also highlight the factors of international business environment which affects the overall growth and scope of company.

2.1 Background details of the selected organisation 1

National Health Service (NHS)

NHS is a public sector organisation that is owned by the government and is working for offering healthcare services to the citizens of the UK. These types of organisations run by the funds raised by the government through the taxes and the government use these taxes for offering high-quality healthcare service to the patients.

The products and services

NHS is offering healthcare services to all the citizens of the UK. The company is offering different healthcare services to the patients which include primary care services, hospital service, ambulance services and other health and social care services.

The size and scope of the organisation

NHS is a large-sized organisation which is having a large number of employees working for offering high-quality health and social care services to patients (Hamad, 2020). The scope of the company is to support the peoples by offering them better health and social care.

Vision, mission and business objectives

The mission of ASDA is to improve the health and well being of the citizens of the UK. The vision of the company for the upcoming years is to provide healthcare via technologies and increase the effectiveness of the care given by them (Young et. al. 2018).

The organisational and legal structure

NHS is having a hierarchical organisational structure. The company is a governmental entity and thus having a legal structure of a non-profit corporation.

Stakeholders

The stakeholder of NHS includes their patients, employees, healthcare organisation working for improving the healthcare at international level and the local government.

2.2 Background details of the selected organisation 2

Red Cross

The red cross is a charity organisation that is working for protecting life and health and ensuring equal respect for all human beings. These types of organisations are a non-profit organisation that works for the betterment of the society (Haverkamp et. al. 2018).

The products and services

Red Cross is working for offering social care services that include shelter, health and mental health, bulk distribution of the essential items which are required to meet the basic needs and food.

The size and scope of the organisation

Red Cross is a large-sized organisation that is working for offering care to the entire world and they are working with national societies in 186 nations and are having around 97 million volunteers.

Vision, mission and business objectives

The mission of the company is to offer assistance to the peoples without discrimination and working for the betterment of society and raising the living standard as well (Forsythe et. al. 2019).

The organisational and legal structure

Similar to the large firms Red Cross is also having a hierarchical organisational structure in which the board of trustees holds the maximum power. The company is having a legal structure as a non-profit corporation.

Stakeholders

The government authorities, society, volunteers, donors and board members are the important stakeholders of the company. 

• Background details of the selected organisation 3

ASDA

ASDA is a privately owned organisation which is a UK based operating in the international retail market. This organisation is working for generating higher profit and they are financed by the shareholders, investors and by the loan service providing firms also.

The products and services

This company is offering a wide range of products and deals in retailing of fruits, vegetables, clothes, furniture, toys, petrol, software, electronics. Along with this ASDA also offers internet services, telecom services and financial services.

The size and scope of the organisation

The company is a large-sized organisation which is having around 1,45,000 employees and is having supermarkets, hypermarkets, convenience stores and superstore in different nations. ASDA is having better scope to expand their business and deliver high-quality products to their customers.

Vision, mission and business objectives

The vision of ASDA is to be a highly values business for customers they serve, community in which they operate and developing loyalty for all the employees and stakeholders of the company. The mission of ASDA is that “save money, live better”. The objective is to grow their retail services in international business market.

The organisational and legal structure

The company is having a hierarchical and functional organisational structure and a well defined legal structure in which the roles and responsibilities of the top-level, middle level and lower-level employees are well distributed.

Stakeholders

The stakeholders of the company include their customers, employees, shareholders, owners, government authorities and the society in which they are operating. 

• An examination of the different business functions for one of the chosen organisations

The organisation are not an easy thing to manage they need to manage a lot of various task and functions related to the business operations. The different functions which are being required to be performed by them vary from firm to firm as they depend on diverse factors. ASDA is operating at an international level and due to this reason, they need to perform functions such as sales management, human resource management, operational management, production management, staffing, finance management and marketing (Gaganis et. al. 2019). ASDA needs to manage their functions at the international level and for this, they need to have an effective organisational structure.

• Organisational chart of the chosen organisation and an explanation of how the functions interrelate and advantages and disadvantages of how they relate

The company needs to perform and manage diverse business operations or functions and for this, the case organisation is having different departments. The organisational chart of ASDA explains regarding the roles of executives of different departments and the overall management aspects.

All the diverse business functions are interrelated with each other and for better functioning of the organisation, it is necessary that all the departments must do their tasks properly. For example, the human resource management department of company is having a function to manage various factors related to the management of the human resource. If his section is performing their function properly then only all the employee will work properly in their respective departments (D?wigo?, 2017). Similarly, the marketing department is responsible for doing effective marketing of the products and services offered by the company. If the marketing department of ASDA is using better strategies and effective marketing tools them it would affect their sales. It can be said that sales management branch is dependent on the marketing . From these examples, it can be said that the different department of the firms are interdependent on each other because diverse business functions are interrelated.

One of the advantages of having better interrelationship between different departments or organisational functions helps the management or executive manager in developing workplace environment. It includes better communication, cooperation and collaboration among departments so that team work is built. E,g, Better interconnectivity in the firm helps in improving the overall performance and delivering better services to the customers. In contrast to this one of the disadvantages of having greater interconnectivity among organisational functions and structure is that it increases interdependence (Su et. al. 2019). When the company is operating in a variety of markets and has a diversified product range then higher interdependence lead to inefficiency. Along with this level of competition among employees of department increases and this sometimes lead to conflict which is having a negative impact.

• Impact of the structure of the organisation

The organisational structure of company is having a significant impact on firm. It is important for the firm to focus on having effective structure for managing the employees in an appropriate manner. If the company is having a well defined organisational structure then it helps employees in understanding their roles and responsibilities in an effective manner. The case company needs to manage a lot of functions and for managing them effectively the firm is having a functional organisational structure. In this type of structure, different departments that are responsible for performing specific task or function to perform. The business functions are interrelated with each other. For this reason organisations needs to have better interconnectivity (Funminiyi, 2018). It can be said that structure of company needs to be effective as it is having a significant impact on the business functions and organisational performance as well.

Assessment Part 2

1.0 PESTLE analysis of the chosen organisation

This part of the assessment focuses on explaining the impact of the business environment on the organisation (Belás et. al. 2019). For explaining this researcher would conduct a business environment analysis for ASDA. In this report, the researcher would analyse both the micro and macro business environment and this impact on the decision making.

Pestle analysis is an effective model which is being used for analysing the influence of various factors of external business environment on company. This model focuses on factors such as political, economic , technological, social, environmental and legal factors (Perera, 2017). PESTLE analysis for ASDA is mentioned below such as:

Political Factors: political factors of country in which firm is operating is having a significant impact on business operations. ASDA is operating at international level and due to this reason, the political factors of different nations in which they are operating are affecting them. The trade policies, stability of the political environment and the tax rates are important political factors that are having the case company. The tax policies like corporate taxes, environmental taxes and others are having an impact on company and affect their growth For example, political instability due to Brexit had affected business operations of ASDA are affected to a greater extent because they are operating in different EU nations also and not they are facing issues in managing them (Adamyk, 2019).

Economic Factors: the economic factors of the company affects the overall sales of the company and lead and impact on their profitability. If the country is having better economic growth then it will support the firm as it would have an positive impact on the sales of the company. For example, the sustainable economic development of the UK supports the case company and helps them in generating better profits (Guo and Wang, 2019). GDP of the UK was $2.83 trillion in 2019. But in the present era due to the unstable economy because of COVID-19 crisis, the case company is facing issues such as decrease in the sales, restrictions due to lockdowns in all the markets in which they are operating. Along with this the exchange rates, unemployment rate and labour market conditions also affect the company.

Social Factors: the society to which company is serving their products and services affects them to a greater extent. Social factors such as customer buying patterns, customer preferences, social trends, income levels and advertisement influence affect the firms operating in it. The case company is facing issues related to the shifting preference of customer to buy the products online. For this, the company had started selling their products through online modes. Also with the increasing concern for environmental protection, the customers prefer to buy organic products. For this ASDA had launched organic product range so that they can go with trend. Income level is also an important factor for the company. For example in UK the population is having better income level and due to this reason they spend more money. This is having an impact on the sales of the company.

Technological Factors: with increasing technological advancement it is important for organisations to make use of latest technologies. The case company is focusing on being technologically advanced and for this, they are investing better capital in their R&D department. When company is using the latest technologies then it is important for them to receive better technological support from nations in which they are operating. For example, UK is a developed country and this supports the company alot. With better technological support, ASDA is using latest technologies such as Just in time in their inventory management, lean supply chain, Big data and digital marketing for making their marketing more effective (Sparks, 2019).

Legal Factors: legal rules and regulations made by government related to sales of the products and services offered by company are having higher influence on the companies. ASDA needs to follow the rules and regulations made by government related to employability, labour laws, intellectual property laws and the laws which are required to be followed by retailers (Ismail, 2017). The company needs to follow the rules made by different nations such as ISO standards, customer laws and many others. For example in UK ASDA needs to follow the food safety and hygiene regulations while offering the food items to their customers. It can be said that the legal factors of all the countries in which ASDA is operating are important for them. ASDA must follow all the rules for operating in an effective manner without facing any legal issue.

Environmental Factors: due to increasing pollution and environmental issues the concern for the protection of the environment had increased to a greater extent. ASDA is having a greater negative impact on environment due to its business operations. All the nations are having different environmental laws which are required to be followed by the case company. ASDA had developed effective strategies for reducing their carbon footprints and are working for reducing the usage of greenhouse gases and non-renewable sources of energy (Hashim et. al. 2021). The company is also working for introducing the concept of green marketing and green supply chain management.

2.1 SWOT analysis to the chosen organisation

The present report will focus on conducting a SWOT analysis of ASDA for analysing different factors of internal business environment. This analysis focuses on analysing internal factors which are affecting organisation such as strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities (Gürel and Tat, 2017). SWOT analysis of ASDA is described below such as:

Strengths:

• ASDA is having an effective market presence and market share are important strength of the company.
• The diversified product range of the company is also a strength as it offers them a competitive advantage over others (Fatricia, 2017).
• The technological advancement of ASDA is also an important strength that helps them in operating effectively and gaining an advantage over others.

Weakness:

• The low-cost strategy of ASDA is a weakness of the company as it is having a negative impact on the profitability of the firm because it reduces the profit margin of the company (Jonah, 2018).
• Poor performance of ASDA in some of the markets such as the US had affected reputation of the firm.
• Issues related to the financial errors in the firm can be considered as their weakness.

Opportunity:

• Due to its effective market position, the company is having a better opportunity to enter into a new market for doing business.
• In the present pandemic situation, the online shopping offered by ASDA is having a better opportunity to support them in doing business effectively (Rosnizam et. al. 2020). 
• The new discount stores of ASDA are also having a better opportunity as it is expected to help in generating higher profits and leading towards growth.

Threats:

• The competition faced by the ASDA from competitors such as Tesco, Sainsbury and other big retailers is a threat for them.
• The economic slowdown due to pandemic situation is a threat for company as it is affecting their sales.

2.2 Interrelationships in-between PESTLE| analysis and SWOT analysis

The factors of internal and external business environment are interrelated and are having an influence on one another. Both SWOT and PESTLE analysis are equally important as the firm can combine their diverse factors for developing better strategies. For example, economic factors of external business environment can be both strength and a threat for company. If the economic condition of the country favours company then it can become a strength for the firm but in contrast to this if the economic factors are creating issues and can become a threat for them.

It can be said that if organisation analysis strength and weaknesses effectively by using swot analysis then it can help the firm in managing the impact of external factors in an effective manner (Tsangas et. al. 2019). Along with this, factors of external business environment also help them in evaluating its strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities in a particular business environment.

3.0 A critical reflection of key findings and an evaluation of how they influence the decision-making process

From the pestle and swot analysis of case company, it can be said that it is important to analyse the business environment in detail. If the company is having better knowledge related to the business environment in which they are operating it can help them in developing better strategies. Company needs to apply the knowledge of business environment in decision-making process (Simões, 2020). It is important for company to focus on making a decision on the basis of condition of company in business environment. This helps them in making strategic decisions so that they can operating effectively and can lead firm towards success.

The above-mentioned report had explained about different factors of the business environment are having an influence on ASDA. From the case of ASDA, it is well explained that organisations should focus on all the factors of internal and external business environment. The report concluded that it is important for company to focus on analysing business environment and using the information in decision-making process.

References

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