Reference no: EM132346573

The Business Environment

This assignment covers the following learning outcomes:-

LO1 Understand the organisational purposes of businesses.

1.1 Identify the purposes of different types of organisation.

1.2 Describe the extent to which an organisation meets the objectives of different stakeholders.

1.3 Explain the responsibilities of an organisation and strategies employed to meet them.

LO2 Understand the nature of the national environment in which businesses operate.

2.3 Evaluate the impact of competition policy and other regulatory mechanisms on the activities of a selected organisation.

LO3 Understand the behaviour of organisations in their market environment.

3.3 Judge how the business and cultural environments shape the behaviour of a selected organisation.

LO4 be able to assess the significance of the global factors that shape national business activities.

4.2 Analyse the impact of global factors on UK business organisations.

4.3 Evaluate the impact of policies of the European Union on UK business organisations.

Scenario

You have been employed as an economic instructor for a class of university students in the United Kingdom.

You have been asked to present an overview of business organisations in the UK with emphasis on the interaction of businesses with other stakeholders in the wider community. In addition to this, you are required to provide a discussion on the external business environment and how it shapes the organisations operations.

Every organisation has a set of objectives which it needs to achieve in order to assess success or failure. For different types of organisations, these objectives differ widely. You have been asked to prepare a report for the local business round table that outlines the main purposes of different types of organisation.

Required

Task 1:

(Task 1 meets learning outcome 1.1 identify the purposes of different types of organisation.)

Within any economy there are a wide range of organisations that exist for different purposes. For the following types of organisations, identify the main purpose(s) for which they exist.

1. Private company

2. Government department

3. Charity

In your answer you are required to select one specific organisation of each type and clearly identify what their goals and objectives are.

Task 2:

(Task 2 meets learning outcome 1.2 describe the extent to which an organisation meets the objectives of different stakeholders and learning outcome 1.3 explain the responsibilities of an organisation and strategies employed to meet them.)

The traditional view of private sector business is that the major purpose or objective of an organisation is to make profits for the owners. Stakeholder theory, which started to gain acceptance in the early 1980’s, suggests that businesses’ objectives have expanded from this traditional view to include responsibilities to a much wider range of groups within society. The concept has evolved from this into theories on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

1. Describe the extent to which the Shell organisation meets the objectives of the following different stakeholders:-

a. Owners

b. Employees

c. Environmental groups

d. Government

Your answer will need to include a brief summary of the main objectives of each of these stakeholders as well as the various ways that the Shell organisation meets these objectives.

2. In relation to the following topics, explain the responsibilities that the Shell organisation has and the strategies they employ to meet these responsibilities:-

a. Employees

i. health and safety

ii. equal opportunities

b. Ethical issues

i. pollution

ii. global warming

Scenario

“In 1993, Novell claimed that Microsoft was blocking its competitors out of the market through anti-competitive practices. The complaint centred on the license practices at the time which required royalties from each computer sold by a supplier of Microsoft's operating system, whether or not the unit actually contained the Windows operating system.”

“In March 2004, the EU ordered Microsoft to pay €497 million, the largest fine ever handed out by the EU at the time, in addition to the previous penalties, which included 120 days to divulge the server information and 90 days to produce a version of Windows without Windows Media Player.”

European Union Microsoft competition case

Task 3:

(Task 3 meets learning outcome 2.3 Evaluate the impact of competition policy and other regulatory mechanisms on the activities of a selected organisation.)

1. Based on the anti-trust suit that was filed against Microsoft, evaluate the impact that competition policy and other regulatory mechanisms have had on them.

Your answer must include a summary of what Microsoft did that failed to meet the European Union’s requirements as well as the changes that the organisation implemented to avoid the problem (or similar problems) in the future.

Scenario

Shell operates within both an internal and external business environment and it follows that different factors will affect the way in which they operate. You have been asked by your manager to prepare a report to present to a group of UK business leaders which covers the internal factors that apply to Shell operating in the UK as well as the global factors that would affect all businesses operating in the United Kingdom.

Required

Task 4:

(Task 4 meets learning outcome 3.3 judge how the business and cultural environments shape the behaviour of a selected organisation and learning outcome 4.2 analyse the impact of global factors on UK business organisations.)

1. The business and cultural environments have a significant influence on the behaviour of organisations.

For Shell operating in UK, judge how the following internal factors (operating within the country) shape the behaviour of the organisation:-

a. Political factors

b. Socio-cultural factors

c. Educational factors

2. United Kingdom business organisations are affected by a range of global factors which are largely beyond their control. Analyse the impact of the following external factors (operating outside the country) on UK businesses:-

a. Technological factors

b. Legal factors

c. Environmental factors

Scenario

“The European Commission represents the interests of the EU as a whole. It proposes new legislation to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, and it ensures that EU law is correctly applied by member countries.”

Required

Task 5:

(Task 5 meets learning outcome 4.3 Evaluate the impact of policies of the European Union on UK business organisations.)

1. Evaluate the impact of two policies of the European Union on UK business organisations.