Foundations of Business Communication

This document provides an overview of the foundations of business communication, including the importance of effective communication and problem-solving skills. It also explores the challenges faced by management in the business environment and provides insights into the Oxford University Press and its industry data.

BBS003-1 FOUNDATIONS OF
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART- 1...........................................................................................................................................1
Introduction..................................................................................................................................1
Industry data.................................................................................................................................1
Key business details.....................................................................................................................1
PESTLE Analysis........................................................................................................................1
Porter's five force model..............................................................................................................3
Key issues faced by the management..........................................................................................4
Key findings and conclusion........................................................................................................4
PART- 2...........................................................................................................................................4
Reflective report on key skills development................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

PART- 1
Introduction
Business analysis refers to the discipline under which the various needs and the business
problems are evaluated and a reasonable solution is derived. It is conducted in order to bring a
change in the company in accordance with external forces of the company. The project shall be
highlighting the detailed analytical view of the Oxford University Press and its business
environment. It shall be reflecting the competitors, customers, suppliers and the performance of
the company. Further it shall include the PESTLE and SWOT analysis of the company to study
the internal and the external environment of the company. The report shall introduce to the key
issues and challenges that are faced by its management. Lastly it shall be including porter's five
force model to analyse the competitors of the business.
Industry data
Oxford University Press is one of the largest and the oldest university press that is a
crucial part of the University of Oxford. It belongs to the mass media and printing industry
which is the fifth largest in UK contributing to the growth of its economy (McKenzie and
Sansone, 2017). The University press in UK has the most innovative content and the most
reputable papers are being published for the open access of users. The British publishing industry
creates huge worth for the economy by revenue generation of £7.8bn GVA and also a big source
of direct and indirect employment creation.
Key business details
The Oxford University Press are the book publishers who publish the books, journals and
other online products for the reference of its users (Oxford University Press, 2021). They are
there for the passionate and ambitious ones who have new and fresh thinking and ideas which
can facilitate innovation and development of the world-class content and make the data
accessible around the globe. It is a charitable institute following the ethical standards in order to
enrich the lives with the education.
Competitors: The major competitors of Oxford University Press are the Sage Publisher, Taylor
and Francis, The Economist etc. They all assume their share in the market by conducting the
price wars and attracting the customers by attractive marketing strategies.
PESTLE Analysis
Political:-
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 In the political environment the major concern is associated with the laws that are
prescribed for conducting fair trade in the market and staying accountable to the
customers. In the book publishing retail industry The Office of Fair Trade plays the major
role in ensuring the customer protection laws. Apart from that the instability of the government and their policies is one of the reasons
that pose threat on the survival of Oxford University Press.
Economical:-
 The UK economy is facing the major economic concern because of the struggling
condition of the sterling pound in comparison to the euro and dollar. Since, the press is
publishing its content globally, the value of the currency matters and determines the
profitability of the business (Perera, 2017). The costs and expenditure of printing are also increasing day by day which is making the
service even costlier to the users. The cost of paper is also increasing which is the reason
that now the customers are preferring to read the books online.
Social:- The trend in the publishing of the books has completely changed in UK as now the
customers belonging to the middle age group are spending less in purchasing the books
offline for the purpose of conducting research. On the contrary they are ready to pay for
the e-books, so the company has to shift towards digitalization and publish its stuff
online.
Technological:-
 With the advancement in the technology the method of “digital book printing” is used
where on demand the books are published and the ink gets transmitted online. This a paid
form which is nowadays in trend. Newer innovations are being carried out in the business related to the “Offset printing”
which is a high quality printing technique that is used in the books and uses chemical for
the picture publishing.
Legal:- The legal aspect related to the books and journals is that various copyright laws have
been designed to prevent the writers and the publishers in the mass media industry.
Environmental:-
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 There are some environmental concerns related to the publishing companies as they use
the paper which is derived from trees. It is major concern to save trees and prevent the
natural ecosystem. For this the companies should recycle paper, develop green or eco
printing methods and decrease the content of chlorine in the papers that are used to
publish its content.
Porter's five force model
Bargaining power of buyers:- The bargaining power of buyers in the book publishing and mass
media industry is very high since there is no major differentiation in the products that are offered
to the customers. The outer portion of the book remains generally the same, just the content
differs which depends on the need of the researcher. Also, the demand of published books cannot
be easily ascertained or forecasted and so the prices are not affected accordingly. In such a case
the buyers negotiate and purchase from the company that is offering the best possible product at
the cheapest rates.
Bargaining power of suppliers:- The bargaining power of the suppliers is less as the nature of
books and journals is general and does not require efficient supply chains or latest technology to
sell it. In this case the company has huge options in terms suppliers so comparatively the
dominance of supplier shall be more.
Rivalry with competitors:- The rivalry experienced with the competitors is high as there is lack
of differentiation and so the major competition takes place on the basis of price wars. The prices
determine the market share of the company (Varelas and Georgopoulos, 2017). Apart from that
aggressive marketing strategies are applied by the business to generate the awareness of its brand
and capture the target market of potential customers.
Threat of substitutes:- The threat of substitute products is high in the industry as books and
journals has varied variants available in the business, Also, these days there is trend of using the
e-books, I-pad, kindle which are the threats to the offline purchase of the books. The exported
books are majorly preferred by the customers these days which have become the substitute from
the domestically produced books.
Threat of new entrants:- The threat of new entrants in the industry is low as it needs higher
investments to open a book store and then arrange books from the varied sources as per the
customers needs and expectations. Also, nowadays the exported books are in value and to export
books from other countries need good level of connections and availability of resources.
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Key issues faced by the management
Some major issues and challenges that are faced by the management of Oxford
University Press is that being a charitable institution it does not maintain corporate governance
and the various ethical standards that they are supposed to abide by and follow (Genadinik,
2019). Since they are the charitable institution they have higher expectations to follow the law
and if they do not do this they shall disrupt the trustworthiness in the society which shall
ultimately affect the profitability of the business.
Apart from that it also lacks the leadership qualities in the management and the lack of
initiative taking capacity. This leads to lowering down of innovations in the business making it
difficult to survive in the cut-throat competition.
Key findings and conclusion
It can be summarized from the above project that business analysis plays a major role in
the planning and implementation of change in the organization based on the factors working in
its external environment. The university press belongs to the mass media industry which is a
major contributor to the growth and development of the UK economy. The Oxford University
press is the oldest and largest in the business assuming a large market share of customers,
suppliers. The PESTLE analysis shows the impact of the external environment on the business
performance of the press. With the help of the porter's five forces the company is able to
determine the competitive market. The major challenges and issues that the management of the
company faces are related to the leadership qualities.
PART- 2
Reflective report on key skills development
I have been able to develop various skills and had a learning experience during my
classroom sessions, trainings, semester activities and presentations. By following the Gibbs
model of reflective cycle I am able to recognize and discover the changes in my personality and
have managed to develop various employability skills. The classroom discussions have proven to
be very effective in building better communication skills, confidence, morale etc. I have learnt to
communicate both verbally and non-verbally such that my message is transmitted successfully
and I also develop understanding and decode their message. The smooth flow of data leads to
healthy relationship and avoids unnecessary risk related to the conflicts due to
misunderstandings. The development of these communication skills is the result of the
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discussions, activities and the presentations that has been organized in the classroom
environment. This has helped me to successfully remove all the linguistic barriers and
understand the sign language, postures, gestures, eye contact etc. and communicate efficiently
with the colleagues. In the initial weeks when I just started learning and understanding I used to
feel alone and cornered, things seemed really unclear but I used to be motivated about the
learnings that were gained. Gradually the process of learning became more interesting and
productive in respect of the overall development of my personality.
After couple of weeks I started interacting with the classmates, colleagues, mentors and
guides. I developed a circle of friends with whom I used to hang out and this was building the
qualities in me regarding team management, working in groups, leadership qualities and the
initiative taking capacity. These are the major employability skills that got developed during
presentations and semester activities that were conducted in groups. I used to form groups, then
decide about the task, distribute the roles, coordinate all the activities and achieve the desired
result. I further developed my communication skills by working with my colleagues belonging to
different culture, background etc. The major contribution of these sessions in my personality
were related to taking initiatives by brainstorming, exploring wide array of thoughts, open
mindedness, welcoming attitude etc. I faced challenges in conversations and interactions with
newer companions in each activity but slowly I got the technique as to how should one build
conversations with strangers. After having experienced this session I feel that there are inborn
leadership qualities that are possessed, just the person needs to provide it with the right direction.
The steady growth in myself was boosting my morale and motivation and I started becoming
self-confident.
In the week 3 the scope of learnings and simultaneously teaching started to rise where
now the knowledge base, level of understanding, conceptual learnings, current affairs and an all-
round personality development took place. I have observed that with the help of regular lectures
and the classes of various professors the ability to grasp new things and develop its quick
understanding are some essential quality traits that are developed in the personality. This helps in
knowing about the economy, government, factors in the external environment, competitors,
technology and factors contributing to the growth and prosperity of the economy in a country.
The challenges that were faced in these sequence of events were that what information or data is
of use and should be retained and which is less useful so that it can be refined from the brain.
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This learning also developed other talents like the power to focus, concentrate and refining the
useful and non-useful information. This experience made be feel good about the studies and I
developed interest in the studying process as a whole. Being informative about the various events
further increased the confidence and increased the level of motivation and facing more people
and sharing of knowledge, ideas, experiences, initiatives became much easier and convenient.
As the weeks progressed the learning and perceptions had developed further. I got to
know about various rules, regulations, laws, ethical standards that one has to abide by and follow
in order to develop loyalty and trustworthiness of self. It was a mixed feeling when I sought to
learn how to analyse the situations and develop understanding regarding whether an approach is
right or wrong. I started to build my own opinion, perception, attitude and beliefs in a particular
situation and tried evaluating it. This sometimes made me feel unhappy and unsatisfied when the
ethical way of doing things was not selected, rather wrongful deeds to achieve good result were
undertaken. The major challenges was to stand up against the wrong and take actions by
avoiding any sort of diplomacy and favouritism. This knowledge and informativeness shall be
helping in judging a situation and plan the course of actions accordingly. The priorities of the
teachers and activities that took place in the environment of class provided me with the major
learnings regarding what does the ethical standards prefer and how they are moulded as per the
convenience of the users. I am glad and motivated that I have developed the knowledge
regarding what is right and what is wrong and shall act accordingly to be clear and transparent in
the deeds that I am performing.
By the end of the training sessions in the week five I started developing the quality skills
which are the problem-solving tactics and started to work on the live projects. We started
working on the real life situations like the Covid- 19 and analysed the research problem and tried
to find out the reasonable solution for it. This learning increased the thinking capacity,
interpretive skills, power of decision-making, choosing between various alternatives etc. The
major challenge was regarding the correct decision-making which got resolved with the
experience that I gathered over time. Working in groups during the semester activities and the
internship training helped in the development of the problem-solving tactics and contributed to
the overall growth of my personality. The feeling was satisfying as the experience of learning
was joyous and enthusiastic. This helped in the speedy growth and development of my mind.
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Overall the experience of the skill development was great, motivating and morale
boosting in nature and proved to be very productive and effective in terms of development of
various skills and the personality traits. The session of 5 weeks was inspiring most of the times
when new learnings were derived but sometimes it made me unhappy and unsatisfied when
things did not work according to my expectations. There were certain barriers or challenges that
were faced during the period of training and development, but gradually with the building of
proper understanding the barriers were removed. It feels that I have passed the session with
flying colours by developing an in-depth conceptual learning.
Post this curriculum these skills shall prove to be very important at the time of
employability and selection in an organization. These characteristics like effective
communication skills, leadership qualities, initiative taking capacity, team management,
cooperation, coordination and problem-solving techniques shall be crucial during the placements
and professional experience that is gained in a company. This 5 week learning process shall be
contributing to my future growth and prosperity.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
McKenzie, D. and Sansone, D., 2017. Man vs. machine in predicting successful entrepreneurs:
evidence from a business plan competition in Nigeria. The World Bank.
Genadinik, A., 2019. Business plan template and example: how to write a business plan:
Business planning made simple. Alex Genadinik.
Perera, R., 2017. The PESTLE analysis. Nerdynaut.
Varelas, S. and Georgopoulos, N., 2017. Porter’s competitive forces in the modern globalized
hospitality sector–the case of a Greek tourism destination. J Tour Res. 18. pp.121-131.
Online
Oxford University Press. 2021. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/organisation/oxford-university-press>
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