Business and the Business Environment Report

This report analyzes the business environment of Sainsbury's and Argos, two major retail companies in the UK. It examines the types and purposes of different organizations, their size and scope, the relationship between organizational functions and objectives, and the impact of macro-environmental factors on their operations. The report also includes an internal and external analysis of both companies, highlighting their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Business and the Business
Environment

INTRODUCTION
Business Environment means, is a sum total of all the internal and external factors like,
customer needs, demand and supply, suppliers, market trends etc. These factors affects the
working of business . It helps in identifying opportunities, tapping resources, and improves
performance of the business. There are two types of Business Environment like, Micro and
macro environment.
Sainsbury is number second in the list of supermarket. United Kingdom. It was founded
in 1869 by John Sainsbury. It has been headquartered in Support Centre in Holborn Circus, City
of London. Its subsidiaries are Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd., Sainsbury Bank etc. Key peoples
of the company are David Tyler, Mike Coupe.
The Report will emphasize on different types and purpose, size and scope of different
organisations. The Report will also describe relationship between organisational functions and
their link with organisational objectives. The Report further emphasize on internal and external
analysis of organization and also explain their interrelationship with macro factors.
TASK 1
P1 Types and purposes of different organisations.
PRIVATE ORGANIZATION- It is any corporation, partnership, or agency that is not operated
by public body. . It can be a non-federal body that is self-sustaining, and established by people
that are not acting in a federal government capacity.
J SAINSBURY Plc.
It is a Private Limited Company. It belongs to Tertiary sector of the economy as, it mainly
provides valuable service to consumers. It is number second in the chain of supermarket, United
Kingdom. The company has 16.9% share of supermarket sector. Founded in 1869 by John James
Sainsbury. The company has became largest retailer of groceries in 1922. As of February 2018
the largest shareholder is the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, the Qatar Investment Authority,
which holds 21.99% of the company.
ARGOS Ltd.
Sainsbury is going to have a close partnership with ARGOS which is a British
multinational firm operating in United Kingdom and Ireland. It is a Private Limited Company. It

belongs to Tertiary Sector. It is trading through both physical shops and online, with over 845
retail shops.
PUBLIC ORGANISATION
A public organisation is a corporation whose ownership is dispersed among general
public in many shares of stock which are freely traded on stock exchange.
NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICES(NHS)- The NHS is a Public Sector Organisation. It
belongs to Tertiary Sector of the economy. It was established in 1948 as one of the major social
reforms following the second world war.
VOLUNTARY ORGANISATION-
It refers to a specific type of organisation, also called non profit organisation. Common
examples includes trade unions, societies, and environmental groups. Membership is not
necessarily voluntary.
Oxfam- It is a confederation of 20 independent charitable organizations that are
focussing on alleviation of global poverty. It is founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International.
It is a voluntary organization and it belongs to Tertiary sector of the economy.
P2 Size and scope of different types of organisation
PRIVATE ORGANIZATION (J SAINSBURY Plc)
 Vision-. Company will achieve this vision by putting their customers at the heart of
everything that company do and investing in the stores, in colleagues, in channels to
offer the best possible shopping experience.
 Mission- Mission of company is to be the first choice for food , delivering the products
of high quality and providing great service at competitive cost through working faster,
simple and together.
 Business Objectives- Sainsbury aim is to survive and gain top position as compared to
its competitor Tesco. It will achieve the objective by satisfying all the needs of
customers. Another aim of the company is to increase its profits so that, it can reinvest
the money to improve the current performance of company. Next important objective of
company is to provide shareholders good returns.
 Scope- Company offers a wide range of food, general merchandise, clothing and
financial services. Sainsbury's Bank offers financials services like, credit cards, travel
money, personal loans etc. Company has 2200 supermarkets. In fact, alost 20% of the

Sainsbury group's sales are now online. Sainsbury has 605 supermarkets, 59 Argos
Digital stores, 151 groceries online click and collect points etc.
 Legal Structure- Remuneration Committee recommends and review the remuneration
policy. Nomination Committee review the succession planning of Board and senior
management. Audit Committee review the integrity of financial information provided to
shareholders. The company is also been listed in London stock exchange.
 Stakeholders- Major shareholders are Qatar Holding LLC, LSV Asset Management,
Judith Susan Portrait, Private companies and employees etc. Sainsbury is planning to
enter in partnership with Argos for supply chain and value distribution network.
ARGOS Ltd.
 Vision- Vision of company is to provide outstanding service to their consumers. It helps
in increasing the satisfaction.
 Mission- Mission statement of the company is to provide the customers best value for
their money through most convenient shopping experience.
 Business Objectives- To bring together robotics players to understand issues related with
oil and gas exploration. To raise awareness among operators on Total industrial sites of
robotics. And to promote technological innovation etc.
 Scope- Argos offers 57000 products through its Argos brand including a substantial
element of own brand lines such as, Habitat. It has a National 'hub and spoke' distribution
network which currently supports 20,000 products in local hubs. Argos has opened 177
digital stores that represents 21% of Argos store estate. Internet transactions accounted
for 49% of total Argos sales, including mobile commerce which grew by 10% to
represent 28% of total sales.
 Legal Structure- Legal representation of the company is entrusted in CEO of the
company and Principal Legal Representatives which act separately. There are 4 Legal
Representatives for Administrative and Legal Affairs and 4 Legal Representatives for
Labour Affairs.
 Stakeholders- It includes employees of the company, private companies, agencies and
government, enc (Chang, 2016).
PUBLIC ORGANISATION (NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICES

 Vision- Vision is to deliver better health for communities through population -wide and
individual initiatives. To deliver better care through quick access to modern services.
 Mission- To work together as a Clinical Commissioning Group to ensure that
communities will receive best evidence based care possible within the available resources
of the company.
 Business Objectives- The objective of the company is to provide the services to reduce
health inequalities and to improve local health and well-being needs of population. To
focus on safe and effective service delivery to improve positive experience of patient's
health.
 Scope- The NHS in England deals with over 1 million patients every 36 hours. It includes
everything like, antenatal screening, treatment for long-term conditions, transplants,
emergency treatment etc.
 Legal Structure- NHS Improvement is an umbrella organisation that brings together
Monitor, NHS Trust Development Authority, Patient Safety etc. Individual professional
regulatory bodies are General Medical Council, General Dental Council and Health and
Care Professions Council etc.
 Stakeholders- Internal stakeholders of NHS are Director of Public Health, Director of
Nursing, Public Health Strategists, Research Analyst etc. And External stakeholders are
Local Authority, Acute Trusts, Funders, Quality Assessors, etc.
VOLUNTARY ORGANISATION (Oxfam)
 Vision- The vision is to envisage a world in which people can influence their decisions
that affects their lives, enjoy their rights, and assume their responsibilities, working for
alleviation of the poverty.
 Mission- Its mission is to provide people solutions to fight against poverty. Empowering
the people to create a future that is secure, just and free from poverty.
 Business Objectives- One of the important objective of Oxfam is to bring a positive
change in the lives of people who are living in poverty. To achieve this goal, it has
outlined twelve goals that are to accomplished till 2019.
 Scope- Oxfam provides services at various locations that is, it supports the program for
HIV prevention and treatment in Thailand. It also helps the students by building schools
in Cambodia.

 Oxfam continuously launching campaigns for better health and education across Africa.
It has played an important role in co-ordinating with other international agencies.
 Legal Structure- Oxfam's Trustees have the ultimate responsibility or assets and
activities of Oxfam. It is the governing body of the Association of Oxfam. They are
appointed because of their commitment towards Oxfam.
 Stakeholders- Major stakeholders of Oxfam are people of the communities where it
works, volunteers, partners and allies, donors and supporters, coalitions and alliances,
suppliers, private sector, etc.
TASK 2
P3 Relationship between organisational functions and link to organisational objectives.
Functions of Sainsbury-
H.R. Function- The responsibility of human resource department of Sainsbury is to employ the
employees who work for the company. Human Resource Manager performs various activities
like, recruitment and dismissal of staff, training and promotion of staff, Employee organisations
and trade unions etc. Human Resource Department is responsible for hiring new staff to fill
vacant job positions.
Marketing Function-The company categorises its consumer and marketing department into
three important parts. The marketing team of the company is strongly paying attention on
enhancing the brand awareness via lots of retail outlets through website of sainsbury, a
combination of creativity and business talent. Company's Media Company preserves a most
positive reputation of the company with the help of electronic media as well as print media
(Saleem, 2015).
Distribution Function- Sainsbury was the first UK company to introduce computerized systems
to support its distribution activities and the first to put bar-code scanning into all its
supermarkets. The actual products reaching the supermarket do not come straight from supplier
but from one of the Sainsbury's 21 regional depots. The network of 21 depots is organised by
product type and an individual supplier will deliver to not more than seven or eight depots
(Georgescu, M. and Popescul, 2015).
Production Function- Company continuously invest in core food business to focus on the
quality of Sainbury's branded food products. While the grocery retailing market remains
competitive, investment in the quality and price of core business by Sainsbury's range delivered

volume growth of two percent. Company continuously develop food offer to ensure that
customers can buy great quality food at Sainsbury's for different shopping missions (vom
Brocke, 2016).
Functions of Argose-
H.R. Function- Human Resource Manager of Argose is responsible for recruiting new
employees and ensures that each vacancy is filled by the best person for the job. Human
Resource Department ensures that the company retain good , experienced staff. Main
H.R .functions of the company are receiving all job applications, arranging interview, monitoring
working conditions of staff etc.
Customer Service Function- Customer Service Department of the company consist of
trained staff that handles enquiries and complaints of customers positively and professionally.
They deals with complaints and problems. Staff must also be aware of the legal rights of
customers.
Finance Function- The main functions of finance department of the company re recording all
the business transactions like, expenses and revenue of company, measure the financial
performance of the company that is, how well or bad it is doing financially. Also responsible for
controlling the finance and cash flow of the company so that, it stays reliable. Takes timely
financial decisions by comparing the predicted performance with actual performance .
Production Function- Production department of company is responsible for making available
products to consumers at right time. And also ensures that enough stock is available.
Organisational structure of Sainsbury
Figure 1 Organization structure
(Source: Organization structure of Sainsbury, 2014)

Sainsbury functional organizational structure. In which, each unit performs a unique function.
Chief operating officer and Chief Executive officer are at the top level of the company.
Visual Merchandising Officer, Visual Merchandising Associate are responsible to work closely
with vendors to organise their products to maximise sales.
Product Promotion Specialist and Marketing Specialist are responsible for developing sales and
advertising strategy to maximise sales.
Pricing Analyst is responsible for developing pricing strategy for company's retail locations.
Store Design Manager is responsible for developing a strategy for geographical placement of
company's retail stores.
Real Estate Analyst is in charge of growth strategy of the company.
Financial Analyst is responsible for analysing the profit and loss performance of company's
various retail locations of the company.
E-commerce Manager is responsible or web design, payment processing etc. Web Designer is
responsible for designing infrastructure of company's e-commerce platforms.
Purchasing Manager is responsible or the flow of goods from distribution warehouses to retail
locations. Receiving Associate is responsible for ensuring proper handling of those goods
(Schaltegger, 2016).
Organizational structure of Argos
Figure 2 Organization structure
(Source: Organization structure of Argos, 2015)
Argos follows hierarchical organization structure. In this type of structure every entity in the
organization is sub-ordinate to single other entity. CEO of company is responsible for assigning

work at all the departments which includes marketing, finance, operations and human resource.
They have the responsibility to encourage managers to perform tasks so that they will be able to
motivate the other staff members.
Interrelationship of Marketing Department with other Departments.
The correlation of marketing and human resource functions in motivating the behaviours
of customer performance. Effective marketing would be the key in future for H.R. department of
Sainsbury for getting right candidates on right time. Marketing department need to closely work
with Human Resource Manager to ensure that appropriate skills and staffing level are in place to
meet out production targets (Khan, 2015).
Marketing department of Sainsbury will need to work closely with production department
to ensures that, adequate research and development of the products is planned to achieve the
organizational objectives by satisfying the current and future needs of customers. The volume of
orders generated through marketing of products can be met out within the time schedule required
for delivery(Hunter, 2016).
The marketing department need to work closely with finance department of Sainsbury to
ensures that, there is an adequate budget to meet out the need for research, production, promotion
and distribution of goods(Sekaran, 2016).
Marketing department also helps Packaging and distribution department of Sainsbury in
proper distribution of goods to targeted consumers because through marketing company is able
to know about the taste and preferences of consumers regarding the product on the basis of
which packaging and distribution department designs and produce the product to satisfy the
needs of customers.
TASK 3
P4) Positive and negative impact of macro environment on business.
J SAINSBURY Plc.
Political factors
Political stability and growth of Retail sector is helpful to create place, time and
possession utilities in the country's economy, it has a positive impact on J SAINSBURY Plc. The
Company can easily expand its business as the customers are aware about the retail sector. One
of its positive impact is that the J SAINSBURY Plc has favoured trading partners in different

countries. As a result, they can easily make investment in the foreign market. The negative
impact of political factor on J SAINSBURY Plc is that there is high level of corruption,
especially in levels of regulation in Consumer Services sector (Prajogo, 2016). As J
SAINSBURY Plc is a supermarket retail industry there is a bureaucracy and interference in
Retail industry by government. Certain trade regulations & tariffs related to Consumer Services
is impacting negatively on J SAINSBURY Plc.
Economic factors
The positive impact of economic factor is that there is efficiency in financial markets
the J SAINSBURY Plc can raise its capital in local market. There is Comparative advantages of
host country and growth in Consumer Services sector in the countries of United kingdom. As J
SAINSBURY Plc is a retail industry there is advantage of availability of skill level of workforce
(Hamilton and Webster, 2018.). There is negative impact of economic factor on J SAINSBURY
Plc. Decrease Economic growth rate and Discretionary income impacts negatively on J
SAINSBURY Plc. It impacts the overall productivity and sales of J SAINSBURY Plc.
Social factors
There is positive impact of Class structure, hierarchy and power structure in the society.
It is helpful in increasing sales of J SAINSBURY Plc. There is negative impact of people, as
they are more health and environmental conscious as a result, J SAINSBURY Plc has to focus on
green human resource management.
Technological factor
There is positive impact of Technology on product offering through block chain software
of J SAINSBURY Plc they allow farmers and manufacturers to input information about the food
products in real-time. There is negative impact of recent technological developments by
competitors. Due to increasing competition there is loss of market share of J SAINSBURY Plc.
Environmental factor
The positive impact is that the J SAINSBURY Plc is a retail industry, It can easily do the
Waste management in Consumer Services sector. There is negative impact of laws regulating
environmental pollution while doing production and manufacturing of products of J
SAINSBURY Plc.
Legal factors

The legal factors like data and copyright laws impacts positively in J SAINSBURY Plc
in terms of keeping secrecy in production and manufacturing method and in hiding the personal
data of the company from their competitors (Kolk, 2016). The discrimination law is impacting
the work culture of J SAINSBURY Plc negatively. This is impacting recruitment and selection
process of J SAINSBURY Plc. The employer is bound to select candidates of gender
discrimination in the Company otherwise they suit against the Company on the basis of
discrimination law.
ARGOS Ltd
Political factor
The positive impact of political factors of macro environment on Argos Ltd is, growing
need of retail sector industry in United Kingdom is helpful in increasing customer demands for
there retail products. There is negative impact of political factors on Argos Ltd is that the tariffs
and strict regulations of government adversely impacts the revenue and profitability of retail
industry of Argos Ltd. The regulations affect which products can be imported or exported in the
stores.
Economic factors
There is positive impact of economics factors on Argos Ltd. A raising economy may
allows the consumers to buy the products they want rather than just buying products they only
need. It is beneficial for Argos limited because more investors are becoming interested in the
profitability offered by retail stores (Pearson, 2017). Customers have more disposable income to
spend on frivolous products. There is negative impact of economic factors of macro environment
in Argos Ltd at the time of recession the consumers lose their purchasing capacity, it leads to
decrease in sale of consumer products of Argos Ltd.
Social factors
There is positive impact of social factors on Argos Ltd. As people are tend to buy
products in bulk, being a supermarket retailer, it is helpful in increasing the sale of products of
Argos Ltd. The negative impact of social factor of Macro environment is that, the consumers are
becoming more conscious and aware about consuming healthy products so this leads to decrease
in sale of unhealthy products of Argos Ltd.
Technological factor

There is positive impact of Technology for Argos Ltd. Retail stores uses variety of
technology everyday. Stores are adopting new systems, software, and hardware for managing the
money after the sale. A digital catalogue for easy browsing helps the customers to serve
comfortable shopping experience (Jaakkola, Frösén and Tikkanen, 2016). This leads to increase
customer satisfaction in Argos Ltd. The negative impact of technological factor is that the high
technological advancement of their competitors may lead to decrease in market share of Argos
Ltd.
Environmental factor
The positive impact of environmental factor of macro environment is that the food
wastage can easily be decomposed, it is helpful in waste management of their products. The
negative impact of environmental factor of macro environment is that the Argos Ltd retail stores
need to meet the environmental requirements for consumer and employee safety.
Legal factors
The positive impact of legal factors is that the Data protection act is helpful for Argos Ltd
in keeping their data secrecy in the organisation. The legal factor influence the Argos Ltd in
negative terms. Argos store needs to meet legislative conditions before opening the shop. It
includes abiding by taxation laws and labour laws.
TASK 4
P5) Internal and external analysis of organisations.
J SAINSBURY Plc.
Internal analysis
STRENTHS
The J SAINSBURY Plc has diversified business in retail products. It has strong market share and
a existing strong brand value. There is a result of consistent profitability in their balance sheet.
They have differentiated food products in proposition and have great quality in their products
(Cumming and Zahra, 2016). This leads to gain customer satisfaction in the company.
WEAKNESS
There is a drawback of single operating market in J SAINSBURY Plc. There is low food margin
in J SAINSBURY Plc.
External analysis
OPPORTUNITIES

There is opportunity for J SAINSBURY Plc to do expansion in global market through online
collaborations. The J SAINSBURY Plc can do diversification and has a growth option of
opening J SAINSBURY Plc Bank. There is option of selling online groceries and have
opportunity of channels of growth through opening convenience stores. They can use technology
analytics in order to help customer insights.
THREATS
There is threat to J SAINSBURY Plc of Brexit on prices of consumers products. There is threat
of increasing competition in grocery and retail segment.
ARGOS Ltd
Internal analysis
STRENTHS
The strength of Argos Ltd is that they are largest groceries retailer in the United Kingdom with
more than 800 stores. They offers online service and comfort shopping experience to their
customers. They have strong potential brand in the market. Huge working force more than
51,000 employees all over the United Kingdom. The reach of Argos Ltd is to 130 million
customers and 18 million UK households.
WEAKNESS
There is extremely tough market competitive segment and very limited market share. The Argos
has lesser presence all over the globe in comparison to other retail brands.
External analysis
OPPORTUNITIES
The Argos can enhance their business in online selling. They can increase their reach in markets
of developing countries.
THREATS
There is threat of international expansion of other brands to Argos Ltd. There is price
competition with other retail brands. Threat of changing government polices and regulations in
the retail industry.
P6) Interrelationship of strengths and weaknesses with macro environment.
J SAINSBURY Plc.
The strength of J SAINSBURY Plc is it has diversified business in retail products and
covers the large market share which is interconnected with political factors of macro

environment in terms of government polices and regulations. Before opening any store they take
permission from government agencies for expanding their business they follows the strict rules
and code of conduct (Eling and Schaper, 2017). One of its strength is they have differentiated
food products line, it is interconnected with Social factor to produce and to serve the healthy
food beverages in the society. The weakness of J SAINSBURY Plc is that they have single
operating market it is interconnected with legal factor of macro environment in terms of laws
and legislation to take license in order to do operations into another market.
ARGOS Ltd
The strength of Argos limited is that they have diversified business in retail products. It is
interconnected with Technological factor of Macro environment in terms of smooth running
operating systems in different diversified business through various digital software . One of its
strength is that they offers online service and comfort shopping experience to their customers
because of advance technology of digital catalogue browsing facility they are giving to their
customers (Bocken, Rana and Short, 2015). The weakness of Argos Ltd is that they have
extremely tough market competitive segment and very limited market share it is interconnected
with political factor of Macro Environment due to government polices and strict regulations they
are facing difficulty in opening new stores of groceries products at different streets of United
Kingdom.
CONCLUSION
Through this project report of Business and the business environment it can be concluded
that the Private, Public and Voluntary organisation have different perspective of doing business.
They have different goals and objectives in order to serve the society and the environment by
providing different products to their customers and through offering services as a caretaker for
the society like the Oxfam is in lead to serve the society with its services. This report also
concluded that there is interrelation between various organisation function and its objectives.
Than further it is conclude that the macro environment factors like political, social, economical,
Environmental, legal and technological influence the business in both negative and positive
ways. The report outlines the strengths and weakness of J SAINSBURY Plc and its subsidiary
Argos Ltd. They have opportunity in external environment in terms of technology and digital
advancement through selling their groceries products online.

Online
Organization structure of Sainsbury. 2014. [ONLINE] Available through:
<https://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/sainsbury-s-argos>
Organization structure of Argos. 2015. [ONLINE] Available through:<
https://www.theretailbulletin.com/news/argos_unveils_new_leadership_structure_18-03-
14/>