BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF BEAZLEY PLC

Running head: BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF BEAZLEY PLC.
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF BEAZLEY PLC.
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BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF BEAZLEY PLC.1
Executive Summary
The significant objective of the essay is to present an analysis of the business environment of
the insurance company Beazley plc based in the United Kingdom. The overview of the
company has been provided with respect to its history and description of business activities.
the organizational structure of the company has also been described thoroughly identifying
the hierarchical structure that increases the efficiency of its business operations. Furthermore,
the board of directors of the company has been identified along with a description of the
skills and expertise of executive and non-executive members of the board. The importance of
the PESTEL framework in analyzing the external environment of business organizations has
been assessed with a detailed description about the individual political, economic, social,
technological, legal and environmental factors that affect the operations of business
organizations. In addition to this, the framework has been applied to the company itself,
identifying the various factors that influence the business operations of the company along
with relevant examples.

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF BEAZLEY PLC.2
Task - 1
Overview of Beazley PLC.
Beazley PLC is a holding company specializing in insurance businesses, based in the
United Kingdom and its headquarters in London. The variety of insurance services provided
by the company include insurance for property, professional indemnity, reinsurance, life and
accident, marine, contingency and political risks. The company was founded in the year 1986
and provides its insurance services across Europe, the United States of America, Middle East
and Asia. The company is registered in the London Stock Exchange. The company was
initially named Beazley, Furlonge & Hiscox when it commenced its operations in the year
1986. However, Hiscox was eventually bought out by Nicholas Furlonge and Andrew Hiscox
in the year 1992. Since then, the company has undertaken several strategies for the purpose of
propelling its steady growth (Beazley.com 2020).
The organizational structure of Beazley can be identified to be hierarchical in nature
due to the presence an extensive board of directors. The executive directors of the company
play the important role of ensuring the maintenance of a strong relation and direct link
between the non-executive members of the board and the business of the company
(Investor.relations.beazley.com 2020). Furthermore, the non-executive members of the board
have specializations in various fields thereby providing the company with in-depth expertise
in these aspects (Bloomberg.com 2020). A hierarchical organizational structure involves the
supervision of a leader or group of leaders such as a board of directors on the other members
of the company so as to provide guidance and ensure successful business operations (Islam,
Jasimuddin and Hasan 2015).

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF BEAZLEY PLC.3
Corporate Governance
As mentioned earlier, Beazley plc has a hierarchical organizational structure
consisting of an extensive board of directors. The hierarchy among the board of directors is
ranked in a systematic manner so as to ensure optimum efficiency in the business operations.
The skills, knowledge and expertise of the individual members of the organization are
recognized as important factors in determining their designations and role in the business
operations. The board of directors can be segmented into two categories namely the group of
executive directors and the group of non-executive directors. The role of the executive
directors is to design, develop and implement strategies that may prove to be beneficial in
ensuring the growth and development of the business organization through efficiency of
operations (Fuzi, Halim and Julizaerma 2016). The non-executive directors perform the
responsibility of contributing to the efficiency and effectiveness of decision making and
strategy implementation procedures.
The three executive directors of Beazley plc are namely the Chief Executive Officer,
Chief Underwriting Officer and the Group Finance Director. The Chief Executive Officer of
the company is Andrew Horton. He had joined the company in the year 2003, for the role of
the finance director (Investor.relations.beazley.com 2020). Horton previously had an
experience of being the Chief Financial Officer at Lloyds Bank and Natwest. The Chief
Underwriting Officer of Beazley plc is Adrian Cox. He had joined the company in the year
2001 and performed the responsibilities of casualty treaty portfolio and large risk portfolio.
He was appointed the role of the Chief Underwriting Officer in the year 2019. The Group
Finance Director of the company is Sally Lake, who joined the organization in the year 2006
(Investor.relations.beazley.com 2020). Prior to her role as the Group Finance Director, Lake
performed the role of group actuary since 2014.