Business Environment Challenges: Retailers and Wholesalers Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the business environment, focusing on the key issues impacting retailers and wholesalers. It identifies crucial factors such as competitive pressures, licensing requirements, and resource management challenges. The report delves into the specific impacts of these issues on the food retail and wholesale sectors, examining how competition and licensing affect business operations and performance. Furthermore, it offers reflections on the challenges, emphasizing the importance of strategic management and compliance with labor laws. The report highlights the significance of sustainable resource utilization and the need for businesses to adapt to changing market dynamics. It concludes with a summary of findings and recommendations for navigating the complexities of the business environment.

Business Environment

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1. Identification of key issues in business environment ............................................................1
2. Impact of two issues in food retailers and wholesalers...........................................................3
3. Reflection on any two challenges of the both ........................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The business environment can be considered as the environment which involves the
internal as well as external range of factors that directly or indirectly, affects the functioning of
the company and its processes. These can be the staff, employees, management, rules and
regulations of the organisation etc. The internal factors are considered as the vision, mission or
the value system of the organisation and the external factors can be the competitors or some
technological factors as well (Teece, 2010). In considering the business environment, an
important part which is to ensure is that the internal and the external factors may get influenced
by each other, which can affect the business and its functions more. The report is about
understanding the key issues that come in the business environment of the retailers and
wholesalers and how they can impact on their business.
1. Identification of key issues in business environment
Although there are a huge number of factors that causes some sort of issues in the
organisation and the environment but some are considered as key issues whose impact can affect
the organisation and its processes more. These issues can be related to internal as well as external
factors or also because a combination of both. There can be various issues that can come in the
business environment for the retail industry. Some of them are discussed as under :
Competitive environment
The competitiveness of the environment can be considered as one of the major challenges
that the retail industry has to face. It depends on the sales landscape of the organisation. There
can be various other retailers who might be having higher number of sales. So, it creates a
pressure in the environment of the organisation. The workers must not be able to focus on the
work because of the stress and pressure from the higher authorities (Babatunde and Adebisi,
2012). It depends on the organisation whether they can take benefits from this stress or loss
because it is such a situation which can either make the organisation strong enough to compete
with the rivals or can weaken the organisation more in case if they will be having a weaker
vision. So, management at this time of condition is very necessary.
NLRB complaint
The national labour relations board (NLRB) can also cause issues in the organisation of
violating any labour laws. There are some laws that have been developed by the government
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which every retail industry have to follow. It includes giving proper wages to the workers, not
promoting child labour etc. So, if any retail organisations seems to be not following these laws,
the NLRB can impose huge penalties for them and the person even can be suspended for a long
time as well (Aterido, Hallward-Driemeier and Pagés, 2011).
Licensing
For starting any business, the organisation have to register themselves with the specific
state for the collection and remitting of the tax amount on the sales that is being made in the
state. So, for retailers as well, it is important to make a license before. If the same is not being
done, then the authority for licensing has appropriate right to shut down the business. License
acts a sort of permit for selling and marketing in that locality (Kew and Stredwick, 2017).
Federal Tax ID
It is essential for the organisation to have an employee identification number (EIN) which
can also be considered as an identification number for the federal tax. Although the process of
applying for an EIN is easy and can be easily done online but it is important because the vendors
for doing business with a retailer, needs a tax id.
DBA Certificate
If the retail organisation wants to name the organisation by some other name as of their
personal, for this, the organisation has to register them and complete all the required paper work.
There can be many systems of the registration such as the registration of the business name or a
doing business as (DBA) certificate (Harrison, 2013).
Resource management
It is important to manage the resources in a way that they can stay efficient enough for
the future employees as well. This is called sustainable development. The resources may be some
technologies etc., that the staff is using and they should be used in a way that they will last long.
Any errors in these technologies can interpret the whole process and the customers may also
have to wait which causes the inconvenience of the customers. So, it is better to make an
efficient use of all these resources so that the staff as well as the customers may not have to face
any issue.
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2. Impact of two issues in food retailers and wholesalers
The food retailers and wholesalers have to make sure that they go with the flow of what
is satisfying the customers at that time. It means the demand of the people changes from time to
time and the organisation should be aware of the present demands and requirements of the
customers. Although, there can be various issues in the retail industry and each of them has a
different impact on the business and its environment. Discussing the impact of two issues as
under :
Competition in the market
As discussed, it is one of the key issues that can have an impact over the business
environment of the organisation. There is a huge competition in the food industry as well. The
organisations are including some changes in the flavours and tastes so that the customers can
have something different from the regular routine and these ideas has also attracted much
number of customers (Teece, 2010). So, each organisation under food and consumer services are
including such types of involvements in their business which further is increasing the
competition between the retailers and wholesalers.
The result of competition is the increased pressure and stress that comes on the staff and
member's of the organisation. Because of this stress, the employees are also not able to
concentrate on the work properly and because of which, some major parts can be missed as well
(Fernando, 2011). The mismanagement caused by such factors can take the company to a huge
loss and after a big loss, it can be difficult to rise again in the market. So, these factors should be
considered before and at the time of such competition as well, the employees and the staff should
keep calm and handle the whole situation in such a way that they also can reach that level. BY
keeping their focus on this, the organisation can be able to achieve higher targets.
Licensing
As licences act as a sort of permit for sales and marketing in a particular locality, these
are invoked and revoked by the governmental bodies or agencies. Providing license means
giving the business, permission to conduct its operations within their jurisdiction. The whole
process considers a variety of factor for the justification for using the license and these factors
include the tax rates, employment factor etc. According to the food safety and standards act 2006
and the regulations under the registration of food and business 2011, it considers the
manufacturing, collection and sales of the food for promoting the safety and health of the
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customers (Aterido, Hallward-Driemeier and Pagés, 2011). If any company may be found
without the license by the governmental authorities or the organisation has not renewed their
license from a long time, then in that case, the governmental body has appropriate rights to
cancel their license and shutting down their business.
This will however affect the marketing and sales of the business as they could not be able
to sale till the time, their new license has been issued. Also, it affects on the popularity level of
the organisation. After such act, it becomes difficult for the customers to trust the brand again, so
it can affect the whole marketing and sales of the food retailers and wholesalers. So, it is
important to ensure the fact that making the license of the particular brand and industry is
necessary and renewing it as well. It is because the cancellation of license or such acts makes a
very bad impression on the organisation, thus it can also decrease the number of customers as
well, which will take the industry in decreased profits.
3. Reflection on any two challenges of the both
While doing the analysis on the key issues, I observed there are various barriers and
challenges that the retailers have to face and the way they impact on the environment of their
business. I realised that although there can be various factors that affect the success and growth
of the organisation, but competition and its pressure has the major impact. I think the retailers
and wholesalers can either grow or can also go down under stressful conditions because I believe
this has to be managed. I think the organisations under the retail and wholesale industry should
focus on managing and keeping a balance of such type of situations as ups and downs are a part
of any business. So I think even if the competition in the market place increases, the industry and
the organisations rather than stressing over it should have use some strategies and methods by
which they can also reach to that level and even higher than that.
Also, there are various labour laws in the retail industry as well. I went through some of
them which included no child labour, providing equal and sufficient wages to the workers,
supporting no sort of discrimination etc. Out of all these, I think discrimination is the worst thing
ever that can be happened to one in a work place. I also analysed the importance of sustainable
development which means the utilization of resources in such a way that it could be preserved
for the further use of the new employees or staff. So, I understood that using the resources in a
way that the future generations can also eb able to use is very necessary and helps the
organisation as well. As per the rights, there should be no sort of discrimination in the work
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place. Whether it is on the basis of race, caste, colour etc., these are not supported in any industry
including the food as well. I analysed that violation of any of the labour law can cause very high
penalties by the national labour relations board (NLRB). Along with the higher penalties, the
involved persons can also be suspended for a longer period. I think as the competitive
environment can help in maintaining the balance in the organisation, the NLRB can also help in
ensuring the fact that the organisation has to follow all the rules and regulations, otherwise they
can get in huge troubles which can further affect their marketing and sales as well as their
popularity and image in the market place.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the report that the business environment of an organisation
involves the internal as well as external factors which can separately or combined, impact the
environment of the business. There are various key issues in the business environment which the
retail industries has to face and these involve the competitiveness in the market, licensing,
following proper rules and regulations along with all the labour laws and a proper management
of the resources so that they can stay appropriate and efficient enough for the new ones to use.
Also, it includes that what can be the impact of the challenges on the environment of the business
and how they can be prevented. Also, at the end, it includes a reflection on two of the challenges
that are being faced in the business environment along with their impacts.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aterido, R., Hallward-Driemeier, M. and Pagés, C., 2011. Big constraints to small firms’
growth? Business environment and employment growth across firms. Economic
Development and Cultural Change. 59(3). pp.609-647.
Babatunde, B. O. and Adebisi, A. O., 2012. Strategic Environmental Scanning and Organization
Performance in a Competitive Business Environment. Economic Insights-Trends &
Challenges. 64(1).
Chavis, L. W., Klapper, L. F. and Love, I., 2011. The impact of the business environment on
young firm financing. The world bank economic review. 25(3). pp.486-507.
Commander, S. and Svejnar, J., 2011. Business environment, exports, ownership, and firm
performance. The Review of Economics and Statistics. 93(1). pp.309-337.
Fernando, A. C., 2011. Business environment. Pearson Education India.
Gecevska, V. and et.al., 2010. Product lifecycle management through innovative and
competitive business environment. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management.
3(2). pp.323-336.
Harrison, A., 2013. Business environment in a global context. Oxford University Press.
Kew, J. and Stredwick, J., 2017. Business environment: managing in a strategic context. Kogan
Page Publishers.
Klapper, L. F. and Parker, S. C., 2010. Gender and the business environment for new firm
creation. The World Bank Research Observer. 26(2). pp.237-257.
Teece, D. J., 2010. Business models, business strategy and innovation. Long range planning.
43(2). pp.172-194.
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