Contemporary Developments in Business and Management

This report examines contemporary developments in business and management, focusing on British Airways. It analyzes the primary external influences on the airline through a PESTLE analysis, explores the relevance of corporate social responsibility and sustainability, critically evaluates the effectiveness of British Airways' response to these concepts, and identifies areas for improvement.

CONTEMPORARY
DEVELOPMENTS IN BUSINESS
AND MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 3
TASK 1..........................................................................................................................................................3
Primary external influence of British Airways ( PESTLE analysis).............................................................3
TASK 2..........................................................................................................................................................6
Relevance of corporate social responsibility and sustainability...............................................................6
Critical evaluation of effectiveness of organization response.................................................................8
Areas require improvement in British Airways ....................................................................................10
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Contemporary development in business and management refers to the development
which have assisted the companies in improving their operations. With the development in the
functioning of the organization help in increasing firm’s profitability. In business, there are
changing in process and functioning with the emergence of new developments. This study will
consider British Airways which is the second largest airline in UK providing Travel services to
its customers. It has earned total revenue of equal to £11,443 Million in the year 2016. In this
assignment, it will contain information about primary external influence on the organization.
Also, it will contain information about corporate social responsibility and sustainability and its
importance to organization and their influence on organization decision making. Moreover, it
will provide evaluation of effectiveness of organization response towards Corporate social
responsibility and sustainability. Furthermore, it will include information regarding areas in the
organization which requirement improvement.
TASK 1
Primary external influence of British Airways ( PESTLE analysis)
It is important to identify the various external factors which affect the business
environment. British Airways requires to identify the factors present in the external environment
to reduce their negative impact to gain competitive advantage towards the rivalry existing in the
organization. The following are the factors of Pestle analysis of the British Airways :
Political factors: These are the factors present in the external environment of the British
airways but have greater influence on the operations performed by the firm. These factors consist
of government policies, taxation policies and other factors which have their influence on the
functioning of British Airways. Moreover, British airways will be affected due to influence of
Brexit which will reduce their customer base. There is high regulation on the operations of the
British Airways. However, every business is required to be regulated as airline industry is highly
subjective to regulations and it is useful for routes which are selected by airline and used airport
slots with set fare. Further, the business partners which it operates and pays for infrastructure
costs. The government of various countries throughout world it put forward various security

measures to fight the risk of unlawful migration and violence. Although, airlines participate with
multiple government in context to guarantee safety and security. For example, taxation policy of
UK affects the operation of British Airways because it will hamper their profitability level and
the prices it charge for its travel packages (Gerasimov and Gerasimov, 2015). This political
interference of the government affects the profitability of the firm due to which the business
operations of British Airways are hampered.
Economic Factors: In the present scenario, economic decline is very common with
context to business as business travel is highly reduced because of declines. On basis of global
downturn, British Airways is highly affected in various methods such as increment in prices of
oil and services, collapse of sterling and extraordinary financial crisis faced through United
Kingdom. It consists of those factors which are related to the economy. These factors have their
influence on the business environment because with the changes in these factors the organization
also has to adopt those changes in order to reduce their negative impact on their business. It
consists of factors such as inflation level, interest rates etc. With the changes in these factors the
business activities are also affected and in order to reduce the negative impact of this factors on
business operations. For example, rise in the inflation level in the UK will affect the prices
charges by British Airways on their travel packages. The economic factors need to be analyzed
in order to identify this factors because by analyzing this factors firm is able to make changes in
their operation and can formulate various strategies to reduce the negative impact of this factors
on business operations (Tukhvatulina and et.al., 2016). The economic factor such as low fuel
prices have increased the profitability of airlines in short run.
Social factors : In this context, It refers to the factor related to the society which have
their great influence on the performance and activities of British airways. Individuals require to
travel with those airline which are trusted. Also, they look for better quality services in order to
have the best experience during their travel. The social factors consist of income level of
individual, affordability, lifestyle and taste and preferences which affect the business activities.
For example, if the customer is from low income group it will require to have travel that the
travel packages which are affordable. By analyzing this factors , British Airways is able to
understand the demand of customers and their taste and preference and could provide them
services as per their requirement to provide them better experience. The increasing perception of

British Airways as a Low cost carriers attract more customers towards this airline.
Technological factors :It consist of factors which related to technology such as changes
in the technological tools. By analyzing the technological factor British Airways is able to gain
competitive advantage against the other firms by adopting those changes. British Airways by
adopting the technological factors is able to increase the profitability and is able to provide them
benefits by improving their operation and making them advanced (Huggins and Thompson,
2017). These factors have both negative and positive impact on the business operation because if
the latest technology is adopted by the competitors of the British airways which are not present
with Them will affect their customers base and they will not be able to provide its customers
with better services. But if British Airways adopt the technology changes happening in the
environment help in gaining competitive advantage against the other competitors. For example,
Investment in technology and warehouse management system will improve customer experience
and red cue the cost. For example using social media and online booking are the technological
changes which has occurred and if this changes are adopted by the British Airways than it will
have positive impact in their business.
Legal factors : The business of airline controlled in progressive manner as choice of
these controls directly vary from problems related to infrastructure to route flights along with
capacity of slot. In the same series, British Airways has to consider about modern environment
and security needs. It consists of the factors relating to laws and legislation which are made to
protect the customers and employees (PESTLE Analysis of British Airway, 2017). The British
airways have to follow the laws and legislation applicable to them in order to perform their
business operations smoothly. For example and health and safety act and equality act are
required to be followed by British Airways. For example, settlement payments made to
employees regarding lawsuits is the legal factor which have their influence on functioning of
British Airways. If the organization does not follow the laws and legislation then it have to face
various consequences. It is important to analyze the legal factors because with this firm is able
to understand the laws applicable to their organization in order to perform the business activities.
Environmental factors: These consist of factor which is related to the environment such
as climatic change, environmental protection laws, pollution and other environmental factors.
With the help of these factors the firm is able to protect the environment by using the

sustainability. British Airways is affected by environmental factors such as air, noise pollution.
So, British airways in order to perform its business activities is required to law and rules and
regulation made by the government for the environmental protection and carry the business
activities by maintaining sustainability (Huggins and Thompson, 2017). It is important to
analyze the environmental factors because it helps in identifying the factors which may affect the
business environment so that the organization can make decision and formulate strategies to
reduce the negative impact of these factors.
Thus, economic conditions give direct impact on airline industry as during offering
service of world class, objective of British Airways is to stay on top. Simultaneously, this
company aims for raising number of customers via maximum service quality and to offer safe
travel.
TASK 2
Theme: Corporate social responsibility and sustainability
Relevance of corporate social responsibility and sustainability
Corporate social responsibility of the company is a business approach that contributes to the
sustainable development by delivering economic, social and environmental benefits to all the
stakeholders of organization. It is important to have policies regarding CSR in the organization
because it assist in improving the brand image of the firm which help the firm in attracting
customers towards the firm. It improves the public image which helps the company in attracting
more customers towards the firm by satisfying the needs of society. Corporate social
responsibility help in creating brand awareness among the people which is beneficial for
increasing the profitability of enterprise. British Airways is providing travel services which
focus on improving their services to retain the passengers in business for their future travel.
British Airways with the help of its Corporate social responsibility is able to provide the
customers is better services and can contribute towards society an environment (Akhtar and
et.al., 2018). CSR policy of British Airways help in increasing the employee engagement
because employees like working with the organization having good public image. Organization
working towards corporate social responsibility helps in acquiring competitive advantage

towards the competitors. British Airways is conduct various corporate social activities which
includes the following :
 Complying with environmental legislation
 Preventing pollution and minimizing its impact on environment
 Protecting the natural environment
 It working towards continuous improvement of their environment management
system and performance.
British Airways is committed to minimizing the Impact of Noise from aircraft activities on local
communities. This Airline regularly monitors noise performance of its Aircraft fleet. Moreover,
the firm is performing its operations ethically. In the organization the strategies and policies are
formulated in the ethical manner to fulfill the corporate social responsibility and perform the
functions ethically (Wang and et.al., 2016). The firm is also involved in charity work .British
Airways decision making is influenced by Corporate social responsibility because the decision
in the firm are made according to the CSR policy of the firm.
British Airways makes decision regarding the formulation of strategies in order to
achieve the business objectives effectively and efficiently. With the help of corporate social
responsibility policy firm is able to make changes in their operation and work in a sustainable
manner to achieve their business objectives. Moreover, CSR policies help in making effective
decision for the business and help in improving the function of firm. There are various policies
in the organization which relate to health and safety, environmental protection etc. Which are
influenced by the CSR policy adopted by the firm (Grima and Thalassinos, 2018). All the
policies adopted by British Airways are made in response of the CSR activities to fulfill their
responsibility towards society and environment by protecting them. They help in protecting the
workers in the organization and assist in engaging the employee in the operation of firm and
satisfy their wants.
Organization with the help of CSR policies is able to perform its operation in ethical
manner which help in increasing their employees satisfaction and assist in improving the
performance of employees to increase the overall profitability of firm. Decision making is also

influenced by corporate social responsibility activity because the decision is made with reference
to the CSR activities in order to protect the environment and conduct the activities in best
manner possible. Corporate social responsibility activities influence the decision making in
British Airways because in the organization the decision are made by considering its impact on
the society and environment to create value for them and improve the performance of the firm.
Corporate social responsibility activities of British Airways consider reducing the pollution and
contributing towards society which assist the firm in increasing their market share and
profitability by attracting more customers to the travel services provided by them (Crowther and
Seifi, 2018). Firm is able to adopt changes occurring in the environment with the help of its
CSR activity.
The CSR activities of the firm help in improving operations, resources and acquiring
competitive advantage against the competitors. Moreover, in order to perform its operation in
sustainable way is following the laws and legislation relating to environmental protection.
British Airways make decision in order to fulfill their corporate social responsibility. CSR
policies are important because it help organization in improving their operation and assist in
engaging the customer in organization operations (Schrempf-Stirling, Palazzo and Phillips,
2016). CSR influence the decision making and policies in the organization because all the
policies and decision are made by considering the social responsibility of firm.
The decision in British Airways are made so that their corporate social responsibility is
fulfilled which is beneficial for the firm as well as for the stakeholders. For example, decision
regarding product development is made to satisfy the demand of customers by creating a
sustainable product which will protect the environment and create value for the organization in
the customer’s mind (Shamir, 2017). So it is identified that corporate social responsibility
policy is important by the firm to maintain because it will help in aching the objectives of the
firm in a sustainable manner.
Critical evaluation of effectiveness of organization response
Corporate social responsibility helps in increasing the profitability of the firm and create
value for them which is beneficial for the growth and success of business. By adopting the CSR
policy British Airways is able to provide better services to customers and can maintain good
relation with them which assist in retaining the customers in business for a long run. Moreover,
through Corporate social responsibility British airways can involve their employees which assist

in enhancing their morale and satisfaction with the job assist in improving their performance. But
however on the critical note, the firm requires to incur more expenses in implementing the CSR
related activities. This would result in lower amount of profits for British Airways (Grayson
and Hodges, 2017). The business by implementing CSR leads to increase in the operating cost
of British Airways. Thus, it can be stated that British airways is market leader in UK in order to
have smooth airline operations. This firm has adopted the strategies of having recent
improvement in corporate social responsibility so that better and effective sustainability in firm
operation can brought down. Thus, CSR functions aids to integrated, self-governing business
model so it could help to achieve business objectives carefully. In addition to it, this can be
stated that corporate social responsibility is one of the key parts of the business plan. It help to
achieve long term success to business. As per the current scenario, the one of key environmental
issue is that firm is facing the industry climate that needs to change. Thus, with help of
mitigating and minimizing the emissions the number of environmental problem aids to enhance
the brand image of the enterprise. Thus, one of the main aim is to set the standard so that firm
can achieve higher profitability.
As per the approach of triple bottom line it has only one objectives and that relates with
to add economic value to their corporation and also helps to add environmental and economic
value. It is model that aids to gives clearer picture that aids to represent the business ethics in
order to examining them properly. Thus, implementation of CSR approach leads to have quality
service and it also offer better services to customers. This is one of the most effective term in
order to provide them a sustainable competitive advantage. Therefore, it is the enterprise that put
their major focus over to led the enterprise. This is the term that aids to organize continuous
training improvement measure for employees. In addition to it, this is most effective term in
order to deliver the unique experience to the customers. By maintaining customer advantage it is
essential to put focus on diversification.
British Airways by implementing the Corporate social responsibility will create a social
responsible organization which will helps in improving their brand image which is beneficial for
the future growth and success of the business. Also, British airways through its corporate social
responsibility activity will be able to grab new opportunities by increasing the public awareness
through contributing towards the society and protecting the environment by formulating various

policies. In the critical note, It has been identified that corporate social responsibility is increases
the rules and regulation for the company and have to perform their operations accordingly to
create social values (Crane, Matten and Spence, 2019). It is require more commitment towards
the society for development of society through the contribution towards society in the way of
charity and other. Moreover, if the British airways does not Fulfill the Corporate social
responsibility than it have to face various problems which leads to reduction of their brand image
etc.
Areas require improvement in British Airways
British airways in order to improve their customer satisfaction and provide their
customers with service quality are required to improve their operations. Moreover, it requires
that they work on improving their customer relationship to identify their requirement. It requires
understanding the environment in which it operated to make changes and improvement
accordingly. It should provide their customer with various offers in order to attract customers
towards their organization. The marketing operation of British Airways is required to be
improved in order to promote its services through help of digital media and other technological
advanced promotional tools such as face book, Instagram etc. British Airways require
improvement in order to gain competitive advantage. Areas require improvement in order to
better their service quality to enhance their customer experience by proving them better travel
services. British Airways by improving their operation such as implementing the technology for
its operation will help in smooth functioning of their operations. It should implement the waste
management system in order to reduce the wastage.
Through improving the methods and other areas which relate to business activities will
enhance their business performance and provide customer satisfaction. British airways should
improve their services by identifying the customer requirement. They require improvement in
their boarding procedures. Furthermore, it can provide training to its employees in order to
improve their performance level which will help in improving the customer experience. It will
also require to identify their strength and capabilities which will assist the organization in
improving those areas to reduce their weakness. British airways is the market leader in UK with
huge fleet size which is a strength for them which can be used to attract the customers towards
their services. Also it requires improvement in improving their infrastructure system to provide

better and clean environment to customers. British Airways should improve their organization
operation in order to fulfill their social responsibility. It should provide the travel packages
according to the demands of customers. It should improve the fleet size in order to better the
experience of customers. Also it requires to more sustainable operation to provide better work
environment and meet the requirement of customers.
Simultaneously, British airways must lay emphasis on its quality standards in industry
which aggregates on competitive advantage of organization. The people led strategy of process
was directly derived through numerous sources outlines its decline in employee and customer
satisfaction. In this aspect, improved advancement of technology directly coincides with renewal
of aircraft fleet leads to overall employee and customer satisfaction. For purpose of enhancing
quality of service delivery process has to directly modify as per needs of customer so it should
use smaller airports which will decrease travel time of customer. In the same series, for
improving flying experience on flights of short distance then time gaps are referred as major
bottlenecks and for improving procedures at airport such as security checks and then boarding
pass must be directly streamlined for making service delivery highly efficient.
Thus, British airways is losing value in customer as there are daily complaints of baggage
losses so in this aspect, logistics department plays vital role in this. So, British Airways must
have presence of efficient workers for ensuring that appropriate baggage must be given at right
place. In order to this practice, Total quality management is essential for purpose of employee
engagement programs for motivating employee to enhance employee performance along with
satisfied customers.
CONCLUSION
From the above assignment it has been concluded about contemporary development in
business and management for the success and achieving the business goals and objectives
effectively and efficiently. This study has discusses on the corporate social responsibility of
British airways which is related to reduction of wastage, reducing the noise and air pollution,
protecting the environment and following the environmental laws and legislation. Also, it has
included the information about the various external factors which have their impact on business
environment of British airways such as political, economic, social, technological and other

factors. It the same series, it has shown that British Airways should give focus on quality
standards for purpose of employee engagement and customer satisfaction as well.

REFERENCES
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Online
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