Business Challenges and Management Strategies

This assignment provides a comprehensive analysis of business challenges and management strategies. It includes references to various articles, research papers, and real-world examples such as Volkswagen's emissions scandal, Marks & Spencer's retail crisis, and Honda's factory closure due to Brexit. The assignment also touches on environmental impact, skilled worker shortages, and the challenges faced by NGOs in India. Students are expected to critically evaluate these cases and develop effective management strategies to overcome the challenges.

ESSAY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Ease of developing businesses and innovative ideas..............................................................3
Challenges confronted by the businesses in national level....................................................4
Challenges confronted by the organisations at multinational level........................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Innovative idea is essential for launching a new business or products. Through the
innovative idea, businesses provide the products and services to the consumers to meet their
requirements as well as to earn money at the marketplace. The entrepreneurs or management
may faces various issues in operating at both national and multinational level which must be
considered by them for reducing the impact of these challenges on the functionality of the
businesses (Meyer, Mudambi & Narula, 2011). These challenges includes, social, legal,
environmental, lack of funds etc. which should be essentially determined by the managers of
companies in order to handle the challenges effectively and efficiently. This essay will cover the
challenges faced by the businesses in implementing the ideas into reality as well as the problems
faced by the businesses at both national and global context along with the examples.
MAIN BODY
Ease of developing businesses and innovative ideas
Development of enterprises needs an innovative idea which is gathered by the owners
through various methods such as friends and family. This idea behind the formation of
businesses or products is to satisfy the needs of customers in order to enhance the profit of the
business owners. For implementing an idea, business organisations face various challenges
which can impact the business and its functions. These issues can be tackled by the management
or owners in order to get the desired results and output. These challenges are also essential to
overcome for enhancing the performance and productivity of the organisation. Some of these
challenges are building a business team, Raising capital, finding skilled employees etc. which
should be considered by the management in the development of the strategies through which the
company can sustain in the market (Challenges of starting a business, 2018). For supporting the
arguments in this section, Elizabeth Gooch of the EG solutions is taken as examples.
According to the Jelmer, (2018) entrepreneurs faces various challenges in developing
their ideas into reality. These challenges can impact the growth of the businesses if not handled
by the entrepreneurs in an effective manner. The main challenge of executing the idea into
practical in business is of a clear idea or vision. A clear idea is must for organisations to achieve
the growth and establish the business. Without having clear idea, business persons could not
determine about why their business is formed. Lacking of innovative idea can results in failure of

businesses as customers may not get attracted towards the offerings or company. The business
owners or entrepreneurs needs to have an unique and innovative idea in order to implement it
successfully. For example: Elizabeth Gooch of EG solutions plc lacks the clear vision due to
which she first established the consultancy services firm and later on when the firm does not see
the desired growth, then she converted the financial and consultancy services into software
services for achieving the desired growth (Interview with Elizabeth Gooch, 2011).
Another challenge is of assembling the right business team. This team does not includes
the regular employees but the ones around the round table who will arrange meeting for
brainstorming the idea regarding the growth of the business. Assembling the team with unskilled
or poor skilled people can lead to generation of irrelevant or improper ideas which can impact
the growth of business. The entrepreneurs needs to ensure that they are hiring the right skilled
people for the team having suitable experience of developing the ideas or strategies (Noe & et.
al., 2017). For example: Elizabeth Gooch does not know about the concept of assembling the
right business team for gathering the ideas regarding the success of the company. Due to this, the
financial services provider firm was not quite successful due to which she took the help from
Rodney Baker Bates for getting the desired ideas required for the success of the company.
Third challenge is of raising the capital. This challenge is faced by the entrepreneurs
after the assembling of business team. The funds are required for purchasing the required
machinery and other equipments used in execution of different business functions (Rothaermel,
2013). In order to eliminate this challenge, businesses should have the right business team who
will gather the ideas for raising the capital by using different sources that includes bank loan,
crowd funding, angel investors etc. For an instance: The challenge of raising the capital is also
faced by the entrepreneur Elizabeth Gooch of EG solutions plc. She did not have the required
amount of the money for purchasing the machines and infrastructure. However, she managed the
money from bank loan, friends and family help for opening her business.
Challenges confronted by the businesses in national level
Business are formed for satisfying the needs and requirements of the customers in order
to achieve the sustainability at the marketplace for a longer period of time. These businesses
perform their business operations and activities at both national and global level for meeting the
expectations of a large number of customers by providing them products and services based on
their needs and demands. When operating at a national level, these businesses face various issues

or challenges which impacts their performance as well as the productivity. These challenges can
be tackled by the authorities of the firms in the strategy or decision making process for reducing
the impact on business operations (Challenges faced by the businesses at national level, 2015).
These challenges usually arises when the business lacks the resources or information for
performing the business operations in effective manner.
According to the John Rampton, (2015) businesses faces various issues in performing
their operations regardless of their size or scale. Some of the major challenges faced by the
businesses in performing the business operations at national level are associated with the hiring
skilled people, insufficiency of money, following ethical compliances etc. which should be
determined by the management before these challenges impact the business operations. The
major challenge faced by the companies is of hiring the right candidates. Highly skilled
candidates are essential for the business who can perform their work in an effective manner for
achieving the desired organisational goals. Without the suitable skills, candidates could not be
able to execute their work which will impact the business profitability. For example: The Barratt
home of UK is a construction company who faced such challenges (Shortage of skilled workers
holding back efforts to tackle Britain’s housing crisis, 2015). This challenge is faced by company
due to the lack of skilled workers in the construction industry which also impacted the company
in hiring talented people.
Another challenge is associated with insufficiency of funds. Money is the essential
requirement for any organisation in order to execute the operations in an appropriate manner.
Without these funds, management of the companies can face various challenges in acquiring
other resources such as workforce, raw materials, machinery etc. These financials resources are
required for purchasing or hiring the building, machines and workers in organisation for ensuring
the smooth flow of operations. For example: Save the Children is a India based NGO who faced
the issues of lack of funds due to which they could not able to execute their work for the
betterment of the children (Challenges Faced by NGOs in India, 2016). However, the NGO
gained the required amount of money from various entrepreneurs and charities so that they can
do their work for the upliftment of the children in India.
Another challenge is associated with the following ethical business regulations or
compliances which are specified by the government of the nations. These ethical compliances
are necessarily complied by the business firms to avoid the punishment and penalties from the

government. Also not following these compliances can results into dissatisfaction among the
employees and customers which is not good for company in terms of brand image and
sustainability. For an instance: The Volkswagen motors is a German car manufacturer who used
unethical practices in the development of their 11 million cars which imposed huge penalties on
them.. This challenge impacted the company negatively and company has to face loss of billions
of dollar (Volkswagen: Emissions Scandal, 2016).
Challenges confronted by the organisations at multinational level
Global business environment comprises of rivalries and challenges which must be
handled by the firms in an effective manner to execute business operations ethically and
effectively. The firms operating in global market needs to determine the challenges which can
impact the survival of an organisation as well as the productivity of the business. The challenges
can be determined by the management of the firms by analysing the external environmental
factors of the global markets which can influence the company in both positive and negative
aspects (Binder, 2016). These external environmental factors can be identified by using the
PESTLE analysis.
According to the Kiesha Frue, (2018) Pestle analysis is useful for the businesses for
identifying the external environmental factors and their impact on the business operations. This
analysis tool is also useful in determining the various challenges associated with the external
factors of global environment that may impact activities of companies when operating at global
level. These external environmental factors include political, social, technological, economical
etc. which are essentially taken into consideration by the managers in decision or policy making.
Political challenges for business are connected with the political factors of nation where
the business operates their functions. These political factors are associated with the policy
changes, rules and regulations, taxation system, and political fluctuations etc. which can
influence the functioning of the organisation. In order to overcome these challenges, the
management of the companies needs to analyse these factors and changes in them so as to
prepare the strategies accordingly for reducing the impact as well as to handle the challenges in
proper manner. For example: Honda is Japanese company having operations in various countries.
The company has announced to close its production plant at Swindon, UK due to the impact of
Brexit on the political conditions of the UK. Due to the Brexit, the trade between the countries

get impacted and leads to closing of the plant of the Honda (Honda is closing its British factory,
2019).
Economical challenges for the business firms are related with factors of economy which
includes inflation rate, fluctuations in interest rates etc. which
keeps on changing according to the strategies developed by the governmental authorities. These
factors should be analysed properly by the managers of the business companies in order to
develop the strategies properly. Through this analysis, the company can determine the extent
upto which these challenges can impact the business. Such challenges usually arises due to the
weak situation of economy of the people of the particular nation in which business operations of
the firms are being operated. For an instance: M&S is a retail firm of UK having operations and
stores through out the world. The company has to shut its one out of ten stores in UK due to the
crisis going on in the retail industry (The 2018 Retail Crisis Catches Up With Marks and
Spencer, 2018). Due to this challenge, company had to fire 600 of their employees and shutting
down of 14 of their stores in UK.
Social challenges can arises in the businesses when organisations fails to consider the
social aspects of people in providing the goods and services to the targeted customers. These
social aspects include growth rate in population, income dispersion, lifestyles attitudes, health
related concerns which may influence the sales of the products provided by the company. When
sales get influenced, then it will also impact the profitability and productivity of the company.
For example: Tesco is a retail giant of UK who had faced such social and ethical issues due to
which the reputation of the company get negatively impacted. The issue was that a family
purchased fresh Turkey from Tesco store in Whitchurch, Shropshire (Tesco customers furious
after discovering their Christmas Day turkey was GREEN in the middle, 2016). When cutting the
turkey, family found bright green tinge inside them due to which they are dissatisfied after using
the products offered by an organisation.
Technological challenges are also exists in the global environment which can arises due
to the ignoring of advancements in technologies which includes automation, upgrade outdated to
latest technology etc. These challenges can be eliminated by the company by implementing the
updated tools and equipments at the workplace so as to increase the efficiency of firm. For an
instance: Samsung is a South Korean company who has faced the technological challenges due
to the competitors such as Apple and Google. The smartphones provided by Apple and Google

are comparatively more fast and flexible than the phones of Samsung because of the software
and due to this the sales of the company becomes low (Samsung’s biggest challenge now is
Google software, not Apple hardware, 2017).. However, the company developed their brand new
software for handling these challenge which also assisted the company in enhancing the brand
image and profitability.
Environmental challenges also exists in global market which are related with the
environmental aspects such as shortage of raw materials, concentrating pollution and carbon
related regulations framed by governmental authorities. analysed carefully by the management of
the companies in order to determine the extent of pollution done by the business in performing
the operations (Environmental impact of Volkswagen scandal, 2016). By analysing these factors,
management can take suitable precautions and measure for eliminating the impact of pollution
on the environment as well as to reduce the impact of these challenges on the business. For
example: Volkswagen were engaged in an unethical scandal under which they sold the vehicles
who contains gases emission more than 40% of standards set by the governmental authorities.
This makes negative impact on the brand image and reputation of Volkswagen.
Legal challenges can also arises due to not following the laws and regulations of the
government such as consumer protection laws, health and safety laws, copyright and patent laws,
employment laws and etc. Such aspects must be analysed carefully so as to deal with the
challenges by implement corrective laws. For example: Volkswagen is a British premium car
producer who were engaged in an illegal scandal of installing the cheat devices in over 11
million cars. This scandal results into huge penalty imposed by the government as the company
was found avoiding the clean air act, 1956. Also by installing the cheat devices, company was
also found guilty of exploiting the workers, falls statements etc. which impacted the company in
negative manner (Volkswagen facing 'tsunami' of legal trouble in emissions scandal, 2015).
CONCLUSION
From the above discussed essay, it has been concluded that there are various complexities
that makes huge impact on the business operations of any firm which is engaged in operating at
national or global level. These challenges must be overcomed by the management of the firms by
determining or considering them during the time of strategy development so that their impact can
be reduced. The management of the firms needs to ensure that the challenges are handled in an
effective manner otherwise these can arise again for impacting the business operations.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Meyer, K.E., Mudambi, R. & Narula, R. (2011). Multinational enterprises and local contexts:
The opportunities and challenges of multiple embeddedness. Journal of management
studies. 48(2). pp.235-252.
Noe & et. al. (2017). Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Rothaermel, F.T. (2013). Strategic management: concepts. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Binder, J. (2016). Global project management: communication, collaboration and management
across borders. Routledge.
Online
Challenges of starting a business. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.legacyconsultancy.nl/challenges>.
Challenges faced by the businesses at national level. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242432>.
Interview with Elizabeth Gooch. 2011. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/view-from-the-top-elizabeth-gooch-
interview/>.
Volkswagen facing 'tsunami' of legal trouble in emissions scandal. 2015. [Online]. Available
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Shortage of skilled workers holding back efforts to tackle Britain’s housing crisis. 2015.
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<https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/shortage-of-skilled-workers-
holding-back-efforts-to-tackle-britain-s-housing-crisis-10509296.html>.
Challenges Faced by NGOs in India. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.savethechildren.in/articles/challenges-faced-by-ngos-in-india>.
Volkswagen: Emissions Scandal. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://businessethicscases.blogspot.com/2016/11/volkswagen-emissions-scandal-due-
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The 2018 Retail Crisis Catches Up With Marks and Spencer. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://blog.bham.ac.uk/cityredi/the-2018-retail-crisis-catches-up-with-marks-and-
spencer/>.
Honda is closing its British factory. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/19/business/honda-uk-plant-swindon-brexit/
index.html>.
Environmental impact of Volkswagen scandal. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<https://earthtalk.org/volkswagen-emissions-scandal-impact/>.
Samsung’s biggest challenge now is Google software, not Apple hardware. 2017. [Online].
Available through: <https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/30/15118744/samsung-galaxy-
s8-google-software-apple-hardware-competition>.
Tesco customers furious after discovering their Christmas Day turkey was GREEN in the
middle. 2016. [Online]. Available through:

<https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2487708/tesco-christmas-day-turkey-green-customers-
angry/>.