Business Environment and Sustainability Analysis

The provided document is an analysis of the business environment and sustainability in the age of globalization. It includes research papers on topics like governance indicators, entrepreneurial orientation, and environmental management. The document also provides information on business models, leadership skills, and IT alignment. It is likely a study material or past paper for students studying business-related courses.

Business and Business
Environment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 & P2 Covered in PPT.............................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................1
P3 Relationship between organisational functions and how they are interrelate with
organisational objectives.............................................................................................................1
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................3
P4) Positive and negative impact of macro environment............................................................3
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................5
P5) Internal and external analysis of organisations.....................................................................5
P6) Evaluating strengths and weaknesses interrelate with external macro factors.....................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Globalisation encompasses the increased integration and interdependence of global
economy. So that multinational corporations have gained the importance to countries' business
environment by applying its activities to the rapidly changing market needs and following the
economic logic. Thus, value chains of such associations are widely scattered over the world.
Business environment is an amalgamation of all internal and external elements which can
influence working activities and operations of business entities. Changing needs of customers
and technological advent at marketplace are important part of business environment; to adapt
such changes means to be aware with business environment (Chetwood and et. Al, 2014). The
present assignment is based upon Barclays bank; its a multinational financial services provider
and investment bank by having branches across across the world. Apart from this, the
coursework is going to describe types and purpose of various business organisations, i.e. Public,
private and voluntary. There will discuss various organisational function and their interrelation
with organisation's goals and objectives. Furthermore, macro environment and internal &
external analysis will also conduct to determine factors which can affect a business in future.
TASK 1
P1 & P2 Covered in PPT
TASK 2
P3 Relationship between organisational functions and how they are interrelate with
organisational objectives
In this over dynamic environment, working style of business associations is rapidly
changing; all of them are tend towards gaining high cutting edge at market place. For this
purpose, their managers are trying to modify organisational structure so as to improve
functioning. The main objective of organisational structure is to show how well all departments
function if they work together (Crane and Matten, 2016). In order to perform its day to day
business activities, Barclays has several departments, such as - Finance department – Finance is the backbone of every business organisation which
ensure that whether or not sufficient finance is provided to all working activities. The
finance manager of Barclays prepare budgets, make financial forecasting and determine
inflows & outflows of cash in order to assessing financial capabilities of the company.
Available of higher capital help corporations to accomplish their goals and objectives.
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 Human resource department – This department of the company is liable for identifying
well qualified and skilled people who have sufficient skills and knowledge in order to
accomplish all working activities and tasks in the best possible manner. HR manager of
Barclays provide also training and development assistance for employees as they can
learn new ways of doing things; it leads enhancement of performance level of staff
members (Gharajedaghi, 2011).
 Marketing department – A business cannot earn more if people does not aware about its
products and services. Thus marketing department plays a vital role in attaining and
retaining target audiences at marketplace. In Barclays, marketing manager prepares
several marketing and promotional campaigns as people get know about its offerings; it
results accomplishment of business goals and objectives in a certain time period.
Various types of organisational structure which can be followed by Barclays Banks thus
to accomplish its goals and objectives, such as -
As per the above organisational structure, Barclays is following matrix organisational
structure, as in this staff members direct report to their functional management who can help
them in prioritising and reviewing work effectively (Wetherly and Otter, 2014). Matrix
organisational structure helps employees to easily interact with their product manager and share
all issues as well problems which occurs within working environment.
Functional structure: Functional structure refers to division of the organisation on the
basis of their particular work role in small groups. Every department has their own managers
who are accountable for their team. For example departments are divided into finance, IT,
marketing & production. Marketing manager has to answer the their vice president about their
work of Profit or losses.
Divisional Structure: Divisional structures are mostly adopted by the larger companies.
These division can also be done on the geographical basis. It firstly divides whole organisation
in different segment & then further each segment will be divided into various departments. In
this structure each segment has its own manager who itself manages all the department comes
under his segment and handles all the query like the owner of the segment (Ullah and Lai,
2011).
Matrix Structure: Matrix structure is the mixture of divisional as well as functional
structure. This type of organisational structure is mostly used by big multinational companies
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with the large number of employees to be managed. This structure involves more than one
reporting manager. For example employee have to answer to the product manager as well as
functional manager about his work and other necessary details.
TASK 3
P4) Positive and negative impact of macro environment
PESTLE analysis is the strategic tool of macro environment used to analyse the external
factors such as political, legal, technological, social, environmental and economic of the
organisation and these factors are evaluated below as:
Political:- Political factors are those elements that has influence over the particular
industry. Barclays group can be affected by the tax policies, trade tariffs & fiscal policy of UK.
Banks are considered among one of the financial institutions which is highly depended on the
political stability & instability of the country. Political factors has the impact on the long run
profitability of Barclays group (Sekaran and Bougie, 2016).
Positive: Political conditions of UK is stable and its policies are not changing which
supports the Barclays group in maintaining stability. Brexit has developed this bank as it can
independently deal with the other nations & can follow its own policies. This have positive
impact on the on this bank.
Negative: Barclays group has maximum no. of its branches in nations which are
combined with EU . Separation from EU has created financial issues for this bank as they have to
increase there command on other nations to get stable.
Economical:- Economical factors has direct impact on the company in terms of
economy. This factor is influenced by the changes in inflation rate, foreign exchanges, patterns
of economic growth , interest rates etc (Teece, 2010).
Positive: Barclays group has reduced its interest rate as compared to its competitor banks
to grab the targeted audience which has increased its number of customer.
Negative: Due to Brexit, many banks have get apart from the Europe & its targeted
market which have become the reason for leaving potential targeted market of that region.
It resulted in decline of major currencies that is Euro & dollar which has negative impact on the
Barclays group.
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Social:- Social factor is related to the culture, education, beliefs, population &
demographic analysis of the country. It completely depends upon the mindset of the customers as
they changes their purchasing power & pattern with the changing social trends, friends &
families advices etc.
Positive: Barclays group has its footprints across the world which is appreciated by its
most the clients as its easily accessible for them and they can use it everywhere anytime with the
maximum facilities (Li and et. al., 2011).
Negative: Barclays group is UK based bank and the its clients are more interest is living
their lifestyle as per today's scenario. Customer are less likely to purchase products launched by
banks like pensions schemes & fixed deposits. This has negative impact on Barclays group's
growth rate.
Technological:- Technological factor is related to the innovation in the existing
technology which the company uses for the motive of long stay in their business. This includes
the advance technology like email, faxes & other options which are created by internet.
Positive: Barclays group has adopted advance technology such as automate machinery in
banks, online applications, online transactions , payments of bills & other facilities which can be
used online by the customers of the banks. This has made banking transaction easier for
customers as well as employees of the Barclays group in less time consumption (Sekaran and
Bougie, 2016).
Negative: Advance technology became beneficial for the hackers. Customers usually
feels insecurity while doing online transaction and other usage of the facilities. Barclays group
has invest in order to control fraudulent activities, cyber risk & IT security to their personal &
customers detailed data confidential.
Environmental:- Environmental factors is influenced by the surrounding which has
impact on the organisation such as agriculture, tourism, climate etc. All these factors are part of
success & failure of the business. Barclays group is also affected by environmental factors
which supports it in achieving its goal & business expansion as well it sometimes becomes the
barrier for the company to move forward.
Positive: Barclays group is involving more & more corporate social responsibilities for
the welfare of the society & environment both. This bank has opted various method to reduce
their energy consumption which is beneficial for organisation as well as the environment.
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Negative: Barclays group has to follow Environment protection laws in order to save the
resources which is becoming the obstacle towards achieving the business goal and future growth.
Legal:- Legal laws made by the government are required followed by each & every
organisation. Changes in consumer law, labour laws and safety standard has vast impact on
Barclays group which affects its business environment.
Positive: Barclays group follows all the legal policies which are essential for the
employees. This enhances relationship between the employer & employee both and also attracts
new employees to join this bank (Kian Chong, Shafaghi and Leing Tan, 2011).
Negative: If the Barclays group is not following legal policies for employee benefit then
they will not trust the company. It can also lead to loosing current employees continuously.
TASK 4
P5) Internal and external analysis of organisations
SWOT analysis is based on both the internal & external factor which influences the
business environment and its growth. Strengths & weakness are considered as the internal factors
whereas opportunities & threats are termed as external factors which affects the organisation and
these factors are discussed below as:
Strength Weakness
 Barclays group is the member of
Global ATM alliance that gives the
facility to customer of withdrawing
money from the banks also who are
associated with the Global ATM.
 First innovation of Barclays group was
credit card and recently it has launched
Oneplus card which attracts its
customers
 Barclays group has various type of
business units such as retail banking,
wealth management that supports in
overall business growth of the brand.
 Due to financial crisis in UK Barclays
requires bailout for stability (Siewiorek
and et. al., 2012).
 Barclays group has modify its cyber
security plan to save themselves from
the hacker & build trust in customer
view point.
 Past controversies like Zimbabwe's
government is providing fund to
Barclays group has negative impact on
its brand name.
 Barclays group was not providing
dividend initially, this has created its
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 Barclays group opts high marketing &
advertisement ideas. This brand
sponsors many tournament like Premier
league football in England.
 Barclays group also has big networking
with the international brand which
supports in business growth and its
expansion.
 This bank has its presence across the
world which includes 4500 branches in
approx 50 countries
negative image among the investors.
Opportunities Threats
 Barclays group is planning to offer
complete portfolio of services which
they provide worldwide that will
increases the opportunities of cross
selling.
 Barclays group can expand its
footprints in untouched region like Asia
which has large number of population.
 It should target the earning youth
worldwide to convince them for
becoming the investors (Mahmood and
Hanafi, 2013).
 Joint venture with already stable banks
in untouched region can be beneficial
for Barclays group as it provide support
in the covering targeted group.
 By opting more advance technology for
the motive of reducing their costing and
 Barclays group follows strict economic
policies across the world which reduces
is less acceptable by customers.
 New entrants are becoming major
threat for Barclays group as they are
entering with innovative products &
less procedures.
 Existing competitors are providing
same banking facilities in less interest
rate which attracts more number of
customers.
 Barclays group has closed its many
branches which has created negative
image in front of the customer.
Competitor banks has used this incident
as the opportunity and build their
customer friendly image by opening
new branches. Barclays group should
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also makes the banking function
smoother & less time consuming.
 Barclays group should organise events
for the targeted audience to increase the
financial knowledge among them. This
can also be considered as the marketing
activity as this raises the awareness
among people about all the products
& services are offered by this group.
be careful in future (López-Gamero,
Molina-Azorín and Claver-Cortés,
2011).
 Political changes due to Brexit can raise
various problem for Barclays group.
P6) Evaluating strengths and weaknesses interrelate with external macro factors
The strength and weakness of external macro factors are evaluated below as:
Political:- Political factors have vast affect on the organisation which involves fiscal
policy. Changing political scenario of country, trade polices and tax rates etc. These factors
affects the business environment of the Barclays group (Hamilton and Webster, 2015).
Strength: Government stability in UK can be seen as the strength of Barclays group.
Stable political situation are results in negligible changes in the policies. Brexit has placed the
positive impact on the Barclays group as it gave opportunity to the bank in developing their
relation with the other countries and make their own policies to follow.
Weakness: Brexit was also turned as the weakness for Barclays group as it affected its
already existing customer in the countries which are connected with EU. After brexit the bank
have to have to target new countries with fresh policies and this is the long process which will
consume lots of time & also give opportunities to rivals to position there brand.
Economical:- Economical factors affects the country on the basis of monetary terms.
These factors includes various elements such as economic growth rate, interest rate, inflation etc.
which has influence over the business environment.
Strength: Barclays group has formulated various strategies to attract its customers some
of the are like less interest rate in comparison to other financial intuition that attracts the targeted
segment of customer.
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Weakness: Barclays group was affected by the Brexit as the most effective currency like
Dollar & Euro declined due to separation of the countries from Europe.
Social: Factors which are related to demographic changes, education, population, culture,
belief etc. which influences purchasing power of the customers. These factors can also be
modified by the social trends, family members suggestion & friends and affects the business
scenario.
Strength: Changing trends & awareness towards the banking sector influences customers
mindset. Increasing knowledge of product & services of Barclays group attract more number of
customers (Gebauer, Paiola and Edvardsson, 2010).
Weakness: Involvement of family member in financial matter is the biggest weakness for
the Barclays group as family members can advice various modes of decision for the investment
purpose. This affects the business of Barclays group.
Technological: Advance technology that affects the business of Barclays group as it
includes R&D which helps the company in knowing requirement of the customers that gives
opportunity to develop already existing services.
Strength: Barclays group has added various automated banking function for the ease of
employees & customers both with inclusion of online transaction.
Weakness: Barclays group faces customers have the feeling of insecurity in terms of
their confidential details can be leaked from the hackers (Halbert and Ingulli, 2011).
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that business environment has vast concept
that includes various types of functions performed in the organisation. SWOT analysis is
beneficial as it helps in understanding the external as well internal factors of the organisation
which influences business environment. Internal factors includes strengths & weakness of the
organisation where as external factors involves opportunities & threats that affects the Barclay
group. In addition to this, various types of organisational structures are also discussed in order to
achieve understand best suitable structure for this organisation.
REFERENCES
Books and Journal
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Chetwood, M. K.,and et. Al, 2014. Transforming a legacy IT infrastructure into an on-demand
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Gebauer, H., Paiola, M. and Edvardsson, B., 2010. Service business development in small and
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Gharajedaghi, J., 2011. Systems thinking: Managing chaos and complexity: A platform for
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Gilboy, G. J., 2016. The myth behind China's miracle. In SEEKING CHANGES: The Economic
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Hamilton, L. and Webster, P., 2015.The international business environment. Oxford University
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Kaufmann, D., Kraay, A. and Mastruzzi, M., 2011. The worldwide governance indicators:
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Mahmood, R. and Hanafi, N., 2013. Entrepreneurial orientation and business performance of
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Sekaran, U. and Bougie, R., 2016. Research methods for business: A skill building approach.
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Ullah, A. and Lai, R., 2011. Modeling business goal for business/IT alignment using
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globalizing world. Oxford University Press.
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