Reflective Analysis of Business Environment

Reflective Analysis of
Business Environment

Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
Value Chain Model....................................................................................................................................3
Marks and Spencer....................................................................................................................................4
Internal Environment...............................................................................................................................5
Reflection on Value Chain Model.............................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................................8
REFRENCES.............................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The business environment comprises of both internal as well as external factors that can
affect an organization’s overall operations including its employees, demand and supply,
customers etc. It can provide an access to several opportunities and help a particular business
improve its overall performance (Aziz, Noranee and Abd Razak, 2020). It also helps in
formulating strategies and cope up with various challenges as well as risks. Organization chosen
for this report is Marks and Spencer, which is a British multinational retailer founded in 1884 by
Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. The report describes the Value Chain Model and examines
the internal environment of the chosen company.
Value Chain Model
Value Chin Model can be defined as a strategic tool that is used be organizations to
analyze their internal activities. It is a process that allows an organization to identify its primary
as well as support activities that add value to its final products and services in some or the other
way. The main aim of the value chain model is to identify which activities are valuable and
which ones can be improved in order to gain a competitive advantage in the market. The model
was presented by Michael Porter in the year 1985 and comprises of primary activities, that add
value to the final products of the company as well as support activities that also add value to the
products, but indirectly (Value Chain Analysis, 2020). All the activities in the model are
interdependent with five primary activities, namely inbound logistics, operations, outbound
logistics, marketing and sales as well as service. Support activities on the other hand include
procurement, human resources, technology, development and firm infrastructure.
Primary activities are majorly concerned with creating and delivering a product and are
grouped in to five categories. On the other hand, support activities are the ones that assist the
primary activities in standing out against competition in the market. The different categories of
the two activities are explained below.
Primary Activities
Inbound Logistics: It is defined as the goods that are obtained from the suppliers of an
organization and will be used to produce the end product.