Business Environment and Management Practices

This assignment provides a detailed analysis of the business environment, including the co-evolution of MNEs and institutional environments. It also covers various management practices such as scientific management, occupational analysis, and business process management. The assignment includes references to books, articles, and online resources that provide further information on these topics.

Business Environment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
M1. .........................................................................................................................................8
D1. .........................................................................................................................................8
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
P3. Relation between various company's functions and their relation with its goals and
structure..................................................................................................................................8
M2.........................................................................................................................................11
D2.........................................................................................................................................11
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................11
P4. Positive and negative impact of external factors on the functions of Tesco..................11
M3.........................................................................................................................................13
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................13
P5. SWOT analysis of Tesco................................................................................................13
M4. .......................................................................................................................................14
P6. Relation of the macro factors with the strengths and weakness of the company...........14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
There are various activities in which. This is done in order to get some profit in reference
to money. But, it is not necessary all the time that purpose of all the operations are profit making
as every business are set on the foundation of some or other mission and vision. In the business
environment there are certain factors available internally or either externally which impacts the
firm's working (Blanchard, Tolbert and Mencken, 2011). To ensure that these components does
not impact the productivity and profitability companies try to adapt into the changing conditions
through framing their strategies according to it. Through performing SWOT and PESTLE
analysis micro and macro environment can be evaluated (Aula, 2010). With this report a detailed
study on the business environment will be done through taking the scenario of Tesco, BBC and
Oxfam which are private, public and voluntary organisations.
TASK 1
1

2

3

4

5

6

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Sole Trader:- It is a type of business structure in which a person performs trading as a
single person is also responsible for all the aspects of business. In this the debts and losses cannot
be shared with others.
Partnership:- This can be called as an arrangement where two or more people share
profits and liabilities of a business venture. There might be chances that liabilities and profits
equally distributed or there might be sharing of these to some parties who has limited liabilities.
Private Limited Company:- It is type of privately held small business companies and
limits owner liability to shares, limits the number of shareholders to 50 and stops shareholders
from publicly trading shares.
Public Limited Company:- This kinds of companies offer shares to the common people
and has limited liability. Stock of public limited company is offered to the general public and can
be acquired by anyone.
M1.
Every organisation has some or other goals and objectives so in order to achieve them
they design structure according to it. All the people are given certain responsibility and with this
they provide them resources which they have to use by looking at the scope of the objective and
products.
D1.
Tesco, BBC and Oxfam has different structure as their function and aims are different.
But they have to make sure that the structure should not be complex as this will make their way
to success little bit tough. So they all need to ensure that their should be interrelationship with
different organisational functions and their structure.
TASK 2
P3. Relation between various company's functions and their relation with its goals and structure.
If any company wants to decide their function they look at their objectives and goals. To
bring out more productivity and increase efficiencies the employees who are working for Tesco
are given certain duties and responsibilities which they have follow (Commander and Svejnar,
2011). They need to set a relation with the organisational operations and the gaols which they
have to attain from that. Tesco puts more emphasis on the functions as they are well aware that
through this they can experience sustainable development. There is a very bad image of the
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private firms that they does not obey the environment laws and their activities deplete the
environment. In their mission and vision statement they have stated that they want to achieve
better productivity through keeping environment laws in scenario (Gebauer, Paiola and
Edvardsson, 2010). The management of the Tesco are involved in the planning, hiring, selecting,
handling, evaluating and monitoring activities. All the targets has to be completed but at the
same time they also have to take care of the environment which is a little tough. To get things in
time they try to improve their performance and set a coordination with their functions all
together.
After the organisational audit it has been seen that they are generally adopting matrix
structure with the hybrid strategy. With this they want to bring efficiency and flexibility in the
various areas of the organisation. On the other side it also make them sure that they have
sufficient amount of money to support their functions and bring better results. The functions of
the company are lined in a way that almost every area of the company gains equal attention.
Through this structure they are easily able to manage the roles and responsibility of the staff.
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Illustration 1: Annual Report, Tesco. 2017
Below mentioned are the department which are part of Tesco and their functions:-
Marketing and Sales:- Both are the crucial part of the company as through these only
they convince the customers to buy their products (De Jonge, 2011). On the other hand they also
gives the information about the certain demands and requirements of the customers related to
their products. They aware other department that how they can attain competition advantage
through their efforts. Marketing department has full fledge information about the department like
what trend is going in the market.
Finance:- Their role is totally related to the money so they look for the certain expenses
occurring in the business operations performed by TESCO in a specific financial year. After
analysis they develops a brief that what all expenses is required or not (Siewiorek and et. al.,
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2012). After looking at the demands and strategies of almost all departments they allocate budget
and make sure that it is utilized in better way to gain maximum output.
Customer Service:- Consumers are the backbone of the company because they are those
people who buy their products and then only they get any benefit. So it is necessary that
whatever problems or issue they are facing should be resolved. Through the customer service
they try to listen the feedbacks and this way they can put improvement in the products and
services they are offering.
M2.
In the business environment there is variations and no one can predict what changes will
come. So the department at Tesco should be prepared for the different situations. They should
think out of the box but make sure that all their activities are focused to company's goals and
objectives.
D2.
It is evaluated that Tesco can change the micro environment as they have full control
over them but the macro environment in which external factors are there it becomes hard for
them. They have no other option to adapt according to it for their survival. For example; Tesco
has made a policy that each of the employees should be aware about the laws which are made by
the government so with this employees will give more efforts.
TASK 3
P4. Positive and negative impact of external factors on the functions of Tesco.
Almost all the companies has very little control on these factors as they directly or
indirectly influences the functions of Tesco. Political, economic, social and technological are the
factors which are part of this. There can be both positive as well as negative impact depending
upon the situation in which Tesco is facing (Guglielmetti, 2011). If they wants to know the
impact of these they can conduct a PESTLE analysis and after having full fledge knowledge
about the condition they can frame strategies in order to adapt according to it.
Political: There are chances that these factors can widely impact them as their operations
are spread in more than 13 countries. As UK is facing instability because of Brexit and the
unexpected results of the national election so there business has slowed down here. Parliament of
the country is trying their full efforts to ensure that whatever is the political situation the business
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should not be impacted from this (Robbins, Judge and Campbell, 2010). They are also facing the
shortage of employees as change in the visa norm is preventing people to get employment in UK.
Economical: A time comes when people does not buy much as the country is facing
inflation. This would impact them and their market share would go down. The income level of
the consumers, changes in the price of products and services, less interest of the stakeholders are
the factors which are part of the economic environment (Welford, 2013). However to make sure
that they does not gets much influenced with change in this they have adopted certain
independent strategies.
Social: It consists of culture, food, traditions, ethics and interests of the people so any
changes in it will impact the businesses. Travelling from one country to another has become a
popular activity as people wants to experience new things and people. So Tesco can identify the
fact which countries tourists are more often visiting UK then after they can put certain items
which are used or eaten in those countries (Trkman, 2010). This will increase their credibility
and tourists will recommend their colleagues for this. At the same they should also open stores in
the rural areas so that people can access certain new products and in low prices.
Technological: Tesco is well aware that with introduction of certain new technology they
will able to increase efficiency and they will also get more time to produce more products. With
this they will also able to manage their supply chain. But in order to bring new technology they
require a lot of market research and as well as the money.
Legal: There are certain laws made by the government for the better business in the
country. Laws which were framed under EU were there to create a better environment for the
businesses. But now there will be restrictions as countries which are part of the EU are
obstructing the provision of free trade (Cantwell, Dunning and Lundan, 2010). Tesco should
maintain their image by providing quality products because any compromise in the quality of the
product and services will give a competitive advantage to rivals. The consumer will shift to their
opponents and the legal laws related to health and safety should be undertaken in the process.
They know that of any violation will lead them in legal trouble.
Environment: Tesco believes in the core value that with the development of the
economy the development of environment should be given preference. So they are regularly
evaluating their operation and trying to implement CSR model by keeping sustainable
development in mind (Teece, 2010).
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M3.
Through the PESTLE analysis it has been observed that all the factors are important so
the management should ensure that they keep a regular eye on them so any changes can be
informed in advance. According the changes they can modify their business plan.
TASK 4
P5. SWOT analysis of Tesco.
With the SWOT analysis they can gain knowledge about the micro environment and can
knowledge what are their strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths: As one of the largest retail companies of the world their maximum market is
expanded in European countries. To make sure that their products reach to almost every person
they are supplying their products in supermarkets, hypermarkets and the small stores (Belás and
et. al., 2015). Along with they regular check the prices of their products and ensure they give
goods and services at reasonable price. They have long list of the products sold by them ranging
from food items to grocery to merchandise. Tesco has created a trust among their potential
customers so their brand value is high in the market.
Weaknesses: These are the factors which are hampering their growth in the market.
There are certain situations when they face crisis in which their market share goes down. With
the negative reporting in media they have somewhat lost the trust of certain customers. With the
accounting scandal investors are not putting money in Tesco (Chow and et. al., 2012). Their re-
vials has key hold into the Asian market but they they have very little share out there.
Opportunities: These are factors which can give them a boost in their market so they
should try to grab them. To reach to the new customers and more number of consumer they need
to bring new promotional strategies (Cordes, Richerson and Schwesinger, 2010). Engaging
people at social media gives them reach to more number of people in quick time as compared to
the other media platform. The other advantage of this is that this does not require much
investments.
Threats: Walmart and ASDA are the two opponents who are giving them tough fight in
the market. They also lack in the flexibility of their organisational structure as it is impacting
their working style. They have to bring modification in it as it will increase their work efficiency
as well as improvement in the supply chain (Bill Pasmor and CMC, 2010). With increase in the
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price of the raw material it will reduce their profit margin or when they will increase the prices to
cover the cost there will be decrease in the cost.
Above mentioned factors are impact the decision making of the firm as whatever
strategies and policies will be framed by keeping these in context. Tesco should try use there
strengths in better way to expand their market in more countries.
M4.
With the accounting scandal there is impact on the shareholders as they are taking the
money out from the company. So again to win the trust of the investors they need to give them
some free shares and with the digital marketing they know they can reach more customer so
more budgets should be invested on this.
P6. Relation of the macro factors with the strengths and weakness of the company.
Whatever is the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation has interrelation with the
external factors.
Political: When their will be instability then they might face less productivity and their
ability and capability will also be reduced (Fernando, 2011).
Economical: Any rise in the inflation rates and deflation index Tesco will have to
experience a loss in big amount. To make sure that they maintain the market they have to cut
down the prices of their goods.
Social: Employees of Tesco are not putting their best efforts in accomplishing the goals
as they are not properly distributing the wages thus the moral of them is going down.
Technological: In an medium sized store they have made billing counters so that
consumer does not need to wait for billing (Erving and et. al., 2011). In the large number of
screens are set up so that shopper can easily locate the items which they want to buy for them.
Legal: To protect them from any legal obligations they have appointed legal experts who
will give them information about the certain laws.
Environment: In the operations they can use certain cleaner technologies so that
environment does not gets deplete (Cronan and et. al., 2011). With this they also take efforts to
reduce carbon emission from their factories. They have tied up with certain international bodies
who will guide them that how they can use environment friendly methods.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that if any firm wants to reach to the targets
which they have set so they need to design policies and strategies favouring the conditions. They
can know about the micro and macro factors through SWOT and PESTLE analysis. After
knowing that Tesco need to set coordination and relate them each other. For an economy all the
private, public and voluntary organisation are equally important.
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