The UK Business Environment

This report provides an overview of the UK business environment, including the different types and purposes of organizations in the public, private, and voluntary sectors. It also explains the relationship between different organizational functions and how they link to organizational objectives and structure.

The UK Business
Environment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Explain different types and purposes of organisations; public, private and voluntary sectors
and legal structures.................................................................................................................1
P2 Explain the size and scope of different types of organisations.........................................3
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................4
P3 Explain the relationship between different organisational functions and how they link to
organisational objectives and structure..................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Business environment comprises of various internal as well as external factors like
variations in the preferences of customers, implementation of various government policies,
market situation, introduction of new technologies and innovations etc. that impact the
functioning of a business either positively or negatively. These factors have to be kept in mind
while new strategies are formulated in order to maintain efficiency of the organisation (Charter,
2017).
Marks and Spencer is a British multinational, headquartered in Westminster and was
founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. The company is a leading brand
offering high quality clothing, home and food products.
This report covers the various types of organizations and their respective legal structures,
their size and scope and various departments that operate in an organization and their inter
relation with each other.
Task 1
P1 Explain different types and purposes of organisations; public, private and voluntary sectors
and legal structures
There are different kinds of organizations like private, public and voluntary organisations
each having its own goals and objectives. They differ in their sizes, structures and scope. This
report describes different types of organizations, their legal structures. One company from each
sector is described below -
Public sector organizations – These types of organizations are usually owned by the
government in order to provide services for the citizens of a country in order to fulfil their needs
and expectations. National Health Service is a public company in United Kingdom and provides
health services to the people (Hillary, 2017).
o Purpose: The purpose of this company is to provide health related services to people
who have low income levels and cannot afford such services NHS provides services
at low and affordable prices. The main aim of public sector organizations is not
profitability but provide better services as they are funded by the government.
o Objective: The objective of the company is to create a helpful environment for the
patients as well as the staff in order to provide them health benefits (Wallace, 2017).
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o Legal Structure: NHS was formed with the help of certain parliament acts. The firm
also receives funds from the government to provide effective services to people all
over the UK.
 Private sector organisation – Private sector organizations are the ones that are run or
controlled by sole proprietors. The company chosen here is Marks and Spencer, a brand
that is known worldwide for its clothing styles.
Purpose: The purpose of Marks and Spencer is to serve the middle to upper class segments of
people by producing products of good quality (Hoogendoorn, 2016).
o Objective: The main objective of the company is to build a brand that is not only
sustainable but also be profitable through constant efforts.
o Legal Structure: The legal structure of a private organization may either be
partnership or sole proprietary. This varies from organization to organization. Marks
and Spencer is a joint venture.
Stakeholders: Private organisations include a range of stakeholders as Marks and Spencer
includes both internal as well as external stakeholders. External stakeholders include clients,
suppliers etc. whereas internal stakeholders comprise of the staff, board of directors and
managers (Tarhini and et. al., 2016).
Voluntary organisations – These are the type of organizations that are non-profit in nature and
include entities pertaining to healthcare, education etc. There are various companies like Oxfam,
British Heart Foundation etc. that come under voluntary organizations (Kolk, A., 2016). The
company selected herein is Oxfam which provides services for the development of the poor.
o Purpose: The main purpose of this company is to provide services for people who
come below poverty line and can’t afford even basic necessities. The main purpose of
Oxfam is to develop long lasting solutions to remove poverty.
o Objective: The organisation’s key objectives include ensuring the development of
people who do not have any financial resource and to concentrate on the advancement
of their living standards.
o Legal Structure: The legal structure of voluntary organizations may be incorporate or
corporate. Here, the regulations and laws are implemented through several parties
who donate money. Oxfam’s legal structure is incorporate. This is because the
company is not developed according to a fixed framework.
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P2 Explain the size and scope of different types of organisations
The scope and size of different types of organisations are described below-
Types of Organisations Scope Size
Public Organisations
National Health Service aims
to bring transformation which
will not only help it in working
against challenges but also
identify opportunities in the
medical sector (Moutinho and
Vargas-Sanchez, eds., 2018).
NHS has its own community,
hospitals and fundamental care
units that have approximately
150,000 doctors and 320,000
nurses and midwives that
render to the patients.
Voluntary Organisations
Oxfam can explore its services
their services in various parts
of the world. This is performed
with a partner company
wherein free services are
provided to individuals whose
financial background is not so
strong. Moreover, the
company is determined to
change the conditions of the
people who suffer from
poverty (Pärn, Edwards and
Sing, 2017).
The company provides
services to the citizens of
United Kingdom in order to
remove poverty. Also, it has
nearly 20 independent
charitable companies which
perform activities for the
betterment of the country in
making it poverty free. It
operates around 94 nations and
is also responsible for carrying
out charitable practices.
Private Organisations
The objective of Marks and
Spencer is to expand and grow
its business around the globe
and sell its products in a highly
competitive market. As the
company deals in fashion, it
Marks and Spencer operates in
various regions all over the
world and has a strong
distribution system. Also, the
company has a global presence
and is recognized by people
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plans to explore new markets
worldwide and reach out to
new segments of customers in
order to fulfil their needs and
also gain a competitive
advantage in various other
industries by providing high
quality innovative products.
This will help the company in
increasing its overall sales and
generate profits.
from all over the world.
Task 2
P3 Explain the relationship between different organisational functions and how they link to
organisational objectives and structure
Organizational structure can be referred to as how various tasks, roles and responsibilities
are assigned and supervised in an organization in order to achieve goals and objectives. There are
various kinds of organizational structures and different organizations have different structures.
Some of them are pre-bureaucratic, bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic structures. Other
examples are functional, divisional and matrix structures (Rahimi and Gunlu, 2016).
All companies have various departments that are dedicated working towards various
activities in an organization and a common goal. Activities of some of the departments are
explained below-
Finance Department – This department primarily focuses on managing and supervising of the
cashflows within the company. The department also is responsible for advising various other
departments in the matters relating to finances (Rowell, A., 2017). The finance department in
Marks and Spencer is responsible for analysing the data and financial reporting and also carrying
out other processes like capital budgeting etc.
 Operations Department – This department makes sure that the products are
delivered on time and also monitors and schedules various processes. The operations
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department at Marks and Spencer is responsible for the designing of the product as
well as reducing the amount of waste generated during the production.
Marketing Department – The company has a special team dedicated towards carrying out
various marketing activities such as advertising, branding, promoting company’s products. The
department analyses the recent trends in the market and reports the same in the organization
(Schuchter, A. and Levi, M., 2016).
 HR Department – The HR department is primarily responsible for hiring the right
candidates that suit the right job. The HR department in Marks and Spencer is
responsible for promoting a healthy employer-employee relation to increase
productivity and avoid disputes.
The relationship between these departments is explained below –
Finance and Operations Department – Both these departments go hand in hand for the better
functioning of a company. For example, the finance and operations department in Marks and
Spencer are interlinked as the finance department provides necessary funds to carry out the
production process that is done by the operations department which carries out the day to day
functions in the company (Sodeyfi, S., 2016).
 Marketing and HR Department – Both the Marketing as well as HR department
work in coordination with each other and hence are interrelated. The HR department
will hire the candidates that are best suited for a marketing profile in the company. On
the other hand, the Marketing department utilizes the skills of the person who is hired
by the HR department in an efficient way in order to generate more output and make
profits.
CONCLUSION
In order to conclude, there are different types of organizations and they have different
organizational structures depending upon their operations. Further, each company has a different
scope and is of different size. There are various departments that function in an organization and
these departments work in coordination with each other towards a specific goal or objective that
is set by the management. The different departments in an organization are Finance, Operations,
Marketing, HR, R&D departments to name a few. Therefore, an organization must carefully
analyse the work of all these departments and take further decisions accordingly.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Charter, M., 2017. Greener marketing: A responsible approach to business. Routledge.
Hillary, R., 2017. Small and medium-sized enterprises and the environment: business
imperatives. Routledge.
Hoogendoorn, B., 2016. The prevalence and determinants of social entrepreneurship at the macro
level. Journal of Small Business Management. 54. pp.278-296.
Kolk, A., 2016. The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the
environment to CSR and sustainable development. Journal of World Business. 51(1).
pp.23-34.
Moutinho, L. and Vargas-Sanchez, A. eds., 2018. Strategic Management in Tourism, CABI
Tourism Texts. Cabi.
Pärn, E. A., Edwards, D. J. and Sing, M. C., 2017. The building information modelling trajectory
in facilities management: A review. Automation in construction. 75. pp.45-55.
Rahimi, R. and Gunlu, E., 2016. Implementing customer relationship management (CRM) in
hotel industry from organizational culture perspective: case of a chain hotel in the UK.
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 28(1). pp.89-112.
Rowell, A., 2017. Green backlash: Global subversion of the environment movement. Routledge.
Schuchter, A. and Levi, M., 2016. The fraud triangle revisited. Security Journal. 29(2). pp.107-
121.
Sodeyfi, S., 2016. Review of literature on the nexus of financial leverage, product quality, &
business conditions. Journal of Economic & Management Perspectives. 10(2). pp.146-
150.
Tarhini, A. and et. al., 2016. Extending the UTAUT model to understand the customers’
acceptance and use of internet banking in Lebanon: A structural equation modeling
approach. Information Technology & People. 29(4). pp.830-849.
Wallace, D., 2017. Environmental policy and industrial innovation: Strategies in Europe, the
USA and Japan. Routledge.
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