Understanding Business Organisation: Organizational Structure, Business Environment Analysis, SWOT and PESTEL Analysis of Virgin Atlantic

This report provides an overview of the organizational structure of Virgin Atlantic, followed by a business environment analysis through SWOT and PESTEL analysis. The report evaluates the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the company and the external factors that impact its performance. The report concludes that for better performance, the company needs to evaluate the market it is working in more precisely.

UNDERSTANDING
BUSINESS
ORGANISATION

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Organizational structure of Virgin Atlantic.................................................................................3
Business environment analysis....................................................................................................4
SWOT analysis of Virgin Atlantic...............................................................................................4
PESTEL analysis of Virgin Atlantic............................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Virgin Atlantic is a company that is based in the United Kingdom in particular. The
company is well- known and also is renowned in the market as well as in the industry that it is
particularly operating within. The name Virgin Atlantic is basically a name which is usually said
or stated by people or the customers or stakeholders of the company, but the registered name of
the company is Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited. The company was founded in 1984, which
means the company has a good level of experience of working in particular. Because the
company has been operating within the industry for around 4 decades. Therefore, the company
also has knowledge regarding the inconsistency and the demand of the customers in particular.
This report in particular provides a glimpse about the overall organizational structure that is
present within the selected company that is 'Virgin Atlantic' in particular. Further, the report also
gives a description regarding the external as well as the internal factors that are impacting or
affecting the overall performance and growth of the organization or the company in particular.
This is basically done through conducting SWOT analysis and also PESTEL analysis in the
report below.
MAIN BODY
Organizational structure of Virgin Atlantic.
The organizational structure basically refers to the way through which communication is
particularly conducted within an organization or within any business structure in particular
(Ahmady. Mehrpour. and Nikooravesh., 2016). The organizational structure mainly helps or
supports in maintenance of discipline and also clear and precise communicative methods within
the organization. There are majorly two types of organizational structures, these are, the tall
structure of the organization and the flat organizational structure in particular. As per Virgin
Atlantic in particular, the company uses the tall structure of the organization. This structure is
also known as the hierarchical organizational structure in particular. This structure is the most
appropriate and the most suitable for the companies that are huge and also operate in different
places or locations. And Virgin Atlantic, having an employee base if around 5000 employees, the
company obviously is big and is also spread widely.

The tall organizational structure mainly refers to a structure of an organization in which
the company or the business in particular has different levels of authorities which also involves
the chain of command which further connects the different or the multiple levels of the
management in the company or the organization (Saiti. and Stefou., 2020). The decision- making
procedure in this structure in particular is usually formal and the direction of the flow of this is
mostly top down in particular. In a huge company like Virgin Atlantic, which also has a wide
variety of customers and a good position too, this organizational structure is considered to be the
most suitable one. This is because, the tall structure gives clarity regarding the roles and the
responsibilities of each of the employee, which reduces the levels of chaos and also enhances the
quality of communication in particular. But this also reduces the levels of innovation and is also
time- consuming and not so effective at time.
Business environment analysis.
Business environment basically refers to the aggregate or the collection of all the forces
of the environment that impact the overall performance and the working of the company. These
factors are usually external which are beyond the control of the organizations. But their
evaluation is necessary and relevant.
SWOT analysis of Virgin Atlantic.
Virgin Atlantic is an airline company that is British whose major focus is to create
difference in the services of the company by enhancing the levels of efficiency and effectiveness
in particular (GURL., 2017). Further, is the SWOT analysis of the company:
Strengths.
The image of the company is the major strength of the company in particular. This is
because the company has been in the market and is knowledgeable about the industry and the
overall customer demands within the market in particular (Sarsby., 2016). Also, the company has
been leading in the perspective of setting trends within the airline industry in particular. The
quality of the service that is offered by the company to its customers is also satisfactory even in
the situations of inflation when the prices are higher.
Weaknesses.
The major weakness of the company is the financial difficulty, the expensive services of
the airline and the poor levels of differentiation in particular (Benzaghta. And et.al., 2021). The
major reason behind the financial challenges faced by the company is Brexit. As the company

spent in the dollars and received in pounds. Also, the company is considered to be an expensive
airline by many customers.
Opportunities.
The change in the perception of the customers is the major opportunity for the company
in particular. This can also help the company in gaining the attraction of the customers. Through
this the customers will be particularly attracted by the new, differentiated as well as unique
products and services provided by the company in particular.
Threats.
The levels of competition within the market and the industry that the company is working
in is increasing at a fast pace (Teoli. Sanvictores. and An., 2019). This is the biggest threat and
challenge for the company. The major competitors of the company are, British Airways, Air
France, etc.
PESTEL analysis of Virgin Atlantic.
PESTEL analysis is basically conducted for evaluation of the external factors of the
environment that might potentially impact or have been impacting the working and the
performance of the company in particular (Çitilci. and Akbalık., 2020). PESTEL analysis of
Virgin Atlantic is shown below.
Political factors.
The slowdown of the countries that the company has been operating in has resulted in the
decrease in the levels of revenue generation of the company. Also, due to this the airline
companies have to opt for the services that are low- cost due to the issue of cash- crush. Also,
Brexit being a major factor has impacted the levels of revenues negatively, due to the decrease in
the number of the passengers.
Economic factors.
The economic factors basically include the inflation rates, the interest rates, the spending
patterns of the consumers, etc. This basically shows the impact of these factors on the company
in particular. In the case of this company, due to the situation of the pandemic, the profit
generation levels of the company reduced, this led to the company laying off the staff of around
3000 employees. Also, the customers started to spend less money on the airlines that costed less
too. Due to the Covid- 19 inflation, the company has major threats.
Social factors.

The impact of the social factors on the company in particular is high. It is majorly
because the operations of the company are conducted in various different countries, due to which
the company has to closely evaluate the cultures, gender ratios, spending habits, etc. This
requires precise market research.
Technological factors.
The technological factors within the society are advancing very fast in the current times
in particular. This is significant factor of consideration by the airline company in particular.
Some major measures that can be taken by the company in particular are reduction of the cost of
the operations and involvement of safety standards.
Environmental factors.
This is one of the key factors that impact the performance of the company in particular in
the present times. This because a lot of companies forget about the protection of the environment
while delivering the goods and the services as well. The overall airline industry is criticized for
the extensive levels of carbon emissions done. This is a major threat to the company 'Virgin
Atlantic'.
Legal factors.
The legal factors mainly include the patents, the copyrights, the data protection, the
intellectual property, etc. All the laws that are formulated by the government in relation to the
airline industry in particular are followed by the company. This also indicates towards the great
opportunities that the company has.
CONCLUSION
After all the information that has particularly been generated by the report in particular it
has been summed up that Virgin Atlantic is one of the leading British airline company. This
report basically gives an introduction about the organization or the company that has been
selected. Further, the report gives information regarding the external and the internal
environmental factors that impact the working and the performance of the company in particular.
This is particularly done by conducting SWOT analysis and PESTEL analysis. Which has
basically evaluated the existing factors that are impacting the working of the company and the
potential factors that might affect the working in the long run as well. The report also helps in
understanding the factors that of the internal environment of the company by understanding the
strengths and the weaknesses and the external environment by understanding the overall factors

of the PESTEL. For the better performance of the company in the market, it is required for the
company to evaluate the market that it is working in a manner that is more precise and also more
specific.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ahmady, G.A., Mehrpour, M. and Nikooravesh, A., 2016. Organizational structure. Procedia-
Social and Behavioral Sciences. 230. pp.455-462.
Benzaghta, M.A. And et.al., 2021. SWOT analysis applications: An integrative literature
review. Journal of Global Business Insights. 6(1). pp.55-73.
Çitilci, T. and Akbalık, M., 2020. The importance of PESTEL analysis for environmental
scanning process. In Handbook of Research on Decision-Making Techniques in Financial
Marketing (pp. 336-357). IGI Global.
GURL, E., 2017. SWOT analysis: A theoretical review.
Saiti, A. and Stefou, T., 2020. Hierarchical organizational structure and leadership. In Oxford
Research Encyclopedia of Education.
Sarsby, A., 2016. SWOT analysis. Lulu. Com.
Teoli, D., Sanvictores, T. and An, J., 2019. SWOT analysis.