Business Environment: Innovation, Technology and Corporate Governance

This report delves into the intricacies of the business environment, examining the impact of innovation and technology on business operations, sales, and profits. It explores different types of innovation and technology, providing practical examples of their contribution to economic growth. The report uses case studies of AVEVA PLC and G4S PLC to illustrate these concepts. Furthermore, it demonstrates an understanding of corporate governance, explaining its importance and application. It also includes an analysis of Archie Carroll's Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The report covers various technologies used in business operations and their effects on the financial performance of the companies, providing key findings based on the analysis.

Business Environment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1. Understanding of different types of innovation and technology...........................................1
2. Innovation and technology have impacted the operations, sales and the profits ...................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
1. Demonstrate an understanding of corporate governance.........................................................5
2. Explanations of Archie Carroll’s Pyramid of CSR..................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
In business scenario, the combined factors of internal and external environment that have
impact on the functioning and operation of company (IşıK, Jones and Sidorova, 2013). In
general, the different factors business environment includes are customer, competitor,
employees, new technology, government, economic and social trends. Two companies are taken
to Aveva Plc, G4S Plc that help to better understand the topic of business environment.
In this report, importance of innovation and technology and use of new techniques in
respected company are discussed. Apart this, importance of corporate governance, corporate
social responsibility and proper understanding of four areas are discussed in this report.
TASK 1
1. Understanding of different types of innovation and technology
Innovation and technology
Innovation: In business environment, procedure of transferring an invention or idea in
development of new procedure, product and services that develop values for which customer
pay. Innovation us a set of application of initiative, imagination and information that support in
extracting higher values from available resources and involves every methods through which
effective thoughts are developed and converted into formation of faithful and suitable product.
Technology: The set of collection of different techniques, methods, skills, ability and
processes that help in producing of desirable goods and services is defined as technology. In
present era, each company focuses to implement the best methods with the use of latest tools and
technology in order to increase production and improve profit during a specific time frame
(Groşanu and et. a.l, 2015).
Practical examples of how innovation and technology have contributed to the economic
growth of the country.
In today's era, the implementation of new techniques or use of new tool and making
improvement in existing product and services or developing innovative product help an economy
of country to expand and attain better profit. So in the current fast modifying world, the concept
of innovation and new technology have uprise the economic growth in undeniable manner.
Putting innovation can lead to increase productivity, such as with the same material higher result
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are made that help companies to provide customer and supplier with useful product so economy
grow. There are various practical example which shows that advance technology and new
invention have increase the economic growth of U.K such as it support in job creation as new
technology requires expert individual to handle it in proper manner. It contribute in emergence of
new services and industries and large companies such as oDesk, Amazon etc. focuses on
workforce transformation that is dividing of bigger task into small components which could be
further outsourced to other contract worker.
Business organisations use new technologies in their operations.
In business firm the main motive of manager is to increase the overall productivity and
bring efficiency in their operation so better result are drawn for future growth and better
profitability. So it is observed that technology regularly provides the new and innovative manner
to the business responsible within firm to modify their existing operation to maximise result that
support in overall growth of company global image (Evans and et.al, 2017). Different businesses
implement assorted new and advance technology within their operation according to the nature
of business that help them to bring improvement, advancement in existing business activity.
Some common technologies used by business are discussed below:
Communication: With effective communication methods help manager to stay in touch
with each and every member of company so that important information are not missed. Email,
test messaging, social networking and other useful tool of communication help businesses to
connect with clients and customer.
Customer services: In recent time, it has been observed that technology bring customer
and company close together. Such as company provide after sales services by sending emails in
order to determine any possible problem or receive feedback form them. Technology desire to
keep the people elements in mind therefore companies focuses to provide employees with good
customer services training.
Automation: With the effective use of automatic machine or invention of robotic in
world of business help companies to grow its productivity by a good margin. Different
automation in businesses such as use of barcodes to record sales and perform stock and analyse
useful information and make meaningful decision.
2. Innovation and technology have impacted the operations, sales and the profits
New technologies used by Aveva PLC.
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Aveva is a British Multinational company that develop industrial software which inspire
individual to forecast and shape a better future. The main vision of company is to enhance the
human experience by bringing advancement in industry process. It has delivered various
business critical software solution to operation owner, contractor, shipbuilder in various part of
world.
In recent changing and innovative world, respective company is focusing to improve their
efficiency by using advance software and latest technology. There are various new technologies
that are developed in recent, so adaptation of these system enables company to gain competitive
advantage and generate huge profit. In case of Aveva plc there are various latest technologies are
adapted in order to improve the quality of operation and bring improvement in overall
performance. Such as Edge computing, that help them to store relevant data to the closet one for
clients so that accurate data on demand can be gather, store and utilize in more compatible and
centralized means. Perspective analysis is being continuously used in Aveva so that big data of
various clients cab be analysed and meaningful solution are made for better functional in
business activities. In Aveva marine is compact suite of software that help to develop design and
construct for each kind of ships and offshore project. It takes the plant industry to a new level of
capability, reducing cost, timescale and project risk on projects of all sizes.
Sales and profits of the company before and, after the new technologies were introduced
In changing world, company focuses on the use of new and advance technologies in order
to increase production so that sales can be improved and overall profit for company grow by
good margin. From the annual report of Aveva it has been discovered after implementation of
latest technology of edge computing help company to grown their profit by a good margin in
recent six months that is in 2017 its was £309.4m that changes to £343.0m in 2018 (About Aveva
Plc, 2019). This major 10.9% improvement shows that Aveva is continuously improving their
customer base and have
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delivered growth in almost every part of its geographies. In the Americas, revenue increased
6.3% to £124.8 million (H1 FY18: £117.4 million) and in Asia Pacific revenue increased 3.0% to
£86.5 million (H1 FY18: £84.0 million), again helped by demand from Oil & Gas and Marine
customers with good performances in China and India.
Key Findings
As per the above mentioned scenario it can be find that with the help of new technologies
the Aveva company is increasing their market value and growth. Due to this, they are able to get
good revenue and progress. Herein, some key findings are mentioned below:
 The company is earning good revenue as the time passing. Their progress can be seen
that in year 2017 they earned about £ 309.4 million revenue which increased by 10.9%
and became £ 343.0 million in next year.
 Additionally, company's profits are also increasing continuously. In year between 2017 to
2018, their profits increased by 54.3%. This is a huge growth in the context of company's
financial success.
 Apart from it, they are enhancing their services by which more customers are getting
satisfied.
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TASK 2
1. Demonstrate an understanding of corporate governance.
Corporate governance: This is may be defined as the combination of different rules,
legislations and regulations which are designed to control and manage the businesses.
Eventually, it is conducted by the board of director and transferred to the committees for
protecting the right of external parties (Rose, Orrenius and Neumann, 2013). The main purpose
of the corporate governance is to helping the external parties including shareholders,
stakeholders, suppliers, clients etc. Due to this companies are tend to follow these rules and
regulations in the favour of external parties. The G4S PLC company apply the corporate
governance policies for welfare of their external users. This is helpful for them in making good
relationship with the shareholders, stakeholders etc. Additionally, it increase the brand image and
goodwill of the company in the external environment because if companies follow the rules and
regulations of this, then it will put a positive impact on company's reputation. On the other hand,
it is necessary to implement a good corporate governance which should be directed towards the
interest of both the parties including internal and external parties. It should not be focused one
sided. A good corporate governance always helps in positive favour of companies by minimising
the corruption and fraud.
Corporate governance in the UK with examples.
The evolution of the corporate governance in the context of united kingdom is about 20
years ago. As the time passing the uses of corporate governance is increasing continuously, it is
widely used by the different charities, trusts etc. It is not mandatory that it has to be followed
only by the companies. In country like UK, there are a wide range of companies and
organisations which deals all around the world so it is important that corporate governance
should be applied to protect the interest of stakeholders, shareholders and clients of different
countries. Eventually, it is very crucial for the business growth and development in UK because
due to this companies know about their roles and responsibilities towards the external part of
business environment. In united kingdom, there are two types corporate governance codes which
are as follows:
Financial reporting Council's UK Corporate Governance Code
The QCA (Quoted Companies Alliances) Corporate Governance Code.
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These two codes of corporate governance, helps for effectively implementation of business
polices, rules and companies know about the advantage of corporate governance when they
implement it.
3 or 4 responsibilities of the Board of Directors
Board of director of any particular company has many responsibilities and rights which
are needed to be followed by them (Klapper, Love and Randall, 2014). Herein, the company G4S
PLC, their board of director has some responsibilities which are mentioned below:
 Designing the organisational structure- It is the responsibility of board of director to
design the organisational structure as per the objectives, needs of the companies. This is
responsibility of board of director of G4S PLC to design the organisational structure for
effective results.
 Link between company and external environment- This is the responsibility or duty of the
board of director to make a good relationship between the company and external parties
like government, shareholders etc. Eventually, this is very important to have a good
relationship with the external environment because it leads to great financial success for
the companies. Herein , the above mentioned company there board of director is
responsible to create a positive relationship with all external parties.
 Formulation of mission, policies and objectives- The board of director is responsible to
formulate the mission, policies and objectives. Due to this expected result can be
achieved easily. The board of director of above selected company put all the plans into
the action to achieve the desirable outcome from the available sources.
 Financial decision- Apart from these responsibilities, the board of director has the duty to
make important financial decisions like distribution of finance to the various projects. In
other words they makes best use of available financial resources. The board of director of
G4S PLC company is responsible to allocate the finance as per the needed activities.
2. Explanations of Archie Carroll’s Pyramid of CSR
Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR):
In business world, the model of CSR is related with delivering important instruction to
the business firm that support the internal department to be accountable to individual and several
stakeholders (Amore and Bennedsen, 2013). It is observed that CSR benefits companies in
assorted aspects like to protect financial information to be lost, aid to implement crucial laws and
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regulation according to the national and international guidelines. According to the concept of
CSR business firm have to implement this model and also contribute within different activities
for social improvement such as charity, helping funds in NGOs, donations and other aspect that
help in overall improvement of economy. In case of G4S Plc the CSR concept help them to use
the resources of country where they operate their business activities like, material, money, power
etc, that support in the development of company as well as individual. In case if respective
company do not applies the basic objective of CSR than they have to pay the plenty as well as it
will disturb the compliance level of company. Therefore, it is very crucial for the management of
G4S Plc to apply the theories and model of corporate social responsibility so that loyalty of
worker and team member towards company will be going to increase and the put their best effort
to run and extract maximum result to increase profitability. This is happen because management
develop equal opportunities for their entire staff member which motivate them to put great effort
in order to attain the desired objective of company within specific time frame. So it is observed
that organisation includes in CSR activity will encourage them to grow a positive and better
global image in existing market that further support to expand business at national level with
more profitability in specific time frame. In general, it has been stated that it is very crucial for
companies to applies the important concept of CSR and other various laws and guidelines that
are linked with it that support to grow business in appropriate manner and maximise result as
much as possible.
Four areas of CSR as identified by Archie Carroll.
It is one of the important model which deliver guidelines for companies to run and
manage business in effective manner. The model have fours part that includes:
Economic responsibility: According to this stage of CSR pyramid the actual economic
responsibility of G4S is to be more focused on growing profit and deliver better and increase
return on various investment to shareholders on desired time (Liu, 2013). This would help in
overall growth of economy as more money will be circulated to fulfil the demand of business.
Ethical responsibility: As per this model the ethical responsibility of G4S is to manage
and recycle total wastage into consumption that provide company more income generation
sources. To keep the economy free from pollution and other harmful effect it is the responsibility
of respective firm to act ethically and morally.
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Legal responsibility: It is the main legal duty of G4S Plc to implement and applies the
basic concept of compliance and follow various rules that are relevant to the safety, health, job
satisfaction and employment etc.
Philanthropic Responsibility: This phase of CSR pyramid is related to the philanthropic
duty of company to includes in various crucial welfare activities like, donation, relief funds,
charity that support in future development.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that with the proper understanding of
business environment helps an organisation to make innovation and implement latest technology
for better functioning and contribute in economic development. Use of advance techniques help
company to increase sales and maximise their profit so that desired goals can be accomplished. It
is very crucial for company to use the concept of CSR and involve in social, legal and ethical
responsibilities that support in future development.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
IşıK, Ö., Jones, M. C. and Sidorova, A., 2013. Business intelligence success: The roles of BI
capabilities and decision environments. Information & Management. 50(1). pp.13-23.
Groşanu, A. and et. a.l, 2015. The influence of country-level governance on business
environment and entrepreneurship: A global perspective. Amfiteatru Economic Journal.
17(38). pp.60-75.
Evans, S. and et.al, 2017. Business model innovation for sustainability: Towards a unified
perspective for creation of sustainable business models. Business Strategy and the
Environment. 26(5). pp.597-608.
Rose, L. M., Orrenius, U. E. and Neumann, W. P., 2013. Work environment and the bottom line:
Survey of tools relating work environment to business results. Human Factors and
Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. 23(5). pp.368-381.
Klapper, L., Love, I. and Randall, D., 2014. New firm registration and the business cycle. The
World Bank.
Amore, M. D. and Bennedsen, M., 2013. The value of local political connections in a low-
corruption environment. Journal of Financial Economics. 110(2). pp.387-402.
Liu, Y., 2013. Sustainable competitive advantage in turbulent business environments.
International Journal of Production Research. 51(10). pp.2821-2841.
Online
About Aveva Plc. 2019. [Online] Available through:
<http://www.annualreports.co.uk/Company/aveva-group-plc>
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