Analyzing the Evolving Business Environment: A Report

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CONTEXT OF BUSINESS
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................3
LO 1................................................................................................................................. 4
LO 2................................................................................................................................. 5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................. 7
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................8
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INTRODUCTION
The ever-changing quality of the business environment has proceeded to the constant
development and re-design of an organization’s strategic actions and planning policies.
The rapid changes along with accelerated development of technology, the proliferation
of economies, growth in the availability of labour market have led to complicated
changes and permanent transformations on the socio-economic, environmental and
structural level. Thus to minimize the negative impacts, but at the same time gaining the
most on the positive fronts, it is important for individuals and organizations to fuse their
corporate social responsibilities into their main objectives. This leads to certain effects
on leadership attributes in modern businesses (Becher, 2018).
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LO 1
In the times of the evolving 21st century, each sector of industry whether manufacturing,
IT, services or food production is witnessing an enormous amount of changes over the
last few years. A notable example is a disruption caused by startups like Uber to the
transportation business with the help of information technology (ITDP Report, 2018).
There usually existed traditional methodology of doing businesses like Waterfall method
where the organizational goal was divided into a system of phases and the next phase
would not start before the completion of a prior phase. This method used to consume a
large amount of time before a product was fully developed. The dynamic prevalence of
businesses resulted in the evolution of agile approach which focuses on the importance
of flexibility (Aithal,2017).
The globalization of the economy has also induced the expansion of businesses and
organization at an international level. Today, along with the aim of making profits,
organizations are likewise contributing to non-economic factors. Social responsibilities,
sustainable environment and cultural harmony have formed the core objectives of all
their work and practices. For the future of these organizations, the agile approach is
considered the best tool for present and future perspectives of an organization. An agile
structure is a method of reduction; saving of time, money and most importantly work.
Just like weather cannot be controlled, changes in the market place are beyond the
control of anyone. So continuous adapting to the change in market scenario with open
acceptance of new technologies with the backing of research and marketing data
combine together to form an agile approach.
The greatest positive outcomes of the evolving business are the increase of value given
to the customer. The current global market is reachable with a touch on a smartphone.
A swipe, scroll or click can associate you to billions of potential buyers and purchasers
instantly. There are vast opportunities for the organizations and their businesses only if
they prepare themselves to see the opportunity in future changes.
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LO 2
SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY
With reference to the social scenario of the world, corporate social responsibility (CSR)
is a growing business practice that implements sustainable concepts into the
organization’s business model. The impression which the public develops regarding the
company is essential to its success (Schmidt, 2019). One of the primary elements of
CSR is the environment. Businesses irrespective of the scale of operation have a
considerable carbon footprint. CSR adopts preventive measures to reduce carbon
footprint and helps in conservation of environment. Another aspect of CSR is fulfilling
social responsibility by donating financial resources, services and products for social
causes with collaboration with charities and local communities.
Another important reason for adopting CSR is the practice of ethics in business by
giving fair and ethical treatment to the customers and especially the employees in order
to demonstrate their social responsibility. This is beneficial for businesses operating in
international regions with labour laws different than that of their native country. The
importance of social responsibility can be observed by the fact that 90 % of the
surveyed consumers preferred purchasing a product as the company promoted an
issue they care. Moreover, 75% of customer decline to purchase from a company, if it
has worked against their beliefs (CSR study report ConeComm, 2017)
CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC ISSUES
Even in the present progressive level of business, wide cultural differences exist and
these differences play a vital factor in business strategies of any organization. The
cultural aspects impact the growth of a business, protocol i.e. how to physically interact
or verbal meetings, decisions and negotiations, management of staff and negotiations,
sales marketing and distribution processes. Since products are designed based on
suitability of customer, it is essential to incorporate their response towards cultural
inclinations for or against the product.
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Financial and economic factors which contribute to the increased dynamic
characteristics of the business are international trade, increase in consumer demand,
international stock markets, trade by exports and imports, high competition and foreign
direct investments (Meyfroidt et al., 2013).
EFFECT ON LEADERSHIP
With the worldwide integration of businesses, the style of leadership has also expanded
within multinational organizations. To make the best use of political and professional
expertise, leadership pattern has changed from autocratic to participative leadership
(Parker and Welch, 2013). This approach refers to the involvement of all team members
in decision making. Major advantages of this method are creative and innovative inputs,
coverage to all aspects and motivation among all members. Models such as Kurt Lewin
Change theory are beneficial for leaders in an organization to sustain continuous
changes. It gives a framework to restructure which is generally susceptible and must be
made as smooth as possible. The theory involves three steps; to make a rational
change, minimize the turmoil in the company's operations and to ensure the change is
implemented permanently. Though productivity may be affected, work done is of better
quality and acquainted to the changing market scenarios (Hussain et al., 2018).
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CONCLUSION
The essay explains the dynamic nature of businesses and how the approaches of the
functioning in any organization have evolved from the traditional processes like the
waterfall method to the new agile approach. The impact of globalization is discussed
with emphasizing on future prospects and relative adaptations for the business entities
in the changing environment. The need for corporate social responsibility in the global
scenario has been studied analyzing its advantages. The ethics in business is
considered with context to the sustainability of an organization. The socio-economic
factors along with cultural and environmental issues with changing nature of businesses
are analyzed and reasons are given to exercise responsibilities by persons and
organization to address them. Lastly, the effects of these conditions on leadership are
considered and how they can work with the help of analytical tools is discussed.
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REFERENCES
Aithal, P.S. (2017). A critical study on Various Frameworks used to analyse
International Business and its Environment. International Journal of Applied Engineering
and Management Letters (IJAEML), 1(2), pp.78-97.
Botha, A., Kourie, D., & Snyman, R. (2014). Coping with continuous change in the
business environment: Knowledge management and knowledge management
technology. Elsevier.
Becher, T. (2018). Professional practices: Commitment and capability in a changing
environment. Routledge.
Hopen, D. (2010). The changing role and practices of successful leaders. The Journal
for Quality and Participation, 33(1), 4.
Hussain, S. T., Lei, S., Akram, T., Haider, M. J., Hussain, S. H., & Ali, M. (2018). Kurt
Lewin's change model: A critical review of the role of leadership and employee
involvement in organizational change. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 3(3), 123-
127.
Meyfroidt, P., Lambin, E.F., Erb, K.H. & Hertel, T.W. (2013). Globalization of land use:
distant drivers of land change and geographic displacement of land use. Current
Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 5(5), pp.438-444.
Prajogo, D. I. (2016). The strategic fit between innovation strategies and the business
environment in delivering business performance. International Journal of Production
Economics, 171, 241-249.
Shchepakin, M. B., & Krivosheyeva, E. V. (2015). Management of increase in business
enterprise's competitiveness in the changing market environment. Международный
научно-исследовательский журнал, (9-1), 81-84.
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