Analyzing Blue Prism's Innovation and AstraZeneca's CSR

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BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
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Table of Contents
LIST OF FIGURES.......................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................4
OVERVIEW OF COMPANY.........................................................................................................4
TASK 1...................................................................................................................................... 5
INNOVATION........................................................................................................................ 5
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION............................................................................................5
FINANCIAL AND ICT ISSUES..................................................................................................5
IMPACT OF INNOVATION ON BUSINESS FUNCTIONS...........................................................6
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND ETHICS..............................................................................7
ROLE OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE.....................................................................................8
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INNOVATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT...........................8
TASK 2...................................................................................................................................... 9
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE..................................................................................................9
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.................................................................................10
ARCHIE CARROLL’S MODEL FOR UNDERSTANDING CSR.....................................................11
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................... 14
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 15
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Governance Structure of AstraZeneca........................................................................9
Figure 2 Carroll's CSR Pyramid................................................................................................12
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INTRODUCTION
This essay will be presented on the innovation and ideas which are useful for the benefit of
the company. This will analyze the roles of innovation and identify the issues of ICT and
financial which affect the functions of the company. This will also focus on the relationship
between economic and innovation development as well as the use of corporate governance.
This essay will highlight the overview of Corporate Social Responsibility and its importance
by applying Archie Carroll’s model.
OVERVIEW OF COMPANY
Blue Prism plc is a public multinational software providing company which was founded on
26th July 2001 by Alastair Bathgate and David Moss. This company provides information
technology and Robotic Process Automation Software for pioneering the businesses and by
using this software they can eliminate low return and high risk.
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TASK 1
INNOVATION
Innovation means modern, new ideas, imagination and thoughts in the form of method or
device. It is an application used for better solutions in order to meet with the unarticulated
needs, new requirements as well as existing market needs (Tidd and Bessant, 2018).
Innovation helps the company Blue Prism in order to make the products and services more
effective and efficient for the society, government and markets. It can be classified into;
process innovation, product innovation and organizational innovation (Tidd and Bessant,
2018).
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION
Technological innovation offers feasible and new models of business for economy sectors
for helping the company in improving their margin of profit and makes sure the company for
effectively delivering of its products and services to its consumers and clients (Kocak et al.,
2017). It is called an invention of new software services and products for the simplicity of
the business. Technological innovation helps a company in improving its transfer of services
and reducing the cost of labor by proposing automation. It plays a significant role in the
foundation of a new job in the market which turns into the contribution to developing
economic progress (Kocak et al., 2017).
FINANCIAL AND ICT ISSUES
Financial issues: the revenue of the company Blue Prism was £24.5m in the year 2017.
 Most of the companies face financial issues like equity finances, debt financing, and
lease financing which creates problems for the development of the company. Blue
Prism plc did not face issues because the company has efficient capital and funds to
invest in the latest technology (Blue prism, 2017)
 The loss in foreign exchange rates during the period of changing Great Britain Pound
and the exchange rate of the United States Dollar affected the functions of the
company (Blue prism, 2017)
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 Transaction of subsidiaries from local to group reporting currency ensued in other
inclusive income (Blue prism, 2017)
 The company had faced loss from its operations i.e. £9.5m by including payments of
share, loss of foreign exchange and from Initial Public Offering Costs (Blue prism,
2017)
ICT issues: Information and communication technology includes the integration of the latest
technologies for the process of the business in order to improve the management of
resources, finance and process of business (Hakansson, 2015). The issues are:
 It impacts on the company’s cost for managing technology and service delivery
 Blue Prism has required to retrain the employees for using the latest technology for
creating new services for the consumers (Hakansson, 2015)
 Advancement in technology implements the charges and compliances for securing
the data from cybercrime
 The company has to undertake the charges of implementation and regulatory
compliance (Hakansson, 2015)
IMPACT OF INNOVATION ON BUSINESS FUNCTIONS
MARKETING: the function of the marketing department is to find the opportunity and
threats from the market for increasing the production as per the demand and improves the
quality of product and service as per the need (Kotler et al., 2015). The effect of innovation
in Blue Prism:
 It creates new ways of conducting research in tracking and monitoring behaviour of
customers and data analyses (Kotler et al., 2015)
 It creates new digital services and goods for enhancing the value of offering
improved features, quality and rates reliability to increase the sales (Kotler et al.,
2015)
 Technology allows the company to make a relationship with customers and match
the promotion level up to the level of the customer's choice (Kotler et al., 2015)
OPERATIONS: the development in technology sounds growth for the company, operational
innovation in Blue Prism includes filling orders, providing customer service, developing
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products, or performing other activities in the company (Vuchic, 2017). The effect of
innovation:
 Innovation in technology focus on indicating the future goals of performances by
following the approach of cost-consciousness in taking business decisions (Vuchic,
2017)
 The development of services and products depends on the information of the
market trends by the marketing department where the operations departments
prepare the product and the change in technology help this department in retrieving
the data of the market in order to perform activities (Vuchic, 2017)
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT: t is important for Blue Prism for delivering the products to
customers (Lii and Kuo, 2016). The effect of innovation in technology:
 Designing of product for reducing cost and easy to manufacture as well as make the
product different for easily identifiable (Lii and Kuo, 2016)
 Designing product for minimizing the number of workings and easing the process of
assembly (Lii and Kuo, 2016)
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT: this department plays an important role in identifying the
market in order to identify the trends of the market (Lii and Kuo, 2016). The innovation in
the R&D department at Blue Prism gets effected:
 It helps in making clear and effective technology strategy for improving the value and
culture of research and development (Lii and Kuo, 2016)
 It helps in improving the quality of decision-making and project strategy
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND ETHICS
Corporate governance refers to the processes and policies by which any business or
corporation get directed and controlled. The corporate governance of Blue Prism monitors
the issues of operations, risks and performance of trading for reviewing the strategy,
forecast and policy for considering the key projects to overseeing the reporting of
shareholders of the company (Tricker and Tricker, 2015). It leads to several benefits for Blue
Prism like:
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 They schedule annual budget, disposition of projects and strategies of the group
took place in the company according to the norms (Tricker and Tricker, 2015)
 There are several committees to help the board of directors and not separate
committee for nominations (Tricker and Tricker, 2015)
 They divide the roles and responsibilities of executives and bodies in the process of
decision-making for the high growth of the company (Tricker and Tricker, 2015)
ROLE OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE
The innovation of technology results in the betterment of the business as well as society
which improves the delivery of the product and services of the Blue Prism plc. Innovations
of technology offer feasible and new models of business for economy sectors for helping the
company in improving their margin of profit and make sure the company for effectively
delivering of its products and services to its consumers and clients (Pagani and Pardo, 2017).
It is also helpful for the company in maintaining the accounting software for handling the
functions of the company. The role of advancing technology is to turn the business towards
tracking sales, employee records, invoicing and payrolls (Pagani and Pardo, 2017).
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INNOVATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Innovation leads to an increase in the productivity of the economy which results in growth
and development. In addition to the technology, the output of Blue Prism can be increased
by having the unchanged input number (Tidd and Bessant, 2018). Innovation helps in
increasing the profit margin of the business which also leads to an increase in the profit and
development of the economy. Innovative technologies impact positively on the activities of
the company in order to run the business smoothly and simple the working of the
employees. The services like digitalization, electrification and electronic services help in
improving the business working which results in boosting up entrepreneurship which results
positively on the business as well as on the economy (Tidd and Bessant, 2018). Innovation
helps in improving the organizational and job culture hassle-free and smooth. Development
in the technology results positively on the business productivity and profit as it also raises
the trend of IT employees which results in increasing employment for the development,
propensity and growth of the economy (Tidd and Bessant, 2018).
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TASK 2
This section will highlight the role of corporate governance and corporate social
responsibility in context to AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca is a multinational pharmaceutical
company in the UK. Which was founded on 6th April 1999 at Cambridge, England, UK. This
industry services its products all over the world and its operating income in the year 2018
was US$3.387 billion.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
It is a tool for managing the activity according to the stakeholder’s choices in the business.
The corporate governance of AstraZeneca monitors the issues of operations, risks and
performance of trading for reviewing the strategy, forecast and policy for considering the
key projects to overseeing the reporting of shareholders of the company (Tricker and
Tricker, 2015). Corporate governance also helps in increasing the communication between
the management and the stakeholders of the company as well as provides effective
interaction between employees and top leadership. Governance also schedules the annual
budget, disposition of projects and strategies of the group took place in AstraZeneca
according to the norms (AstraZeneca, 2018).
Figure 1 Governance Structure of AstraZeneca
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(Source AstraZeneca, 2018)
Roles and Responsibilities of the Board of Directors in AstraZeneca:
The primary role of the bod is to ensure the interest of stakeholders in the company and the
stakeholders of the company AstraZeneca are; its investors, senior leadership, director,
executive and shareholders (AstraZeneca, 2018). The directors of AstraZeneca are
responsible for the success of the company and the non-directors are responsible for
objective judgment, exercising independent and challenging management (AstraZeneca,
2018).
 Their role is to ensure the flow of information from the top level management to the
employees for maintaining transparency (AstraZeneca, 2018)
 To make strategies and plans for the growth of the business after emphasizing on
the past records (AstraZeneca, 2018)
 To encourage the stakeholders for abiding by the regulatory compliances as well as
maintain the agreement in the company (AstraZeneca, 2018)
 To protect the reputation and capital of the company along with employee’s welfare
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
CSR is all about doing business properly and effectively by satisfying the needs of the society
and it is necessary to maintain the safety of the environment and economic policies while
doing business (Unit, 2015). For satisfying the corporate social responsibility it is needed to
maintain and use the resources of the economy and society effectively and efficiently. It is
concerned with the internal policy of the company and the corporate ethic strategy.
AstraZeneca is engaged in corporate social responsibility for the ethical and strategic
purpose. CSR demonstrates that the company take interest in solving the issues of the
society irrespective of maximizing the profit margins for attracting the customers who share
the same values toward society (Chan et al., 2016).
Importance of CSR in AstraZeneca:
CSR plays an important role in controlling the external activities of AstraZeneca. This is the
responsibility of the company to give importance to the customers and the employees by
communicating the policies and norms with them (Unit, 2015). CSR helps the suppliers of
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the company in maintaining the global standards and the activities in favour of the
sustainability of the environment (Rodriguez-Fernandez, 2016). Some of the importance’s
are as follows:
 Human rights: AstraZeneca provides right of protection to the employees as the
company concerns about society and societal responsibilities. The company ensures
rights of protection to the employees, customers, partners and stakeholders with
many other services (Rodriguez-Fernandez, 2016).
 Health and safety: AstraZeneca give priority to the health and safety of its
employees as their aim is to provide them with a safe business environment and
healthy working situations for reducing the harm. According to the CSR in
AstraZeneca, the company focuses on the welfare of the stakeholders and safety of
the environment (Rodriguez-Fernandez, 2016).
 Anti-corruption: AstraZeneca believes in ensuring the standards at a high level for
the company and the employees and the employees ate not allowed to take a bribe
for doing any business activities. For instance, employees can demand money or gifts
in return to fulfilling their duties for the company (Rodriguez-Fernandez, 2016).
 The advantage over competitors: by approving CSR in AstraZeneca, it helps the
company in establishing the products and services with respect to considering
environmental and social factors for gaining a competitive advantage (Rodriguez-
Fernandez, 2016).
ARCHIE CARROLL’S MODEL FOR UNDERSTANDING CSR
CSR is all about doing business properly and effectively by satisfying the needs of the society
and it is necessary to maintain the safety of the environment and economic policies while
doing business. For satisfying the corporate social responsibility it is needed to maintain
and use the resources of the economy and society effectively and efficiently (Saeidi et al.,
2015).
Carroll's CSR pyramid is a framework which helps the organization in meeting with their
social responsibilities. This pyramid carries 4 types of responsibilities like economic for
staying profitable, legal for obeying the law, ethical by staying ethical and philanthropic by
staying a good citizen incorporate (Saeidi et al., 2015).
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