Business and the Business Environment: Report on NHS and John Lewis

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the business environment, comparing the National Health Service (NHS) and John Lewis. It begins by examining the relationship between organizational functions such as administration, finance, and marketing, and how they link to organizational objectives and structure, considering both functional and divisional structures. The report then delves into the macro environment, utilizing PESTLE analysis to assess the positive and negative impacts of political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors on both organizations. Furthermore, the report employs SWOT analysis to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each organization, considering both internal and external factors, and exploring the implications of these analyses on their respective business strategies and performance. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and providing insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by NHS and John Lewis within their respective business environments.

Business and the
Business Environment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................2
a...................................................................................................................................................2
b...................................................................................................................................................2
P3, M2 Explain the relationship between different organisational functions and how they link
to organisational objectives and structure...................................................................................2
PART 2............................................................................................................................................5
P4 Analysis of positive and negative of macro environment on business organisation. ...........5
M3...............................................................................................................................................7
P5 Determination of strength and weaknesses of organisations................................................8
P6 Strengths and weaknesses with respect to external businesses environment......................11
M4 ............................................................................................................................................11
D2..............................................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................14

Illustration Index
Illustration 1: PESTLE analysis.......................................................................................................5
Illustration 2: SWOT analysis........................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Business organisations varies on the basis of various factors, such as scope and size. On
the basis of size and scope, they are categories into public and private organisation. In order to
perform different activities, they are distributed into three categories such as private and public
organisation. Private organisations are providing services with the objective of maximising
profit. On the other hand, public organisation works with the target of providing effective
services to users.
This report is based on the analysis of business environment of different organisations.
In this NHS is considered as public organisation, whereas John Lewis is considered as private
organisation. National Health Services is non- profitable organisation of UK. They are providing
medical facilities to the people of UK. John Lewis is one of the leading multinational retail
company. They are providing various services to their customers in order to maximise their
profit. In this report various factors are considered in order to analyse impact of different
business environments, for this PESTEL and SWOT are considered.
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PART 1
a.
Covered in PPT.
b.
P3, M2 Explain the relationship between different organisational functions and how they link to
organisational objectives and structure.
There are various function where the firm needs to maintain relationship for better
productivity and services (Morecroft, 2015). 6 main functions which the organisation must
undertake are:
1. Administration
2. Design and Production
3. Finance
4. Human Resources
5. Marketing and Sales
6. Research and planning
The whole firm has to act together to achieve their aim and objectives. In this,
communication acts as the major role. In John Lewis, objectives of the company are subdivided
into specific objectives as per each function. Further, performance maintenance and reviews are
taken to ensure that all the objectives are achieved and firm is making right growth decision. For
generating any product and services, the firm needs to integrate their raw resources, labour,
capital, energy and data. However, in NHS the objectives are based on several principles and
values (Neubauer and Lank, 2016). Main three among them are to fulfil the needs to individual,
free delivery and to provide better clinical services. NHS structure is based on the matrix form so
that they can function horizontally and vertically at the same time.
Relationship of business function to business structure are mentioned:
Functional Structure
Both the organisation has different organisation structure. Every section has different
function which are performed in different departments. All this reports are taken by the managers
to other higher authority. As Lewis has adopted the functional structure, so there is line of
control where decision are taken by them for their department. Further, this allows the employees
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to focus on their role and responsibilities. The main drawback to this system as involvement of
the other department are not considered (Popescu, 2013). However, for the company this will
not affect their customers as having the separate department, they can easily resolve their
problem.
John Lewis uses the organizational function to achieve their goals by understanding the
demographics factors, abilities, skills and perception of the staff. As they follow the hierarchical
and divisional model they effectively take their decision. The major decision are taken by CEO
and other function are performed by the managers (Schaltegger, Hansen and Lüdeke-Freund,
2016). It provides better flexibility and functionality in the organization.
In NHS, matrix structure is followed. This makes the communication with all the
department as health and safety has role of every department. Here communication part and
customers problems are resolved at the particular areas. To the firm, it provides greater flexibility
and more management power (Shehu and Mahmood, 2014). Work is assign to an individual
where they complete it under different managers and teams. However, it too has some
disadvantages as communication is in all the direction therefore, there is rise in cloudiness and
conflicts.
To achieve the goals and objectives they divided their role in various areas such as they
have department of Health for strategic leadership and funding. NHS England, for improving
healthcare and social responsibilities. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) is responsible for
planning and commissioning, Health and well-being board for local authorities, Public Health
England (PHE) provides support to leadership and expert services , Vanguards are there for new
healthcare models and potentially redesign the structure (Solomon, 2014). They perform their
role in coordination with each other to provide better service.
Divisional Structure
In both the organization this structure is followed. In this organizational function is
divided into different branches. Every department has its own different structure. Through this
structure both the firms can have personal branch where all the necessary functions are carried
out. However, there is a disadvantage to this structure as when identical function are performed,
ineffectiveness and redundancy increases.
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Function of every members in the organisation through the organizational charts. They
are developed to improve the employee efficiency. Here decision making and operational
function can be easily understood.
To achieve the goals and objectives, organizational functions helps in following ways:
1. Employees are managed by the person who has deep knowledge and understand about
the work. Further, they also review it (Stacey, 2016).
2. As having the functional organisation, relationship, knowledge and skills can be easily
shared which can help in developing some innovativeness in the firm. Further, work-
environment is good and provides more productivity.
3. This allows the employees to raise their voice to, which provides them reason to perform
better and for long-term stability.
Besides this, there are certain disadvantage as lack in the information about the other
functional groups creates difficulties. As both the companies are expanded, John lewis is
multinational company while NHS is established in most part of country, so their functional
areas increases (Virglerová, Dobes and Vojtovic, 2016). Certain times, function can also distract
to the organisation goals and focus as they are have their own goals and objectives.
PART 2
P4 Analysis of positive and negative of macro environment on business organisation.
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(Sources: PESTLE analysis. 2017)
Macro environments are not influencing the business organisation. They are able to affect
the strategies that are being considered or implemented by company. John Lewis analyses all the
positive and negative impact of macro environment (De Klerk, A. and et. al., 2013). In this
process, various factors are considered such as social, global, political, technological and legal.
With the help of all this analysis, organisation is able to understand opportunities and threats of
the company. It enables the firm for implementation various strategies to achieve effective
results in terms of profit and growth. Following are the impact of macro environment:
Positive and negative impact of macro environment on business operations.
 Social: Social factors consists of demands, beliefs, behaviours and practices. With the
help of all these John Lewis has become capable to implement strategies properly . It
enables the organisation to meet demands and needs of customers effectively (Dunning,
2014). It helps the company, to attracts maximum number of customers, towards their
services. Also it has some negative impact as John Lewis only produces a limited type of
fashion products and the wants and desire of the customers are continuously changing
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Illustration 1: PESTLE analysis

they want branded products of latest fashion. So if John Lewis will not introduce such
products then they may loose their customers.
 Political: With the help of political factors, organisations are able to increase business
practices. Through implementing various schemes and policies, governments are
providing support to the organisation. Along with that they are also encouraging
implementation of technologies into companies. There exist some prohibitions and
restrictions have also been implemented, in order to reduce their harmful impact on
society (Neubauer and Lank, 2016). All the policies and laws that are implemented by
government should be followed in NHS so that better health related services are given to
patients. They will get benefits in terms of medical care.
 Economical: It consists of various factors such as payment, taxations, monetary policies
and so on. GDP and economic growth of the country will be affecting the profits and
sales growth of the organization. Further through this per cpita income and purchasing
power of people will also get affects. However on the other side there are negative
impact of social factor also. The competition is becoming rigid more and more in the
retail sector,this would allow retailer to give incentives to the customers. John Lewis also
had a negative impact due to these competitions as prices of the product will decrease and
they will have to pay more to customers. If the economic condition of the nation will not
be good then the government would not be able to pay to NHS and due to this good
facility to patients will not be given.
 Technological: Positive impact of technological factors will affect the business
environment of the company. They help the organisation for increasing its efficiency
and speed of their work. With the help of this companies can handle difficult situations
easily. It also helps in order to explore various future opportunities. With the help of this
John Lewis is able to achieve their objective faster (Mithas, Tafti and Mitchell, 2013).
Therefore, they always consider implementation of technologies into their organisation.
There are some negative impact also associated with the technological changes. In case a
technological failure occurs it requires lots of time. It results in lots of wastage of time
and loss of resources. It makes a direct impact on the productivity of company. Advance
technology has not implemented in NHS due to this proper medical care is not provided
to patients
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 Legal: With the help of legal factors organisations have to implementation various laws
into their organisation (Virglerová, Dobes and Vojtovic, 2016). If all the business
activities will be performed in legal way than very less difficulties will be faced in
carrying out business operations.
 Environment. Under legal macro environmental factors, negative impact can be
considered as, frequently changing policies and laws made direct impact on the stability
of company. Along with this various licence requirements also affect the production and
processing speed of John Lewis (Solomon, 2014). All the laws and regulations should
be followed that are imposed by the government. Equal facilities should be given no
discrimination should be done on the basis of caste,colour,sex etc.
 John Lewis earnings have been increasing since years and is at a strong income positions
.It is also able to provide its partners with bonuses (Harmon, 2014). Due to climate and
weather change the number of patients rapidly increases in rainy season due to this the
medical department of NHS faces difficulty in providing better medical facilities to them
as NHS have less number of nurses.
Along with these issues, there are some other factors also that are influencing business
such as digitalization, BRICS market, sustainability and growth of market at international level.
With the help of help of digitalization John Lewis is able to provide various services to their
customers like online payment, shopping and so on (Neubauer and Lank, 2016). With the help of
these activities they are providing flexibility and simple process. It helps the organisation to
attract more number of customers. In order to reduce negative impact of all these factors
various effective strategies are being implemented by John Lewis.
M3
The pestle analysis analyse the macro environment in which the enterprise resides. It is an
essential tool which can be used for understanding the growth and downfall of the market. This
analysis also gives direction to the business (Shehu and Mahmood, 2014). It will bring the
political,social,economical,Technological,environmental and legal factors of a particular
business.
Political- This factor will include various the rules and regulations of government such as
employment laws,various policies of the company etc. John Lewis has entered the efficient
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market of UK giving rise to competition in the marketplace. So the UK government has decided
to reduce tax on corporation so that John Lewis can earn profit in the coming years.
Economical- Such factors effect the capital cost and purchasing capability of various
organizations. The entire economy of UK is under downfall and the strict rivalries in every field
of retail sector has lead wholesaler to provide huge bonus to the customers. This has also
influenced John Lewis as the cost reduces at most period.
Social- This factor is related to wants of the customer,market power etc. John Lewis produces
branded clothes according to the needs of their customers (Schaltegger, Hansen and Lüdeke-
Freund, 2016).
Technological- These include innovation and invention,change in technology etc. Internet
shopping is the latest trend that had been started by John Lewis to earn profit in sales department.
Environment- This provide various factors like change in climate,weather can affect the sales of
John Lewis (Solomon, 2014).
Legal- These include various laws related to employment like age law,equity law,sex law and
how these factors can effect the price and supply of products of John Lewis (Solomon, 2014).
P5 Determination of strength and weaknesses of organisations.
In order to analyse strength and weakness of organisation , SWOT analyses can be
considered as an essentials step. With the helps of this process strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats for the organisation can be identifies. The public sector organisation is
NHS, the strength of the organisation is considered as they are equipped with skilled and
capable staff. With the help of that they are ready to handle any situation. In order to provide
advance facilities various charities are also being provided to the company (Wheelen and
Hunger, 2017). Along with this organisation is organising various activities in order to provide
confidence to the employees. However, there are some weakness are also available such as
number of nurses are very low compare to the patients. Employees are not considering proper
timetable for managing for managing their activities. Along with this a major issue is
relationship between employees are not effective. In order to overcome weakness, NHS should
increase the number of the nurses. So that patients can get effective services. Along with this
effective timetable should be provide to the employees.
To analyse the internal factors of John Lewis following are the SOWT analysis:
Strengths Weaknesses
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 The strengths of the company is
considered as it is one of the
multinational retailing company of UK.
 They are having strong brand value.
 They are providing online shopping and
payment options. Famous for providing wide range of
services.
 services are provided at high cost.
 Other competitors are providing
services at lower rate.
 Some services are provided to limited
target group.
Opportunities
 They should also include services from
home applications.
 Introduce various selection options, it
helps to attracts more customers from
young groups (Zikmund and et. al.,
2013).
 Targeting young generation helps to
expand business faster.
Threats
 safety features provided to the
employees are not effective. It affects
the organisation, in the form of
property loss for the organisation.
 Gradually increasing competitions is
also affecting the reputation and brand
value of the company.
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