Analysis of Business Environments: Costa Coffee vs. Save the Children

This report provides a detailed analysis of the business environments of two contrasting organizations: Costa Coffee and Save the Children. The report begins with an introduction defining the business environment and its importance, followed by a description of the two businesses, their purposes, and ownership structures. It then explores the stakeholders influencing each organization, including customers, employees, investors, and suppliers for Costa Coffee, and trustees and the government for Save the Children. The report delves into the organizational structures of both businesses, highlighting the hierarchical structures and operational processes. Furthermore, it explains how the organizational styles help fulfill their respective purposes, with Costa Coffee focusing on profit maximization and Save the Children on humanitarian goals. The influence of economic environments, particularly productivity and inflation, on business activities is examined. Finally, the report analyzes the impact of political, legal, and social factors on both organizations and their stakeholders. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the importance of understanding the business environment for strategic decision-making.

Business and
Business
Environment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAINBODY....................................................................................................................................1
P1 Description, purpose and ownership of two contrasting businesses.................................1
P2 Description of different stakeholders who influence purpose of contrasting organisation2
P3 Description of the way in which business is organised.....................................................3
P4 Explanation of style of organisations that helps them to fulfil their purposes..................5
P5 Influence of two contrasting economic environments on business activities within
organisation............................................................................................................................6
P6 The way in which political, legal and social factors impact business activities of
organisations and their stakeholders.......................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business environment can be defined as the set of external factors that may leave positive as well
as negative impact on functioning of the organisation. For all the business entities it is very
important to analyse all of them so that their negative effective can be reduced. For this purpose,
managers are required to form strategic decisions so that operations can be executed
appropriately (Akter and et.al., 2016). This project report is based upon two contrasting
organisations that are Costa Coffee and Save the Children. Costa Coffee is a British
multinational coffeehouse which is established in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. Save the Children is
a non-governmental organisation which promotes right of children and provide relief to them.
Various topics are covered under this report which includes description of contrasting
businesses, their purpose, ownership, stakeholders who influence purpose of such organisations,
the way in which these are organised etc. Influence of contrasting environments on business
activities of the company and the way in which political, legal and social factors impact upon
business activities are also being covered under this report.
MAINBODY
P1 Description, purpose and ownership of two contrasting businesses
Costa coffee: It is a British Multinational coffee house which is established in Dunstable,
Bedfordshire. Its headquarter is in London and founded by Costa family in year 1971. Currently
it is operating its business all around the world. Its parent company is Coca Cola. Main funders
of company were Bruno and Sergio Costa (Description of Costa Coffee, 2019). The business is
executed in more than 3400 locations worldwide. CEO of the business entity is Dominic Paul.
Purpose: Main purpose of Costa Coffee is to generate higher profits and capture large
market share by offering different variants of coffee and other snacking items. Organisation’s
another purpose is to satisfy customers by providing then good quality coffee.
Ownership: Costa Coffee is owned by Coca Cola and it was bought by the organisation
for 3.9billion Pounds from its owner Whitbread in deal. After buying it Coca Cola has expanded
the business and grown stores to 3401 and across 31 countries.
Save the Children: It is non-governmental organisation which is concerned with society welfare
related activities. This entity was founded by Eglantyne Jebb and Dorothy Buxton in year 1919.
It was originated in London and delivering its services all around the world. Children’s rights are
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promoted by this entity and it also provide relief to poor children and developing countries. It
was established to improve life of kids with the help of different activities such as providing
them education, health care and economic opportunities. There are total 29 national save the
children organisations which are also part of it. It promotes changes in policies so that more
rights can be provided to young people (Berkup, 2014).
Purpose: Main purpose of Save the Children is to provide lifesaving supplies and
emotional support to children who have been rescued from flood, wars and famine. It is also
operating various activities which includes improving lives of children and working to gain more
rights for young people.
Ownership: Save the Children is owned by a non profit organisation and its chief
executive is Helle Thorning Schmidt which is a former Danish Prime Minister.
P2 Description of different stakeholders who influence purpose of contrasting organisation
There are various types of stakeholders who influence purpose of Costa Coffee and Save
the Children which are contrasting organisations. Following are the stakeholders of Costa
Coffee:
Customers: People who buy products or services from organisations are known as
customers. Purpose of Costa Coffee influenced by its clients because purpose of the
organisations to satisfy its customers by offering them good quality and different of coffee. It is
very important for the entity to analyse their perspective, needs, requirements and choices in
order to attain business objectives.
Employees: Persons who are working in an organisation and executing operations are
known as employees. Staff members of Costa Coffee influence purpose of the enterprise because
they are responsible to deliver good services to customers and their orders which can result in
their satisfaction and higher profits. In order to achieve such type of aims workers are required to
perform their duties in appropriate manner (Buxel, Esenduran and Griffin, 2015).
Investors: Individuals who provide funds to an organisation so that it can operate its
business activities are called its investors. Purpose of Costa Coffee get influenced by its investors
because organisations require funding to execute business and they provide funds to enterprise. It
is vital for the entity to utilise their money appropriately as they require returns on their money.
If they does not provide appropriate funds to Costa Coffee then it will become difficult to operate
business and achieve objectives.
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Suppliers: There are various parties who supply material to companies in order to
manufacture or produce their products and they parties are known as suppliers. Purpose of Costa
Coffee is to deliver good quality coffee to its customers and without appropriate number of
suppliers it is not possible to achieve this purpose. They supply items to make coffee and other
snack items that are sold by the organisation to its clients.
All the above described stakeholders influence purpose of Costa Coffee because it is not
possible for organisation to reach their aims without their support (Crane and Matten, 2016).
Stakeholders of Save the Children are as follows:
Trustees: People who provide funds to a non-governmental organisation or a trust or a
social care entity are called trustees. As Save the Children is neither a public nor a private
enterprise it is non-governmental organisation which requires funding to execute operations and
trustees do the same for it. Purpose of this entity is to provide best life to the kids who have
suffered from disasters such as flood, war etc. and it can be achieved with the help of them
because organisations requires money to perform business activities.
Government: As government keep track record of activities of all the organisations
whether it is public, private or NGO so it is very important for them to make sure that they
provide detailed information of their operations to legal authorities. Save the Children is also
required to do the same in order to meet its purpose which is to save kids from disasters.
Government influence this aim because it is required to take approval from legal authorities to
operate business activities (Hall and Coles, 2014).
P3 Description of the way in which business is organised
The way in which business of Costa Coffee is organised: Business of Costa Coffee is
organised by following a hierarchical structure. In which the higher authority gives command to
middle level managers and then they supervise their subordinates and employees. Structure of
the organisation is as follows:
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The above chart shows business organisations process of Costa Coffee. CEO of the entity
handle all the functional departments and these divisions have their own managers. There are
different types of teams that are managed by these managers and those teams also have their own
leaders and supervisors. At lower level there are various employees who execute business
operations and liable to perform their jobs that are assigned to them by them leaders (Kopnina
and Blewitt, 2018).
The way in which business of Save the Children is organised: Operational activities of
Save the Children are executed by following a hierarchical structure as well but with less layers.
The chart of structure is as follows:
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The chart shows the way of business activities of Save the Children are organised.
Chairman and Presidents are responsible to take all the decisions they pass their judgements and
all the other members of hierarchy have to follow their command. All the activities are
performed by volunteers who come to entity willingly and help to execute operations.
P4 Explanation of style of organisations that helps them to fulfil their purposes
Costa Coffee: It is a private company and its main purpose is to generate profits and satisfy its
customers by offering them good quality and different variants of coffee. This type of company
helps it to attain its business objectives that are formulated by it previously. Private organisations
work for profit maximisation and they perform their operations for the same purpose. It helps
Costa Coffee to achieve its aim by supporting its to execute its business operations in appropriate
manner (Novakovic and Huemer, 2014).
Save the Children: It is a non-governmental organisation and its main purpose is to save
kids from different types of disasters and gain rights for young people. Its type helps it to reach
its aim by establishing a positive image in the market. Such type of entity is not controlled and
organised by government so there is less interference of legal authorities in business operations
but it requires to show them that it is not conducting any illegal activity. Purpose of Save the
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Children help it to fulfilled with the help of its type because people cooperate with such
enterprises and also support them to execute operations.
P5 Influence of two contrasting economic environments on business activities within
organisation
There are various types of economic environments that influence business activities of
organisations. These factors are income, employment, inflation, interest rate, productivity,
buying behaviour of customers and wealth of customers. All these factors influence operations of
Costa Coffee. Major two elements which may highly affect the organisation are as follows:
Productivity: It is very important for all the business entities to maintain its productivity as it is
required to perform business activities appropriately. For Costa Coffee it is also vital to manage
productivity of employees by providing them proper benefits and compensation as they directly
interact with customers. If they are not able to perform their duties appropriately then it can
affect overall performance of organisation. It is essential for managers of Costa Coffee that make
sure that staff members are not facing any issue at workplace. In order to motivate them higher
authority can also provide them timely bonuses so that they can put higher efforts to achieve
their personal as well as organisational objectives (Uchihira, Ishimatsu and Inoue, 2016).
Inflation: It is an economic condition which takes place and affect country, organisation
which are operating business in it and people who are living in it. When inflation rate suddenly
rises then it results in decreased purchasing power of clients due to low income level. It is very
important for Costa Coffee to gather information regarding this factor so that plans to deal with
this type of condition can be formulated in advance.
P6 The way in which political, legal and social factors impact business activities of organisations
and their stakeholders
Factors such as political, legal and social leaves positive as well as negative impact on
business activities of all the business entities. It is very important for higher authorities of those
organisations to formulate strategic decisions so that their impact can be reduced. It is vital for
companies to analyse that there are various changes are taking place that can affect business
environment of that region where business is operated. Impact of all these factors on Costa
Coffee, Save the Children and their stakeholders is defined below:
Political: These are the set of regulations that are imposed by political parties for the
organisations which are operating business within and beyond the country. It is essential for
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Costa Coffee and Save the Children for comply with them in order to ignore and avoid their
negative impact. If Costa Coffee is not able to follow any regulation regarding tax then it will
influence its business operations and its stakeholders because government will sue the business
and market image of business will get affected due to this. In this situation customers, investors,
suppliers etc. get affected as they will not be the part of a company which is having negative
market image. Such factors will also affect Save The Children and its stakeholders because
political parties require information of such organisations and if they are able to provide it to
them then they do not allow entity to execute business. In this condition trustees get affected
because it can leave negative impact on their image in market.
Legal: Some of the specific laws such as health and safety law apart from political
factors are considered as part of these factors. It affects Costa Coffee, its employees and
customers because it is very important for the organisation to comply with this law as it is
required to maintain health and safety as work. If it is not followed by managers then it can result
in sick employees and customers which is not good for entity. This factor can also affect Save
the Children and its stakeholders because if it is taking responsibility of children then it is also
very important to maintain their health. Any type of mistake can result in negative impact such
as strict action against organisation and its trustees (Zelenkov, 2015).
Social: Preference, buying behaviour, needs, attitudes, requirements, education level,
income etc. are the part of social factors. All of them can influence Costa Coffee and its
stakeholders because if it is not able to provide such its to consumers that they are willing to
have then it is not possible to satisfy them. Save the Children also get affected due to such
factors because people who live in society have different attitudes and it is vital for organisation
to conveyance them that all the activities that are performed by it are totally legal. If it is not able
to satisfy them with proper information then it can affect stakeholders and organisation because
they can file complaint against entity which is a negative impact of these factors.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that business environment is the set
of different factors that can affect business favourably or adversely. It is very important for
managers of companies to identify such factors and then formulate strategic decisions to deal
with the same. There are various types of factors such as political, legal and social environment
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that can affect business activities and stakeholders of business entity. These stakeholders are
customers, government, trustees, investors, shareholders, creditors, employees etc. Enterprises
attain their goals with the help of their style. Various types of economic conditions such as
inflation, employment, interest, productivity etc. can influence business activities of
organisations in order to deal with those issues organisations are required to for strategies.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Akter, S. and et.al., 2016. How to improve firm performance using big data analytics capability
and business strategy alignment?. International Journal of Production Economics. 182.
pp.113-131.
Berkup, S. B., 2014. Working with generations X and Y in generation Z period: Management of
different generations in business life. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. 5(19).
p.218.
Buxel, H., Esenduran, G. and Griffin, S., 2015. Strategic sustainability: Creating business value
with life cycle analysis. Business Horizons. 58(1). pp.109-122.
Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Hall, C. M. and Coles, T., 2014. Introduction: tourism and international business–tourism as
international business. In International business and tourism (pp. 15-40). Routledge.
Kopnina, H. and Blewitt, J., 2018. Sustainable business: Key issues. Routledge.
Novakovic, D. and Huemer, C., 2014. A survey on business context. In Intelligent Computing,
Networking, and Informatics(pp. 199-211). Springer, New Delhi.
Uchihira, N., Ishimatsu, H. and Inoue, K., 2016, September. IoT service business ecosystem
design in a global, competitive, and collaborative environment. In 2016 Portland
International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology
(PICMET) (pp. 1195-1201). IEEE.
Zelenkov, Y., 2015, June. Business and IT alignment in turbulent business environment.
In International Conference on Business Information Systems (pp. 101-112). Springer,
Cham.
Online
Description of Costa Coffee. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
< https://www.costa.co.uk/ >
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