Analysis of Business Environment: A Report on Debenhams (Level 3)

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the business environment, using Debenhams as a case study. It begins with an introduction to the business environment and then delves into various aspects, including different types of businesses in the public and private sectors, stakeholder identification, and organizational objectives. The report further explores the benefits of socially responsible business behavior and examines different business departments, staffing structures, and factors influencing business culture. Marketing concepts, including needs, wants, market segmentation, and the marketing mix, are also defined and explained. The report concludes with an analysis of the micro and macro business environments, the importance of quality, and the application of SWOT and PESTLE analyses to Debenhams, providing a well-rounded overview of key business concepts and their practical application.

Introduction to business
environment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1) List different types of businesses found in the public and private sectors..........................1
1.2) Identify the various stakeholders involved with a business.................................................2
1.3) Describe an organisation’s business objectives...................................................................2
1.4) List a range of benefits of socially responsible business behaviour....................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
2.1) Explain the function of different business departments.......................................................3
2.2) Explain an organisation’s staffing and management structure............................................3
2.3) Describe a range of factors that can influence business culture..........................................3
TASK3.............................................................................................................................................4
3.1) Define the term ‘marketing’ in relation to a business..........................................................4
3.2) Define ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ in relation to marketing...........................................................4
3.3) Identify a range of market segment categories....................................................................4
3.4) Explain market research and the ‘marketing mix’...............................................................4
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................5
4.2) Explain the difference between a micro and macro business environment.........................5
4.2) Explain why quality is important in business......................................................................5
4.3) Create a SWOT analysis for an organisation.......................................................................6
4.4) Carry out a PESTLE analysis on an organisation................................................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business environment is refers to the sum collection of all the factors and forces that have
direct influence over the company's performance and profitability. Every business organisation
has been operates in different environment which is based on the nature of company, such
environment impact the business and also get effected by organisations. Business environment is
dynamic in nature, this changes continuously as there are various factors prevailing in market.
This is a very complex along with uncertain as no one can predict that what is going to happen in
the future (Hamilton, . and Webster, 2018) . This report is based on the debenhams company
which is a British based multinational retailing company dealing in departmental stores with the
headquarter in regent's place, London. Below report is consist of understanding of different types
of business and their functions, analysis of basic business and management structures. Moreover
it includes analysis of basic marketing in business and utilisation key business concept.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
1.1) List different types of businesses found in the public and private sectors.
Business is refers to the organisation or enterprise entity which has been involve in
commercial, industrial and professional activities. It is also defined as individual efforts and
activities which are streamline in effective manner in order to produce and sell goods and
services for higher profit. There are many types of businesses which are discussed below:
private sector
Sole proprietorship: This is also as known as sole traders and individual entrepreneurship
which has been owned and run by one person. In this there is not legal difference between owner
and business entity.
Partnership: This is describes as the agreement in which parties known as business
partners that are agree to corporate to accomplish their mutual interest while binding legal
relationship which has been formed by written agreements.
public sector
Local government: This is the form of public administration that operates its activities at
small level. The government has been not covered the larger area as it only focus on the minor
regulations of public sector.
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Central government: This government has been associated with the political authority
which has the power to govern entire nation. This has focus on the large public corporations
which are governed, monitor and control by central government.
1.2) Identify the various stakeholders involved with a business.
A stakeholder is refers to an individual or group which has an interest in business
activities and decision that has been taken by organisation (Belyaeva,2018). There are several
type of stakeholder which are discussed below:
Employees: This is refers to an individual who id hired by the company in order to
complete the task or to do specific job role.
Suppliers: This is the one which provides the products and services to business.
Moreover, it is also define as the providers of key inputs for finish goods.
Customers: It is refers to the individual that purchase goods and services from the
producers. Or in others words these are the recipient of goods, services, product and idea which
has produces by organisations.
1.3) Describe an organisation’s business objectives.
Objectives are refers to the specific actions and measurable steps which a company takes
in order to accomplish the organisational goals, debenham company has the objective to boost
the shopping confidence, sociable, and fun for the customers. Along with this, they want to
increase the availability and choices for more products and services with the usage of
multichannel.
1.4) List a range of benefits of socially responsible business behaviour.
It is necessary for the business to perform the social responsibilities along with corporate
activities in order to make the better place to live while enhancing living standard of wider
society(Contractor, and. et. al., 2020) . There are various benefits which can debenham company
will enjoy through social responsibilities.
Improved brand image: With the help of social responsibility company will ensures it
good public image which is one of major aspect as consumers assess public image of company
before making decision for buying
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Enhance brand awareness and recognition: Social responsibility helps a company to
enhance their brand awareness, as when a company engaged in ethical practices awareness
comes along as an appreciation of the company's motive.
More benefits to employees: There are several benefits for the employees when a
company perform social responsibilities, workplace become more positive and productive place
to work that encourages personal and professional growth.
TASK 2
2.1) Explain the function of different business departments.
Marketing department: It is the department which is responsible for promotion and sale
of goods and services along with its distribution as per the need and requirements of customers.
Human resources department: The function this department in debenham company is
associated with recruiting, training and dismissal of employees on organisation (Halbert, and
Ingulli, 2020). Along with all the activities related to employees such as salary, discipline,
motivation etc.
2.2) Explain an organisation’s staffing and management structure.
Organisation staffing: It is the prominent procedure of having right people at right place.
This process is complex and multifaceted in nature that have direct influence on all areas of
organisation but it is essential for organisational effectiveness.
Management structure: It is define as hierarchy which is used to direct all activities such
as allocation, coordination and supervision towards accomplishment of organisational goals.
2.3) Describe a range of factors that can influence business culture.
 The management and its style of managing employees is impact the organisational
culture. As there are various business which allow their employees to take participation in
decision making process and strategic. Through which they feel connected and form
positive working environment.
 Employees background also impact culture as organisation is consist of employees from
different background, religion and culture.
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TASK3
3.1) Define the term ‘marketing’ in relation to a business.
Marketing is define as some collection of all activities that business utilise in order to
promote buying and selling of goods. It is associated with the process of attracting potential
customers that will be interested in products and services that has been offered by business.
3.2) Define ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ in relation to marketing
Need in marketing term is the basic human requirements such as cloths, foods, shelter,
water etc. which are essential for surviving, as a marketer it is important to understand customers
needs and offer them with the optimum level of satisfaction.
Wants has been directed by the surrounding in order to reach at the specific need. A want
is define as the product desired of customer which is not essential for the survive. Thus, human
wants has been associated with the each individual perception, environment, culture and society.
3.3) Identify a range of market segment categories.
A market segment is describe as the group of people that has been associated with the
common characteristics (Chukhray, and Mrykhina, 2018) . It is procedure which divide market
into more define and smaller category in order to better understand the need of consumers.
Market segment has been dependent upon certain parameters, that are explained below:
Demographic segmentation: This is the prominent procedure of dividing market on basis
of age, gender, religion, income, occupation, etc. it is the first which has used to develop
customers profile which will help in make better products, services and messages.
Geographic segmentation: This involves the market segmentation of customers on basis
of region or geographic area in which they live or work in(Bruijl, 2018). it can be done by group
the audience by country, region, cities or town.
Behavioural segmentation: It has been done on basis of behavioural pattern of customers
when they interact with specific product, service, business and brand.
Psycho-graphic segmentation: It is when a customers breakdown customers group as per
their beliefs, values, motivation and priorities.
3.4) Explain market research and the ‘marketing mix’
Market research is the procedure of identifying the needs and demand of new services
and products with the help of research. It is an organised efforts for the collection of information
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and data of target audience to obtain the better understanding about them. Its is the important
aspect for business as this help in develop strategies and in maintaining competitiveness.
Marketing mix has focus on various areas that are part of marketing plan for promoting
the buying and selling of company's offerings(Barr, and. et. al., 2018). This is consist of main 4
elements:
product: This is represents item which a company offers to its customers in order to
satisfy the need and requirements of audience.
Price: It is a amount that a customers are willing to pay for product and service offered
by company.
Place: It has been understood as the means through which product reaches to final
consumers. It is place that allow marketers to interact with customers along with access to
products and services.
Promotion: This is utilise by the company in order to increase the awareness, develop
interest and brand loyalty in order enhance sale for organisation.
TASK 4
4.2) Explain the difference between a micro and macro business environment
Basis Micro environment Macro environment
Meaning This is refers to the environment
includes all factors of immediate
environment that impact on regular
business operations(Akhtar, and
Sushil, 2018)
This is define as the condition or
situation which has been situated in
economy as whole.
Elements It main elements are, customers,
suppliers, intermediators,
shareholders.
This includes political factor, social
factor, technological factor, economic
factor etc.
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4.2) Explain why quality is important in business
Managing quality is important factor as this provides support in to improve the customer
satisfaction and loyalty towards business. Along with this, it help in to reduce risk and cost by
replacing defective commodities. With the support of prominent quality standard business is able
build its reputation and increase recognition.
4.3) Create a SWOT analysis for an organisation
Swot analysis is refers to the strategic planning techniques which has been used to help
organisation in identifying their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are related
business competition and strategic planning.
Strengths weaknesses
 Debenham company is consist of high
brand equity in fashion industry and
high brand recall among consumers.
 This is having the strong digital growth
 It is having a strength in merger and
acquisitions of companies
 debenham is consist of strong multi-
brand retail stores along with greater
customer services.
 Debenham has been not target all type
of customers segment.
 This has limited global geographical
presence.
 The company is not able to handle
challenges through the new entrants in
the market(Niemimaa, and. et. al.,
2019).
 Organisational structure is not suitable
for current business model
opportunities Threats
 Franchise model will provides the
opportunity to company to make global
presence.
 Execution of new technology will
provides opportunity to practice
differentiated pricing strategy.
 Debenham can target the larger
customers segment in order to enhance
 Growing competition is one of the
biggest threat for the company.
 Increasing price of raw material will
increase the cost that can impact
company's profitability.
 High brand awareness and choice for
specific product can result in brand
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the revenue. switching.
4.4) Carry out a PESTLE analysis on an organisation
Pestle analysis is refers to the, framework which is used to analyse the macro
environment in order to develop strategies for strong competitiveness.
Factors Explanation
Political factor This includes rules and decision made by government, sales of
debenhma company get effected due to Brexit, as it increase the trade
tax. On the other side decrease in corporation tax have positive impact
as this help in to reduce cost.
Economical factor It includes inflation rate, tax rate, interest rate, disposable income of
consumers etc. UK economy has attracted the attention of foreign direct
investors across the global through which debenham company has an
opportunity to grow and to expand.
Social factor This factors is refers to the friends, family, peers and social that
influence individual attitude, perception and living standard (Uluskan,
and Godfrey, , 2018). Use of smart phones and internet will increase the
sales for debenham company as this has strong digital growth.
Technological factor It is define as all externally generated changes in technology and
process used by company. UK has advance technology through which
debenham will able to improve in-store technology, more efficient use
of mobile technology.
Environmental factor It is define as, food, water, light, pollutants, natural calamities that
impact living beings. Company will use suitability practices which laed
to decrease in CO2 emission while increasing use of efficient sources of
energy.
Legal factor This includes laws, rules and regulation made by government for the
particular industry. Have have follow the employment act 1996 in
which company need to provides sick pay, minimum wages, maternity
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or paternity leave which protect the right for employees. This help in to
retain employees for longer period of time.
CONCLUSION
As per the above analyses, it has been concluded that business environment is the some
collect of factors and forces that can impact the organisation's profitability and productivity.
There are various types of business and function which is being performed in order to obtain
effective outcomes. Management structure has been used to direct the activities towards
organisation's aims. Moreover marketing is the collection of activities which is undertaken to
promote buying and selling of goods and services. Business environment has been analysed with
the usage of SWOT and PESTLE analysis in order to be make strategic decision making for
success of company.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Hamilton, L. and Webster, P., 2018. The international business environment. Oxford University
Press.
Belyaeva, Z., 2018. Business environment challenges and trends for contemporary SMEs in
Europe. In The sustainable marketing concept in European SMEs. Emerald Publishing
Limited.
Contractor, and. et. al., 2020. How do country regulations and business environment impact
foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows?. International Business Review, 29(2),
p.101640.
Halbert, T. and Ingulli, E., 2020. Law and ethics in the business environment. Cengage Learning.
Chukhray, N.I. and Mrykhina, O.B., 2018. Theoretical and methodological basis for technology
transfer from universities to the business environment. Problems and Perspectives in
Management, 16(1), p.399.
Bruijl, G.H.T., 2018. The relevance of Porter's five forces in today's innovative and changing
business environment. Available at SSRN 3192207.
Barr, and. et. al., 2018. Development of indigenous enterprise in a contemporary business
environment–the Ngāi Tahu Ahikā approach. Journal of Enterprising Communities:
People and Places in the Global Economy.
Akhtar, M. and Sushil, S., 2018. Strategic performance management system in uncertain
business environment. Business Process Management Journal.
Niemimaa, and. et. al., 2019. Business continuity of business models: Evaluating the resilience
of business models for contingencies. International Journal of Information
Management, 49, pp.208-216.
Uluskan, M. and Godfrey, A.B., 2018. Business environment-supply chain framework and
benchmarking supply chain structures: Haiti versus China. Benchmarking: An
International Journal.
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