Project: Global Business Environment Analysis of Sasol Limited

This project examines the global business environment through the lens of Sasol Limited, a chemical company expanding internationally. It begins with an introduction to the concept of globalization and its driving factors, such as technology, factor mobility, trade flow, and tax differences. The project then explores the significant impact of digital technology on globalization, emphasizing its role in communication and international transactions. A PESTEL analysis is conducted to assess the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors influencing Sasol's operations. The project also identifies challenges associated with globalization, including ethical business practices and organizational structure. Finally, it provides recommendations for overcoming these challenges, such as adhering to government regulations. The project references relevant academic sources to support its analysis.

Global Business
Environment
(Project 1)

Table of Content
• Introduction
• Concept of Globalization
• Driving factors of globalization
• Significant impact of digital technology upon globalization
• PESTEL analysis
• Challenges of globalization
• Recommendations
• References

Introduction
Global business environment is that which include factors of all over
the world. In simple term it can be said that, it is environment of
different sovereign countries, with factors exogenous to the home
surrounding of the company, influencing decision making on resources
use and capabilities.

Concept of Globalization
Globalization is a process where an organization starts operating on a
global or international level. Additionally it is the process of interacting
with people, government and companies across the globe. Sasol limited
is a chemical company which is based in Sandton, South Africa. The
company is now looking forward to expand in numerous countries such
as Australia, Canada, Gabon and many more.

Driving factors of globalization
Globalization has lead to increase in the number of foreign trades,
capital flow of Sasol Limited along with acceleration of growth rate.
However, there are many factors that influence the globalization. These
are as follows:
• Technology- Modified technology tools has lead to breaking down
the national obstacles such as time difference, and space.

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• Factor Mobility- The mobility of information and people has ease
the process of globalization for the concerned company.
• Trade Flow- The removal of trade barriers has lead to increase in
the international trade transaction of Sasol which has helped the
organization to increase its revenue growth.
• Differences in tax systems- The respective company strategy is to
benefit from low unit labor cost and other production costs.

Significant impact of digital
technology upon globalization
In today's time, the technological advancement has become a key role
in globalization of the business. There are various technologies that has
been introduced and used in day to day life such as information
technology, digital technology, etc.. This technology has erased the
difficulties of communication and made service users more
approachable. Also it has helped to conduct international transactions.

PESTEL analysis
It is a strategic tool that analysis the macro environment of an
organization. Element of this method are determine below-
• Political Factors: It plays a significant role for long term
profitability in a certain market. In this, it is clearly analysing the
factors before investing it, such as protection in intellectual property,
industrial safety in material sector, tax rates and incentives.

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• Economic Factors: In this, the most widely issues occur by this
factor is on inflation & foreign exchange rate.
• Social Factors: They are the factors which are affected by lifestyles
as religion and family.
• Technological Factors: Nowadays it plays a vital role in industries
which disrupting fast use of it.

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• Environmental factors: According to the standard different markets
have different norms which effects on the profit of an organization.
• Legal Factors: Sasol Ltd. company is integrated with oil and gas
industry which is discriminated by law. In this, it is related with
legal framework before entering in a market.

Challenges of globalization
There are several challenges that are faced by Sasol limited while
doing business in international market. These are as follows:
• Ethical business Practices- There are various practices that are to
be followed by the business organization such as product safety,
labor, corruption, and many more.

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• Organizational structure- Another hurdle that is faced by the
company is to incorporate new area and culture within corporate
structure and value chain. Expanding the business internationally
requires a huge amount of investment along with specific strategy
business unit in order to manage the global operations.