A Case Study: Impact of International Trade on UK Business Environment

This report analyzes the impact of international trade on the UK business environment, focusing on Marks & Spencer as a case study. It begins with an introduction to globalization and its effects, followed by an outline of project aims, objectives, and a project management plan covering scope, resources, cost, time, quality, communication, and risk. A work breakdown structure and Gantt chart are included for project organization and time management. The research employs both qualitative and quantitative methods to gather and analyze data, leading to recommendations regarding international trade's challenges and benefits for the UK business environment. The report concludes by assessing the value of the research in meeting its stated objectives, providing a comprehensive overview of the topic.

Managing a Successful
Business Project

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Project aims and objectives....................................................................................................1
P2 Project management plan that covers aspects of cost, scope, time, quality, communication,
risk and resources........................................................................................................................2
P3 Work breakdown structure and a Gantt chart to provide time frames and stages.................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P4 Small-scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative research methods.................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P5 Research and data using appropriate tools and techniques....................................................9
P6 Appropriate recommendations as a result of research and data analysis.............................17
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................18
P7 Value of undertaking the research to meet stated objectives...............................................18
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................18
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................19

Topic: To determine impact of international trade on business environment of United Kingdom.
A Case Study on Marks & Spencer.
INTRODUCTION
Globalisation is regarded as convergence of the economic activities on the basis of
worldwide in market areas and also production. It is process of integration and communication
among governments, organisations and people in all over the world. It has been grown because
of advanced in communication and transportation technology. Under this, market globalisation
minimizes the cost of marketing, meet with needs of local buyers, develop new market
opportunities, increase global sustainability etc. This present report is based on the Marks &
Spencer company that deals in retail sector (Bücker and et. al., 2014). It provides home products,
clothing and food items in many countries. Under this mention report will be discuss about the
project management plan that covers the various aspects of communication, resources, scope,
time, cost, risk etc. There will be discussion about the quantitative and qualitative method of
investigation in order to meeting with the project objectives and aims. In order to conducting an
investigation in a proper manner, there will be mention about data and research by using the
effective techniques and tools.
TASK 1
P1 Project aims and objectives
Globalisation refers to process through which the comp nay develop its international
influence in international scale (Buettner and et. al., 2012). The multinational firms are
commercial which conduct their business operations in many countries and they operate overseas
through setting up units for an instance subsidiaries and also merge with the local firms.
Multinational companies refers to those firms which engaged in the foreign Direct Investment
and also owns the value adding activities or operations in more than single country. In context to
this, multinational firms impact on business environment of United Kingdom. This project is
based on the Marks & Spencer company and deals in the retail sector in UK. Under this country,
if there is any multinational country wants to expand its business then the environment of this
country will be impacted because it will enhance the competition level among two different firms
which deals in same sector.
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Background of Project
In United Kingdom country, there are large number of multinational firms are working.
They develop the negative as well as positive impact on the business environment. The
multinational firms can give the developing countries with financial infrastructure for social and
economic development. It is helpful in develop the employment related opportunities in host
countries. It assess on developing pool of the managerial talent in host country. These all helpful
in provide the better employment related opportunities to local people of United Kingdom. It is
helpful in enhancing their standard of living (Campbell, Eden and Miller, 2012). On the other
hand, its negative impact is enhanced competition in the retail sector. In addition to this,
multinational firms impact on national and local policies through causing the government for
compete with the each other. Multinational firms are make use to transfer the costing and also
some of the other tax avoidance. Under this, the multinational firms invest in the host countries
and impact in the many ways such as provided employment opportunities, enhance technological
advancement etc.
Aim: To determine impact of international trade on business environment of United Kingdom. A
Case Study on Marks & Spencer.
Objectives:
 To identify concept of international trade.
 To examine impact of international trade on United Kingdom business environment.
 To determine challenges which international trade face in Business environment of UK.
Questions:
 What is concept of International trade?
 What is impact of international trade on United Kingdom business environment?
 What are challenges which international trade face in Business environment of UK?
P2 Project management plan that covers aspects of cost, scope, time, quality, communication,
risk and resources
Project Management
Project is a complete set of activities that aims to solve problem within a specific period
of time. A project management is a process of planning, organizing, controlling and closing
work of a team to achieve specific goals (Cooke, 2012). The main objective of project
management is to create a complete project which satisfy client's objective. Primary challenge of
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this management is to achieve all project goals within given motive. There are some critical
aspects mention below which have to be taken care by Marks and Spencer to ensure that their
project reach required level of success.
Scope: This factor affects the execution of project, programme, time, cost, quality,
resources and customer satisfaction. The process of creating a scope management plan is to
know how the project are going to be defined and controlled. As per present project,by
introducing business in international market, Marks and Spencer gain opportunity to enhance it
selling. It will automatically increase their profit level because in international market there are
large number of buyers and currency rate is also more as compared to domestic market.
Resources: It defines the way in which people and physical resources will be acquired,
developed, managed and controlled by an organisation. This aspect enable managers of Marks
and Spencer to allocate proper level of labour and cost necessary factor to complete project. In
order to conducting or performing project, it is necessary for the project manager to make proper
availability of resources such as financial, technological, human resource etc. They will help in
completing project in a better manner.
Cost: This aspect mainly deals with resource and budgeting. This process ensure that
project is complete within specified budget. It mainly contains resource planning, cost
estimating, cost budgeting and cost control factors (Cuervo‐Cazurra, 2012).
Particulars Amount
Initial investment 100000
Expenses:
Research and developmental
activities
25500
Operational expenses 15600
Technology purchase cost 17000
Cost to IT experts 21500
Licensing fee 6000
Closing value 14400
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Time: It refers a duration of time of a project which is decided before starting till the
completion. Marks and Spencer need to ensure this most important parameter because it provides
a link between budget and deadline.
Quality: The amount to which project full fills the demand is defined as quality. It is a
process in which policies and methods are created to ensure that project completes according to
customers prospective. Mark and Spencer managers can use this factor to improve their quality
but take of that quality must be planned in and not authorized. This will encourage company and
their employee to focus on improving their quality of their products and business at every level
of organisation.
Communication: Behind success of any organisational project communication plays an
effective role. Managers of Marks and Spencer must provide an efficient communication bridge
between every level in their organisation to maintain the flow of information in their workplace
(Dunning, 2013). That will not only helps their employees to perform accordingly to project but
also increase productivity level and enhance growth rate of company.
Communication Matrix
Communication Purpose Medium Frequency Audience
Kick off meetings Introduction of
project and
review goals and
objectives
Face to face Once Sponsor of
project, project
team and
stakeholders.
Project Team
Meetings
Review project
status
Conference call Weekly Project team
Monthly project
team meeting
Meeting to review
the status and
action register
Face to face Monthly Project manager
Risk: It is affected by factors, including sales volume, per-price input, input cost,
competition and economic climate and government policies. Managers of Marks and Spencer
must need to evaluate all the major risk factor in the market and then regulate their working
strategies. This will not only helps them to measure their risk factors but also lead them to
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increase production and profit (Farndale, Brewster and Poutsma, 2014). Under this, there are
some risk involved in project related with the cost, time, quality etc. In order to manage the cost,
there is a need to project manager to develop analyse these risk and develop effective strategies
in order to overcome from them. It can develop the proper cost structure and maintain time on
the basis of activities which involved in project.
P3 Work breakdown structure and a Gantt chart to provide time frames and stages
Gantt chart and Work break down structure both can be used as tool for finishing project
of Marks & Spencer. This company has the clear view of the work and it divide its activities in
various categories. These both are helpful in provide the stages as well as time frames for
completion of work.
Work break down structure- It refers to key project deliverable that helps in organise
the work of a team in to the manageable sections (Hoskisson and et. al., 2013). Under this,
company divide the work in the small segments so that employees can not face any difficulty and
work in an effective manner.
Illustration 1: Work breakdown structure
Gantt chart- Gantt Chart is refers as a horizontal bar chart which developed by Henry L.
Gantt in the year around 1917. Most of the firm use this in order to have a graphical
representation of task which is to be performed. Thus, in this a time span for completing the task
are projected and further it is breakdown into segments such as days, weeks or month. Although
Gantt chart provides with clear status but it has some limitations as well as company cannot fully
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depend upon Gantt Chart as contingencies can arise according to situations. Marks 7 Spencer use
the Gantt chart so that employees can complete their activities on the basis of set time duration.
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TASK 2
P4 Small-scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative research methods
Research method
It is a process which is used to collect data and information for the purpose of making
business decision. It is a broad term which is used for discover new information about it or
understand it better (Jenkins, 2013). It is a systematic enquiry to describe, explain, control and
p[edict the observed phenomenon. There are two methods of research:
Qualitative Method
It is a processes of inquiry that helps in understanding the problems or issues in their
natural situation. It is theory based. This research is totally based on experience of the
researchers. This research provide insights and understandings of the problems. It is an
unstructured, exploratory method. The aim of these researches are to understand the social
reality of individuals, groups and cultures. This involves human behaviour and the reason for
collecting data. These kind of research are done through one to one interview, focus groups,
ethnographic research, text analysis and case study research.
Quantitative research
It is a structured way of collecting data and analysing it to draw conclusion. This research
involves a larger population as more number of people for collecting information and data. It is
based on numerical data, in this research the data can be collect through online survey,
questionnaires, polls and survey. The survey can be done on mobiles, emails or can be simply
use the internate. The quantitative research designs are experimental, correlational and survey.
The data collect by the researcher can be divided into categories or put into ranks. Graphs and
tables of raw data can be constructed with the help of this research method.
Data Collection
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It is a process of collecting informative from available source to find answers from the
research problems and evaluate the outcomes. Data collection methods is divided into two parts
primary and secondary data collection methods (Kang and Jiang, 2012).
Primary data collection method
It is type of data which never existed before the data which is not used before in any
research and it is pure data. This data can be collect through research, survey , experiments and
interview.
QUESTIONNAIRE
Name:
Gender:
Contact Number:
Address :
Q1) Are you aware about concept of international trade?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2) What are the major drivers that influence an enterprise for international trade in
United Kingdom?
a) Cost
b) Competition
c) Technology
Q3) What are the benefits of international trade for host countries?
a) Provide employment
b) Technology transfer
c) Improve national reputation
Q4) What are the drawbacks related with international trade for host countries?
a) Increased competition
b) Environmental impact
c) Uncertainty
Q5) Are the multinational companies develop positive impact on business environment of
United Kingdom?
a) Yes
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b) No
Q6) Which country is more benefited by increase in international trade?
a) Host country
b) Home country
Q7) What are the major resources required by an organization for expanding its business
operations on global level?
a) Financial resources
b) Human resources
c) Technical resources
Q8) What are the main challenges that Marks & Spencer face through globalisation?
a) Income equality
b) Job and wages
c) Culture, sovereignty and environment
Q9) What will be impact of multinational companies on host countries?
a) Foreign Direct Investment
b) Transition Economies
c) Conflict of Interests
Q10) Recommend some ways through which the multinational company can enhance its
market share in United Kingdom.
Secondary data collection method
It means data is Alfred available. It measures usually universal, like formulas for finding
mean, median and mode for a set of data. In this method data should be reliable to be testing and
sustainable for enquiry. This data is saving time causeway is already available in the market. In
this, method data can be idiolect through census and government departmental like housing,
social security and Tex records.
Data sampling
It is a principle that specifies the conditions and guidance of the process of selecting the
members of population from, which data should be collect (Lee and Song, 2012). The choice of
sampling methods determines the accuracy of the research, findings, reliability and validity.
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With the help of using the random data sampling method, researcher select the 30 respondents
for collect data and information.
TASK 3
P5 Research and data using appropriate tools and techniques
Under this, requirement of each investigator is to collect the reliable as well as accurate
information and data related with the specific topic of project in order to get the valid conclusion.
There is a thematic analysis tool is used to analyse gathered data so that manager can take
effective and better decisions. With the help of using random sampling method, researcher select
30 respondents. The source of data tables and graphs is Survey.
THEME 1: Aware about concept of international trade
Q1) Are you aware about concept of international trade? Frequency
Yes 20
No 10
Interpretation: On the basis of opinion of 20 respondents that they are aware about the concept
of globalisation and they have better knowledge of it. On the other hand, there are 10
respondents which said that they do not have more knowledge about the globalisation.
10
Yes No
0
5
10
15
20
25
20
10 Column B