Business Environment Analysis: Technology, Ethics & Ocado's Decisions

This report provides an analysis of the business environment impacting Ocado Group PLC, a British online supermarket. It examines the effects of technological changes on the company, detailing how Ocado's technology strategy creates competitive advantages. The report further evaluates the influence of business ethics and corporate social responsibility on Ocado, highlighting the importance of ethical conduct and social accountability. Additionally, it analyzes various factors that influence decision-making within the company, such as marketing research, social responsibility, cost-benefit analysis, and the economic environment, and discusses their impact on Ocado's operations and strategic choices. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the significance of adapting to environmental changes for sustained success.

Business environment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
1 Analysis the effect of technology changes on the company and how the company technology
strategy sources of competitive advantage. ................................................................................3
2 Impact of business ethics and corporate social responsibility on the modern business
organization..................................................................................................................................5
3 Analysing various influence factor that affect the decision-making and their impact on the
company.......................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Business environment refer all the external and internal factor that affect the company
management function (Bhatia, 2019). It includes external forces, factor, institution, that are
beyond the control of the company and it affects the functioning of the organization. Business
environment includes the climate or set of condition, economy, social, technological in which the
business are operate. It is very important for businesses to analysis the competitor strategies and
their action. It helps the company to find out advantageous opportunity so that organization
compete in the competitive market.
Ocado group plc is a retailer of health, personal care, clothing, beauty product, frozen
food, bakery and alcoholic (Casali, 2021). The company provide home delivery services of the
wide range of product. It is a business which have licences grocery technology and it owns 50%
share of ocado.com in UK retail business. It is a British online supermarket and it is world
largest dedicated online grocery retailer. Ocado's warehouses are build with a giant 3D structure
inside, within which groceries are stored in crates.
Later, this report will explain about technological changes that affected to the company
and describe the overall technology strategy which source of competitive advantages for the
company. Further more, evaluate the impact of business ethics and corporate social responsibility
on the modern business organization. Analysing various influence factor that affect the decision-
making and their impact on the company.
MAIN BODY
1 Analysis the effect of technology changes on the company and how the company technology
strategy sources of competitive advantage.
In modern organization, technological changes are very important for development in the
company and achieving the good marketing position. New technology come with changes and it
might be small, affecting only a single sector but changes might be major that affecting whole
company (Coccia, 2018). The technological changes in the company may increase the
productivity of the worker, invester, promote the product independently. Technology changes
help the company to generate the sales of the company and help to boosting the profit. Five areas
that affected by technology changes in the ocado group plc.
Product development - Technology changes help the ocado group plc to develop new product
which help the company to increase sales and generate profit. Technology innovation help to

increase the demand for the new product, it means company will continuously adjust their
operation so that they can match the requirement of the customer. Integrating new technology
such as computer and software packages in their operation. Technology changes help the ocado
group plc to getting their product recognized to the audience by SEO. It increases local searches
for brand and companies, bringing the target much closer range. The company can understand
the customer need and desire with the help of technology and It is very beneficial for the
company.
Global communication – Technology changes help the ocado group plc to communicate and
transfer their files, resources from one place to anther place easily. Companies are now able to
conduct business with their supplier and customer from any part of the world without any need
of travelling. Availability of internet, video calling, global economic data has made to conduct
business anywhere in the part of the world. Even More communication, transportation and
logistics have facilitated mutuality than integration.
Money management – In terms of finance management, technology in process such as
invoicing , data consolidation, finance record help the company to reduce time and energy. New
start up business finding new technology which help their business to grow and simplify the
operation such as prepaid company card, online transaction activity provide simplification to the
customer and the company.
Improve productivity – Technology changes help the company to improving their productivity
by improving product development, process and skill of the worker and employees. Using
technology like email, social media have made communication much easier and faster in the
company to connect with customer. Online customer service and practice management legal
software reduce the personal attention. It increases productivity in all areas without sacrificing
the customer satisfaction. Technological changes help ocado group plc to accept lots of
opportunity which give competitive advantages to the company.
Increase risk – Technology changes come with many benefits and opportunity for the company
but unfortunately it comes with risk. It reduces the company productivity and satisfaction of the
consumer if they do not have proper knowledge about the new technology or system. Fast
motion of the personal and corporate operation data to online database has made companies more
defenceless to cyber attack. Cyber attack can have adverse effect on operation and process of the
company. Company are adopting new technology at a faster rate as a result, productivity are

improving rapidly. In recent time, technology affect the business operation and give knowledge
how to automation of businesses operation .
Technology strategies have had a major sources in the competitive business world. The
technology helps the company to increasing their capability to coordinate its activity with
regionally, nationally, internationally (Haseeb, 2019). Technology strategies change the way of
company operation which affect the entire process of new product. Further more it reshapes the
entire activity in company such as physical goods, services, and information. Technology
strategies, help the company to improving their value chain system. The value chain for the
company is integrated in a large stream of activity which includes supplier who provide input to
the company value chain.
Technology changes play an important role in product differentiation and price
discrimination in the company which give competition in the market. Technology helps the
company to boosting productivity, enhance collaboration, set the future goal according to the
market. It improving the security of the company data so that technology give competitive
advantages to ocada group plc.
2 Impact of business ethics and corporate social responsibility on the modern business
organization
Business ethics is very essential part in the company, it helps the company to build
customer loyalty, avoid legal problem and attract and retain the potential employees. Business
ethics define to the standard for morally right and wrong conduct in the business (Holland,
2019). It helps the company to enhance the law by outlining acceptable behaviour beyond the
government control. Business ethics is important on the modern business organization because it
promotes integrity among their employee and gain trust from key stake holder.
Good Business ethics is relevant to management today because it helps to improving
healthy work environment and increasing a company financial success as a result. Business
ethics are becoming more prevalent in today business world. It is the form of applied ethics that
study the ethical principle ,moral and ethical problem arise in the company environment. There
are issues related to community, responsibility, pollution, whistle blowing and sustainability.
Business ethics not only give knowledge about how to interact business with world but also their
one-to-one transaction to the customer.

Good business ethics should be a component of every business, there are many factors to
consider. Business ethics is newfound in modern business because it focuses on maintaining the
rights in the company. If the company not follow the business ethics in their organization they
face various issue such as fraud, price discrimination etc. strong business ethics give competitive
advantage to organization by improving recruitment, and retain the current employees. It helps to
promote moral because strong ethical programme encourage moral booster in the employees and
truthfulness. Business ethic help to improve employees interaction and build the positive
workplace atmosphere based on honesty, equality, integrity and eliminating obstacles in
communication.
Ethics refer rules and principles that define what is wrong and right for the company and
employees. If the company not maintain and follow ethic they suffer from an ethical crisis such
as lying, cheating, misrepresentation etc. when employees in the organization taking decision
unethically they can damage profitability, productivity , reputation of the company. Unethical
decision come in many forms like the manager who profits from illegal use of insider
information. All this incidence happened by the unethical behaviour in the company, so business
ethics is most important aspect for earning goodwill in the market, increase trust on the company
and positive environment in the modern organization.
Impact of CSR
Corporate social responsibility is a self-regulation with the aim of social accountability
and making positive impact on society (Newing, 2022. ). Same way that company contribute in
CSR includes being environment friendly, promoting equality, diversity, inclusion in workplace,
treating employees with respect, giving back to the community. CSR is most important for
modern organization.
Improve public image – It is very crucial and help the modern company to enhance their public
image. As consumer evaluate the company image when deciding whether to buy from.
Increasing brand awareness and recognition – If the company are follow ethics and contribute
in the social responsibility, which help the company to create awareness in the mind of customer.
Improve employees engagement – CSR help the company to improving employees engagement
because when employees enjoy working more for the company that has a good public image than
other. Furthermore, by showing respect to the employees rights, attract and engages the
employees.

Beneficial foe employees – CSR is beneficial for the employees also when company are
connected and follow the ethics and social responsibility. Workplace will be more positive and
productive for work and encourage personal and professional growth.
Business ethics and corporate social responsibility are most important for success and
profitability of the business and . It helps to create and maintain the positive environment in the
company to give competitive advantages of the company.
3 Analysing various influence factor that affect the decision-making and their impact on the
company.
There are various factors that affect the decision-making on the organization . It is a
process of making choice by identify ideas, gathering information and select alternative solution
for the issue (Tung, 2018). Taking step by step decision-making step help the individual to take
more measured, thoughtful decision .
Marketing research - marketing research is marketing management that provide information
which help to provide relevant information about the market. Marketing research help to
reducing the uncertainty surrounding the decision. Marketing research help to the company to get
answer the question regarding issue form understanding the industry trend , determining which
product and services to be offered in the market and give better understanding of the demand of
the target customer, and give solution how to satisfied their demand . So that marketing research
factor affect the decision-making process .
Social responsibility – social responsibility is another factor that affecting in making decision. It
very important activity in any business success. It helps to boost employees moral in the
workplace and lead productivity (Victor, 2018). Business that follow social responsibility, that
increase customer retention and loyalty. This factor affects the company working condition and
improving the positive working environment of the organization. This factor affected to taking
decision in the company .
Cost and benefits – cost and benefits factor affect the decision-making process ,it is the most
important and crucial for factor for taking decision. Cost and benefits analysis help the business

to understand the pros and cons in the data so that they can make complex decision in systematic
manner. This factor allows companies to measure the benefits of the decision which involve
revenue earned, cost saved etc.
Economic environment – Economic factor affecting to take decision for the company. It refers
to external factor that influence buying habits of customer and businesses, and they affect the
performance of the company. This factor is beyond the company control and it may be large and
small scale .
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion, It has been concluded that various technological changes that
have been important for the company success. It has been affected the company in a positive and
negative way and give competitive advantages to the company. Business ethics and corporate
social responsibility which is essential for achieving the goal in the modern organization. It
helpful for the company to build customer loyalty, avoid legal problem, attract and retain the
potential employees. Various influence factor such as social, economical, price and marketing
factor that affect to making right decision. It important and beneficial for taking right and
effective decision in the company.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bhatia, A and Makkar, B., 2019. Extent and drivers of CSR disclosure: Evidence from
Russia. Transnational Corporations Review.11(3).pp.190-207.
Casali, G L and Perano, M., 2021. Forty years of research on factors influencing ethical decision
making: Establishing a future research agenda. Journal of Business Research.132.
pp.614-630.
Coccia, M., 2018. The Fishbone diagram to identify, systematize and analyze the sources of
general purpose Technologies. Journal of Social and Administrative Sciences. 4(4).
pp.291-303.
Haseeb, M., 2019. Role of social and technological challenges in achieving a sustainable
competitive advantage and sustainable business performance. Sustainability.11(14).
p.3811.
Holland, KE., 2019. Acquiring a pet dog: A review of factors affecting the decision-making of
prospective dog owners. Animals.9(4). p.124.
Newing, A and Lewis, J., 2022. ‘Sorry we do not deliver to your area’: geographical inequalities
in online groceries provision. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and
Consumer Research.32(1). pp.80-99.
Tung, V W S and King, B E M., 2018. Tourism industry career prospects and the business
environment: E vidence from C anada and M acau. International Journal of Tourism
Research.20(4). pp.518-525.
Victor, V., 2018. Factors influencing consumer behavior and prospective purchase decisions in a
dynamic pricing environment—An exploratory factor analysis approach. Social
Sciences.7(9). p.153.

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