Innovation & Business Environment: A Case Study of Ocado Group Plc

This report examines the business environment of Ocado Group Plc, a British online supermarket, with a focus on the impact of innovation. It highlights how innovation drives growth, customer engagement, and competitive advantage, particularly through technology like robotics. The report evaluates the general environment using three PESTLE variables: political, economic, and technological factors, and provides recommendations for improving decision-making within the company, including strategic delegation and considering customer opinions. Furthermore, it discusses the ethical implications of decision-making, emphasizing the importance of ethical behavior in building trust and maintaining a positive work environment. The analysis concludes that innovation is crucial for organizational success and that ethical practices are essential for sustainable growth.

Business environment

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
Business environment is defined as the factors that are internal and external factors for
example employees, needs & expectations of the customers, supply & demand,
management, clients, suppliers, owners, activities by government, innovation in technology,
and many others (Crawford and Fink, 2019). Above mentioned factors affect the operations
and function of the company and various ways in which a company works directly or
indirectly. Some of these factors influence the company’s or business organization’s
environment and situation. The report is going to highlight the impact of innovation on
modern business organizations. The chosen company for the project is Ocado Group Plc
which is a British online supermarket and is considered to be the world's largest dedicated
online grocery retailer. The report will further elaborate the three variables of the
environment for the PESTLE analysis out of political, economic, socio-cultural,
technological, legal, or ethical (Hanapi and et. al., 2018). Along with it, the report
highlighted two recommendations by which the company can improve decision-making in
the chosen company.
Main Body
The impact of innovation on modern business organizations.
Innovation is one of the main factors in modern business and it is essential for the growth of the
business. The impact of innovation on modern business organizations are explained below-
 As the market is changing rapidly, innovative thinking and ideas keep the customers
engaged. Along with it, innovation allows staying ahead in the competition with the other
competitors of the market (Kamaliah and et. al., 2018). About the chosen company, it
makes sure to implement innovative training and learning programs for the employees so
that they have the best-skilled workforce at the company.
 Due to innovation, the modern business allows it to take advantage of the technology
because new technologies help in making better products and providing the best services
to the customers. About the chosen company, they have a robotics research team for

picking and packing in the warehouses. The company is working on using robots in the
same way humans deal with the customers (Knox and Stone, 2019).
 Innovation is that factor that helps the company is growing intending to make the
company more successful and profitable. Also, due to this, the company can differentiate
itself from the other company. It also provides insights that support looking at things
from a different view. When the company wants to increase the level of productivity at
the workplace then, it can also make use of the innovation factor as it will involve new
processes of doing the tasks and things (Pauceanu, Rabie and Moustafa, 2020).
Evaluate the general environment of the company by explaining three out of six variables
of the environment for the PESTLE analysis that is political, economic, socio-cultural,
technological, legal, or ethical.
The general business environment of the business firm consists of the internal as well as the
external environment based on which business strategies can be taken into consideration. With
context to the chosen company i.e., Ocado Group, which is a British online supermarket and is
also described as the world's largest dedicated online grocery retailer. Managers at the business
firm take key considerations for analyzing the business environment of the business firm and
enable a productive basis under which aims and objectives of the business firm can be attained
(Pouratashi, 2019). Being a retailer business firm faces a high threat of competition while
operating various business tasks in the market. For analyzing key external factors affecting the
working of the business firm PESTLE analysis for the business firm is being taken into
consideration;
 Political: Political factors play a vital role in determining factors that influence the
working of the business firm. Under such factors, key considerations to political laws,
Bureaucracy, taxation, etc. are being taken into consideration. The company when being
engaged in open market operations has to face difficulties as these factors affect the
productive workings of the business firm. Moreover, corruption has also affected the
environment of the business and if the chosen company enters such a market with a
corrupt environment then it will affect the development of the organization. Ocado can
also enter into a low taxation market that will elevate the profit and such an amount can
be used in the research and development activities of the company (Cotronei-Baird,
2020).

 Economic: These factors include elements like; inflation rate, saving rates foreign
exchange rates, etc. are being taken into consideration. Through this provided company
dedicates better terms based on which risks associated under these factors can be
eliminated and productive workings of the business firm can be enabled. It is also
necessary to consider the economic factors as economic development provides a wide
range of opportunities for the company. Also, growth in GDP rate allows to company to
have better and long-term strategies to grow in the market. The company can also study
the labor market conditions to understand the various ways that can attract talented
workers to use their skills to enhance the performance of the business. It can be seen that
when labor markets are flexible then the company can improve labor productivity.
Whereas, operating in rigid labor markets tends to bring issues from the staff and labor
unions. The company should analyze the availability of skilled human capital because the
shortage of skilled labor can impact business efficiency and that may lead to making
talent attraction and retention more challenging for the organization.
 Technological: For the stated element of the model key considerations to innovative
technological factors are being taken into consideration. It is a high threat for the business
firm as competitors of the corporate firm can make use of such technology and allow
better workings of the business firm. The development in information and
communication technologies has managed to the adoption of new and innovative
marketing techniques to enhance engagement with customers. Nowadays, social media
has become common in a modern business environment and the chosen company can
more opportunities with the help of social media marketing to improve business
performance. Technological trends are also used to start creating social media campaigns
for developing online brand communities in the eyes of the customers (Sokhanvar, Salehi
and Sokhanvar, 2021.
3 a). Two recommendations on the ways by which the company can improve decision-
making in the chosen company.

As the company is already doing great and it also celebrates diversity to treat everyone with
respect and same values & there is no discrimination based on age, religion, sex, gender, marital
status, and many others (Tan and Laswad, 2018)
. Their main aim is to maintain a positive work environment and also to make sure all the people
are treated with the same dignity all the time. Bullying and discrimination are not tolerated
at the company as the company can achieve more by keeping the people in the best manner.
When the employees feel comfortable they tend to bring the best contribution to the work
each day. From the above-given information, it has been recommended that innovation
within a workplace is beneficial for the success and productivity of the retail organization.
Proper use of innovation benefits in increasing the productivity of the people and due to this,
the employees can be retained in the future. There are some recommendations to the chosen
organization which are explained below-
 It must ensure that the management should be more strategic and be very good in
delegating the work to others and the company also makes sure to delegate the right
things to the people at the right level for the attainment of the objective of the company.
It is also important to identify the team or a person who is responsible for making
decisions because such clarity is necessary for making the decisions. For the group, a
clear set of objectives must be designed so that the company will be ready to face the
risk. Decision-making helps in taking the best decisions at the right time and in which
various experts are engaged by organizations in their decision-making group. These
people have the proper knowledge and creative thinking.
 Additionally, the opinions of the customers must be considered to enhance the decision-
making process. The chosen company must implement ways to understand the needs and
demands of the customer. The management of an enterprise is responsible for making the
best decisions and ascertaining that the decisions made are carried out by defined
objectives or goals. Decisions tend to involve various goals such as a company needs to
accomplish the tasks by sticking to laws and regulations. There are numerous ways in
which a manager can make use of the resources available to them. By using proper
decision-making skills, available resources can be used most efficiently and profitably
possible. However, due to poor decision-making skills, the resources can be wasted and
that may lead to result in higher costs.

b) Ethical implications of decision-making in the company
Using ethical decision-making in the company helps the company to be more disciplined as it
comprises of resolving the issues of the business. Ethical behavior is defined as moral principles
and a set of rules that helps the company in dealing and behavior. Along with it, treating the
customers right helps in building the level of trust and the ultimate objective of the company is to
grow. The chosen company has developed a positive shopping experience to provide the best
service to the customers. The chosen company is well aware of the core values of the business
and such ethical programs assist the employees a kind of freedom in asking questions about
seeking ethical advice and the ways to deal with the misconduct if any. The values of the chosen
company are focused on the daily activities of the organization. Nowadays, it has also become
vital for a modern business to deal with and recognize business ethics. That is why business
ethics provides an outline of the law for promoting integrity among the customers and to gain the
trust of the stakeholders, employees, and customers.
Ocado is one of the best online supermarkets which has the main aim is to provide fair
value and better convenience for the customers. The company is committed to implementing all
the relevant laws and regulations that help in maintaining the level of ethics, professionalism,
honesty, and respect for humans (Chen and et. al., 2018).
Conclusion
Nowadays growth and success of businesses are closely related to new technologies
and innovations. That is why it is an important thing for the management to understand the right
kind of innovation that can be used in the production or various activities of the products. It can
be concluded from the above report that innovation is helping organizations to grow and it is said
to be the process of making change by introducing something new in the market that can be a
product or a service. The report also evaluated the three variables of the external environment
that helped in having a bigger picture of the environment. It further provided two
recommendations that helped in improving the decision-making process of the company and the
opinions of the customers must be considered to enhance the decision-making process.
Eventually, the report demonstrated the role of ethical implications of decision-making of the
chosen company.

References
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