Individual Report: Oxford University Press Business Problem Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the business challenges faced by Oxford University Press (OUP), a prominent academic publishing house. The report begins with an introduction outlining the scope of the analysis, followed by a detailed business analysis. This includes an examination of industry data, a profile of OUP's key businesses, including its customers, suppliers, competitors, strengths, weaknesses, and the challenges it faces. The analysis further employs PESTEL and Porter's Five Forces models to assess the external and competitive environments impacting OUP. The report identifies key issues such as digitization, pressure on library budgets, and difficulties in the retail sector. The second part of the report is a reflection on key skill development using the Gibbs Reflection Cycle, focusing on skills like communication, leadership, and problem-solving, as developed during a five-week course. The reflection includes descriptions of experiences, personal feelings, evaluations, analyses, conclusions, and action plans. The report concludes by summarizing the findings and highlighting the importance of addressing the identified business problems for OUP's continued success.

Company and Business
Problem

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
PART1: BUSINESS ANALYSIS...................................................................................................1
Industry Data................................................................................................................................1
Key businesses of Oxford University Press along with its customers, suppliers, competitors,
performance, strengths and weaknesses and challenges .............................................................1
PESTEL analysis of Oxford university press..............................................................................2
Porter five forces model of Oxford university press: ..................................................................3
Issues Faced By Company...........................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................4
Books and Journal........................................................................................................................5
PART2: REFLECTION REPORT ON KEY SKILL DEVELOPMENT .....................................7

INTRODUCTION
Business problem refers to challenges faced by business in operating its activities and
create problem in achieving its business goals (Linden and Teece, 2018). Oxford university press
is a academic publishing house of Oxford university which publish different scholarly journal
and monograms. It is a part of Oxford University and it is controlled by 15 academic groups
which is appointed by Vice Chancellors of Press. This project report include industry data of
Oxford University press along with customer, supplier, strength, weakness and challenges of
industry. It also include PESTEL analysis and competitor analysis of company to identify issues
faced by company.
PART1: BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Industry Data
Oxford University press is one of large academic publishing houses and working in
academic and education industry. Company is providing publishing of books and journals in
serving three market including education, research and teaching in English language.
Competitors of organisation in same industry are Springer Nature, SAGE publishing, Elsevier,
Cambridge University press.
Key businesses of Oxford University Press along with its customers, suppliers, competitors,
performance, strengths and weaknesses and challenges
Oxford University Press is working in academic and education industry providing
publishing of books and journal in different market. Their mission of business is to provide
educational and academic resource to world and ensure availability of there resources in world
(Levina and Fayard, 2018). Customer of Oxford University Press is Students and teachers and
organisation provide educational resources to these customers. Oxford University Press are
taking supplies of paper, computer devices from different shops. Competitors of this organisation
include Pearson PLC Wiley & Sons Pvt Ltd Cengage Learning as these are working in same
industry. Performance of company is excellent as their turnover is reached to 844.9 million
British Pounds in 2020 and has increased 4.4 million British Pounds in compare to previous year.
Strength: Oxford University Press has strong brand image in market and has progressive
financial perforce. The company is providing publishing services to fulfil needs of local market.
Company ensure that their publishing fulfil local needs and will reach to global audience. They
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are providing different products from dictionary to teaching material. They are publishing 6000
titles and sell it all over the world.
Weakness: Company is dependent on selling on dictionary for most of his revenue. For
premium products or content has limited customer as it is not in affordable price. Most of the
publishing of UK is done through Oxford education and company is more focused on school
publishing.
Challenges: Oxford University Press is facing challenges in retail sector specially in
developed countries. As market shifted from retail to online which create problem for company
to large extent (Solar and Hens, 2016). Organisation is previously in physical form like in
building or other structure which is later shifted in online form which create problem for
business. Premium products of company is costly which has limited customer in market.
PESTEL analysis of Oxford university press
PESTEL analysis is a tool that helps business to identify external factors which affect
business of an organisation (Krautter, 2020). It include political, economical, social,
technological, economical and legal factors which affect business of Oxford University Press in
following ways:
Political: With relation to Oxford university press, political factors that are influenced in
Oxford university. It include various taxes, legislation rules and most important thing is
stableness of nations. Managers can find out how political system can effect their activities in
enterprise.
Economic: Economic factors can influence the Oxford university press as they reflect
demand, price and sales of firm. Business should changes in policies or taxation which will
affect finance of enterprise and it influence interest rate, exchange rate in an economy.
Social factors: According to Oxford university press, this factors effect culture of
enterprise which include attitudes, beliefs, population and how business can understand
customers needs what type of design or what type of goods and services (Ritter and Lettl, 2018).
Managers uses social factors to identify the impact on sales of goods and income earned.
Technological factors: For Oxford university press, it is helpful to identify what type of
technology they can developed and determine speed at which technology interrupt this industry.
It includes impact on cost structure, value chain and various recent developments in enterprise.
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Legal factor: In case of Oxford university press, firm decide whether there is a business
are selling a illegal product or not. Government policies can affect this business so every firm
can understand what is legal or what is not.
Environmental factor: In an organisations, environmental factor can impact profitability
of enterprise. Factors that influence surroundings which include climate, recycling, footprint of
carbon and environmental laws. It is also influence to analyse competitors of firm strategies and
actions.
Porter five forces model of Oxford university press:
Porters fives forces model is a competitors analysis which helps a business to identify
external factors which affect business (Fox and McLaughlin, 2018). Factors which affect
business of Oxford University Press are as follows:
Threat of a new entrants: For Oxford university press, if competitor can enter a market
then firm are more established as compare to other competitors. New entrants in industry can
bring a new capacity to increase a market share. A firm with powerful obstacle is perfect for
previous enterprise then company would be able to charge high price and discuss improved
terms.
Bargaining power of buyers: In an organisation, it is helpful to identify how many
buyers in company have and how important a customer is. To increase profitability firm has
many little and independent customer who can charge easier prices.
Bargaining power of suppliers: In case of Oxford university press, firm forces to
analyse how much power have a company and control a firm supplier. It has a potential to
increase its prices and reduce quality of products and services which will impact lower
profitability of enterprise.
Threat of substitute: For Oxford university press, firm can produce goods and services
which there is a no substitute and will have power to raise their prices. When substitute is
available in firm then customer has no option to buying a product and somehow firm power has
low.
Rivalry among competitors: With relation to Oxford university press, there are larger
number of competitors in industry and each one has equal power and selling product and
services. Buyers look out for a firm competition if they have a better offers or deal at a lower
prices.
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Issues Faced By Company
There are various issues which a company face while running its business (Malin and
Chandler, 2017). Issues faced by Oxford University Press are as follows:
Digitization and growth of online products: Digitization refers to a process in which
information like text, image, picture is converted into digital form that can be processed by
computer (Foss and Saebi, 2018). Digitization is an issue for Oxford University Press for online
privacy, data protection. There is a growth of online product in market which again create issue
related to data protection for company.
Pressure on library budget in developed country: Oxford University Press is facing
issue related to pressure of institutional library budget in some countries. In developed country,
there is pressure faced by institution library related to problem of resources.
Difficulty in retail sector: There are some difficulties face by Oxford University in retail
sector as market is shift from physical building and other structure to online form. Online
platform create problem related to data privacy (Prasad, 2018).
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned project report it can be concluded that there are various
problem a business face in running stage. These problem can be identify through using different
models like SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, Porter's five forces model etc. These problem
helps business to identify factors which can affect business and its operation. These issues need
to be solved as it affects working of organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Avant, D.D., 2016. Pragmatic networks and transnational governance of private military and
security services. International Studies Quarterly. 60(2). pp.330-342.
Foss, N. J. and Saebi, T., 2018. Business models and business model innovation: Between
wicked and paradigmatic problems. Long range planning. 51(1). pp.9-21.
Fox, E.R. and McLaughlin, M.M., 2018. ASHP guidelines on managing drug product
shortages. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy. 75(21). pp.1742-1750.
Krautter, J., 2020. Marketcraft: How governments make markets work, by Steven K. Vogel, New
York, Oxford University Press, 2018, 187 pp., 34.95 USD (hardback). ISBN: 978-0-19-
069985-7.
Levina, N. and Fayard, A. L., 2018. Tapping into diversity through open innovation platforms:
The emergence of boundary-spanning practices. In Creating and capturing value
through crowdsourcing (pp. 204-235). Oxford University Press.
Linden, G. and Teece, D. J., 2018. Remarks on Pisano:“toward a prescriptive theory of dynamic
capabilities”. Industrial and Corporate Change. 27(6). pp.1175-1179.
Malin, B.J. and Chandler, C., 2017. Free to work anxiously: Splintering precarity among drivers
for Uber and Lyft. Communication, Culture & Critique. 10(2). pp.382-400.
Prasad M, D., 2018. Companies Act, 2013: Incorporating stakeholder theory approach into the
Indian corporate law. Statute Law Review. 39(3). pp.292-302
Ritter, T. and Lettl, C., 2018. The wider implications of business-model research. Long range
planning. 51(1). pp.1-8.
Solar, P.M. and Hens, L., 2016. Ship speeds during the industrial revolution: East India
Company ships, 1770–1828. European Review of Economic History. 20(1). pp.66-78.
Online:
Prasad M, D., 2018. Companies Act 2013: Incorporating stakeholder theory approach into Indian
corporate law. [Online]. Available through: < https://academic.oup.com/slr/article-
abstract/39/3/292/3924249?redirectedFrom=fulltext>
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PART2: REFLECTION REPORT ON KEY SKILL DEVELOPMENT
Key skills development is the ability to develop skills which enable people attain their
goals. These skills are important for employability and require proper training to develop skills.
In my context, Key skill development is development of skill which is important for employment
ad include skills like communication, leadership, problem solving, numeracy etc. To reflect my
experience and learning on key skill development, I have used Gibbs Reflection Cycle. Gibbs
Reflection Cycle is developed in the year 1988 by Graham Gibbs. Objective of this model is to
allow user to reflect their experience in efficient way (Avant,2016). This cycle of Gibbs include
six stages which are as follows:
Description: For an assignment, I joined a educational institution to learn about subject
which was given to me. Topic given to me is key skill development which is essential for
employability. Key skills are those skills which are essential for work and include
communication, team work, leadership, numeracy, creativity, dedication and may more. I joined
institute for 5 weeks to enhance my knowledge and skills on management approach and business
analysis. At that institution I have learned about cash flow statement, financial reporting. I
worked there on BREO for journal entries and learn software to enhance my skills. In beginning,
there are various problem face by me like calculations and understanding of statement as I have
only theoretical knowledge but there I have gained practical knowledge as well. I have solved
this problem by practising numerical question at home. I learned many skills there like
communication skills, numeracy by using data and statistics.
Feeling: When I was joining institution there is mixed feelings in me like I was very
nervous and excited at the same time. I was nervous as there are many people and I'm not good
in communication. At the same time, I was happy as I know I'm going to learn new things.
Before I join organisation, I was bad at calculation and was shy while talking with someone but
after completion of this session, I am franked with everyone present at that place and have learn
various financial and business analysis. I understand how to work in a team and handle problems
as a part of team. In this session, I got frustrated as there are many problems related to
calculation in business analysis and understanding of financial report. But later I started making
notes which helps me lot to understand each and every thing there.
Evaluation: There are various good aspects of this session as I have improve my skills
and calculations. These learning will helps me to work efficiently and improve quality of my
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work. There are some bad aspect as I face problem of calculation and I'm hesitated to ask
question about my confusion which make be frustrated but professor of institution helps me and
make me comfortable to raise questions. Professor give advise me to make notes of each thing
and practice it further. There are some good aspect in this period, as everyone there are
supportive and take work seriously. By practising journal entries and preparation of business
analysis helps me to understand financial reporting. This learning period helps to do work with
others as there are many member in that institution and we all work together in a team to achieve
our goals. I and other people there contributed to achieve team goal and learn many things from
profession as well as from each other.
Analysis: I think the reason of successfully completion of assignment is that I have work
hard and identified my strength of working. Practising each learning at home and masking notes
also helps me to learn and develop key skills. This will save my time and make me things
learned easier. I have learned working with others in a team and for this Belbin approach helps
us to understand role of team member and work on strength and weakness of each other. I have
also understand Tuckman's approach to form team. I think working in team and understanding of
team approach will helps me in future. Sometimes things does not gone well as there are conflict
between team members because of lack of understanding of their roles and responsibility. I
identified my strength there as working in team sometimes create conflicts between us and to
solve conflict I listen problem of both parties, this will helps me to resolve conflict. I have
learned numeracy skills which are skills to use and interpret mathematical data to solve realistic
problem. I also learn about ICT skills which is information and communication technology
include assess, present and exchanging information using internet network. It helps the team to
communicate information without wasting much time.
Conclusions: I have learned many things including understanding of cash flow
statement, business analysis and communication skills, numeracy. Planning is essential to work
in a team as it clear roles and responsibility of each member. I also have learned ICT which is a
computer software, problem solving skills and working with other member in an organisation.
By working in a team in that institution, I have learned how important it is to contribute each
member in organisation. It is important to understand strength of every member of team as it
helps to complete work efficiently. Involvement for every one in project, complete project early
and successfully. Team members helps each other to solve problem and support each other. I
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have learned communication skills which helps me to work in team and solve problem. I also
have learned about BREO software which making accounting rash as it is simple to use this
software for journal entries. I could use these skills to get employment as these skills will allow
me to get job in leading organisation at high pay.
Action Plan: Next time when I work with a team, I will communicate with them and
share my problem. I also try to write things which is new for me as it helps me to remember
things. I will not hesitate to ask question about working and instead to frustrating my self, I will
handle situation patiently. I will trying to resolve conflict if occur with someone. I will listen to
others as it is part of effective communication. For better communication I will use ICT which
solve problem of communicating information. It is based on technology through which
information is assessed and exchange through internet network and allow smooth flow of
information between team members. I will use my skills in organisation as I have learned
software which make working easy. I will use Belbin model and Tuckmen model to divide team
and make working of team effective. I also learned leadership skills there, and I will take initiate
to manage team effectively if opportunity arise in future. To get best result from work, I will be
disagree on decision which I think is wrong it is uncomfortable to disagree. I will adopt
numeracy skills whenever I need to solve problem by using mathematical data. I will be more
consistent while solving this kind of problem and will present only necessary information which
can be understand easily.
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