University of Northampton: Business Environment Report on Pets at Home

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the business environment of Pets at Home, a prominent British pet supplies retailer. It begins with an executive summary and introduction, defining innovation and business ethics and highlighting their importance for competitive advantage. The report then assesses the impact of innovation on modern business organizations, focusing on factors such as sustainable competitive edge, market development, cost reduction, and improved customer relationships. A PESTLE analysis is conducted to identify opportunities and constraints within Pets at Home's general environment, considering political, technological, and legal factors. The report offers recommendations to improve decision-making within the company, emphasizing clear communication and accountability. Finally, it addresses the ethical implications of decision-making, emphasizing fairness and equality. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, and a list of references is provided to support the analysis.

Business Environment

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Business Environment is the collection of all those factors which affect the business operations
in negative or positive manner. In order to perform the functions of business firm in an effective
and efficient manner, it is crucial for the management of business to analyse the business
environment as it help in making the effective decisions at work place. Innovation help the
business in gaining the higher success and growth in the market which also aids to bringing the
improvement in profitability and productivity of organisation. This report deals with the impact
of innovation and the analysis of several factors of business environment.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK...............................................................................................................................................1
Assess the impact of innovation on modern business organisations......................................1
Assess the general environment of the company to identify the major opportunities and
constraints it is facing.............................................................................................................3
Make two recommendations on how they can improve decision making in their company. 4
What are the ethical implications of decision making in their company ..............................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
References:.......................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Innovation is defined as the process of developing new values or ideas in a new manner.
It helps the business organisation in fulfilling the requirements of untapped customers by
providing innovative products and services. Whereas the business ethics is defined as the study
of policies which help the management in dealing with the corporate governance, corporate
culture and corporate social responsibility. Both innovation as well as the business ethics help
the firm in gaining competitive advantage as the management bring different products and
services through properly dealing with the corporate culture and governance. The chosen
organisation for this report is Pets at Home group Plc which is a British pet suppliers retailers
selling pet products such as food, medication, pets, toys and many more. Its headquarter is
located in Handforth, Cheshire, England, UK. The respective business organisation is following
hierarchical organisational structure in order to perform the business operations in an effective
and efficient manner (Organisational structure of Pets at home, 2022). This report include the
impact of innovation and general environment on business. Along with this, it also include
recommendations for improving decision making process along with ethical implications of
making decisions.
TASK
Assess the impact of innovation on modern business organisations.
Innovation plays an important role in developing the capabilities of business related to
the long term corporate success. The management of Pets at home is adopting several
innovations which will help the organisation in surviving in the long term. Below mentioned are
the several factors which help in assessing the impact of innovation on the pets at Home Plc: Sustainable competitive edge: It is crucial for the business management to be creative
through developing new ideas for the purpose of securing a sustainable competitive
edge. Strategically oriented innovation management and innovative spirit aids the
management of Pets at home plc in ensuring the competitiveness of organisation in the
medium and long term (Bolton, Goosen and Kritzinger, 2021). Through adopting
innovation, the respective business organisation is bringing change in the process of
offerings of organisation. It make a difference among the services provided by the Pets
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at Home plc and the other companies dealing in the same industry and help them in
attaining the competitive advantage in the market. Development of new market and target group: Entering in a new market and opening
up new target market is possible through the adoption of innovative strategies at work
place. Innovation in the services offered by the Pets at Home help the management in
developing the new market and target group which help them in enhancing the revenue
and profitability of organisation. Several of working people living in United Kingdom
are looking for pet care services for their pets. Through bringing innovation in the
services of Pets at Home, the management of respective organisation can develop their
services in the new market along with a new target group of customers. Hence, it can be
said that the innovation also aids to assessing the development of new market and target
group. Reduce waste and costs: Innovation in the business firm result in the reduction of
wastage and help the management in leaving the better positioned for the purpose of
properly focusing on the long term goals. One of the goal of innovation is to look for the
methods, through which the wastage can be eliminated. It help the management of firm
in lowering the costs, improvement in the customer services and many others. Through
innovation, the employees of Pets at Home will focus only on the services which are
being majorly liked by the customers (Ciampi and et. al., 2021). It can help the
management in reducing the cost and wastage of company related to the services, not
liked by the customers. Innovation result in assessing the proper usage of available
resources along with reducing the wastage and costs.
 Improve sales and customers relationships: Brining innovation in the products and
services of a business organisation helps in the increase in sales along with developing
the effective relationship with the customers. It has been analysed that several of
business organisations are losing their customers due to the lack of innovation in the
high competitive market. The customers will notice and appreciate the extra value of the
management of Pets at Home is bringing them. It result in the improvement of overall
sales of business organisation. In order to determining the potential product
improvements, the Pets at Home Plc have option to take the essential steps such as
constant customers survey.
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Assess the general environment of the company to identify the major opportunities and
constraints it is facing
Analysing the business environment is found as essential for the management while
making any decision at work place. PESTLE analysis a tool which is being adopted by the
management of business organisation in order to determining the environmental factors which
are affecting the operations of business. Below mentioned are the several components of
environment which help the Pets at Home in identifying the major opportunities and constraints:
Political factors:
These are the variables which are linked with the level of participation along with the
nature of involvement of local and national government. It is essential to expose the organisation
in several political environment as they are performing their business functions in several
nations (Ganda, 2019). Some of political factors which affect the operations of Pets at Home
include political stability in the existing market, governance system, taxation policies, armed
conflicts and many more. Political Stability: The Pets at Home plc is providing its products and services to the
customers of different countries. Stability in the political environment work as
opportunity for the organisation as they are not required to bring changes in their policies
on constant basis. On the other hand, it also act as conflict because the current rise in
populism in the entire world shows the same trends in United Kingdom. It act as the huge
instability in the market of United Kingdom.
 Taxation Policies: The Pets at Home Plc is gaining higher advantages because of the
policies of low taxes. It result in the earning of higher profitability, which the
management can use in research and development. Whereas, higher inequality in UK can
also bring some modifications in the taxation policies which directly affect the
profitability of organisation.
Technological Factors:
Technology is playing vital role in the business operations in each and every industry. It
has been analysed that the technology is bringing changes in the method or way of performing
business functions. Technological factors refers to the variables which affect the operations of
Pets at Home Plc through the use of technology.
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 Development of mobile technology: The development of technology related to the
usage of mobile result in bringing the transformation in the expectations of customers.
It is a positive sign that the management of Pets at Home is understanding the
requirements of customers. On the other hand, it is not an easy task to meet and
manage the customer's expectations. For the same purpose, they have to do innovation
which involve huge time and money.
 Cost of production: Adoption of advance technology result in reducing the production
and service cost. The management of Pets at Home is required to re prepare the supply
chain for the purpose of bringing more flexibility to meet the needs of customers
(Michaud and et. al., 2021). On the other hand, adoption of advance technology may
result in high costing to management as well.
Legal factors:
It involve all those laws and regulations which are developed by the government of
different countries. Pets at Home is required to follow all those laws, while performing business
functions.
 Health and Safety Norms: Through following the health and safety norms at the work
place of Pets at Home, the management can maintain positive image in the society
which also result in increase in the profitability. Whereas the adoption of norms of
health and safety require lots of costing to management.
 Consumer Protection Law: Protection of data is found as the crucial issue because of
customer's privacy and security concern. The Pets at Home is required to ensure about
the data protection in order to protect the data of customers. It will also result in
creation of positive brand image. Whereas, the ensuring of quality standard and
protecting customers will maximise the prices.
Make two recommendations on how they can improve decision making in their company
The Pet at home Plc is providing several products and services related to the pets which
include food, medicines, toys and many others. While performing the functions, the management
is required to make several decisions. The management can bring improvement in the decision
making process in order to bring the efficiency and effectiveness in the entire process. Below
mentioned are the suggestions which are provided to the management of Pets at Home as it help
them in improving the decision making of organisation:
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 The management of Pets at Home is recommended to simplify and clarify the decisions
right across the firm. Firstly, the management is required to determine and then
communicate with the person who is responsible for making the decisions in a clear
manner. Clear communication help in determining the decisions which must be made and
how this decision making will work in the organisation (Nam and Bao Tram, 2021). The
management can bring effectiveness and efficiency in the decisions by clear
communication with the responsible persons.
 In addition to this, the management of Pets at Home is recommended to develop strong
and transparent accountability for making decisions. Accountability is all about analysing
the results in against the agreed metrics along with identifying the procedure through
which the organisation can share the respective evaluation. It help the management in
learn from their success and failure and make decisions accordingly.
What are the ethical implications of decision making in their company
The management of Pets at Home is required to take care of their ethics while making
decisions at work place. Below mentioned is the brief description of the ethical implications of
decision making in the Pets at Home: Fairness: The management of Pets at Home is required to make fair decisions which do
not show any partiality in the employees and customers (Suwaidi and et. al., 2020). It
aids to bring the suitability as it create the positive brand image of organisation in the
society. Fairness in decision making help the management in focusing on the decided
goals and objectives.
 Equality: It is the another ethical obligation which the management of Pets at Home is
required to consider while making decisions. According to this ethical factor, the
management have to keep all their employees equal while making decisions. If the
management listen the views of all the employees, it help them in taking the effective
decisions which aids the management in attaining the organisational goals and objectives.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that the analysis of factors of business
environment for every business is essential as it help the management in making the effective
decisions at work place. Innovation in the organisation result in the enhancement of growth and
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success of organisation. In addition to this, the external environment factors influence the
decision making of organisation in positive and negative manner. This report is also summarising
the suggestions and ethical implications related to effective decision making of organisation.
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References:
Books and Journals
Bolton, A., Goosen, L. and Kritzinger, E., 2021. An Empirical Study into the Impact on
Innovation and Productivity Towards the Post-COVID-19 Era: Digital Transformation
of business organisation. In Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship, Innovation,
Sustainability, and ICTs in the Post-COVID-19 Era (pp. 133-159). IGI Global.
Ciampi, F. and et. al., 2021. Exploring the impact on business model innovation: The mediating
role of entrepreneurial orientation. Journal of Business Research, 123, pp.1-13.
Ganda, F., 2019. The impact of innovation and technology investments on carbon emissions in
selected organisation for economic Co-operation and development countries. Journal of
cleaner production, 217, pp.469-483.
Michaud, J.P. and et. al., 2021. " In The Final Analysis": The Utilization of PESTLE Analysis in
the Workplace.
Nam, V.H. and Bao Tram, H., 2021. Business environment and innovation persistence: The case
of large company in United Kingdom. Economics of Innovation and New Technology,
30(3), pp.239-261.
Suwaidi, F.A. and et. al., 2020, October. The impact of innovation management in business
performance: A systematic review. In International Conference on Advanced Intelligent
Systems and Informatics (pp. 720-730). Springer, Cham.
Online
Organisational structure of Pets at home, 2022 [Online] Available Through
<https://theorg.com/org/pets-at-home-ltd/org-chart>
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