Business and the Business Environment

Learning Aims

The aim of this unit is to provide students with background knowledge and understanding of business, the functions of an organisation and the wider business environments in which organisations operate. Students will examine the different types of organisations (including for profit and not for profit), their size and scope (for instance, micro, SME, transnational and global) and how they operate.

Students will explore the relationships that organisations have with their various stakeholders and how the wider external environments influence and shape business decision-making.

The knowledge, understanding and skill sets gained in this unit will help students to choose their own preferred areas of specialism in future studies and in their professional career.

Possible Grades: Pass Merit or Distinction. P1 to P6 must be satisfactorily accomplished before Merit or Distinction may apply.

Task 1

LO1: Explain the different types, size and scope of organisations.

LO2: Demonstrate the interrelationship of the various functions within an organisation and how they link to organisational structure.

Scenario:

You will need to identify minimum of TWO organisations as your case study, one from the public limited organisations and another from the private limited organisations. You will research both organisations extensively for the purpose of this assignment.

AC To achieve the criteria you must show that you are able to:

P1 You are to provide information into the background of each organisation (e.g. legal status, year established, product/services offered) and describe the purpose of each of the two chosen organisations.

P2 Explain about the size (e.g. number of employees, gross annual turnover, market share etc.) and their scope of operations (e.g. national/international coverage, extent of their product portfolio or service provision).

P3 Using the two chosen organisations

Explain how the relationship between organisational functions such as HR, Finance, Marketing/Sales, Production etc. are linked to

1. The organisation's objectives
2. The organisation structure

M1 Analyse how the structure, size and scope of your two selected organisations link to the business objectives and product and services offered by these organisations.

M2 Analyse the advantages and disadvantages of interrelationships between organisational functions and the impact that can have upon organisational structure.

D1 Provide a critical analysis of the complexities of different types of business structures and the interrelationships of the different organisational functions. (With specific references to your selected organisations)

Task 2

LO3: Use contemporary examples to demonstrate both the positive and negative influence/impact the macro environment has on business operations.

LO4: Determine the internal strengths and weaknesses of specific businesses and explain their interrelationship with external macro factors.

Scenario:

You will now need to investigate the chosen case study even further by looking at various recent (past year) sources of information about the organisation, e.g. news bulletins, documentaries, consumer reviews and reports, stakeholder interviews, conduct own interview, YouTube clips, blog articles, academic articles etc. You will need to have approximately around 1500 words worth of information about the organisation, which you will then need to actively use and reference in order to develop a report.

AC To achieve the criteria you must show that you are able to:

P4 Identify the positive and negative impacts the macro environment has upon business operations, supported by specific examples.

P5 Conduct internal and external analysis of specific organisations in order to identify strengths and weaknesses.

P6 Explain how strengths and weaknesses interrelate with external macro factors.

M3 Apply appropriately the PESTLE model to support a detailed analysis of the macro environment within one of the selected organisation.

M4 Apply appropriately SWOT/TOWS analysis and justify how they influence decision-making.

D2 Critically evaluate the impacts that both macro and micro factors have upon business objectives and decision-making.