Edexcel Unit 1 Business Environment Sample Assignment

Introduction

In this paper we would be discussing the environment in which different types of companies operate. Every company has its own working environment which depends upon the type of industry company is doing the business. This environment in which companies operate could be divided into two categories:

Internal Environment
External Environment

Internal environment of the company is defined by the processes and policies followed by the company in the business operations. The work culture of the company, structure of the company, hierarchy of designation in the company and policies followed by the human resource management department of the company comes under the internal environment of the company.
External environment of the company is defined by the economic condition of the market, distribution and advertisement process of the company and political environment of the country. The performance of the company depends upon these two environments and a company grows stronger if the environmental conditions supports the company business.

Task 1 – Individual written report

(a) Identify and describe the purpose and ownership before linking these to the size and scale of each organisation. Compare and contrast these two businesses

Every company in the market has its own purpose defined which is mentioned in the mission and goals of the company. Although the main purpose of almost all the companies is to generate the revenue from their business and provide the dividends to its stakeholders. Whether a company is product based or service based, they have something to sell to the customer base and always try to increase the customers by advertising and branding of their products. But there are some organization, mainly trusts and NGOs which work for the benefit of the society instead of their own benefit (Havinga, 2012, pp. 879). These organizations are mainly run by the philanthropists who have lots of money and want to serve the society and their country. The purpose of some of the big business organizations are explained below:

Tesco PLC (Commercial Organization)

Mrs. Jack Cohen started Tesco PLC with a single purpose in mind- “To expand the grocery business” and this purpose of the company is somehow more than fulfilled by thousands of the company stores all around the country. In fact, Tesco PLC has stores outside UK also and doing very well in the market.

Purpose of Tesco PLC

Tesco PLC is nor fighting for its survival in the country. There was a time when Tesco was the only and the largest store of UK but now Sainsbury and ASDA have been giving a tough competition to Tesco. Another main purpose of Tesco is growth in the international market. Although they already have their presence in EU, and some other countries, but they are now focusing more on becoming a global brand.

Oxfam International (NGO & Charitable Organization)

Oxfam International is an NGO which was founded in 1942 in Oxford by a group of people who wanted to work for the betterment of the women in the society. Later the company objective adjusted to accommodate the major problem of the world such as poverty and unemployment. The first big step of Oxfam International was to force the British Government to help the people who were dying of hunger in Greece. Once this was done successfully, Oxfam started to rise as a brand name in the field of charity and started ventures in many other countries outside UK. In the year 1963, Oxfam opened its first branch outside UK in Canada. Now they have spread in around 17 countries worldwide and continue in doing so.

Purpose of Oxfam International

To expand globally and reach more countries so that they could help more people.
To get more companies involved in CSR activities for the purpose of fund raising.
Provide better services to the poor.
To collaborate with more NGOs in the world for a global poverty fight.

(b) Describe the different stakeholders who influence the purpose of the two businesses and the extent to which an organisation meets the objectives of different stakeholders

Tesco PLC

A stakeholder is a person, group or an organization which has any type of interest or concern in the company.Like most of the companies, Tesco PLC has two types of stakeholders. The first type of stakeholders are the people who are running the company and involved in strategic decisions of the company. These people define the policies of the company and share the loss and profit of the company on the basis of their stocks in the company. But fortunately, Tesco has been doing well for a long time in the market and the stakeholders of the company are only dividing the profit. The second type of stakeholders in the Tesco PLC are the clients of the company and the community made by these clients. Most of these clients are the routine customers of the company who wants to avail the services of the company on the less rates than offered by the other companies. Some of these customers are associated with the company for a long time and company has provided the privileged services to these customers, i.e. store membership cards and discounts.
Although both types of stakeholders have their interests associated with the performance of the company, but the first type of stakeholders defined above are the ones who goes up and down with the business (Moore, 2004, 81). The second type of stakeholders could change the company anytime based upon the quality of service and rates.
How these stakeholders influence the purpose of the company
The two types of stakeholders explained above – the first type (owners, managers, employees) and the second type (customers, clients, community) influence the purpose of the organization in their own ways. The first type of stakeholders defines the strategies to fulfil the purposes of the company and the second type of shareholders helps them in executing these strategies. In a way, the strategies to fulfil the purposes are mainly targeted towards the second type of shareholder who are supposed to be the source of information and revenue.

OXFAM International

Oxfam is an international organization, which comes into the category of NGOs. The slogan of Oxfam clearly defines its goals and how Oxfam wants to serve its stakeholders. The slogan is – “The Power of People against Poverty”. Oxfam International is a kind of federation which has more than 17 organizations worldwide as its partners and spread in more than 90 countries. The main objective of Oxfam is to fight against the poverty and to make the lives of the people better who are living in poverty. They provide them the meaning of life and ways to spend their lives in a dignified manner. Oxfam achieves its objectives by influencing the people who have power and convince them to make some contribution in the betterment of the society. Oxfam also arranges many Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs in which different organizations of the world contributes and help Oxfam. CSR has now become the trend and somehow the necessity for the organizations and Oxfam uses the CSR to get the funds from organizations.
Stakeholders of Oxfam and how they influence their purpose:
The stakeholders of Oxfam are mainly the customers, people who donate to Oxfam, The members of the Oxfam trust and the companies which are working in collaboration with Oxfam. The customers of the Oxfam are the poor people whom Oxfam is trying to help and the trusties and other companies are the entities which help Oxfam in doing so.
The main objectives of Oxfam to which it tries to meet for its stakeholders are:

To be able to live a dignified life
To get the basic social services from the government.
To have the proper arrangements of the security for the people who do not have their own homes
To make the authorities hear the voice of poor
To create an identity for the poor

The graph below shows how Oxfam fights starvation and tries to meet the objectives of its stakeholders

(c) Explain the responsibilities of both organisations and strategies employed to meet them

Although every business has its different responsibilities but there are some common responsibilities among the businesses that are universal in nature. These responsibilities are mainly – responsibilities towards the stakeholders of the company, responsibilities towards the employees of the company and responsibilities towards the society and clients. These are the responsibilities which every company has to take care if they want to stay long in the business help and grow.
How Tesco meets its responsibilities

Towards Employee

Tesco PLC also share these responsibilities and always try to make up to the expectations of its stakeholders. As an employer, Tesco has implemented any good practices which has helped the company in keeping its employees satisfied. They have a well-defined structure in the company and employees are placed in the structure as per their knowledge and company requirements. While fulfilling the responsibilities, company takes care of the monetary issues of the company and provides the compensations to its employees which are better than most of other companies.

Towards Society

Tesco PLC also have a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program to contribute in the betterment of the society through many charity activities.

Towards Environment

Tesco always tries to use the environmental friendly processes while making its products and they also use emission control systems in their production stores.

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