Business Environment Assignment Help Samples by Experts

Introduction
A business environment assignment evaluates internal and external factors that impact thoroughly on a company’s business functions, including stakeholder management, supply and demand management, etc, eventually gives rise to a concept called business environment.Yu and Ramanathan have suggested that it is quite essential to conduct study on business environment to facilitate the dispersion of knowledge about business environment, helping practitioners understand the importance of the concept in a thorough manner. The present study has been conducted on Iceland Foods Ltd adhering to the belief that a study on the business environment of the concerned company will pave the way for better understanding of the internal and external factors that impact on businesses and their progress and development. Iceland Foods Ltd (Iceland Foods) is a supermarket chain operating in the UK, having an approximate market share of 1.8 percent in the UK food market. Iceland Foods operate in a competitive market and it has specialized in selling frozen meats and vegetables. This paper is going to ascertain the decision-making process followed by Iceland Foods and its business practices. The paper will also discuss about the company’s stakeholder management policies. Moreover, the paper will also discuss how concentrating on a wide market has been advantageous for the company.

Understand the organizational purposes of businesses

1.1 Identify the various types and purposes of different business organizations
Business environment assignment review different types of business entities that operate within a particular economy, including sole proprietorship, partnership, and publicly listed company. Sole proprietorship businesses usually operate at a small scale and are basically owned and controlled by a single individual (the owner) who takes the sole responsibility of managing the business operations and their outcomes. Partnerships, on the other hand, denote the business model which is owned and controlled by two or more individuals acting as partners. These individuals manage business operations and activities on a mutual basis and they share all the profits and losses incurred through performing the business activities. Publicly listed companies are business units that are managed by a particular body of top management individuals and are owned by shareholders. In such a business model the real owners are the shareholders.

Iceland Foods is a private retail business entity selling different types of foods to the consumers. The company started operating in 1969 and gradually it continued to establish itself as a supermarket chain. Yannelis (2004) has observed that Iceland Foods not only operate within the UK market but it also has established trade relationships with retailers based in Spain. It has also been observed that the company has always strived to sustain its service quality in order to prevent loyal customers from switching to other supermarket/retail chains operating in the UK.

1.2 Describe the various stakeholders and how an organization could meet their objectives
By the dint of the support of the stakeholders the management of Iceland Foods has been able to sustain its reputation as a great supermarket chain. The primary stakeholders of Iceland Foods are its customers, its employees, its shareholders, and its suppliers. The top management of Iceland Foods has understood the basic truth that fulfilling the needs and objectives of stakeholders is the primary way to enhance business resources in an explicit manner (Drew and Sriskandarajah, 2006). Till date the company has been successful in meeting the expectations of its customers and this has paved the way for the company to sustain its leadership within the UK market. Apart from delivery, service and product quality, Iceland Foods has always strived for protecting the interests of the customers in a fair and legitimate manner. Parkin (2002) has observed that since its inception, Iceland Foods has continued to focus on bettering the quality of its services in a thorough manner.

One of the primary resources of Iceland Foods is its employees. The employees are the key to the company’s success in the revenue earning process throughout the year. The top management of Iceland Foods has always put much emphasis in safeguarding the interests of the employees in order to keep them motivated and productive. Shaikh (2010) has suggested that if a company strives for accomplishing overall success then it has to put much emphasis on managing employee diversity. This key note has been thoroughly followed by Iceland Foods. It should be noted that the business environment in Iceland Foods is one of collaboration and participation. In this respect one must take into account the fact that all the shareholders of Iceland Foods participate in the company’s decision-making process and they also act as the advisory body. It has also been observed that the management of Iceland Foods has succeeded in establishing good relationship with the suppliers and this has also contributed to proper resource allocation within the company. The company has different stakeholders. The banks/creditors are the stakeholders that provide the company with financial aid. Iceland Foods take loan from those stakeholders and strives for repaying the same in a timely manner. Shareholders are those stakeholders who own the company’s business and the primary objective of the company is to ensure that the shareholders receive the maximum return on their investment. Iceland Foods’ employees are also major stakeholders. Without them the company cannot achieve business success. It has been observed that Iceland Foods always strives for meeting the needs and requirements of the employees owing to the goal of keeping the employees motivated and productive. Government is also a stakeholder and one of the primary objectives of Iceland Foods is to ensure that the company’s financial statements are clear and transparent so that the government has nothing to blame the company for any regulatory non-compliance.

Following is the stakeholder matrix for Iceland Foods:

1.3 Explain the various responsibilities of an organization along with ways of fulfilling them
To gain competitive advantage and to maintain sustainability in the business, the management at Iceland Foods has shown its accountability. Again and again the company has made clear its intention to meet the expectations of the stakeholders in order to derive both short-term and long-term benefits. Parkin (2002) has noted that stakeholders should be provided with considerable benefits in the form of dividends and other financial and non-financial services, and Iceland Foods has succeeded in adhering to such notion. Proper disclosure of business operations and financial accounts has been a key process that has been embraced by Iceland Foods in a thorough manner in order to remain accountable and responsible to the stakeholders, both internal and external. Iceland Foods is, from the beginning, engaged in delivering certain food products to the customers and that is one primary reason why the business has always been in the need of maintaining service quality to the optimum level (Gabriel, 2004).

Iceland Foods has always been an equal opportunity employer and this stance has helped the management at the company to keep the employees motivated in a thorough manner. Such approach has also helped the company to keep the employees productive and to keep their morale high throughout their employment tenure. At Iceland Foods several activities are performed related to employee welfare and this has also added to the degree of transparency that is quite visible in the communication processes between the management and the employees. Moreover, the management at Iceland Foods observes the clauses mentioned in the Disability Discrimination Act in a thorough manner and this has also ensured employee motivation, progress, and productivity. Owing to such adherences there is a void of discrimination in Iceland Foods (Nimwegen et al., 2008). The business environment assignment also reviews how that Iceland Foods operates and performs its business quite ethically. Resources are equally distributed among the stakeholders, and such resource allocation has attracted myriads of suppliers who continue to provide sufficient raw materials to Iceland Foods, helping the business run smoother. Such contribution from the suppliers is a key to successful management of demand and supply aspects (Fernando, 2011).

Understand the nature of the national environment in which businesses operates

2.1 Explain how economic systems attempt to allocate resources effectively
It has been often observed that the command economic system fits to the needs of different stakeholders in different situations. It is owing to the very nature of the command economy that such adaptability is sustained. In the command economy the ruling bodies operate the entire economy and are entitled to take financial decisions for different economic aspects. It has been noted that in order to survive the vagaries of a competitive market it is often essential for business entities to consider legal rules and norms in order to avoid non-compliance (Economic System, 2013). There is another category of economic system which is known as free enterprise system where the power of the ruling parties is lesser compared to the command economy. Government bodies often take control of such a mode of economic system and Yannelis (2004) has observed that countries like the US, Canada, Japan and Germany have adhered to the free enterprise economic arrangement in a thorough manner. Then there is the transitional economy in which a country plans to adopt to market economic culture derived from a command economy arrangement. This kind of economy is a transitional economy in which transformation from public to private approaches takes place. Such economic arrangement promotes privatization in a wholesome manner. The mixed economic system, on the other hand is a system in which the entire economic setup is infused with interferences from both public and private entities. A good example of countries resorting to such economic arrangement includes UK, India, and Russia (Matthews, 2005). It is quite noteworthy that whatever might be the economic arrangement, there are certain political and social constructs that influence the decision of a government in terms of resorting to a particular economic system in a particular situation. But what has been observed is that; on many occasions governments and private entities strive for resorting to those economic systems that pave the way for waste-reduction so that profit margin ratios can be enhanced in a thorough manner. It is owing to such inclination that it has been found that Iceland Foods has resorted to the mixed economic structure where there is a need of government intervention in order to manage the flow and distribution of resources (Nimwegen et al., 2008).

The problem of determining what to actually produce, which is faced by almost every economic system, is also an issue that has to be taken into consideration while analyzing the economic approach of Iceland Foods. Every nation is limited in terms of resources like raw materials, and according to such limitation that a country has to decide what to produce and what to not. This factor comes to play a crucial role in terms of decision-making on the part of the management of Iceland Foods. Also, how to produce something is yet another issue that has to be taken into consideration by any economic system prevalent in any country. Whether the old manufacturing processes should be continued or innovation should be introduced are the concerns that have to be emphasized by business entities, and in this regard Iceland Foods is no exception. Whether the system of production will be labor intensive or capital intensive is yet another decision that the management of Iceland Foods has to take in the right manner. Also, Iceland Foods has to decide for whom to produce or for whom to serve. Every economy and every business entity is faced with the problem of determining the target audience and the target consumer segment initially, and this problem has also been faced by Iceland Foods. It is by solving such a problem that a business entity can eventually enhance its revenue earning prospects in the long-run.

2.2 Assess the impact of fiscal and monetary policy on business organization and their activities
There are some basic differences between fiscal and monetary policies. If fiscal policy denotes the process in which tax rates are determined and budget are prepared along with investment decision through the PPP model then monetary policy refers to the process that is enacted to control money supply in a particular economy. It has been observed that quite often Iceland Foods has been faced with certain difficulties owing to the monetary policies enacted by the UK government. In this respect it must be noted that changing of interest rates has often hampered pricing decisions of Iceland Foods on several occasions. On the other hand, fiscal policies, which have the potential to enhance the economic growth of a nation (Mason, 2007), have often helped Iceland Foods to regain its financial health in a thorough manner. It has also been seen that fiscal policy of the UK government has played a crucial role in enhancing the business of Iceland Foods. It is due to the fact that fiscal policy is related to budgetary aspects which often determine the financial capacity of a business entity in its entirety. In this respect it must be noted that the budgetary aspects of Iceland Foods have always allowed the company to allocate and distribute its resources among different stakeholders and business activities in an accurate manner, enhancing its chances to sustain its market hold both in the short- and long-run. Moreover, the fiscal policy of the company has helped its management to determine the tax ration and the tax ratio’s eventual contribution to the company’s profit maximization process (Mariappanadar, 2012).

2.3 Evaluate the impact of competition policy and regulatory mechanisms on the activities of Iceland supermarket
The business environment assignment observes that being compliant with the rules and laws of the land, Iceland Foods operates as per the clauses conveyed by the Office of Fair Trading. This practice has also ensured that the customers of Iceland Foods are protected and safeguarded from fraudulent activities and from violation of customer rights. Fair trade and fair competition has been at the core of the business practices at Iceland Foods and this has also enhanced the business propositions and opportunities for the company in a thorough manner. Moreover, such practice has also placed the company in a strong position in the legal context (Joardar, Kostova and Wu, 2014). Besides, Iceland Food also goes by the regulations prescribed by Competition Commission, which is a public body assisting in managing investment. Such adherences have transformed Iceland Foods into a business entity which is competent enough to safeguard the interests of the stakeholders including the shareholders, employees, consumers, and the government. Also, quite interestingly, to uphold its business ethics and in order to sustain its market reputation, Iceland Foods also goes by the norms defined by the European Commission in the sphere of promoting ethics in regular business activities. This has again ensured that Iceland Foods resorts to healthy competition and ethical business practices in both the short- and long-run. Moreover, in order to manage transportation processes in a proper manner, Iceland Foods also put much emphasis in following some specific rules underlined by Civil Aviation Authority (Gani, 2011).

Understand the behavior of organizations in their market environment

3.1 Explain how market structure determine the pricing and output decisions of businesses
Different market structures influence the way of doing business in different ways. In a duopoly market structure, which is dominated by two sellers, sellers usually have the right to determine the pricing strategy owing to their dominance (Matthews, 2005). But this is not always possible in a market marked by perfect competition because in a perfect competition the number of sellers are higher and owing to this the pricing decision-making power becomes decentralized (Gabriel, 2004). Then there is the monopoly market in which there is only one seller that dominates the market and that determines the price of a product or service. The price rate fluctuates as per the vagaries experienced by the business of the sole seller. Lack of competition here always favors the sole seller (Frynas and Mellahi, 2011). Also, there is the oligopoly market structure in which there are large numbers of suppliers that impact on the decision-making abilities of the sellers. It should be noted that Iceland Foods operate in a market characterized by perfect competition, and that is one primary reason why the company is allowed to trade freely with other countries. It is noteworthy that Iceland Foods responds to market demands and it puts much emphasis on timely supply to sustain the balance in the economy in which it is operating.

3.2 The ways in which market forces shape organizational responses
In order to keep up its market potential Iceland Foods must adapt to certain specific competitive strategies. Such strategies are essential to be implemented in order to introduce new products in the market. Demand and supply determines the productivity of a business entity and this truth has been thoroughly emphasized by Iceland Foods. When people have higher purchasing power, the power to buy products increases (Fraser and Pong, 2009). Low purchasing power eventually alleviates the product selling. This phenomenon is quite natural in any given market and to cope with this situation, Iceland Foods strikes a balance between its pricing and marketing strategies. But the presence of substitute products in the UK market has long been an issue of concern for Iceland Foods.

3.3 Judge how business and cultural environment shape the behavior of Iceland supermarket
In order to accomplish business success, Iceland Foods has always given much importance to diversity management, and this has also enhanced its customer relationships both in the short- and long-run. Moreover, certain political factors have also influenced the business strategies at Iceland Foods, making the business entity more competitive in nature. Moreover, rules and regulations have also impacted largely on the decision-making processes embraced by Iceland Foods (Fernando, 2011). In order to accomplish its business objectives Iceland Foods has continued to put emphasis on the process of upholding cultural differences so that customers from different cultures can be benefitted and properly served. Employees belonging to different cultures (at Iceland Foods) also are benefitted by this diversity management policy of Iceland Foods. Craig and Campbell (2012) have observed that flow of resources in a particular economy determines the rate of enhancement of a business, and this truth is quite applicable to Iceland Foods. Moreover, it has to be noted that Iceland Foods has put into use technology and innovation in a thorough manner and this has provided much support to its business advancement endeavors (Erixon, 2011). Furthermore, the market success of Iceland Foods owes to the fact that the company is environment conscious. This can be argued by citing the fact that the company is quite vigilant towards resource wastage reduction and it has also helped the company to add value to its business (Gabriel, 2004).

Be able to assess the significance of the global factors that shape national business activities

The business environment assignment significance of international trade to UK business organizations
Like any other business entity; business entities in UK strive for entering into trade relationships with foreign nations in order to enhance their profit-making chances through the process of business expansion. Moreover, it has to be noted that embarking on international business means allowing oneself the opportunity to gain more profits and to gain more competitive edge (International Trade: Features, Advantages and Disadvantages of International Trade, 2015). In this context it has been observed that international trade has been beneficial thoroughly for Iceland Foods as it has expanded its customer base and it has also paved the way for its expansion to new markets located in foreign lands. This has again resulted in growth in market share for the company which has eventually impacted positively on its business growth and development process as a whole.

Erixon (2011) has observed that international trade renders both positive and negative impacts as it has to do with a business’ market share. In this respect it must be noted that if Iceland Foods strive for expanding more in new markets then it would allow itself the chance of earning more profit and more foreign market reputation. This would help the company to reach new customer segments, paving the way for the enhancement of the revenue-earning process in a steady manner. Also, international trade will improve the service and product quality of Iceland Foods owing to the need of coping with the global competition in the context of maintaining quality (Elsevier, 2013). Moreover, more business expansion will mean more employment opportunity and this can place Iceland Foods to a position of renowned employer on a global basis enhancing its global market reputation.

4.2 Analyze the impact of global factors on Iceland supermarket
It is quite natural and usual for business entities entering into foreign trade to face some political, economic and social issues, and the same is quite applicable to Iceland Foods. Though there are certain factors like governmental control, trade policies, etc, that may impact negatively on new players in a foreign market; UK companies have the reputation to overcome such constraints owing to their strong domestic support. Retail companies have succeeded in UK due to the fact that the UK business policies often equip such entities with products and services that help such entities to reach new customer segments (Dettwiler, Lindelof and Lofsten, 2006). Hence, looking at the facts it can be said that while venturing into foreign markets Iceland Foods will have certain benefits.

Apart from political, social and economic issues, Iceland Foods has also to consider technological issues related to innovation. In order to survive the global competition, Iceland Foods has to be more innovative and creative in terms of business productivity and business expansion. The economic condition of UK often changes owing to changing trade policies, and Iceland Foods has to cope with such scenarios in order to flourish in international trade (Mariappanadar, 2012). Moreover, the business environment assignment also reviews how Iceland Foods has to keep up its policy of specializing services and products in the course of conducting international trade in order to enhance employment opportunities in the domestic market and in the foreign market paving the way for the enhancement of its domestic economy to a large extent.

4.3 Evaluate the impact of policies of the European Union on Iceland supermarket
The European Union (EU) has been seen to be impacted the trade decisions and positions of myriads of business entities operating within the European boundaries and beyond the same. In this respect it becomes quite valid to think that Iceland Foods would also be impacted by the rules and regulations prescribed by the EU. But there are certain advantages that can be reaped by Iceland Foods if it resorts to the rules and regulations mentioned by the EU in terms of international and domestic trading. For an instance, Iceland Food has the advantage of administering only a single rule despite the fact that there are about 27 rules of export prescribed by the EU. Moreover, if Iceland Foods can adhere to the rules and regulations prescribed by the EU then the company would face less legal issues in the context of practicing foreign trade (Matthews, 2005). Also, it has been observed that an allegiance to EU policies would also help Iceland Foods in penetrating deep into foreign markets without getting much concerned about political and economic constraints. Besides, as EU allows easy entry to European markets, Iceland Foods will surely be benefitted in the context of practicing international trade (Yu and Ramanathan, 2012).

The EU controls the largest market and adhering to its policies, rules, and regulations will only help Iceland Foods to expand more into foreign markets easily. It can be said that adhering to the trade policies underlined by the EU can eventually help Iceland Foods in acquiring more business benefits out of practicing foreign trade. It would also reduce sales tax for Iceland adding to its business benefits. This would generate additional profit for Iceland Foods in the long-run (Craig and Campbell, 2012). Furthermore, a trade liberalization policy of the EU will also help Iceland Foods to expand more profitably in the long-run.

Conclusion
It should be said that Iceland Foods has been benefitted by expanding its business both in Britain and in Ireland. Adhering to the EU policies has also made Iceland Foods more capable of expanding its business and earning more profit both in the domestic and foreign markets. Moreover, there are certain strategies that have also helped the company to earn more profit and sustain its market hold and leadership position. In this respect the company’s diversity management policy and strategy deserves special mention. Effective implementation of this strategy has not only motivated its employees to become more productive, but it has also enhanced its customer base to a large extent.

References
Craig, T. and Campbell, D., 2012. Organisations and the Business Environment. 2nd ed. Routledge.

Dettwiler, P., Lindelöf, P. and Löfsten, H., 2006. Business environment and property management issues: A study of growth firms in Sweden. Journal of Corporate Real Estate.

Elsevier, B. V., 2013. Business environment, operations strategy, and performance: An empirical study of Singapore manufacturers. Journal of Operations Management.

Erixon, L., 2011. Under the Influence of Traumatic Events, New Ideas, Economic Experts and the Ict Revolution. Emerald Group Publishing Limited 8.

Fernando, C. A., 2011. Business Environment. Pearson Education India.

Fraser, I. and Pong, C., 2009. The future of the external audit function. Managerial Auditing Journal.