BTEC Business Level 3

BTEC National Subsidiary Certificate/Extended Diploma in Business

UNIT 1: The Business Environment

Assignment

Date issued: week beginning 16th September 2013

Date for final submission: end of week beginning 20th January 2014
Introduction

You will already be familiar with organisations through having dealt with them as customers or employees. One of the aims of this unit is to help you to build on these experiences and learn to ‘walk in the shoes’ of owners, stakeholders and managers of organisations.

The unit introduces you to a range of business activities. You will consider the purposes of different organisations and the influence of stakeholders and how businesses organise themselves through strategic planning and organisational structures.

You will then explore the dynamic nature of organisations through studying the impact of external (political, legal and social) influences on business operations.

You will also study the fundamental economic principles that impact on businesses.

By studying two different business environments you will gain some insight into how businesses operate in different parts of the world and how the development of a global marketplace impacts on all businesses.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit you should:

Know the range of different businesses and their ownership
Understand how businesses are organised to achieve their purposes
Know the impact of the economic environment on businesses
Know how political, legal and social factors impact on business.

Submission dates
The final submission date for all work to Pass, Merit, and Distinction criteria is Friday 24th January 2014.
The submission dates for each individual task are as follows:
Task 1: week beginning
Task 2: week beginning
Task 3: week beginning
Task 4: week beginning
Task 5: week beginning
Be aware that the above dates may be subject to change and you will be given notice of this via email and verbally.

SCENARIO

You work as a journalist at the Romford Recorder which is planning to run a feature article on local businesses in the next edition. The Editor has asked you to prepare and produce articles in a pull-out section titled ‘Business Review in Romford’.

Task 1

You need to write an introduction to your article which should include:

a brief introduction to the two local businesses; one business should be profit-making, e.g. Tesco; one business should be not-for-profit, e.g. Havering Sixth Form College your two businesses should vary in size a description of the purpose of your businesses, including the aims and objectives of your organisations; a description of the ownership of your businesses and why they have chosen or are that type of ownership. What are the advantages and disadvantages for them being this type?

This provides evidence for P1

Task 2

You are now explaining a section on stakeholders within the article and so you must give:

a priority ranking of the stakeholders of your organisation, e.g. 1 = most important, 5 = least important

a brief statement about the importance of each stakeholder and why you believe this to be the case;

a description of the different stakeholders who influence the purpose of your two different organisations.

This provides evidence for P2

an explanation of the viewpoints of different stakeholders and how these seek to influence the aims and objectives of your business organisation.

This provides evidence for M1

an evaluation of the influence different stakeholders have in one of your chosen organisations.

This provides evidence for D1

Task 3

You now want to explain in the article about the organisational structure within the two businesses and so you are to produce:

a diagrammatic representation of the structure of your two different organisations. This should include the functional areas and span of control of your businesses.

This provides evidence for P3

an explanation of how the style of the organisation helps your two businesses fulfil their purposes. Include the following information about your two organisations:

mission and values strategic aims and objectives strategic planning process use of SMART objectives.

This provides evidence for P4

You have now left the Romford Recorder and have been promoted (partly due to your feature from the articles you had published) as a journalist for the business section of The Times newspaper.

Your first job is to investigate and write an article that compares the economic environment of one organisation from the UK with that of an organisation from another country.

Task 4

You need to research a different economic environment to that of the UK e.g. China or India, and to look at one business that operates within that country. You will then need to compare this business with one from the UK.

Draw a table of economic data for the UK and one other country contrasting the economic environment;
Choose at least three economic topics and collect relevant data from two different countries, e.g. GDP, inflation or interest rates;
Using the data collected in your table describe the influence of two contrasting economic environments (i.e. the economic data; collected) on business activities within your two selected organisations.

This provides evidence for P5

Compare the challenges to their business activities that your two organisations face due to their economic environment, e.g. how does the inflation rate impact on supply costs or demand for your two businesses?
Write at least one detailed paragraph for each piece of economic data for each business.

This provides evidence for M2

Task 5

The second part of your article is focusing on the political, legal and social factors that impact on the business activities of your two selected organisations and their stakeholders.

Select three influences from each factor and describe their impact on both organisations;
Each influence should be researched from the view of both countries.

Remember – business activities are any activities carried out by the organisation to achieve its purposes, e.g. recruitment, promotion, transport costs, etc.

This provides evidence for P6

Select at least three business activities from those you have identified. Analyse how each of these has changed because of political, legal and social aspects of the business environment.

This provides evidence for M3

Choose one of the two organisations researched and then evaluate how future changes in economic, political, legal and social factors may affect the strategy of your organisation. List the aims and objectives of your organisation.

For each factor you will need to research future changes, for example:

Economic – forecast inflation or interest rates
Political – any changes in government
Legal – new laws
Social – population growth

For each aim and objective you have identified, recommend a strategy for how your organisation might achieve it. Justify your reasons for recommendation.

This provides evidence for D2