Navigating Global Business Challenges

Introduction

The business environment is getting more competitive over the period of time. There are many challenges that the business organisations face in running their operations globally related to social, political, economic, technological and environmental factors. Though globalisation has brought the world closer through the expansion of technology, the organisations still face these challenges. One of the major problems in operating the organisational activities globally is communicating with the employees directly which further poses a management problem. However, globalisation has made the international trade more strategic and profitable for the companies by the consequence of the global integration. Through this study, it is possible to demonstrate the external environmental analysis for identifying the rules and legislations, economic condition and political structure which have crucial impacts n reshaping the companies across the globe. The study also focuses on analysing the impacts of the globalisation, performance management and technological advancement which will be able to resolve the organisational issues and develop proper strategic planning for running the firms efficiently.

Task 1

Analyse the key differences between organisations working in different sectors, industries and contexts

According to Tickle (2014), a number of tools and techniques are used across various organisations in the competitive world of business. Several studies were done to investigate the differences between global business organisations. This section will highlight the key differences between the organisations that operate in the global scale. Every economy has two sectors named service and manufacturing sector. The organisations are differentiated based on their different purpose and goals to be achieved. In the view of Belhoste (2013), there are huge differences in operating a business in local environment and in global scale. First factor in the differences to be considered is the legal forms of business. Every economy has two main sectors named manufacturing and service sectors. The management of these sectors depends on the legal structure of the business such as sole proprietorship, partnership and public or private limited companies.

Differenses in legal structure

One study reveals that about 75% of the 11 crore businesses registered as sole proprietorship. In sole proprietorship business one individual is remain liable for all the profits and losses; manages and takes decisions of his own. Most of the famous businesses was originally sole proprietorship in the initial years of operation and then becomes international lodestone such as Coca Cola (Schutts, 2003). But the sole proprietorships are in disadvantage that they don’t have such assets and strong capital to enter the global market and survive successfully. In partnership form of business, the profits and losses is shared between the members. Here the capital is provided by the members so it’s larger than the sole proprietorships to enter the international market. A number of partnership businesses are found in global market. The corporations are the legal entities whose liabilities are limited by shares. The shareholders get dividends based on their proportion of holdings without remaining personally responsible for company liabilities. Corporations can take loans, sue and to be sued, raise capital from public offering and hire employees on its own name. Among the businesses the corporations are the most common in multiple countries which have high equity and asset base. In accordance with Angyal (2008), as corporations need huge capital and assets to expand their business operations globally they face huge challenges in managing the operations and increasing the asset base. These companies gain access to cheap materials and labour as well as to create strategic associations around the world. In line with Polyakov (2017), the cheap and easy access to resources and technologies can contribute to the economies of scale and access to global market. Some examples of global businesses that have branches in multiple countries and gained economies of scale include Procter and Gamble, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Intel corporations, United Parcel Service, Tesco etc. One of the key differences among the organisations operating in global environment is the recruitment and employment policies. Each organisation follows different rules and regulations based on laws enacted by state government. The recruitment and selection process for the international companies is complex one, some uses online recruitment and some uses international recruitment to get the best skilled employees at cheaper. (Kang, 2013)

Products and services

Sector/industry

The companies also differ based on product and service orientations in the global setting. The management face challenges in choosing the different marketing tools for service and products. There is huge distinction in marketing activities as the product businesses sell the physical product and the service providers sell skills and expertise. For the service oriented business customer relationship is foremost consideration to make the business successful. In global scale these companies can strengthen their customer and supplier relationship that leads to synergy (Whitman, 2019). For product development, the organisations try to focus on product diversification strategy, where the companies are able to manage high product range and secure future subsumable development by serving the customers with huge variety. The product quality in this regard is mandatory to be maintained as well as the organisational representatives try to provide suitable services for better customers management. The skill set of the employees as well as the technological advancement are important for the organisations to provide high quality services that matches the customer’s requirements.

Sector/industry

Organisations operating globally can be categorized in limited, private, public and not-for profit company.

Limited company and Public limited company

The shareholders are limited to their holding of shares and the company is liable to the shareholders. Some international limited companies include Apple, Samsung electronics, Toyota motor, Alphabet, AT &T etc. Like limited company, the public company restricts the liability of the shareholders by their investment and can trade on public to raise capital.

Private limited and private unlimited company

The private ltd company consists of maximum 50 members and it can’t trade on public. The company limits the liabilities of the shareholders by their holdings. For example, ADT Inc., Allied Universal and DynCorp and Semicon private ltd etc. are the private unlimited company keeping the shareholders remain liable in times of liquidation.

Not-for profit organisations

This is the type of organisation that is formed for the welfare of the society and not for earning profits for the owners. Some not for profit organisations include SafeNight, Human Rights Campaign, Greenpeace and Social Tees Animal Rescue etc., which are working efficiently to maximise social values by contributing in the social developmental projects.

Global context

The companies can be differentiated based on global contexts.

A local business operates and sells its products and services in its own community. The local companies in UK include TI Automotive, Pentland Group,Clarks and Bibby Line etc., where national business makes and sells product and services to the customers from all over the country. The international business has branches in multiple countries and trades its products and services through the branches. For example, Unilever, Tesco and Aviva etc. are running their business operations locally as well as they are successful to expand their business and operational chain across the international markets. There are also other small and medium sized firms in the countries across the globe, which are also operating efficiently in local markets. The medium sized firms are able to expand their business nationally by opening more than one store across the nation. The international business firms are able to run their operations internationally, where the firms are efficient to expand their business across the international markets and gain strong customers base in future.

1.2 Assess the responsibilities of organisations operating globally

As the businesses grow, their responsibilities also grow towards the customers, employees, shareholders, environment and other stakeholders. They also need to follow the ethical grounds of doing the right things. The responsibilities to these stakeholders are discussed below:

Shareholders

They are the main providers of capital who invests money in the expectation of rewards. When the organisations expand its operations globally, it should consider the interests and concerns of the shareholders. It should operate and control the business in such a way to maximize the shareholder’s value. It is important to give them high return on investment so that they are able to retain the long term shareholders for successful investment and arrange more capital for brand expansion and conducting more research and development for managing global business.

Customers and suppliers

Without customers the success of any organisations would be impossible. They are the main determinants of success in both local and international regions. In the competitive world of business, getting customer satisfaction is very hard-hitting. So companies must try new marketing techniques and promotional activities to attract and retain valuable customers. The suppliers who are the providers of raw materials need to be focused. The good relationship with them will lead to continuous production, cheaper source and better quality. The organisations must focus on creating values for the customers in order to strengthen their customer’s base as well as run the operations globally. The market share would be improved through customer’s retention and in this regard, delivering high quality products and efficient services to each customer are mandatory for the firms to be sustainable in the market and attract more new consumers across the globe.

Employees

The companies should focus on the needs of the employees. They should provide both the monetary and non-monetary motivations to the employees to satisfy them and to increase their productivity. This will lead to improved quality work, superior output and better workplace for work. Monetary and non-monetary incentives and rewards must be structured well in order to strengthen the employee base in the market. The multinational corporate firms also focus on managing diverse employee base in order to run their business operations across the international markets, where the leader need to hire diverse workforce and thus managing cultural diversity is mandatory for managing strong employee base so that the companies can fulfil their objectives.

Ethical concerns

With the advancement of many technologies, the need for ethical considerations has been an important issue. The company should take care of the personal information of the employees as well as important company information. For creating values for the government and other policy makers, it is necessary to run the organisational operational activities ethically. It further boosts the performance of the firms and helps the leader to run their global operations in a legal and ethical way.

Environment

To protect the society from harmful effects of industrial trash and wastes, the companies should take precautionary and effective disposal processes. Many organisations recently have started using environment friendly machineries and materials to save the environment from contamination. For environmental protections, it is mandatory to act responsibly towards the environment and social communities as a whole. The organisations recently try to be sustainable through providing green environmental footprint in the market for protecting natural resources, reducing greenhouse gas emission and waste management.

Other stakeholders

The other stakeholders such as wholesalers, retailers and borrowers need to be focused because the success of achieving company goodwill also depends on the relationships with these people. Before entering into the agreement the companies should discuss about the terms of payment, lead time and delivery system.

1.3. Evaluate strategies employed by organisations operating globally

Ethical behaviour and equality concern

The companies operating globally should have an effective ethical policy to prevent any skirmishes. In line with Cumming (2016), the employees should be trained about the right ethical behaviour to the customers and they should be treated well to gain customer satisfaction. Both the male and female workers should be treated equally in the workplace. An effective regulation should be in place to prevent any harassment, bullying and conflicts.

Human resource management

The organisations operating globally should employ a uniform policy for recruiting, selecting and training facilities. The effective human resource policy can ensure a sound workplace and increase the productivity of the employees.

Environment policy

To prevent the society from any damage and to ensure the economical usage of power, the companies should use green technology. Some organisations engage in tree planting and cleaning programs. (Cumming, 2016)

Import and export consistency

Export and import activities of the organisations must be consistent to provide continuous service and reduce unnecessary price increase and trade blocks.

E-marketing and communication

To attract more customers, many companies use online marketing approach in the form of advertising, personal selling, sales offer, direct marketing and public relations etc.

Financial plan

Before undertaking any projects, the organisation should make a budget and collect fund from cheaper source to be successful. The financial modelling can be done periodically and the results should be communicated to the related party.

Task 2

2.1 Analyse how performance of national economy impacts on the activities of business organisations

Globalisation allows the local organisations to expand their operations in other countries with the advancement of technology, economy, social and political factors. So these factors need to be analysed to keep updated about the future trend to get competitive advantage over others.

The performance and development of a country largely depends on its social and economic factors. The size of the population, labour market, cost of labour, age, education level, taste, lifestyle and buying patterns all these give insights of how the organisations will design its operations. There is mismatch between education and employment rate in UK economy. The number of job seeking young people is lower that’s why the costs of labour and products are higher in UK.

The key factor impacting the development of the country is the GDP. UK is the faster growing country which is in the 17th position of the 50 developed countries in terms of GDP. The GDP and GNP rate was increasing from the previous year that means the purchasing power of the customer is high. But the high tax rate in UK restricts the organisations from making higher profit in the view of Airinei & Homocianu (2010). Other key factors include balance of payments, inflation rates, trade barriers and government finance that can make differences in the operations of the organisations.

The consumer confidence gives the insights of their income stability, spending pattern and hence economic condition. The government can manage the price and income level to stabilise the economy. So government objections and policies for the organisations should be checked.

Benefits and challenges of global business factors to organisations:

Economic factors

There is rapid change in the world economy. The economic fluctuations, inflations rates, taxation, credit availability impacts the success of a business operating both locally and globally. When the income level rises the consumers retain more money to buy products i.e. the sales increases. When the interest rate and cost of other materials increases the supply of fund and resources decreases at the same time the demand also increases. (Whitman, 2019) So the price will increase to the higher demand. On the other hand, with the decrease of demand the price will fall. So these economic drivers should be analysed on regular basis to effectively design the strategies to achieve the organisation’s goal.

Technology

With the advancement of technology, the business organisations are now able to create innovative products, design and machineries. These let them to reduce costs of production, processing and delivering products. The technology has made the marketing campaign easier. Now customers can easily find sellers online and purchase using visa or credit cards. Large amount of employee information, business agreements and projects data can be stored in personal cloud storage which ensures high security. (Lievesley, 2017) So it’s a must have gadget for the business organisations operating globally to be competitive in the world market and expand the market.

Political issues

The government policy and regulations highly affect the profitability of the business organisations. In UK, changes in the political factors influence the operations of the companies by affecting their tax calculation, adoption of regulations and training to the employees (Airinei, 2010). These factors also determine the spending pattern of the customers, income stability and purchasing capability. The political and legal stability contributes to the productivity of the organisations so these factors need to be focused. (Cumming, 2016)

Social issues

Analysing the social factors will provide information about the customer behaviour, fashion, style and demand of new products. Determining the buying patterns of customers is a difficult thing. To increase the customer satisfaction, the business organisations should analysed customer taste and preference, buying history, education, income, language and cultures etc. (Bryden, 2019)

2.2 Explain the measures taken by governments to influence the activities of business organisations

UK government has taken many revolutionary steps for the development of the business organisations to operate and expand around the world.

Training programs

The UK government also provides training to the business owners and employees to make more skilled and encouraged to start new business. The government also provides rewards to the youth entrepreneurs and successful business planners.

Fiscal &Monetary policy

To encourage the global business, the UK government sometimes decrease or stabilize the tax rate and increase spending in infrastructures. Based on the economic condition, the government raises and decreases the interest rates on federal fund loan and hence money supplies to control the inflation level.

Security

Government has taken initiatives by spending on IT security program to prevent any security threat. Recently the government has taken steps against the terrorists and radicals who create barriers in the import and export businesses.

Regional intergovernmental organisation

The intergovernmental organisation that is made by the government to reduce the trade barriers resulted from the so called quota system. After this action many of the organisations got access to the foreign market to sell their products and service at lower transactions costs. (Whitman, 2019) So the UK government with other group of companies can make trading block where the companies can trade for free. When there is free of trade available, the member companies are allowed to create trade creation which will let them to trade at lower cost and gain economies of scale.

Policies regulated by domestic and global authorities

The domestic business policies are made based on UK’s local language, culture, single market, currency, payment methods, local distribution and shipping facilities etc. where the global policies are made based on uniform language, various cultural context, currencies, multiple market and multiple currencies. To reduce the fluctuations and impairment to the global business organisations, many international organisations like world trade organisation, international monetary fund and G-20 enacted laws and monitor the activities of those organisations regularly, according to Engsig (2017).

Block chain

The UK government is committed to support innovative technologies to increase the efficiency of the organisations i.e. block chain. As the technology is responsible for the huge development of the UK business, the government has taken measures like partnership with IBM to improve the network system. This leads to easy and quick communications between organisations all over the world. (Whitman, 2019)

2M1Analyse how the economic performance of a specific nation impacts on the activities of global business organisations

The increasing GDP and GNP of UK reflect how globalisation has made the business activities so quick and flexible. The national economic performance and activities affect the success and performance of the business organisations. UK is considered the best place for entrepreneurs to start businesses. Moreover, the actions taken by government also affect the operations of the business. Let’s examine some of these national economic activities:

Brexit

The leave program was inaugurated on the inspiration of sovereignty and freedom. According to much research, this leave program was in favour of UK but in some cases it incurred some costs for UK. For example, when in 2015, UK exported £133 billion worth of goods excepting EU, UK experienced 3.33% each year. This phenomenon squeezed the export and import businesses of UK with the increasing tariff and transportation costs. So, this action made the UK businesses less productive and profitable in global business. (Joe McGrath, 2017) Because of brexit, the migrant labours get tensed about their jobs and for this some companies like Citigroup, Daiwa and Morgan Stanley announced to start redesigning their operations. In accordance with Christie (2018), the Bank of England expects the future loss about 25% in the business investment that can lower the business transactions. So it’s clear that due to the political decisions the whole economical image of UK had changed rapidly.

Government subsidies

The government of the UK is efficient to support the small and medium sized firms in the country. Here is high subsidy provided the UK government to the small sized firms which are beneficial for the entrepreneurs to set up the business efficiently.

Legal requirements

The government provides clear rules and legislations for international trade and the k government is also successful to maintain strong relationship with other international nations. It further increases bonding and helps the government to support the firms for international export and import. The legal framework including Health and Safety at Workplace 1974. Equality Act 2010, non0discirmination policies as well as Human rights, data Protection Act 1998 are effective to reshape the organisational policies and run it efficiently.

Ethical principles

UK government is also efficient to provide ethical framework that the organisations must follow to run their operations locally and internationally. The organisations must manage transparency and accountability, share the important information with the stakeholders, maintain authenticity of the information, respect and trust, manage the fairness and create values for all the stakeholders.

2D1 Evaluate the current global environment for business organisations

Introduction

As an emerging business country, UK makes all possible arrangement to make both the local and global environment business friendly for start-up. The local market is quite competitive and organized that the business organisations can easily access to any information and make strategies. A favourable business environment and global growth can contribute to improve the opportunities for investment, expand markets, share and assets. The current global economy is changing rapidly as well as the UK economic performance and hence the UK business organisations. (Whitman, 2019) The organisations are in need of changing their strategies to adapt with the changes. So this report will entail these factors affecting their operations.

Executive summary

This report is based on the review of current economic condition in which the global business companies of UK is operating their activities. Both the domestic and global market influences their marketing and financial functions significantly. These issues will be covered in depth in this report. The policies that are changing rapidly will be discussed here. The global factors like new technologies, suppliers, exporter and importer bring a rapid change in the company policy. To prevent and eliminate the threats of trade barriers, the government uses trading block and encourages the business people.

The review of current issues

UK’s domestic market potential:

When the companies make a good image in the domestic country it can get steady and fat rate of profit from the domestic sales. In the domestic market the UK business, the organisations face single competitive market, industry and competitors where they can easily sell their products. However, in global market, they face a huge competition that is tough to gain competitive advantage for them. The UK government tries to make the global companies keep ahead of other organisations by providing necessary trainings, reducing taxes, new technologies, network service and required supports.

Global market

Global market provides the largest customer base, technological enhancement and source of cheap materials and labour, where the companies can expand their operations. The UK companies seek the countries with steady political environment and low tax rules. The best way for the companies to get right information is to use global database that provide immediate credit information and competitors strategies in the market (Whitman, 2019).

Global environmental issues

Entering the new market and environment every business faces some challenges. However, they need to consider the impact of their operations on the society as a responsible organisation. So the UK businesses should apply new environmental strategies to ensure the safety and purities of their products to attract new customers who prefer ethically imitative products. The social, economic, political and technological issues of different countries affect the business organisations expressively. To control the effect of these issues the authorities make uniform policies for business dealings. These actions will inspire the businesses to inflate their market share globally Engsig (2017). Additionally, the other issues are related to high greenhouse gas emission, lack of waste management, poor protection of the natural resources and over utilisation of the resources which are major issues, for which the organisations face difficulties to gain sustainable development in near future. The firms fail to protect the natural resources of earth and they rather contribute in pollution. It is necessary to take immediate actions through which the organisations can develop green operational activities for establishing the brand ethically and sustainably.

Conclusion

Though globalisation has brought multiple countries, cities and people closer and even in a single society, the dealing with the business functions is far complex. Various global factors can do impact on the decision making, strategies and management of the organisational functions. Proper assistance from government and related authorities can ensure a well-organised marketplace for managing the productions, selling and delivery activities.

Task 3

This article will highlight on the impact of globalisation dialogs and technological factors on the management and operations of the business organisations. This will also cover the techniques and approaches to leadership and managing the global organisations. It will start with investigating how globalisation affects the business dealings, making sells and profit and expanding the market base. It will link up the tools and techniques used to measure the organisational performances and how technology helps to achieve the customer satisfaction and organisational success.

Introduction

The impact of globalisation on operating the business has become a fierce topic for debate. It has a profound impact on the business, government and societies. Globalisation allows the organisations to be internationalized and increase the circulation of goods and service in multiple countries. The result of globalisation leads to increased economic and financial development, technological improvement, development of science and friction etc.

3.1 Explain the implications of global integration on business organisations

Impact of globalisation

Globalisation has contributed to the business environment through encouraging the integration of the companies from different countries. The integration of organisations refers to the process of combining the functions of the organisations all over the world to ensure they use the same operating approaches.

Trading blocks

The governmental actions are effective to prevent the international trading barriers and encourage the multinational companies to expand their operations and market. Daelemans, Daniels & Nourzad (2018) found that this leads to a common market, custom union and a free trade agreement where the countries can trade freely and maintain their agreed tariff rules for other non-member countries, for example, Canada Mexico free trade and NAFTA (North American free trade agreement). The international body IMF and world bank has already taken some revolutionary steps for the development of international economy. The IMF tries to ensure the systematic payment of the transactions between nations.

Emerging Transnational corporations

One of the key consequence of globalisation is the formation of transnational corporations which is the main drivers of global integration in manufacturing, service and exchange business. This is the network of organisations controlling functions and resources in more than one country. The drawbacks of TNCs are it influences the policies of under developed countries and the unemployment rate becomes high in one countries and low in another. Moreover, the economic and capital growth can be manipulated (Engsig, 2017).

3.2 Assess the effect of international trade on domestic products and services

In the 21st century, the businesses are required to have managers who have good communication, technological and effective decision making skills. Management may use autocratic, laissez Faire, transformative, participative and transactional leadership styles. The participative and autocratic styles are most common in the largest companies in UK. For example, Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft uses the participative leadership and management styles in decision making. He allows all levels of employees and specialized persons in making decisions. He focuses on motivating the skilled and talented engineers to retain them and increase the invention of newest technologies and thus it can be stated that international trade has its impacts on the business where the firms can expand their activities globally. On the other hand, SAS Inc. uses a complex style the combination of autocratic and participative styles. The management allows the subordinates to participate in the statistical analysis of the facts to increase their management skills. In addition to, the top management allocates the tasks and responsibilities at their requirement. The international trade activities have serious impacts on the domestic products as the rice of the products become cheaper where creative products and services come to the domestic market at lower price which further decreases the demand for the domestic or local products. On the other hand, the international trade increases international competition where the domestic firms cannot compete with the multinational corporations and they fail to gain markets share due to low customers base and lack of effective branding. Additionally, Carmona, Ezzamel, and Mogotocoro (2018) argued that, cultural differences create dilemma in making decisions about what is right or wrong doing for the organisation where there are divers workforces employed in the organisation due to internationalisation of the business and it is difficult for the managers to handle the diverse workforce. For example, in advertising and marketing, language can have wide impact when one message of advertisings can have different meaning in different countries. This can lead to serious misunderstanding of facts.

3.3 Review the impact of the global economy on businesses

Technological infrastructure impacts the efficiency, management and culture of a business regardless of the size of the business. Technology enhances the communication strategy, remote workplace growth, and trade. The growth of the companies is largely dependent on the advancement of technology. The service innovation can be possible under the technical innovation and creativity where the global economy adopt latest technology to serve the customers efficiently. The enhancement in the technology based services, continuous support and improving communication and cooperation are there, which is the major success of global economy in the context of the business firms. The ICT tools can be used in the production process to increase the efficiency such as installing computer aided designing process in the production line. This can reduce time and defect hence stimulating the organisation’s growth (You, 2019). The global economy is trying to be collaborative and enhance the international trade which has crucial impacts on the business activities where the firms try to expand their operations and access the international markets for better performance and gaining high competitive advantage. The economic growth and social development in the context of global economy has also positive impacts on the business, where the entrepreneurs can connect with the social communities across the globe and influence their purchasing behaviour in long run. The information system, transfer of sin the global kill and expertise, outsourcing and FDI are also the characteristics of global economy which further boosts the performance of the companies in the international business platform.

3.4 Assess how ICT technologies have facilitated globalisation

In this era of increased competition, without technology the success of the world can’t be imaginable. By improving the networking system using Skype, email and social cites, the organisations can gain necessary information of what other competitors are doing and make effective strategies. By using ICT tools the organisational teams can collaborate with each other and with various organisations, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. These tools help to create online project team to handle the customers and make the best user experience. Technologies allow the companies to reduce costs by appointing candidates from the cheaper and accessible source. (Lievesley, 2017) Technology also poses some challenges like it requires huge funding and training to the employees to operate the tools effectively. The organisations often face security problems when the hacker get unauthorized access to the system and steal important information about the organisational strategies. However, in the recent years, the firms invest a huge amount of capital in technological advancement and ICT is among them, where it enhances internal communication among the employees, managers and other internal staff as well as it helps to improve external communication with government, shareholders, customers and other social communities. ICT is effective tool to share the information of the organisation as well as it also provides a scope to acknowledge market information and trend for the organisational products and services. Hence, ICT is advantageous for the organisations to share technology, skill and expertise in such an era of globalisation. It contributes to reduce the cost of outsourcing and improves cooperation further boosting the pace of globalisation where the multinational corporations can access the international market through enhancing communication and collaboration where transfer of skill, expertise, labour, technology as well as products and services will be increasing over the period of time. ICT is leading factor for progressing in the globalisation phase, where it encourages innovation and technological creativity in the business context. ICT enhances the ethical practice in the business, where the firms are able to handle their operations with innovation and following all the rules and regulations. The international firms are also implementing the latest technique for better communication and cooperation. Information exchange is one of the ways for enhancing globalisation pace, which is beneficial for the business to conduct their operations after gathering all the necessary data and market information strategically. Through ICT, the firms are also able to acknowledge the market information, identify the customers trend as well as the strategy of competitive brands to strategise own business. Hence, ICT enhances the globalisation activities where transfer of skill and technology would be beneficial for the business firms to perform better and gain high competitive advantage. On the other hand, the software experts are efficient to utilise new technique to digitalise the business activities and expand the firm through internet and social media activities. Through software development, the customers also can get continuous support and they can be engaged with the business and international trade for enhancing the economic contribution. Hence, multiple technologies are emerging for enhancing the activities of globalisation as well as improving communication and collaboration among the stakeholders, business and government further enhances the transfer of technologies and skill, international trade and foreign investment.

Conclusion

The current local businesses are moving their market operations from national boundaries to global arena as globalisation has brought the world closer. Globalisation permits these business organisations to be integrated and gain competitive advantages. This blessing let the GDP and growth of the countries to increase. Possibilities that are measly to the best experience of the customers have been gained by providing the best quality and quick delivery. These functions add to gaining customer’s satisfaction and repeating customers. The organisations operating globally have to be alert of the ethical, social and economic issues and try to avail the opportunities from the technological improvement.

Task 4

4.1 Carry out a review of the global environment in which businesses are currently operating

In this competitive world of business, even if an organisation operates in his local boundaries, it is still participating on the global scale of business and competing with other countries. So the level of competition is high and the business organisations will face huge challenges in operating the business. These factors can also affect their performance, management, control and decision making functions. So they need to identify the environmental factors to tackle the difficulties and gain competitive achievements. In operating the business activities in the global environment, the UK businesses face many opportunities and challenges. Here is the review of those challenges and opportunities facing UK businesses in the global environment:

Challenge: culture and language

The UK business organisations need to learn and understand different cultures to handle the customers coming from different regions like middle-east and Africa. They are required to be prepared to deal with all the customers from different countries. For example, the British like to shout out about their self-achievement in public where the Chinese people like to be simple and benevolent. Moreover, its’ very easy to remember the key words of foreign languages, but it is hard to be fluent with the gringo customers and employees. (Walker, 2009)

Challenge: legal landscape

When the UK business organisations cross their national boundaries, they face different laws of tax duty, trade regulations and quotas. These rules and laws differ from country to country and the corporations try hard to ensure they comply with each law.

Opportunity: technological forces

Technological improvement is the most encouraging facilities the 21st century’s businesses enjoy. They should not discount the huge potentials of improvement from the newer technologies. The most popular technologies include CRM software (customer relationship management), accounting software, credit card payment and check processing software and virtual PBX etc. These technologies are used by the UK organisations to improve the online experience of the employees, customers and suppliers and increase productivity of the organisations. (Chelariu, 2014)

Opportunity: a culture of leadership and engagement strategy

The organisation can avail the opportunity of diversified workers by developing a leadership strategy. To boost the leadership across all levels of organisations, the business organisations should develop strategies that address the necessities of various socioeconomic profiles. The longer term sustainability can be improved in the area of decision making, communication and controlling the costs. The UK organisations can develop a leadership culture by establishing learning programs, membership models and employee participation programs. (Walker, 2009)

4M1 Discuss strategies to address issues affecting business activities in a specified country

Market strategies

When entering into new markets the UK organisations should consider the demographic, location, demand of the customers, competitors, entry barriers and growth rates in depth. After examining the factors, the business should target a section of the market to serve that best fit with their strategies and goal.

Stakeholders

The stakeholders are suppliers, importers and exporters who need to be focused to decrease the input costs and increase benefit. Before starting import and export the organisations should analysed the import and export potential, appointment of counsellor, select the market to buy and sell and get the product or service. Organisations should contact with the supplier after investigating the values of the goods and should accept the minimal lead time.

Environmental backdrop

The organisations can move their businesses in another sector or industry i.e. they can produce outside of their line productions such as from insurance business to banking, manufacturing and hospitals. Before moving the business, a vast research is required. After that the organisation should make a moving team and assign work to them. (Dey, 2017). The organisations should focus on developing the business sustainably to address the recent issues in the UK and in this regard, it is mandatory for the organisations to become sustainable in the market. The companies must focus on utilising renewable resources which is one of the major tactics to be sustainable where implementing solar anneal and other renewable resources would be utilised for better performance and green environmental footprint. Moreover, for green supply chain management, the companies must use electric cars to reduce greenhouse gas emission and it also provides positive brand image in the market and address the recent business issues in the UK.

Developing organisational culture

For creating good organisational culture, the leader must lead the team with high cooperation and communication which are also beneficial to address the manage issues in the UK business. The leaders must encourage the staff by providing monetary and non-monetary rewards, embowering the employees in the organisational decision as well as building trust and corporate bonding to retain the staff and improve organisational productivity so that the firms can perform efficiently and address the current issues.

4D1 Assess the opportunities and challenges to a specific business organisation operating in a specified country

Ethical issues affecting business operations in UK

The managers of Tesco face some ethical dilemmas in workplace where it fails to create values for the employees. Tesco as a famous brand also faced difficulties in accounting scandal which is another major challenge to run the business transparently. To reduce the problems and ensure safety workplace, they need to make ethical decisions considering the magnitude, probability of conflicts, social agreement, effects and proximity to the society. There are also opportunities in the ethical context, where UK rules, employment legislative structure, payment structure are effective for Tesco to provide appropriate salary incentives to the staff.

Internal factors

Internal factors are the issues within the company Tesco that influence the operations and approaches of management. The organisations have direct control over these factors that include employee values, physical assets, location, funding, innovation, culture and effective communication etc. These factors reflect clearly the strength and weaknesses the organisation holds (Dey, 2017). Managing good corporate governance is another major opportunity where it provides a scope to Tesco to handle the operational activities successfully in the UK.

Resource scarcity

Every organisation has some shortages of resources which is major challenge for Tesco. They can’t use all of their resources in single investment or project. So they need to make budget and plan how to utilise the resources.

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