Business Environment Assignment
Qualification
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Unit number - title - level
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BTEC Level 5 HND in Business
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Unit 1 – Business Environment - Level 4
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Student name
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Assessor name
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Susan Simei-Cunningham
Berlin Asong
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Internal Verifier
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Alan Jeffery
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Date issued
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Completion date
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Submitted on
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Assignment title
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Business Environment - Shaping Your Future – A Vocational Scenario
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LO
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Learning Outcome
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AC
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In this assessment you will have the opportunity to present evidence that shows you are able to:
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Task no.
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Evidence
(Page no)
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LO1
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Understand the organisational purposes of businesses.
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1.1
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Identify the purposes of different types of organisation.
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1
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1.2
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Describe the extent to which an organisation meets the objectives of different stakeholders.
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1.3
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Explain the responsibilities of an organisation and strategies employed to meet them.
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LO2
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Understand the nature of the national environment in which businesses operate.
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2.1
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Explain how economic systems attempt to allocate resources effectively.
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2
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2.2
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Assess the impact of fiscal and monetary policy on business organisations and their activities.
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2.3
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Evaluate the impact of competition policy and other regulatory mechanisms on the activities of a selected organisation.
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LO3
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Understand the behaviour of organisations in their market environment.
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3.1
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Explain how market structures determine the pricing and output decisions of businesses.
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3
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3.2
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Illustrate the way in which market forces shape organisational responses using a range of examples.
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3.3
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Judge how the business and cultural environments shape the behaviour of a selected organisation.
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LO4
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Be able to assess the significance of the global factors that shape national business activities.
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4.1
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Discuss the significance of international trade to UK business organisations.
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4
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4.2
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Analyse the impact of global factors on UK business organisations.
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4.3
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Evaluate the impact of policies of the European Union on UK business organisations.
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Sources of Information
1. Course notes
2. BPP Learning Media (2013) Business Environment, London BPP Learning Media
3. Tutor2u (n.d) Business Studies. Available at http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies
4. Times 100 Case Studies (1995-2013) The External Environment. Available at
http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/business-theory/externalenvironment.html#axzz2MHgTLH7v (accessed on 1.3.13)
5. Wetherly P, Otter D (2008) The Business Environment, Oxford. Oxford University Press
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Task 1 – Understand the organisational purposes of businesses
This task offers you an opportunity to achieve LO: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, M1, M3 and D1
Identify the purposes of different types of organisation. In your answer, identify the type of the organisation outlined in the Shaping Your Future section (1.1)
Guidelines
In your answer, please;
1. Describe an organisation
2. Identify four different types of organisations in the UK and their purposes
3. Identify what type of organisation is the type of organisation outlined in the Shaping Your Future section
Describe the extent to which an organisation meets the objectives of different stakeholders. In your answer, describe the different stakeholders of the organisation outlined in the Shaping Your Future section and how you intend to meet their objectives. (1.2)
Guidelines
In your answer, please;
1. Identify different the stakeholders of the organisation outlined in the Shaping Your Future section
2. Describe how the organisation outlined in the Shaping Your Future section attempts to meet the objectives of its different stakeholders
Explain the responsibilities of the organisation outlined in the Shaping Your Future section and strategies employed to meet them. (1.3)
Guidelines
In your answer, please;
1. Identify the various responsibilities organisations have to its stakeholders
2. Explain how the organisation outlined in the Shaping Your Future section meets these responsibilities.
Total task word count: Minimum: 300
Maximum: 450
M1: Effective approach to study and research has been applied. You will have supported your answers to 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 with facts, and referenced your information sources.
M3: Present the answer to questions 1.1 – 1.3 in a short report format. The report will have the appropriate headings and sub heading to achieve merit 3.
D1: Conclusions have been arrived at through synthesis of ideas and have been justified. You will have demonstrated why you arrived at the judgement in answer to 1.2.
NB: When the question refers to an organisation, the learners will need to discuss their organisation as detailed in the Shaping Your Future section above OR the organisation from the designated list held and approved by Student Support
Task 2 – Understand the nature of the national environment in which businesses operate
This task offers you an opportunity to achieve LO: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and M2
Identify the economic system of the United Kingdom, and explain how it allocates resources. (2.1)
Guidelines
In your answer, please;
1. Explain what is meant by an economic system and identification of at three economic systems
2. Explain scarcity and resources in the context of economic systems
3. Select two economic systems and state how these economic systems attempt to allocate resources.
Analyse the current fiscal policy of the UK government and current monetary policy of the Bank of England. How do these policies impact the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section and ONE other organisation? (2.2)
Guidelines
In your answer, please;
1. Provide a brief background of the UK economy, in terms of size, GDP, GNP, growth etc.
2. Explain fiscal and monetary policy in the UK
3. Choose at least two organisations to use as examples to support and reinforce your answer
4. Identify and explain how the UK’s fiscal and monetary policies could impact the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section and ONE other organisation its activities in the UK.
Outline and evaluate the impact of the UK Competition Act 1998 on UK businesses. Evaluate the impact of two other regulatory mechanisms on the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section. (2.3)
Guidelines
In your answer, please;
1. Explain competition policy and how this could impact on the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section and its activities.
2. Evaluate competition policy in terms of advantages and disadvantages, negative and positive impact the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section.
3. Identify and explain two other regulatory mechanisms within the UK and evaluate these mechanisms in the context of the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section. Evaluate the positive and any negative impact on your chosen organisation.
Total task work count: Minimum: 300
Maximum: 450
M2: Complex information/data has been synthesised and processed. You will have described the UK economy, using up-to-date economic indicators (e.g. GDP, unemployment rate, inflation rate, CPI, RPI, PMI, consumer spending, budget deficit, trade deficit, etc.).
NB: When the question refers to an organisation, the learners will need to discuss their organisation as detailed in the Shaping Your Future section above OR the organisation from the designated list held and approved by Student Support.
Task 3 – Understand the behaviour of organisations in their environment
This task offers you an opportunity to achieve LO: 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and M3
Explain the market structure of the sector of the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section. The explanation must describe how the market structure influences the pricing and sales volume of the relevant sector. (3.1)
Guidelines
In your answer, please;
1. Explain market structures; this should include examples of at least two types of market structure, one of which must be the market structure of the sector of the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section;
2. Explain how market structures could determine the pricing and output decisions of the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section.
Demonstrate the influence (or possible influence) of three market forces and two cultural factors on the behaviour of the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section. (3.2 and 3.3)
Guidelines
In your answer, please;
1. Describe the term market forces
2. Demonstrate the influence of three named market forces on the behaviour of the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section
3. Describe culture and explain its impacts on the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section. Include an identification of two components of culture.
Total task word count: Minimum: 300
Maximum: 450
M3: Coherent, logical development of principles/concepts for the intended audience. You will have explained economics concepts and theories in 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3, clearly and coherently.
NB: When the question refers to an organisation, the learners will need to discuss their organisation as detailed in the Shaping Your Future section above OR the organisation from the designated list held and approved by Student Support.
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Discuss the importance of trade between the UK and Europe to the UK sector that the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section falls within. (4.1)
Guidelines
In your answer, please;
1. Describe international trade:
2. Discussion of the significance of European trade to UK based organisations operating in the same sector as the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section. Your discussion should include the positive as well as negative impact to UK based businesses.
Analyse three international factors that could affect organisations in 2015 in the same sector as the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section. (4.2)
Guidelines
In your answer, please;
1. Describe or define globalisation;
2. Identify and analyse drivers to globalisation;
3. Analyse at least three global factors which affect or could affect UK businesses
Evaluate the impact of two EU policies on organisations in 2015 in the same sector as the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section. (4.3)
Guidelines
In your answer, please;
1. Provide a brief description of the European Union;
2. Identify and describe two European Union policies;
3. Evaluate how these policies impact on the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section.
This evaluation can cover positive as well as negative impacts to this organisation.
Total task word count: Minimum: 300
Maximum: 450
D2: Substantial activities, projects or investigations have been planned, managed and organised. You will have provided answers to task 1, 2, 3 and 4, and submitted your work on time.
D3: Effective thinking has taken place in unfamiliar contexts. You will have explained in 4.2 how the organisation identified in the Shaping Your Future section has confronted the three international factors.
NB: When the question refers to an organisation, the learners will need to discuss their organisation as detailed in the Shaping Your Future section above OR the organisation from the designated list held and approved by Student Support.
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Introduction
The organisation that has been selected to conduct the business environment assignment is the MULLAI cab service which will be an organisation that provides transportation services to the customers in the London. The organisation will have different types of vehicles and those vehicles will be providing services to the customers with the help of the driver teams. The assignment will include four parts and the parts will discuss about the business environment of the business in order to create the business strategies and business plans. In the first part, an understanding of the organisational purposes in different aspects will be taken and then in the second part, an understanding of the national environment which the business are operated will be taken. Then the nature of the international markets and behaviour of the markets will be discussed.
Task 1
Business report
From: MULLAI cab service
1.1 Identify the type of the organisation
An organisation has been defined by many people, groups and agencies as a group of people who have gathered for formed together with specific goal to achieve while having specific objectives. This can be profit making business, charity work, or non – profit work. They participants may or may not have benefits from the organisation but everyone will have goals to achieve as a group.
Business organisations can be seen as the most common type of organisation in the country. The ultimate purpose of the business organisations is to make profits by selling a product or a service. These organisations may have other purposes such as increasing market share and doing charity work while the main goals will be profit generation. The MULLAI cab service mentioned in the shaping your future will be one the business organisations (Brewster¸ 2008).
Non – profit organisations normally have the objective of doing community services or providing a support for a specific project. Example for non – profit organisations in UK are NHS, UN and universities. These organisations can be managed by the government or non – governmental (Garth¸ 2001).
Mutual benefit organisations are another type of organisations that has the objective of joining together to achieve something which is one of their common interests. This can be social service, individual benefits or profits. Good examples for mutual benefit organisations are trade unions and different clubs such as golf clubs, vehicle clubs etc.
Commonweal organisations are another organisation type which has the objectives of doing social work for selected group of people or for a community. Their service will most of the times, be free of charge while sometimes a charge will be made. Examples for these are fire brigade and police of country (Robin¸ 2001).
1.2 How MULLAI cabs will intend to meet objectives of the stakeholders
The MULLAI cab service will have both internal and external stakeholder who can impact the business operations and can be affected by the operations of the business.
Customers – will be the most important type of stakeholder as they will be mainly helping to achieve the main objective of profit generation. In order to meet the objectives of the customers, the MULLAI cabs will provide a reliable, efficient and effective service for the customers which will increase their customer satisfaction and meet the objectives.
Employees – after customers, employees will be most important party for achieving the goals of the business. The objectives of the employees working in the MULLAI cab service will be receiving a proper remuneration and compensation, having a friendly and professional working environment and career development opportunities. The employees will be provided industry standard salaries and development opportunities in the organisation to support their objectives from the organisation.
Suppliers – the suppliers of MULLAI cab will be given timely payments, consistent sales and recommendations in order to achieve the objectives of the suppliers who will be supplying goods to the organisation. Coming in to contracts with the suppliers will help to ensure the suppliers that MULLAI cab will be purchasing products from them.
Management and directors – as employees, the managers will also expect the objectives of the employees and in addition, they will expect proper financial support and guide from the owners. The management will be given sufficient resources and any other requirements for operating the business and for achieving the goals they have been given.
1.3 Responsibilities of MULLAI cab service to its stakeholders and how they are achieved
The main stakeholders of the MULLAI cab service was identified as the customers. The main responsibilities that the organisation has towards the customers are providing safe, secure, reliable and cost effective transportation service to the customers. The MULLAI cab will be meeting these responsibilities by providing the cab transportation service at the lowest price per kilometre possible for the customers. And the MULLAI cab service will make sure that all the customer orders are properly managed and they are provided the service according to the industry standards. And the drivers working for the MULLAI cabs will have valid licenses to ensure the safety and reliability of the service (Brown¸ 2001).
The employees of MULLAI cabs will expect a safe environment and fair compensation for them. In order to meet these responsibilities of the organisation, the MULLAI cabs will provide medical insurance for all the drivers and other employees who will be working in the organisation which will help to support the safety and part of the compensation for the employees. And the vehicles that will be hired or bought for the MULLAI cab service will be ensured to have safety features such as air bags and have insured so that it will increase the safety and assurance. And the employees will be given an industry on par salary so that their expectations are fulfilled (Harvey¸ 2005). The management of the cab service will be provided with SMART objectives to achieve on behalf of the organisation so that they are able to meet the objectives and develop the business.
Task 2
2.1 How the economic systems in UK help to allocate the resources of the business
An economic system in a country is a set of components that are related to production of goods, exchange of goods and services in the country among the producers and the consumers. The main economic systems can be seen as,
1. Free market – in the free market system the resources are allocated according to the change of supply and demand. Therefore the owners of the business will be people who will allocate their resources in a way to produce the highly demanded products and services (Lipsey¸ 2009). When there is more demand for a certain product, the company owners will produce more of the product and wise versa.
2. Planned economy system – in the planned unlike the free market, the organisations and companies are owned by the state. Therefore the market will not be opened to the foreign traders and the government will control the demand. Therefore the resource allocation for production will be done on the interest of the government. When there are low resources, the demand will be reduced by increasing the prices by the government and wise versa (Parkin¸ 2002).
3. Mixed economy – the mixed economy will have characteristics of both planned and free markets in which the companies will be owned both by the government and people. Therefore the resource allocation will depend of the demand and the changes of prices in different industries.
2.2 The fiscal and monetary policies in UK and their impact
Fiscal policy of the country can be identified as the policies which the government has created to control the total spending of the country done by the government with the intention of monitoring and influencing the economy. And the monetary policy is used for influencing the money supply of the country done by the central bank. Both the fiscal and monetary policy will control the economy of the country.
The monetary policy controls the interest rates. When the interest rates are increased, the MULLAI cab service will have to pay more interest for the loans they have taken from banks. This will increase the spending of the company and reduce the profits. The monetary policy will control the inflation of the country which will help the cab service to operate their business without economic problems. This not only impact MULLAI cab service but other big organisations like Tesco will also be impacted in the same manner (Robin¸ 2001).
The fiscal policy will control the money supply of the country by increasing or decreasing the taxes charged by the government when goods or services are purchased. When the government has low supply of money and the economy is going to a recession, the taxes of goods and services will be increased to gain more tax money from the citizens. For MULLAI cabs and for Tesco, these policies will impact to increase the overall product prices and service prices as the taxes are increased. Therefore this will cause to increase the final prices of their products and service which will make it difficult to gain more sales (ONS¸ 2015).
2.3 How the business of MULLAI cab service is impacted by the competition policies and other regulations in the country
The competition policy in UK created by the competition act 1998 has been created to produce a healthy competition among the companies and bring the benefit of it to the customers. If an unhealthy competition is created in the country, it will impact on the fair trade businesses and impact the products and services. Therefore competition policy has prevented creating monopolies and mergers that will lead to monopolies. A monopoly will be a company that has acquired a large percentage of its industry’s market share and hasn’t let any other organisation compete with them. Therefore people will buy the particular product or service only from them and market entry is automatically prohibited for others. Therefore MULLAI cabs will not be allowed to become a monopoly company in the cab service industry. And will not be allowed to get merged with other large competitors (Economics Online¸ 2015).
Another regulation – according to the data protection act in UK, the MULLAI cabs will not be able to save the personal information of the customers and save them on any other purposes. For example, they will take the mobile numbers, emails addresses or addresses from customers when providing a service. However they aren’t allowed to use this information unnecessarily for marketing activities or to sell them to others. According to the fair trade regulations, the cab service will need to display the charges they charge inside the car of vehicle of the cab services and the meters should be fixed to calculate the fare. These fares should be transparent and hidden charges shouldn’t be applied.
Task 3
3.1 The different market structures and their impact on the businesses
The market structures will a combination of factors that are related to interaction between the producers which will control pricing of products. The factors such as number of competitors in the market, the product or service types, entry possibility for new entrant to the industry, size of the customer market will be factors that are part of the market structure.
The unhealthiest type of market structure is the monopoly market. In the monopoly market there will be only one company that has taken over almost all of the market share and all the customers will buy the particular product or service from them. The monopoly company can control the price of the product since they control the market (David¸ 2001).
Oligopoly is a market structure where the pricing controlled by few number of large companies and they have owned the market share together. These oligopolistic companies will be the market leaders and new entrance for the market will not be possible. Oligopolistic market is also unhealthy market since there are few competitors who will control the prices and customers will have to buy from them for whatever the prices they offer. The airline industry in UK is an example for oligopoly market structure.
In the perfect competition market, all the producers will own a certain amount of the market share and none of them will be dominant to control the prices. The price of the goods will be set by industry standards, by the demand and supply of the goods. The cab service market can be seen as a perfect competition market where new entrance is also possible for a new company. Therefore it will help the new companies to grow and customers will be benefited (Harvey¸ 2005).
3.2 How the market forces influence the behaviour of the MULLAI Cab service organisation
The market forces will be factors that impact the prices and growth of the market and will influence the behaviour of customers, companies and the production.
The supply in the market is one of most common forces. Supply refers to the available or on- going production of goods or services in the market. The supply will be a factor that defines the availability of products or services in the market. When there are a large number of cab service vehicles running in the streets of London and there are many organisations that provide transportation services, the supply will increased. Increased supply will influence to reduce the prices as the customers have more options.
Demand is another factor which refers to requirement of goods or services by the customers. If the customers are using a particular product in excess, the demand for that product will be increased. When there are more tourists coming to visit the London city and more customers who want transportation services are there, then the demand for cab service will be increased. Increased demand can cause to increment of the prices as the customers will buy the goods or services from any of the producers even if the prices are high (Entrepreneur.com¸ 2015).
Competition is another market force that impact of the businesses. A higher competition in the market will increase the competitive strategies employed by different companies in order to get the advantage for them. Therefore the prices will be reduced to the lowest amount by different producers to win the competition. When there is a higher competition in the cab service industry, MULLAI cabs will need to reduce the prices and get competitive advantage (Thomas¸ 2012).
3.3 How the cultural factors behaves in MULLAI cabs and impact the business of MULLAI
The culture in an organisation is a unique psychological atmosphere that is created in the organisation with the contribution from the owner, employees and with customers. The culture of the MULLAI cab service organisation will include the expectations, experiences, objectives, values, interactions among the stakeholders, attitudes, origins, beliefs and ideas. All these parts are small parts that have contributed to create the culture in the MULLAI cabs organisation.
The objectives of the employees are a major part of the culture in the organisation. The objectives of the employees provide motivation for the employees to work in the cab service organisation. And the objectives and goals that have been set by the organisation also motivate the employees to work. When there are achievable objectives and goals are given for the employees, it increases their motivation and helps to make the work in organisation more efficient and productive (French¸ 2009).
And the organisational culture will also help to keep the standards of the work and standards of the business conducted by MULLAI cab service. The drivers who working in the organisation will be adapted to the culture where road rules are followed and no ethics are violated while being on the road. These cultural behaviours will support to increase the quality of work conducted in MULLAI (David¸ 2001)
Task 4
4.1 The importance of international trade between UK and Europe to the businesses in UK
An international trade has been described as a contract which exchanges the goods and services between the different countries. The international trade opportunities and the trade contracts such as European Union allows the investors and manufactures in the UK to sell their products in the international markets which will not be necessary without the support of the trade. One of the main advantages that the businesses and people in the UK have received is the ability to buy products and services that were produced in other foreign countries. Therefore the businesses in UK have been able to import products from other countries and sell them inside the country due to the benefits of the trades (Dawes¸ 2005).
The foreign investment opportunities, participation of the global economy and improved performance of the economy has been brought to UK as benefits of the international trades with the European countries. One of the examples for the trades is the World Trade Organisation which was created in 1995 and has developed the trade activity regulations and trade understandings among the countries. UK as a country has been able to participate and contribute to the global economy as the products manufactured in UK will be sold in the internal markets and the investors in UK have been able to directly invest in foreign investment opportunities (Goyal, 2009).
With the European trade agreements, UK has been able to become a supplier of services to the Europe and other international markets without being limited to the home country. These services include the service delivery sectors such as banking, insurance, and foreign money exchange services as the main services. The large service providers such as HSBC bank in UK provide banking facilities to companies in Europe which helps UK in development of the economy and to receive foreign money which will be beneficial for economic development.
4.2 International factors that can impact the organisations such as the MULLAI cab service
Inflation of the gas prices
The cab services are associated with large costs and most of the costs are incurred by the gas prices. All the vehicles that are running in the organisation require the use of petrol or diesel as the fuel for the vehicle engine. Therefore the inflation in the gas prices will impact the business operation in cab service organisations. The gas prices keep increasing in the global markets as fuel resources are deficient. Therefore the increase of gas prices will cause more costs for cab services.
Increased prices of vehicles trends in travel
Since the vehicles are mainly used for operations of the cab services business and therefore the prices of the vehicles and the taxes charged on the vehicles by the government is another factor that could impact the profit generation of the cab service businesses and also the sales of the services in the cab service industry. The governments in the countries tend to charge more taxes on motor vehicles with the intention to promote electric vehicles and hybrid models which are less harmful for environment (Bank of England¸ 2015).
Trends
The social trends among the people such as to use the public transportation when moving around small distances, use of the public transportation to save the environment pollution and also to promote public transportation as a cheap method of transportation has become the private transportation service such as cab services to be avoided by the customers. And the tourists are also check for public transportation service before they arrive to the country so that they will not need private cabs. These have reduced the demand for cab services (Thomas et al, 2012).
4.3 Impact of the EU policies in cab service organisation
According to the competition policies in the European Union policies, the cab servicing companies will not be able to control the markets by offering the lowest price compared to the other services and to gain a larger percentage of the market share in order to become a monopoly. Therefore the cab services that are running in the country at the present will not be able to develop monopoly characteristics in their business operations.
And the companies will not be able to get merged with other cab service companies if the merger will create a monopoly in the market. Therefore mergers in the market will be restricted by the EU policies (Brewster 2008).
According to the fair trade policies and the fair service policies, the cab services organisations will need to be fair and honest when their charges are displayed to the customers and services are provided to them. The cab fares should be fair from the view of the customers and there should not have any hidden charges and hidden fares charged from the customers (Parkin¸ 2002).
Conclusion
The different types of organisations that are operating in UK were identified and objectives of the different organisations that are available in UK discussed. How the selected organisation will be meeting the expectations of the stakeholders were identified with the expectations of the stakeholders and the responsibilities the organisation has in order to fulfil the requirements of the stakeholders were discussed. The different economic systems and how the economic systems allocate resources in different ways were discussed. The impact of the fiscal policy and the impact of the monetary policy for the selected organisation were discussed. The impact of the competition policies in the country and other regulations and their impact to the cab service was identified and then the market structure of the cab service industries how these different market structures can influence pricing structure of the products were discussed. The internal trading and impact of the international factors to the organisation were discussed.
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