Unit 19 External Business Environment

Aim of Unit 19 External Business Environment

The study is to identify different key external factors, which affect strategic and operational development in commercial organisations. It would focus on services and other business operations like catering and hospitality, leisure and sport and tourism sector. It further enables learners to understand the most influencing factors on the business operations. It would cover wider ranges of external elements such as social-cultural and economic changes, political and legal issues and statutory requirements for the establishment of operations. Furthermore, the study can be helpful for learners to identify various aspects of factors’ impacts within the decision making process for developing business communication and operation largely.

Learning outcomes

1 Understand the impact of socio-economic change on the development of commercial organisations in a business and services industry context

From this unit, different socio-economic changes on the growth of commercial organisations would be evaluated. For that, various things must be focused by learners. These aspects include operational structure of the UK economy, government and economic policies, wealth, income, occupational and employment distribution, social structure, demographic trends as per the industry context. In these, students would have ideal understandings about the market structure, competitive analysis, oligopoly, monopoly and duopoly, national and local factors, aim and effects of employment policies, inflation, business structure, employment profiles, and different patterns of demand, demographic variation, and labour turnover as per the context of hospitality and travel industry.

2 Understand the effect of legal and political environments on business and service industries

Through the discussion, learners could understand different political and legal environments on services and other business sectors. In this, different government and legal structure, controllable areas, authority limits, government power affecting UK business, EU history and its roles, relationships with local and national government and direct or indirect impacts of EU on the businesses would be identified. Apart from these, the study would focus on the types of political influence, influence of pressure groups on the government, local and national issues, UK legislations, different systems from England and Scotland, Legal system structures, legislative process and their implications on the operations.

3 Understand the statutory requirements for establishing and developing a business and services operation

Besides the above discussion, learners can be able to understand different statutory requirements for developing and organising service and business operations. This part of the unit would be based on various operations such as services, registered organisations and others. Different types like private ownership, companies, partnership, private, public, limited by guarantee and shares, unlimited companies and other business concepts. Apart from that, the study would be relied on other aspects such as formation of registered organisations, structures, dissolution, statutory declaration, lists, control and responsibilities such as directors, agents executives and their voting rights.

Learning outcomes and assessment criteria

Learning outcomes   On successful completion of this unit a learner will:	Assessment criteria for pass   The learner can:
LO1 Understand the impact of socio-economic change on the development of commercial organisations in a business and services industry context	discuss the structure and operation of the UK economyanalyse current government economic policy and its effect on business and services industriesdiscuss income, wealth, employment and occupational distribution in relation to the provision of business and services operationsassess the demographic trends that influence employment patterns in business and services industriesanalyse the social structures of people employed in business and services industries
LO2 Understand the effect of legal and political environments on business and service industries	discuss the structure, operation and influence of local government evaluate the role and influence of the EU, and its impact on business and services industries assess the role of pressure groups and their political influence in relation to national and local issues analyse the legal framework within the UK, identifying the main differences between the English and Scottish systems evaluate the legislative process as it affects business and services industries at both local and national level
LO3 Understand the statutory requirements for establishing and developing a business and services operation	assess the different types and characteristics of business that operate within the business and services sector discuss the legal processes necessary for formation and dissolution of a registered company analyse the structure and processes which determine the responsibilities and control within a registered company

Links

This unit can be linked with a number of units, including:

• Unit 3: Customer Service
• Unit 18: Facilities Operations and Management.