NATURE OF BUSINESS: Internal influences

Question 1

what are the internal influences

Answer 1

products, locations, resources, management, operations, culture

• CAN be controlled

Question 2

product influences

Answer 2

-affect range of internal structures + operations within the business.
- Type of goods and services they produce
- Range of products, size of operations & other functions.
- Type of business - good or service, requirements of business itself
- Size of the business - range and type of products, level of technology and volume of goods relates to size

Question 3

location influences

Answer 3

Visibility - important for customer flow, ease of locating
Cost - cost of rent etc - shopping centres more bc of guaranteed foot traffic
Proximity to suppliers
Proximity to customers - Convenient?
Proximity to support services - other businesses needed to assist in operation eg. post offices, accountants etc.

Question 4

resource influences

Answer 4

combining of research: products made
HR - employees, owners etc - most important
Information resources - knowledge & data required to run the business - market research, sales reports, forecasts etc
Physical resources - equipment, machinery, buildings materials
Financial resources - funds

Question 5

management influences

Answer 5

trend: flatter hierarchical system (less “middle management” type positions).
- allows business to adapt quickly to changes in market place.
- hierarchical approach: allocate managers/supervisors to teams
- businesses emphasise teamwork, delegation and sharing of responsibility
- Management style depends on the function of the business and size

Question 6

business culture influences

Answer 6

• The values, ideas and expectations of an organisation, style + attitude reflected through this
• can consist of formal rules and training but is also the ‘informal feeling’ in a workplace
• heavily dependent on its organisational structure.
  rigid hierarchical approach: emphasise accountability, delegation and respect for superiors.
  Less formal structures:emphasise communication, teamwork and positive relationships.
  Role of management: maintain and build positive business culture, important for staff to be trained, behaviour modeled and communicated

Question 7

what are stakeholders

Answer 7

Any group or individual who has an interest in a business or is affected by the activities of a business

Question 8

examples of stakeholders

Answer 8

shareholders
managers
employees
customers
society
environment

Question 9

shareholder impact

Answer 9

• purchase shares in company
• considered partial owners
• want profit

Question 10

manager impact

Answer 10

• responsible for overseeing that business is organised/running as intended

Question 11

employees impact

Answer 11

-manufacture good or deliver service
- influences through quality of work,skill,knowledge
- these factors affected through their job security + satisfaction

Question 12

customers impact

Answer 12

most influential external stakeholder
- spending decisions, media

Question 13

Society impact

Answer 13

tastes and trends
- expect to be responsible for decisions made in relation to concerns today e.g environment/welfare

Question 14

environment impact

Answer 14

• limited resources available need to be used sustainably
• important as businesses/society cannot afford to utlise today’s resources to the extent that they are not available for next generation

Question 15

internal stakeholders

Answer 15

within business who have interest in company

managers, employers, employees

Question 16

external stakeholders

Answer 16

entities outside business who care about/affected by performance

government, customers, society, employer associations, environment