Organisational Ecosystems

Question 1

Two tools that can be used to analyse and understand the ecosystem or environment that a business operates.

Answer 1

1. Porter’s Five Forces
2. PESTEL

Question 2

Porter’s five forces

Answer 2

1. Threat of new entrants.
2. Bargaining Power of Suppliers.
3. Bargaining Power of Buyers.
4. Threat of Substitute Products or Services.
5. Industry Rivalry.

Question 3

Four elements of an organisations ecosystem.

Answer 3

1.Markets
2. Society
3. Risk and opportunity
4. Technology

Question 4

Markets in the organisational ecosystem

Answer 4

Markets are where organisations interact with their customers, suppliers, partners and competitors. Markets facilitate exchange, competition, and profit.

Question 5

Society

Answer 5

Society regulates the conduct, activities, and operations of organisations through laws, customs, moral norms and social action. It includes governments, regulators, local communities, and civil organisations. PESTLE analysis could be used to understand the impact of society on the organisation.

Question 6

Technology

Answer 6

Technology is the application of scientific knowledge to solve problems and tackle issues that people and society face

Question 7

Ways in which technology affects society

Answer 7

*Advances in medical science that have resulted in a demographic shift towards an increasingly ageing population.
*New forms of interaction and organising (for example, social media)
*New expectations (for example, instant communication)
*New experiences (for example, virtual reality and augmented reality)

Question 8

Ways in which technology affects markets

Answer 8

*Facilitating improved productivity and efficiency (for example, through automation)
*Producing and delivering new types of goods and services (for example, streaming video services such as Netflix and communication services such as WhatsApp)
*Providing a potential source of competitive advantage for organisations, either through development of a new technology or by applying an existing technology better than competitors.

Question 9

Risk and opportunity

Answer 9

The two networks, society and markets, host interactions. Society and markets also interact with each other, and they both interact with organisations.
These interactions generate opportunities and risks.

Opportunities provide possibilities for organisations to:
collaborate,
coordinate,
and compete with others enabled by law,
demographic shifts,
market arrangements,
and technological innovation.

Question 10

Enterprise risk management

Answer 10

Enterprise risk management (ERM) is the process of identifying and addressing the potential events that represent risk to the organisation’s achievement of strategic objective or to opportunities to gain competitive advantage

Question 11

Risk responses

Answer 11

*Acceptance or tolerance of a risk
*Risk avoidance (for example, through avoiding an activity)
*Risk transfer or sharing via insurance or a joint venture

Question 12

SWOT analysis

Answer 12

A SWOT analysis helps identify and understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relevant to a business.

Question 13

Environmental and horizon scanning

Answer 13

Horizon scanning is environmental scanning that is focussed on generating actionable intelligence and foresight over the planning horizon of the organisation

Question 14

Scenario analysis

Answer 14

Scenario analysis, sometimes referred to as scenario planning, is designed to allow organisations to evaluate the efficacy of strategies, tactics, and plans under a range of possible future environments.