Social and Technological Environment 3.7.6 Flashcards
how does migration and urbanisation effect decision making in businesses
Urbanisation creates opportunities for business in developing markets, so could decide to focus your business more in the city ( withdraw from rural areas)(move to urban areas from rural)
more people moving to the city means people are getting richer, so could mean you can raise price or create new portfolio to target higher end buyers.
people migrating means a larger demographic range, could create new products to meet the needs of the new demographic niche
target migrants for employment of minor low payed jobs, or maybe for skilled jobs as 50% have a degree. Labour force is growing so can keep wages low. (more potential workers, greater variety of skill ). increasing unemployment means you can keep wages low as all jobs become more attractive.
how does changes in social trends and lifestyle effect decision making in businesses
people want convenience in there products and services more than most other things so creating alternatives for products that take up less time (or easier for the consumer) would be effective, e.g. cereal bars, ready made meals.
customer trends can dictate a lot of what is being bought so following these trends would be beneficial for a business if it effects their products or service. should decide to create new range of products or enter a new market.
there will be multiple competitors where these trends are concerned so differentiation could be a good business decision involved in this. (targeting a niche area of the market)
how the growth of a online business effects the decision making of a business
online shopping is extremely convenient for consumers so moving online would be a must otherwise you will fall behind competitors.
could focus on just online to reduce shops on high streets and reduce cost (rent) only need one big warehouse.
decide to reduce staff and decrease money spent on training
what is CSR
corporate social responsibility
reasons for CSR
marketing advantage - create a better brand image to the public and can differentiate you from competitors.
positive effects on workforce - can improve employee motivation, reduce labor turn over (reduce costs put into recruiting and training)
reasons against CSR
reduces profitability - exploiting cheap labor and resources from less developed countries can be very profitable but doing this isn’t good for CSR
reduces growth prospects - if an opportunity come up that is good for the business but bad for CSR then you would have to decline to maintain a good CSR.this limits long term growth plans which could allow competitors to become stronger
could become a distraction from other parts of the business
what is carrolls corporate social responsibility pyramid
Starting form bottom to top:(in order of priority)
Economic responsibilities
legal responsibilities
ethical responsibilities
philanthropic responsibilities (being a good corperate citizen)
(not always very accurate as business is a lot more complicated than just following these steps)
the difference between the shareholder and stakeholder concept
the share holder concept is based on making all decisions in the interest on share holders, should only meet there owners objectives and maximizing dividends and shareprice
the stake holder concept is based on making all decisions in the interest of everyone effected by the business.
e.g.
Improving work life for employees to improve motivation ( better pay more challenging interesting work),
Giving back to the community to create better co-operation, seeking planning permission to expand
Treating suppliers with respect, create a better relationship and it may benefit you
what are the pressures for socially responsible behavior
not following the taste of consumers can lead to drops in sales, so you need to keep your customers happy to ensure success in a product. if you get multiple complaints from customers to change to satisfy their needs, it can be very damaging not to listen.
