Unit 1 Business Environment Assignment Sample

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Introduction:

In this assignment on Business Environment I have selected a company of UK, “Virgin Atlantic Airlines” to discuss on the following aspects.
To give a brief description on the company, can be said that one of the premier British multinational airlines organization having operations worldwide, headquarter is in Crawley, UK. It was established in the year 1984, in the name of “British Atlantic Airways”, founded by Randolph Fields and Alan Hellary.( Virgin Atlantic, 2016) Though previously it started operation to fly between London and Falkland Islands, now it is operating in almost all the countries like North America, Africa, Asian countries and Middle East. They use Airbus and Boeing wide body aircraft to carry passengers to their destinations. It is a high quality and value for money options to the travelers, won “World Travel Awards as Europe’s leading airlines in North America” in the year 2015.

Mission: Their mission statement is “...to embrace the human spirit and let it fly” ( Virgin Atlantic, 2016)
In this assignment we will understand the market variables and structures that impact on the business skill activities when operating in UK as well as in the international market. It has also a detail description of monetary policy, fiscal policy, demand and supply, economic factors and other aspects and how it impacts in context of Virgin Atlantic Airlines.

Task 1:

Ac 1.1) Explain the purposes of your selected organization and why you think its purpose (reason of existence) is different from either the fire service or the Red Cross in UK.

The purpose of the organization lies in the facts of its existence in society.

Virgin Atlantic Airline:

Type of Company: “Virgin Atlantic Airline”, operates as a joint venture private organization, in UK and in almost every countries of the world. ( Virgin Atlantic, 2016)
Purpose: Their purpose is to provide their customers with a seamless travel experience in every aspects of their service, from the time of booking to reach them at their point. This means the main purpose is to serve as per the customer’s expectations with high standard innovative services at cost efficient manner that they can feel the value for money to all the air travelers.

Red Cross in UK:

Type of Company: British Red Cross is a nonprofit making organization operates in UK.
Purpose : The main purposes of the company is to help the common inhabitants of the country in their suffering and helps in emergencies by providing first aid, emergency services, prepare them to deal with disaster, helps in finding the missing people, provides refugee support and health and social support .
The main objective of this organization is to encourage voluntary services in the UK to accumulate donations and help to provide safe, cost efficient and emergency services to the people in their distress. (Red Cross, 2016)

NHS:

Type of Company: NHS is a public funded health care system that operates in UK
Purpose: They deliver health and care services of higher standards and ensure that valuable public resources are used effectively to get the best outcomes for individuals, communities, and societies for now and for future generations. It core purpose is to make healthcare services accessible for all irrespective of wealth, so most of the care services ranging from routine checkups, treatments, specialty care to emergency treatments are done free of cost with exception to few services for all residents of United Kingdom.

The purpose of Virgin Atlantic Airlines is different from Red Cross in UK due to the following reason:

The nature of organization is the main difference as well as its underlying purposes that VAA is a profit making organization, so the main focus is to generate a good earning in the long term. Whereas Red Cross UK, do their activities not for earning profit but for helping others. And NHS objective is to deliver accessible and quality healthcare services irrespective of wealth to all residents of UK.
In VAA’s , people, are associated with the organization get significant return on their contribution, but in Red Cross, People do it for voluntary purposes. Whereas, staff or bodies associated with NHS get payments from public funding or governments, but the objective is not profit earning but to make healthcare accessible for everyone. So, most of its services are free of cost.
VAA’s, services are focused to their customers who want to travel from one destination to another but Red Cross UK focuses on the entire mass of the country for giving social services.

AC 1.2) State the interest/ objectives of your selected organization’s stakeholders and describe the strategies it is using to meet them. State the types of stakeholders, e.g. employees, their objectives and follow that with the strategies used to achieve this.

The stake holders are the people who are associated with the company, directly or indirectly and get affected by the performance of the organization in a positive or negative way.
Stakeholder’s mapping can help to determine the level of influence and power posses by the stakeholder’s of the organisation. The following features can be assessed from the stakeholder’s analysis:

The key players of the business can be addressed
The strategies to meet the requirements of the stakeholders can be undertaken
Barriers can also be identified.

The stakeholders of VAA are its Employees, Shareholders, customers, country of operation or government and many others.
Objectives of the stakeholders are described below:

Stakeholders	Objectives of the Stakeholders	Strategies used to achieve this
Employees	The objectives of the employees are to grow and develop in the organization as well as their potential should be utilized effectively. Job satisfaction, security, healthy environment good payment and increment etc are other objectives they want to fulfill.	To fulfill their objectives it has set the standards of performance of the employees, based on that they are assessed and rewarded, not only on the commercial ground but also the value they follow. Company does this by balance score card method. It also maintains a good relationship with their people and explores their potential that they can achieve their goal in the right way.
Customers	The objective of a customer is to get comfort, safety and security. Customers want to fulfill their demand, seek options, and get trust and mutual understanding in relationship while accessing the services.	Customers are at the centre of their activities. They have wide options of services to choose from, designed as per the requirement of the passengers. Their Brand image in the marketing planning helps to gain trust of them. They have all the solutions for their customers to balance between the long term objectives of the company and short term expectations of the customers.
Value chain members	Their main objectives is to get regular contract from the company, long term and trust worthy relationship , security in payments and contract , business growth.	It takes pride for its effective relationship with their suppliers. Their strategy is to tie up with a small numbers of suppliers, reviewing their performance and selecting the best in class and encourage innovation and diversity among the suppliers.
Government	Development of the country, more job opportunities, economic growth and get fund for the government projects.	They support the economy by creating jobs and sustain the progress by delivering right products and services. It pays tax and adhere all the laws and legislations imposed by government.
Community or society	Responsibilities towards society in maintaining health and safety of the community, helping in growth and development of the people.	It has started using bio fuel to impact less on the environment and also associated with recycling projects and facilitates starved children in Africa.
Shareholders	Main objectives to earn a significant return on their investment.	The continuous growth of the organization always attracts shareholders to invest on this. The goodwill in the market also helps in this.

AC 1.3) Explain the responsibilities of your selected organization (health and safety, equal opportunities, environment and taxation) to its key stakeholders and describe how they meet these responsibilities. Give instances where these responsibilities and obligation have been met by your selected organization.

The key stakeholders of VAA are the employees, customers, government, to whom they perform responsibilities such as health and safety, equal opportunities, environment and taxation etc.

Responsibility towards stakeholders	Why it is a responsibility	Strategies used by your selected company to achieve this
Equal opportunities	Maintaining the health and safety, equal opportunities and good environment is a responsibility, because VAA put emphasis on the fact that employees are the main factor of their success. The more they are healthy and safe; the better will be their performance. As per the equality Act , they implement equal opportunity that no one can be deprived there. Creating a good environment always is the responsibility that employees can be satisfied and work peacefully. Discrimination as per the Equality Act 2010 is restricted on the grounds like recruitment, training. Selection, promotion etc. If any employee feels that they are been discriminated then they can appeal to the trade unions for solving the matter with the management or they can appeal to the Employment tribunal for the remedy.	In VAA, employees get all the opportunities to grow and develop through the standards of work, they specialized. They provide all the freedom to express their decisions in company’s betterment. Various benefits are also provided along with a good pay package. They implement equal opportunities in workplace and to achieve that they maintain workforce diversity while employing candidates. Moreover, their health and safety guidelines, medical policies help them to be responsible to the employees. The company maintains the standards and ensures the values that are followed by everyone in the workplace. VAA arranges training to support its employees in taking value based decisions.
Externality Pollution	As per the requirement of the council, the organisation needs to control the air pollution. The business needs to fulfill the Air Quality Management Area otherwise there is a provision for the penalty around 1,000 pound for single offence.	Fleet renewable programme has been undertaken by the VAA to reduce the air pollution. The new models are ordered which are sustainable for the future like 15 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. These flights used to save 27% of the fuel. The management aims to reduce the consumption by 20% by the period 2020. Reduction in the water usage by 10% within the year 2016 is also being planned by the management of VAA.
Taxation	Providing accurate and timely tax always is a responsibility towards the country and society that VAA maintains.	The continuous growth of the company has contributed significantly in the growth of the economy also. They have created job opportunities which lead to better standards of living of the common people, the more income of the family, the more they pay tax. The company also follows timely and accurate tax payment system, which is another revenue earning source of the government. It has international business that earns foreign capital and also funding many businesses in UK, improves the growth of the country. They also follow many social responsibilities towards the community.
Health and safety	Customers are the main reason of doing business, thus their safety is always the important things to be considered. Health and Safety Act gives emphasis on the risk assessment which the organisation needs to conduct and also they have to report the accidents.	To VAA, customers are the main priority of their business. To enhance the customers experience in their bank, they provide all the facilities and make creative solution to every problem they have. They always try to meet their expectations, maximum time more than that they need. They provide many carrier options to the domestic and foreign customers. (Craig & Champbell, 2012)They follow ethics to their customers and provide value via superior services. They never misguide them through exaggerated advertisement and promotion; implement best service in low cost and follow transparent communication in dealing with them.