Business organisation and environment

Table of Contents

1. Topic pack - introduction
2. 1.1 Nature of business activity - notes
3. 1.1 Nature of business activity - questions
4. 1.2 Types of organisation - notes
5. 1.2 Types of organisation - questions
6. 1.3 Organisational objectives - notes
7. 1.3 Organisational objectives - questions
8. 1.4 Stakeholders - notes
9. 1.4 Stakeholders - questions
10. 1.5 External environment - notes
    1. External environment
    2. Introduction - PEST/STEP analysis
    3. The legal and political environment - introduction
    4. The legal environment
    5. Political stability and instability
    6. The social and cultural environment - introduction
    7. Social responsibility
    8. Demographic trends
    9. The technological environment - introduction
    10. The Internet and the World Wide Web (www).
    11. E-commerce
    12. Technological change
    13. The ecological environment
    14. The economic environment - introduction
    15. Economic growth
    16. The Business Cycle
    17. Inflation
    18. Exchange rates
    19. Unemployment
    20. Interest rates
    21. Government fiscal policy
11. 1.5 External environment - questions
12. 1.5 External environment - simulations and activities
13. 1.6 Organisational planning tools - notes
14. 1.6 Growth and evolution - notes
15. 1.7 Growth and evolution - questions
16. 1.7 Growth and evolution - simulations and activities
17. 1.6 Change (HL only) - notes
18. 1.9 Globalisation - notes
19. 1.9 Globalisation - questions
20. Print View

1.5 External environment - notes

So far we have examined the nature of business activity, types of organisations and objectives and investigated the nature of stakeholders. Businesses have a range of aims and objectives, but they do not operate in a vacuum, but with a dynamic external environment which impacts on their decision making and operations. In this section we will look at the nature and scope of this external environment and how it provides opportunities and threats to the firm.

By the end of this section you should be able to:

• Prepare a PEST analysis for an organisation and use it to analyse the impact of the external environment on a firm
• Evaluate the impact of a change in any of the PESYT factors on a firm's objectives and strategy
• Analyse the impact that external opportunities and threats may have on business objectives and strategy
• Explain how external opportunities and threats can impact on decision making and SWOT analysis