All businesses, including those found in the engineering industry (e.g. ‘Britannia refined metals’), need to pay attention to factors outside of the organisation, which are beyond their control. These factors can potentially have a large impact on business – thus, enforcing the need for management and control measures regarding such external influences.
The recognised acronym which spells P.E.S.T.L.E (political, economic, social, technological, legal and ethical/ environmental) highlights some of the key contributing external factors which can affect a business directly or indirectly. Proactive analysis and solutions to each external factor found in the acronym can prevent unwanted outcomes and potential ‘pests’ for any organisation.
(P4) Explain how external factors and the economic environment affect the way in which an engineering company operates.
Britannia refined metals (BRM) operates on a single site which manufactures/ refines metals such as lead and silver (base and precious metals) for various different customers. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Glencore plc. - One of the world’s largest natural resource companies with production and trading facilities located worldwide, supplying metals, minerals, crude oil and related products. Due to the large scale of operation, the following external influences must be considered by Glencore- as well as Britannia metals;
Political
Political factors affecting business are of a paramount importance, as aspects
1. Political: “issues affecting our international vendors could materially adversely affect our business and financial performance.”(Page 8.)
As for external factors one of the external factors would be perhaps a new law that is given and affects directly or indirectly the business and that business needs to make some changes.
When manipulating a business’s strategy, it is important to focus on the external factors in the environment. An external analysis is where a business conducts environmental scanning that present a company with the key external forces influencing the organization. The facets of external forces examined are the business environment, remote environment, or the competitive environment. A business environment is all of the external factors in the general environment that a firm cannot control, but can affect their strategy. The remote environment is the forces that affect most firms. Lastly, a competitive environment is the firm’s specific industry and its entirety. The external analysis is pertinent to a company called Dick’s Drive- In; without it, Dick’s would not be a thriving popular business today.
An organization’s external environment is terribly important and must be studied and understood for the organization to truly succeed. Through such study and understanding, a manager would be able “mitigate threats and leverage opportunities” that are caused by the six segments identified as macro-level external forces: (1) political, (2) economic, (3) sociocultural, (4) technological, (5) ecological, and (6) legal (Rothaermel, 2013, pp. 56-57). Since the manager’s decisions, or firm effects, have a greater impact than those external forces mentioned only when the manager accounts for them and builds a strategy around them, the manager must be aware of and understand these forces to be
The management has to be vigilant when managing these factors for the future betterment of the company (Drucker, 2016).
* Evaluate the influences of changing economic, political, social, cultural, and technological forces on business and society.
Subject: D1 Evaluate the impact of changes in the economic environment on a selected business.
2. How have Deere’s business strategy choices strengthened or weakened its competitive position in the agricultural and construction equipment industries?
33 8. What strategic issues need to be addressed? 34 9. External environmental analysis 35 10. Internal environment analysis 60 11.
These factors influence the internal environment of an organisation and they help in identifying the past and the present of the company, It also provides a frame work for reviewing strategy position and direction of the company.
Rio Tinto is a multinational company that deals with mineral and metal mining, refining, processing, and marketing. Founded in 1873, this Australian-British company has grown into one of world’s leading mining and Metals Company, dealing in aluminium, copper, diamonds, coal, and iron ore. Refining of bauxite and iron ore are also part of its operations. The transformed metals and minerals give Rio Tinto access to markets across a diverse economic development spectrum, and exposure in varied sectors, including
Q3) In terms of the external environment analysis, we will focus on three areas, namely, general environment, industry environment and competitor’s environment.
This Assignment will develop your skills in industry analysis. This must be done as individual work, so you must not discuss the case with anyone else before completing the Assignment. Please use the following questions to structure your answer:
In today's world, no business operates in isolation without interacting with the environment where it operates. Irrespective of the nature of business whether public or private organization; manufacturing; service industry; local or international firm, its operations are inhibited by the environment in which it operates.