P6 Unit 1 Describe how political and social factors are impacting upon the business activities of the selected business organisation and their stakeholders

Dear Year 12

To pass this next assessment criteria in the assignment you will need to describe the influence of TWO different political environments which should include aspects  selected for their relevance, from the specification such as political stability, government support, level and type of taxation, direct support inc grants and loans, providing infrastructure, education and enhanced skills of teh working population, company law, employee l;legislation, consumer protection, competition law, leaving the EU

Business activities can be read as any activities carried out by the organisation to achieve its purpose and could include the recruitment of staff, product design, transport of goods, promotion of products.

You will need to explain the influence of TWO different social environments on the business activities of the organisation.  

You could select three of the most influence social features from each environment rather than attempting to explain the impact of a large range of social features including population growth or decline, ageing households and families,  education and the attitude to work, attitude to male and female roles and ethics.

M3 To achieve this learners should build on P6  to explain how the organisation has adapted their activities to suit different business environments.  You are not required to explain all activities comprehensively but should select at least THREE activities that have been adapted because of the POLITICAL, LEGAL and SOCIAL aspects of the business environment

For D2 you should develop their work in M3 and make justified recommendations fro the development of the business activities in the TWO different business environments

Assignment Brief

Produce an article which describes how political, legal and social factors are impacting upon the business activities of the chosen multinational company and their stakeholders. You need to look at two different political, legal and social environments and how they influence the business activities of the company, for example, for their businesses based in the UK and China. The article needs to describe the influence upon, for example, recruitment of staff, product design, transport of goods, promotion of products, etc. The article needs to include the following:

1.    Political factors:

·         Political stability

·         Government support for different types of organisations

·         Fiscal – levels of taxation

·         Providing infrastructure  - transport, internet

·         Enhancing skills of the working population – education, training, research

2.    Legal factors:

·         Providing framework for business – company law

·         Protecting consumers and employees – employment law, consumer protection

·         Ensuring fair and honest trading – competition law

3.    Social factors:

·         Demographic issues – population growth or decline

·         Changes in structure – ageing

·         Attitude to work

·         Ethics

To achieve a Pass you need to describe some important changes in the different political, legal and social environments that are taking place and using appropriate facts and figures illustrate the impact. (P6)

Select at least three business activities from those you identified. You need to analyse how each of these has changed because of political, legal and social aspects of the business environment. For example, which of the factors are most significant and what sort of impact are 

they having on the business? What sorts of changes in business planning have resulted from these external changes? How is the business copying with these changes? (M3)

Now you need to look at the future – what are likely to be the new challenges facing the business? Can you find predictions and forecasts about likely changes in the economy, possible implications of a change in government policy, new laws that are likely to come in and changes that are taking place in society and are likely to continue in the future? – Evaluate how these future changes in economic, political, legal and social factors may affect the strategy of your organisation. (D2)

Sources of Information

Bevan J, Dransfield R, Coupland-Smith H, Goymer J and Richards C – BTEC Level 3 National Business Student Book 1 (Pearson, 2009) ISBN 9781846906343

Company websites, Company annual reports

Letts – Revise AS Business Studies (Letts Educational Ltd, 2004) ISBN 1843154242

Palmer and Hartley – The Business Environment (McGraw-Hill, 2006) ISBN 0077109902

Worthington and Britton – The Business Environment (Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2006) ISBN 0273704249

Journals

Business Review Magazine (Phillip Allan Publishers – see www.phillipallan.co.uk)

The Economist (The Economist Newspaper Group Inc)

Newspapers

Daily Telegraph, Sunday Times – especially the business sections

Websites

www.statistics.gov.uk Official UK statistics

www.bbc.co.uk/business BBC News

www.bized.ac.uk Business education website including learning materials and quizzes

www.carol.co.uk Online company annual reports

www.direct.gov.uk Gateway to public services

www.eubusiness.com Online business information service about the European Union