Unit 1, exploring business, SECOND assignment.
Full assignment, 8 pages -DISTINCTION grade achieved.
Assignment title- the effects of the environment on a business.
Intro
In this essay I will be evaluating the extent to which a large business which trades
within the EU has responded to past changes in the market as well as the business
environment, suggesting how said business may react to future changes. The
business I will be investigating throughout this report is Waitrose & partners ltd.
Founded in 1904, Waitrose has proven successful over the years as it quickly grew
following its partnership with John Lewis. Waitrose operates within the food retail
market against its competitors such as Mark’s and Spencer’s both internally and
externally which leads the business to successfully respond to past change as well as
future change which has been proven multiple times which I will be discussing
throughout this essay.
1/C.P4 Discuss the internal, external and competitive environment on a given
organisation.
Waitrose is affected both internally and externally by the competitive environment.
Externally
Externally, multiple factors contribute to how the business is affected outside of the
business. This includes political factors which is usually a direct link between the
government and the business. Examples of political factors which affect Waitrose are
the Corona Virus pandemic this will directly influence Waitrose there will also be
hyperinflation due to the recession currently faced by the pandemic therefore
Waitrose will need to increase their prices for products sold in order to remain
profitable. This will most likely have a negative impact on its consumers because they
will also suffer from this as there is the highest recorded number of unemployment
since the Wall Street crash (great depression) in 1929. Therefore customers may seek
Waitrose’s competitors such as Aldi who offer cheaper alternative products. This will
mean that Waitrose will lose millions in profits due to this and in the long term could
eventually risk the possibility of being forced to close some of its branches in the
worst affected areas in order to survive. However, a way in which this could possibly
be avoided is Waitrose may decide to market-penetration pricing where they can
subtly over time higher their price in order to keep up with the hyperinflation and
ultimately ensure that they can remain profitable in a way that customers are less
likely to notice and prevent the customers from going to their competitors as most
likely they are trying to also use market-penetration pricing.
, Economic factors also contribute to how Waitrose is affected because of the impact
of the economy. Closely linking to what I referred to in the political factors –the
coronavirus pandemic impacts public finances (government spending) the United
Kingdom is currently in a national debt of £2 trillion which is over 100% of the
economy meaning that there will be mass tax rises and cuts when the pandemic is
over. This affects Waitrose as well as induvial because individuals are having to cut
costs in order to make up for the high taxes which means typically, during a situation
like this, consumers set their priorities stricter and ultimately reduce their spending
as a result. This affects Waitrose as sales will drop massively meaning Waitrose will
have to identify this and strategize what they can do in order to minimise damage to
the business. This can be done by price skimming which won’t help the fact that they
are struggling to remain profitable already or market-penetration pricing to subtly
higher costs as an alternative. However they may decide to take less popular
products of the shelves. The downside to this is no matter what Waitrose decided to
do someone whether it be a consumer, stakeholder or shareholder will be unhappy
which is why it’s so important that Waitrose do what is needed in the short term to
make sure they do not lose customers to competitors or reduce profit losses and
then deal with the long term future problems after the pandemic is over.
Social trends can also impact Waitrose. Due to the coronavirus there are a rising
number of customers buying online. This means Waitrose will have to make their
website as well as online delivery service as convenient and efficient as possible. This
will lead to more customers using this service and possible competitors also doing so.
However, this can be very challenging to do so there is not only a high demand of
customers using online delivery but it means a new way of working which may take
time to understand and adapt in a way that will efficiently use this service for
customers. This may involve hiring and training new staff. This is very costly but if
successful can bring in high amounts of profits.
Technological factors also affect Waitrose as there is a massive growth on online
services as I previously discussed as the growing demand for this sector will mean
new jobs are created to adapt to this such as warehousing and logistics and new
roles for IT development. This will help ease the high numbers of unemployment as
jobs are threatened due to the pandemic. Not only this, the growth of online services
forces Waitrose to adapt to the online trading which they have done successfully as
currently there is a 3 day time period between submitting your order and receiving
this which is really efficient compared to other stores like Marks and spencer’s which
takes 3-5 working days. This may not seem a lot but fast service and efficiency is key
for customers and they’re more likely to pay for the service with faster delivery. The
growth of online services can bring either advantages or disadvantages for Waitrose.
Advantages include how new jobs will be created due to this, although this means a
Full assignment, 8 pages -DISTINCTION grade achieved.
Assignment title- the effects of the environment on a business.
Intro
In this essay I will be evaluating the extent to which a large business which trades
within the EU has responded to past changes in the market as well as the business
environment, suggesting how said business may react to future changes. The
business I will be investigating throughout this report is Waitrose & partners ltd.
Founded in 1904, Waitrose has proven successful over the years as it quickly grew
following its partnership with John Lewis. Waitrose operates within the food retail
market against its competitors such as Mark’s and Spencer’s both internally and
externally which leads the business to successfully respond to past change as well as
future change which has been proven multiple times which I will be discussing
throughout this essay.
1/C.P4 Discuss the internal, external and competitive environment on a given
organisation.
Waitrose is affected both internally and externally by the competitive environment.
Externally
Externally, multiple factors contribute to how the business is affected outside of the
business. This includes political factors which is usually a direct link between the
government and the business. Examples of political factors which affect Waitrose are
the Corona Virus pandemic this will directly influence Waitrose there will also be
hyperinflation due to the recession currently faced by the pandemic therefore
Waitrose will need to increase their prices for products sold in order to remain
profitable. This will most likely have a negative impact on its consumers because they
will also suffer from this as there is the highest recorded number of unemployment
since the Wall Street crash (great depression) in 1929. Therefore customers may seek
Waitrose’s competitors such as Aldi who offer cheaper alternative products. This will
mean that Waitrose will lose millions in profits due to this and in the long term could
eventually risk the possibility of being forced to close some of its branches in the
worst affected areas in order to survive. However, a way in which this could possibly
be avoided is Waitrose may decide to market-penetration pricing where they can
subtly over time higher their price in order to keep up with the hyperinflation and
ultimately ensure that they can remain profitable in a way that customers are less
likely to notice and prevent the customers from going to their competitors as most
likely they are trying to also use market-penetration pricing.
, Economic factors also contribute to how Waitrose is affected because of the impact
of the economy. Closely linking to what I referred to in the political factors –the
coronavirus pandemic impacts public finances (government spending) the United
Kingdom is currently in a national debt of £2 trillion which is over 100% of the
economy meaning that there will be mass tax rises and cuts when the pandemic is
over. This affects Waitrose as well as induvial because individuals are having to cut
costs in order to make up for the high taxes which means typically, during a situation
like this, consumers set their priorities stricter and ultimately reduce their spending
as a result. This affects Waitrose as sales will drop massively meaning Waitrose will
have to identify this and strategize what they can do in order to minimise damage to
the business. This can be done by price skimming which won’t help the fact that they
are struggling to remain profitable already or market-penetration pricing to subtly
higher costs as an alternative. However they may decide to take less popular
products of the shelves. The downside to this is no matter what Waitrose decided to
do someone whether it be a consumer, stakeholder or shareholder will be unhappy
which is why it’s so important that Waitrose do what is needed in the short term to
make sure they do not lose customers to competitors or reduce profit losses and
then deal with the long term future problems after the pandemic is over.
Social trends can also impact Waitrose. Due to the coronavirus there are a rising
number of customers buying online. This means Waitrose will have to make their
website as well as online delivery service as convenient and efficient as possible. This
will lead to more customers using this service and possible competitors also doing so.
However, this can be very challenging to do so there is not only a high demand of
customers using online delivery but it means a new way of working which may take
time to understand and adapt in a way that will efficiently use this service for
customers. This may involve hiring and training new staff. This is very costly but if
successful can bring in high amounts of profits.
Technological factors also affect Waitrose as there is a massive growth on online
services as I previously discussed as the growing demand for this sector will mean
new jobs are created to adapt to this such as warehousing and logistics and new
roles for IT development. This will help ease the high numbers of unemployment as
jobs are threatened due to the pandemic. Not only this, the growth of online services
forces Waitrose to adapt to the online trading which they have done successfully as
currently there is a 3 day time period between submitting your order and receiving
this which is really efficient compared to other stores like Marks and spencer’s which
takes 3-5 working days. This may not seem a lot but fast service and efficiency is key
for customers and they’re more likely to pay for the service with faster delivery. The
growth of online services can bring either advantages or disadvantages for Waitrose.
Advantages include how new jobs will be created due to this, although this means a
