Assignment brief
Unit number and title
Unit 1: The Business Environment
Qualification
BTEC Level 3 Diploma in Business
Start Date
10 November 2010
Finish Date
17January 2011
Assessor
Mr M Drury/ Mr L McNeill/Mrs Howe
CRITERIA COVERED
P5, P6, M2, M3, D2
Assignment title
Similar Businesses in Different Worlds
The main purpose of this assignment is to: describe the influence of two contrasting economic
environments on business activities within Your chosen Business and describe how political, legal
and social factors are impacting upon the business activities of the selected organisations and their
stakeholders.
Scenario
The reporter at the business magazine you work for is really busy and he has asked youto write a
series ofarticles completing the following five tasks. You should be able to produce the articles as
required.
Task1 –Every business is affected by the economic climate. You should include descriptions of at
least two economic topics that affect your business organisation’s activities. This may include
effects from the ‘Credit-crunch’ and the ensuing recession. It could be linked to the new economic
policies after the General Election May 6th 2010 including the coalitions proposedhike in V.A.T.or it
may look at economic implications from the Volcanic Ash disruption 15th April 2010 or BP Oil
spillage in the Gulf of Mexico.
A)To start with give a brief explanation of the following Key terms which could affect your
business:
Economic: importance of stability; impact on business of changes in the economic
environment(growth, recession, ripple effect); levels of inflation; availability and cost of credit;
labour; changesin government policy (legal, fiscal, monetary)
Demand: influenced by affordability; competition; availability of substitutes; level of Gross
DomesticProduct (GDP); needs and aspirations of consumers
Supply: Influenced by availability of raw materials and labour; logistics; ability to produce
profitably;competition for raw materials; government support
Changes in supply and demand: supply and demand curves; elasticity of demand; price
sensitivity;influence of branding on price sensitivity
Global interaction: levels and types of interdependence (supply chains, ownership of
businesses,movement of capital and business operations, reducing ability of national governments
to regulateglobal businesses)
B) Once you have completed this focus on the 2 economic topics outlined in task 1and explain how
each has affected your chosen business
This provides evidence for P5
Task 2 –
You now need to compare the challenges your chosen organisationfaces in two different economic
environments.
A) Expand on your work from P5 and now compare the challenges your business faces in the
following economic environments
1) Recession
2) Growth
This provides evidence for M2
Task 3 –
Youneed to describe the influence of how political, legal and social factors are impacting upon the
business activities of the selected organisations and their stakeholders.
To answer this identify 2 political, 2 legal and 2 social factors from the list below and describe how
they influence the business activities/stakeholders of your chosen business and Lahore Ltd
Political:
 political stability;
 government support for different types of organisations eg private, voluntary,public;
 fiscal eg levels and types of taxation;
 direct support eg grants, loans;
 providing infrastructure eg transport,internet;
 enhancing skills of the working population eg education, training, research;
 organisations to support businesses eg Business Link;
 membership of international trading communitieseg European Union
Legal:
 providing framework for business eg company law;
 protecting consumers and employeeseg contract law, employment law, consumer
protection;
 ensuring fair and honest tradingeg competition law.
Social:
 demographic issues eg population growth or decline;
 changes in structure eg ageing;
 householdsand families;
 education;
 attitude to work;
 religions;
 attitudes to male and female roles;
 ethics
This provides evidence for P6
Task 4 - To achieve M3, you should build on P6 to explain how Your chosen business and Lahore
Café Bar Ltdhas adapted their activities to suit different business environments. You are not
required to explain all activities comprehensively but should select at least threeactivities that have
been adapted because of the political, legal and social aspects of the business environment.
This provides evidence for M3
Task 5 - For D2, learners should build on M2 and evaluate the responsiveness of either Eresponse-media Ltd or Lahore Café Bar Ltd to different economic environments. You should
develop your work from M3 and make justified recommendations for the development of business
activities in the two different business environments looking at future changes. Ie. You must
evaluate how future changes in economic, political, legal and social factors, may impact on the
strategy of either E-response-media Ltd or Lahore Café Bar Ltd.
This provides evidence for D2
This brief has been verified as being fit for purpose
Assessor
Signature
Internal
verifier
Signature
Date
e
Date
P5 describe the influence of two contrasting economic environments on business activities within a
selected organisation
M2 compare the challenges to selected business activities within a selected organisation, in two
different economic environments [IE]
P6 describe how political, legal and social factors are impacting upon the business activities of the
selected organisations and their stakeholders.
M3 analyse how political, legal and social factors have impacted on the two contrasting
organisations.
D2 evaluate how future changes in economic political, legal and social factors, may impact on the
strategy of a specified organisation.