exte. anly;social env.and technolical factors

Cards (34)

  • Demographics
    The composition of the population in any given area
  • Important demographic issues that businesses will need to monitor
    • Population Size
    • Population Composition
    • Population Location
    • Wealth
    • Education
    • Health
  • Population growth/decline
    Result of a combination of factors, including birth rates, death rates, immigration and emigration
  • Population composition
    Often relates to the age of the population, which is usually affected by the relative sizes of the birth and death rates
  • Economic growth
    Often results in higher disposable incomes for a population, leading to increased demand for goods and services
  • Educated workforce
    A key driver of economic growth. Increasing standards of education not only mean that consumers are more discerning, but also allows the expansion of high-tech businesses that need skilled staff
  • In many western countries, the population is becoming increasingly overweight, placing greater demands on healthcare providers
  • Social trends
    How society changes over time
  • Key ways in which social change occurs
    • Social structure
    • Values
    • Attitudes
    • Tastes
  • Social class
    A group of people who have the same social, economic or educational status. Changes in social structure can have a significant impact on organisations
  • Social values
    The accepted behaviors and norms that help to bind a social group together
  • Attitudes
    Represent a person or group's like or dislike for something. They are positive or negative views of a person, place, thing or event
  • Taste
    An individual's personal preferences or patterns of choice. On a social level, tastes may be linked to the social group that an individual belongs to
  • Social influences that should be monitored according to Johnson and Scholes
    • Population demographics
    • Income Distribution
    • Lifestyle Changes
    • Consumerism
    • Social Mobility
    • Levels of Education
  • Examples of government policy responses to social and demographic change
    • Population structure - tax advantages and financial incentives to encourage more children
    • Housing - plans for new housing developments
    • Employment - demand for childcare services and after-school clubs
    • Health - bans on tobacco advertising
  • Environmental factors
    How an organisation affects or is affected by the world around its physical environment
  • Ways a business can affect or be affected by its physical environment
    • Business effects upon the environment - Pollution, Wastage of resources, Destruction of natural habitats, Loss of plant and animal species
    • Environmental effects upon the business - Changing climate, Lack of resources, Loss of sales, Legislation
  • Ways businesses can limit damage to the environment
    • Redesign of products to use fewer raw materials
    • Reduction in packaging on products
    • Recycling
    • Improving energy efficiency
    • Careful production planning
  • Sustainability
    Organisations should use resources in such a way that they do not compromise the needs of future generations
  • Technological changes
    Can affect a firm's organisational structures, product developments, marketing, and production changes
  • Impacts of technological change on organisational structure
    • Administrative and managerial roles replaced by IT systems
    • Production roles replaced by robots and automated production lines
    • Improved communications allowing more flexible work arrangements (WFH)
    • Resulting in downsizing and delayering
  • Downsizing
    Reducing the number of employees in an organisation without necessarily reducing the work or the output
  • Delayering
    The process of removing layers of management
  • Outsourcing
    Contracting out aspects of the work of the organisation, previously done in-house, to specialist providers
  • Types of outsourcing
    • Total
    • Ad-Hoc
    • Partial
    • Project Management
  • Advantages of outsourcing
    • Supplier may have specialist skills and knowledge
    • Fixed fee contract removes uncertainty about costs
    • Outsourcing may improve business flexibility
    • The supplier may be more efficient at running the IT function, leading to cost savings
  • Disadvantages of outsourcing
    • Difficult to bring IT back in-house at a later date
    • Outsourcing may lead to the organisation being locked into an unfavourable contract with a poor quality supplier
    • Outsourcing may allow third party suppliers to gain access to the organisation's confidential information
    • The organisation cannot obtain competitive advantage from its systems
  • Technological advances
    Allow many products to become increasingly more sophisticated
  • Emergence of substitutes
    E.g. the cinema industry went into decline in the early 1980s as a result of the emergence of the video
  • Business model completely transformed
    E.g. online banking has reduced barriers to entry allowing supermarkets, among others, to move into banking
  • Customer support
    Often provided by call centres in countries where wage rates are lower, but some firms have reinstated call centres into their home countries after concerns over customer care
  • Use of robots and automated production lines
    More efficient scheduling and monitoring of production, resulting in lower inventory levels, higher quality, elimination of bottlenecks and lower costs
  • Impacts of technological change on marketing
    • Pricing - monitoring competitors' prices
    • Promotion - use of websites, viral and banner advertisements
    • Distribution - selling direct to a wider range of potential customers
    • Market research - use of customer databases
  • Impacts of technological change on society as a whole
    • E-commerce - online advertising, ordering, financial transactions, EDI
    • Home shopping
    • Home banking
    • Home learning
    • Home entertainment
    • Teleworking/telecommuting