Table of Contents

Introduction................................................................................................................................2

Business profile..........................................................................................................................4

LO1............................................................................................................................................5

Explanation of different types and purposes of organizations and legal structures...............5

Explanation of size and scope of a range of different types of organizations........................8

M1. The ways structure, size and scope of different organizations link to the business
objectives and product and services offered by the organization..........................................9

LO2..........................................................................................................................................10

Interrelationship of the various functions within an organization and how they link to
organizational objectives and structure................................................................................10

The interrelationship between different functions of the organization and how they link to
the organizational objectives and structures........................................................................12

M2. An analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of interrelationships between

organisational functions and the impact that can have upon organisational structure.........14

D1 A critical analysis of the complexities of different types of business structures and the
interrelationships of the different organizational functions.................................................15

LO3..........................................................................................................................................17

The positive and negative influence/impact the macro environment has on business
operations.............................................................................................................................17

M3. PESTLE model to support a detailed analysis of the Macro-environment..................21

LO4..........................................................................................................................................22

Internal and external analyses to identify strength and weakness........................................22

M4. Apply appropriately SWOT/TOWS analysis and justify how they influence decision-
making..................................................................................................................................24

D2 Critical evaluation of the impacts that both macro and micro factors have upon business
objectives..............................................................................................................................24

Conclusion................................................................................................................................25

References................................................................................................................................26

1
 Introduction

Establishing or opening an enterprise is not that much easy a task. Establishment or opening
of a business in a specific country or worldwide completely dependent on business
environment and its different forces. Moreover, ranges of commercial enterprises are around
in the business environment along with their multiple courses of actions, sizes, scopes,
structures, products, services, and strategies (Fernando, 2011). In opening or establishing a
business or an enterprise these all factors are needed to take into consideration significantly.
These all have been explored throughout this report in context with “Vodafone Group PLC”

2
 Business profile

“Vodafone Group PLC”

“Vodafone Group PLC” is a widely popular telecommunication company based on UK. This
is the most profitable company of UK that generates the major portion of revenue of the
country. Their headquarter is located in Newbury. However, the “Vodafone Group PLC”
functions across the world and they provide their products and services to all over the world.
The major products of this company are mobile phone, IOT, smart TV, broadband etc. (De
Jonge, 2011).

3
 LO1
Explanation of different types and purposes of organizations and legal
structures.

Introduction

Around the globe there are many organizations with their objectives and activities which are
formed differently. Now, if people come together formally in a group in order to meet their
different and common goals and objectives then in literary terms it is termed as organization.
Moreover, it defines putting things in logical order in order to accomplish a task or to achieve
aims efficiently.

Types of Organisations

Organizations can be of different types and sizes based on their objectives and activities.
Enterprises commonly fall under 3 sectors for example- public sector, private sector, and
voluntary sector. Based on activities, purposes, scopes, sizes and structures the companies
under these sectors have many classifications. Such as-

Public Sectors Organisations

Organizations whose ownership, operation and management as well as other factors or

aspects are rested to government in any way and provide different sorts of profit or non-profit
services and products to citizens of its are generally included in public sector organization.
They have some special characteristics like most of them have autonomy, and control related
activities and ownership is rested to the hands of governments. Public organizations don’t run
all of their activities for profit but some. But all activities are somehow related to people or
wellbeing of general citizens. Public organizations in the UK carry out their activities
divisionally. They have bodies of operations, numbers of employees with some specific
services such as healthcare, security, and some products (Commander, et al, 2011).

Goals and objectives: The major goals and objective of public sector organization is the
maximization of public welfare through three main pillars: economic, effective, efficiency.

4
Private Sector Organisations

Diverse number and types of organizations are found owned privately. Normally, in the UK if
specific individual or corporation other than government ones, own and operate any
enterprise, the enterprise is categorized as private enterprise (Teece, 2010). Private
enterprises can be of different sorts in line with their size, scope and activities. Like-

Objectives and goals of private sectors organisations

Privately owned organization has defined some goals such as- getting better profit-margin,
expansion of businesses and customer bases, and providing quality services and products etc.

Private enterprises can be of different sorts in line with their size, scope and activities. Like-

Types of Private Sectors Organisation

Sole traders

Single entrepreneur or owner operates this type of enterprises. Normally, sole enterprises
don’t share risk and other issues of their businesses with others. A few workers or 1 or 2
workers and one specific owner run sole enterprises.

Partnerships

Currently, across the globe partnership enterprises are found commonly. Such enterprises
have 2 owners or many. They generally become big with sufficient amount of capital. But
numbers of employees depend on many factors.

Companies

They normally can be commercial or industrial enterprises which include ownership and
controllability of many people or groups (Ehret, et al 2013). Like other types of entities
companies have no limit in case of employee numbers and other aspects.

Franchising

For expending businesses, a company adopts franchises. It is one type of strategy.

Franchises provide different types of business assistances to business organizations in
exchange of money.

5
6
Voluntary sector organisations

Voluntary means spontaneous participation. Now, voluntary enterprise indicates such

enterprises which have ownership of one or many people or group or corporations. They help
general citizens from different grounds (Savrul, et al, 2014).

Goals and objectives of voluntary organizations

Voluntary organizations encourage spontaneous participation of people along with

themselves in different activities which are meant to wellbeing of people.

For both profits and non-profit they might be operated. Such as-

NGOs NPOs
Definition Individual and corporations have Like NGOs their ownership and
ownerships of them while controlling authority are rested to
government just supervise and individual and corporations and
monitor them with its some rules almost all features are like those
and regulations. of NGOs.
Objectives They commonly help general They do the same activities for
citizens to achieve their political helping people but they don’t
and social different objectives chare people anything (Teece,
which might be without profit or 2010).
with.
Examples Red Cross, YMCA, Brac etc. Care, PATH, Doctors without
borders etc.
Differences NGOs can do both like charging NPOs don’t charge people in
or not charging people in providing services or products.
providing services or products.

Explanation of size and scope of a range of different types of organizations.

Resources, planning, actions, events, and different other functions which take place in an
enterprise cover or build organizational scope/s. The term scope or organizational scope is
mostly used in case of different projects. Along with scope, several aspects determine

7
organizational size. Like-skills of entrepreneurs, abilities of management, sufficiency of
finance, labour sufficiency, business environment, trends of markets.

The scope of different organisations:

Local company: In terms of resources local company is not that much big or rich. It does
not have diverse functions or events but specific planning and management for surviving
in market. It covers small local area

National company: Most of such enterprises are big in size and other factors. They have
strong planning, strategic actions, events and they are sufficient wealth for surviving in
market (Savrul, et al, 2014).

International Company: It has cross-border businesses with strategic planning, market

position, actions and planning

Multinational Company: With diverse workforce, critical strategic planning, goals,

actions and other factors they get operated in world market.

Global company: Multinational and global companies have similarities from all aspects.
Like multinational ones they have diverse workforce, activities, strategic methods and
planning etc.

8
M1. The ways structure, size and scope of different organizations link to the
business objectives and product and services offered by the organization.

For a company with flexible structure and huge or small size objectives will be strategic as if
it can survive and dominate world or domestic markets. Along with strategic actions or
planning and objective, the company will provide every service and product in line with the
demands of customers (De Jonge, 2011). In contrast, for the company with inflexible
structure and small or big size the strategies and objectives as well as activities will not be
that much appropriate. Further, the product, services and other aspects will not be in line with
the demands of customers. Most significantly they cannot survive in market for long. Thus,
structure and other aspects are significant for objectives, products and services of an
organization.

9
 LO2
Interrelationship of the various functions within an organization and how they
link to organizational objectives and structure

Various Functions within the company

The company is structured with the combination of different functions working together in
the company atmosphere. The core functions of “Vodafone Group PLC” are briefly described
below:

Figure: interrelation of organizational functions (Teece, 2010)

Finance functions

Finance functions is the first function among to operate any organization. Before producing a
product, the management must be concerned with the budgeting. The finance function of
“Vodafone Group PLC” analyse the cost of producing the product and prepare a budgeting
for the overall production procedure as well as the other expense of the company
(Commander, et al, 2011).
10
Marketing and Sales

After budgeting, the “Vodafone Group PLC” is responsible to make a marketing plan for the
product and market analyses. Marketing department of “Vodafone Group PLC” company
analyse the different factors regarding the successful promotion of the product and their
motive is to reach the product to the potential buyers. On the other hand, Sales department
functions to distribute the product to the buyers. Sales department is responsible to distribute
the product or services to the consumers. (Ehret, et al 2013).

Human Resource functions

Human resource management is the core unit of any company that manages and analyse the
need and requirement of the company to find out the best fitted employees. Furthermore, HR
department is accountable to professionally manage the employees so that the employees
feels evaluated and motivated to be more dedicated towards the company.

Operational function

The operation management and manufacture department of the company focuses on all the
functions related to the product manufacture and production. By the execution of market
research about the demand of customers, operation functions are executed to produce the
products.

11
The interrelationship between different functions of the organization and how
they link to the organizational objectives and structures

The functions of the company are interrelated to each other’s. As we already know, there are
different functions operating in an organization to make the activities more convenient. The
interrelation of the functions is described as follows:

Marketing function

The marketing functions helps the “Vodafone group PLC” to reach the product to the
potential customers. Moreover, the marketing functions analyse the market demands and
customers’ preference and changes in the purchase habit as well. In this regard marketing
function is highly interdependent on the operational functions. Operational functions are done
with the findings of the market research. Operation unit design or modify the products
according to the analyses of the marketing department (Commander, et al, 2011).

Financial function

Financial function is regarded as the blood circulation of the entire company. The overall
functions of the “Vodafone group PLC” depends on the financial function as the main
responsibility of this function is to prepare company budget. When the marketing department
analyse the market condition and demand the financial department prepares budget for new
product or modification and overall company expense. Later according the budget of the
financial unit, operation unit manufactures products. Lastly the human resource department
also functions according to the prepared budget for the new employee recruitment, training
and rewarding and other HR practices according to the budget

Human resource function

The HR functions generate and manages the employees of the company. If the department
recruits skilled employees, the company will be spotted to increased productivity. Most
significantly, the all the other employees and managers of other department are also a part of
human resource department function. Thus, the human resource department is thoroughly
interrelated with the other functions as well (Teece, 2010).

12
Functions Relate to Objectives

As it can be seen that the “Vodafone Group PLC” has executed some specific corporate
objectives which they aim to reach through the proper strategic planning. This strategic
planning is the combination of different organizational functions and departments to work
together by depending on each other (Boyer and Mili, 2011). The BODs or management of
“Vodafone Group PLC” determines the objectives of the company and makes proper
planning to achieve the objectives. Later all the departments functions together to achieve the
objectives. For example, if the business objective of “Vodafone Group PLC” is to increase its
sales by 15% within one year, the marketing management will be analysing the market and
promote the product to reach towards the buyers. The finance department will be preparing
cost analyses and the operations department will be responsible to manufacture products
according to the demand. The human resource department will be responsible to manage the
employees. Thus, all the functions are interrelated to achieve the business objectives (Janita,
et al, 2013).

Functions Relate to organizational structure

The organizational structure can be different types such as, bureaucratic, functional, matrix
functions. The “Vodafone Group PLC” has implemented functional organizational structure
in their company. According to this structure the different functions of the company works
under different departments. For example, the marketing functions are managed by the
marketing department. On the other hand, if the company would follow the bureaucratic
structure the leader of the company would determine the goal and objective of the company.
The employees would be accountable to meet the objectives by operating all the diverse
functions of the company.

13
M2. An analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of interrelationships
between organisational functions and the impact that can have upon
organisational structure

Interdependency among the functions of the company influences many positive approaches..
However, the interrelationships have some negative influences as well. For example, the
marketing and operations team are interrelated with each other. if the marketing functions are
not appropriately achieved for example if the market analyses are not very informative then
the operations functions will be influenced as well through the incapability to produce the
product effectively according to the customer demands. These are more descriptively defined
below:

Advantages Disadvantages
The interrelationship among the functions of The staffs of the organization have less
the company promotes task sharing with chance to share their own opinions and
each other. thoughts with the other departments
The skilled or expert members can manage In the interrelation of functions, the aim of
the team more efficiently the company may be ignored
Senior managers of the organization have The leaders of different departments or
sufficient opportunity to concentrate on the functions have different opinions which can
strategical planning and goals of the lead them toward a collision.
company

14
D1 A critical analysis of the complexities of different types of business
structures and the interrelationships of the different organizational functions

Different organizational structure

Bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic

Bureaucratic organizations are generally the huge structured organizations that has very
complex and elaborative functions within the business and needs more management and
concentration to handle the business. The post-bureaucratic organizations are just the
progressed version of the bureaucratic organizations. Such companies promote improved
policies and standards but like the bureaucratic organization, it also has the power confined in
the leaders (Kang et al, 2010).

Functional

Functional structure of the organization is the most popular structure. The functional structure
refers to the organizations which are managed and handled with the cooperation’s of both
employees and the management. such organizations are divided into many departments
according to their functions.

Matrix

Matrix organizational structure is the combination of both functional and divisional structure.
According to this structure the employees are accountable to follow the guidelines of the two
or more leaders. In some cases, when a new project arises, they may need to follow the new
project manager as well.

15
Complexities among these structures:

Bureaucratic Functional Matrix

 Poor functioning  Lack of communication  The guidance of the

 Employment relation is among the other authority can create
not satisfying department employees confusion
 Consumers are not  Absence of  Involvement of too
satisfied understanding many in decision making
 Less productive  Employees are  Uncertainty increase
 Less freedom of sharing concentrated on  Conflicts between the
opinions individual goals leaders
 Less flexibility  Lack of coordination

16
 LO3
The positive and negative influence/impact the macro environment has on
business operations

Macro environment consists of some external factors which are beyond the control of the
organization and have impact on the decision making process of the organization. There are
several factors such as political, legal;, economic, demographics, social status, technological
advancement etc. which influence the strategies and performances of the organization. These
factors open the opportunities to the organization and impose threats to the organization.
Organizations which are able to track and become responsive towards transformation of the
macro environment are more capable to achieve the competitive advantages than their
competitors (Commander, et al, 2011).

PESTEL Analysis

PESTEL analysis is a method that helps to determine the influences of macro environment
and its factors on the business activities. PESTEL defines the factors which influence the
organization performances through examination of the changes and impacts of these factors
on the business functions. A PESTEL analysis of “Vodafone Group Plc” is analyzed below:

Political Factors

Political factors are those factors or activities that are somehow motivated politically or
associated with the policies of government and have impact on the performances and
activities of “Vodafone Group Plc”. For example, trade restrictions, political stability or
instability, bureaucracy, tax policy, foreign trade regulations, government policies, employee
legislation etc. are the factors which may influence the activities of the organization (Okeyo,
2013).

Positive Impacts

Political factors may affect the business positively such as lessen the corporate tax will
have the positive impacts on the profitability of “Vodafone Group Plc”. Besides political
stability may increase the productivity and other facilities for the organization and

17
 determining minimum wage for the employees might increase the motivation and ensure
the rights.

Negative Impacts

The raise in the corporate tax and restriction on foreign trade will surely affect the
business negatively like Brexit issue may be negative impact for “Vodafone Group Plc”
as they will lose the opportunity to trade with other EU consumers and suppliers.

Economic Factors:

Economic factors are the factors which influence the economy and the performances of
“Vodafone Group Plc”. These influences of the factors will surely affect the profitability and
productivity of the organization. For example, labour cost, growth rates, taxation, inflation,
unemployment rates, cost of raw material, interest rate etc. are the forces that have impact on
the economy of the business (Ehret et al, 2013).

Positive Impacts

The raise in the corporate tax and restriction on foreign trade will surely affect the
business negatively like Brexit issue may be negative impact for “Vodafone Group Plc”
as they will lose the opportunity to trade with other EU consumers and suppliers.

Negative Impacts

Various factors have negative impact like if the inflation rate is higher, it will increase the
prices of the goods and customers will not encourage to purchase more goods. The
enhancement in interest rates will de-motivate “Vodafone Group Plc” to invest and
borrow more and the unemployment rates have also influence the availability of the
workers of the organization.

18
Social Factors:

Social factors consist of the factor that put emphasize on the social circumstances and
determine the current trends in the market. It will help “Vodafone Group Plc” to understand
the demands and wants of their customer and also to realize their attitudes and behaviours.
For example, lifestyles, educational level, trends, tastes, demographics etc (De Jonge, 2011).

Positive Impacts

Analysis on demographic changes may affect the business positively like recent analysis
shows that UK’s population is ageing more that will help “Vodafone Group Plc” to
design the products and services for older people

Negative Impacts

The constant changes of trends and tastes of customer possess threats to the “Vodafone
Group Plc” as it is difficult sometimes to track the latest trends and customer taste which
may hamper the performances of the business.

Technological Factors:

Technological factors indicate the advancement in technologies and the new practices and
equipment and their impact on the regular business activities of “Vodafone Group Plc”. For
example, automation, e-commerce, information and communication technology, artificial
intelligence etc. are the factors that affect the business processes (Kang et al, 2010).

Positive Impacts

ICT and other technologies make the business process easier like it is now more easier for
“Vodafone Group Plc” to keep the records of information about their customers and also
the information about the suppliers and other materials of business. These factors
decrease the production cost and increase the profitability

Negative Impacts

Advancement in technology has some negative impact also in the organization like the
secret information may be leaked or hacked because of technology. Employes may lose
their job because of automation in the business process

19
Legal Factors:

Legal factors include the factors include the laws and regulation that “Vodafone Group Plc”
should follow and maintain while regulating business activities. For example, employment
law, consumer law, health and safety law etc (Ehret et al, 2013).

Positive Impacts

Legal factors make the business processes and activities in the eyes of law and it also
ensures the rights and facilities of the employees in “Vodafone Group Plc” which
motivates them to work better for the organization.

Negative Impacts

Sometimes the execution of some laws like import and export laws may become a burden
for organization. They may pay more taxes and duties for these regulations.

Ecological Factors:

Environmental or ecological factors are the factors that influence the business activities. For
example, climate change, weather, recycling, pollution etc. are the factors that “Vodafone
Group Plc” should considered while doing business (Adeoye, et al, 2012).

Positive Impacts

Ecological factors have deep impact on the business activities as the harmonious balances
between these factors are effective for more productivity in business. Good environment
will attract the attention of the customer.

Negative Impacts

Natural disaster has negative impact on the regular function of “Vodafone Group Plc”. It
may hamper the communication or distribution channel and product of the organization

20
M3. PESTLE model to support a detailed analysis of the Macro-environment

Macro environment is the external environment of the organization which influences the
business functions of “Vodafone Group Plc”. PESTLE analysis is the analysis that analyzed
the macro environment factors and their impact on the organization activities in details.
PESTLE analysis shows the factors like political, legal, economical, technological,
environmental etc. on the business and how the business reacts to different situation of these
factors. This analysis identifies the both positive and negative impact of these factors on the
business so the analysis should conduct on a regular basis to keep measure the changes of
these factors and their impacts. “Vodafone Group Plc” conducts PESTLE analysis to measure
the influences of external factors on the business activities and formulate decision making
strategies for the organization (De Jonge, 2011).

21
 LO4
Internal and external analyses to identify strength and weakness

Micro Environment

Micro environment consists of the factors related with the immediate area of business and
influence the decision making st6artegies and performances of the organization. Micro
factors of “Vodafone Group Plc” include the customers, suppliers, competitors, distribution
channels etc. of the business. These factors are necessary for formulating strategies through
realization of the performances of business. The micro environmental factors are necessary
for any business as they assist in making plan for financial success and operational
effectiveness of the organization (Dahles, et al, 2015).

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is the study that regulate for assessing the strengths, weakness, opportunities
and threats of the organization. The organization can be able to know its strengths where it is
good at and can also identify the deficient and reducing the risks that may be hidden (Janita,
et al, 2013). SWOT analysis has been conducted below on “Vodafone Group Plc” and “BT
Group Pc”:

SWOT
“Vodafone Group Plc” “BT Group Pc”
Factors
 Strong brand value  Provides
 High track record of product telecommunication services
innovation globally
 Customer satisfaction level is  Listed in the FTSE 100
high index
Strengths  Integrated various technology  Largest national telecom
firms through mergers & saturation and coverage
acquisition  Focus on new internet
 Trustworthy base of suppliers protocol 21 century
network

Weaknesses  Net contribution rate and  Lacking in mobile business

profitability ratio is below than and mobile junction
others in industry  Customers services are not
 Inventory level is higher capable to meet customer’s
 More investment require in requirement
advance technologies  Drawbacks in promotional

22
  Not efficient outside core strategy
business or new product
 New taxation and environment  Expansion of less
policies create new opportunity conducted profitable
for established business products and services
 Advancement in using  Free trade agreement of
Opportunitie technology to serve high quality government provide chance
s broadband services to enter new emerging
 Lower inflation rate and markets
reduction of transportation cost  Agreement with the foreign
bring solidity in the market country partners to extend
the business globally
 Extreme competition from the  Advanced technologies of
competitors competitors
 Limited number of skilled  Financial and liquidity
Threats workers crisis globally
 Currency and foreign exchange  Shortage in supply of
fluctuations as it operates creative products
business in many countries

SWOT analysis and PESTLE analysis both are interrelated with each other to take the
effective decisions for the organization. PESTLE analysis examines the outer factors which
have influence on the organization activities and determine the strength and weakness of the
organization in these factors. But SWOT analysis conducts the business activities internally
to identify the inner strength and weakness of “Vodafone Group Plc”. That’s why the
organization should conduct the both analyses before decision making as they portray the
strength and weakness of the business in externally as well as internally.

M4. Apply appropriately SWOT/TOWS analysis and justify how they influence
decision-making

SWOT analysis is the study that analysis the business activities of “Vodafone Group Plc”
internally that means the internal personal of the organization like manager, employee etc.
conduct this examination to determine the strength, weakness, threats and opportunities of the
organization. SWOT analysis identifies the core strength of the organization which brings the
best output of the organization and also find the major drawbacks of the organization that
have negative impact on the performances of “Vodafone Group Plc”. These analyses help
the organization to take better decision. The organization can formulate their decision making

23
strategies more efficiently as the analysis shape the opportunities of the organization to
expand more and the risks or threats it may face to avail those facilities (Dahles, et al, 2015).

D2 Critical evaluation of the impacts that both macro and micro factors have
upon business objectives

Micro environment consists of the factors that directly affect the business processes. Macro
environment includes the forces where the business itself regulates its business activities. It
actually affects the functionality of the organization where macro environment affects the
operations of “Vodafone Group Plc”. Customers, suppliers, competitors etc. are the elements
of micro environment which affect the performances of the organization. They play a major
role in setting objectives for the organization and also the decision making process of the
organization. For example, customers determine the profitability of the organization so the
organization should make decisions to attract and retain more customers. Besides, political
economical, technological factors creates external environment which ensures the smooth
operation of the business. “Vodafone Group Plc should set their goals and decision policies
on the basis of the impact of these factors (Quinlan, et al, 2019).

24
 Conclusion

From the above discussion the findings of this review report are the significance of the
business environment to mobilize the productivity of the company. A visual auditing has
been shown through the application of SWOT and PESTLE analyses. Companies across the
domestic levels as well as international must take care for their strategies, functions, planning
or in one word their scopes and structures. Without proper structure, strategies, and planning
no company can survive in world market. Along with types, this report has dealt with these
issues. The “Vodafone Group PLC” should analyse their business environment more
efficiently to achieve a better efficiency in managing the business.

25
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