Business Contexts And Its Management 1st Assignment Sample

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Introduction

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The report focuses on the issues of the e-commerce organisation, Shopify. It states the main issues that have impacted the operations of the company with the emergence of the pandemic. The report analyses the external factors that influence the operation and management of Shopify. It further analyses the internal factors that affect the management of the organisation. It sheds light on the operational and change management of the organisation. It states and evaluates how the company manages its risk and crisis and what strategies they implement. The report also highlights the analysis of the stakeholders related to the company and how any emergence of change affects those stakeholders. The report further provides for a client report where the issues have been discussed and measures have been recommended that the organisation can adopt in the coming years. In summary, the report focuses on the business context of Shopify and its management.

Part 1 - Industry Trend Report

Introduction and identification of issues

Shopify is presently one of the largest e-commerce sectors in the UK which sell thousands of products. It has progressed into a larger organisation that provides for different products be it technological or commercial (Armaan and Haris, 2021). With the emergence of the pandemic, the company has severed losses but has also made profits. However, the main issues of the organisation are its lack of inventory, lack of innovation, and its lack of proper risk management strategies. The industry trend report analyses the external and internal environment that affects the operations of Shopify. It also sheds light on the operational and change management of the organisation and further analyses the risk and impacts of any crisis on its stakeholders. The main risk bearers of an organisation are its stakeholders (Alfida et al. 2019). The report discusses and analyses the risk and recommends strategic measures with the help of management aids.

Analysis of the external environment

Several external factors affect the operations and management of Shopify. The external factors like political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental are considered by companies like Shopify to proceed with their next move in the market. Analysing these external factors helps companies to navigate the right move in the market and to obtain more consumers and profit (Prasad et al. 2019). The company adopts measures to comply with the political, economic, and social changes of the countries it operates in. The company also stays updated with the legal and environmental requirements in the ongoing market trends. The company adopts several new technologies which help them to produce more creative and innovative products to increase sales. However, often some of the external factors are neglected by several companies which impact the operation of an organisation and decrease its profitability. The external factors can be analysed by dividing them into the market size, economic cycle and market opportunities (Antwi and Owusu-Agyeman, 2020). They can be further evaluated to build strategies to overcome the issues.

The market size of the e-commerce industry is vast; however, the growth of the industry is not limited to any particular organisation. The organisation has been reported to be the largest e-commerce Store in the industry. However, with the rising competition of other e-commerce stores, the market size of the industry has expanded and the adoption of e-commerce stores has been popularised among consumers (Antwi and Owusu-Agyeman, 2020). The market size of the industry determines the growth which initially helps the industry to progress and sustain its profitability. The E-Commerce industry initially started with consumer goods, however, with the emergence of newly developed products, the industry has broadened its perspectives into different sectors like technology, fashion and education.

The Stages of the economic cycle determine the different cycles that exist in the business of an organisation or the market. With the help of Business Cycle analysis, the e-commerce sector can be analysed through the three stages (Beaudry et al. 2020). Stage 1 is the starting up and fast growth of the business which determines that the growth of a business is essential for an industry to survive and to eventually make profits. Stage 2 of the cycle determines consolidation or eventual growth which means that the business within the industry must proceed with eventual growth to benefit the industry and improve its profitability. The final stage of the cycle deals with growth by implementing change which means that when a business within a particular industry adopts or implements any change in their strategies that contributes to the growth of the business, it also helps in the growth of the industry (Chari et al. 2021). These three stages help in analysing the business cycle of the industry and in this case, the e-commerce industry. The E-Commerce industry has progressed with implemented growth within its sector, the organisations within the industry have grown and eventually makes more profit than before, which has led to the initial growth of the industry.

The Market opportunities within the e-commerce industry are several and are beneficial when and if implemented in the right manner. Several market opportunities can contribute to the growth of the industry like introducing technologically advanced products, implementing product strategies concerning the needs of their consumers and building new products to attract consumers (Chari et al. 2021). Implementing these measures will not only help in the growth of the industry but will also create more opportunities where the industry can make more profits and flourish more than the other industries.

Analysis of the internal environment

There are several internal factors that impact the operations and management of an organisation. The strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities of an organisation are dependent on internal factors. However, the internal factors can be analysed with the help of models like Mckinsey’s 7S model which will help in understanding the challenges faced by the organisation and in analysing the competition (Gechkova and Kaleeva, 2020). The internal factors help in deciding the implementation of strategies that can give the organisation a competitive advantage over its rivals. The internal factors that are associated with Shopify also determine its strengths and weaknesses. The biggest strength of the organisation is its consumer-oriented products which are hugely popular among its consumers and also help it to retain and sustain new consumers. The biggest weakness of the company is, however, its lack of inventory which has proved to be an essential part of an organisation especially with the emergence of the pandemic (Razmi et al. 2020). The company has several rivals who can be considered as a threat; however, the value and reputation of the company have helped it to sustain its place in the market. With great advancement in technology and with the introduction of innovative products, the company has created several market opportunities for itself and has contributed immensely to the growth of the e-commerce industry.

Mckinsey's 7S model depicts the 7S which states the “structure, system, style, staff, skills, strategies and shared values” of an organisation. It helps in analysing the internal factors which affect the operation and management of an organisation (Odeh, 2021). Shopify is required to build a balanced strategy that can not only save cost but will also provide them with a competitive advantage over their rivals. The current structure of the company has been challenged due to the emergence of the pandemic. However, with the improvement in its supply chain, the company can improve its structure. The company is required to focus on its systems of risk management, building consumer relationships and data visualisation which will benefit the companies profit-making. Due to the pandemic, several employees are working remotely which has impacted the operations of the company. However, the company can recruit remote and site-based staff shortly (Gechkova and Kaleeva, 2020). To improve the skills of the employees in the organisation, the company can implement a training and development program which will be beneficial for its remote working employees. The company needs to implement a leadership style to succeed in the progress and growth of the organisation. They can implement any leadership style based on their work culture and their way of conducting business. The company is considered to be built on its shared values which leads it to focus more on sustainability. The company is required to focus more on introducing products that are eco-friendly and sustainable.

Operational and Change management

After a certain time, it becomes essential for an organisation to implement operational and change management. Several organisations do not deal well with changes; however, Shopify has dealt with the external change that has occurred in the market due to the pandemic (Burnes, 2020). These changes must be managed with the introduction of strategies that will improve the operational management of an organisation. With the help of Lewin’s 3-stage Model of Change, the impact of implementing change on an organisation will be analysed. The model represents three stages that are "unfreezing, changing and refreezing”. The three stages are used while analysing the implementation of change in an organisation. The first stage initiates the beginning of a desired change or strategy that the company wants to implement (Burnes, 2020). The second stage is about implementing the change which means that the company implements or introduces the desired change or strategy that is initiated and the final stage is about solidifying the change which means making the change permanent and implementing any other alteration to the change if and when required.

The management of an organisation is influenced due to any change in its work culture and search influence can be explained with the help of a theory. In this case, Charles Handy’s Model of Organisational Culture will be used to understand the influence of culture on the decisions made to implement changes in the management. The model represents four stages that analyse the culture of an organisation. The first stage is the power which depicts that in an organisation, the power to make changes or adopt strategies are in the hands of a few people which initiates them to enjoy special privileges at work and influences unequal management in the workplace (Kurniadinata, 2020). The second stage is task culture which depicts the necessity of forming a team of four to five individuals in an organisation to complete a task where every team member contributes equally to the task and provides an innovative result. The third stage is person culture which means introducing cultural values where every employee feels important and can contribute more to the organisation by being productive. The fourth stage is role culture which signifies the importance of implying roles to each employee in the workplace which will improve their contribution to the organisation.

The operational management of an organisation has always been of high significance. It initiates the change in an organisation and helps in its crisis. Implementing change with the emergence of new risks and crises are easier to handle with the implementation of effective operational management. Its effectiveness can be analysed with the help of Six Sigma. There are five stages of six Sigma, the first stage is defining the problem which means that it initiates to focus on the main issue (Singh and Rathi, 2019). The second stage is measuring the process which means collecting information on the issues and analysing its current performance. The third stage is to analyse the issue which means to investigate the reason behind the occurrence of the said issue. The fourth stage is to implement an improved process which means adopting a strategy that can effectively solve the issue. The last stage is the control which means monitoring the new process and evaluating its finding to track its record and performance for future for the near future.

Stakeholder analysis

The stakeholders of an organisation can be analysed with the help of the Power and Influence Grid which instigates the power of an individual or group of stakeholders and evaluate its impact on decision-making. The grid helps in establishing the power of the stakeholders in the decision-making of an organisation (Ali et al. 2019). It focuses on the profit-making and losses of an organisation and analyses how it affects the stakeholders of the organisation. It helps to analyse the decision-making of an organisation and how stakeholders like employees, consumers and investors influence those decisions.

Summary of the report

The report identifies the main issues of the organisation, Shopify, it analyses the external environment of the e-commerce industry with the help of Business Cycle Analysis. It further analyses the internal environment of the organisation using McKinsey’s 7S Model. The report evaluates the operational and changes the management of an organisation with the help of Lewin’s 3-stage Model of Change, Charles Handy's Model of Organisational Culture and Six Sigma. It also analyses the stakeholders of an organisation through Power and Influence Grid and indicates the stakeholder mapping.

Part 2 - Client Report

The report is to advise on the strategies that can be implemented by businesses to improve their operations and bring changes to their management. The emergence of the pandemic has caused several businesses to shut down but has also benefited several other businesses. However, many organisations managed to ensure their losses with proper implementation of risk management which has proved to be effective in the operations of those organisations (Chen, 2019). Such risk and crisis management signify the importance of planning which must be induced by an organisation to achieve sustainability goals and build their profitability in the market. Proper planning also increases the value, name and reputation of an organisation in the industry which influences more consumers to initiate with the company.

Planning of strategies in an organisation can be implemented with the help of the PDCA Cycle which means “Plan, Do, Act, Check” (Chen et al. 2020). The cycle consists of four stages, the first stage is planning which means to plan a project or to build a strategy that will influence change in the operations and management of an organisation. The second stage is to perform which means that the plan that has been initiated must be implemented to evaluate its performance. The third stage is check which means the plan that has been initiated must be monitored to analyse and evaluate its performance and the last stage is the act which means to improve the initiated plan if and when required to achieve the desired goal (Chen et al. 2020).

To improve the business structure and management of an organisation, the company can plan strategies that will help them to combat any emerging pandemic or crisis. Organisations are required to implement risk management strategies that will not only decrease their losses but will also increase the number of its consumers which will eventually increase the profitability of the organisation. The pandemic has deprived several businesses and has forced them to be shut down which has not only affected the businesses of different sectors but has also impacted the ecosystem as a whole (Chen, 2019). Businesses can implement strategies and introduce products that comply with the guidelines of the pandemic increase innovation and change their marketing techniques.

Implementing new risk and crisis management strategies will not only help the companies to make profits post-pandemic but will also benefit its profitability in the long run. It will provide a competitive advantage to the organisation over its rivals and will create a benefactor reputation in the market which will influence more consumers towards the organisation. The implementation of risk management strategies has benefitted several industries to survive in the long run (Chen, 2019). It will prevent the organisations from facing any further losses in the future and will build a safety provision for the company to exist in the market in the long run.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that the paper consists of two reports, an industrial trend report and a client report. It covers the issues faced by the organisations within the e-commerce industry; it analyses the internal and external environment of the e-commerce industry. It further evaluates the operational and change management of an organisation followed by the analysis of stakeholders of an organisation. The paper provides a client report which explains the importance of planning with the help of the PDCA Cycle and recommends strategies that can be implemented by businesses to improve their operations and management in the long run.