Business Environment Assignment: Analyzing different companies on their size and scopes

Introduction

An organisation can be of different types and size. According to the size and sectors, the scope of the companies varies. Here in business environment assignment, a brief analysis of different types of companies, their size and scopes are done. With the rapid change of global business environment, the framework of the companies is changing rapidly too.  In this aspect, three companies of different type have been taken under account in terms of discussing and comparing their various internal and external factors. This report is focused on the background of different companies and their comparison of size and scope. Legal structure and the key stakeholders are another comparative looks out of this report. Apart from that, a comparative study of the organisational framework of BBC has been discussed here. Business environment assignment has discussed both the advantages and disadvantages of the interrelationship of the organisational functions.

1.      Overview of different types of companies

International business, in the contemporary times, seemed to have enhanced due to continuous environmental changes and that of strategic imperatives. However, businesses critics are of view that international business have grew due to the gradual saturation of domestic market. Organisations on the other hand, have played major role in new-fanged business world. There are major different types of organisations, which include public, private, Sole Proprietorship and voluntary.

Public sectors:  Public sectors are companies which much larger than any other sectors. They are supposed to be joint-stock company. As an example, BBC can be cited because the organisation can sell their shares, exchange stock to the public, and have greater finance than any other organisation. The legal structure of Public sector organisations are down by central or local government; even BBC follow the same pattern where the executive committee ids appointed to deliver BBC’s services in terms of strategy. As stated by Armenski et al. (2018) they are the nationalized industry, which provides their services to general people. This can be well associated with BBC as they are successful in providing news all over the globe. However, it has been found that BBC is not a state owned organisation but they follow the rules and regulations that have been set up by the government.  

Public corporations are the companies that are founded by following acts of parliament or central or state legislature. It has its own separate legal entity. On the other hand, governmental companies are considered as those companies that focus on holding a paid share of about 51% through the state government or the central. Business environment assignment has taken BBC under account as an example of public organisation. BBC is the world fastest growing network that has been meeting the requirements of current market thereby providing news all over the globe.

Private sectors: Private companies like McDonald’s occupy a legal structure that allows the company to run by individuals. It encompasses the profitable business that is not owned or operated by government. Private companies can be small or family-centered business just like McDonald. Shareholders, in most of the cases own them; in case of McDonald’s shareholders plays the most important role. As opined by Rankine, (2017) a shareholder of a private company, they cannot sell their shares to public. The business in private sector has a separate legal identity; in fact, McDonald’s have their separate and individual legal entity that has bounded their limits.

Figure 1: Types of Organisations

(Source: as influenced by Soaita et al. 2017)

It requires to be mentioned here that sole proprietorship can be considered under the Private sectors. These types of business organisations are owned and controlled by a single individual. As stated by Hassan, (2017) they have to pay their personal tax return as per their profit and expenses. For example, McDonald’s that has been serving their customers’ need since ages can be categorized under private sector.

Voluntary sectors: In this type of legal structure, unpaid management committee runs the foundation like Cambridge University. They do not work for any profit. Their focus is to do social works. They generally work for the profit of community. In reference to this, mention must be made of Cambridge University, an educational institution as a perfect example of voluntary sectors. Cambridge University has been considered as a charity subject claimed under Charities Act 2006. Voluntary sectors are mostly government sponsored or favoured by different trusts.  Cambridge University has no separate legal identity, as it is a voluntary sector. The members and the management groups act as a group of individuals and the group has no separate legal status. It has been noticed that Cambridge University being a university does not have to pay legal tax to the government.     

2.       Explanation of each of the chosen organisations

This Business environment assignment has focused on three different types of organisations. In the viewpoint of Soon et al. (2017), it has been found that framework of organisation highly influences the mains and objective of that organisation. In addition, it requires to be mentioned here that the structure of an organisation depends largely on their strategy to manage the market level. Besides, it also helps to increase the working efficiency. Company offering food and beverage needs a simple structure while a worldwide broadcasting company follows a complex structure. BBC has taken under consideration as a public company. McDonald's is a private company and the University of Cambridge has taken as a voluntary sector.

Under Royal Charter, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been considered as a public organisation. BBC is the largest broadcasting company of the world, which acquire around 20,950 staffs. The annual revenue of BBC is approximately £166 million (bbc.com, 2018). They have drastically increased their growth in last few years. They include executive committee, a board of directors along with commercial and operational divisions. Organisational size and structure is a key factor for business objects. It is based on market management according to performance levels. A worldwide broadcasting company like BBC deals with a large number of human capital. As opined by Soaita et al. (2017) they have to look after their company structure more sincerely in terms to manage this huge number of employees. Business objectives and company structure can be as to be as two sides of a coin. They are two interrelated things. The way of achieving business goal and objectives relies on scope of organisation. These scopes include financial capital legal ethics and skills. The scope and growth of a company can depend on the geographical locations and risk factors too. In these aspects, BBC gets an advantageous position in this market (influenced by bbc.com, 2018). Mission of BBC is to entertain people through their programs they provide the information, education and entertainment to people worldwide. They are focused to become the most creative medium of spreading enlightenment through the world.BBC follows their values of trust, quality, creativity respect and collaborative work. Thus, the vision of this organisation is clear which states, “To be the most creative organisation on the world”

On the other hand, McDonald’s is a private sector serving food and beverages. They have their outlets in 120 countries. They are either owned outlets or franchised. They attract around 68 million customers each year. They occupy approx 1.9 million staffs. McDonald’s holds a market share of near about 127 million USD (Mcdonalds.com, 2017). Employees, customers, suppliers and others are the key stakeholders of this organisation. After comparing and conducting a thorough research, it has been found that the structure of organisation and the legal factors of BBC and MC Donald’s are completely different from one another. In this regards, McDonald’s mission deserves mention which states, “To be customer’s favorite place and way to eat and drink”. This is quite justifiable from the legal structure size and expansion that claims McDonald’s in UK has an advantageous position (telegraph.co.uk, 2018). Their structure helps them to become the UK’s largest food chain. They have more than 1250 outlets in UK and more than 90000 employees working Key of their success is their unique legal structure and their large size (Soon et al. 2017). Legal structure of the franchise business helps them to achieve success. Their recent growth in UK is also the outcome of their effective structure. However, the vision statement of Mc Donald’s has always been “To be world’s quick service restaurant experience”.   

University of Cambridge has taken under consideration as a voluntary organisation. The main mission of this institute is to facilitate research materials to the students and a wide scope for learning (Cam.ac.uk, 2017). Mission and vision are dissimilar in nature in terms of BBC and McDonald’s. Their organisational structure and scopes are also different from each other. The key stakeholder of this foundation is the students. They are dedicated to student's welfare and social service. They have a different approach than that of conventional business organisation. According to the University administrator, they are aimed to deliver exclusive information to their students. They provide a large organisational structure along with libraries and research centers to create opportunity. Besides, they provide a large number of modern pieces of equipment in terms to provide skills training and exclusive learning to their students. The vision statement of Cambridge University "Advance the Frontiers of Technology" thereby aiming to hold the position of top ranked centers of excellence globally. The vast size and scope of the university is a major part of them in order to meet their objectives and create a large belt of knowledge.

In business environment assignment, unique structures of these mentioned foundations are essential for their business motive and their business plan. All of these companies hold strong foothold in their own field and as well as is considered to exist in a pinnacle position within UK. BBC follows a hybrid business structure for incorporating different aspects of business process. They include some functional structure along with some geographical structure based on their location. They have their worldwide network of television, radio news, and studio. Mon the other hand McDonald’s are the fast food joint and University of Cambridge is focused to spread knowledge. Hence, it can be said that both of these companies follow a different approach than BBC. These separate approaches fulfill organizational objectives thereby sustaining the efficient structure.

3.      Explanation of relationship between different organisational functions for one of the chosen organisations

The organisational framework and the legal structure of BBC are focused on broadcasting marketers worldwide. As stated by LÊgreid, (2017) they have developed their structure in terms to supporting different country demands. Different organizational functions in BBC include radio, human resource, news, security, property, strategy and finance. A hybrid framework is followed by BBC organisational structure. In this kind of structure, the operations are based on various functions including divisional patterns for products that focus on various commercial segments like studio, geographic locations, televisions, news, radio and so on.

Figure 2: Different types of segments used in BBC organisational structure

(Source: bbc.com, 2017)

The worldwide framework is followed by the organisation for covering each operation. In  a business environment assignment, features of business control are the prime focus of BBC. The structure of BBC incorporates three types of board including that of journalism, commercial and that of creative, which further gives report to executive board and Governor Board. From the organisational structure, it is clear that the board comprises of a series of Board of Authority that includes Director-General who are entrusted with the task of managing other staff members. [Refer to Appendix]

BBC has their branch in three countries named Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland within UK. A foundation should maintain their function as per the geographical barriers. They should control their actions as per the legal requirements of that country. BBC should set their functional criteria and the actions according to the nations by meeting their laws of taxation. For this, they should recruit local staffs. The areas that supposed to give a large number of viewers should be focused while planning the business strategies. BBC operates different function-based groups that include, finance, marketing, broadcasting department, legal departments, and the HR department (as influenced by bbc.com, 2018). Functions of these departments are interrelated and promote organisational objectives. Business environment assignment indicates that these functions are important in order to run the company smoothly. Managing a smooth functional strategy help the organisation to create distinct framework for successful performance. In  this business environment assignment, following strategic functions are the key to achieving growth for the global company like BBC.

Hybrid framework is the major key for BBC in their way to achievement. As the largest broadcasting company, BBC follows a number of strategies that helps them to grow their network. As it works through Royal Charter, it needs to look after the operations in different countries and have to follow the requirements of the customers of those companies. The franchises of UK has successfully delivered services and achieved better growth in recent years (Theguardian.com, 2016).  BBC is the example that has maintained a balance among organisational functions, scope, and the structure. This hybrid structure has some advantages and disadvantages in the organisational growth.

Advantages:

·  Hybrid structure provides a logical reflection of each function and that functions are controlled by departmental functions.

· All the departments at is included in the functions must be implemented with professional and expert staffs.

·  Hybrid functions develop easier coordination among functional activities.

· This process is focused on the specialization principle.

· Functions should be divided according to the performance of the employees, which provide support for meeting marketing strategies.

· This system makes the monitoring process easier for the company. Implementing hybrid functions, company can monitor the growth of the very section.

· Director-General feel is able to easily achieve control over all departments to control each functional department.

·  Another effectiveness of hybrid business is to resolve the HR complexities and internal business issues.

· Hybrid structure makes the work easier. Working on a hybrid structure help the employees to focus on a particular matter which in turn increase the working efficiency.

· It provides a flexible working environment which is the key to changing need of the market.

Disadvantages:

· Hybrid functions sometimes make the decision making procedure slow and bureaucratic. This happens as each decision in this system is to be approved by several departments. Therefore, if one department delays to give approval, the whole process will be stopped.

· Sometimes employees become over specialized and their viewpoints and outlook become narrow.

· Having a large number of departments with a large number of employees makes the process difficult to monitor the performance of each employee. As a consequence the accountability reduces.

·  Hybrid structure is stereotype up to some extent in comparing to operational functions of BBC (as influenced by Standard.co.uk, 2017).

· Top level managers carry out the task of supervising profits and accounts and lower managerial levels reports to them

· Sometimes capabilities of employees to adopt the environmental changes become reduced because of interrelationship of functions. Another issue that an organisation can face because of the interrelationship of functions is the cease of career development. This happens because changes in one department affect the whole function.

On a similar ground, it can be said that functional and geographic framework helps in encouraging and increasing the rate of productivity thereby increasing the profitability at the same time. As opined by Soaita et al. (2017), it helps in promoting horizontal coordination and prevents any form of restricted view on organizational goals. These interrelationships also result in facilitating synchronization as well as keeping right track of all form of activities. Specialization skills implementation is also key for securing high performance. On the other hand, interrelationship grows complexity because of the involvement of more departments at a time. These hamper the coordination between the employees. Thus, it is clear from the above explanation given in business environment assignment that interrelationship is closely associated with different types of organizations and posses great impact on the same.  

Conclusion

Business environment assignment has focused on the different types of organisations like public sectors, private sectors, and voluntary sectors. In this aspect BBC, McDonald’s and the University of Cambridge have taken under consideration as public, private and voluntary sectors respectively. It can be concluded from this business environment assignment that these three types of organisations work in the different field in the market. Their scope, growth, and vision and mission all are different from each other. Therefore the relationship between organisational function and their effects to the organisational objectives and structure has been discussed in the aspect of BBC. From this part it can be concluded that interrelationship between functions has some advantageous impact on the company growth. It may increase the working efficiency and lower the workload on the employees. On the other hand, it has some bad effects too. It may break the synchronization between employees. It has been accounted that this strategy may hamper the monitoring system in an organisation like BBC with a large number of employees.