FDY3002 Exploring the Business Environment Case Study Assignment Brief May-July 2025 | AU

FDY3002 Assignment Brief

As part of the formal assessment for the module Exploring the Business Environment, you are required to submit the assessment that is described in this assessment brief.

FDY3002 Learning Outcomes:

After completing the module, you should be able to:

• Discuss the importance of organisations’ understanding of their internal and external environment
• Demonstrate an understanding of key business functions, concerning academic sources of information
• Explain business ethics and state how and why ethical issues may influence how a business operates
• Graduate Attribute: Professionally knowledgeable in the subject area. Provide effective written communication addressing real-world issues.

All learning outcomes must be met to pass the module.
 
FDY3002 Guidance

Your assignment should include: a title page containing your student number, the module name, the submission deadline and the exact word count of your submitted document; the appendices, if relevant; and a reference list in (see referencing section for more information). You should address all the elements of the assignment task listed below. Please note that tutors will use the assessment criteria set out below in assessing your work.

You must not include your name in your submission because Arden University operates anonymous marking, which means that markers should not be aware of the identity of the student. However, please do not forget to include your STU number.

Maximum word count: 2000 words

Please refer to the full word count policy, which can be found in the Student Policies section here: Arden University | Regulatory Framework

The word count includes everything in the main body of the assessment (including in-text citations and references). The word count excludes numerical data in tables, figures, diagrams, footnotes, reference list and appendices. All other printed words ARE included in the word count.

Students who exceed the word count by up to a 10% margin will not be penalised. Students should note that no marks will be assigned to work exceeding the specified limit once the maximum assessment size limit has been reached.

FDY3002 Assignment Task: 2000 Words

For this assessment, you are required to read and respond to the case study below. Your response to the case study will show your understanding of key concepts in business and how you can apply them to a case study. You should discuss the business concepts that you have been introduced to in this module and rely on the sources of information that are available on iLearn. You can also use IBIS World and Statista.

You work for a management consulting company, and your job is to provide expert guidance to businesses that are struggling in the current economic climate.

A business called TravelTales has found itself in difficulty and has tasked you to identify how the internal and external business environment is affecting its profitability. It also wants to know how its business functions can be improved.

You speak to the TravelTales’ owner, Amar. Below is the information you have gathered from talking to him and his staff, looking at his business records, and observing the business operations.

Background to TravelTales

Amar is a seasoned travel agent who was made redundant in 2021 due to the pandemic-induced downturn in the travel industry. Determined not to let adversity hold him back, Amar decided to channel his expertise and passion into creating his own business. He opened his travel agency, "TravelTales", a physical shop in his local town. TravelTales is a venture fuelled by his desire to offer personalised, unforgettable travel experiences for high-income customers with large disposable income and a passion for travel to unusual places.

Initially, Amar's business made a promising start. Clients appreciated his personalised service, attention to detail, and insider knowledge of exotic destinations (see Appendix 2 for tourism packages and pricing). The first few months saw the business have a small but steady income stream, and Amar recruited staff. However, from 2023 to the present, progress has not been made, and the business is now struggling; Amar is not sure why.

Your job is to explain to him what internal and external environmental pressures are affecting the business and how he can improve the business functions so that the business runs more efficiently.

TravelTales’ current status

Amar is operating the business on a sole trader basis. One of the critical legal requirements for operating a travel agency is obtaining and maintaining the necessary licenses and permits.
However, due to the considerable demands of running the business and the administrative burdens that come with being a sole trader, Amar has unfortunately neglected to renew the essential license required for the legal operation of his travel agency, including the ATOL (Air Travel Organiser's License), which is a crucial certification for UK tour operators; without this license, businesses are prohibited from legally selling air travel services.
 
Revenue has been lower than expected after an initial peak in early 2023 (see Appendix 1 below). There have been fewer bookings and very few repeat bookings. Cash flow has slowed, making it challenging to cover overhead costs such as office rent, utilities, and staff salaries. Amar has resorted to paying staff from his savings, but they are running very low.

Regarding a marketing strategy, Amar has relied on word-of-mouth (past customers making recommendations to their friends and family) and building an individual rapport with potential clients by holding meetings with them to discuss their needs. Amar spends a lot of time with potential clients during one-to-one meetings with them, but his current conversion rate is one booking for every ten meetings. He has also used traditional marketing methods such as email blasts, direct mail campaigns, and advertising in local newspapers. He has used his personal social media platforms (Facebook and X) to share information about travelling, but so far, he has only been followed by friends and family.

With regard to Human Resources (HR), there are issues with employee morale, recruitment and retention. In the initial expansion of the business, Amar recruited staff in a hurry, and in his haste, he did not carefully consider what skills and knowledge he needed in his staff. Although hard- working and dedicated, no one in his staff team has worked for a travel agency before, and Amar did not have managerial experience before starting his business. Staff feel that their roles are not clear, and they find the work repetitive, boring, and frustrating. There are high levels of sick leave. Amar suspects that staff are actively looking for new jobs. Some staff have already left, saying that the uncertainty surrounding the business's future and the lack of growth opportunities were factors in their leaving.

Currently, TravelTales uses basic software packages (e.g. Office 365 - Excel, Word, Access) to run the business. Bookings are made via email, and information is managed manually. For example, when a customer books a holiday by email, a file must be created, and information must be added to the file manually. This makes tracking bookings and checking availability a time-consuming task, and it is common for errors to be made, leading to angry customers, cancelled bookings, and refunds.

An excursion operator has approached Amar in one of the countries where he is organising holidays. They have offered him very cheap excursions to sell to his customers. He can continue to sell the excursions to his customers at the usual rate, meaning that he can make more profit.
However, the excursion operator can undercut their competitors and offer cheaper excursions because they do not pay their tour guides a living wage. The country has more people than jobs, and people will take any job they can; otherwise, they will not be able to support their families.
Amar is very tempted to use this excursion operator to increase his profit and has justified it to himself that at least the tour guides have a job.

FDY3002 Task

Now that you have a good understanding of the business, you need to write a report for Amar to explain your findings and solutions. Your report should be no longer than 2000 words. (In-text citations are included in the word count, but full references that appear in the reference list at the end of your assignment are not.)

To support your analysis, you may use insights from IBIS World Reports or Statista, as this will help Amar understand the business environment in which his business operates.

Report Structure

Title of the report: choose a suitable title for the report

Introduction (200 words): Lay out the purpose of this report and introduce some of the areas the report will focus on.

Amar does not understand the concept of the internal business environment and the external business environment. Briefly define the internal and external business environments and explain why, as a business owner, it is important that he understands how they affect his business. Provide references.

Problem identification: (800 words)

In this section of the report, you need to explain to Amar what business problems/issues you have identified in TravelTales. You will need to provide evidence from the case study to back up your claim that these are problems:

• Based on the details provided in the case study, identify and explain at least TWO factors in the current external business environment that may be negatively affecting TravelTales.
• Based on the details provided in the case study, identify and explain at least TWO factors in the current internal business environment that may be negatively affecting TravelTales.
• What issues have you identified regarding the effectiveness of the current key business functions (Finance, Operations, Marketing, People)? Provide evidence from the case study to convince Amar that these are, indeed, issues.
• Explain the concept of business ethics to Amar and explain why they makes good business sense. What ethical issues can you identify when running TravelTales?

Proposed solutions: (800 words)

In the previous section, you identified problems/issues found in TravelTales. In this section, you need to make some suggestions to Amar on how he can improve the running of TravelTales and how he can reduce the risk posed by external and internal business environmental factors.

• What actions can Amar take to address the negative internal and external environmental factors you have identified, so that they have less of a negative impact on his business?
• What opportunities could Amar take advantage of, both internally and externally, so that TravelTales recovers and thrives?
• What changes can Amar make to improve business operations in the functional areas where you have identified issues?
• What action should Amar take so that his business is an ethical one?

Conclusion (200 words): End the report with an overview of the key points discussed and emphasise your key solutions.

Reference list (not included in word count).
In your report, you should provide full in-text citations where needed and a corresponding reference list.

Advice for completing this assessment

• An outstanding/excellent case study response will respond to the sole trader’s particular concerns. It will refer to and discuss TravelTales' specific circumstances and business set- up.
• To help you understand the case study and write your assessment, you may find it helpful to conduct a PESTEL and SWOT analysis for the business. Please note. However, you do not need to include a PESTEL and SWOT in your assessment.
• To support your investigation and analysis, refer to the IBIS World Industry Report for Travel Agencies in the UK or Germany. The industry report will give useful background information about the tourism sector and its challenges and opportunities.
• You can access the report by visiting the IBIS World database on the library website. There will also be a PDF of the report on iLearn. Don’t forget to reference any information from IBIS World that you refer to in your assessment.
• Write in your own words, using formal, academic English.
• It is important to reference academic sources within your assessment, to support your review, and to justify your recommendations. A minimum of three references should be included following the AU Harvard style.

Assessments submitted late will not be accepted.

Please submit your assignment as a Word document to the ‘Assignment’ submission portal available under the ‘My Assessment’ tab on iLearn. A template is provided on the module iLearn site.

(Please ensure you DO NOT submit your final assessment to a ‘formative (draft)’ portal).

You must ensure that the submitted assessment is all your work and that all sources used are correctly attributed. Penalties apply to assessments that show evidence of unfair academic practice. (See the Student Handbook, which is available on the A-Z key information on iLearn.)

Assessment Support

We strongly encourage you to engage with our assessment support options as you work through your assessment task(s):

• View the week 10 iLearn lesson ‘General Assessment Advice and Guidance’ (for information about resits, extensions and extenuating circumstances)
• Book a tutorial with a Foundation Year lecturer
• Academic Skills Team - book an appointment with a tutor here
• Academic Skills Team – book a workshop
• Academic Skills Team – view resources
• For support with the English language, visit the English Language Hub

Formative Feedback

You can submit a full/partial draft of your work for formative feedback in Week 7 (Blended Learning) or Week 6 (Distance Learning) to the correct formative assessment portal on iLearn. The formative assessment portal is located under the ‘My Assessment’ tab and is ‘red’ labelled ‘formative assignment. Please DO NOT submit your final assignment to this portal.

Formative tasks allow you to check your understanding of key concepts and, therefore, help you prepare for the final portfolio submission.

Your lecturer will provide verbal/written feedback to help you improve your assessment

You MUST underpin your analysis and evaluation of the key issues with appropriate and wide-ranging academic research and ensure this is referenced using the AU Harvard system. Follow this link to find the referencing guides for your subject: Learning Success Hub

Appendix 1: Business revenue chart

Appendix 2. Pricing strategy

Assessment Criteria for FDY3002 Exploring the Business Environment