FE4055 Individual Coursework Instruction 2023-24 Spring Term

Assignment Brief

• Choose a UK public limited company (PLC) and identify the main industry from the UK Standard Industrial Classification (SIC 2007), 5-digits SIC code. Please exclude from this choice Tesco PLC, as this case study will be illustrated in class.
• One of the most important and influential elements of the business environment is the market structure. Briefly discuss the market structure of your chosen industry.
• Of your chosen business company (a UK PLC), briefly discuss its organisational structure, and its nature in relation to the market structure it works within, the industry’s market structure.
• Use the Social, Technological, Economical, Environmental, Political, Legal and Ethical (STEEPLE) analytic framework to analyse the external business environment of your chosen company over the last 5 years. Students are expected to discuss each factor separately, for example, consider in what ways technology (T) might influence the organisational structure of a business. Students must use the three headings listed as below for the microeconomic and macroeconomic factors, but are allowed to extend their discussions
  beyond these headings:

1. Social factor analysis 
2. Technological factor analysis 
3. Environmental factor analysis 
4. Political factor analysis 
5. Legal factor analysis 
6. Ethical factor analysis 

• Economic factor analysis (see the suggested marks from the bullet points below)
              ->Identify the microeconomic factors that affect the demand for goods and/or services of your chosen company and the factors for the market demand. Draw a demand curve diagram to illustrate your answer.

                     ->List the determinants of the supply of the business and identify what would cause the supply of goods and/or services to fall/rise. Draw a supply curve diagram to illustrate your answer.

                    ->Give some examples of ‘random shocks’ that could undermine the UK government’s fiscal policy and discuss if there is any fiscal policy could have an impact on the UK’s economy and the business of your chosen company.

• Conclusion: Research and discuss the business challenges to “survive” and adapt to digitalisation. Please articulate on how should the business prepare for these changes and future trends.
• Overall report quality (Standard of written English, appropriateness of style, layout, structure, conventional use of citations and bibliography).