Socio-Economic and Legal Environment

Task 1 (Report - 75 marks)

This assignment consists of two tasks. For Task 1, learners are asked to develop a ‘Socio-economic and legal assessment report’ by answering the questions given. For task 2, learners are requested to make a mini report based on the scenario given for Task 2(the details of which are provided along with Task 2 below).

Collectively, technological disruptions are seen as very significant drivers of industrial change. Among these, growth in cheap computing power and the ubiquity of the mobile internet have already had widespread impact on existing business models.

Demographic and socio-economic shifts are expected to have nearly as strong an impact on business models and organizational structures as technological change. Application of technology has already changed when and where work is done in practically every industry as workplaces of the industrial age give way to work practices of the digital age, including work, flexible work and on-demand work.

This task requires you to develop a ‘Socio-economic and legal assessment Report’ by choosing an organization from the list of 25 ‘disruptive brands’ available here:- http://fabrikbrands.com/25-disruptive-brands/

You MUST follow the Project Report format, which should contain the following sections:

Executive Summary:You should summarize your entire report briefly (hopefully on no more than one page of A4 paper). [5 Marks]

Introduction:Provide some background information on the chosen case study organization and identify the socio-economic trends which affect the chosen organization’s business model. [15 Marks]

Literature Review on Knowledge economy and various drivers of economic change:You should conduct a review of relevant academic literature and provide a critique of the current issues/concepts that are relevant to your chosen organization. You must include macro-economic dimensions of business, knowledge economy concepts, demographic and socio-economic shifts,

Technological drivers of change and the appropriate application of models, tools and techniques to support your review of the knowledge economy and the drivers of economic changes with regard to the chosen organization. Your literature review should include at least 6-8 articles taken from reputed research journals/ article publications, as well as in addition consider any other secondary literature reports, company data/ any other relevant data [25 Marks] 

Impact of legal framework and political factors:Ìn this section, you should provide an understanding of the legal frameworks and its implications in the context of your chosen organisation and evaluate the political factors which influence your chosen organization’s management and dynamics.  The focus of this section needs to be on:

(1) Role of Political factors in the economic growth and development of your chosen organisation. [5 Marks]

(2) Implications of ‘sharing economy’ for your chosen organization. [5 Marks]

(3) Formal and informal legal systems and anti-trust laws. Learners should also evaluate the development of social economy in the context of your chosen organization’s industry [5 Marks]

Conclusions and Recommendations:You should summarise the main findings, including their implications, and provide recommendations that directly relate to this analysis. [10 Marks]

References:You should use the Harvard Referencing System (HRS) correctly throughout in your report. [5 Marks]

Case study: - ‘Drivers of change’

The World Economic Forum is an International Organization for public-private cooperation and engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. The World Economic Forum has recently published ‘The future of jobs report’ and a part of the report is titled ‘Drivers of Change’. The part titled ‘Drivers of Change’ is available at: - http://reports.weforum.org/future-of-jobs-2016/drivers-of-change/

‘Drivers of Change’ mainly outlines the technological, demographic and Socio-economic trends affecting business models along with the industry and country level changes and the expected timeframes to impact industries and business models. Table 2 in the ‘Drivers of change’ represents the ‘significance, timeframe and definition of drivers of change’

1. Learners are asked to analyse the ‘Significance, Timeframe and definition of drivers of change’ in the context of the organization chosen for Task 1. Guidelines for answering this task is as follows: -

2. Learners should clearly establish the Significance, Timeframe, and definition of drivers of change with regard to the organization chosen for task 1

Learners are requested to develop a ‘mini report’ for this answer.

3. There is no specific structure as such for the ‘mini-report’, any structure can be followed, and the learners are encouraged to be creative and proactive to make the ‘mini-report’ academically relevant.