Audit Report: Research into External and Internal Business Environment of a Sports Company

The submission is in the form of an audit report. The report should be written concisely to summarise and highlight key findings. You are required to make use of headings, paragraphs and sub-sections as appropriate. All work must be supported with research and referenced correctly using the Harvard referencing system. You will also need to provide a bibliography using the Harvard referencing system. Inaccurate use of referencing may lead to issues of plagiarism if not applied correctly. The recommended word limit for the factsheets is 1,500–2,000 words.

Please note, this part of the assignment should be submitted as a word file via the TurnitIn submission link on Moodle, using the ‘Assignment 2’ upload link.

Use contemporary examples to demonstrate both the positive and negative influence/ impact the macro environment has on business operations.

Determine the internal strengths and weaknesses of specific businesses and their interrelationship with external macro factors.

In your role as Junior Insights Strategist, you have completed the industry insight analysis and your line manager has now given you another project. This is to complete research into the external and internal business environment. The sports company* is looking to expand their distribution channels to include both e-commerce players (for example Google shopping) and physical retailers (for example JD Sports). To enable the company to make any strategic decisions, they need you to present a business case to the leadership team.

Completion of the project will involve a Pestle analysis to research the sports retail market, develop insights and predict future growth potential in new markets. The project will also involve a SWOT analysis to determine the company position in the marketplace and the potential opportunities for distribution expansion while minimising risks and threats.

Your report will include the findings from an external and an internal audit:

1.A PESTLE analysis to identify positive and negative impacts of external factors and influences on the sports retail market, including a ‘traffic light chart’ evaluating level of competition, funding activity, legal complexity and investment opportunity available (In order to complete the external analysis it is expected to show that you first conduct an internal analysis, using theoretical frameworks and concepts such as VRIO, resource investigation, McKinsey 7S, etc.).

2.A SWOT analysis to explore and explain the organisation’s internal strengths and weaknesses as a company.

3.Critical analysis of both the external and internal factors, to determine whether the organisation should proceed with their expansion plans, presented as conclusions and recommendations.

LO1 Explain the different types, size and scope of organisations

Explain different types and purposes of organisations; public, private and voluntary sectors and legal structures.

Explain the size and scope of a range of different types of organisations.

Analyse how the structure, size and scope of different organisations link to the business objectives and product and services offered by the organisation.     

Provide a critical analysis of the complexities of different types of business structures and the interrelationships of the different organisational functions.

LO2 Demonstrate the interrelationship of the various functions within an organisation and how they link to organisational structure

Explain the relationship between different organisational functions and how they link to organisational objectives and structure.           

Analyse the advantages and disadvantages of interrelationships between organisational functions and the impact that can have upon organisational structure.       

LO3 Use contemporary examples to demonstrate both the positive and negative influence/impact the macro environment has on business operations        

Critically evaluate the impacts that both macro and micro factors have upon business objectives and decision-making.

Identify the positive and negative impacts the macro environment has upon business operations, supported by specific examples.          

Apply appropriately the PESTLE model to support a detailed analysis of the macro environment within an organisation.

LO4 Determine the internal strengths and weaknesses of specific businesses and explain their interrelationship with external macro factors 

Conduct internal and external analysis of specific organisations in order to identify strengths and weaknesses. 

Apply appropriately SWOT/TOWS analysis and justify how they influence decision-making.         

Explain how strengths and weaknesses interrelate with external macro factors.