Identifying and Analyzing Macro Environmental Factors of Organizations

Learning Outcomes

a) Examine the influence of the external environment on organisations.
b) Identify and apply appropriate frameworks and tools to the problems and challenges faced by organisations.
c) Research and relate industry specific factors to the organisation decision-making process.
d) Apply a relevant framework(s) to evaluate the micro and macro environmental influences on an organisation.

Context:
Businesses in the modern marketplace cannot afford to ignore the environments in which they operate. To navigate this vast and ever changing landscape, businesses must keep a keen eye on macro environmental factors that influence them. This report is an effort to identify these factors and propose solutions to the risks they pose.

Instructions:
Choose an article about an Australian or international business still in operation published within last three months from submission date of this assessment from the listed sources (choosing an article older than this period will result in an automatic fail for this assessment). Write a report identifying and analysing any relevant information about the macro environmental factors of the organisation from the chosen article
incorporating the following:

• Identify macro environmental factors that influence the chosen business specifically. These factors may include but are not limited to changes in political, environmental, socio-cultural, technological, legal, ethical, government regulation in both domestic and foreign country, economic factors such as inflation, unemployment, income levels, economic growth, foreign exchange rates, international trade policies, foreign investment restrictions, taxation, etc. 

Analyse their impact on business that may be in terms of but not limited to changes in business performance, structure, policies, profitability, growth and market share.

• Propose solutions to challenges to counter prevailing/potential risks. Choose an article from the list below (failure to choose an article from the following will result in an automatic fail for this assessment):
The Australian Financial Review
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Australian
ABC News 24 TV
SkyNews Business News
The Economist
Bloomberg
BBC News
Financial Times
The Guardian
The Wall Street Journal
Harvard Business Review

Submission Instructions:
Submit this assessment via the Assessment link in the main navigation menu in BIZ202 The Business Environment. The Learning Facilitator will provide feedback via the Grade Centre in the LMS portal. Feedback can be viewed in My Grades.

Structure of the report
Cover Page – Includes assessment title, student name and ID, subject name and code, lecturer’s name, submission date, word count. Be creative while making your cover page.

Executive Summary – An executive summary provides a succinct summary of the content within the report. It presents information in such a way that readers are able to understand the intention and key elements of the report without having to read the entire document. It is recommended to write 10-20% of your total word limit of the report. This section is not included in the word count.

Table of Contents – A summary of the sections (headings/sub-headings) and pages numbers.

Introduction – The introduction sets the scene and provides context for the aim. You should include a brief introduction of the business in this section leading to the main discussion.

Main Discussion – You should rename the headings/sub-headings to reflect your report.

Identification and analysis of macro environmental factors – Under this section, the report is expected to identify all influencing macro environmental factors, provide insight and thoroughly analyse the most influencing macro environmental factors of the business. At least one factor must be mentioned in the article chosen.

Challenges and solutions – The report is expected to identify the key challenges and risks present in the macro environment of the chosen business and provide a correct strategy/solution to deal with each, as well as a thorough explanation and justification of each strategy.

Conclusion - The conclusion restates the aim then provides a brief and concise summary of the discussion to demonstrate that the aim of the report has been achieved. No new information is to be included in the conclusion.