Business Environment Description

Any organization operates within a business environment which is “the combination of internal and external factors that influence a company's operating situation” (BusinessDictionary.com 2013). The business environment can be one of two types: external and internal. The external environment includes the following elements: customers, competitors, government agencies, suppliers, financial institutions and sources of labor, scientific and technical factor (trends in the scientific and technological progress), political factors (the features of the political situation), economic factors (the state of the economy), natural factors (the presence of raw materials such as oil, coal and other minerals), sociocultural factors (traditions and cultural values of the people). The internal environment of any firm is the production potential that a company has. Its main components are goals, structure, equipment, labor, and technology and business culture of the organization.

Business Structure Analysis

Any company has its business structure that is “organization framework legally recognized in a particular jurisdiction for conducting commercial activities, such as sole-proprietorship, partnership, and corporation” (BusinessDictionary.com 2013).

The advantages and disadvantages of proprietorship (company is managed by one person).

Advantages:

• It is the least expensive type of ownership.
• It is the easiest way to control the business.
• The owner receives all the income.
• It is easy to dissolve the business.

Disadvantages:

• The owner is the only person responsible for the success of the business.
• The owner must spend his/her time to solve all the problems (finds the money, hire staff, allocate duties).

The advantages and disadvantages of partnership (two or more people run their business)

Advantages:

• Like proprietorship, it is also easy to establish the partnership.
• It is easier to raise funds as there is more than one owner.
• It gives more opportunity to attract prospective employees since they might be proposed to become a partner.
• The business is more effective when its owners have different skills that complement each other.

Disadvantages:

• There might be disagreements because of shared decisions.
• The partnership might have a short life, for example, after the death of one of the partners.
 

The advantages and disadvantages of corporation 

(“Due to BusinessDictionary.com (2013), it is “owned by its stockholders (shareholders) who share in profits and losses generated through the firm's operations”)

Advantages:

• There is limited liability for the shareholders in case, for example, of the corporation's debts.
• Corporations may attract additional funds through the sale of shares.

Disadvantages:

• It takes more time and money to create a corporation than other forms of ownership.
• Since it is controlled by different agencies (federal, state and so on), it might have more paperwork in order to comply with regulations.

Business Problems and How to Solve Them

Regardless of the type of business, any company might face business challenges. Experts distinguish the following types of business problems (Business.Gov.In).

Technology obsolescence
Managerial inadequacies
Delayed Payments
Poor Quality
Incidence of Sickness
Lack of Appropriate Infrastructure
Lack of Marketing Network

In order to solve these problems, the following steps are proposed (Reference for Business):

1. Problem identification
2. Identification of potential solutions
3. Evaluation of potential solutions
4. Anticipation of negative consequences
5. Overcoming obstacles to carrying out a solution
6. Detailed plan for carrying out a solution

The first step includes: “results analysis (determining the deviations from the goals and expectations), activity-interaction analysis (discovering inadequate activities and conduct that could cause the deviations), resource analysis (uncovering resource deficiencies), environmental analysis (discovering environmental constraints and threats), decision analysis (determining if decisions fail to account for various environmental, resource, and activity factors)” (Reference for Business).

The second one might use several approaches:

• The morphological one by Fritz Zwicky (it looks like matrix with 2 or 3 dimensions that show possible solutions),
• The "lateral thinking" by Edward de Bono (that is to bring new and unconventional ideas)
• The synectics approach by William J. J. Gordon and George M. Prince (that is to identify possible solutions and obstacles and proposes to take a trip into the fantasy environment related to the certain problem).

Also SWOT [Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats] analysis can be used in order “to define the key strengths and weaknesses of your business and then to extend that by considering the market opportunities and threats” (Lever 2013).

References

This sample case study was created by EssayShark.com professional academic writer for educational purposes.

Business structure. (2003). Business Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/business-structure.html
Corporation. (2003). Business Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/corporation.html
Lever R. (2013, March 25). Strategies to improve your small business. Retrieved from http://suite101.com/article/strategy-to-improve-a-small-business-a81900
Problem-solving styles. (2013). Reference for Business.  Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd ed. Retrieved from http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Per-Pro/Problem-Solving-Styles.html
Types of Problems. (n.d.). Business.Gov.In. Business Knowledge Resource Online. Retrieved from http://business.gov.in/enterprises/index.php