MANDEL TRAINING CENTRE

EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

BUSINESS AND ITS ENVIRONMENT

Facilitator Details: Mr. Thomas Masese
Cell: +263 716661814/0783725322
Email: maseset@africau.edu/ cbplgadean@africau,edu; maseset@gmail.com

Course Description
Business environment analysis is an important part of strategic management. The importance arises
because all businesses operate in a changing and in some ways, unique environment that is a source of
both threats and opportunities. Business decisions are concerned with operating successfully in this
environment by countering threats and exploiting opportunities. Managers must understand how the
environment is changing and the impact of those changes on the business. Businesses are subject to
pressures that come from outside that they have no control or influence over. Businesses are also subject
to pressures from competition, from suppliers, customers, the threat of new competitors and from
substitute products and services. While businesses cannot directly control these factors, they can influence
them.

The ability to understand the environment in which your business is operating is essential for business
success as it helps a business to identify opportunities, which can give it the first mover advantage. It also
gives the business a radar effect, which gives it early warning signals of threats. Being aware of these
things allows us to make decisions about how we are going to compete. This course introduces a simple
approach to ensuring that business owners and senior managers are aware of the key factors, which must
be taken into account when formulating business plans and business strategy. It prepares participants to
make business decisions in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) domain. The aim of
this course is to help participants develop the ability to evaluate the impact of key business environmental
factors on firms and how these firms should respond to them.

Course Objectives

The objectives of this course are to help participants:

 Demonstrate an understanding of the interface between the organization and its

environment
 Understand the role of uncertainty and the impact that the environment has on
management decisions.
 Describe the complexity of the external environment in which businesses operate and
explain the idea of environmental uniqueness
 Understand the nature of the internal environment of business
 Understand how businesses must respond to the changing environmental factors in order
to operate successfully and how they seek to influence the environment

1
  Use analysis tools such as PESTLE and SWOT to examine the business environment

Course Intended Learning Outcomes or Learning goals

The Course Learning Outcomes are what you should be able to DO by the end of this course if you
participate fully in learning activities and successfully complete the assessment items.

4.0 ASSESSMENT

4.1 Formal Requirements

In order to pass this Course, students must

a) Attempt ALL assessment tasks as given below

b) Attain an overall pass mark of 50%; and

c) Attend at least 80% of scheduled lectures and tutorials.

5.0 Methods and Strategies of Teaching and Learning

The course will be delivered through synchronous interaction on Zoom, Google Meet and
Microsoft Teams and asynchronous interaction the Moodle LMS.

6.0 Assessment

Assessment of students will be through coursework and examinations

Coursework:
Group Assignment 50%
Individual Assignment 50%

6.0. Course Content

The following course content will be covered in this course:

Course Schedule

Day Topic Lecture Readings

Day 1  The importance of business environment
 Features and nature of the business
environment- VUCA
 The elements/ components of the
business environment
 The two-way interaction of business and
its environment
 Internal vs External environment

2
  Micro vs macro environment
 The 3 Environments Model of Business
 The environment analysis process
 Tools for analysing the business
environment- SWOT, PEST,
Day 2
 Understanding the far external
environment (PESTLE)
o Political
o Economic
o Social
o Technological
o Legal
o Environmental
Day 3  Understanding the near external
environment (Porter’s Model
o Market Competition
o Customer Power
o Supplier Power
o Threat of New Entrants
o Threat of Substitutes
Day 4  Understanding the immediate internal
environment – Grant’s Resource Audit
 Understating your operating
environment
Day 5  Responding to the Environment and
Managing in a VUCA environment
 Group Presentations/ Assignment/Test

7.0 Key Reference Texts

David P. Baron, Business and Its Environment (7th edition), Pearson Prentice-Hall, Upper
Saddle River, NJ, 2013

Davison L, (2004), The Business Environment (Sixth Edition), Pearson Education Limited

Worthington I and Britton, C. (2006), The Business Environment, 5th ed, Prentice Hall