HNC Assignment Brief

Session: September 20/21

Programme title Pearson BTEC HNC in Business (RQF)

Unit number and title 1 Business and the Business Environment

Assignment number &

1 of 1 Understanding and analysing business environment
title

Unit Level 4 Credit Value: 15

Assessor(s) Ghulam Mustafa

Issue Date 25 September 2020

Final assignment
12 February 2021
submission deadline
On completion, assessments should be uploaded before the submission
deadline, through Turnitin, located through the Unit introduction page on
Canvas. You will receive a receipt to acknowledge your submission of
evidence. This ensures that there is a clear audit trail for submission of
assignments.
Submission instruction
Any extension or deferral requests must be submitted in advance of the
assessment deadline and agreed, in writing with the unit leader.

Where a submission is submitted later than the agreed deadline without an

application for an extension or deferral being approved that submission will be
capped at a ‘Pass’
Resubmission deadline TBA
 The work you submit must be in your own words. If you use a quote or
an illustration from somewhere you must give the source.
General Guidelines  Include a list of references at the end of your document. You must
give all your sources of information.
 Make sure your work is clearly presented and that you use readily
understandable English.
 Wherever possible use a word processor and its “spell-checker”.
 The work you submit must be in your own words.
 Include a list of references at the end of your document. You must
give all your sources of information (this must be in accordance with
the Harvard referencing system).
 Make sure your work is clearly presented in chronological order and
has a logical flow.
 English presented within the body of your assignment must show
academic proficiency and comply with academic requirements. If an
individual has additional learning needs these should be appropriately
assessed and met.
Feedback
In-class feedback will be available from draft submissions on a task-by-task
basis in the form of formative feedback and also for initial submission (formative
feedback will not include any indication of final grades, the process will focus
upon supporting development).
Summative feedback will be provided within 3-4 weeks of the assignment
submission; however, final grades will be released in accordance with
organisational policies and procedures. Please note you will be required to
authenticate receiving your summative feedback.

Internal verifier Adeel Sarim

Signature (IV of the

A Sarim Date 25.09.2020
brief)
Aim

The aim of this unit is to provide students with background knowledge and understanding of
business, the functions of an organisation and the wider business environments in which
organisations operate. Students will examine the different types of organisations (including
for profit and not for profit), their size and scope (for instance, micro, SME, transnational and
global) and how they operate. Students will explore the relationships that organisations have
with their various stakeholders and how the wider external environments influence and
shape business decision-making.

The knowledge, understanding and skill sets gained in this unit will help students to choose
their own preferred areas of specialism in future studies and in their professional career.

Learning outcomes and criteria covered by this assignment:

 All pass criteria

 All merit descriptors
 All distinction descriptors

Edexcel Grading Criteria

This assignment/portfolio will be assessed according to the following grading criteria:
 To attain a ‘PASS‘ grade, students need to achieve all the ‘PASS‘ criteria.
 To attain a ‘MERIT‘ grade, students need to achieve all the ‘MERIT‘ criteria, along
with all the ‘PASS’ criteria.
 To attain a ‘DISTINCTION‘ grade, students need to achieve all the ‘DISTINCTION’
criteria, along with all the ‘MERIT’ and PASS criteria.
*NB: It is not accepted practice to submit assignments that present the grades, pass, merit
and distinction as separate entities. A holistic integrated approach must be used whereby
the criterion appears seamless within the body of the text.

Plagiarism and collusion

Any act of plagiarism and collusion will be seriously dealt with according to the City College
Limited regulations. In this context the definition and scope of plagiarism are presented
below:

 Using the work of others without acknowledging the source of information or

inspiration. Even if the words are changed or sentences are put in a different order,
the result is still plagiarism (Cortell 2003).
 Collusion is described as the submission of work produced as a result of the
collaboration between two or more parties. Additionally, collaboration entails the
sharing of one person‘s work with others who submit either all or part of their
coursework ―as their own.
 Contract Cheating – the Use of Third-Party Services and Essay Mills The purchasing
of essays from a third party and passing them off as a student’s original work is taken
 very seriously by both the College, by De Montfort University, and by Pearson
Edexcel. The teaching practices, delivery methods and generally smaller class sizes
within the College allow our staff to become more familiar with a student’s academic
style and capabilities making them more able to detect fraudulent submissions that
may nor otherwise be detected through Turnitin software. 

Learning outcomes and assessment criteria:

Learning outcomes Assessment criteria for Assessment Assessment

Pass criteria for Merit criteria for
On successful Distinction
completion of this
unit a student will:
LO1 Explain the P1 Explain different types M1 Analyse how LO1 & 2
different types, size and purposes of the structure, D1 Provide a
and scope of organisations; public, size and scope critical analysis
organisations. private and voluntary of different of the
sectors and legal organisations complexities of
structures. link to the different types of
P2 Explain the size and business business
scope of a range of objectives and structures and
different types of product and the
organisations. services offered interrelationships
by the of the different
organisation. organisational
functions.

LO2 Demonstrate the P3 Explain the relationship M2 Analyse the

interrelationship of thebetween different advantages and
various functions organisational functions disadvantages of
within an organisation and how they link to interrelationships
and how they link to organisational objectives between
organisational and structure. organisational
structure. functions and the
impact that can
have upon
organisational
structure.

LO3 Use P4 Identify the positive and M3 Apply LO3 & 4

contemporary negative impacts the macro appropriately the D2 Critically
examples to environment has upon PESTLE model evaluate the
demonstrate both business operations, to support a impacts that both
the positive and supported by specific detailed analysis macro and micro
negative examples. of the macro factors have
influence/impact the environment upon business
macro environment within an objectives and
has on business organisation. decision-making.
operations.

LO4 Determine the P5 Conduct internal and M4 Apply

internal strengths external analysis of specific appropriately
and weaknesses of organisations in order to SWOT/TOWS
specific businesses identify strengths and analysis and
and explain their weaknesses. justify how they
interrelationship with P6 Explain how strengths influence
external macro and weaknesses interrelate decision-making.
factors. with external macro factors.

In order to achieve all learning outcomes within this unit, you will be required to complete all
the given tasks. Your work can be presented in a range of formats, either a type written
report, a hand written report or a recorded, formal verbal report. Whichever option you
choose, you should remain within the designated word count and give all due consideration
to form and structure. The format chosen will not impact on your final grade.

Unit 1 Assignment

Scenario:
You are working as an Assistant Business Development Manager for your local council
where you are currently working on an employment support programme in partnership with
Job Centre Plus. The project was growing fast and the council hired new staff to develop
future partnerships with other public, private and charitable organisations. Unfortunately, due
to the COVID-19 and social distancing rules in the workplace, face to face training is not
currently possible, therefore, you have been asked to produce an MS Word based e-
portfolio which provides new recruits the fundamental knowledge of a range of business
organisations, complexities of different types of business structures, the interrelationship of
different functions and the factors that shape the nature of organisations. The e-portfolio
must:

LO1: Explain the different types, size and scope of organisations

LO2: Demonstrate the interrelationship of the various functions within an

organisation and how they link to organisational structure

Task 1:

1.1 Considering public, private and voluntary sectors, provide a critical analysis of types
and purposes of these organisations, how their size, scope, interrelationship of different
organisational functions and the complexities of their legal structure are linked to the
business objectives and the product and services it offers.

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

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

Task 2:

To have effective partnerships, it is very important for new recruits to understand the
influence and impact of both macro and micro environmental factors upon business
operations due to uncertainties faced by businesses during the COVID-19 national
lockdown. Therefore, in this part of your e-portfolio, you are required to select two different
organisations you are familiar with and with the help of a comparative analysis;
2.1 Critically evaluate the impacts that both macro and micro factors upon business
objectives and decision-making by applying PESTLE and SWOT analysis models.

Your answer is expected to include a critical review and evaluation of:

 the positive and negative impacts macro environment has upon their business
operations and
 internal strengths and weaknesses of selected businesses

Formal e-portfolio should contain the following:

Your work will be presented as a e-portfolio to the client and should include the following:

Cover page, Summary, Contents page, introduction, Main body of the e-portfolio,
Conclusion, Recommendations, References, Appendices (where applicable), Harvard
referencing, Citation.

Submit your individual work for the above tasks in in the form of business e-portfolio. Limit
your work to at least 2700 words. Arial font, size 12, 1.5 line spacing. (You have complete
anonymity as to how the sub headings interlink)

Important Information

You should include a bibliography using the Harvard referencing system.

Each unit will be graded as a Pass, Merit or Distinction. A Pass is awarded for the
achievement of all outcomes against the specified assessment criteria based mostly on
DESCRIPTIVE content. Merit and Distinction grades are awarded for higher-level
achievement which includes degrees of CRITICAL THINKING, ANALYSIS & EVALUATION
– these are higher level skills that you should work on over the period of your programme.

If your submission fails to meet all Pass criteria, it will be referred. The second attempt
will then be capped at a Pass, as per the Pearson Edexcel regulations.

Please access HN Global for additional resources support and reading for this unit.
For further guidance and support on e-portfolio writing please refer to the Study Skills
Unit on HN Global.

For support with this assignment please contact your tutor on 121 4557964 or via email
info@city-college.co.uk

Submission Instructions
Please submit your work soft copy digitally on the Box/CANVAS and send a copy via email
to your course tutor on the set dates and notify via email to info@city-college.co.uk.
Request a receiving receipt in the form of a reply email which you should keep safe.

All marked work is expected to be returned to students within 4 weeks of submission.

Glossary:

Analyse: Break an issue or topic into smaller parts by looking in depth at each part. Support
each part with arguments and evidence for and against (Pros and cons).
Critically Evaluate/Analyse: When you critically evaluate you look at the arguments for
and against an issue. You look at the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments. This
could be from an article you read in a journal or from a text book.

Discuss: When you discuss you look at both sides of a discussion. You look at both sides of
the arguments. Then you look at the reason why it is important (for) then you look at the
reason why it is important (against).

Explain: When you explain you must say why it is important or not important.

Evaluate: When you evaluate you look at the arguments for and against an issue.
Identify: When you identify you look at the most important points.

Key reading material: BPP Professional Education, 2013, edition --

http://www.bpp.com/lm-product-details/lmproddetails/3331

Link to: www.highernationals.com

BARON, P. (2012) Business and its Environment. 7th Ed. London: Prentice Hall.
PALMER, A. and HARTLEY, B. (2011) The Business Environment. 7th Ed.
Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.
WEATHERLEY, P. (Editor) and OTTER, D. (Editor) (2014) The Business
Environment: Themes and Issues in a Globalised World. 3rd Ed. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
WORTHINGTON, I. and BRITTON. C. (2014) The Business Environment. 7th Ed.
Harlow Pearson.

Links
This unit links to the following related units:
Unit 2: Marketing Essentials
Unit 12: Organisational Behaviour
Unit 18: Global Business Environment
Unit 25: Principles of Operations Management
Unit 32: Business Strategy
Unit 34: Business Systems

Wider reading is available via our MOODLE website with guidance given within the Unit 1
folder. Links are also available giving remote access to the e-library resources including e-
books, journals & databases. You are encouraged to use these to develop your assignment.
Let your college administrator know if you need any help with ATHENS login.