School Of Business, Economics & Management

NAME: Samuel Mwangala

COMP NUMBER: BSM20120753

PROGRAMME: Bachelor in marketing

MODE OF STUDY: Part Time

COURSE: BBA 140 Business environment

LECTURER: Mr. Victor Mulusa

ASSIGNMENT: Number One

DUE DATE: 4th May 2020

Question 1

a) Public Limited Company (Shoprite Zambia)

A Public Limited Company is an organization that is able to offer shares to the public and it’s
because of that right that makes it favorable or more suitable rather than the other organizations
to survive in the Zambian business environment in the sense that:

 Finances: in a Public Limited Organization Structure financial support or sources of

capital are much easier to access because when the organization needs money let’s say
for expansion, it can add it’s share on the Stock Exchange Market and people or
institutions with money can buy those shares and the company will have the money that it
needs for the expansion.
 Profits or Losses: a Public Limited Company is usually large in size and has huge
market share e.g. Shoprite Checkers. Companies with huge market have very high
turnover in the sales of their goods and services hence a lot of profits are made in a short
period of time and in cases where these companies encounter losses, savings from the
numerous profits can cover up or other branches (Shoprite) can pay for the losses
encountered by the other branch.
 Limited Liability: in a Public Limited Company shareholders (owners) and the company
are treated as separate bodies therefore this type of organization is capable to grow and
survive the market because shareholders cab take the risk of investing in the company
while keeping their personal property safe.

Therefore Public Limited Companies in the Zambian business environment have high chances of
favoritism because they stand on advantageous position to access Finances, High Profits, Tax
Efficiency and etc.

b) What Managers in Competitive Organizations must do to Factors that have Direct or

Indirect Influence to the Company

Shoprite is a multi-national company that deals in the selling of homogenous goods and services
which means it operates in a Perfect Competition Market Structure and for every company their
exists direct and indirect factors or institutions that have influence on its operations. Managers
always have to on alert to the factors or institutions because if neglected they can cause the
company to go down. Factors or institutions that can have influence over a company are:

Direct Factors of Influence

 Employers: these are the top bosses or the decision makers in the organization and
managers have to make sure these individuals are performing to their level best and
working with the employees in ways that are productive as well as ethical to ensure
effectiveness and efficiency in the company
 Employees: these are individuals who do the day to day operations of the company
and managers always have to make sure employees are completing their given
assignments(if any) and they have to act according to the ethical code of conduct set
up by the company.
 Allies: these are other firms or institutions that have a good relationship with the
company and have the same agenda or goal with the firm in question. So managers
always have make sure the relationship with their allies is as good as possible which
makes business easier.

Indirect Factors of Influence

 Political or Legal Factors: these are policies or rules set up by the country’s
government and in order for any company to survive they have to follow and obey
which and every one, Shoprite has survived in the Country because it obeys the laws
for example Shoprite pays taxes, is registered by PACRA and works according to
the recommended operational hours.
 Economic Factors: these are factors such as inflation, exchange rates and etc. and
so for a company to survive managers have to be able to detect and adjust its
operations according to how economic situations are in the country. For example,
Shoprite imports most of goods that are in the store which means managers have to
set a price which is both competitive and profitable.
 Social and Cultural Factors: these are factors like people’s taste, beliefs,
preference etc. and managers should make sure the stores have a variety of goods
 and services for customers to choose from and it has the play by the beliefs of it
demographic target.
 Technological Factors: these helps a business to operate faster and cheaper and for
an organization like Shoprite, technology helps it become efficient and effective so
it survive its operations in the perfect competitive market and it operates in. so
managers always have to look out for new technology that helps the business run
better and faster than its competitors.

Question 2

a) Compliance refers to how companies obey all the legal laws and regulations in regards to
how they manage the business operations while ethical judgements are fundamental to
understand decisions in a business. With that in mind there’s need to comply to both because in
as much as a company has its own rules and regulations of operations it also sits on a land with
another judicial structure of rules so its laws should be in line with those of its country or
business environment.

b) The Utilitarian Approach assess an action in terms of its consequences or outcomes.

To arrive at an ethical management decision according to the Utilitarian Approach managers

should pre-assess the likely consequences that might happen if a certain calamity was to happen
in the company. Managers have to do studies and learn from what happened in maybe a certain
company in the past when it didn’t behave according to a certain manner and when all
information and knowledge has being studied managers can come up with ethics that prevent
certain consequences or outcomes in the future.

Critics of the Utilitarian Approach

 Outcomes are unpredictable when dealing with the future.

 It forces companies to rely on other companies or individuals moral codes
 It does not focus on the act itself to form judgement.
 If it was possible then it would make all companies to always detect its outcomes.

The Utilitarian Approach assumes that all companies go through the same problems and each
problem has got a similar outcome which makes it almost impossible to rely on as a business.
Question 3

a) Understanding the business environment is the most important thing to do as a business man
because its helps an organization or company to make realistic plans and ensure their effective
implementation.

For any business to become successful in its operations it has to understand the environment its
operating in because it only when it has understood the environment for it to know it Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

 Strengths: when an organization understands the environment it is able to tell or detect

where it performs best in the market and the reason why when compared to another
organization it can come out has better then build on its strength to ensure it holds its
market share position and gain more if possible.
 Weaknesses: no man is perfect and that statement applies to organizations as well so
when an organization understands the environment to makes it able to detect where it is
lagging behind and what it has to do to work on the weakness and improve on it so it can
become successful.
 Opportunities: each and every business in its lifetime has an encounter with an
opportunity or opportunities and it’s only when the environment has been understood can
an organization be able to take on or better off create its own opportunities for its growth
and success.
 Threats: in business it’s expected to have friends and enemies and identification of these
can only be done when one has understood the business environment and how players in
that environment play to become successful. When a business knows its threats it makes
it able to defend themselves of what might hit them from the threats side.

Therefore understanding the environment is essential for both existing and new businesses
because its only when you understand the environment can you survive in it.

b) Trade Kings denoting money to government in its time of need can be viewed as in terms of
Corporate Social responsibility. CSR is a situation when companies look beyond just the view
making profits but also take part of the profits and give back to the society to help them in one
way or another.
Trade Kings is a one is the biggest cooperation’s in Zambia today and has over 100 products on
the Zambian market which means it makes huge sums of profits and the donation to government
to fight the Covid-19 in not the first donation the company has made to the society, for mention a
few: Trades donates money to The University Teaching Hospital of Zambia and several other
schools, communities and individual because it’s an act of CSR.

Also Trade Kings making that donation helps it in:

 Better brand recognition

 Positive business reputation
 Increased sales and customer loyalty
 Operational costs saving
 Organizational growth
 Easier access to capital

Therefore Trade Kings being a profit seeking business donated that money with an aim to bring
it back when all the favor of Cooperate Social Responsibility play for them also donating such
amounts of money to the government creates a good relationship between the company and the
government.