With reference to Google and/or other business you have studied to what extent does the culture of the business determine its ability to maintain competitiveness?

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Gaby Katten

Exam Question:

Employees at Google enjoy a creative, relaxed and innovative culture. The open offices, informal structure and entrepreneurial culture help to create a fun working environment.

With reference to Google and/or other business you have studied to what extent does the culture of the business determine its ability to maintain competitiveness?                                                                                                                        (40 marks)

A culture of a business is the value attitudes and beliefs of the people working an organisation that controls the way they interacted with each other and with external stakeholders groups.

I believe a strong business culture can help maintain a company competitiveness. As a business culture can act as a support for a company brand image and reputation. For example, Body Shop had a distant ethical culture which supported the business brand image and relationship with customers. This gave the business a USP and helped them maintain its competitiveness.

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However, when Body Shop was taken over by L’Oreal in 2006 (a company that is known for using animal testing on their products), Body Shop like-for-like sale rose by 9.7% and now have an additional 143 stores. This expansion has therefore increased Body Shop competitiveness. This suggests that the culture of a business does not affect its competitiveness rather the products themselves. As Body Shop changed their culture going against their brand image but managed to increase their competitiveness. Nevertheless, in the long term the change in Body Shop culture could have more of an effect on their competitiveness ...

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