Contemporary Business Issues - the main two topics I will discuss in more depth are environmental issues and technological paradigm shifts.

by michaeld (student)

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

Contemporary Business

By Michael Duong DUO07419937

For this assignment I had to research certain contemporary issues that affect the business industry. I attended various contemporary business sessions in which we discussed some topics that had effects on the business world. We formed small groups and collected a variety of information in which we had to put into a portfolio. We had meetings in which we debated about issues occurring in businesses today and how it relates to what we are doing now.

The topics that we looked into that affected businesses are;

Corporate Social Responsibility.
Technological Paradigm Shift.
Financial.
Legislations.
Environmental Issues.
Business Ethics.

I will be discussing a bit about these topics but the main two topics I will discuss in more depth are environmental issues and technological paradigm shifts.

Financial.

Financial markets would be that of the stock market, bonds, commodities and the foreign exchange market. Financial markets allows people to buy and sell things such as stock and bonds more easily. It is also easier for agriculture and metals such as, oil, wheat sugar, coffee beans, and metals such as sliver gold, copper, aluminum etc. the reason why it is easier for buyers and sellers to exchange is because of the fact that they are placed in one place.

At this current time the UK is in a recession although it is not as bad as a few years ago. So at the moment the UK which means that there is a fall in Gross Domestic Product also knows as GDP, investments and spending go down as there is less disposable income. The only thing that goes up during recession is the unemployment rate as many employees are made redundant as companies cannot afford to keep them on.

Legislations.

Legislations are laws set by the government in which all businesses must stick to and follow at all times. Legislations are there to stop businesses exploiting their powers. For example to protect customers there are certain laws such as the trade description act which was established to stop manufacturers misleading customers. All description of the product must fit the actual product and no false information must be inserted. To protect employees there are a few laws set to protect them such as the minimum wage act which states people of certain ages must be paid a minimum amount for their jobs. Another law is the sex discrimination act which protects both genders and states that a person should be judged on their skills and qualifications rather than their sex. This doesn’t apply sometimes; when applying for certain jobs such as if u needed someone to model male clothing you will need a male rather than a female.

Business Ethics.

Business ethics is basically the behavior a company shows in the daily running’s. It is not only based of how it treats the world but also customer wise. Being a business people seem to think that they are only interested in one thing and that is the financial side and increasing its sales and revenue at all costs. This seems to give people the idea that companies are just looking after number one and are willing to do anything in the name of money. In this case it can be said it is true as many business have been hit with major fines because they have acted unethically. Examples would be that many companies hire labour from abroad as it is cheaper and aids them in increase its profit margins. Also hiring small children to work for them is unethical. Companies must have morals and not abuse their power. This affects business by that if they are found out, not only are they hit with a hefty fine but it also gives them a bad reputation which will lead to many customers choosing to go elsewhere.

Environmental Issues.

Environment is a big issue when it comes down to business. There are many environmental issues that affect businesses but the main one is global warming. It is beneficial for businesses to abide by environmental legislations as it keeps the earth clean and reduces any damages it causes. Abiding by the laws could cost the company more money by making use that waste is disposed of properly. But this makes the customers think more by that they would like the fact that the companies are trying to take care of the environment rather than just ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Environmental Issues.

An article I found in the Financial times, “Government green light boosts low carbon vehicle market” written by Chris Tighe and Andy Bounds. The article is all about electric vehicles.

Grey charging posts are being put up in roads and in parking bays in NE England and although they do not look like anything special they are there to do the environment good. There will be incentives for drivers using this charging points as One NorthEast, a regional development agency is looking to link up with Tesco, British gas, CE Electric UK, The AA and Capital shopping centers, in installing more of these charging posts. The Sunderland area is focusing on low carbon vehicles, and is declared the UK’s first low carbon economic area. The Nissan car plant located in Sunderland is pushing itself to be elected for the European production center for the development of Nissans new project of an electrical car called the leaf which has already started a trial in Japan. Nissan in Sunderland have invested a 180 million pound and 350 new job investment plant in making batteries for the new electrical cars.

Environmental issues have a big effect on how businesses run as they must comply with environmental legislations, which were created to help reduce the harm a business is doing to the environment, such as air pollution and watch the amount of emissions that are being put out, wastage and disposing of it in a correct manner. By not complying with environmental legislation businesses can face a major fine or even be forced to shut down. By complying with the legislations can lead to benefits within the company by that it can help reduce the costs within the business. It will cut down the use of wastage of raw materials and energy used by the company, simple things such as switching of unused lights will be good for the environment and also reduce energy use and save money.

So with Nissan trying out the production of its new car, the leaf, which will be powered by electricity, will be good as it will be more environmentally friendly by the fact that it produces very low Co2 emissions. I think this will appeal to people as it is being environmentally friendly so people who care a lot about the environment will be looking to make the step closer in building a healthy environment. Also as people see that companies such as Nissan are taking close look at global warming and seeing the effects of it, and are doing something to changing the way life is lived, by making improvements in helping keeping the environment safe. They are more likely to take a likely to the company as it is comply with the environmental legislations and care about the world, and not show that they are there for their own selfish needs and just to make money. So with companies such as Nissan deciding to be more environmentally friendly

Technological Paradigm Shift.

Technology is vital for most businesses and makes everything so much simpler and easier for people, technology improves businesses and makes run more efficiently. Technology is replacing normal manual workers, so instead of people doing the work they have machines to replace them, as it saves the business money in wages and salaries. With technology, it helps both the business and the workers at times. An example is with line production work where everything is put on a conveyor belt and as it goes down the production line machines are set with different tasks to help complete the products. Technology has made this easy by that it makes products in vast amounts and without the need of human labour. Technology doesn’t always necessarily wipe out all human labour, but it can aid them in doing tasks quicker, easier and generally a lot more effectively. An example would be with the use of computers and I.T as this has made the life of workers so much easier. With us use of computers

Technology is always advancing and always looking to improve itself from the last version, so if business doesn’t keep up with the latest updated versions then that business may suffer in the long run. An example that I have found of this is in an article in the financial times published on Friday 11th December 2009 named “Nokia rearms for the next round of app war” written by Tim Bradshaw and Maija Palmer. The article is about the fast growing smart phone market and the battle of the applications in which Nokia and Apple have. At this current moment Nokia are being left behind by Apple in the smart phone market and lacking the technological advances that Apple currently possesses. Nokia’s Ovi store has failed to reach the expectations and is trailing behind the Apple store in terms of the applications that they have to offer. At the moment the statistics show that one million applications are downloaded from the Ovi store every month, which shows a growth of 100 percent month over month. Although these statistics are quite good but they are nothing in comparison to the 2 billion applications downloads from the Apple store since its launch over a year ago. Nokia have realised that they are not competing well enough and are not challenging Apple in the way in which they want to do, so Nokia are now going to revamp its mobile application store “Ovi store” in a way where it is a greater challenge to its rivals. Nokia have got many complaints about the quality of the applications that there store offers in which has made them decide to improve the store. They have seen the criticisms that have been made about their store in which they will learn what the people want and expected for the new and improved version they are looking to bring out in the spring term 2010.

Nokia has decided to switch its attentions away from the production making of new phones and focusing its thoughts on the improvement of its software and applications.

Due to the lack of technological advances that Nokia currently have compared to its rivals, Apple, this could lead to a downfall in the business of Nokia. This is because if Nokia continue with the lack of technological innovation used in their ideas, this could lead to many loyal customers deciding to leave in order to find better quality elsewhere. It will also lead to Nokia gaining a bad reputation due to the amount of people leaving. This will therefore lead to a dramatic fall in sales and revenue and will make the profits of the business fall rapidly. At this current time the iphone is leading the market in terms of applications and software with all other manufactures trying to reach the target in which Apple have set. At the moment software and the applications that the phone has is vital and very much in fashion when choosing phones. As technology is always changing and improving it is up to firms such as Nokia to keep up to date. So whilst Nokia are trying to reach to the same technological advances that Apple have in order to compete and keep up with them, Apple may be think of a way to improve the quality of what they offer and move a step away from its rivals again. So this will be hard for other companies to keep up, as said before technology is always on the up so whilst companies are “copying” leading market holders such as iphones Apple application store, Apple could come up with other ideas in which will make them far more superior in the market. So although if Nokia improves its Ovi store and come up to the current standards of Apple, it may not fulfill their benefits fully if it means that iphone will only give as good as you get and may move a step ahead by improving the software and applications they already have, or better for them and worse news for its rivals such as Nokia, bring out something new. If this does happen and Nokia bring up the standards of their Ovi store and so do Apple, Nokia will retain and maybe gain a few more customers which will benefit them in the short term by boosting up sales and revenue, but looking at it in the long term, Apple will only improve even more with the help of technological advances. A way for that Nokia can overturn the lead in the market is by investing some time in research and development in order to come up with an great idea that will differentiate themselves from the market leaders, which is Apple , in order to gain higher marker share.

To conclude I have learnt many things whilst attending the contemporary business sessions, I learnt to work well within a group in which I only knew one of the group members, at first things were a bit awkward as we didn’t know what to say to each other. But as the weeks went on we clicked well and then all the ideas started flowing out. As I group we discussed some topics that had effects on the business world and collected a variety of information in which we had to put into a portfolio. We had various meetings in which we debated about issues occurring within businesses today and how it relates to what we are doing now. Due to working in a group I have a great idea and understanding of the business world and how things affect it. I now see how something’s so small can have a huge affect on businesses. Looking back at the two topics that were discussed in details, technological and environmental I can see that they are both important and effect businesses in different ways. Technology affects businesses internally by that if they are not kept up to date with the latest advances they could start to trail behind leading market holders such as the way Nokia has. With environmental although they effect the companies internally but also external by that if they do not abide by the environmental legislations it will not necessarily affect them but it will affect the environment in a way as air pollution and wasting of raw materials and energy.

Bibliography

Financial times

Contemporary business notes and hand outs

.......................accessed 05-01-10

http://www.investorwords.com/4086/recession.html.......................accessed 05-01-10

http://www.allbusiness.com/glossaries/financial-market/4958652-1.html. .....accessed 05-01-10

.....accessed 06-01-10

06-01-10