1000 word Essay: A critical evaluation
of a specific business’s response to its
external environment.
Your working title:
How well does xxxxx
respond to its
external
environment?
General tips
• Answer the question
• Keep to the word limit – you will be penalised
if you don’t
• Write in the 3rd person throughout
• Provide evidence for any facts and reference
them in the Harvard style
• Provide a bibliography at the end of the work
• Use a business-like font e.g. Arial or Calibri,
size 11
• Answer the question
Introduction – background information
• Background information for the business –
keep this very short – probably a
maximum of 3 sentences
– Only include background information if it’s
relevant and/or necessary to enable the
reader to understand your essay
– Graphs are a good way to show how well the
business has been doing in the period under
discussion. For example, profit/sales/market
share over the last 5 years
Introduction – Scope
Your introduction should explain the scope of your essay:
• Scope of the business. For example, if you are writing
about McDonalds:
– is your essay about McDonalds worldwide or McDonalds in
the UK or the local McDonalds franchise store in Brighton?
• Scope of the environment
– Is your essay about the local business environment or the UK
business environment or the global business environment
– HINT – your essay must focus on the business environment of
one named country (preferably the UK)
• Time period
–
Specify what time period you are investigating – the last
5-10 years is ideal
Introduction – Focus
Your introduction should explain the focus of your essay. This is
where you explain which environmental factors you will focus on
for your business and (very briefly here) why.
• Use PESTEL to help you identify possible environmental
factors
• Choose around 3 environmental factors that have been
particularly important for the business during the period
under discussion
• Aim for some variety in the selected environmental factors
and aim for a balance of environmental factors that have
been positive and negative for the business
• Be specific in your choice of environmental factors:
– e.g. ‘the economic environment’ is too broad but ‘slow economic
growth’ or ‘falling unemployment’ are appropriate
– E.g. ‘the social environment’ is too broad but ‘the aging population’
is appropriate
Introduction – Thesis
You must include your thesis in your introduction. A good
way to start this is:
“This essay will argue that …..”
For example:
• “This essay will argue that McDonalds has responded
well to changing trends for healthy eating and to falling
consumer incomes but not so well to changes in
technology.”
• “This essay will argue that Volkswagen has responded
very badly to laws relating to vehicle emissions but it
has responded very well to slow economic growth in
Europe and to advances in the technology for electric
cars.”
Introduction – A map through the essay
The final element of your introduction should be a
few sentences explaining how the essay goes about
answering the question. For example:
• “McDonald’s response to falling consumer
incomes, will be judged by how the business has
changed it’s product offering and how sales and
profit have responded to this.”
• “New technology that increases productivity in
the fast food industry will be identified and the
extent to which this has been adopted by
McDonald’s will be ascertained.”
A good
introduction makes
the rest of the
essay very easy
Main Body
1st environmental factor:
• What is it? E.g.
– Falling consumer incomes in the UK between 2008 – 2014
(provide evidence e.g. from the ONS)
• How has the business responded? E.g.
– Lower priced products (evidence – e.g. value range, special
offers)
• How well has this worked for the business? E.g.
– Have their sales/profit/market share fallen or risen? (provide
evidence of this)
– Are their systems and processes as technologically advanced
as those of their competitors?
– Are they complying with new laws or breaking them?
Main Body
Repeat for 2nd and 3rd environmental factors
Conclusion
This is where you make your judgements (evaluate). For
example:
• On balance, how well has the business responded to each
of the environmental factors that you have explored?
• Support your judgement with evidence. For example,
how does their response compare to that of similar
businesses?
• Overall, does the business appear to be good at
responding to it’s changing environment?
• What could the business do differently in the future to
better respond to it’s environment?
The conclusion should NOT be a SUMMARY.