Analyzing a Company's External and Internal Environment (Essay Sample)

BUSINESS AND ACADEMIC SKILLS REPORT: A CASE STUDY OF TNT UK
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Contents
 TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289491" Introduction  PAGEREF _Toc9289491 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289492" Background  PAGEREF _Toc9289492 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289493" Analysis of TNT UK Business and its Response to Challenges  PAGEREF _Toc9289493 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289494" SWOT Analysis  PAGEREF _Toc9289494 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289495" Strengths  PAGEREF _Toc9289495 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289496" Weaknesses  PAGEREF _Toc9289496 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289497" Opportunities  PAGEREF _Toc9289497 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289498" Threats  PAGEREF _Toc9289498 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289499" Macro Environment: PESTEL Analysis  PAGEREF _Toc9289499 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289500" Political Environment  PAGEREF _Toc9289500 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289501" Economic Environment  PAGEREF _Toc9289501 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289502" Social  PAGEREF _Toc9289502 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289503" Technological  PAGEREF _Toc9289503 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289504" Legal  PAGEREF _Toc9289504 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289505" Stakeholders Mapping  PAGEREF _Toc9289505 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289506" Industry analysis (Porters 5 forces)  PAGEREF _Toc9289506 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289507" SMART Objectives  PAGEREF _Toc9289507 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289508" Conclusion  PAGEREF _Toc9289508 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289509" Recommendations  PAGEREF _Toc9289509 \h
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 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc9289510" References  PAGEREF _Toc9289510 \h
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Introduction
The dynamic nature of the business environment has presented new challenges to most business companies as they try to improve their competitive advantage and productivity. Coupled with the introduction of new technologies, the unpredictable nature of the political environment has made it hard for most business organizations to thrive in the harsh operating environment. The main objective of doing business is to make profits. To ensure that this goal is achieved, business organizations adopt different strategies that not only focus on the internal environment, but also the external environment. Attracting and retaining talented and skilled staff is a human resources (HR) function that organizations focus on before implementing strategic business decisions that aim to increase the customer base. Only aggressive organizations with the ability to invest in human resources can survive in the current changing environment. Once a business organization has addressed its HR needs, the other challenge is to conform to existing laws and regulations governing business operations. The way policies are formulated depend on the political environment. However, a political environment that is unstable negatively affects operations, hence productivity. Currently, UK is undergoing a series of political, social, and economic changes which have affected the way firms operate. These are some of the challenges that TNT UK has to deal with to effectively compete with other organizations offering the same services.
Background
TNT UK is a courier services company that deals with the collection, transportation, and delivery of parcels, documents, and freight (Sales 2013). The company was founded in 1946 and by 2014, it had fully established operations in 61 countries and employed 58,000 people (TNT 2015). The company makes daily deliveries through land, sea, and air. The services offered by the company have been lauded by many as customer-focused because they are classified in terms of speed, distance, and size of shipment (TNT 2015). While the company often deals with shipments of business-to-business (B2B), it also offers selective business-to-consumer (B2C) services (TNT 2015).
The strategies that TNT has used has seen it survive in the courier industry amidst challenges such as entry of new competitors, political uncertainty, changing legal frameworks, and social aspects that affect its operations across the geographical regions it has its presence. TNT values its customers and this aspect has seen the company grow and expand because of the customer loyalty it has managed to secure. The fast and reliable service delivery has also enhanced its productivity because it has managed to obtain trust among its customers.
Analysis of TNT UK Business and its Response to Challenges
Some of the major challenges that TNT has had to deal with include addressing its HR needs, expanding its operations, adopting new technologies to keep pace with the demands of the courier industry, and economic changes such as inflation and recession. Other challenges include complying with different regulatory frameworks in regions it operates in and uncertainties associated with Brexit (Tetlow & Stojanovic 2018). In response to these challenges, TNT has used a number of strategies to ensure that the challenges do not affect its profitability.
With respect to the HR challenges, TNT provides its employees with clear guidelines about the expectations of the company. Just like any other competitive business organization, the company supports teamwork, recognizes diversity, engages its employees in decision making, and values the rights and safety of the employees as exemplified by Reilly and Williams (2016). However, the issue of culture has hindered the company’s efforts to create a universal image in its areas of operation. While this can be another setback, the company has countered it through its strategy of being effective and responsive to the customer needs. This cushions the negative implications that culture has had on the company. Expanding operations has also been a challenge but TNT has focused on analysing markets before making its presence. This explains why TNT largely operates in European markets because the company is familiar with its operating environment.
TNT uses a wide range of technological tools to achieve efficiency and timely delivery of goods and services. Some of the technological tools include myTNT 2 and Track & Trace. myTNT 2 is an online shipping tool that eases the movement of goods from one destination to another. On the other hand, Track & Trace helps to track customer packages or parcels so that customers are provided with real-time information about the status of their shipments (TNT 2015). While technologies have made it easier for TNT to ease the way it delivers services to customers, the downside is that there are threats of data breaches whereby some individuals can hack into the company’s systems and steal information (Pearlson, Saunders & Galletta 2016). The company has countered this by employing IT experts with the ability to detect breaches and secure the company’s information including those of the stakeholders. Inflation and recession are some of the challenges that TNT has had to deal with as well. Still, there are regulatory frameworks that impact the business activities of TNT. Coupled with the economic and political uncertainties, the company has not been able to maximize profits. However, through strategic planning, TNT has been able to overcome these obstacles.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
TNT’s strengths include a fast and effective network service delivery, quality of services delivered, technological use, a strong workforce, a track and trace feature, and awards and accreditations by external organizations for effective service delivery (TNT 2015). In addition, TNT has managed to attract strong talent to address its HR needs thus enhancing operations in its core markets (TNT Annual Report 2016). The spirit of teamwork and loyalty of the customers is attributed to the company’s ability to value its employees and customers towards achieving a common objective. The company has demonstrated transparency in its operations because it “… communicates with the financial community through press releases, the annual report, general meetings and its corporate website” thus winning the trust of the stakeholders (TNT Annual Report 2016 p. 157).
Weaknesses
One of the weaknesses of TNT is that it has slow market growth which impact the bottom-line. It has also faced threats of cyber-attacks in some countries like Ukraine which is well known as host to many cyber-attackers (Crosby & Crosby 2017). Compounded with the slow market growth, the company has also faced challenges of modernizing infrastructure in countries like Australia which has resulted in declined performance (TNT Annual Report 2016)
Opportunities
Despite the weaknesses of TNT, the company has greater opportunities of expansion in new markets, diversifying its products and services, and the courier industry is still growing which offers a promising future for growth. According to TNT Annual Report (2016) the competition between technology companies gives TNT the opportunity to adopt new technological tools that can further enhance its operations.
Threats
TNT faces a wide range of threats including entry of new competitors, economic slowdown, and a demanding clientele. The key competitors of TNT are Deutsche Post DHL, FedEx and UPS. This is a threat to the company’s profitability since these major companies also have strategic plans that have the potential of wooing TNT’s loyal clients.
Macro Environment: PESTEL Analysis
Political Environment
TNT is affected by the political environment because politics influence government policies which in turn affect the way ...