Assignment 485 230119 PDF Business and Business Environment
Assignment 485 230119 PDF Business and Business Environment
ASSIGNMENT 1
FRONT SHEET
Student declaration
I certify that the assignment submission is entirely my own work and I fully understand the consequences of plagiaris
making a false declaration is a form of malpractice.
Unit Number and Title: Unit 1: Business and Business Environment (485)
Academic Year: 2020
Unit Assessor: Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Quỳnh
Date:
Submission Format:
Format:
● This assignment is an Individual report and specifically.
● You must use font Calibri size 12, set number of the pages and use multiple line spacing
at 1.5. Margins must be: left: 1.25 cm; right: 1 cm; top: 1 cm and bottom: 1 cm.
● You should use in text references and a list of all cited sources at the end of the essay by
applying Harvard referencing style.
● The recommended word limit is 2000-2500 words (+/-10%), excluding the tables,
graphs, diagrams, appendixes and references. You will not be penalized for exceeding the total
word limit.
● The cover page of the report has to be the Assignment front sheet 1 (to be attached with
this assignment brief).
Submission
● Students are compulsory to submit the assignment in due date and in a way requested by
the Tutor.
● The form of submission will be a soft copy posted on http://cms.greenwich.edu.vn/.
● Remember to convert the word file into PDF file before the submission on CMS.
Note:
● The individual Assignment must be your own work, and not copied by or from another
student.
● If you use ideas, quotes or data (such as diagrams) from books, journals or other
sources, you must reference your sources, using the Harvard style.
● Make sure that you understand and follow the guidelines to avoid plagiarism. Failure to
comply this requirement will result in a failed assignment.
LO2 Demonstrate the interrelationship of the various functions within an organisation and how
they link to organisational structure
* This assignment guidance can be customized by the tutor to meet specific needs
Assignment scenario
You are working as a business analyst at Wells Fargo, a US multinational financial services
company. Your direct supervisor asks you to find some models and company scope and sizes in a
chosen country for the research to invest in 2020-2025.
Refer to the chosen country’s websites for differences of company models allowed to be established
there. In addition, you need to research some common organizational types within the country to
report to your superior how local companies operate.
Structure of the
Report
1. Introduction about the purposes and structure of the report from the perspective specified in
the scenario.
Purpose of the chosen company, you must identify the vision, mission, corporate values and
objectives; and identify some specific activities of the company to prove the company is
following its set purposes.
For the size of the chosen company, you must demonstrate the capital with number of total assets,
owner equity and the total liabilities and the number of employees with the latest information.
For the scope of the chosen company, you must present the geographic locations/ markets and the
target customers.
In addition to identifying the size and scope of the chosen company, you should analyse whether
the size and the scope are compatible with the matter of achieving the set objectives and products
or services of the chosen company.
4. An explanation of the functions of the chosen company (using the chosen company’s structure
chart) to show the relationship between these functions and how these functions link to the chosen
company’s structure and objectives.
To be detailed:
- Firstly, you will present the organizational structure chart of the chosen company.
- Secondly, you will explain the main functions of various key departments in this chart and the
relationships between these departments as well.
- Lastly, you will demonstrate the structure (functional structure; divisional structure; matrix
structure or project-based structure, and multinational or transnational structure) and explain
whether the structure serves for achieving the set objectives.
Additionally, you should analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the chosen company’s
specific structure. This analysis should be accompanied by credible evidences.
Furthermore, with the chosen company, student should find out: which department in the structure
works effectively and explains the reasons; and which department in the structure works badly and
explains the reasons.
5. A conclusion to summarize all the key findings and analysis must be presented. Plus, it should
address whether the chosen company is a suitable investment choice.
Table of Contents
Assignment Brief 1 (RQF) ...................................................................................................... 1
LO1. Explain the different types, size and scope of organisations. ............................................................................................................... 6
❖ Difference between Individual Business Household, Public/Private Company. .................................... 6
Individual Business Household ........................................................................................................................................ 6
Company. ......................................................................................................................................................................... 6
2. Private company........................................................................................................................................................ 6
❖ Different size of organizations. .............................................................................................................. 8
1. Micro, small, medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) ...................................................................................................... 8
2. Large enterprise. ....................................................................................................................................................... 8
❖ Different scopes of organizations. .......................................................................................................... 8
1. Produce scope. .......................................................................................................................................................... 8
2. Project scope. ............................................................................................................................................................ 9
LO2: Demonstrate the interrelationship of the various functions within an organization and how they link to organizational structure. .... 9
❖ Analyze the different functional units of a business within Porter’s Value Chain ................................. 9
Primary activities......................................................................................................................................................................................... 10
1. Inbound Logistics ................................................................................................................................................... 10
2. Operations ............................................................................................................................................................... 10
3. Outbound Logistics ................................................................................................................................................. 10
4. Marketing & Sales .................................................................................................................................................. 10
5. Service .................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Support Activities........................................................................................................................................................................................ 11
1. Procurement ............................................................................................................................................................ 11
2. Technology Development (R&D)........................................................................................................................... 11
3. Human Resource Management ............................................................................................................................... 11
4. Firm Infrastructure .................................................................................................................................................. 12
❖ The benefits and drawbacks of interrelationships between organizational functions and the result
that they can have upon organizational structure. ....................................................................................... 12
1. Human Resources. .................................................................................................................................................. 12
*Advantages: .................................................................................................................................................................. 12
*Disadvantages: ............................................................................................................................................................. 12
2. Marketing ................................................................................................................................................................ 13
*Advantages: .................................................................................................................................................................. 13
*Disadvantages: ............................................................................................................................................................. 13
❖ Reference list: ....................................................................................................................................... 13
Individual business household means individuals or households that are issued a business registration
certificate to conduct business activities. However, there are still numerous of them not register the
business with the government. There are many ways to call an individual business household. It can be
named as a sole trader or a family business. This kind of organisation occurs extremely common in
Vietnam. In particular, the number of street vendors gathered in front of schools, factories, parks to sale
their products for students, workers and passengers. Street vending serve as various goods as needs call
for such as foods, drinks, domestic products. Despite its scale very small, they still play a significant role
in the local economy.
Company.
1. Public/State Company.
Public traded company is a corporation owned, registered, organized and managed by the government
based on the Law on State Enterprise. Its activities under the state influence. Today, a company is
considered as a public company when the state holds at least 50% of the charter capital in the form of that
company's properties, the rest of charter capital will be held by enterprises, employees, and other
shareholders. Many of the largest State-Owned Enterprises are conducting commercial activities in
Vietnam contributed their revenue and amount paid to the state budget. Typically, Vinamilk is the largest
dairy company and the most valuable public company listed in Vietnam recorded VNĐ10.300 billion in
post-tax profit in 2018, an increase of 5,3% over the same period the year before. (Đầu tư chứng khoáng,
2021). Noticeably, the number of a public company in Vietnam experienced a considerable decline in
recent years. According to Financial article, until 2020, the whole country witnessed only about over 100
State-Owned Enterprises, decreased around 19,000 ones compare to the year 1990(20,000 State business)
in 11 sectors of the economy.
2. Private company.
A private company or a sole proprietorship is an enterprise owned by an individual who makes some big
decisions on matters in relation to day-to-day business operation of the firm which influences the future of
the company. Based on the 2014 Vietnam Business Laws, the private company is not permitted to issue
any type of securities. Besides, each individual is only allowed to set up one sole proprietorship.
Additionally, the private company are not entitled to buy shares from share-holding companies and make
a capital contribution to limited-liability companies and partnerships. In Vietnam, Vingroup has emerged
as the biggest private company when this organisation is granted the Korea chaebol version which is a
kind of multidisciplinary corporation that does everything and carries duty as the flagship of the economy.
Base on the information listed above, I concluded that there are 4 primary different points between a
public company and a private company:
➢ Ownership.
The state company is the enterprise of which 50%-100% charter capital is held by the State. Meanwhile,
the private company owned by different individuals or private enterprises (including foreign organizations
and individuals) or the State holds less than 50% of the charter capital or the total number of voting
shares.
When a company has developed to a specific level, its owner is likely to orient the company to become a
Joint-stock company which are created in order to finance endeavors that are too expensive for an
individual or even a government to fund. The owners of a joint-stock company expect to share in its
profits (Will Kenton, 2020). Since the state company has turned out to be incorporated companies, it will
be divided into only two different types, Sole member limited liability company and Limited liability
company with more than one member. The private company has another kind of firm is the partnership,
which is used to mean a business structure wherein two or more individuals, come together for
undertaking a lawful business and have agreed to share the profits and losses arising from it. The
management and operation of the business should be performed either by all the partners or any of them,
acting for all the partners (Business Jagons, 2018).
➢ Scale
Public company: Large scale. Usually organized under the forms such as parent company - subsidiary
company, economic group.
Private company: Diverse in scale. However, private companies are mainly small and medium-sized
enterprises.
Public company: Operate mainly in essential economic sectors. Some exclusive business lines such as
National power transmission system, Large-scale multi-purpose hydropower plants, nuclear power plants,
Printing and minting money and producing gold bars and Lottery.
Private company: Just operate within the business lines specified in the system of Vietnam's economic
sectors and do not do business exclusively for state-owned enterprises.
Every enterprise operates with different business purposes. Sometimes, the primary motive of making a
profit does not large enough to be great multinational corporations with a huge workforce. They can be
micro, small, medium or large.
According to The World Trade Organization (WTO), in most countries, small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) are defined as firms employing between 10 and 250 people. Firms with up to 10
employees are usually referred to as micro firms.
For the developing country as Vietnam, the majority of Vietnamese businesses are small and medium-
sized which have limited financial ability. Base on the data collected by the General Statistics Office, the
results of the Economic Census 2017. Thus, in 2017, the whole country had nearly 517,900 businesses in
operation, up 51.6% compared to 2012, of which, small and medium enterprises account for 98.1% (Tạp
chí tài chính, 2017).
2. Large enterprise.
For large enterprises, the evaluation criteria are companies determined to build up the two main criteria:
having total capital of over 100 billion VND or the total number of employees from 300 people or more.
Despite these enterprises appropriate only 5% of the total number of Vietnam businesses registered today,
they played a central role in key branches and areas, and play the leading role in the national economy.
Furthermore, large companies have enormously contributed to economic growth, and job creation in
Vietnam, have a crucial part in restoring macroeconomic stability during the economic crisis. For
example, FPT group- the third-largest private enterprise in Vietnam (VNReport, 2012). Every year, the
annual subscription of this company has come up to billion per year which has contributed to boosting the
whole national economy.
1. Produce scope.
Product scope focuses on the result or the actual offering. Product scope often considers how to evaluate
whether the object is on track for completion and whether it meets the expected outcome. For example, if
the product is a book, the product scope might be its material of paper and ink, content. If the product is a
car, its product scope will be its design, the interior of cabins, the firm making brakes and steering
systems.
Guillermo Vidal has pointed out in his report companies fail to create successful products not because
their idea is bad but because they don't invest the necessary time to define their product scope [...]. In
short, time and money are wasted. From his statement, we can conclude that defining the product scope is
obligatory to work to manufacture a prosperous product.
2. Project scope.
Project scope embraces all the work needed to produce a product or service. Shortly, the project scope
illustrates how the mission will be completed. Documentation consists of the scope statement, statement
of work, and a breakdown of the work structure. The project scope also draws the project's limits by
specifying what is and not included within the scope of the plan. For instance, the project is to build a new
station, works have to be done to build a new station includes planning, coordination, and management
activities such as assign tasks for personnel and appoint the supervisory staff to oversight of the project.
A firm is in nature a combination of activities that are conducted to design, produce, market, deliver and
support its product. The gained value can be considered as the profits and is often shown as ‘margin’. A
corporation gets competitive benefits by making strategically essential exercises more economically or
better than its opponents. Michael Porter’s value chain assists to separate a company into its strategically
related activities, how building a clear overview of the internal organization.
Primary activities
Primary activities include the five main activities. These activities are directly linked to the production and
selling of the actual product. They cover the physical creation of the product, its sales, transfer to the
buyer as well as after-sale assistance. The five primary activities are inbound logistics, operations,
outbound logistics, marketing & sales and service (Tokunbo, 2020).
1. Inbound Logistics
Inbound logistics is where purchased inputs such as raw materials are often taken care of (Tokunbo,
2020). These activities connected with inbound logistics are collecting, storing and distributing inputs to
the product.
Ex: material handling, warehousing, inventory control, vehicle scheduling and returns to suppliers.
2. Operations
When the needed materials have been collected internally, enterprises can transform the inputs into the
desired product. As Tokunbo Agbolade (2020) was written in his report that the activities linked to
operations are therefore transforming inputs into the final product form.
Ex: machining, packaging, assembly, equipment maintenance, testing, printing and facility operations.
3. Outbound Logistics
After the final product is completed it still needs to find its way to the customer. The product can be
delivered immediately or has to be stored for a while depending on how lean the company is. The
activities connected with outbound logistics are gathering, storing and physically dividing the product to
users.
Ex: finished goods warehousing, material handling, delivery vehicle operations, order processing and
scheduling.
This department is where marketing and sales come into place. It is the role of marketers and sales agents
to make sure that potential customers are informed of the product and are seriously thinking of buying
them by providing a means by which customers can purchase the goods and convince them to do so.
Ex: advertising, promotion, salesforce, quoting, channel selection, channel relations and pricing.
5. Service
In today’s economy, after-sales service is just as important as promotional activities (Tokunbo, 2020).
Criticisms from unsatisfied buyers are easily published and shared due to the internet and the results are
your company’s reputation might be baneful influences. Therefore, It is significant to have the essential
customer service systems in firms. The activities connected with this part of the value chain are providing
service to improve or support the value of the product after it has been sold and delivered.
Support Activities
Support activities aim to coordinate and support their functions as best as possible with other functional
units of a business by providing purchased inputs, technology, human resources and various firm-wide
managing functions (Tokunbo, 2020).
Ex: procurement, technology development (R&D), human resource management and firm infrastructure.
1. Procurement
Procurement refers to the purpose of purchasing inputs used in the organisation’s value chain. Purchased
inputs are required for all value activities, including support activities. Procurement is obliged to support
various value chain activities, not just inbound logistics (Tokunbo, 2020).
Ex: raw materials, supplies and other consumable items as well as assets such as machinery, laboratory
equipment, office equipment and buildings
Every value activity includes the technology, be it know-how methods or technology included in process
equipment. The arrangement of technology used in most companies is very large. Technology
development activities can be classified into attempts to develop the product and the process (Tokunbo,
2020).
Ex: telecommunication technology, accounting automation software, product design research and
customer servicing procedures and Research & Development departments.
HRM affects the competitive advantage in any firm through its role in determining the skills and
motivation of employees and the cost of hiring and training them (Tokunbo, 2020). Its activities include
recruiting, hiring, training, development and compensation of all types of personnel.
Ex: if you hire people into a business, you are looking for people who fit the company culture as they will
be happier, stay longer, and be more productive than people who won’t fit into the company culture (Erik
van Vulpen, 2013).
4. Firm Infrastructure
Firm Infrastructure supports the entire value chain and not individual activities as the support activities
unit. Many firm infrastructure activities are often collectively indicated as ‘overhead’ costs in accounting.
However, according to Tokunbo Agbolade (2020), these activities shouldn’t be underestimated since they
could be one of the most powerful sources of competitive advantage.
Ex: general management, planning, finance, accounting, legal, government affairs and quality
management.
1. Human Resources.
Human Resources staffers have their own department, as do employees working in sales, marketing,
finance and technical support. Organizing a company in this way has both advantages and disadvantages.
*Advantages:
-Almost significant decision-making happens at the top levels of management in a functional structure.
This guarantees that upper management has control completely over the organization. It also affords a fair
career path for employees, from junior-level jobs, up to the top decision-making jobs.
-A functional structure presents stability and efficiency in large enterprises because all staffs use similar
processes. This also enables large businesses to take advantage of economies of scale.
-An experienced person with a high capacity and skills who can sufficiently understand and correct the
entire work by the team is managed. The team members work with other people in the field which allows
sharing thoughts and knowledge to make them improve their skills.
-The staffers have opportunities to be promoted in the future which can be a reason for them want to have
a long attachment to the company. Meanwhile, the company is taking the advantage of their expertise and
knowledge. Because the workers with specialized skills can complete duties quickly, efficiently and with
more reliance while decreasing work-related errors.
*Disadvantages:
-This structure, sometimes, can be rigid and the standardized ways with high formalization can hinder or
prevent faster decision making
-Another weakness of the functional organizational structure is there could be a lack of coordination
among units.
-Somebody may be regional or there may be some individuals who are unwilling to collaborate. These
toxic co-ordinations may lead to setbacks, diminished loyalties, competing interests, getting late in
completing the project and waste of time.
-->This means that though the functional units can operate with a higher level of productivity, however,
there could be trouble working well with each other thus, cooperation is discredited.
2. Marketing
*Advantages:
-Obviously, an advantage of marketing is the promotion of a business; help to get the attention and
awareness of mark audience across a wide-ranging or specific market. Over time potential customers and
members of the public will start to member your logo and the business's brand would be formed with this
is improved brand recognition.
-The most vital power of marketing is therefore growing the businesses profits by boosting sales. It can
also be challenging to set priorities when employees are transferring between competing projects.
*Disadvantages:
-The first problem of marketing is the cost. Adverting and marketing cost significant money. If you don’t
do the proper research then you might end up throwing money away. So it is important to do your research
beforehand and keep your costs to a minimum (The company warehouse, 2011).
-Marketing your business also will demand an investment of time. A potential downside of marketing here
is the risk of time spent for an ineffective campaign.
-The marketing campaign will need to be continuous and regular. Rising costs and time spent on it. This is
drip marketing in firm marketing.
❖ Reference list:
• Tạp chí tài chính-Cơ quan thong tin của Bộ Tài Chính. (2018), Đến năm 2020, cả nước chỉ
còn khoảng hơn 100 doanh nghiệp Nhà nước. Available at:
https://tapchitaichinh.vn/nghien-cuu-trao-doi/den-nam-2020-ca-nuoc-chi-con-khoang-hon-
100-doanh-nghiep-nha-nuoc-145833.html. ( Accessed: 3 February 2021).
• The World Trade Organization (WTO). (2017), Micro, small and medium-sized
enterprises. Available at:
https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/mc11_e/briefing_notes_e/bfmsmes_e.htm#
:~:text=In%20most%20countries%2C%20small%20and,referred%20to%20as%20micro%2
0firms.&text=Several%20studies%20have%20shown%20that,trade%20obstacles%20than
%20bigger%20companies. ( Accessed: 4 February 2021).
• Tạp chí tài chính-Cơ quan thong tin của Bộ Tài Chính. (2017), Doanh nghiệp nhỏ và vừa
chiếm 98,1%. Available at: https://tapchitaichinh.vn/tai-chinh-kinh-doanh/tai-chinh-doanh-
nghiep/doanh-nghiep-nho-va-vua-chiem-981-144150.html. ( Accessed: 4 February 2021).
• VNReport. (2012), FPTGroup, Wikipedia. Available at:
https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tập_đoàn_FPT. ( Accessed: 4 February 2021).
• Guillermo V.(2019), How to Define a Product Scope, Clutch. Available at:
https://clutch.co/developers/resources/how-define-product-scope. ( Accessed: 16 February
2021).
• Boundless Management, Common Organizational Structures. Available at:
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-management/chapter/common-
organizational-structures/. ( Accessed: 20 February 2021).
• Tokunbo, A. (2020) Value Chain Analysis: An Internal Assessment of Competitive
Advantage. Available at: https://www.business-to-you.com/value-chain/. (Accessed: 26
February 2021).
• Erik, V. (2013) 7 Human Resource Management Basics Every HR Professional Should
Know. Available at: https://www.digitalhrtech.com/human-resource-
basics/#:~:text=Human%20Resource%20Management%2C%20or%20HRM,fit%20into%2
0the%20company%20culture. (Accessed: 26 February 2021).
• The company warehouse. (2011) Advantages and Disadvantages of Marketing. Available
at: https://www.thecompanywarehouse.co.uk/blog/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-
marketing#:~:text=General%20Advantages%20of%20Marketing,is%20the%20enhanced%
20brand%20recognition. (Accessed: 26 February 2021).