ENVIROMNMENTEL ANALYSIS CASE STUDY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

ENVIROMNMENTEL ANALYSIS CASE STUDY - Essay Example The retail firm operates on the basis of several formats like Discount Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and Marketside to help cater to different levels of customer needs (Walmart Corporate, 2011). The business environment of Wal-Mart like any other business firm is divided along both internal and external facets. The internal environment of the firm is governed by the family ownership of Wal-Mart being the largest stakeholders. Further, the firm works in a centralized fashion with higher management settled at Arkansas. The retail firm strategizes its internal operations with a view to reduce the operational cost and binds the workers to each other. It continually promotes research and development activities to innovate newer private label products. (Environmental Scanning, n.d.). The external environment of the firm is composed of economic, political, social and technological factors. Further being internationally spread the firm is amenable to environmental changes of the different nations and also faces global completion from a large number of retailers. (Wal-Mart Case Study, 2010). Business Environment of a Firm The business environment of a firm is composed of such factors belonging to the external side of it and would affect the present and future operations of the firm. Moreover, different business firms have different types of business environment which is thus situational in nature. Specifically, the business environment of a firm is divided into two factors viz. general and task. The general business environment is also known as the social environment and encompasses the macro-economic factors affecting the business operations. On the other hand, the ‘task environment’ of a business firm encompasses the factors which can be managed by the firm itself and thus relate to the micro-business environment. The general business environment of a business firm can be further sub-divide into the culture and historical status of the region or country to which the firm belongs. Moreover, it also encompasses the technological and economical development of the region and other such demographic factors like age and income level of the population. The total set of social and legal factors including government rules and regulations govern the external environment of the firm. On the other hand, the task environment of the business firm being the micro-economic environment is composed of factors like suppliers, customers, other competing firms, legal and regulatory issues of the local government and other technological changes. The general environment being huge easily governs the task environment of a business firm and thereby governs the business processes of the specific firm. (Kew & Stredwick, 2005.p.1-2). International Business Environment of a Business Firm The international environment of a business firm is mainly governed by the general macro-economic factors of the different countries in which the business company has set up its regional centers. The business environment of the firm is affected by the different social, cultural, legal and ethical norms of the different societies in which the business house has set up its outlets and offices. Again, the cultural and social factors differ from region to region. Thus, a business entity may perform flexibly in one area while operating in a certain economy while on the other it may face certain hurdles while trying to perform the same business