External Environment questions
As promised, here are the questions you are working on this week:
Question 1
The Perils of Complacency The onset of the European single currency is among a raft of global issues which threaten some of Scotland’s most promising businesses, according to a leading professional advisor.
Ralph Adams, Scottish partner in charge at Deloitte and Touche, believes companies remain too complacent about the implications of the euro. And he says the massive rise in ‘wired’ competition, such as internet-based services, is changing markets as never before.
For global products, from cars to electronic components, the opportunity for price transparency is there with the euro, the advantage being with competitors who can price and process sales on a one currency basis with no added exchange costs. ‘You can see this happening with online services and increasingly with interactive buying’ points out Adams. ‘One typical example will be digital TV, when people will be able to easily buy products from anywhere’.
But the real question is whether the euro is ‘just another currency’, or does its creation herald much more significant market change. There is consensus on the latter among leading Scottish banks and professional advisors. In the end, a single currency will affect all but the very few.
Adapted from Smith, M (Jan 1999), The Perils of Complacency, Scottish Business Insider
Imagine you are a UK business who trade in Europe. You need to make plans for the move to the euro. What sort of issues might you have to consider from customers and suppliers? What issues might there be for your own organisation?
Question 2
Microsoft, was formed in the USA in 1975. They are known globally as the world’s largest software company and operate on a worldwide basis. While they have set up subsidiaries in almost all countries throughout the globe, they have chosen not to sell their products directly to consumers, instead they use third-parties (or resellers as they are known). They work closely with local software companies who exploit known local markets on behalf of Microsoft. In China, for example, Microsoft employ only 70 people but they work with more than 15,000 reseller companies to sell their products.Why has a multinational like Microsoft decided to operate in this way , and what effect might it have had on host countries?
Question 3
Read ‘United Kingdom in Europe – The impact of EU’http://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/index_en.htm
then read Scotland in Europe (PowerPoint uploaded to the blog)
and summarise the main impacts of EU policies and programmes in Scotland.
Question 4
Read about Tesco on their web sitehttp://www.tescocorporate.com/
and discuss the ways in which the company has shown itself to be socially responsible.
Question 5
Celtic Football Club won a Scottish E-commerce Award in 2000. Look at their web site on www.celticfc.co.uk and www.ebusinessforum.com and list in what ways the club has embraced technology. Suggest areas where more use could be made of technology. Alternative clubs could be used e.g. www.rangers.co.uk, which is the Glasgow Rangers Football Club.
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