Principles of Supporting Change in a Business Environment

Principles of supporting change in a business environment

Section 1 – Understand why change happens in a business environment

1. Explain why change happens in a business environment. You should include at least three reasons in your answer.

Reasons for change in a business environment may include: internal factors • A business wants to reduce waste and costs • A business launches a new product • A business introduces 24-hour customer support • A business introduces quality management techniques

external factors
- Political factors
Examples include: • Government (policies, regulations, grants and the government as a client or customer) • International (conflict, political change, pressure groups and trade policies) • Legislation (domestic, European, future legislation, and international legislation)
- Economic factors
Examples include: • Domestic (competitors' behaviour, economic performance of businesses in the UK, trends, tax and interest rates) • International (competitors' behaviour, economy, economic trends, tax, interest rates, exchange rates and trade issues)

Social factors

Examples include:
Advertising and PR, brands and image, consumer attitudes, consumer buying preferences, demographics, ethical issues, events, media views.

Technological factors

Examples include:
Ability to install new technology (and of competitors to do so), emerging new technologies, funding for technological research, development and implementation, intellectual property rights, technology legislation and the technological life cycle.

Section 2 – Understand the purpose of supporting change in a business environment

1. Identify the main reasons for reviewing working methods, products and / or services in a business environment.

Reasons for reviewing working methods, products or services may include:
• identifying anything that is not working
• providing the opportunity to