Business Environment refers to a set of forces and conditions inside and outside the organization’s boundaries that have the probability of affecting the way the organization runs.
Understanding the environment within which the business has to operate is very important for running a business unit successfully at any place.
Because the environmental factors influence almost every aspect of the business, be it its nature, its location, the prices of products, the distribution system, or the personnel policies.
Hence it is important to learn about the various components of the business environment, which consists of the economic aspect, the socio-cultural aspects, the
First, a particular input is more likely to reach awareness if it relates to an anticipated event., the legal aspects, and the technological aspects, etc.
In this post, we will learn about the concept of the business environment, its nature and significance, and the various components of the environment.
Also, we will acquaint ourselves with the concept of social responsibility of business and business ethics.
This selectivity of the perceptual process leads to selective distortion as well as selective retention. It is the changing or twisting of currently received information to make it more consistent with the internal beliefs of the individual.
It usually occurs when the information that one receives is not in conformity with either his feelings or beliefs. It lessens, to a great extent, the effect of the stimulus on the individual.
- On the other hand, selective retention is the phenomenon in which an individual remembers information inputs that bolster or support his feelings and beliefs and forget inputs that do not. After viewing a television advertisement for a product, an individual may forget many points if they are inconsistent with his earlier beliefs.
- The second step of the perceptual process is the organization of stimuli noticed by the individual. Information that reaches the awareness of a person is not received in an organized form.
- He must organize them to get meaning out of them. This organization is done quickly to obtain meaning and how an individual organizes information influences the meaning of information.
- The third step of the perceptual process is the interpretation of stimuli received and organized by the individual. Interpretation of stimuli or information is required to reduce the ambiguity of the individual. Using his mental make-up or cognitive structure, an individual interprets information. A person usually bases interpretation on what is similar.
- What individuals see or hear is not pure. It is rather influenced and filtered by the intensity and frequency of the stimuli, the other competing stimuli in the environment, and the needs, inner feelings, and experiences.
An advertisement of a pain reliever, for example, may or may not be perceived by an individual watching television depending on how long it was on the air; how many other ads were on and the physical attributes of those ads; and whether or not the individual had pain at the time of transmission of the ad.
As stated earlier, the success of every business depends on adapting itself to the environment within which it functions.
For example,
Gestalt theory focuses on how people organize or combine stimuli around them into a meaningful whole. Gestalt is a German term that means a pattern or configuration. According to the Gestalt theorists, we interpret stimuli in holistic terms..
Similarly, a change in the technology may render the existing products obsolete, as we have seen that the introduction of computers has replaced the typewriters; the color television has made the black and white television out of fashion.
Again a change in the fashion or customers’ taste may shift the demand in the market for a particular product, e.g., the demand for jeans reduced the sale of other traditional wear.
All these aspects are external factors that are beyond the control of the business. So the business units must have to adapt themselves to these changes to survive and succeed in business.
Hence, it is very necessary to have a clear understanding of the concept and the nature of its various components.
To be more specific, a proper understanding of the social, political, legal, and economic environment helps the business in the following ways:
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They argue that, human behavior must be viewed as individually patterned totalities. Behavior should be explained in terms of all the factors that are operating when an event happens. Thus buying is not motivated by a single element, but is the some total of many elements.
Field theory is a useful refinement of Gestalt psychology, formulated by Kurt Lewin. The essence of this theory is that, buyer behavior is the result of one’s psychological field existing at the time of taking buying decisions.
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Thus, according to this theory, a person makes the decision to buy, taking into consideration product, quality, price, advertising, retailers, etc., all combined into a particular pattern, consistent with buyer’s expectations.
Gestalt psychologists have identified few principles of organization of perceptual stimuli. They are considered below:
It is found from Gestalt experiments that we organize our perceptions into simple patterns. Even if a particular stimulus is complex, an individual is likely to perceive it simply.
Individuals tend to organize their perceptions into two major patterns – figure, and ground. Figure represents those elements within a perceptual field that are attended mostly by the individual. by showing their sensitivity to the environment within which they are working.
For example, given the shortage of power, many companies have set up Captive Power Plants (CPP) in their factories to meet their requirement of power.
Il aide les entreprises à analyser les stratégies des concurrents et à formuler leurs stratégies en conséquence.
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Identifier les forces et les faiblesses de l'entreprise
Closure
