Challenges of Business

Looking at the recent business catastrophes and corruptions, one must ask that what’s going on in our business sector. While the general belief indicates that with so many business experts and MBAs in the market, business health should be improved, evidences and stats show otherwise. Business corruption is not a new product and has been around for centuries. To understand the underlying reasons that cause business corruption we should examine components that are affecting business in general. One these elements are established and definitions are stabilized, we can see their impact on business growth or failure.
Every business at one point or another is dealing with internal and external factors. These factors are divided to three group of General, Specific and Internal. “General environment”, as an external factor and being the widest one, is the part that consists of six key forces. We can say that all businesses are almost equally exposed to these general factors. Here they are:
1. Economic forces (downsizing, bankruptcies, recession, boom, exchange rates, interest rates)
2. Political forces ( New regulations, de-regulations , border regulations)
3. Competitive forces (pure competition, monopoly, oligopoly)
4. Technological forces
5. Global forces (9-11, SARS, Hurricanes, Trade agreements such as NAFTA , climate change)
6. Societal forces (societal norms, values, ethical beliefs, demographic changes)
The second group of elements which are closer to the kernel of business is the “specific group” . This group consists of parties and groups that have a direct influence on the business. Here are the most important parties:
• Customers
• Suppliers
• Labor pool
• Competitors
• Unions
• Resellers/Agents/Distributes
• Local public
• Media
• Local and federal Government

This group sometimes is called “Stakeholders environment”. This becomes more clear when stakeholders are defined as “individuals or groups with whom business interacts and who have a stake , or vested interest in the business” .
The third group, which contains elements insides the organization is called “Internal environment” . Three major parties that form the internal environment are as follow:

1- People – People Management
2- Business strategy
3- Business Structure


Business and social responsibility:
There is no doubt that every business’s primary goal is to provide goods and services in a profitable manner. Although a lot of business efforts are focused on fiscal activities, there is a societal aspect of the business that some companies fail to provision. This aspect consists of:

• Environmental issues
• Bribery and corruption
• Workplace condition
• Product liability
• Political influence
• Ethical issues
Despite the old and common belief that business and ethics are not heavily interrelated, the recent trend indicates that there is a demand from society for businesses to act ethically. With the growth of media and its coverage, a lot of ethical or unethical behaviors of business have been exposed to the public and has resulted in a dramatic change in society-business relation. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to those obligation and responsibilities of an organization that goes beyond the production of good/services and acting within the legal framework.