Identify one industry from the UK Standard Industrial Classification (SIC 2007) and choose a UK public limited company (PLC) from the industry.

One of the most important and influential elements of the business environment is the structure of the industry. Briefly discuss the structure of your chosen industry.

Briefly discuss the business organisation and its nature of your chosen company (a UK PLC) in relation to the structure of the industry.

Use the Social, Technological, Economical, Environmental, Political, Legal and Ethical (STEEPLE) analysis to analyse the external business environment of the chosen company over the last 5-10 years. Students are expected to discuss each factor separately, for example, consider in what ways technology (T) might influence the organisational structure of a business. Students must discuss the four bullet points listed as below for the microeconomic and macroeconomic factors, and are allowed to extend their discussions beyond the four bullet points:

Social factor analysis

Technological factor analysis

Environmental factor analysis

Political factor analysis

Legal factor analysis