BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

INTRODUCTION

Supplier can be seen as a person or group of persons, or which duty or work is to supply the needs or demand of an organization or firm at a particular point in time.

An internal suppliers are organizations owned service proud providers who provide whatever a company or an organization needs with the sole aim is to see to the growth of its organization.

Internal supplier can be used also to describe those micro operations which take outputs from, and give inputs to, any other micro operations. Each micro operations is therefore at the same time both an internal supplier of goods and services. The internal supplier concept is regarded by some as one of the most powerful aspects to emerge from total quality management. It is recognized that every one is a customer within the organization and consumes goods and services provided by other internal suppliers, but at the same time is an internal supplier of goods and services for other internal customers.        

DEFINITION AND EXPLANATION OF BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

According to Onuoha; the environment of a business as consisting of a set of conditions and forces which surround and have direct influences on the organization. Kotler (1980:84) observe that the business environment virtually affects the company through the fact that it is changing, constraining and uncertain. For Kotlers, the environment is continually in a flux, spinning off new opportunities and threats and instead of changing slowly and predictably, the environment is capable of producing surprise and shocks. It is for this reason that Drucker (1969), states that we are in an age of   discontinuity.

The only permanent thing in a business environment is change. Business environment can be defined as all the persons, groups, forces, actors or their agents whose actions directly or indirectly affect the operations of an enterprises.

The business environment is generally categorized into two: Macro/external businesss environment and micro/internal business environment. Macro business environment refers to outside, larger, social, political, technological and cultural forces that affect the operations of business organization. In most cases, those forces are external to the firm and therefore, described as external factors.

A second category of the environment is micro/internal factor which is define as the forces within the business environment that affect business activities.

There are two categories of business environment:

MACRO/EXTERNAL FORCES AND MICRO/INTERNAL FORCES

* MACRO/EXTERNAL FORCES:

These are forces that are outside the business organization but do exert enormous influences on organizations. They include; demographic, political and national forces others are economic, cultural, technological and legal.

* MICRO/INTERNAL FORCES:

These are factors that exist within the firm or in its immediate environment. They are the organization itself including its human and non-human resources, the suppliers, the customers and the competitors.

THE SUPPLIER

The supplier is a party that supplies goods. We can also define a supplier as an individual that distribute goods to an organization. Suppliers can also be known as distributors. They typically buy from manufacturers and distribute to the sellers. Suppliers may ship product to distribution centers maintained by the buyers or they may ship product directly to retail stores for immediate resale.

THE SUPPLIER BELONGS TO THE INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL BUSINESS ENVIORNMENT

This is because the suppliers also engage in business a activity which is the distribution of goods to business organizations. Most organization depends on the supplier for the supply of their product.

The actions of this supplier may affect the organizations. The problem of the supplier like machine breakdown, flat tire etc may affect the organization because the supplier will be able to deliver late.

Conventionally, organizations are advised to identify and make use of different suppliers. However, this may be difficult where the supplier is a monopoly or where the nature of the input makes it difficult for it to be sourced with relative ease.

A supplier who is a part of the same company as its customer is an internal supplier; they may provide products or services. They are the upstream processes and the support groups that provide their cosworkers with the tools to do their jobs.

REASON WHY SUPPLIERS BELONG TO INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

(1) They are the people, machines or processes delivering or supplying products or parts they have made to the next (in sequence) work areas.

(2) They have an opportunity to satisfy an internal customer by delivering quality products, on time, every time, where their internal customers want them, how they want them.

(3) Supplier is said to be internal when, it works in accordance with the demand of that organization that it provide their needs at that particular period of time.

Using Jabita international hotel as a case study, Mr. Samuel is a staff of Jabita international hotel under the department of store keeper. His duty is to make purchases and supply all the department according to their needs at that particular point in time in order to achieve free running of that organization as the case may be.

In most time, if Mr. Samuel the supplier, supply the needed items to all the department, the hotel will sell beyond what they would have sell if any item is missing. In order way round if the hotel don’t have any item to sell they will stand in a chance of loosing some of their customer because the needs of that customer is not provided at the demand point. This is to say that the role of a supplier is very crucial or important to any establishment or form for it effective running of the organization.

(4) When a supplier is say to be internal, the organization or firm is on advantage than when is on external, because the firm have a better chance in running in a less cost than in a high cost, the organization will already have the knowledge of what the cost of an item is in the market than when is been run by external supplier whom may not review all the cost of an item he or she is supplying to them because, he or she want to make more money from what he or she suppliers.

(5) A supplier has a great power as they control the necessary inputs to an organizations operational process. However, we can say that the key supplier of a business are internal individuals/ vendors who provide the company with direct input into key processes. Key processes provide goods and services to customers, including products development, manufacturing, sales and marketing. Internal individual suppliers to key processes have different modes of operation.

(6) Internal suppliers directly affect the products and services offered by a company. These include sales employees, managers, marketing, personnel and product developer.

CONCLUSION

Essentially, everyone and every department is someone’s customers and someone’s suppliers Departments may have many different internal suppliers and internal customers. Whether an individual or a department has only one or many customers/suppliers they should always treat them as if they were “prized customers” or “valued suppliers”. And internal suppliers always aim at making its internal customers happy by providing them with the best quality goods and services they required.

In conclusion since internal forces are forces within the firm or organization and suppliers engage in business activities in the organization it is therefore clear that suppliers belong to internal forces in the organization.

REFERENCES

Kotler Politics (1980) principles of marketing, (Englewood Cliffs: Pretice-Hall).

Drucker, PF (1970) Management and society. (London: Pan Books Ltd).

Enudu, T.O. (1999) Introduction to business management in Nigeria (Aba: Unique Press Ltd.).