Unit 1 - Business organization and environment

This unit of the IB Business Management syllabus provides the introductory context to business management. Unit 1 examines both the internal and external business environments, using a range of business management tools, theories and techniques. These include types of business organizations, organizational objectives, SWOT analysis, the Ansoff matrix, stakeholder analysis, and HL Only topics such as fishbone diagrams (cause and effect diagrams), force field analysis, Gantt charts, and decision trees.

• The role of businesses in combining human, physical and financial resources to create goods and services (AO2)
• The main business functions and their roles: human resources, finance and accounts. marketing, and operations (AO2)
• Primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary sectors (AO2)
• The nature of business activity in each sector and the impact of sectoral change on business activity (AO2)
• The role of entrepreneurship (and entrepreneur) and intrapreneurship (and intrapreneur) in overall business activity (AO3)
• Reasons for starting up a business or an enterprise (AO2)
• Common steps in the process of starting up a business or an enterprise (AO2)
• Problems that a new business or enterprise may face (AO2)
• The elements of a business plan (AO2)

• Distinction between the private and the public sectors (AO2)
• The main features of the following types of for-profit (commercial) organizations: sole traders, partnerships, and companies / corporations (AO3)
• The main features of the following types of for-profit social enterprises: cooperatives,  microfinance providers, and public-private partnerships (PPP) (AO3)
• The main features of the following types of non-profit social enterprises: non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and charities (AO3)

• Vision statement and mission statement (AO2)
• Aims, objectives, strategies and tactics, and their relationships (AO3)
• The need for organizations to change objectives and innovate in response to changes in internal and external environments (AO3)
• Ethical objectives and corporate social responsibility (CSR) (AO1)
• The reasons why organizations set ethical objectives and the impact of implementing them (AO3)
• The evolving role and nature of CSR (AO3)
• SWOT analysis of a given organization (AO3 & AO4)
• Ansoff matrix for different growth strategies of a given organization (AO3 & AO4)

• The interests of internal stakeholders (AO2)
• The interests of external stakeholders (AO2)
• Possible areas of mutual benefit and conflict between stakeholders’ interests (AO3)

• STEEPLE analysis of a given organization (AO2 & AO4)
• Consequences of a change in any of the STEEPLE factors for a business’s objectives and strategy (AO3)

• Economies and diseconomies of scale (AO2)
• The merits of small versus large organizations (AO3)
• The difference between internal and external growth (AO2)
• The following external growth methods: mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and takeovers, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and franchising (AO3)
• The role and impact of globalization on the growth and evolution of businesses (AO3)
• Reasons for the growth of multinational companies (MNCs) (AO3)
• The impact of MNCs on the host countries (AO3)

• The following planning tools in a given situation: fishbone diagram, decision tree, force field analysis, and Gantt chart (AO2 & AO4)
• The value to an organization of these planning tools (AO3)