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Level 4 Diploma in Business Management

Assessing a business’s external environment alongside its internal environment

BM402 · Business Operations — Week 14 of 16

CourseBM402
Week14 of 16
SemesterI
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This week’s topics

Assessing a business’s external environment alongside its internal environment

  1. PESTLE
  2. Porter’s Five Forces framework/Ansoff matrix
  3. SWOT/TOWS
  4. Preparing for change

What you will be able to do

  • 3.4 Assess a business’s internal environment.
  • 4.4 Assess a business’s external environment.

Activity

Start with this week’s video, then discuss how they apply to this week’s topic and note one example from a real business.

Study materials

Videos

  • What drives a successful nighttime economy? · Oak National Academy, Key Stage 4 (GCSE level) · for registered students

Further resources

  • EU Economic Forecast, Spring 2026, Part III, ch. 1: Belgium · PDF · European Commission (May 2026), the Belgian economy now; pp. 92–93 · for registered students
  • Business Ethics, ch. 10.3: Alternatives to traditional patterns of work · PDF · OpenStax (2018), the gig economy and non-standard contracts; US-based; pp. 283–289 · for registered students
  • BBC 6 Minute English: The circular economy (transcript) · PDF · BBC Learning English transcript (accessible) on the linear vs circular economy · for registered students
  • The Rise and Nature of Alternative Work Arrangements in the United States · Open-access article · Katz & Krueger (2019), ILR Review. Measures the growth of gig, agency and on-call work and who does it. · for registered students
Materials marked “for registered students” open in the student portal, which is set up as soon as you receive final acceptance.
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Admitted students ask questions on this week’s page in the student portal: an AI assistant trained on the course answers first, and during the course’s timetabled classes Connect to your tutor brings your tutor into the chat, who may start a call if needed.

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Course plan
  • Week 1: Business sectors: primary, secondary, tertiary and quaterna…
  • Week 2: Types of business: profit, not for profit, NGOs, micro, SME…
  • Week 3: Legal structures: sole trader, partnership, limited company…
  • Week 4: Business functions and how they work together
  • Week 5: Organisational structures: hierarchic, bureaucratic, matrix…
  • Week 6: How functional relationships shape structure: charts, autho…
  • Week 7: The internal environment of a business and why it is import…
  • Week 8: Midterm evaluation
  • Week 9: Quantifying the internal environment with SWOT/TOWS
  • Week 10: Assessing the internal environment: capacity assessment gri…
  • Week 11: The external environment of a business and why it matters
  • Week 12: Measuring the external environment with PESTLE
  • Week 13: Competition: Porter's Five Forces and the Ansoff matrix
  • Week 14: Assessing a business’s external environment alongside its i…
  • Week 15: Review and coursework completion
  • Week 16: Final evaluation and project assessment
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