IB Business Management: 
Unit 1 - Business Organisation and Environment

Business Organisation and Environment in IB Business Management is one of the five core topics and is assessed in both Paper 1 and Paper 2 SL and HL examinations. 

What is a business?

A business is a decision-making organisation involved in the process of using inputs to produce goods and/or provide products. Management guru Peter Drucker famously put forward the premise that only purpose of a business is to create customers. Businesses exist to satisfy the needs and wants of people, organisations and governments. 

The Business Organisation and Environment section of the IB Business and Management course will provide you with a great introduction into the nature of business.

Business Organisation and Environment

The IB Business Management course Business Organisation and Environment topic aims to give the student a good overview of:
  • What businesses are and what roles and functions they perform, and how they fit with and operate within the economic and political environment
  • The different types of organisation that operate in our societies. Why people start businesses, how to identify business opportunities and examine possible problems that are faced by start-ups
  • The aims and objectives of different organisations, both short-term and long-term, and tactical and strategic decisions. ethical objectives and corporate social responsibility is examined
  • Who the main stakeholders (internal and external) in different businesses are, and how conflict may arise between different groups of stakeholders as well as methods for resolving conflict
  • The environment that businesses operate in, including the social, political, legal, ethical, and technological opportunities to exploit and threats for organisations to confront
  • The range of organisational planning tools that are available to businesses to help managers analyse their operations and inform decision-making 
  • How businesses grow, develop and evolve; and, in fact, whether it is necessarily a good thing to pursue growth for growth's sake
  • How businesses must face change and manage change successfully or get left behind
  • The growing importance and influence of  globalisation on the business world and the general social milieu of the modern corporate world

The Corporation

The Corporation is a fascinating insight into the business world. The documentary definitely casts big business in a poor light. There is a lot that is right with businesses today. They generate incomes and wealth for countries, communities, families and individuals. However, unscrupulous business still does a much harm with unfair trade and employment practices, bribery, corruption and environmental harm.

The Corporation has been described as being a prescient documentary in as much that what is discussed in it would be borne out in the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, the effects of which are still reverberating around the world today.

An  introduction to the business world