MGT501 Business Environment Report

Assignment Brief 

Individual/Group Individual
Length Up to 2,500 words

Task

Critically analyze stakeholder theory in a real-life business or a project setting, with specific emphasis on relevant internal and external environment factors. In doing so, you are required to employ a stakeholder matrix and mapping techniques to determine the extent of stakeholder influence and interest.

Instructions

1. Selection of the business or a project scenario .You are required to select a verifiable real-life business organisation or a specific business project in an industry related to your course of study/area of specialisation (e.g., MGPM, MEM, MBA, MBIS, GCBA).

2. Based on the selected business organisation or project, you are required to write an up to 2500-word report on its internal and external stakeholder analysis.
Please note that the business or the project selected for Assessment 2 Discussion Forum Topics (1-4) must be the same as the business/project selected for the stakeholder analysis report. Failure to adhere to this requirement may result to a zero grade in Assessment 2.

3. The stakeholder analysis report should address the following points:

• Identify and analyse the functional areas of the business/project.

• Scan the macro economy for recent developments and comment on the future economic outlook of the business. Based on verifiable evidence, discussion MUST include the current macroeconomic environment, industry outlook and competition landscape.

• Identify the important internal and external stakeholders, and comment on their interests and level of engagement in the business/project.

• Create a stakeholder matrix, and corresponding stakeholder mappings.

• From the discussion forums, choose a peer’s contribution, which MUST be in an unrelated industry and business/project to yours. Then, compare your industry and business/project against that of your chosen peer’s.

• You are required to support your observations, statements and claims with relevant theoretical and conceptual frameworks, including evidence from credible sources.

• Note: PESTEL and Porter’s 5 Forces are good tools to help you identify most of the external stakeholders.

4. Structure and format of the report

Your individual stakeholder analysis should follow standard report structure and include the following:

• Cover page: You may use the formal Torrens University coversheet. Or a simple one with student details (student name, ID, Subject code & name, Assessment number and title, Lecturer/LF).

• Executive Summary: Provide a concise summary of the report in bullet points.

• Introduction: The aim of the report, and background information about the selected business/project.

• Main body:

o Identify the functional areas of the business/project.
o Present the macroeconomic scenario and outlook.
o Identify internal and external stakeholders, and theirroles.
o Identify the nature and degree of main stakeholders’ interests, and implications of conflicting interests.
o Identify the level of the main stakeholders’ influence.
o Create a stakeholder matrix, and corresponding stakeholder mappings.
o From the discussion forums, choose a peer’s contribution, which MUST be in a dissimilar industry and business/project to yours. Against your peer’s:

- Compare your industry and business/project operations; analyse the competition landscape, and
- Identify the main points of stakeholder dissimilarities, and analyse the differences in their interests and influences.

- Conclusion: summarise the aim and findings of the report. There should not be any new information that was not captured in the introduction and main body in the conclusion

- References

- Appendices

Referencing

Please review and provide a minimum of 15 reference sources — ten (10) academic (textbooks and peer-reviewed journal articles) and five (5) other (newspaper articles, business/trade publications, and substantiated website publications) sources.

Please note that referencesto ‘Wikipedia’ orsimilar unsubstantiated sources are not acceptable. Use APA (7th ed.) referencing style for both in-text citations and reference listing. Please see more information on referencing in the Academic Skills webpage.

Solution

1. Introduction

Headquartered in New South Wales, Australia, Champion Iron Limited is an ASX Listed mining company engaged in the production of iron ore and the development of other iron-concentrated products. It is a subsidiary of Quebec Iron ore Inc., which owns and operates the Bloom Lake Mining Complex, an open iron pit located 13 km North of Fremont. It is an exploration company, which explores, acquires and develops properties for iron ore deposits. The company additionally has portfolios for its exploration and development projects in places like Labrador Trough (IBISWorld, 2022). Incorporated in the year 2006, the company is engaged in business globally with countries like China, Japan, the Middle East, South Korea, India and Canada. With revenue over 1,460.8 M (USD) and a net income of 115.7 M (USD) for the financial year end of March 2022, the company hauled and produced 1,869,000 wmt Fe concentrate.  The company is engaged in a number of famous development projects including Bloom Lake, Kamistiatusset, Moire Lake Project, and so on (IBISWorld, 2022).

2. Functional Areas of The Business 

Marketing

Marketing in simple words refers to making people interested in a particular brand/consumable by implementing traditional as well as innovative promotion. A brand that becomes a word of mouth is the outcome of researched and strategic marketing. It comprises a concoction of strategies to achieve the goals set by a company to be the face of the product/commodity that is endorsed (Hutt & Speh, 2021). From contemplating real-time market analysis to identifying the target audience, and pricing, considering the demographic environment to ensure the durability and sustainability of a product. 

Management

Under the aegis of excellent visionary leaders, Champion Iron Company Limited projects a plethora of multi-dimensional modules to cater to all the practical details of constituting the brand name this company stands for. Headed by an outstanding team of industry experts, Champion Iron has been delivering quality through carefully envisioned planning with regard to consistent profitability. Leading the energy transition from steel to Iron ore and implementing renewable sources of energy to reduce GHG emissions is an explicit endeavour towards making a landmark in promoting green steel and how it can be the game changer in their recent Bloom LakeMine Project (Griffin, 2021).

Research and Development

Research and Development (R&D) of a company is a department that analyses the SWOTS of a business and turns an idea into monetary benefit through a comprehensive analysis of the sustainability of a business product with respect to its demand, consumables, acceptance, and eventually to build a platform for the evolving consumer-centric industry. The projects at Champion Iron explicitly display the outcome of in-depth and insightful market research such as Lake Lamelee, Harvey Tuttle Project and so on (Kazanjian, Drazin & Glynn, 2017).

3. Macroeconomic Scan 

4.1 Future Economic Outlook 

Australia has been leading the export market with the massive demand for use of green steel clubbed with various renewable forms of energy resulting in innovative technological revival in global transformation. Analysing the abundance of resources and implementing it for cost effectiveness can be specified in the regional case studies of Pilbara (West Australia) and Eyre Peninsula (South Australia) (Blondeel & Van de Graaf, 2018). While the former has access to large-scale low-cost salt caverns, the latter has effective curtailment on increasing renewable to optimise site specific expenses MBA assignment expert. 

4.2 Industry Outlook 

PESTEL Analysis

Political Factors:

A survey reveals a high rate of the federal tax system accounting for a record $26.5 billion in 2020-21 (Taxation, 2018). This puts a challenge for emerging global masters like Champion Iron with regard to keeping pace with the cost-effectiveness and recurrent global market prices to maintain sustainability. 

Economic Factors:

Australia records an upsurge in terms of the inflation rate from 6.1% in Sept 2021 to 7.3%in Sept 2022 as per data by CSI (Consumer Survey Index) (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2022). With the rise of inflation, managing effective cost production becomes a challenge that negatively affects lucid investment flow in collaborating on different projects. However, Champion Iron has a feather in its cap with stock prices rising by 0.145% in statistics provided by them.

Social Factors:

The impact of migration is a critical factor in revolutionising the economy of Australia, as migrant labourers constitute a massive part of its population thereby affecting trade policies, labour tariffs and inclusion of socio-ethical practices (Chen et al., 2017). At Champion Iron, 60% of the workforces are contractual interns comprising immigrant labourers who carry forward the policy of inclusiveness and promotion of global work ethics. Additionally, Champion also encourages in leading community centric projects to inculcate socio-economic development that impacts large scale audience and thereby makes the company multi-spectrum.

Technological Factors:

While the global economy is still affected post COVID-19 pandemic, yet with the intervention of the Australian Government in regulating the policies of governance has been a major driving force in helping the mining industries collaborate on benefits and allowances to employees (Goggin, 2020). 

Environmental Factors:

The SLO requirements help in maintaining the environmental sustainability of the company in terms of the mining company. This will also help the company in maintain the CSR responsibility so that the commitments of the company towards environment are maintained.   

Legal Factors:    

The laws that are associated with the mining companies in Australia include the mining Act of 1992, which helps in maintaining the working of the company along with the labours. 

4.3 Competitive landscape

Porter’s 5 Forces

Threat of New Entrants:

The window for the edge-end competition is high due to emerging innovation and technological advancements with different investors pouring in for the same (Isabelle et al., 2020). However, the limitations in its endeavour to regulate market inflation reduce the window of fresh entrants who are sceptical of marginal profits. Hence, the threat of new entrants is high for the Champion Iron Limited.

Bargaining Power of the Suppliers:

The global advantage in a strong supplier base has seen massive growth in Australia. The overall bargaining skills of suppliers providing raw materials depend on the market demand for the materials. As such, developing a multi-supply chain and dealing with new and emerging suppliers who probably are more negotiable makes it a profitable statement for the company (Reinkemeyer, 2020). Therefore, Champion Iron definitely has the challenging threat of high bargaining potential of suppliers.

Bargaining Power of the Customers:

Lesser demand for consumer commodities results in potential threats to the company. Nevertheless, a large customer base and innovative products to cater to different customer needs reduce the threats to a minimum (Isabelle et al., 2020). Therefore, Champion Iron poses high risk with regard to keeping the consumer demand in place.

Threat of Substitutes:

Replacement of popular consumer products is always possible with attractive pricing and discount rates. To tackle this, cost switching and a core understanding of the shifting needs of the consumers help in better sustainability (Reinkemeyer, 2020). The competitive global market poses moderate risk for Champion Iron to beat the rest and lead.

Threat of Rivalry:

With increasing competition, keeping pace in the global market can be a tedious task yet providing practical solutions to improve service; uncompromising quality and better pricing always stand a chance of leading the lot (Reinkemeyer, 2020). However, Champion Iron’s statistics reveal that it is a trendsetter in waiving out competitive rivals. Therefore, the threat of rivalry is low for the company.

4. Internal and External Stakeholders and Their Roles 

Stakeholders are individuals or organisations, or other entities that are in some way or the other associated with the company or the organisation. They may have an impact on or have an influence over the organisational policies, practices and activities. In business, there are primarily two categories of stakeholders-internal and external. Internal stakeholders also called primary stakeholders include the employees, owners, board of directors, clients, suppliers, investors and shareholders, and have different roles with respect to their interests, responsibilities and degree of influence on company policies (Derakhshan, Turner & Mancini, 2019). In Champion Iron Limited, the employees are the primary strength of the company. The company policies are concentrated towards its organisational development and the empowerment of its employees. The company is committed to providing its best quality products and concentrates on adherence to the client's expectations. Its vision of sustainability is qualitatively aligned with its supply chain and ensures value-laden delivery to its clients. In terms of the investors and stakeholders, they share their commitment to taking care of the operational and financial factors and additionally manage the environmental and organisational risks, community relations, safety and health and so on.

External stakeholders or secondary stakeholders do not directly impact the company with its performance but do affirm certain interests in its policies. It includes the government, local communities, NGOs, competitive industry peers and local indigenous groups. Champion Iron Ltd. is dedicated to drafting and submitting rigorous company operational and informational reports in accordance with government regulations. This is done through the software packages and review reports received from various authorities. The company ensures to maintain a strong and friendly relationship with the local communities. This helps them in understanding their performance, and business outcomes in relation to the views and concerns of these communities (Markovic & Bagherzadeh, 2018). Rigorous research activities are also carried out with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) emphasising the concerns, trends, issues and interests of particular projects or mining projects in general. The company participates in local and global conferences, symposiums, seminars and trade fairs to learn, monitor and adapt the best techniques and practices undertaken by other peer companies in the mining industry. Last but not the least; the company maintains a cordial, constructive and beneficial relationship with the local indigenous groups in assessing its business impact and other factors.

5. Nature and Degree of Those Main Stakeholders’ Interests 

The company intends to mobilise its two most important categories of stakeholders- employees and suppliers. The company considers the employees as their fundamental strength. In order to create a healthy working environment, the company conducts surveys, and regular assessments, creating a transparent space for employees to interact and engage in delivering feedback. On the other hand, the company hopes to respond to its growing customer expectations with the help of the primary actors of the supply chain. The company initiates regular meetings with its suppliers in various conferences and deliberates on the aspirations and goals of both the company and the supplier's side. Secondly, the company is committed to providing the best quality products to its clients (Andriof & Waddock, 2017). The company keeps a close interactive bond with the clients, understands their satisfaction and accordingly improves the delivery initiatives. The company is acquainted with the client’s expectations and needs and then adapts the company processes accordingly. Again, the company engages in discussions with the government on their projects and receives their views, which are further implemented in strategic planning and decision-making.

The company collaborates with indigenous groups, Trade Unions and Local Communities. Mutually beneficial partnerships and negotiations take place while keeping cordial relationships with these three stakeholders. The company deals with effective criticism and ensures the social and economic well-being of the surroundings associated with it.  The media as a stakeholder is primarily concerned with delivering adequate and transparent information with respect to the public interest. On the other hand, the investors and stakeholders are taken into account in analysing the informational and operations factors of the company (Andriof & Waddock, 2017). Finally, the company considers the acknowledgement of the NGOs in receiving feedback and social acceptability as well as keeps a close view of the industry peers for keeping themselves aware of the current trends of the sector.

6.1 Implications of conflicting interests 

Different stakeholders have different interests and it is evident that conflicting interests might occur. In that case, the company decides to keep a significant consideration of the stakeholder’s interest along with the interest of its own. The company discusses and deliberates on engagement policies and practices with respect to human rights when it comes to conflict with indigenous groups (Andriof & Waddock, 2017). In the case of non-compliance with environmental opinions, it is immediately communicated with the government to avoid critical situations.

6. Level of main stakeholders’ influence (power) 

The main stakeholders at Champion Iron is inclusive of government, clients, the workforce, investors and so on who invariably form a part of decision-making that primarily help the company in emerging as a Global Leader in the Mining Sector through intensive market analysis, assuring quality enhancement conforming to global business standards. Collaboration of transparent business ethics in working with stakeholders at Champion Iron has consistently reduced the window of potential threats and risks for the company.

7.1 Source of stakeholder influence (power) 

The stakeholders who are an indispensable part of Champion Iron’s strategic business revolution are playing a multi-dimensional role in their respective domains by helping and contributing skills, expertise and providing realistic and qualitative solutions for the same to enhance Global sustainability.

7. Stakeholder Matrix and Map

In order to analyse the stakeholder’s impact on the decision-making process of the company, Stakeholder Matrix has been used.
 

8. Comparison with a Different Industry 

9.1 Comparison of the two industries and their competition landscape 

The Banking and Mining sectors are two very different industry landscapes. Banks are financial institutions dealing in monetary aspects, while the mining industry deals with solid resources followed by extraction, management and utilisation of those resources. The banking sector receives most of its competition from other financial organisations and the government, while the mining industry deals with competitors from their own sector and any industry, which brings an alternative to their resource (Tao, Chen & Pan, 2019).

9.2 Dissimilarities between stakeholders between the two industries 

A renowned bank in Australia, National Australia Bank Limited includes customers, employers, shareholders and investors, suppliers, community partners, government, media and other advocacy organisations as its stakeholders. On the other hand, a mining company like Champion Iron Ltd. includes clients, government, Employees, Suppliers, Civil Society & NGOs, Industry Peers, Media, and shareholders & Investors as its stakeholders.

9.3 Dissimilarities between stakeholders’ interests between the two industries 

In the case of National Australia Bank Limited, the stakeholders are interested majorly in issues of affordability of banking services, ethical practices, financial education, accessibility, inclusivity, grants and sponsorships. While on the other hand, the mining sector involves stakeholder interests in share prices, human rights issues, delivery of products, environmental concerns and so on (Suraya & Gantino, 2022).

9.4 Dissimilarities between stakeholders’ influences between the two industries

Speaking of the influence of the different stakeholders, in the banking sector, the stakeholders like customers, advocacy organisations, and media can enforce pressure on the bank to focus on their banking practices, while the government and NGOs can be barriers to their business initiatives. In the mining industry, however, the power of influence ranges from the voting rights of shareholders to concerns of conflicting interests with indigenous groups and many such alike.

9. Conclusion 

Stakeholders play a crucial role in any business setting. In this study, the stakeholder matrix of a mining industry elucidates how different stakeholders assume different roles and are analysed in accordance with their level of influence and degree of interest. With reference to Champion Iron Ltd. and its macroeconomic study of recent developments along with future business outcomes, the stakeholder analysis using: PESTEL and Porter’s 5 Forces shows how the company balances its stakeholders and their interests without compromising its business objectives. Keeping up with conflicts of interest and unfavourable circumstances every organisation categorically emphasises how to resolve those conflicts and ensure a high-yielding business output.

10. References

Adler, R., Mansi, M., Pandey, R., & Stringer, C. (2017). United Nations Decade on Biodiversity: A study of the reporting practices of the Australian mining industry. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal.

Andriof, J., & Waddock, S. (2017). Unfolding stakeholder engagement. In Unfolding stakeholder thinking (pp. 19-42). Routledge. DOI: https://10.4324/9781351281881 
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2022). Price indexes and inflation. Retrieved 7 December 2022, from https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation 

Blondeel, M., & Van de Graaf, T. (2018). Toward a global coal mining moratorium? A comparative analysis of coal mining policies in the USA, China, India and Australia. Climatic Change, 150(1), 89-101.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-017-2135-5 

Champion Iron. (2020). 2020 Sustainability Report. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://www.championiron.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/champion-rapport-durable-2020-en.pdf 

Champion Iron. (2020, October 23). Iron ore mine: Mining company: Quebec. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://www.championiron.com/ 

Chen, W., Hall, B. J., Ling, L., & Renzaho, A. M. (2017). Pre-migration and post-migration factors associated with mental health in humanitarian migrants in Australia and the moderation effect of post-migration stressors: findings from the first wave data of the BNLA cohort study. The Lancet Psychiatry, 4(3), 218-229. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(17)30032-9 

Derakhshan, R., Turner, R., & Mancini, M. (2019). Project governance and stakeholders: a literature review. International Journal of Project Management, 37(1), 98-116. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2018.10.007 

Frederiksen, T. (2018). Corporate social responsibility, risk and development in the mining industry. Resources Policy, 59, 495-505.

Goggin, G. (2020). COVID-19 apps in Singapore and Australia: reimagining healthy nations with digital technology. Media International Australia, 177(1), 61-75. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X20949770

Griffin, R. W. (2021). Management. Cengage Learning. http://www.o-wallstreet.com/media/Syllabi/Fall%202020/Graduate/MGT6175_E1.pdf 

Hutt, M. D., & Speh, T. W. (2021). Business marketing management: B2B. South-Western, Cengage Learning. http://dspace.vnbrims.org:13000/jspui/bitstream/123456789/4877/1/Business%20Marketing%20Management%20B2B.pdf 

IBISWorld (2022). Industry Market Research, Reports, and Statistics. Retrieved 7 December 2022, from https://www.ibisworld.com/au/company/champion-iron-limited/425960/#:~:text=Champion%20Iron%20Limited%20is%20a,head%20office%20in%20Montreal%2C%20Canada .

Isabelle, D., Horak, K., McKinnon, S., & Palumbo, C. (2020). Is Porter's Five Forces Framework Still Relevant? A study of the capital/labour intensity continuum via mining and IT industries. Technology Innovation Management Review, 10(6). https://www.timreview.ca/sites/default/files/article_PDF/TIMReview_2020_June%20-%203.pdf 

Kazanjian, R. K., Drazin, R., & Glynn, M. A. (2017). Implementing strategies for corporate entrepreneurship: A knowledge‐based perspective. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset, 173-199. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405164085.ch9 

Markovic, S., & Bagherzadeh, M. (2018). How does breadth of external stakeholder co-creation influence innovation performance? Analyzing the mediating roles of knowledge sharing and product innovation. Journal of Business Research, 88, 173-186. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.03.028

Miklosik, A., & Evans, N. (2021). Environmental sustainability disclosures in annual reports of mining companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Heliyon, 7(7), e07505.

Minerals.org.au. (2022, November 07). Taxation: A successful Australian mining sector means a stronger Australian economy. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://www.minerals.org.au/taxation 

Mining Technology. (2022, September 01). Why Australia is leading the way in mining technology adoption. Retrieved December 05, 2022, from https://www.mining-technology.com/sponsored/why-australia-is-leading-the-way-in-mining-technology-adoption/ 

O'Neill, A. (2022, November 02). Australian inflation rate 2027. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/271845/inflation-rate-in-australia/ 

Oxfam Australia. (2022, March 21). Impacts of mining. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://www.oxfam.org.au/what-we-do/economic-inequality/mining/impacts-of-mining/

Reinkemeyer, L. (2020). Process mining in action. Process Mining in Action Principles, Use Cases and Outloook. DOI: https://10.1007/978-3-030-40172-6 

Rodrigues, M., & Mendes, L. (2018). Mapping of the literature on social responsibility in the mining industry: A systematic literature review. Journal of cleaner production, 181, 88-101. 

Suraya, L., & Gantino, R. (2022). Comparison of the Influence of Good Corporate Governance, Return on Asset, Net Profit Margin on Company Value with Corporate Social Responsibility as Moderating Variables (Empirical Study on Banking and Mining Companies Listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange 2016-2020). DOI: https://10.36349/easjebm.2022.v05i01.004 

Tao, S., Chen, S. & Pan, Z., (2019). Current status, challenges, and policy suggestions for coalbed methane industry development in China: A review. Energy Science & Engineering, 7(4), pp.1059-1074.  DOI: https://10.1002/ese3.358