Business · Topic 1: Investigating small business
Understanding external influences on business
The people and forces outside a small business's control: its stakeholders, changing technology, the law, the state of the economy, and how a business responds when any of them change.
Lessons
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1
Business stakeholders
A stakeholder is anyone affected by a business - owners, employees, customers, managers, suppliers, the local community, pressure groups and the government…
6 terms -
2
Technology and business
E-commerce, social media, digital communication and new payment systems have changed how even the smallest business sells, what it costs to run, and every part…
5 terms -
3
Legislation and business
Laws protect customers and employees. Consumer law covers quality and customers' rights; employment law covers recruitment, pay, discrimination and health and…
8 terms -
4
The economy and business
No small business can control the economy, but every one is affected by it: unemployment, consumer incomes, inflation, interest rates, taxation and exchange…
9 terms -
5
External influences
Technology, legislation and the economy all change - and a small business cannot stop them. What it can control is how it responds. This lesson brings the…
5 terms
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- Business stakeholders.pptx Built from the lesson script on 25 September 2026. View
- Business stakeholders - Completed Notes.docx The full notes for the lesson, to revise from. Built from the lesson script on 25 September 2026. View
- Business stakeholders - Exam Questions.docx Built from the lesson script on 25 September 2026. View
- Technology and business.pptx Built from the lesson script on 25 September 2026. View
- Technology and business - Completed Notes.docx The full notes for the lesson, to revise from. Built from the lesson script on 25 September 2026. View
- Technology and business - Exam Questions.docx Built from the lesson script on 25 September 2026. View
- Legislation and business.pptx Built from the lesson script on 25 September 2026. View
- Legislation and business - Completed Notes.docx The full notes for the lesson, to revise from. Built from the lesson script on 25 September 2026. View
- Legislation and business - Exam Questions.docx Built from the lesson script on 25 September 2026. View
- The economy and business.pptx Built from the lesson script on 25 September 2026. View
- The economy and business - Completed Notes.docx The full notes for the lesson, to revise from. Built from the lesson script on 25 September 2026. View
- The economy and business - Exam Questions.docx Built from the lesson script on 25 September 2026. View
- External influences.pptx Built from the lesson script on 25 September 2026. View
- External influences - Completed Notes.docx The full notes for the lesson, to revise from. Built from the lesson script on 25 September 2026. View
- External influences - Exam Questions.docx Built from the lesson script on 25 September 2026. View
Key terms in this chapter
All 33, gathered from every lesson.
- Stakeholder
- Any person or group with an interest in a business, who affects it or is affected by it.
- Internal stakeholder
- A stakeholder inside the business: owners, managers and employees.
- External stakeholder
- A stakeholder outside the business, such as customers, suppliers and the community.
- Shareholder
- An owner of part of a company.
- Pressure group
- An organised group that tries to change the behaviour of businesses or the government.
- Local community
- The people who live and work near a business.
- E-commerce
- Buying and selling goods and services online.
- Social media
- Websites and apps that let users share content and talk to each other.
- Digital communication
- Communicating electronically, e.g. by email, messaging, video calls and websites.
- Payment system
- A way for customers to pay, such as contactless cards, mobile phones or online payment services.
- Online marketplace
- A website where many businesses sell their products, usually paying a fee on each sale.
- Legislation
- Laws passed by Parliament.
- Consumer law
- Laws that protect customers when they buy goods and services.
- Satisfactory quality
- Goods that are not faulty and are as good as a reasonable person would expect.
- Fit for purpose
- Able to do what the product is meant to do.
- Employment law
- Laws that protect employees at work.
- National Minimum Wage
- The lowest hourly pay an employer is legally allowed to pay a worker of a given age.
- Discrimination
- Treating someone unfairly because of a characteristic such as age, race, sex or disability.
- Health and safety
- Laws requiring employers to protect the safety of staff, customers and visitors.
- Economic climate
- The state of the economy, including jobs, incomes and prices.
- Unemployment
- When people who want to work cannot find a job.
- Consumer income
- The money people have to spend.
- Inflation
- A rise in the general level of prices over time.
- Interest rate
- The cost of borrowing money, and the reward for saving it.
- Taxation
- Payments to the government, such as VAT and income tax.
- Exchange rate
- The value of one currency in terms of another.
- Import
- A good or service bought from another country.
- Export
- A good or service sold to another country.
- External influence
- A factor outside a business that it cannot control but that affects it.
- Economic climate
- The state of the economy, including jobs, incomes and prices.
- Opportunity
- An external change that could help a business.
- Threat
- An external change that could harm a business.
- Adapt
- To change the way the business works in response to an external change.