This document is an assignment submission for a business management course. It contains 4 questions and responses about how businesses impact society, the factors that influence businesses, reasons for moving from a planned to market economy, and ethical challenges businesses may face. The key points are: - AirAsia has enhanced quality of life by providing low-cost international flights, as well as humanitarian missions during disasters. - Economic, technological, socio-cultural, regulatory, competitive and global environments all impact business success or failure. - Countries moved from planned to market economies to encourage entrepreneurship, innovation, and reward for work to spur development. - Potential ethical challenges include conflicts of interest, integrity issues, balancing loyalty and truth

1. Assignment 1
FAB 0015
Business Management
NAME: MUHAMMAD AMIRUL SYAFIQ BIN KHAIRUDDIN
MATRIX NO: 21367
PROGRAM: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY

2. Question 1
Businesses can improve the quality of life of a society as organizations competing
with one another to find better solutions to challenges and production new type of goods and
services through research and development will fix the life of society.
Attracting attention in business will lead society to improve talent as the merchants
providing an emotional bond with customers. Example, when the roti canai seller show their
skill in front of public, more people will be influenced to be a skilful roti canai seller as they
always dream to be the one.
Businesses also make the society to be easy to buy what they desire. If there are no
businesses, people would have to plant paddy field, vegetables and livestock animals at the
front of their house.
The local business entity that I want to discuss is AirAsia. The organization has
contributed to enhance the quality of society life by their goods and services. They give
society to fly to another country at lowest fares. It could encourage people to gain experience
from other country and raise more knowledge.
In 2011, they used their aircraft to lift individuals out of political hot spots while also
sending supplies to areas that were hit by natural disasters. In early February, in the thick of
the Arab Spring, they were the first airline to respond to distress calls seeking means to
evacuate Malaysians stranded in Egypt. Over a period of five days from 3-7 February 2011,
they operated eight rescue flights from Cairo and Alexandria, in Egypt, to Jeddah in Saudi
Arabia, and one from Jeddah to Kuala Lumpur. They flew 1,200 guests on three Airbus A340
flights from Cairo to Jeddah and around 860 guests on five Airbus A320 flights from
Alexandria to Jeddah. They also flew 320 guests on an Airbus A340 flight from Jeddah to
Kuala Lumpur, the first batch of Malaysians to return home from the beleaguered country. In
total, they helped to return to safety 2,380 Malaysians affected by the political turmoil. This
rescue mission was led by our Deputy Group CEO, Dato’ Kamarudin Meranun, who went
personally to Jeddah to make sure the entire operation was carried out smoothly.
In March, AirAsia SOS systems were reactivated when Japan was hit by the 9.0
magnitude earthquake then tsunami followed by the nuclear power station meltdown. The
Malaysian government launched an aid campaign and AirAsia quickly responded by lending
RM4 million worth of cargo space for the transfer of supplies. Once again, our Deputy Group
CEO was involved in the mission. He collaborated with Datuk Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim,
President of Putera1Malaysia club, to deliver relief supplies to the Malaysian Embassy in
Japan.
In September 2011, Typhoon Nesat unleashed its devastating force on the Philippines,
leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. It was followed by another typhoon, Sendong that
hit the Philippines in December. In both instances, AirAsia lent its aircraft to lift supplies of
food to the affected people in partnership with organisations such as CREST Malaysia,
Philippine NGO Metro Ministries and the United Nations World Food Program.

3. Question 2
Economic environment is directly affect the success or failure of business. For example,
if the economy is in recession, the business processes become slow as low demand from
customers. The unemployment also will rise and household consumption will reduce as
people tend to save for uncertainty economic condition. The firm must remedial their
businesses to reposition their money by diversify their business overseas or embark reducing
shift work of the workers. In the recession of economy, government would reduce taxes that
they charge to company. This reduction help to improve firms business back to recovery and
economy will rise again. That is how the economic environment affects the business.
Technology is an industrial arts, applied science, engineering process, and invention
or procedures. There are two forms of technology which are pure invention and innovation.
Business also influences by technology environment or information and communication
technology. With ICT the way business conducted has totally changed. Internet makes people
easy to communicate in real time. Firms can secure order from customers through ecommerce or get supply from suppliers. Technology would speed up decision making in
company as through the easily communicating systems. The pace of change of technology is
rapid. So, the technology product will easily obsolete. Example, the model of phone will
easily expired in human desire as the model is assume to be old compared to the new one for
the next day. Customers enjoy the wider range of goods and services, businesses today have
no choice to manage technological changes every day. Failures of businesses to cope with
economy changes will loss in the battlefield of businesses. Furthermore, technology can
effect businesses as it open new business especially ICT.
Socio-cultural environment is highly related aspects to demographic, religion and cultural
trends of the country. Business opportunity is depends on society’s popular cultures. The
consumer will demand for durable goods, retailing services, leisure and entertainment. For
example, the Chinese New Year celebrations give the retailer chance to sell as many more
oranges and wax duck. As for Muslim, the food producer will provide Muslim halal products.
For Christmas and Halloween there would be the opportunity to sweet retailer and gift sellers
to gain profit. The conclusion is socio-cultural environment will also affect the failure or
success of business as the retailer get profit or loss with the change in socio-cultural
environment. Family is basic part of society from the birth of a person and up to death which
can affect businesses. Personal decision of buying and selling of goods are may affects from
family. In the culture of a family, it may happen that parent does not allow using any product,
and then sale of such product will decrease. So businessman must analyze different families’
needs. Many occasion of family like marriage of any family member, can increase the
demand of goods. Educational institutions are also main part of societies. They provide good
knowledge, education, awareness, thinking, what should students buy or not to buy.
Suppose if a student is habitual to drink tea and if his teacher advice him that this is harmful
to his health after his guidance students can avoid to drink tea after this the sale of tea will
decrease.

4. Religion is also effects the business socially. Religion means the system in which group of
persons trust in God. Different religions have different principles, rules and regulations in
which they sacrifice to use some products and to eat some food. In Hindu religion, they never
use leather products. They affect the sale of leather industries. So, businessman must analyse
the targeted audience and after listening their religious thoughts, he should produce the goods.
Domestic business environment also can affect the victory or the defeat of businesses.
In domestic, all entrepreneurs that just entered new business ventures have to analyze their
competitors’ information. Competitors are person or group that can fulfill same customers
need and have potential to serve. In the fast food business, KFC and MCDONALD are
competitors. Each will try to fight together maintain their profitable and market share. They
will go for creative advertisement and always improve quality of services to win the fight.
Actually, the more number of competitors, the smaller the profit margin for a business.
Unless the business is huge, the small competitors will not even matter. If the domestic
business environment is cooperation, the business will easily to thrive.
Global business environment can affect the success of business. Globalization is for
loosening of trade barriers among the nations. Globalization make an openness for more
trading activities with every country. Organizations that penetrate global will serve bigger
market which more make them get more revenue as more demand. Munchy’s is the biscuit
organization base in Johor Darul Takzim has been a successful company as they export their
products trough all ASEAN. House of healin, Gamogen, has export their products to
European and they enhanced a gross profit.
Business nowadays must obey to rules and regulations enforced by the government or
local authority. The businesses must take license to make sure that the business is safe to be
going on and they must to pay taxes to government. They also have to comply with environ
mental rules and regulations to preserve the nature surrounded the business workplace
especially factories. For the organizations that interested to venture business in overseas, they
should be able to avoid themselves from break the rules. On the other hand, business and
society cannot thrive without some regulation and must take account of the needs of all
stakeholders. The role of business legislation is to regulate the rights and duties of people
carrying out business in order to ensure fairness. Rules also protect people dealing with
business from harm caused by defective services. Legislation would ensure the treatment of
employees is fair, protect investors, creditors and consumers. Dealings process between
business and its suppliers will be regulated. Furthermore, government can control a level
playing field for competing business by fix the price such as TNB. Over the years,
regulations have piled up and up. This has hurt business, doing real damage to our economy.
And it is done harm to our society too. In fact from internet, a government of a country
helped house builders by cutting down 100 overlapping and confusing standards applied to
new homes to less than 10. These reforms are estimated to save around £60 million per year
for home builders, equivalent to around £500 for every new home built.

5. Question 3
The reason certain countries that used planned economies have moved to market
economy are the governments want to produce more entrepreneurs in their country. They
wanted to encourage entrepreneurs to be creative and capitalize their maximum potential.
Furthermore, they desire to have a more develop country as restrict their citizens will not try
to make research for new productions and brands.
Citizens in their country become lazy and sometimes the workers refuse to work to
protest. The citizens were not rewarded for any hard work they made. Their salaries still the
same. This will contribute to slow of development of nation. When the market economy
introduced, people will feel free and diligent to work
Market economy will lead to healthy competition as they are free to decides on what
good and services to produces, how they are to be produced and for whom these goods and
services will be distributed in the mission of achieving more profit. So, many countries have
decided to change from planned economy to market economy to build contest between
entrepreneurs as the competition will donate success to country.
People in their country also willing to get freedom to pay the quantity of goods and
services they want. Planned economy is not suitable for the people as all the resources are
state-owned. They will suffer with the restriction and quality of their live will not improve.
That is why some countries have moved to market economy.
Planned economy will reduce the invention and innovation in country as citizens not
have power to their own products. Therefore, the technology become lower and the country is
hard fight with other countries in side of technology. As the world today really value a
country development through technology, the country switch to market economy.

6. Question 4
One of the ethical challenges is conflict of interest whereas the action that gives
benefit to a group or person and harm another person. A conflict of interest causes an
employee to experience a struggle between diverging interests, points of view, or allegiances.
Conflicts of interest are generally forbidden in company codes of conduct or employee
handbooks. As example, a male manager date with a female employee who reports to him, an
employee works part time in the evening for a company that makes a product that competes
with the products of his full time employer and a purchasing agent hires his brother-in-law to
provide vending services to the company lunch areas.
Integrity is one of the fundamental values that employers seek in the employees that
they hire. It is the hallmark of a person who demonstrates sound moral and ethical principles
at work. People who demonstrate integrity draw others to them because they are trustworthy
and dependable. Honesty and trust are central to integrity. The ethical challenge of honesty
and integrity is when employees or customer bring back home supply product and the
employees doing something that are not right to do in work time.
Third is loyalty versus truth issues. The loyalty is good when we loyal to the good
people but when it comes to bad people, the person have broken the ethic. When there are
illegal work done by employer and the employees know the secret, they must think properly
wether to be loyal or truth. The simple example is a worker in the restaurant reveal the secret
that chef use a disgusting ingredients in foods that their serve to customers. The worker must
have decides to be loyal to the firms or tell the truth to customers.
Lastly, the ethic challenge is whistle blowing. Whistle blowing is a kind of tell the
truth the wrong doing of a person firm through media or government. The firm will get the
action from government then. The whistle blower will make the firms being suspended and
the employer get caught. Example that I got from internet that the Founder and editor-in-chief
of WikiLeaks, Edward Snowden has informed the public about Mr. Assange’s organization
has been responsible for over 1.2 million leaks to date since the website’s creation in 2006.
Then Mr. Assange has spent the last year holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London,
where he is seeking political asylum from charges against him in Sweden.