A: Why do businesses have to change?

Businesses face the problem of having to change as the world marches on and changes around them. This is an issue that they have to face, as if they do not react to the ever-dynamic changing environment of the culture, how people think, technology marching along, etc, they are more likely to end up bankrupt, or worse, seem outdated and resistant to grow.

This can be an issue for people in and out of business; change is seen as something that people reluctantly have to deal with, as new developments are harder to get used to, rather what you already know. Trends come and go, as the world evolves and improves from each decade to decade.

Examples of new developments include:

• The ever-growing prevalence of streaming services (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, etc) over Cable TV
• Music streaming services (Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, etc) taking over as the main method of listening to music over .MP3 files, CDs and vinyls
• Self-driving cars, and the possiblity of replacing regular drivers (and taxi drivers)

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Businesses have to react to changes to survive and grow in the market such as:

Technology

• The introduction of technology such as CAD, CAM and CIM has increased the speed and quality of production.
• E-commerce and social media enable firms to prmoote and sell their goods and services online to consumers worldwide.
• Using technologies such as email and video conferencing has increased the speed of communication between businesses and their stakeholders while at the same time reducing costs

Employees

Changes in the education and skill level of employees has created a need for:

• Greater flexibility in the workplace, e.g. flexitime and teleworking
• More varied financial and non-finacial rewards, e.g. profit-sharing and job enrichment
• Interesting and challening work.

Consumers

Consumers today have more complex demands than consumers in the past. Businesses must be able to react to:

• Changes in consumer tastes
• Demand for a greater choice of goods and services
• A growth in demand for environmentally friendly and ethical products

Laws

New national and EU laws can change the way businesses operate, e.g. environmental laws and consumer protection regulations.

• Example: The EU has introduced food labelling laws, which require businesses to include features such as nutritional information and country of origin on food packaging

Competitors

Businesses must monitor changes introduced by competitors, including the:

• Launch of new and improved goods and services
• Methods used by competitors to reduce costs, e.g. automated cumstomer service helplines
• Growth of competitors through mergers and acquisitions