External and internal factors on beatbullying

The Impact Of External And Internal Factors On Beatbullying In Relation To Change In Technology

Abstract

This report intends to highlight the key landmark studies in the area of internal and external environmental analysis of a firm- Beatbullying (BB), and the impact of technological change. It will provide a critical analysis of existing literature and research, with a view to inform the research endeavour and my own position to the study. This report will use books, journals and the internet.

Introduction To Beatbullying

The award winning charity, Beatbullying is the UK's principal bullying prevention charity. It was established in 1999 and registered in 2002. Beatbullying enables young people to lead off on-line brutality crusades in their schools and neighbourhood, and shapes the scope of local vicinity to foster the work. BB has promptly and in a roundabout way engaged over eight hundred thousand youths over the past seven years, helping and supporting young people, who are victims of anti-social behaviours, re-orientating them on the right attitude of youths who bully, reducing and preventing bullying in schools and communities across the UK.

In March 2009 Beatbullying launched CyberMentors, www.cybermentors.org.uk. CyberMentors is a unique, pioneering social networking site tackling the enormous issue of cyber bullying, providing information and support for young people being bullied or suffering violence or abuse from a peer. In keeping with the guiding principle ‘by young people, for young people', CyberMentors are young people, aged 11-25, trained by BB's experienced staff, over an intensive 5 workshop process, to give support and advice to their peers who are being bullied, cyber bullied or have any other emotional problems. Since its launch, 179,623,000 unique users have logged on; there have been 1,807,081 page views, 126,648 mentoring interactions and 9,404 counselling interactions.

Theoretical Background

Swot Analysis

The SWOT analysis is one of the most familiar management strategic frameworks. According to Mintzberg, J (1998) in Strategy Safari, the SWOT originates from the perceived most influential view of strategy formation process ‘Design School', which tries to establish a strategic fit between organisations' Strengths and Weaknesses with the external environment's Opportunities and Threats. The process of analysing these factors in relation to the organisation's environment is known as the SWOT analysis. SWOT provides a guide to management action. It provides an excellent framework that enables the evaluation of complex information to be carried out and areas for action can be identified from a well constructed SWOT framework. (ABE, 2008)

The Objectives of the SWOT is to convert weaknesses to strengths and threats to golden opportunities and to ascertain to what extent the actual strategy is appropriate in meeting the continuous changes and challenges in the environment.

Swot Analysis Model

Swot Analysis And Strategic Fit.

SWOT analysis is derived from the notion of ‘Strategic Fit'. This is established on the perception that a firm's skills and resources must complement the opportunities presented to it by the external environment.

The environment gives rise to major organisational opportunities and threats. Therefore, the first requirement of an intelligence system capable of monitoring and forecasting changes in the environment.

Strong Strength Vs Worrying Weakness

The SW-part consists of internal factors and how it impacts on the organisation. These factors are resources and competences peculiar to a firm that can serve as a foundation for building competitive advantage.

It may be beneficial to discover critical success factors for the organisations industry prior to doing the SW- part. Any established strengths and weaknesses can be scrutinized in-line with these key success factors.

The internal audit is an absolute assessment of the organisation's inherent strength and weakness. Typical areas from which a firms' STRENGTH can be derived includes the following;

S Strong Structure and Culture

T Technical know-how/operational efficiency

R Research and Development

E Experience curve position

N Number of product lines

G Growth rate/Market share

T Team spirit

H Human/Physical/Infrastructural/Financial/Technological Resources.

Weaknesses

Weaknesses are the opposite of strengths, therefore the above factors has to be taken into account. However, there is a significant difference, in that weaknesses can be absolute and they must be analysed in relation to the industry benchmark.

Golden Opportunities Vs Terrifying Threats

The OT-Part of the SWOT discovers Opportunities and Threats that the firm faces from changes and challenges in its environment. These external environmental forces are not under the control of the organisation but they can seek to influence them.

An opportunity is a prospect that arises as a result of change in the external environment to present a new product or service that can produce superior returns. Several changes can be perceived as threats to the market position of existing products which may require firms to modify its products specifications or develop new products to remain competitive.

Many other business models also help firms to conduct the external environmental audit which invariably leads to opportunities and threats. One of the most common tools is the PEST. It evaluates the Political, Economic, Social, and Technological forces and trends. Organisations must therefore identify the most important drivers for change, that might have a strong impact on it

Environmentalvariables Checklist

1. Governmental Changes

New legislation: anti-bullying policies (recording of bullying incidents will be compulsory for schools from September 2010)

New Enforcement Priorities: The Creation of UKCCIS(UK Council for Child Internet Safety)

Stability Of Government

2. Economic Changes

Economic instability: i.e. the recession- reduces statutory and trust funding

Interest & Inflation Rates: Impacts on expansion programs

3. Societal Changes

Changing customer preferences: impacting service demand and design

Demographic trends: Impacts service demand

4. Competitive Changes

New Technologies: Impacts cost position and service provision

New Competitors: Impacts market share and funding

New Products: Impacting demand, advertising expenditures

Organisational spending on R&D

SOURCE: Power et al. (1986:38).

Critique Of The Swot Analysis

The SWOT analysis over-simplifies the firm's situation analysis by classifying its factors into quadrants it may not always fit into. The positioning of some factors as strengths/weaknesses or opportunities/threats are discretionary/ relative.

The SWOT analysis raises various questions it does not provide answers to but sparks up critical thinking for corporate planners.

Swot Profile Of Beatbullying

One of the major activities that an organisation such as Beatbullying undertakes is to analyse the effectiveness of their operational attraction. BB takes into consideration the internal and external factor that influences organisational success. Below is a comprehensive table of BB SWOT analysis.

Beatbullying'S Response To The Environmental Impact

In the process of formulating strategies for BB, the strengths are leveraged to pursue potential opportunities, weaknesses are improved upon and threats are avoided to successfully pursue golden opportunities

Task 2

Change In Technology- Background

How Change In Technology Influences Policies And Decision Making In Beatbullying.

1. Development of New Service provision

2. Safeguarding

3. Viable Partnerships

The Effectiveness Of Beatbullying'S Response

Beatbullying's prompt response to change in technology was very impressive. Very good, been able to adapt quickly. Working very well, good feedback, site user numbers increasing etc. Look at areas which have shown success of CyberMentors. Awards, reaching 300,000 young people in 9 months etc

1. Expansion

2. Growth

3. BB Staff turnover

4. Third Sector Award- Best use of digital Media

5. MORE FUNDING STREAMS

The table below show where Beatbullying has received funds over the past 2 years. There has been growth in almost all income streams. Key areas of growth in line with the current fundraising strategy are earned income (from sales and commissioning), events and merchandise. Grant income has also grown substantially which is the main driver of overall growth. Here there have been some large grants (DCSF, LDA and VFund) but also a growing number of medium sized grants which is helping to mitigate the risk of being reliant on a small number of funders. It is envisaged that the growth in new income streams will allow the percentage of total income generated from grants to be reduced over the next 3 years, and prevent over reliance on this type of funding.

Areas For Improvement For Beatbullying.

Potential new sectors for CyberMentors:

• Looked after children and young people
• Workplace bullying
• Young people moving into work, training or education
• Mini Mentors
• LGBT
• Young people with Special Educational Needs
• Drugs and Alcohol
• Sexual Health
• Young Carers
• Prisons
• Armed Forces
• Children's Rights

Research

• User led
• Authentic Voice of Young people
• Ethical Considerations
• Scraping the data
• Identifying need and then targeting fundraising
• Think Tank
• Train the trainers

Infrastructure

• Staff development and well-being
• Capacity building
• Business planning
• Recruitment
• Office space
• Fundraising
• Campaigning
• Marketing
• Staying “authentic”

Change

• Feeling nervous
• Opportunities for all
• Managing the expansion
• Changing our mission
• Fear we don't lose our heart.
• Fear that it is process driven?
• Change will all be about transparency and answering questions

Outline of how we will take CyberMentors forward

How

1. Managing the change fairly, transparently and with as much consensus as possible

2. Review business model

3. Review governance structure

4. Technical innovation

5. Practice based model

Who & What

1. Cradle to grave - no limit or boundaries

2. Practitioner based delivery

3. On-line support

4. Equitable, liberal, democratising

Governance

1. Mission and Vision

2. Structure promoting self funding model

3. Not for profit business model

4. Flexible charitable objectives

Results

1. Brand impact

2. Breadth of Service

3. Self funding

4. Evidence based

Support

1. Virtual support

2. Cost Effective

3. Scalable

4. Mentors

5. Universal stakeholder support

Technical Sections

Conclusions

References And Bibliography

Beatbullying's Annual Report, 2008

Association of Business Executives (2008) ‘The Strategic Analysis: The Internal Environment'

[Lecture Notes] Corporate Strategy and Planning. Advanced Diploma In Business Management.

National Maritime Museum Website 2010, Cited 04.02.2010 at http://www.nmm.ac.uk/leisure-travel-tourism/units/marketing/influences/

Dagmar Recklies Website, 2005. Cited at http://www.themanager.org/Models/SWOT.htm