Legal And Business Environment Mba Notes Pdf
Thora Buckner
The legal environment of business refers to the framework of laws, regulations, and legal principles that govern and impact business activities. To operate properly, there are other aspects, such as contracts, employment laws, intellectual property rights, antitrust regulations, and ethical considerations. These factors provide a structure within which businesses operate, ensuring compliance with legal requirements and promoting fair and ethical business practices.
The legal environment of business consists of various types, each playing a crucial role in developing how business companies operate. Below, we discuss some significant categories of legal environments that impact the company.
The legal environment of business consists of an array of legal considerations. This includes taxation laws, antitrust regulations, laws overseeing different business structures (such as companies, partnerships, limited liability partnerships, or sole proprietorships), labor regulations, contract laws, consumer protection laws, international trade and business laws, regulations for mergers and acquisitions, health and safety standards, environmental statutes, and laws about intellectual property. Understanding and navigating these various legal facets is crucial for businesses to operate within the bounds of the law.
A successful business depends heavily on a stable legal environment, which is a key factor that determines the rules and regulations that govern its operations. The legal environment includes laws, rules, and regulations established by the government, which have a significant impact on various aspects of business.
The legal environment of business is an important factor that businesses must consider when making decisions and conducting their operations. By understanding and complying with the relevant laws and regulations, businesses can reduce their risks, protect their interests, and contribute to a positive business environment. In addition, staying current with evolving legal scenarios allows businesses to adapt swiftly, mitigating potential legal challenges and taking advantage of emerging opportunities.
Aparna is a Senior Copy Editor, who combines a passion for precision with creative flair. With a background in law and market research, she has extensive experience in crafting compelling content, she excels in refining narratives to captivate audiences across diverse platforms.
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Business ethics concerns ethical dilemmas or controversial issues faced by a company. Often, business ethics involve a system of practices and procedures that help build trust with the consumer. On one level, some business ethics are embedded in the law, such as minimum wages, insider trading restrictions, and environmental regulations. On another, business ethics can be influenced by management behavior, with wide-ranging effects across the company.
Business ethics guide executives, managers, and employees in their daily actions and decision-making. For example, consider a company that has decided to dump chemical waste that it cannot afford to dispose of properly on a vacant lot it has purchased in the local community. This action has legal, environmental, and social repercussions that can damage a company beyond repair.
Business ethics is an evolving topic. Generally, there are about 12 ethical principles: honesty, fairness, leadership, accountability, integrity, compassion, respect, responsibility, loyalty, respect for the law, transparency, and environmental concerns.
A PESTEL analysis is a framework or tool used by marketers to analyze and monitor the macro-environmental (external marketing environment) factors that have an impact on an organization, company, or industry. It examines the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors in the external environment. A PESTEL analysis is used to identify threats and weaknesses which are used in a SWOT analysis.
Economic factors include current and projected economic growth; inflation and interest rates; job growth and unemployment; labor costs; impact of globalization; disposable income of consumers and businesses; likely changes in the economic environment.
Environmental factors are important due to the increasing scarcity of raw materials; pollution targets; doing business as an ethical and sustainable company; carbon footprint targets.
Public Company Websites. Google search the company name and "investor relations." This will often provide links to Annual Reports; financial reports such as 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K; and corporate social responsibility reports.
Open the Business section and select Company Dossier to search for information on a specific company. The company report will include its brands and competitors, with links to current news articles, court cases, and intellectual property.
Harassment is a form of employment discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, (ADEA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, (ADA).
Harassment is unwelcome conduct that is based on race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, or pregnancy), national origin, older age (beginning at age 40), disability, or genetic information (including family medical history). Harassment becomes unlawful where 1) enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment, or 2) the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive. Anti-discrimination laws also prohibit harassment against individuals in retaliation for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or lawsuit under these laws; or opposing employment practices that they reasonably believe discriminate against individuals, in violation of these laws.
Petty slights, annoyances, and isolated incidents (unless extremely serious) will not rise to the level of illegality. To be unlawful, the conduct must create a work environment that would be intimidating, hostile, or offensive to reasonable people.
Offensive conduct may include, but is not limited to, offensive jokes, slurs, epithets or name calling, physical assaults or threats, intimidation, ridicule or mockery, insults or put-downs, offensive objects or pictures, and interference with work performance. Harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances, including, but not limited to, the following:
Prevention is the best tool to eliminate harassment in the workplace. Employers are encouraged to take appropriate steps to prevent and correct unlawful harassment. They should clearly communicate to employees that unwelcome harassing conduct will not be tolerated. They can do this by establishing an effective complaint or grievance process, providing anti-harassment training to their managers and employees, and taking immediate and appropriate action when an employee complains. Employers should strive to create an environment in which employees feel free to raise concerns and are confident that those concerns will be addressed.
Employees are encouraged to inform the harasser directly that the conduct is unwelcome and must stop. Employees should also report harassment to management at an early stage to prevent its escalation.
The employer is automatically liable for harassment by a supervisor that results in a negative employment action such as termination, failure to promote or hire, and loss of wages. If the supervisor's harassment results in a hostile work environment, the employer can avoid liability only if it can prove that: 1) it reasonably tried to prevent and promptly correct the harassing behavior; and 2) the employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer.
The employer will be liable for harassment by non-supervisory employees or non-employees over whom it has control (e.g., independent contractors or customers on the premises), if it knew, or should have known about the harassment and failed to take prompt and appropriate corrective action.
When investigating allegations of harassment, the EEOC looks at the entire record: including the nature of the conduct, and the context in which the alleged incidents occurred. A determination of whether harassment is severe or pervasive enough to be illegal is made on a case-by-case basis.
Environmental laws are laws that protect the environment.[1] Environmental law is the collection of laws, regulations, agreements and common law that governs how humans interact with their environment.[2] This includes environmental regulations; laws governing management of natural resources, such as forests, minerals, or fisheries; and related topics such as environmental impact assessments. Environmental law is seen as the body of laws concerned with the protection of living things (human beings inclusive) from the harm that human activity may immediately or eventually cause to them or their species, either directly or to the media and the habits on which they depend.[3]
Examples of laws designed to preserve the environment for its own sake or for human enjoyment are found throughout history. In the common law, the primary protection was found in the law of nuisance, but this only allowed for private actions for damages or injunctions if there was harm to land. Thus, smells emanating from pigsties,[4] strict liability against dumping rubbish,[5] or damage from exploding dams.[6] Private enforcement, however, was limited and found to be woefully inadequate to deal with major environmental threats, particularly threats to common resources. During the "Great Stink" of 1858, the dumping of sewerage into the River Thames began to smell so ghastly in the summer heat that Parliament had to be evacuated. Ironically, the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers Act 1848 had allowed the Metropolitan Commission for Sewers to close cesspits around the city in an attempt to "clean up" but this simply led people to pollute the river. In 19 days, Parliament passed a further Act to build the London sewerage system. London also suffered from terrible air pollution, and this culminated in the "Great Smog" of 1952, which in turn triggered its own legislative response: the Clean Air Act 1956. The basic regulatory structure was to set limits on emissions for households and businesses (particularly burning of coal) while an inspectorate would enforce compliance.