Political Legal Influences

Overview

This is lesson 4 of 20 in Strategic Business Responses. Students build on their understanding of external factors by exploring how political and legal changes can create opportunities and threats for businesses operating in a global context. Teams analyse a current New Zealand business case and construct a causal chain from the change to its wider business impact.

Learning intentions

• WALT explain how political and legal external factors can create opportunities and threats.
• WALT use business knowledge and specific evidence to analyse a strategic response.
• WALT recognise how responsibilities grounded in Te Tiriti-informed practice can influence business decisions.
• WALT communicate a clear cause-and-effect chain for a global business.

Success criteria

• I can explain a political or legal external factor in accurate business language.
• I can use specific evidence from a New Zealand case.
• I can show how the factor affects more than one business function.
• I can identify an opportunity or threat and justify its likely significance.

Curriculum links

• Strategic response to external factors by a business operating in a global context.
• Applying business knowledge to explain causes, effects and possible responses in a global context.
• Te Mātaiaho: developing critical thinking, communication, collaboration and informed decision-making through authentic contexts.
• Te Tiriti-informed business practice: considering partnership, participation, protection, equity, relationships and obligations to people and communities where relevant.

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Hook and retrieval. Display the opening question in the hook slide: “When the Government changes a rule, can a business simply ignore it?” Students write one example of an external factor from the previous lesson, then pair-share whether it is controllable by the business and why.

2. 5–15 min · Explicit teaching. Use the political and legal influences slides to define political and legal external factors and model six examples: regulation, employment law, trade agreements, tax, consumer protection, and Treaty-informed business responsibilities. Explain that these factors may affect functions, people, management, costs, reputation, market access and the business environment. Model a causal chain using a minimum-wage increase: legal change → higher labour costs → pricing or staffing decisions → possible threat to profit margins, but also an opportunity to improve productivity, retention and employer reputation. Emphasise that a strategic response is business-wide and may operate across different timeframes and levels.

3. 15–20 min · Worked example and vocabulary check. Display the worked example in the worked causal-chain slide. Students complete the key-term matching section of the political and legal influences case-analysis worksheet, matching each influence to a short plain-language definition and business example. Check answers with cold-call, wait time and student corrections.

4. 20–33 min · Team case analysis. Place students in three teams of three and allocate one case from the political and legal influences case-analysis worksheet: a minimum-wage change affecting a hospitality business; the New Zealand–European Union Free Trade Agreement affecting an exporter; or consumer-protection and product-safety requirements affecting a New Zealand brand selling offshore. Students identify the political or legal change, select two pieces of evidence, and create a five-stage causal chain: external change → immediate business effect → effects on people/functions → opportunity or threat → possible strategic response. Each team assigns a facilitator, evidence checker and spokesperson.

5. 33–40 min · Share and challenge. Use the team-share prompts. Each spokesperson gives a 90-second explanation. Listening teams ask one challenge question: “Who is affected?”, “What evidence supports that?”, or “Is this mainly an opportunity, a threat, or both?” Require students to connect the case to at least two business functions or stakeholder groups. Prompt consideration of whether a response supports fair participation, protects relationships and respects Māori communities and values where relevant.

6. 40–45 min · Individual consolidation and exit ticket. Students independently complete the final paragraph on the political and legal influences case-analysis worksheet: “The most significant opportunity or threat is… because… Evidence shows… Therefore, the business should…” Use the plenary and exit-ticket slide to revisit the success criteria. Collect responses to identify whether students can move beyond naming a factor to explaining its effects.

Resources

• the political and legal influences slide deck
• the political and legal influences case-analysis worksheet
• Whiteboard and markers
• Timer
• A3 paper or shared digital canvas for causal chains
• Thick pens or highlighters
• Plain-language law summaries
• Audio versions of key vocabulary and instructions
• Visual flowchart example

Assessment

• During explicit teaching, check whether students distinguish external factors from internal business decisions and can explain opportunity versus threat.
• Circulate during team analysis, questioning for specific evidence, effects on multiple functions and a realistic strategic response.
• Use the individual final paragraph as an exit assessment. Look for a correctly explained factor, case evidence, a clear causal chain and a justified opportunity or threat.

Differentiation

• Support students with the worked example, a partially completed causal-chain template, sentence starters (“The change means…”, “This affects… because…”, “This creates an opportunity/threat because…”) and a word bank.
• Provide dyslexia-friendly plain-language law summaries, audio vocabulary and instructions, uncluttered worksheets, sans-serif font, increased spacing and visual flowcharts. Allow students to explain their chain orally before writing.
• Use mixed-ability teams of three with defined roles. Offer teacher conferencing and a reduced requirement of one fully developed evidence chain for students who need a smaller first step.
• Extension students assess differing impacts on a large business and a small supplier, then evaluate whether the same external factor creates an opportunity for one and a threat for the other. They should justify a response across short- and long-term timeframes.