Contents

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Introduction to the business and general business environment

3.0 Production costs and scale

4.0 Macro business environment

5.0 Sustainability practice of the business

6.0 Conclusion

Reference

1.0 Introduction

Business environment research is an important tool to understand a business in a detailed way. There are many different sources of detail information regarding a business which creates a clear picture of the company as a whole. These include the general environment of the business, company details, macroeconomic factors, sustainability practices of the business and many more. The knowledge about the business not only helps the management of the company to make a better decision for the operation of the company, but it also allows any external advisor to have a better insight regarding the business. In this study, a detailed business analysis of Argo Global Listed Infrastructure Limitedis done. The information and the data pertaining to the company have been collected from the external secondary sources that have been used for the study of the paper.

2.0 Introduction to the business and general business environment

Argo Global Listed Infrastructure Limited is an Australian company that is listed in ASX. The main work of the company is to provide a diversified investment portfolio to the customers of the market. The company was established in the year 2015, following a huge rise in the equity investors within the country. The company sells global listed infrastructure investment portfolios for different foreign economies and sub-sectors. The company also provides investment management services to the investors investing in different sectors and sub-sectors of the domestic and global economy (Hillary, 2017). One of the biggest advantages of this company is that it has a large number of qualified and experienced investment managers that provide accurate investment consultancy to the customers of the market.

The main customers of the company are the large-cap investors interested in infrastructure investment and sub-sector investment. Apart from that, the company also provides investment consultancy to individual customers and companies. Investment portfolio management of different corporate bodies is also included in the service provider of the company. According to the data and information of the company, the target customers are the middle-aged working professionals and midsized companies based mainly in Australia. However, the company also have a small pool of young investors who are new to the market of investment (Rubin, Aas & Stead, 2015). The company specifically provides special assistance and consultancy for the young customers of the market that in turn allows the company to attract young investors. Most of the customers of the company are located in urban areas; however, 13% of the customers of the company reside in rural areas as well. Among the rural areas, Brisbane and Canberra have been the major market for the company. Other major cities such as Perth and Melbourne have also emerged as an opportunity for the company in recent years. The sales figures of the company suggest that the market in Perth and Melbourne has grown 41% in the last year. Edgington (2018) pointed out that, demand growth for an investment company often grows through the word of mouth and hence the main focus of the company has been the quality of service.

In terms of rivalry and competition, the market is fierce in Australia due to the presence of a huge number of companies in the market. The market structure of the investment industry of Australia is similar to a monopolistically competitive market where the sellers have limited control over the prices of the product or service they sell. The notable rivals of the companies are Advanced Share Registry Limited, Blackwall Limited, CVC limited, Chapman Limited, Easton Investment Limited and many more. The market share among different companies is almost the same and hence the competition among them is fierce. Charles Jr, Schmidheiny & Watts (2017) highlighted that diversified financial investment industry of Australia has limited products and service to offer to the customers of the market and hence products and services are mostly homogenous. This, in turn, explains the fierce rivalry among the sellers of the market. Most of the companies in the market have a similar set of services for the customers. This makes the products and the services of the industry an inelastic good (McCaughey, Mao & Dowling, 2018). However, the pool of experienced investment manager is what differentiates among the sellers. Argo Global Listed Infrastructure Limited has some of the best investment managers in the workforce which allows it to have a competitive edge over many companies of the market. Therefore, the opportunity is also, therefore, few companies of the market to mark up their prices slightly over the marginal cost of production.  The current market share of Argo Global Listed Infrastructure Limited is 6.42% which is similar to other companies as well. For example, CVC limited has 7.1% of the market share and Advanced Share Registry Limited has around 6.2% of the market share (Barth, Barraket, Luke & McLaughlin, 2015).

3.0 Production costs and scale