Notesale: Turn your study into money

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Name: Annabel Graves

SOCIAL LEGAL ETHICS ENVIRONMENT
GROUPS

POLITICAL

PRESSURE

Definition: A social issue refers to an issue that influences and is opposed by a number of
individuals within society
...


Expansion:
•

Increasing obesity with 26% of women and 24% of men now classed as obese (as of 2011)
compared to just 13% and 16% (respectively) in 1993

•

Aging UK population with lower birth rates and longer life expectancy

•

Increased tourism to the UK with an up to 18% rise in visits and earning from overseas
residents to the UK

•

Increased number of students – number of 16 year olds in higher education or work
based learning has increased to 89%

•

Increased number of UK marriages with 70% of all ceremonies being civil ceremonies

Business studies examples:
•

Increasing obesity = businesses such as Slim Fast and Weight Watchers may see an
increase in their client base and therefore potentially benefit profitably from this
increasing issue
...
Also travel companies could see increases in spending on
honeymoons, holidays which are likely to be more expensive that typical family ones,
therefore increasing their revenue

•

Increased number of students = the structure and availability of student loans may
evolve causing banks to re-evaluate their loan system to young people/students
...


Conclusions: 


In conclusion an increasing number of marriages in the UK could easily benefit hotels, stately
homes, specialist florists, catering companies and travel companies profitably
...
However, local parishes may suffer as more than 70% of UK marriages are civil
ceremonies so hotels and similar locations prove a more popular choice
...


Name: Annabel Graves

SOCIAL LEGAL ETHICS ENVIRONMENT
GROUPS

POLITICAL

PRESSURE

Definition: Questions concerning the protections that laws or regulations should provide
...
31 (for over 21s) as of 2013

•

The Conservative party have issued a net UK migration target of 100,000 as migration
levels increase to 212,000 in 2013

•

Tougher laws protecting those who may be discriminated against or harassed in the
work environment, victims of harassment and discrimination tend to attract lots of
media attention

•

Copyright or patent infringement laws - Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

•

Legal Health and Safety regulations and standards in the workplace
...
They may
see a reduction in the availability of cheap labour possibly causing them to increase the
appeal of their lower paid jobs to British people which may involve increasing wages,
increasing costs and affecting the profit margin
...


•

Copyright = a new, small business may find invention and innovation difficult to carry
through successfully due to larger companies copyrighting or putting patents on their
slogans/products/designs and even slogans/products/designs that are similar to theirs
in order to create barriers to entry
...
This (along with multiple other factors) makes them an attractive
business to work for, causing heightened competition in the job market
...


Conclusions: 


Ultimately, the minimum wage (as of 2013) could easily affect small businesses
...
However, increasing
the minimum wage also has the potential (more broadly) to increase the disposable income of
many people which may then result in smaller businesses seeing an increase in sales and
revenue as more people have more money to spend on ‘wants’ instead of just ‘needs’
...


Name: Annabel Graves

SOCIAL LEGAL ETHICS ENVIRONMENT
GROUPS

POLITICAL

PRESSURE

Definition: Ethical issues involve moral ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ or what is considered to be the good
thing or the bad thing to do in a society, taking into account the different social/
environmental/etc situations
...
Consequently, as the public found out, many have boycotted Starbucks
and a large amount of pressure has been put on the CEOs and directors to operate fairly
in the countries in which they are based
Animal testing = many cosmetic companies still test their products on animals, such as
Aquafresh (Procter and Gamble) and Dove (Unilever), although not many are recognised
for this and continue to make profits with little media discrimination
...


Conclusions: 


In conclusion the use of sweatshops has recently been of high public awareness as many large
clothing companies have been found to be using them, such as Gap and Primark
...
This new found
wariness has left open an opportunity for an ethical clothing company to gain an increased
market share from customers keen to support ethically sourced products
...


Expansion:
•

Waste disposal – UK government introduced a landfill tax in 1990

•

Destruction of environment from CO2 causing global warming, sparking the introduction
of pollution permits ensuring businesses only emit a certain amount of harmful
emissions

•

Water pollution – environment act 1995 controlling and limiting pollution levels

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Increased traffic congestion and noise pollution – increase in road pricing, congestion
charge and taxes

•

Conservation of forests due to increased deforestation that destroys habitats and
pollutes water, conservation and multi-lateral agreements to limit the use of natural
resources

Business studies examples:
•

Conservation of forests = paper or wood manufacturers may have to find alternative
sources of materials in order to comply with the agreements to protect rainforests
...
WHSmiths for example, selling stationary and paper
products could see an increase in their costs for the supplies and materials of their
products possibly creating the need for them to increase their prices (providing the
products have inelasticity of demand) to preserve profit margins

•

Congestion charge = transport and delivery of goods to factories or consumer homes
would increase particularly for locations around central London were congestion charge
and other taxes have been put in place
...


•

Landfill tax = the landfill tax of 1990 could increase council taxes as local councils have
to pay money to the government for waste disposal
...
Although through
protective legislation, increased costs and time is needed by businesses in order to comply
with regulations and taxes, in the long term the damaging impacts are minimize by these steps
taken, providing not only sustainability for the future of our planet but sustaining the future of
businesses and trade
...
Politics involves negotiation with other political
subjects, making laws, and exercising force, including warfare against adversaries
...
However, after getting past legal
regulations on planning, local residents could prove another hurdle to jump as more
people become increasingly concerned with the environment and their local areas
...
The regulations involved
could further increase the complexity of the mortgage system and possibly result in an
increase in customers as government grants allow more people to apply for mortgages,
potentially contributing to economic recovery

•

The defence reform bill = steel, iron, titanium and other industrial mental production
companies could see a change in their method of practise and amount of sales to
factories building defence equipment for the UK
...
This could reflect on the government who may find that
this causes them to increase military spending in order to reach the requirements they
have set out in the act
...

Although house building companies may find survival difficult as land becomes limited, they
may also then be justified to increase their costs as they have to spend more time and money
obtaining the land
...


Name: Annabel Graves

SOCIAL LEGAL ETHICS ENVIRONMENT
GROUPS

POLITICAL

PRESSURE

Definition: An interest group that endeavours to influence public policy and especially
governmental legislation, regarding its particular concerns and priorities
...
"

•

The Tax Payers Alliance – campaigning for a low tax society, described by the guardian
newspaper as “arguably the most influential pressure group in the UK” (2009)

•

National Secular Society - promotes the separation of church and state, believing that
no-one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of
religion

Business studies examples:
•

Tax Payer’s Alliance = described as “arguably the most influential pressure group in the
UK” aims to directly combat the government and the percentage of taxes paid by the
general UK public
...

If the government relaxed stamp duty taxes, more people would find it easier to secure
a mortgage and buy a home which in turn would help economic recovery
...
But it could negatively affect the government, as it
reduces the money available for the NHS, police force, defence, etc
...
Local parishes
have been established for centuries and hold a significant amount of history and
importance to many areas
...
Many schools are also
Church of England schools, so the structure of state education would have to undergo
many changes at local levels, affecting primary school events such as nativity plays,
and harvest festivals that allow children to learn and explore interests outside of the
national curriculum
...
Green Peace aims can affect multiple businesses by
increasing their costs, and potentially even reducing their profit margins as more
sustainable resources are usually more expensive
...
Many of the aforementioned pressure
groups have aims to change political and public views in a way that can involve a great deal of
government investment which could spark controversy among the public and within/between
political parties as not everyone is likely to share the same view and priorities
...
In
conclusion, more often than not pressure groups are campaigning for the benefit of society,
and if businesses were to adopt or promote awareness for their aims it could quite easily
influence public perception (due brand loyalty) allowing pressure groups to achieve their aims

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