Introduction
For this task I shall explain the changes in the economic environment on the business. This may include changes within the following,
Business cycle
Inflation
Unemployment
International trade
The business that that I will be looking at is Whitbread who own Premier Inn and Costa coffee. I will be explaining within this task how the above may affect Whitbread and its two companies Costa and Premier inn whether it is for the better or worse.
Business cycle
When looking at a graph of a business cycle we can expect to see increases and falls in production, income and expenditure of a company over time. The economy of the U.K, moves from boom to recession over time and these changes within the economy have major
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This will also affect trade as If the UK has higher inflation than competitor countries (which it isn’t now, but it has been for a lot of the last few decades) then UK prices gradually rise above imported prices. More imports are bought, so demand leaks out of the country and leaves UK businesses in a weak position such as Premier inn and Costa Coffee so overall inflation is not a good thing if it does occur and will have a negative effect on Whitbread’s businesses.
Unemployment
High unemployment rates especially within the countries that Whitbread operate their businesses, Costs and Premier inn can have a great effect on business operations as high unemployment will mean that more people will be relying on benefits for survival and as a result will be spending less, this would in turn affect businesses such as Premier inn and costa coffee as no one will be using their products and services which will then effect profits which would mean that they would have to halt growth and cut staff which are all negative factors as a result. This means when Whitbread are planning on expanding within different countries they will carefully have to look at these factors. Since consumers have lower confidence in the strength of the economy and less to spend, demand for products and services drops, and
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Nissan UK is able to use inflation in the prices of their goods, this is because they are then able to make sure that they are taking advantage of this type of opportunity their organisation, this is going to allow their company to make a profit at the time of a recession.
Because of the financial crisis business is put to test. All of the organisations who want to
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The UK economy is constantly changing for various reasons such as improvement in medicine and increased globalisation leading to people living longer and the UK economy becoming more diverse culturally. Whether or not it provides an opportunity or a threat to a business will largely depend upon how the management of the business decides to attempt to change because of the change of the demographics.
* The recent devaluation of Pound Sterling (£1) against the US Dollar ($1.5) means, Pret spend more money trading globally, compared to when the Pound Sterling (£1) much stronger than the US Dollar ($2). This will affect their annual profits or is likely to lead to unethical trading as they look for the cheapest sources to get their raw materials.
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Regardless to that when UK is in a recession the sterling is weak which means that overseas visitor can get more pounds for their money and would find UK much more cheaper which encourage inbound visitor to visit the UK. A recession
The Business Cycle is “…the "ups and downs" in economic activity, defined in terms of periods of expansion or recession” (Dr. Econ). Expansion is the period in which employment, production, sales and income increase. Likewise, the contrasting contraction is when the actions above decrease. In order to keep track of the fluctuations of the US’s business cycles troughs and peaks, the National Bureau of Economic Research was created. The NBER is comprised of a group of economic researchers currently led by president James Poterba. The members are usually specialized in the field of business-cycle research, and are chosen by the president. The NBER was founded in 1920 as a private non-profit “…non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, and business professionals.” (http://www.nber.org/info.html). The NBER dating committee was formed in 1978, and plays an important role in the US as an examiner of broad measures of economic activity, and the most reliable source of the beginning and end of recessions in the U.S. This is accomplished by gathering as much data on a given period of economic activity.
Given the state of the recession and how it might have affected an organisation’s finances, this has a large impact on the employment relationship i.e. due to cuts there be maybe redundancies, therefore leading to loss of jobs.
During these times of change business may have to change its orgainsation, operation and its nature to deal with the challenges of each stage in the business life cycle. For business to be successful they must constantly develop and change strategies to deal with the growth of the business or the life of the business may be cut short.
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Timing of the business cycle is not predictable, but its phases seem to be. Many economists site four phases—prosperity, liquidation, depression, and recovery. During a period of prosperity, a rise in production leads to increases in employment, wages, and profits. Obstacles then begin to obstruct further expansion. Production costs can increase, helping create a rise in prices, and
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