England’s Economic And Legal, Technological, Competitive, And Social Environment

England is located in Europe, surrounded by Scotland to the north and Wales and Northern Ireland to the west. England is made up of 53,012,456 people and has a total area of 50,356 square miles. Most of England is made up of plains and hills, except for the northern and western parts, in which those consist of mountainous and upland terrain. The geography of this country rarely impacts commerce, as England is able to import and export billions of goods and services across the world to many different countries, including the United States, Germany, The Netherlands, France, etc. England’s main imports are machinery and computers, and their main exports are manufactured goods, fuel, chemicals, gas turbines, food, beverages, and tobacco (What Are the Main, 2015). England’s economic, legal, technological, competitive, and social environment is comparable to other competing countries and it is considered a first-world country in this competitive world.

England’s economy is considered a western-style democracy in which it operates under a free market economic system. Though, for the most part, England is considered a capitalist country. Three things that make this country a capitalist country is that the government allows private ownership of assets, businesses, production, property, etc. Second, it allows the citizens to accrue assets and capital, and lastly, it allows the exchange of goods and services and the selling of one’s labor for wages. Another name for this capitalist country would be a free market economy or a free enterprise economy, which means most means of production are privately owned, production is guided, and income is distributed largely through the operation of the market (The Editors of, 2019). When it comes to currency, England uses pounds instead of dollars. The value of England’s currency relative to the dollar is 0.77 pounds, which means if you brought $500 to a currency exchange stand in hopes to exchange it to pounds, you would get £383.23 in return. Lastly, even though England is the fifth richest country in the world, falling behind China, the U.S., Japan, and Germany, there are some economic and legal issues that has drastically slowed down the productivity growth in the business world in England. Five economic issues that has caused this decrease in productivity growth includes low business investments, structural unemployment, structural decline in manufacturing, structural trade deficit, and structural lack of competition in the markets (Ten Structural Problems, 2020). Additionally, the country has some legal issues that have hugely impacted businesses in England including, not having the right Terms and Conditions, protecting one’s intellectual property, the business’s staffing, and shareholder agreements (Legal Issues, 2017). Even though there are some economic and legal issues that corrupt some businesses in England, overall the good outweighs the bad, and still leaves England at number five when comparing it to the other richest countries in the world.

England is the fourth most technologically advanced country in the world, and the people have access to the use of cellphones, the internet, and virtual reality. The percentage of the population that has access to current technology in England is 93% (Statista Research Department, 2020). When being compared to the United States, England’s percentage of the population that has access to current technology is 17% higher. New advances are being made to the current technology in England every day, especially in AI. England was ranked the most AI ready nation out of all OECD countries, which consists of 36 countries including top countries like the United States, Korea, Canada, Netherlands, Spain. On a weekly basis, in just the past three years, new AI start-ups are being designed and created all over England. Just over these past couple of years, billions of dollars of government funding and industry funding was given to support the AI sectors, in which will help the research in many businesses throughout England and generate successful advancements in the current technology (Hancock, 2018). The competition in England is strongly competitive, which includes a market of companies like, GlaxoSmithKline, a pharmaceutical drug service, who has a revenue of 30.821 billion pounds, Vodafone, a telecommunication service, who has a revenue of over 46.571 billion pounds, Legal & General, a financial service, who has a revenue of 56 billion dollars, Unilever, a food production service, who has a revenue of 50.98 billion pounds, and HSBC Holdings, a banking service, who has a revenue of 53.8 billion dollars (Company Rankings, 2019). These are only a few of the successful companies in England’s highly competitive market. With England having such a competitive market, it isn’t just one company offering one service, there are dozens of companies that provide the same services as one another, which concludes why the market in England is highly competitive.

The social environment of England consists of people, of all ages, from many different backgrounds, and that is what impacts business in England. First, the demographics by age is 0-19 consists of 15.58 million people, 20-34 consists of 13.17 million people, 35-59 consists of 21.83 million people, 60-89 consists of 15,25 million people, and 90 and over consists of 0.58 million people (UK: Population, 2019). Then, the demographic by gender in England is 33.65 million females and 32.79 million males. Next, England’s demographics by religion include, 53.6% Christian, 6.2% belong to other religions, and 40.2% are non-religious (Statista Research Department, 2020). Lastly, England’s economic freedom score is 78.9, which makes it the seventh freest in the 2019 index (United Kingdom Economy). England’s society is continually changing. New fashion designs and different tastes weekly. Though, the one thing that has brought together the people in England, is the social media aspect. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc., all allow us to connect with anyone around the world in less than a blink of an eye. The social environment is what could make or break a society. However, England’s highly energized social environment is the reason it is considered a first world country and is ranked the fifth richest and seventh freest country in the world.

In sum, England’s economic and legal, technological, competitive, and social environment all impact the way businesses work throughout the country. Those different types of environments all tie England together in their own unique way and it is what makes up England. The different environments will always have an impact on the business environment within England, whether that be for the good or the bad, and ultimately, the people, or the social aspect of the country, will be the deciding factor on how these combined environments interact and impact the business environment of England.

References

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