EU Food Safety Policy: Meat & Animal Products

This assessment examines the European Union's (EU) food safety policy with a specific focus on the safety of meat and animal-derived food products. The assignment encourages critical evaluation of existing policies and regulations, drawing upon relevant academic literature and research to provide a comprehensive analysis of the EU's approach to ensuring consumer safety in this crucial sector.

BUSINESS
ENVIRONMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1
TASK 1......................................................................................................................................1
AC 1.1 Organisational purpose of business...........................................................................1
1.2 Objectives of different stakeholders in Iceland Supermarket..........................................2
1.3 Responsibilities and organizational strategies to meet the stakeholder objectives.........3
TASK 2......................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Different economic systems attempts to allocate resources effectively..........................4
2.2 Assess the impact of fiscal and monetary policy on Iceland Supermarket and their
activities.................................................................................................................................4
2.3 Evaluation of impact of competition policy and other regulatory mechanism on
activities of Iceland Supermarket ........................................................................................5
Task 3.........................................................................................................................................6
3.1 Explaining How market structure determine the pricing and output decisions of
businesses..............................................................................................................................6
3.2 The way in which market forces shape Iceland Supermarket responses.........................7
3.3 The business and cultural environments shape the behaviour of business......................7
TASK 4......................................................................................................................................8
4.1 Significance of international trade to Iceland Supermarket ...........................................8
4.2 The impact of global factors on an organization.............................................................9
4.3 Evaluate the impact of policies of the European Union on Iceland Supermarket.........10
Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Business environment comprises all the internal as well as external factors that affect
the organization operations in both the direction. Internal factors prevails inside the business
corporation hence, it can be controlled by the business. However, external factors comprise
all the market factors that cannot be controlled by the organization (Hamilton and Webster,
2015). Iceland Supermarket is a subsidiary company of Associated British Foods shortened to
ABF. The company was founded in the year 1969 in Ireland trading as Penny's headquartered
in Deeside, Wales, UK. In the year 2000, there were 100 Iceland Supermarket stores across
Britain and Ireland. By year 2012, total 238 Supermarket branches are operating across UK,
Ireland and Europe.
Present project report will helps to understand the business environment of the
Supermarket in which the business is operating. The report will helps to determine the
organizational purpose of business. Moreover, the report will discuss the stakeholders of the
business with their interest and how they are satisfying. On contrary, the types of economic
system and the impact of fiscal and monetary policies and other regulatory mechanism will
be discussed in the report. Furthermore, the report will determine the role of market structure
in pricing and output decisions. At last, Importance of international trade with the impact of
global factors on Iceland Supermarket will be analysed.
TASK 1
AC 1.1 Organisational purpose of business
Iceland Supermarket: It is a UK retail supermarket chain, established in the year
1969. It sales frozen and non frozen grocery items in the market. Frozen goods comprise
prepared meals and vegetable products while non frozen items involves meat, dairy and other
kind of dry products in UK food market. The organization mainly aims at providing best
quality of products to the customers so as to enhance their returns (Cetindamar, 2015). The
organization is regularly satisfying the customer demands that help to achieve greater the
returns for the business.
KFC: Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is the world second fast food restaurant chain
after McDonald, headquartered in Gardiner Lane Louisville, Kentucky in the United States.
The restaurant chain provides specialised fried chicken products to large number of
customers. The organizational objectives is to enhance the market share, increase their profit
margins and provide greater the return on investment. Achieving the business objectives
helps to ensure organizational growth of the business.
1 | P a g e

Transport for London: TFL is a local government body that is responsible for
providing transport services to the customers. Headquarter of TFL is established in Windsor
House, Victoria Street, Westminister, UK. The primary objectives of the organization are to
invest billions of amounts in capital transport network. It aims at providing best quality of
transport services to the consumers (Walraven, Laenen and D'haeseleer, 2015). Therefore,
organization is making transport strategy and manages the transport system effectively.
Cancer Research: It is the world's largest charitable organization that has been
established in the year 2002 in UK. It was established through merging two organizations that
are Cancer Research Campaign and the Imperial Cancer Research fund. The purpose of the
organization to aware the citizens about the cancer disease in order to reduce the number of
deaths caused by cancer.
1.2 Objectives of different stakeholders in Iceland Supermarket
There are number of internal and external stakeholders existed in the Iceland
Supermarket. Their objectives are describing here as under:
Customers: The customers are the source of generating income and profit for the
business. Therefore they utilize the products and services offered by Iceland Supermarket.
Iceland Supermarket is fulfilling their objectives through providing various kinds of
qualitative products and services at affordable prices (Baldwin and Scott, 2013).
Employees: workers are engaging in providing products and services to the users.
Therefore, they are the internal stakeholder of the company. In Iceland Supermarket, their
objectives are satisfying through providing better monetary terms, better working
environment and working culture.
Suppliers: They provide credit to the business therefore as an external stakeholder;
they have the objectives to ensure security of their credit (Chiang and Chen, 2015). Increased
profitability and good creditworthiness of Iceland Supermarket helps to satisfying the
supplier’s objectives to a great extent.
Managers: Running the business operations successfully is the primary responsibility
of managers. As an internal stakeholder, they have the objectives to maximize their
remuneration, better pay scale and recognise their position in the organization.
Government: Government generate tax incomes on the business profits having
objectives of getting larger and regular the tax incomes ensure legal business practices,
business development and creating jobs. Iceland Supermarket is satisfying the government
objectives by paying regular the tax charges and employing number of people in the
organization helps to reduce unemployment rates (Kumar and Siddharthan, 2013).
2 | P a g e

Lenders: Organization can borrow funds from the lenders at an implied cost. Their
objectives can be satisfying by making regular payment of interest and having good solvency
position. Better availability of profits, good corporate image and better financial position
satisfying the lenders objectives to a great extent.
1.3 Responsibilities and organizational strategies to meet the stakeholder objectives
Iceland Supermarket business has certain kind of responsibilities towards the
stakeholders. The business is satisfying their stakeholders’ objectives by implementing
different strategies that are explained here:
Customers: Iceland Supermarket has the responsibility to provide large variety of
products and services to the customers. Moreover, organization is meeting their objectives by
making product improvement and giving additional benefits to them (Codro and et. al.,
2014). They create value for the products and the services and providing a convenient way to
purchase variety of products at single place.
Employees: Iceland Supermarket making strategies to provide better salaries to the
workers and maintain good working environment. The organization decides better pay rates
and provides job security to them. Further, employees are satisfying by achieving good public
image. Their performance are appreciated and rewarded on a regular basis to motivate them.
Suppliers: Iceland satisfying their responsibility towards the suppliers by getting
increased revenue, improving relationship and higher the profit availability (McChesney,
Reksulak and Shughart, 2015). This in turn, suppliers will be highly satisfied because of their
credit security. Iceland is responsible to make timely payment to the suppliers. The
organization is managing adequate liquidity in the business for that purpose.
Government: All the business organization has the responsibility to ensure good
business operations, following the governmental laws and regulations and pay tax on time.
Therefore, Iceland Supermarket has the responsibility to calculate their tax obligations and
make payments on right time with right amount (Asche and et. al., 2015). Further, any illegal
and fraud business activities must be eliminated.
Lenders: Iceland Supermarket has the responsibility to make timely payment of
interest to the shareholders. Moreover, enhancing the revenues, profits and cash generating
ability tends to meet the lenders objectives to a great extent. Another, good solvency position
also helps to satisfy the lenders.
3 | P a g e

TASK 2
2.1 Different economic systems attempts to allocate resources effectively
For solving the problem related to allocation of resources as well as economic issues,
it is more important to adopt an economic system (Nestle, 2013). There are many kinds of
economic system by which a company can allocate the resources in appropriate manner.
Some of the economic systems are as follows. Free market economy: It is commonly used economic system where a company can
identify market values of its products by intersection of supply and demand curve. In
the following system, the government has not made any kind of interference. For
example, in UK, the companies can sell the goods at high prices because the demand
of that service is high in the market and customer is ready to pay for it (Gould, 2012).
In the same thing, to increase the supply of good in market, the employee has required
to make more efforts. In this context, they are demanding high salary and firms are
willing to pay it. Transitional economy: In this system, the present market related organizations have
developed where central plan economy has transformed into free market economy.
The intention behind adopting the system is developing own industries to give
strength to economy of country (Kissinger, 2012). Command economy: Here, the government has right to take decision alone regarding
supply of goods and its pricing in market. Along with this, it may appoint any other
organization which helps in allocation of resources (Mueller, Anderson and
Wallington, 2011). For instance, UK government has restricted the different industries
to pay taxes and then take the decision to utilized that funds in either development of
community or else.
 Mixed economy: It is mixer of command and free market economic system where
both government and industry mutually or individually towards allocation of
resources. For instance, the markets forces have considered by UK government at first
priorities during allocate resources at grocery industry.
2.2 Assess the impact of fiscal and monetary policy on Iceland Supermarket and their
activities.
The impact of fiscal and monitory policy on Iceland Supermarket is as follows.
Fiscal Policy:
4 | P a g e

Government of UK uses fiscal policy for monitoring and influencing the national
economy. It adjusts the government spending and tax rates for maintaining national
economy. The increase and decrease in the taxes and government spending affects the
working of Iceland Supermarket (Malik, Willett and Hu, 2013). If government increases its
spending then it results to increase in the demand of food products of Supermarket. This
increase in demand results to increase in sales of the food items which directly results to
increase in profitability. But if the spending is decreased by the UK government than it this
case, Supermarket has to suffer a great loss due to the decrease in demands of food items. On
the other hand, if tax rates are decreased by the UK government than it results to increase the
profitability of the Iceland. And if the tax rates are increased by the government than in such
case Iceland has to suffer (Arrow and Kruz, 2013).
Monetary Policy:
UK government uses this policy for improving the economic condition of the nation
and for this it adjusts the supply of money and interest rates. Money supply and interest rates
are inversely proportional to each other as on the rise of money supply, interest rate
decreases. This decrease in interest rates results to give opportunity of taking cheaper loans to
Iceland Supermarket. However increases in interest rates results to increase inflation in the
country which is not good for the nation and organisations as well. Government can handle
the inflation by decreasing the interest rates but this makes Iceland to suffer due to cut in
spending (Gertler and Karadi, 2011).
2.3 Evaluation of impact of competition policy and other regulatory mechanism on activities
of Iceland Supermarket
Competition is playing a major role in growth of a company and delivered various
benefits. In this context, UK government has developed various kinds of competition policies
for all type of industries. Competition Act 1998 has ensured that in a market place, there
should be a fair competition between the organizations (Bigliardi and Galati, 2013). The
impact of this framework on Iceland Supermarket is it helps in develop new services and
products for community. With the help of this, firm has been able to take competitive
advantages and survive in the market. On the other hand, various regulatory mechanism like
improved working conditions, employment opportunities, health and safety at workplace etc
has made impacts on business activities of Iceland Supermarket. In this regards, company has
developed several types of strategies and other framework to raise the organization as a
sustainable company in marketplace (Ilagan-Manzano, 2013). The result of this it has helped
firm to create a good image between competitors and showing presence at international level.
5 | P a g e

Overall impacts of both competition and other regulatory mechanism on Iceland Supermarket
are company has able to meet the objectives of business and provided greater customer
satisfaction level.
TASK 3
3.1 Explaining how market structure determine the pricing and output decisions of businesses
Pricing and output decision within organization are greatly influenced by market
structure. Therefore, Iceland Supermarket takes several decisions associated with pricing and
output with reference to market structure: Perfect competition- In the perfect market competition, there are several companies
are offering similar kinds of products and services. Therefore, there is great
competition identified among companies in prefect competition (Hendrix and
Haggard, 2015). In this context, company takes pricing decision with reference to
prices of similar products of other companies as well as market demand of particular
product. Monopoly market- In such type of market there is only one company controls the
supply of particular product and service due to unavailability of other competitors. In
addition to that, entry of new companies is also restricted by particular organization
(Mueller, Anderson and Wallington, 2011). In this context, an organization takes
pricing decision of different products and services with reference to its profit motive. Oligopoly market- It is identified as important market structure in which limited
number of companies is managing the demand of large number of buyers. Therefore,
there is high competition addressed among companies. In the situation, the
management of Iceland Supermarket has to take appropriate pricing decisions with
reference to demand of different products and service as well as level competition
among companies.
 Monopolistic market- In Monopolistic market structure, it involves limited number of
companies that are producing wide range of substitute products. In context, there is
high rivalry among business addressed due limited number of companies (Kissinger,
2012). However, the substitute products are differentiated with reference to branding.
In this regard, an organization requires considering several factors for taking
appropriate pricing decisions.
As per the above assessment of different market structure it can be stated that Iceland
Supermarket is operating business within oligopoly market. Therefore, organization has to
6 | P a g e

consider pricing of similar products of other companies in order to appropriate pricing
decisions. In addition to that management has to carry out detail evaluation of supply and
demand of different goods and services along with market share of different companies.
These decisions are having direct impact on the overall growth and profitability of retail
organization.
3.2 The way in which market forces shape Iceland Supermarket responses
There several market forces are playing important role for shaping Iceland
Supermarket responses to improve performance of organization. In this regards, some most
important element are discussed below: Demand and Supply- It is termed as most important market force which is great
impact on the pricing decisions of company. For example if demand of particular
product decreases then organization has to restructure the pricing different products
and services to order to manage sales of particular product. In addition to that
business entity has to consider demand of other products that are associated with other
companies (Codro and et. al., 2014). This information assists management of Iceland
Supermarket for taking appropriate decision related to marketing of different products
and service as well as pricing to manage market competition. Here, for increasing the
sales, Iceland Supermarket is required to manage production cost
 Merger and Acquisition- Within merger business merges with another similar
company while at the time of acquisition firm acquires any company who is incurring
losses. Normally such type of condition arises among sick and healthy firms. This
approach finds very effective in order to increase and market share of company in
new oversee market (McChesney, Reksulak and Shughart, 2015). In regard to this,
Iceland Supermarket can expand the operations in diverse countries by undertaking
merger and acquisition that plays important role for increasing market share of
company along with goodwill of company in new overseas market.
3.3 The business and cultural environments shape the behavior of business
For evaluation of various factors of external environment that are significant impact
on management decision, PESTLE analysis is carried out below: Political- Every business entity has to manage different operations and strategies as
per the different government rules and regulations (PEST Analysis: What is PESTLE
Analysis?, 2016). It includes taxation policies and other regulations that influence
business decisions.
7 | P a g e

 Economic- Iceland organization gets affected due to decrease in purchasing power of
individual and thus it affects the sales and profitability of firm. Social- Change in the taste and preference of people about different products and
services is also facing business operations of Iceland Supermarket. Thus, it is essential
for business to determine the needs of clients while developing different products and
services (Nestle, 2013). Environmental- Business has to consider issues associated with safety of environment
so as management has to develop appropriate strategies for reducing the carbon
emission as it affects the environment of country. However, it increases the cost of
Iceland Supermarket that results in increasing the cost of products. Legal- By introducing different competition policies by government it affects the
operations of firm. In addition to that management has to follow different government
rules and regulations in determination of pricing and quality standards.
 Technological- By introducing new and innovative technology in different business
operation, business entity is able to produce high quality products at attractive prices
and thus enhances the sales of firm. It plays important role to increase satisfaction
level of consumers.
TASK 4
4.1 Significance of international trade to Iceland Supermarket
International trade means exchange of good as well as services between two or more
oversees nations. Such type of business has raised the economic condition of world which has
affected demand, supply and price of goods and services at international level (Nestle, 2013).
The significance of international business to Iceland Supermarket is as follows.
 By exporting or importing goods at global level, Iceland Supermarket and UK, both
are able to earn valuable foreign currency. It has supported economic conditions of
nation and showing the presence of company at international level.
 With the help of international trade, Iceland Supermarket can effective utilized its
resources and decreased wastage of it. It helps UK and other trade countries to
manufacture the goods by sharing of resources (Gould, 2012).
 International trade has increased the living standards of people of UK and it has leads
to increase the sales of services of Iceland Supermarket. The rising of living standards
have increased the spending power of customers which will good for company.
8 | P a g e

 Along with this, with the help international trade to Iceland Supermarket is greater
sales volume, increased profitability and raised ability of firm to compete in retail
market (Kissinger, 2012).
 International trading has improved reputation of Iceland Supermarket around the
world and creates a good image in marketplace.
 With the help of international trade, the dependency of Iceland Supermarket on
domestic markets has reduced and stabilized the fluctuations in seasonal market
(Mueller, Anderson and Wallington, 2011).
 Major significance of international trade for Iceland Supermarket is attracting more
and more investors so that it will be easy to open new stores and plants in different
locations of world. In addition to this, it also helps in taking advantage of new
technologies and minimizes operating costs of manufacturing (What Is the Impact of
International Trade, 2016).
4.2 The impact of global factors on an organization
Organization exchanges their products with many countries in order to increase their
productivity. Global factors influence the operations of business by considering external
factor of business-environment. External factors includes behaviour of customers and
business, risk awareness, taste and preferences (Kennerley and neely, 2003). Factors
influence the operations of Iceland Supermarket are as given below by modifying the
strategic polices and plans of the business: Economic: UK has the 2th largest economy if they consider their GDP and GNP.
With the stability in the economics of UK business require to conduct various
operational activities in the business. The economy of business consists with several
factors such as size, structure, growth and population which help in increasing the
sales faster than their competitors. With the good economy, company increases its
profitability and productivity by maintaining effective structure. Political: Political conditions of UK get influenced by business operation.
Government introduced several policies for the organization and it is compulsory for
them to be followed (Batra, Kaufmann and Stone, 2003). Factors which company
need to consider such as tax changes, trade barriers and opportunities to enter into
new market.
9 | P a g e

 Social: Social factors influenced the personality of Iceland Supermarket. In order to
improve business activities of company, they need to considered tastes and
preferences of their customers. At the time of recession people are unemployed so
they don't afford to purchase their products with high rates.
 Technology: Business activities affected by adopting various technologies in business
in order to survive in a competitive environment. With the help of technology,
company enhance its product quality and reduces the cost. Company need to develop
their services, because people prefer online services to shop goods and products rather
than going store to store.
4.3 Evaluate the impact of policies of the European Union on Iceland Supermarket
European Union acquires various policies and has direct impact on Iceland
Supermarket. Policies of the European Unions help in increasing the efficiency of business in
order to make Iceland Supermarket as the leading company (Kennerley and Neely, 2003).
They promote high level of employment by protecting member country rights and powers.
The European Union policies have huge impact on the supermarket business. Some of the
policies are as measures below: Taxation policy: The EU policy will force the business to pay huge amount of tax.
This has impact on the savings of Iceland Supermarket. Further, taxation policy will
be finding out by considering two aspects such as, individual and business tax. By
considering individual tax in Iceland Supermarket, if tax rate is high then
consumption will low in the business which affects the demand of the product and
service (Thomas, 2007). On the other hand, if tax is low then the cost of purchase the
products will be high and Iceland Supermarket reduces its market. Employment policy: Through the change in the employment policy the activities of
Iceland Supermarket greatly influenced. Company need to bring changes in its hiring
procedure of this policy (Yew Wong and Aspinwall, 2004). Thus, standards will be
maintained within the firm which would result in increasing its performance in the
business.
 Fiscal policy: This policy is generated through government of the country in order to
adjust their spending and taxation rates. Iceland Supermarket needs to increase its
demands for the products they required to spend more on goods and services in order
to increase its growth.
10 | P a g e

CONCLUSION
As per the above assessment, it can be concluded that every organization has to
consider wide range of external and internal elements such as government and employees for
taking appropriate business decision. This report has addressed that market structure of
particular economy is having significant impact on the management decisions such as pricing
and production. This study has addressed that the business entity has to manage various
element such as international trade regulations while expanding business in overseas markets.
11 | P a g e

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Asche, F. And et. al., 2015. Fair Enough? Food Security and the International Trade of
Seafood. World Development. 67. pp. 151-160.
Bah, E.H. and Fang, L., 2015. Impact of the business environment on output and productivity
in Africa. Journal of Development Economics. 114. pp. 159-171.
Baldwin, W. and Scott, J., 2013. Market structure and technological change (Vol. 18).
Taylor & Francis.
Bonilla, P., 2015. Is our food safe? An Assessment: on the European Union food safety
policy, concerning the safety of meat & animal-derived food products in the EU.
Cetindamar, D., 2015, August. Organizations with purpose: Benefit corporations. In
Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), 2015 Portland International
Conference on (pp. 28-32). IEEE.
Chiang, T.C. and Chen, X., 2015. Stock returns and economic fundamentals in an emerging
market: An empirical investigation of domestic and global market forces.
International Review of Economics & Finance.
Codron, J.M. And et. al., 2014. The role of market forces and food safety institutions in the
adoption of sustainable farming practices: The case of the fresh tomato export sector
in Morocco and Turkey. Food Policy. 49. pp. 268-280.
Elfenbein, D., Fisman, R. and McManus, B., 2014. Market structure, reputation, and the
value of quality certification (No. w20074). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Hamilton, L. and Webster, P., 2015. The international business environment. Oxford
University Press.
Hayek, F.A., 2012. Freedom and the economic system. University of Chicago Press
Economics Books.
Hendrix, C.S. and Haggard, S., 2015. Global food prices, regime type, and urban unrest in
the developing world. Journal of Peace Research. 52(2). pp. 143-157.
Kumar, N. and Siddharthan, N.S., 2013. Technology, Market Structure and
Internationalization: Issues and Policies for Developing Countries. Routledge.
McChesney, F.S., Reksulak, M. and Shughart, W.F., 2015. Competition Policy in Public
Choice Perspective. The Oxford Handbook of International Antitrust Economics. Vol.
(1). pp. 147-171
Motta, M., 2004. Competition policy: theory and practice. Cambridge University Press.
12 | P a g e

Polak, J.J., 2013. An international economic system (Vol. 7). Routledge.
Walraven, D., Laenen, B. and D'haeseleer, W., 2015. Economic system optimization of air-
cooled organic Rankine cycles powered by low-temperature geothermal heat sources.
Energy, 80, pp.104-113.
Online
PEST Analysis: What is PESTLE Analysis?. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://pestleanalysis.com/> [Access on 21st January 2016].
What Is the Impact of International Trade?. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.wisegeek.com/> [Access on 21st January 2016].
13 | P a g e