Report: Current Challenges Facing Businesses in the UK

This report provides an overview of the current challenges facing businesses in the UK, focusing on the impact of Brexit, trade barriers, legal regulations, talent management, and cyber security. It uses Aston Martin as a case study to illustrate these issues. The report details the challenges related to Brexit, including trade barriers and the devaluation of the Pound, along with the effects of strict legal regulations. It also addresses talent management issues, such as the competition for skilled employees and the need for innovation. Furthermore, the report highlights the importance of effective cyber security in protecting crucial data and personal information. Solutions proposed include proper analysis and compliance with legal regulations, effective recruitment strategies, and the creation of robust cyber security systems. The report suggests that businesses should conduct market analysis, improve supply chain networks, and adopt effective marketing strategies to overcome these challenges. Additionally, it emphasizes the need for timely training, investment in research and development, and the implementation of strong cyber security measures to ensure the long-term success of UK businesses.

Report

Abstract
Dynamic nature of business environment of UK is creating many challenges and issues for
companies and business organisation. Thus, the current report is based on evaluation of these
challenges that are currently prevailing in the UK ad affecting the business operation of
companies that are operating in UK. Further, this report also consists of solutions and strategy
that could be adopted by an organisation to face and cope with these challenges in an effective
way.
Table of Contents

Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
Title: Identify some of the current challenges facing businesses in the UK....................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................1
Current challenges faced by business in UK...................................................................................2
1) Brexit, trade barriers and other legal regulations...............................................................2
2) Talent management and Innovation...................................................................................2
3) Effective cyber-security.....................................................................................................3
Solutions to overcome current challenges.......................................................................................3
1) Proper analysis and compliance with legal regulations.....................................................3
2) Effective recruitment strategy and regular training secession...........................................4
3) Creation of better cyber security system............................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

Title: Identify some of the current challenges facing businesses in the UK.
INTRODUCTION
The business environment of UK is highly dynamic which keeps on changing with a
rapid speed thus, creates many opportunities and challenges for business organisation operating
in UK. At present the main issues and challenges that are encountered by companies in UK is
mainly associated with Brexit and other regulations together with management of cyber-security
and recruitment of talented individuals (What challenges will UK businesses face in 2019-20?,
2020). For this report work, Aston martin is chosen as it is among those companies who is also
facing these threats and challenges while operating its business in UK (Mariappanadar, 2019).
The current report focuses on evaluation of main challenges that are faced by an organisation in
business environment of UK together with determination of solution and strategies that can be
adopted by a company to overcomes and face these challenges.
Main Body
There are many challenges that are faced by a company while running a business that are
mainly related with dynamic changes in business environment and economy of a nation. The
business environments and macro factors of UK are dynamic and keeps on changing that lead to
many challenges and issues for an organisation as it directly and indirectly affects the business
operation and there performance (Nicholson and Twomey, 2019). Aston martin is a well known
and first independent car manufacturer of UK that provide a wide range of sports cars, grand
toreros and other automotive vehicles for its customers from more than 100 years. Aston martin
is a UK based company having its headquarter in Gaydon, England, UK thus, it is directly
affected by the changes going on in the business environment of UK. The main challenges and
threats that are currently prevailing in the business environment of UK and faced by companies
like Aston martin which were operating in business environment of UK consists issues and
problems associated with Brexit and other legal consequences along with talent management and
cyber security (What challenges will UK businesses face in 2019-20?, 2020). A discussion about
the current challenges and problems that are faced by companies like Aston martin in the
business environment of UK are listed below.
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Current challenges faced by business in UK
1) Brexit, trade barriers and other legal regulations
The foremost and biggest challenge that is current prevailing in the business environment
of UK is associated with the negative implication lead by Brexit (Withdrawal of UK from
European Union). This act of political leaders and government of UK has created many
challenges and issues for business organisation that are mainly related with strict tariff and trade
barriers that hampers the export and import of business organisation. Beside this, Brexit also
created a reduction in value of Pounds at global level thus, negatively affecting the profitability
and sales revenue of companies operating in UK. Further, the other strict legal regulations and
acts formed by government of UK for protection of environment and society is also creating
pressure and challenge for companies to come up with more environmental friendly products and
services (Lynch, Whitaker and Cygan, 2019).
For instance, in context of Aston martin the Brexit and strict trades barriers has
negatively impacted its operation through creating many challenges related with supply of
inventory from and other needed stock from European countries and other parts of world through
making import of goods more difficult (Sus and Martill, 2019). Further, sales of Aston martin are
also affected by trade barriers that are lead by Brexit as it become difficult to transport vehicles
beyond the boundaries of UK. Apart from this, sales revenue and profitability of Aston martin is
also get affected due to decrease in value of Pounds in international market. Further, the strict
environmental protection act has created an issue of focusing more on electric vehicles and other
cleaner strategy that ensures low carbon emission in environment which has lead to enhancement
in cost of production and operation for Aston martin (Cabras, 2019).
2) Talent management and Innovation
The another issues and challenges that is currently faced by companies in UK are related
with recruitment and selection of talented individuals as finding a right people according to the
job is the key to the success for any organisation (Swailes, 2019). As the level of competition is
highly increasing in the business environment of UK that has created a cut throat competition
among companies to recruit a talented and skilled employee that lead to current challenge
associated with talent management. Further, the unemployment rate of UK is around 3.9% that
has created an issue of expensive workforce and lack of availability of talented skills. Further,
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the rapidly the growing and advancing technology has lead to an issues and challenge of high
investment in technology and innovation that is quite expensive and challenging for companies
operating in UK (SOLEIMANPOUR, 2019).
For instance, in context of Aston martin it is becoming more challenging for this
organisation to find and recruit a talented and technically skilled candidate together with meeting
the demand of higher salary packages by these individuals is also difficult and challenging for
Aston martin (Zhang and Liu, 2019). Further, regular advancement and development of new
technology in business environment of UK together with highly dynamic and enriched
expectations of customers and society has created a challenge of making continuous
improvement in technology and car models that is quite expensive and difficult for Aston martin.
3) Effective cyber-security
In today’s modern world having proper and effective cyber-security is the biggest
challenge for any company in order to safeguards its crucial data and personal information from
hacking and other cyber attacks (Gates, 2019). According to the latest report of national crime
agency of UK it has been evaluated that the scale and complexity of cyber crime and threat to
cyber security is increasing in environment of UK that is affecting essential services and business
in UK (Cyber crime, 2020). These cybercrimes lead to security vulnerability in order to steal
passwords, data or money. In context of Aston martin the most communion challenges and
threats lead by breach in cyber security includes the high chances of hacking, Phishing,
malicious software and Distributed denial of services that negatively impacts its business
operations and function while operating in current environment of UK (Nayyar and et. al., 2019).
Solutions to overcome current challenges
The suitable solution and strategies that can be adopted by an organisation to cope up with
current challenges prevailing in business environment of UK are explained below in context of
Aston martin.
1) Proper analysis and compliance with legal regulations
The way solution to cope up with the issues of Brexit and other legal consequences is
getting better understanding of these provisions and acts so that effective compliance and
fulfilment of these acts and provision can be achieved (Mariappanadar, 2019). In context of
Aston matron it have been evaluated that this organisation should conduct timely market analysis
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in order to get better understanding about rapid political and economical changes so that timely
action can be take to overcome these issue. Further, to ensure proper supply of inventory and
other stock that is hampered due to Brexit issue, Aston martin should determine better supply
chain network in UK which facilitates better procurement of supply at lower cost (Lynch,
Whitaker and Cygan, 2019). Apart from this, to cope with the issues of reduction in sale in
European countries facilitated as a negative implication of Brexit, Aston martin should make use
of more effective marketing strategy to have better publicity of its cars and other accessories in
market of UK and other locations in order to attract larger section of customers to improve its
productivity and viability (Nicholson and Twomey, 2019) .
Beside this, conduction of regular marketing survey and analysis in order to get better
information about current legal rules and regulations is also an effective solution for Aston
martin to keep a balance and coordination with current legal and trade structure of UK (Sus and
Martill, 2019). To overcome the issues associated with protection and conservation of
environment, Aston martin should focus on production and designing of such automotive
vehicles that are electric based and ensure reduction in carbon emission. Further, to cope with the
issues of legal consequences, compliance with sustainable development and adoption of
corporate social responsibility are also a good options and solution that can be implemented by
Aston martin to overcome the current challenges associated with legal regulation in prevailing
business environment of UK (Cabras, 2019).
2) Effective recruitment strategy and regular training secession
The success and failure of any organisation is greatly depended on its workforce thus, to
cope up with the challenge of talent management the best possible solution is having an effective
recruitment and selection process in the organisation (Swailes, 2019). Further, for management
of employees and to ensure better innovation and creativity at workplace, timely training
secession and learning programmes could also be provided by companies to effectively face the
challenge of talent management and innovation that is currently prevailing in the business
environment of UK. In context of Aston martin the possible steps that could be taken by Aston
martin to have better talent management and keep a balance with rapidly changing technical
environment includes better recruitment process and HR prcatises to ensures selection of more
skilled and talented individuals (Zhang and Liu, 2019). Aston martin could focus on designing a
detailed and more comprehensive job description advertisement to attract and cater lager section
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of talented candidates together with offering adequate amount of salary package and incentives
to ensure recruitment of suitable applicant.
Apart from effective recruit and selection process, the other solution that can be adopted
by Aston martin to overcome the issue of rapid innovation and talent management includes
facilitating timely training and learning programmes to sharpen and enhance the skills and
creativity of its employees that ensure higher level of innovation and advancement in design of
vehicles and also lead to delivery of more exclusive and better vehicles to cater need and
expectation of wider section of customers (SOLEIMANPOUR, 2019). Further, effective
communication can also adopted by Aston martin to provide effective guidance and direction to
its employees in order to motivate them for more creativity and innovation. Beside this, to keep a
balance with rapidly changing technology and higher expectations of customers, a significant
amount of investment should be made by Aston martin in its research and development
programmes to ensure better determination and identification of new technology that facilitates
creation of more exclusive and better products to enhance the profitability and productivity of
organisation. Thus, effective recruitment process and timely training are effective solution for an
organisation to cope with the issue of talent management and innovation prevailing in current
business environment of UK (Swailes, 2019).
3) Creation of better cyber security system
Use of more effective cyber security system and management information system (MIS)
are effective solution to cope with the challenges and threats associated with the cyber crime and
other hacking issues prevailing in the current business environment of UK (5 Essential Cyber
Security Strategies You Need to Know, 2020). The steps that could be adopted by Aston martin to
overcome this issue of cyber security and hacking includes adoption of strong password together
with installation of security software like anti-virus and multi factor authentication together with
keeping all software and pertaining systems updated. Further, backup of data along with making
use of cloud computing and strong firewalls are also effective solution to keep data protected
from threat and challenge of hacking (Kimani, Oduol and Langat, 2019).
Cloud computing ensures centralisation of all data and provide a set of policies and
control to protect information system of an organisation through ensuring authenticating access
through filtering traffic thus, it is an effective way to cope up with the issues of hacking and
cyber security. Beside this, use of Firewalls could also be made by Aston martin that facilitates a
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more secure system to prevent unauthorised access thus, keeps crucial data and information safe
firm risk of hacking and misuses which is necessary to meet the challenges associated with cyber
security currently prevailing in the business environment of UK (Mendhurwar and Mishra,
2019).
CONCLUSION
In accordance with above report it can be concluded that many challenges are present in
the economy of UK that is creating many issues and problems for companies operating in its
business environment. It has been observed that Brexit and other strict trade barriers have
affected the level of foreign trade and productivity of an organisation. Further, recruitment of a
suitable candidate in current circumstances and coping up with rapid innovation is also quite
challenging. Beside this, it can be evaluated that cyber security is also becoming a threat for
companies. Finally, it can be summarised that implication of CSR and proper analysis of legal
environment can save an organisation from challenges of legal regulation. Further, effective
recruitment process and regular training solve the issue of talent management along with
effective cyber security system to cope up with issues of hacking and other cyber crime.
REFERENCES
Books and journal
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Mariappanadar, S., 2019. Sustainable Human Resource Management: Strategies, Practices and
Challenges. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Nicholson, F. and Twomey, P. eds., 2019. Current issues of UK asylum law and policy.
Routledge.
Lynch, P., Whitaker, R. and Cygan, A., 2019. Brexit and the UK Parliament: challenges and
opportunities. In Brexit and Democracy (pp. 51-79). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Sus, M. and Martill, B., 2019. Channel Trouble? Challenges to UK-EU Security Collaboration
After Brexit. In Peace, security and defence cooperation in post-Brexit Europe (pp. 29-
49). Springer, Cham.
Cabras, I., 2019. Developing a Post-Brexit Economy: Challenges for the North East of England.
In The North East After Brexit: Impact and Policy. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Swailes, S., 2019. Talent management: Gestation, birth, and innovation diffusion. In Managing
Talent (pp. 1-20). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
SOLEIMANPOUR, O. M., 2019. Analyzing the relationship between electronic human resource
management (e-HRM) and organizational innovation and talent management.
Zhang, J. and Liu, H., 2019, August. On Human Resource Management and Big Data Analysis.
In 2019 IEEE International Conference on Smart Internet of Things (SmartIoT) (pp. 345-
349). IEEE.
Gates, B., 2019. Can We Find Solutions to the Challenges of Cyber Security?. Cyber Security:
Threats and Responses for Government and Business, p.133.
Nayyar, A., and et. al., 2019. Cyber Security Challenges for Smart Cities. In Driving the
Development, Management, and Sustainability of Cognitive Cities (pp. 27-54). IGI
Global.
Kimani, K., Oduol, V. and Langat, K., 2019. Cyber security challenges for IoT-based smart grid
networks. International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection. 25. pp.36-49.
Mendhurwar, S. and Mishra, R., 2019. Integration of social and IoT technologies: architectural
framework for digital transformation and cyber security challenges. Enterprise
Information Systems, pp.1-20.
Online:
What challenges will UK businesses face in 2019-20?. 2020. [Online] Available Through:<
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/ready-and-enabled/uk-business-challenges-2019-
2020/ >.
Cyber crime. 2020. [Online] Available Through:<
https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/what-we-do/crime-threats/cyber-crime>.
5 Essential Cyber Security Strategies You Need to Know. 2020. [Online] Available Through:<
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/5-essential-cyber-security-strategies/ >.
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