UK Consumer Confidence Data & Optimal Legal Structures for Businesses

This report provides an analysis of the global business environment, focusing on UK consumer confidence data and legal structures for businesses. It examines a newspaper article on consumer confidence, identifying prosperous sectors like retail, education, and cybersecurity, while noting potential declines in accommodation and food services. The report also discusses the pros and cons of different legal structures, such as sole proprietorships, general partnerships, and limited liability companies, recommending sole proprietorship or LLC for optimal growth. Furthermore, it explores how legal structures can measure market competitiveness using Porter’s Five Forces model, specifically within the mobile business context. The analysis covers bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, threat of substitutes and new entrants, and industry rivalries, offering a comprehensive overview of strategic considerations for businesses.

Global Business Environment
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Table of contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
COURSEWORK (2A).....................................................................................................................3
Analysis of Article that examines the latest UK consumer confidence data...............................3
COURSEWORK (2B).....................................................................................................................4
Pros and cons of different legal structures and which would be best for company.....................4
The manner in which legal structure can be used to measure the competitiveness of the market
structure.......................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
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INTRODUCTION
Global business environment is ever changing or dynamic in nature so companies in order to
grow and sustain have to adapt its strategy as per them. Consumers are most important of any
company as they are individual that make purchase of products and services to satisfy their
respective wants which lead in increasing profitability. This report has covered two parts such as
first is based on analysis of Newspaper article on consumer confidence while the second part is
pertaining to e-mail message regarding a business start-up.
MAIN BODY
COURSEWORK (2A)
Analysis of Article that examines the latest UK consumer confidence data
From the article related to “UK consumer confidence data’, it can be analyzed that there
are certain business sector that could be prosper over next 12 months are retailers industry,
education, information and communication and many others. Likewise, it has been found out that
the turnover in retail sector has been increased by 9.8% with impact of covid-19 (Business and
Consumer Confidence: Key Economic Indicators, 2022). The education sector turnover has
increase by 14.1 and it has not at all affected by Covid as online class has been provided to the
student in order to improve their learning skills and knowledge for bright future ahead. Business
operating in retail sector of United Kingdom will expand in near future because it deal in all
necessary products that are usually demanded by customers to satisfied their wants. For example:
good food, clothe and grocery and many other items.
At the same time, with evolution of technology, educational sector has more expanded as
now university is able to delivered education to student through online platform (Kasemsap,
2018). Hence, it has lead in increasing number of student that is ready to take education from
remote area. Moreover, the consumer confidence data has helped in identifying that “Cyber
Security Consultant” is also growing industry in past few months. As there many companies that
are making use of digital technology to connect with customers so it has laid urgency of cyber
security for protection of crucial information of customers as well as company for its smooth
operation.
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On the contrary hand, it is estimated that there will be reduction in the industry by 84% in
accommodation and food service activities industry. As since December 2021, the overall
business has been reduce by 12% and expected to decrease in future circumstances. The report
has helped in understanding that there are around highest percentage of businesses operating in
accommodation and food services activities having less than three months of cash reserves. In
addition to this, there are around 64% of business that has suffered cancellation of booking by
maximum number of customers because of high spread of Corona virus among individuals living
within the society (Business insights and impact on the UK economy: 13 January 2022, 2021).
Manufacturing industry turnovers, sales and profitability margin has also decreased because of
disruption caused in supply chain management. So such companies operating in manufacturing
and accommodation facilities have to struggle as to improve their function areas to delivered
services to customers as per their expectancy level (Kokodey, Gnezdova and Lomachenko,
2018).
COURSEWORK (2B)
Pros and cons of different legal structures and which would be best for company
The legal structures are framed to ensure that all rules and regulations are being followed
by the company. Legal structures are framed to analyze and identify the scale of working and
under which rules and legislations are framed.
There are different types of legal structures which are described as follows –
Sole Proprietorship – It is the type of business entity which is owned and run by one individual
and this helps in leading the business at large scale.
Pros –
 They are easy and cheap to establish which helps in leading the business at large scale.
 Owner has whole control over the business (Bernoste and et.al., 2019).
Cons –
 There is only limited exposure to the owner of the business or the company.
 Investors do not invest in the business which is individually managed at large scale. This
creates risk for them but is disadvantage for the company (August, 2018).
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General Partnership – It is the association between two of more businesses which helps in
seeking and growing towards the profit at large scale. There are some major pros and cons in this
legal structure which are mentioned as –
Pros –
 They are easy to create and maintain.
 The profits and losses are passes by the account which is personally managed and
handled by the owner (Duffner, 2020).
Cons –
 Partners that are involved in the business are legally responsible for debt and liabilities.
 They can lead to issues which are oversight and are related to management which are not
there in the partnership agreement.
Limited Liability Company – It is a hybrid between sole proprietorship and general
partnership. There are some pros and cons of the partnership which are mentioned –
Pros –
 The losses and profits of the company are passed to the member and are taxed at the
individual level.
 This type of legal structure allows unlimited number of members (Burduli and et.al.,
2020).
Cons –
 The profits are shared between each member in this legal structure.
 Additional taxes are the main subject at the state level.
There are some best legal structures which are being followed by the company according to
their planning and strategies through which they seek growth and development for long run. It is
very important that the company undertakes a sole proprietorship or an LLC which is the best
choice for the company or business to grow at large scale. With the help of the sole
proprietorship business when undertake by the company, they will be able to manage and create
value for the company as it helps in knowing that business is being handled individually (Sova
and et.al., 2021). These businesses are easy to handle which helps in creating value for the
business at large scale and this helps in knowing that the whole control of the business is being
undertaken effectively and in appropriate manner.
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The manner in which legal structure can be used to measure the competitiveness of the market
structure
The competitiveness of the market structure can be used for the legal structure is demonstrated
with the help of using Porter’s Five Forces and using the market structure creating value for the
business which has been done for the mobile business to grow at large scale. The legal structure
which is being a Sole Proprietorship for the mobile business can be used to measure the
competitiveness in the market is described as –
Porter’s Five Force Model – This model will help in creating value for the Smartphone
industry which is described with the help of different aspects such as –
Bargaining Power of Suppliers – As the suppliers in this business are rural investors who wants
the communication to be cheap and reliable in the emerging economies therefore, they are being
analyzed and identified as selling the mobile phone to the customers which are situated in the
country (Hole and et.al., 2019). With the help of this business idea, the mobile phones are
analyzed and known in creating value for the products and services which are cheap and are
reasonable for the suppliers. The bargaining powder of the suppliers is thus very much of
importance in the market structure.
Bargaining Power of Buyers – With the help of bargaining power of buyers in the Smartphone
industry there is increase in the numbers of customers or buyers who are willing to buy the
mobile phone. This has also created substitutes which have been creating strength for the
business which has been initiated for selling cheap mobile phone from Taiwan or China and
selling them to rural investors for the increase in the business at large scale.
Threat of Substitutes – The threat of the substitutes comes from the rivalries in the same
industry (Bruijl, 2018). There are many large markets in the mobile industry which have been
creating competition for the business of the mobile phones. Apple is the most competitive
Smartphone brand in the industry which provides knowledge that the cheap mobile phones are
already dismissed from the industry.
Threat of New Entrants – There is always threat of new entrants which creates problems and
issues for the business which has been running. The selling of the mobile phones has been in the
competition and there are ways through which the new entrants are competing with the cheap
models of mobile phones.
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Rivalries in the Industry – There are many rivalries in the mobile industry which are competing
against the success of how effective their products and services are. The business which is being
undertaken by selling of the mobile phones has been on the scale of how many rivals are there in
the market competing for the same product at large scale (Carraher, 2018). This has created
problem for the business of selling phones to investors’ at large scale in effective manner.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded from above report that and article was discussed which was UK
consumer confidence data which provided all information in Coursework 2A. For Coursework
2B, pros and cons of different legal structures were described in detail. Along with this, manner
in which legal structure which can be used to measure competitiveness of market structure was
also described.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
August, J.D., 2018. Tax Act First Look: The Complex New World of the Qualified Business
Deduction Rule: Implications for Partnerships, S Corporations, and Sole
Proprietorships. The CPA Journal. 88(1). pp.22-29.
Bernoste, I. and et.al., 2019. Positive affect, the entrepreneurial process, and the entrepreneurial
success of sole proprietors. M@ n@ gement. 22(2). pp.273-296.
Bruijl, G.H.T., 2018. The relevance of Porter's five forces in today's innovative and changing
business environment. Available at SSRN 3192207.
Burduli, I. and et.al., 2020. Expulsion of a Shareholder from a Limited Liability Company on
Substantial Grounds. TalTech Journal of European Studies. 10(2). pp.7-27.
Carraher, S.M., 2018. An examination of an instrument to measure Porter’s Five Forces Model.
In International Journal of Arts & Sciences Conference at Harvard University.
Duffner, T., 2020. Theoretical Framework―General Partnership Literature. Strategic Equity
Partnerships in Professional Football. pp.27-63.
Hole, Y. and et.al., 2019. Porter's five forces model: gives you a competitive advantage. Journal
of Advanced Research in Dynamical and Control System. 11(4). pp.1436-1448.
Kasemsap, K., 2018. Mastering business process management and business intelligence in global
business. In Global Business Expansion: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and
Applications (pp. 76-96). IGI Global.
Kokodey, T., Gnezdova, I. and Lomachenko, T., 2018, October. Modeling the global business
environment based on polycyclic theory. In The International Science and Technology
Conference" FarEastСon" (pp. 487-499). Springer, Cham.
Sova, N. and et.al., 2021. Legal Nature of the Relations between the Company and Her
Administrator. Revista Institutului National Justitiei. 56. p.52.
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Online
Business and Consumer Confidence: Key Economic Indicators, 2022, [Online]. Available
Through: < https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn02817/>.
Business insights and impact on the UK economy: 13 January 2022, 2021, [Online]. Available
Through:
<https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/businessservices/
bulletins/businessinsightsandimpactontheukeconomy/latest>.
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