Business Environment Case Study: Virgin Money in the United Kingdom

This case study examines the business environment in which Virgin Money operates in the United Kingdom, focusing on economic and global factors. It highlights the importance of understanding the economic environment, including factors like consumer buying behavior and the impact of the banking sector. The report uses the Keynesian Economic theory to explain how economic factors influence employment, inflation, and output. It also explores the global business environment using PESTLE analysis, covering political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors. The study further discusses the impacts of the global business environment on countries, particularly the UK, including enhanced job opportunities, increased market base, resource acquisition, heavy competition, and migration. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for businesses to adapt to these environmental factors to achieve better productivity and profitability.

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Examining the economic environment in which business operate in UK...................................3
Examining the global business environment and its impact on countries...................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Business environment refers to the collection of the entire external and internal
environment that helps them to grow in the market. By knowing about the market it helps the
organization to work in the appropriate manner. The current assignment is based on the Virgin
Money which is the sixth largest bank and having 6.5m customers. The report will indicate the
economic environment of in which the business used to work in the United Kingdom. Further it
will put focus on the global business environment. This report will also include the impact of
global business environment on the countries by having major emphasis on United Kingdom.
MAIN BODY
Examining the economic environment in which business operate in UK
Economic environment refers to the environment that includes the external factors and has
the influence on the buying behaviour of the consumers. Thus it used to have great impact on the
performance of the company. The economic factors are beyond the control of the company and
affect the objectives of company. The banking sector is most affected by having changes in the
economic environment (Nodirovna and Mamasoliyevna, 2022). As most of the people in the
market are dependent on the banking sector so the banks must have the good economic
environment where it is operation. The given case is based on the Virgin Money which is sixth
largest bank and has used to operate in the markets of United Kingdom as well. The economy is
dependent upon the banking sector as most of the people have their accounts in the bank. The
cited organization must focus on the economic environment that helps them to operate and gain
the profits.
The economic environment of the United Kingdom is somehow good as there are changes
in the economic environment which used to have effect on the performance of the company. In
year 2020, the banking sector in the has contributed mostly which shows that the UK is having
good economic environment related to banking sector. By using the Keynesian Economic theory
it can be referred that the economic environment used to include the total spending in the
economy and this used to have effect on the employment, inflation and output. Virgin Money
can have the growth in the UK markets and have sustainability in the market. The service
company can achieve the goals by having the use of digital technologies that will help them to
become the First Digital bank in the economic market (Yatsenko and et.al., 2018). The economic
environment used to fluctuates but the organization must be ready in order to cope up with the

changes. This will helps the company to have the good performance in the market and helps
them to pioneer their growth.
Examining the global business environment and its impact on countries
Global business environment is defined as the environment that used to include the
different sovereign countries and their influence on the working in the market. This environment
used to have the influence on the decision-making of the organization and their capabilities in the
market. The global business environment is such a wide environment that used to include the
situation of every market across the globe (Aastveit, Ravazzolo and Van Dijk, 2018). The
company must focus on the global business environment as this helps them to achieve the better
performance in the global market. Every national economy includes the internal trade, imports,
exports, etc. that helps them to have good market share. By trading across the globe helps the
business to grow and have the better knowledge about the global business environment.
The global business environment can be examined by using the PESTLE analysis which
helps to know about the various factors. The PESTLE analysis is the framework that helps the
business environment in which the organization used to operate. The below factors are the
important factors that will help in examining the global business environment:
Political factors: The political factors are those factors that are driven by the government
and used to have changes in the policies. These include the tax charged on the organization,
fiscal policies, free trade disputes and many other policies (PESTLE Analysis: Business
Environmental Analysis, 2022). The different country has the different political factors that used
to have effect on the global business environment.
The UK political environment is good as there are fewer policies to be followed in order to
operate over there. The organizations operating there must follow the laws and policies made by
the government that helps them to have the smooth flow in the market. The government must use
to pass the legislations that help to have improvement in the organization and customers’
relationship.
Economic factors: The economic factors used to include the interest rates, foreign
exchange rates, interest rates, etc. of the country. These are the prime indicators of the country
which used to show the condition of the economy. The changes in the foreign exchange rate used
to indicate that how much the firm is getting benefit in order to operate in the global market.

Virgin Mobile must also focus on this arte as this helps them to have better and profitable
operations in the global market. The interest rates in the market used to have direct impact on the
loans taken by the organization. This used to affect the global business environment and makes
difficulty for the company to operate in external market.
Social factors: The social factors is the inclusion of various factors such as cultural and
demographics aspect of the life. This used to have full focus on the awareness of the society, age
distribution, population in the market and career attributes. The population in the market used to
have great impact on the global business environment.
As there is continuous changes in the wants and needs of the people which used to have
impact on the working of business. By having the good focus on the social environment it used
to help the organization to have the global reach of their business. If the global business does not
adopt itself in the different social culture where it is operating it will not able to survive in that
particular market.
Technological environment: This is also one of the important factors in order to examine
the global environment. As there is continuous changes in the technology in the different market
so it used to influence the working in the external market. It is very important for those
businesses who are working in the global market to have the updating of the technology. As by
having the improved technology it will help to have the faster production of the goods. This will
also improve the efficiency of the business and helps them to compete in the market. In order to
succeed in the international market The business has to do experimentation with the ne
technologies that helps them to gain better profits.
Legal factors: Legal factors are the legislative factors that used to change according to the
passage of time. If the regulatory body has set up the legal policies regarding the different sectors
and industries they must follow that. This helps them to have better operations in the global
environment.
The global business environment is so vast and this used to get affected by the changes in
the legal policies. The business that used to operate in the international market must analyse the
legal developments that are happening in the environment. They must comply with the legal
compliances as there are continuous changes in the legal compliances as well.
Environmental factors: This includes the location of the different countries that used to
have influence on the businesses they used to perform in the global market. To examine the

global business environment the company must comply with the changing rules and regulations
related to the market (Kamensky and et.al., 2020). This also includes the changing weather and
climatic conditions that used to have effect on the working of businesses. The UK environmental
policies are good that helps the new business to enter in the market and have the better
operations.
These were some factors by which the Global business environment can be examined.
These factors are the conclusion of the elements that are mostly used and affect the working of
the business in the market (Bhagra and Sharma, 2018). In order to work in the good market the
firm must comply with the above factors which help them to have better productivity and
profitability. Virgin Money must also comply with the above factors in the UK market where it
operates. This will helps them to have better performance in the market.
Impacts of Global business environment on countries with an emphasis on the United
Kingdom.
Talking about global business environment, it can be defined as the environment of
business in various countries which can impact the decision-making on capabilities and resource
used. As we all know that a free trade policy has provided benefit to countries (Damarwulan and
Farida, 2018). It has strengthens the economies of all countries, but due to heavy competition in
the world, related to exports and imports leads to lower prices. The positive impact of global
business environment is that it improved the living standard of people and also provide a wide
range of opportunities which can provide success in the future.
Enhance job opportunities- as we all know that global business environment has
brought businesses much closer and provide varieties of benefit such as job opportunities. As we
all know that globalization has promoted companies abilities to relocate their processes of
production without barrier. This has allowed company to increase the numbers of global jobs
opportunities and provide good living standard in the UK.
Increase in market base- the products that are available in the UK, are also now easily
available in different countries just because of global business environment. Nowadays, markets
have opened up and are now completely using various strategies to create market base. They are
dependent of the continuous flow of products or services from one location to another location it
has provided better products or services quality. As we all know that in order to attract more
customer and satisfy the needs of customers the companies are focusing on demand and taste of

customers. Hence, it is known as the larger the market the grater the demand of products or
services.
Acquisition of resources- as we all know that resources means finished goods as well as
materials. With the increase in global business environment, the acquisition of resources will
also get benefits. It helps to do work in a better way than its competitor in the UK based business
entity. Therefore, it is said that innovation and advanced technology with better components can
be beneficial to beat competition in the marketplace.
Heavy competition- in today's business environment, due to heavy competition in the
world, the companies needs to adopt some innovation and technology in cross border trade
(Brenner, 2018). This is the major reason behind improvement of goods and services as well as
reduction in prices. Competition has impacted industries and also created pressure to source
cheap raw materials and hire skilled workforce to gain competitive advantage. In the UK,
companies who increased communication of ideas and innovations has achieved competitive
advantages for their business.
Migration- with the increase in global market there is a high chance of migration takes
place. Global business environment makes it easier for people to enter and work in the UK
(Dovis and Zaki, 2020). Different people with different culture enter into the market. Due to this
UK has achieved a good benefit in the context of job vacancies. However, on the negative side of
this migration point, due to heavy migration there is chance of greater stress on UK housing and
public services.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded about the economic environment of the UK that
helps the Virgin Money to operate successfully. Further this report has described about the
global business environment by using the PESTLE analysis. The PESTLE analysis helps to
know about the various external factors that used to affect the market. At last this report has
described about the impact of the global business environment on the countries with having
emphasis on United Kingdom.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Aastveit, K. A., Ravazzolo, F. and Van Dijk, H. K., 2018. Combined density nowcasting in an
uncertain economic environment. Journal of Business & Economic Statistics.36(1).
pp.131-145.s
Bhagra, A. and Sharma, D. K., 2018. Changing paradigm of employability skills in the global
business world: A review. IUP Journal of Soft Skills. 12(2). pp.7-24.
Brenner, B., 2018. Transformative sustainable business models in the light of the digital
imperative—A global business economics perspective. Sustainability. 10(12). p.4428.
Damarwulan, L. M. and Farida, N., 2018. The Role of Quality of Entrepreneurial Networking
and Responsiveness to Global Business Environment in improving the Marketing
Performance of Indonesian Exporting SMEs. Quality-Access to Success. 19(165).
Dovis, M. and Zaki, C., 2020. Global Value Chains and Local Business Environments: Which
Factors Really Matter in Developing Countries?. Review of Industrial
Organization. 57(2). pp.481-513.
Kamensky, D. V. and et.al., 2020. Insider trading in the global economic environment: elements
of criminal liability. International Journal of Management (IJM), 11(12), pp.1679-1688.
Nodirovna, M. S. and Mamasoliyevna, K. C., 2022. Improving the Economic Impact of
Increasing Foreign Investment in Uzbekistan in the Digital Economic
Environment. Academic Journal of Digital Economics and Stability. 16. pp.160-165.
Yatsenko, O. and et.al., 2018. The impact of global risks on the world trade and economic
environment.
Online
PESTLE Analysis: Business Environmental Analysis. 2022. [Online]. Available through:<
https://pestleanalysis.com/pestle-analysis-business-environmental-analysis/>