Human Services During Contemporary America - 1732 Words

Picture This: coming home to place where there aren’t any lights, water and probably no meal for the day. According to Human Services in Contemporary America poverty is the main reason why many babies don’t make it to see adulthood and why clean water and sanitation are not provided. It is the underlying cause of reduced life expectancy, and disability. Poverty is a major contributor to malnutrition, stress, divorces of a family and abuse (Schmolling). Many are at a disadvantage depending on where, how, and to whom they are born. In Cambodia, the babies that are born are more than likely to belong to a family that scavenges the streets to find items to sell just to survive. Meanwhile, in Sierra Leone, the chances that the child will make†¦show more content†¦No one would want their child to grow up in poverty. Unfortunately, some circumstances such as ones place of birth cannot be avoided. There once was time when small towns represented the heart and soul of America. The residents of old-fashioned little communities prospered while living safely away from busy streets, violent crimes, and overcrowded schools. The belief of rural life painted a picture of picket fences and developed homes. Unfortunately, today living in small towns in America has changed a lot when it comes to poverty. There are many cities across the United States that are struggling to stay alive. The United States is one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Despite the high levels of affluence there are still millions of Americans that do not share this wealth. The deprivation of the basic necessities affects the quality of people’s lives. Unemployment comes in several forms and affects millions of people at any given time. People often find themselves out of a job because of the economy. Sometimes people have a job but the job that they are working is no longer thriving like they once was before. When the recent level of high unemployment rate occurred there was a dramatic increase in the poverty rate. While the unemployment rate increased through 2009, the poverty rate in the United States continued to increase through 2010 (Schmolling). If one is lucky they are transferred from one job to another by they may be accustomed

The UK Supermarket Industry is Influential and Enormous

Questions: 1. Environmental analysis Analyse the external environment of the chosen industry using appropriate strategy tools (PESTEL - and assess key drivers for change for the industry). 2. Industry analysis Carry out 5 Forces analysis and discuss attractiveness of the industry.3. Opportunities (Os) and Threats (Ts) deriving from analyses above. Answers: Introduction: The UK supermarket industry is influential and enormous. There are around 91,509 groceries in the UK (Connor and Lande 2012). The size of the market has been increasing very fast. The financial contribution of the super market is very high. The supermarket chain of the UK has become more concentrated towards making more profits out of the market. In this context, the researcher has provided the PESTEL analysis for analyzing the external environment of the super market industry. The opportunities and threats of the business have been discussed in a detailed manner. 1. PESTEL analysis: Political: The political factors have been affecting the super market chain of the UK. There are several political issues in the super market industry. The first political issue that affects the super market chain is the possibilities of Scotland becoming independent. The UK retailers have already identified the issue (Healy and Palepu 2012). They have stated that this issue could make huge impact on the supply chain, pension law and the extra administration cost. It could lead to the increasing pricing of the products in the market. The UK supermarket has not made business in the Scotland previously. Therefore, an independence of Scotland would causes the high pricing of the product and possibly loss in profit for the super market chain. Consequently, it could cause the loss in the supermarket chain. It could be prevented through applying reformed Scottish tax system (Matsuno and Mentzer 2012). It would make the switch seamless for the supermarket industry as Scotland offers lowers land and labor costs. Therefore, it could be profitable for the super market chain operating in Scotland. Another political factor that affects the super market chain is the possibility of UK leaving the European Union membership. It could make a large impact on the retail and grocery industry of the UK because leaving the European Union means leaving the trade zone. Several countries bring their products to the UK to sell in the super market (Verbeke 2013). Therefore, those countries may have the difficulties in selling their goods i n the market due to tariff. Customers might have to spend more money when purchasing from other European countries. The UK government could avoid this situation as they could allow the import of goods. Economical: The current economic state of the UK influences the supermarket industry. However, the economic condition has been gradually improving; there has been noticeable good price inflation throughout 2013 (Bentley et al. 2013). The fuel price has been increased and it causes the adverse effect on the supermarket chain as the transport cost increases. Another factor is high value of the real estate. The most of the UK supermarkets own two third of their stores as free holds. Social: The buying habit is a tradition for the consumers in the market. The tradition can play a major role to choose a particular organization for buying a product. Some people shop for maintaining their status in the society. Status symbol is a growing factor in the supermarket chain. Another interesting factor is corporate social responsibility. It creates impact on the consumer behavior (Buzan et al. 2014). Corporate social responsibility could improve the financial image of the super market industry. Technological: The technological advancement has brought a new concept of marketing. Through the engagement of technology, most of the people want to make shopping from online platforms. It is a time saving process for the buyers. Social media has played a vital role for the UK supermarket industry (Grant 2015). The super market has been using the online platform to promote their products in the market. Environmental: The pressure of the supermarket industry has been increasing in a proper way. The super market owners acknowledge s their responsibility towards providing the best service to the consumers in the market. The super market industry of the UK has to take the social responsibility for enhancing the brand image in the market. The corporate social responsibility plays a major part in the industry. Legislative: The UK legislation system has ordered a number of legislation system orders a number of laws to monitor the grocery industry. The government has applied the tobacco and alcohol using policies for the consumers (Hollensen 2015). The super market industry has been following this legislation policy to maintain the regulation of the government. The super market industry also follows the food and hygiene regulations. 2. Porters five forces analysis: Threat of new entrance: Any new entrants required to invest huge in order to settle down in the market. it takes the considerable time to make presence in the market. The UK government has restricted the super market industry in some ways. Therefore, the new entrants think lot more before investing in the super market industry. Moreover, the new companies would not be able to compete with the existing business force of the market as they have huge customers chain in the society. The power of Suppliers: Major grocery chains in the UK can identify the power of the suppliers. The fear of losing the business in the super market industry could consolidate the leading position of the stores. The suppliers have some instability in the market if they do not agree with the pricing strategy of the super market industry (Rothaermel 2015). If the suppliers do not agree with the supermarkets pricing policy then the suppliers will not be able to make business with the retailers. Bargaining power of customers: The super market giants of the UK have built their brand value in the market. Hence, it facilitates them in attracting more customers of the market. Customer retention is the primary focus of the supermarket industry in the UK. Customer retention helps the organization to achieve consumer loyalty. In recent years, the food retailing in the UK has been changed and it encourages the consumers to purchase the non-food item from the market (Wetherly and Otter 2014). It has provided new strategic expansion into new markets of banking, pharmacies, etc. Threat of Substitute products: Substitute products cannot entirely replace the existing product of the market. However, they could introduce the new technology or reduce the cost of the products to engage more customers for the business. Pricing down policy of the company could cause limit down the profits in an organization. In the super market industry, it is known that the new trends could weaken the substitute of needs. The smaller chain of the convenience stores is immerging in the market to get better outcome from the business. Existing rivalry between competitors: The grocery environment in the UK has been improving largely. It has been seen that operating in a flat market; the industry could face the difficulties to engage customers for the business. The new organizations have to fight against their competitors through applying various strategies. Through the engagement of attractive pricing policy, the industry could be able to enhance the productivity easily (Sadgrove 2015). In UK, several super market giants have been making business. Therefore, it is the biggest threat for the small and new company to take rivalry against them. 3. Opportunities and threats of the Supermarket: Opportunities: The opportunities suggest the external change that provides new openings or possibilities for the betterment of the supermarket industry. The primary opportunities of the supermarket industry in the UK are such as online marketing. The supermarket industry has been expanded in the UK day by day. Therefore, the industry has initiated to extend its demographic area through online marketing, as it is very effective to promote the product in short time. Another opportunity is the new service that facilitates the supermarket to meet their consumers needs properly. This service could help the industry to diversify their customer base. Fragmented market provides huge opportunities for the growth of the supermarket industry in the UK (Wetherly and Otter 2014). It facilitates to enhance the market share. In the fragmented market, many small organizations lack the cost advantages of the large companies. Moreover, the financial advantage allows the industry to expand business into other products and markets especially in the fragmented industries. Acquisition synergy is the difficult qualitative factor for defending, so that the competing institution could get the easy time to overcome it. Threats: The threat is an external change that posses a difficulty in the supermarket industry in the UK. The supermarket industry of UK has been facing several challenges. The bad economic condition of the country can damage the growth of the supermarket. It happens by reducing the number of the potential customers in the market. Bad economic conditions of the UK have negatively impact on the supermarket industry. The intense competition of supermarket could lower the profits since the competitors can take away the consumer with superior products (Verbeke 2013). The unstable currencies have made supermarkets investment difficult as the cost and revenue change randomly in the UK. Therefore, it is a difficult qualitative factor to overcome. International competitors are the threat of the existing supermarket organization in the UK. Many organizations have implemented modern technology in order to enhance the business growth in the large market place. The technical advancement has shaped the su permarket industry in the UK (Connor and Lande 2012). Therefore, the existing organization must improve their technology to make healthy competition in the market. 3 Conclusion: It can be concluded that the supermarket industry of UK has been facing some challenges and they have been trying to change their process of business by applying new strategies. In this context, the researcher has properly executed the industry analysis through using models and theory such as porter five forces, SWOT analysis. 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