...UNIT 40 INVESTIGATING INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS BTEC NATIONAL INTRODUCTION. The international nature of business is evident to anyone who, for example, buys an iPod from Apple or insurance from Aviva. Many brand names are recognised throughout the world as organisations increase demand for their products by expanding from a national to an international market. Initially, the nature of the international business environment will be considered by looking at the size and importance of international markets. Governments encourage businesses to trade internationally but protectionism is also common. International business is regulated not just by national governments but also by transnational trading arrangements promoted by trading blocs such as the European Union and global agencies such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). Both large and small businesses trade internationally but doing business internationally is often more complex than doing business in the home market. Consideration will be given to the issues facing a domestic (UK) business when it expands its operations into the international sphere. However, some insights can be made by considering issues faced by overseas businesses as they have expanded their operations by moving into the UK market. Tesco has had very limited success in extending operations into France and Carrefour has had similar problems in establishing operations in the UK. However, they both have had more success in Malaysia and...
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...of the Irish ‘Celtic Tiger’ 4 2.3 The ‘Financial Vikings’ of Iceland 5 3. Financial crisis response 6 3.1 Government response to the financial crisis 6 3.2 The default decision 10 4. Economic outlook and long-term repercussions 14 5. Conclusion 18 1. Introduction to the financial crisis The Great Recession began in 2007 as the United States housing market fell into a sharp decline. Many economists consider the resulting financial crisis to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. While the crisis can be traced back to a variety of economic origins, the volatility that existed in the world economy from the 1990’s undoubtedly played a large role (Roubini, 2010). The Asian Crisis that arose after the fall of car manufacturer Kia in 1997 and the burst of the Dotcom Bubble in the early 2000’s resulted in many wealthy countries decreasing interest rates to all-time lows to encourage growth in their economies (Roubini, 2010). These low interest rates led consumers, particularly those in the US, to borrow more money than they could afford to repay (Roubini, 2010). During the financial crisis, credit defaults brought the solvency of a number of major international banks into question, and several governments ultimately had to bail out their banking systems (Rose & Spiegel, 2009). Problems that arose primarily in the United States quickly spread around the world due to the resulting contagion (Rose & Spiegel, 2009). Ireland and Iceland are...
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...The Tobin Tax And Its Effects On The Foreign Exchange Market International Business Thesis By Mark Hansen 290587-1563 & Nina Johansen 140988-1838 Advisor Niels Blomgren-Hansen 17.05.2010 Executive summary In this thesis a financial transaction tax in the form of the Tobin Tax is examined as a means to reduce volatility on the foreign exchange market. James Tobin original proposal is presented followed by his 1995 paper and Frankel’s contribution to the discussion. Frankel gives merit to Tobin’s line of reasoning on reducing stability by dividing investors into short-term speculators and long-term fundamentalists and defines the former’s activities as destabilizing and the latter as stabilizing. However, we find this segmentation problematic since it is not possible to divide the market participants into these categories in the foreign exchange market. Many of the short-term investors do not necessarily speculate or disregard fundamentals, but rather try to avoid risk. Accordingly, many of the short term market movements are instead stabilizing. Therefore, the Tobin Tax would not only deter the destabilizing transactions, but also the stabilizing ones. If the foreign exchange market is in fact excessively volatile as Tobin argues then the tax could possibly have a positive effect by throwing sand in the wheels and thereby slowing short-term reactions. Our findings suggest that the foreign exchange market is in fact highly volatile, but we find no convincing...
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...does, though. One Frosti Sigurjonsson, a lawmaker from the ruling Progress Party, issued a report today that suggests taking the power to create money away from commercial banks, and hand it to the central bank and, ultimately, Parliament. Can’t see commercial banks in the western world be too happy with this. They must be contemplating wiping the island nation off the map. If accepted in the Iceland parliament , the plan would change the game in a very radical way. It would be successful too, because there is no bigger scourge on our economies than commercial banks creating money and then securitizing and selling off the loans they just created the money (credit) with. Everyone, with the possible exception of Paul Krugman, understands why this is a very sound idea. Agence France Presse reports: Iceland Looks At Ending Boom And Bust With Radical Money Plan Iceland’s government is considering a revolutionary monetary proposal – removing the power of commercial banks to create money and handing it to the central bank. The proposal, which would be a turnaround in the history of modern finance, was part of a report written by a lawmaker from the ruling centrist Progress Party, Frosti Sigurjonsson, entitled “A better monetary system for Iceland”. “The findings will be an important contribution to the upcoming...
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...does, though. One Frosti Sigurjonsson, a lawmaker from the ruling Progress Party, issued a report today that suggests taking the power to create money away from commercial banks, and hand it to the central bank and, ultimately, Parliament. Can’t see commercial banks in the western world be too happy with this. They must be contemplating wiping the island nation off the map. If accepted in the Iceland parliament , the plan would change the game in a very radical way. It would be successful too, because there is no bigger scourge on our economies than commercial banks creating money and then securitizing and selling off the loans they just created the money (credit) with. Everyone, with the possible exception of Paul Krugman, understands why this is a very sound idea. Agence France Presse reports: Iceland Looks At Ending Boom And Bust With Radical Money Plan Iceland’s government is considering a revolutionary monetary proposal – removing the power of commercial banks to create money and handing it to the central bank. The proposal, which would be a turnaround in the history of modern finance, was part of a report written by a lawmaker from the ruling centrist Progress Party, Frosti Sigurjonsson, entitled “A better monetary system for Iceland”. “The findings will be an important contribution to the upcoming...
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...European Union: The Cases of Greece and Ireland Sara Frances Taylor ABSTRACT The 2008 eurozone financial crisis has only worsened as of summer 2011 raising questions about the economic future of the eurozone and sending shock waves through economies around the world. Greece was the first state to receive a bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, surprisingly followed only six months later by Ireland. The goal of this thesis is to analyze the challenges posed to smaller, weaker economies within the eurozone, specifically Greece and Ireland, since the recent eurozone financial crisis. This study is based on the experiences of both Greece and Ireland as very different members of the single currency. How and why did these states meet the criteria for euro convergence? To what extent was there support for the euro in both countries in the past? To what extent is there support today after the near collapse of both economies and the rescue packages brought about by the EU? As a result of the recent financial crisis, Greece and Ireland are facing difficulties with the terms of European economic and monetary union. Since these smaller economies are, among other reasons, unable to devalue the currency in order to regain economic competitiveness as members of the single currency, they are...
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...Santander UK plc 2011 Half Yearly Financial Report Intentionally left blank Santander UK plc Half Yearly Financial Report for the six months ended 30 June 2011 Contents Chief Executive Officer’s Review and Forward-looking Statements Chief Executive Officer’s Review 2 Forward-looking Statements 5 General Information 5 Business and Financial Review – Interim Management Report Business Review - Summary 6 Business Review – Divisional Results 9 Other Material Items 18 Balance Sheet Business Review 20 Risk Management 39 Principal Risks and Uncertainties 110 Related Party Transactions 111 Gender Diversity 111 Board of Directors 111 Financial Statements Independent Review Report to Santander UK plc 112 Primary Financial Statements 113 Notes to the Condensed Financial Statements 117 Shareholder Information Risk Factors 152 Glossary of Financial Services Industry Terms 163 Directors’ Responsibility Statement 177 1 Business Review and Forward-looking Statements Chief Executive Officer’s Review Overview Santander UK has delivered profit in the first six months of 2011 maintaining its strong track record of profitability and balance sheet strength. In line with other UK banks, a further provision for payment protection insurance remediation has also been made, resulting in statutory profit after tax attributable to equity shareholders declining by 51% to £413m. Santander UK’s trading profit before tax was £1,142m, 2% lower than the first half of 2010, impacted...
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