How political, legal and social factors impact on businesses.

In this assignment I will be conducting a PESTLE (Political, Environmental, Social, Technological, Legal and Economical) analysis of two companies, McDonalds & Samsung. I will be looking at the factors which affect the business at this current time and also factors that may potentially affect them in the future and what they can do as a response and the benefits and drawbacks that may come with their response.

McDonalds

“McDonald's is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries across 35,000 outlets” and was founded in the United States in 1940 and currently have more than 1,200 restaurants in the UK.

Political

Politics can heavily affect the way in which McDonalds operate, as regulations set by the government have to be followed by organisations or could result in consequences, fines and bad publicity.

Firstly, one political factors could be, that the governments are trying to cut down the rate of obesity in the UK (it is estimated that around 25% of the UK is classed as obese and that is set to rise to 50% by 2050) by: encouraging the UK population to eat healthier and to cut down on fast foods and sugary foods and to inform the population more about the health risks associated with obesity e.g. (diabetes & strokes). McDonalds have responded to this by; introducing healthier recipes and products – such as a wider range of salads and fruits; by cutting the amount of salt they put in their food. E.g. In 2012 Happy meals contained 47% less salt than they did in the year 2000. Also customers have the option to ask for their fries to be served salted or unsalted.

Secondly, another political factor could be the increase in tax contributions that McDonalds have to make, meaning that every month/year