I am going to look at the data protection acts such as data protection act 1998, freedom of information act 2000, environmental information regulation 2004 and piracy and electronic communication (EC directive) regulations 2003 which affects me.
Data Protection Act 1998 is the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data. This data affects Morrisons because Morrisons have to be careful that they don’t break the law by leaking personal information about customers for example, when they buy through the internet. So Morrisons could protect customer information in a database for example to make the personal information more secure, and only to access the personal information to contact them in emergency or discuss any offers they would like. Morrisons are not allowed to give customer information to other businesses in any circumstances. Morrisons also have to make sure that they do not keep the personal information of customers longer than necessary. I personally believe the best approach Morrison can take in this situation is store the information they got from the customers in a secure database for roughly one month, and during that month they finish all the necessary procedures in delivering the product to the customer and offering them any new deals. Also they should delete the information of the customers after the month to prevent customers’ information being spread around other people.
Freedom of information Act 2000 is to make provision for the disclosure of information held by public authorities or by persons providing services for them. This act affects Morrisons because if the public requests certain information about Morrisons for example about their chairman’s report, Morrisons have to provide them with that information. However, if Morrisons were found breaching the law they could be taken to court. Morrisons have to ensure they only give the relevant information what the customers want. I personally believe the best approach to this law is to regularly publish information regarding Morrisons such as its sales, growth, its financial information, etc. in a yearly booklet. This will reduce number of customers coming to store and regularly asking information regarding Morrisons. Also Morrisons should publish their sales, growth, its financial information, etc on their own website as it is much cheaper way, so they will be minimising their costs such as printing lots of booklets each year.
Environmental information regulation 2004 is the change means that you can fulfil your right to be informed about the environment, so that you will be able to participate effectively in environmental decision-making; and have access to justice in law with regard to public decisions that have been made. This regulation affects Morrisons because Morrison has to give information if the public asks about the any activities Morrisons does which affects the environment. If Morrisons break this law they will be taken to court. I believe that Morrisons should publish the activities it does regarding helping environment such as recyclable bags, recyclable bottles, etc. in their yearly booklet or even on their website. Morrisons should advertise more environmental helping procedures they do more regularly to stop people like pressure groups of their back and making them stand out as an environmental friendly company.
Piracy and Electronic Communication (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 is the law establishes new rules for e-mail marketing, to reduce amount of unsolicited e-mail. This law affects Morrisons so Morrisons cannot send e-mail to customers regarding sales for example; they have to limit the number of e-mails they send out to customers, unless they will be breaching the law. I personally believe Morrisons can send emails roughly 3 emails per customer during Christmas period for example as it will be most effective and also reduce amount of so called ‘junk email’ to customers.
Now I am going to look at several employment legislations which affect my business like national minimum wage, employment act, dispute resolution, etc.
The current National Minimum Wage for employees over 21 is £5.05 per hour. The current National Minimum Wage for 18 to 21 year olds is £4.25 per hour. A new rate for 16 and 17 year olds of £3 per hour was introduced in October 2004.
This affects Morrisons because Morrisons have to make sure that they pay the workers the national minimum wage or above, as if they were found paying workers below the minimum wage they will be breaching the law. Morrisons should pay all its workers minimum wage or above in order to avoid breaching the law. I personally believe that Morrisons should give the national minimum wage of to all its part-time workers as this will reduce their overall costs but they give more than the minimum wage to full time workers. Morrisons should also have in mind not to give more money to a cashier than another cashier who has same experience for example, as if they do then this give arise to conflicts between the staff and Morrisons. So this will affect Morrisons as the staff may leave or may be de-motivated. Also if the national minimum wage increased may need to cut down their workforce as they may not afford to pay the high wages. On the other hand Morrsion way want to keep their current workforce, so Morrisons may decide to advertise more for example in order to increase sales in order to pay its workforce.
Employment Act (2002) is a major piece of legislation that received Royal Assent in July 2002. The Act mainly covers three areas, dispute resolution, parental leave, and fixed term workers. So Morrisons must give flexible hours to young parents who got to look after their children as the law indicates that parents can have flexible hours if they have young children. So again if Morrisons were not giving parental leave for example, they will be breaching the law so they could be sued by their employees. The main consequences of this legislation are the wages Morrisons have to pay during the parental leave for example. So for during the parental leave and flexible leave would mean Morrisons would have to pay wages to the extra workers they have to take on instead of the people who are on leave. I personally believe Morrisons should give minimum number of days the legislation implies to give to parental leave and also only employ part-time workers during the parental leave in order to get reduce costs as if they employ full time workers it would be more expensive.
Equality Bill- The Government has plans to introduce a single Commission for Equality and Human Rights by October 2007. This Bill also plans to extend equal opportunity legislation to ensure that individuals cannot be discriminated against on the grounds of religion and belief in the provision of goods and services, and will place a requirement on public bodies to promote gender equality and prevent sex discrimination in the exercise of public functions.
This law affects Morrisons because they have to make sure they do not for example pay a worker who is Hindu a different amount of money just because they are a Hindu and pay the other workers more money and they both work as a same job. If Morrisons were found doing this then they are infringing the law, so they could be sued by the employee. However, Morrisons have time until the law is established to plan how they are going to approach this new legislation.
The standard rate of Statutory Sick Pay increased to £70.05 per week. Statutory Sick Pay (General) Amendment Regulations 2006 came into force (10 April 2006)
These amend the Statutory Sick Pay (General) Regulations 1982 to provide that a person is deemed incapable of work if they are excluded or abstain from work in accordance with a request or notice in writing made under a piece of legislation that is intended to prevent the spread of a relevant disease. This affects Morrisons because Morrisons have to the staff if they are on sick leave. However, some people might fake the sickness just to get paid but Morrisons have to order them to give a valid reason for their leave and perhaps a letter from the doctor. So again Morrisons may have to employ part-time workers to cover for the people on sick leave.
Part-Time Workers Regulations 2000, this legislation deals with discrimination against part-time workers. This legislation gives part-time male and female workers a right to the same pay and terms and conditions of employment (contractual and non-contractual) on a pro-rata basis as full time workers, it a similar contract, doing the same or broadly similar work, unless any difference in treatment can be objectively justified. Full-time workers who become part-time, are entitled to retain pro-rata terms and conditions
This legislation affects Morrisons because Morrisons must give them the right pay and give the same terms and condition as their full time worker. So for example, they cannot tell a part-time employee to do more work than a full time employee just because they work part-time. This will cost Morrisons money as they may have to give same bonuses for example for part-time workers, however, Morrisons can vary their pay between part-time workers and full time workers, so for example paying part0-time workers the national minimum wage and full time employees more the minimum wage.
Task 3 – Economics Influences
Trends in the National Economy
The trends in the UK national history can be analysed by using the business cycle, inflation, interest rates, the labour market/employment levels/skills shortages and consumer debt/fear of excess borrowing.
Business cycle
The peak in the business cycle represents the economy is at is peak. The inflation also continues to rise. There is going is full employment and there is shortages of other resources as the economy makes full use off all factors of production like land, labour and capital.
At the peak of the cycle (boom period), growth is high, unemployment low but inflation may be starting to rise as high growth in demand starts to cause demand-pull inflation. The emergence of inflation may cause deflationary policies to be put in place and growth may start to fall (the downturn). It may even slow down to the extent that there is a recession. This is defined as two successive quarters of negative growth.
As there is inflation and more people being employed, customers will have more income coming in so it means that they have more disposable income so they can product of Morrisons as they can afford it. Similarly Morrisons has more disposable income due to the inflation so they can buy the supplies. The main disadvantage of boom is that the real value of the product is taken away. Even though customers and Morrisons have more income than before the price of the goods they buy would have also increased due to inflation. So as the costs are high for Morrisons they may tend to cut their costs by reducing their workforce, so this increases unemployment in the market, so customers now have less income as they may not have work so this may decrease demand for products of Morrisons. So this rise in unemployment and fall in demand will lead to recession.
A recession is a downturn in economic activity and is associated with falling levels of GDP, consumption and investment expenditure. Inflation and interest rates are declining and unemployment is rising. A recession will have a trough at the lowest point. A trough has GDP, consumption expenditure and investment expenditures at the lowest levels. Unemployment is high and inflation is low. During the recession Morrisons will experience decrease in sales and revenue they will be getting as customers will have less money to spend as they may have lost their jobs. So as sales decrease, Morrisons’ profits will also decrease as they may have to use their revenue they are getting to pay for the fixed costs such as rent, loans, etc.
An upswing in economic activity, or recovery, is usually associated with rising levels of GDP, consumption expenditure, investment expenditure and decreasing levels of unemployment. So for Morrisons it will mean as unemployment decreases customer will have more disposable income so they are likely to spend more in Morrisons, so Morrisons revenue and profits will increase. Also similarly as Morrisons are making more profits they might be tempted to invest the money they have in improving the facilities they have in the store for example.
This may lead to a boom with high levels of GDP with businesses operating at close to full capacity, inflation rising due increasing costs and interest rates at higher levels.
Overall, Morrison had to change how its activities and practices it does, so if the economy was in boom, then Morrisons will more disposable income so Morrisons can increase their supply, also perhaps Morrisons can increase its advertising as customers have more disposable income. So by increasing advertising it increases customers’ awareness so customers will buy more from Morrisons so Morrisons’ sales and revenue increases.
Inflation
Inflation means general rise in prices. The current inflation rate is at stays at 2.4% by the CPI (Consumer Price Index) measure and 3.7% by the RPI (Retail Price Index) measure. It is the measure adopted by the Government for its UK inflation target. The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee is required to achieve a target of 2 per cent, subject to a margin of one percentage point on either side.
From the diagram you can see that overall inflation has been rising but during October 2005 to around March/April 2005 inflation has been rising but at a decreasing rate, in other words there is inflation in that period but the rate of inflation is lower than the period before. So during that period Morrisons would still feel the effects of inflation but not as much as during October 2004 to September/October 2005.
So because of the inflation the average price of petrol decreased by over 5p per litre between September and October this year, to stand at 85.9p on collection day, compared with a fall of 1.3p a year ago. This in one way is beneficial for Morrisons because the supplies they get from their suppliers would now cost less as the petrol price has reduced. Also this decrease in petrol price might encourage customers to come more often to Morrisons as they can come to Morrisons at a cheaper cost. However, I believe that this decrease in petrol price is less likely to have any significant changes to Morrison as the petrol only went down by 1.3p, which is not a lot.
Another reason why Morrisons need to keep an eye on the inflation rates is that they need to assess what to do with their own prices. Their costs are likely to be rising and so their margins will be squeezed. However, they need to watch carefully what their competitors are doing as well as if they put prices up too much they may become uncompetitive. Inflation is also likely to lead to higher wage demands as workers want to ensure they can keep up with the cost of living.
As inflation rise so does the rent for the premises, so Morrisons may need to pay higher rents. So in order to pay for the costs that they need to cut down on costs or increase their profits, so Morrisons could increase their advertisement campaigns for example, in order to increase their profits to pay for the increase in costs. If Morrisons cannot pass on price of changes in inputs to its customers, then the impact of inflation will be to squeeze profits unless Morrisons can find ways of increasing efficiency. If the inflation rates over the rates were steady then Morrisons can plan ahead with more certainty so Morrison will be happy to invest in the future as the inflation rates are reliable.
During October 2004 to September/October 2005 Morrisons are less likely to invest in expanding their output for example as inflation raises their cost of production, so Morrisons will drawback until for example, October 2005 to around March/April 2005 in which the rate of inflation is low, so Morrisons may be tempted to invest in this period as their cost of production is not as much as it was.
Overall, the change in the inflation rate will affect Morrisons as they need to change their practices and activities they do. So for example, rise in the inflation rate will mean the cost of their supplies will be expensive, so Morrisons may need to cut back any investment they are going to do in the near future.
Interest Rates
The interest rates are usually around 5% set by the Bank of England, so a change in the interest rates will affect Morrisons. As you can see from the graph the interest rates have decreased from a high 13% in 1988 to a steady 5% in 2005.
So for example, during 2003 to 2004 there was an increase in the interest rates which would mean Morrisons have to pay more interest to borrow the money from the bank for example. So this would mean that Morrisons are less likely to go and invest to expand output for example, as they have to pay more than before. However, an increase in interest rates would mean that in one way they could be benefiting from the interest rates so for example, if they save money into the bank then they can get more interest than usual from the banks. This would mean Morrisons saving the money they currently in banks instead of investing it.
The rise in interest rates does not just affect Morrisons as it also affects customers of Morrisons, so a rise in interest rates will mean increase in repayments for goods customers bought on credit from Morrisons, so this in the future would mean customers buy less from Morrisons on credit. So Morrisons would be loosing out on potential sales and profits they would have got if interest rates stayed the same. Also customers would be more likely to be attracted to save as the interest rates are high so they would be able to get more interest than before. So again Morrisons would be accected as customers save more so they have less disposable income so they are less likely to buy from Morrisons as much as before, so Morrisons sales and profit would decrease.
However, during 1991 to 1994 there was fall in interest rates then customers and Morrisons would save less as there is not much point in putting in banks when there is low interest rates and tempted to spend, which will benefit Morrisons as customers are spending more. Also as the interest rates Morrisons would have to pay on loans are lower they may be tempted to loan more and invest in expanding output for example.
The rise and fall in interest rates will also affect Morrisons on a global scale as the interest rates would affect import and exports.
Balance of payment and exchange rates changes
A rise in interest rates would increase the value of the pound, thus making the pound stronger compared to other currencies. So now Morrisons would be able to import more goods from abroad at lower cost as Morrisons can buy more goods with a pound than before. As the value of the pound increases, it decreases exports from UK to other countries as the goods are more expensive than before as the value of pound has increased thus increasing the value of the goods. This is less likely to affect Morrisons as they do not export any goods. The value of the exchange rate will also affect Morrisons, so for example 1 pound is 1.54123 euros, so as the value of the pound is more Morrisons can import more goods as it is cheaper. So Morrisons is able to import more goods, also as UK is in the EU there are less tariffs and quotas so imports become cheaper. However, if Morrisons imported from other countries such as Brazil then Morrison will be charged tariffs and quotas. Overall, I personally believe that Morrisons will benefit from importing from EU as there are less tariffs and quotas. On the other hand, as the value of the pound is strong, so Morrisons can import from developing countries such as Brazil as they will be able to more goods for 1 pound for example as the value of the pound is greater than Brazil’s currency.
The labour market/employment/skills level shortage
The employment rate for people of working age was 74.5 per cent for the three months ending in September 2006, down 0.1 over the quarter and down 0.3 over the year.
The unemployment rate was 5.6 per cent, up 0.1 over the quarter and up 0.8 over the year. The number of unemployed people increased by 27,000 over the quarter and by 263,000 over the year, to reach 1.71 million.
During July 1004 and July 2005 unemployment is very low, this would mean that the labour market can be described as 'tight' as there are few people to fill any vacant jobs at Morrisons. This means that Morrisons may find it increasingly difficult to fill vacancies and may even have to offer higher wages to attract people to come to work for them. There may be particular shortages of skilled labour. However, in July 2006 there is high unemployment will mean the opposite and may mean that there is a pool of labour available and this will help keep wages down. However, demand for the goods and services produced may also be low and so this may not help Morrisons.
Also if there is skills shortage in the market of cashiers for example, then it is going to affect Morrisons. This is because if there is less shortage of cashiers then Morrisons may for example find it hard to recruit cashiers with the required skill needed to work in Morrisons. Also Morrisons would most likely take on workers with no background cashier skills and would have to train them to be preapered to do the job. However, this will cost Morrisons lots of money, so again Morrisons looses out. So as Morrisons cost increase their profits would decrease.
Consumer Debt/fear of excess borrowing
So if Morrisons borrow too much they will struggle to pay it back, this will mean that they could have to raise finance to pay back the loans for example. So if Morrisons constantly pay back their loans at a reasonable rate per month for example, each month, then they can overcome this situation.
If consumers are on debt through credit cards, store cars, loans from banks, etc. This would mean customers will less likely to spend as they are in debt, so this will decrease demand sharply, so Morrisons will lose out on lots of sales and profits. If customers of Morrisons bought products off Morrisons on credit they might be less likely to pay it back quickly as they may have other debts to be paid, so again Morrisons could loose out because of excess consumer borrowing. Similarly, if customers already have lots of debt then some customer may not be able to pay back the money. So for example, if some customers lots of bought products of Morrisons on credit they may not be able to pay pack. So Morrisons can overcome this situation by letting customers borrow less on credit or borrow on credit up to a certain limit such as £50 or something.
Trends in the Global Economy
The expansion of the European Union
European Union is an association of European countries that operate a free trade zone. The European Union is one large economic market as there is harmonisation of trade laws and economic policies and also the removal of trade barriers.
If there is expansion of the European Union to the UK it will affect Morrisons. As there is the expansion there will be greater competition in the UK domestic markets, so foreign firms might invest in UK as there is less tariffs and quotas as UK is now part of the EU. So as more foreign firms come to the market they might compete against Morrisons, so Morrisons market share and profits they earn may decrease. Also because of less tariffs and quotas Morrisons can import more goods cheaper as it costs less now. So as they are able to import goods cheaper they are also now able to import more variety of goods as they can import from various countries from the EU.
So now because of the expansion there will be more people migrating into the UK which will have positive and negative effects. One beneficial thing about more people migrating into the UK is that there are more people for Morrisons to employ on cheap labour which is very beneficial for Morrisons as they can expand output easily but at lower costs. However, migration may lead to communication difficulties, so for example, Morrisons found and employee who knows how do job Morrisons requires like a cashier and do not need much training but the worker does not speak English very well this would mean he/she would have difficulties communicating with staff and customers. Also the migration let to more customers for Morrisons as the target market increased so Morrisons can exploit increase in population by targeting products they want to buy, by doing this they will increase their profits in the long-run. On the other hand, by Morrisons employing the migrated people, there more chance of cultural clashes in Morrisons as they employ workers from various backgrounds.
Impact of War
As UK is part of North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO), UK is involved in wars regularly so in the future the wars may happen in UK which would affect the economy and each firm like Morrisons. There are benefits and drawbacks of war in the UK. One of the benefits of war are if a war happens in the UK in future there will be more security to protect civilians and businesses from the war, this will benefit Morrisons that in the future they could be little bit more safer. However, there are lots of drawbacks of war such as if Morrisons was importing goods from Iraq for example, as UK is in war with Iraq they are less likely to supply goods to Morrisons as they may see Morrisons as their enemies. So this may affect Morrisons heavily if Morrisons imports majority of its product from Iraq.
Another disadvantage of having wars is that during war customers would fear going out to work of shopping so Morrisons would be affected as less people turn up to work as they are scared and also less customers coming to Morrisons as they are scarred to go out. So Morrisons would loose out heavily on profits and revenue they could be getting, however, the size of the loss will depend on how big and dangerous the war is if the war is destructive then Morrisons may even have to be shut down during that period. Also as less customers come to work the unemployment will increase.
Threat of Terrorism
At the current moment in time terrorism is at its high as after several attacks all over the world including UK has had major affect of businesses and society as a whole. So terrorism could happen anywhere and everywhere, so businesses have to be cautious of any suspicious activities. So Morrisons needs to improve its security in order to prevent terrorism happening in their store. So Morrisons could first install more CCTV cameras to prevent any suspicious activity, they could hire more security guards, they could especially look out for any abandoned bags left in the car park for example. By doing theses procedures Morrisons would be a safer environment, so customers will fear less and come to Morrisons so it will help Morriosns and sales may increase. However, putting into place those procedures may cost Morrisons lot of money to they have to be cautious of what procedures they take up and which they do not. Morrisons also may need to have a contingency plan, this could be important to Morrisons because in case of a terrorism activity happens Morrisons needs to have plans in place that disruption to their operations is minimised and they can continue operating after the terrorist attacks.
If a terrorist activity occurs in the short term the costs to Morrisons would be revenue. So Morrisons needs to reassure customers and their staff that Morrisons is safe to operate. If customers are uncertain or not reassured that Morrisons is safe then they would not come to Morrisons so Morrisons will lose out heavily on revenue and sales.
Also by Morrisons reallocating their main customer service line or call centres in developing countries like India, Morrisons can find cheap labour and reduce the cost to Morrisons. Also as there is large population in China and India Morrisons could allocate their jobs and stores to these countries and reduce costs they would have to pay if they run the company in UK for example, where the running costs are high.
Morrisons also have to keep an eye on the oil prices as they could affect Morrisons. So if there is vast depletion of oil then oil prices are going to increase as demand for oil is inelastic, so Morriosn may have to pay higher prices for petrol, so by analysing whether there is depletion in the oil market Morrisons could plan ahead keeping in mind the rise in oil prices for example.
Also if Morrisons are able to notify an alternative fuel source Morrisons could be saving a lot of money as current fuel sources like gas, oil and nuclear are expensive. Also the impact of global warming could have an impact on Morrisons as for example if there are restrictive water supplies it could increase Morrisons costs or make it difficult for Morrisons to operate in that area. So Morrisons may need to move to another location in order to get lower cost of water supplies, however, this will cost a lot of money to invest in a new store.
Task 4
Morrisons has the duty of care to protect the environment and make it safe for habitation. Morrisons has a Corporate Social Responcibility Policy, Morrisons do this in order ‘to be recognised as a business that balances social, environmental and economic priorities with long-term national brand development and success’. Morrisons has a special programme which priorities for Corporate Social Responcibility, which takes into account the legislative, financial, operational and reputation risks which affects Morrisons.
There are several environmental issues which affect Morrisons such as through air, water, noise pollution, traffic, waste disposable, etc. So for example, as Morrisons sells several products in wrappers such as chocolate, so customers will drop their wrappers on the floor which will contribute to waste disposal. Also as there are lakes near by Morrisons people might litter in them so this will lead to water being polluted. So this may mean less people come to Morrisons perhaps the site looks dirty because of lots of wrappers on floors for example. So Morrisons needs to solve this problem by for example, offering several more bins near by in order to encourage customers to drop their wrappers in the bins, however, providing bins may cost a little bit of money. Then again, bins do not cost much so Morrisons could afford to provide the bins. Morrisons could also perhaps employ a cleaner in order to clean the wrappers dropped in order to make the environment cleaner. However, this will cost money as Morrisons have to pay for the cleaner’s wages.
Also as Morrison provide plastic bags then customers are likely to drop their bags near Morrisons which will make Morrisons’ surrounding look dirty and also damage the environment as the bags take a long time to degrade. So Morrisons could face pressure groups urging them to change their policy of supplying plastic bags. Morrisons do not want any pressure groups as it will damage their public image, so their sales and revenue may be damaged. So in order to protect themselves from any pressure groups Morrisons is going to give customers bags which can be recycled or reusable bags, instead of the usual non-biodegradable bags. This supply of new carrier bags may cost Morrisons little bit of money but nothing significant which Morrisons would not afford.
Another environmental issue which Morrisons faces is that as Morrisons constantly get supplies for example three times a week the frequent transportation will lead to more pollution from the green house gases being emitted from fumes of the lorry. So Morrisons could reduce the number of supplies they get per week from three times to one time, and buy in bulk, this will lead to reduced pollution emitted by Morrisons.
Overall, all these changes Morrisons make in order to make the environment more cleaner has several benefits. One of the obvious ones is to make the environment cleaner. Another benefit is that Morrisons will have a good reputation as they will be recognised as an environmentally friendly company so it could attract more variety of customers to the stores. Another main benefit is that being environmentally friendly will keep pressure groups away from them, so the company’s public image would not be damaged. However, the most obvious cost is making changes to their practices such as buying more bins; paying the cleaner and providing recyclable carrier bags will all cost money but may not cost much, so they will be able to afford it.
There are also several government legislations which affect Morrisons regarding the control of Pollution. One legislation which affects Morrisons is ‘Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999’, this act is written to enable the reduction of pollution by means of an integrated process based on the application of Best Available Techniques (BAT). The aim is to achieve a high level of environmental protection with requirement of pollutant emissions to air, water, land, etc. So because of this particular legislation Morrisons have to make several changes. One change Morrisons can do is to reduce the sound/ noise from its machines; this will reduce noise pollution given out by Morrisons. Another change Morrisons could is to prevent any leakages from its chemical products in order to stop the water from being contaminated. This will improve the water quality and reduce pollution.
I personally, believe these two practices; will help the environment a lot as pollution is reduced. Also this does not cost Morrisons much money to put into place, so Morrisons can afford it. Another important reason for Morrison to make changes to its practices because it will keep pressure groups of their back so, the company would get a good public image. Due to the increasing concerns of global warming, the charge the government imposes on companies breaching the environmental legislation is severe. So Morrisons must make sure they do not breach the legislation in any way or otherwise they will be fined heavily. Morrisons are monitored by the Environment Agency, local authorities and inspectors, so inspectors can come any time into Morrisons and monitor the emissions. So Morrisons have to make sure that they reduce the emission they give out at all times, in order to prevent them from being fined.
Kyoto protocol
Defra’s Vision
Morrisons also have to look at the approaches it takes to reduce waste. Waste reduction is a major issue as Morrisons are in constant pressure along with other supermarkets to reduce waste as there is shortage of landfill sites. There are several changes Morrisons could make in order to minimise the waste they exert.
One change could do is to sell more products which can be recycled or sell products which are biodegrable in order to minimise non-biodegradable waste. Morrisons can sell more products which are packaged in cardboard for example instead of polystyrene as cardboard is a biodegradable products but whereas polystyrene is non-biodegradable product. So they could also for example provide recyclable bins outside Morrisons to encourage recycling, or perhaps use machines where customers and put their recyclable bottles and receive money for it. This system is very effective way to encourage recycling as found out in the EU countries. Morrisons could also find a second use for unwanted or discarded products, so for example Morrisons could reuse it themselves or to collect the unwanted items such as mobile phones, spectacles and clothing and offer it to charity who will give it to developing countries where the products will be productively used.
Event though these changes to practices Morrisons makes will cost money, the changes it makes will have benefits to Morrisons and to the environment. Even though waste reduction is pressurised by political and social influences, it may also be in Morrisons interest to reduce waste and limit the impact of its operation on the environment. This is because by reducing waste, Morrisons will reduce its cost of production and helping Morrisons maximise its profits. Similarly by selling more environmentally friendly products, Morrisons can attract more variety of customers who are willing and attracted to buy from an environmentally friendly firm. Also there will be more customers who will be loyal to Morrisons as they feel more welcomed or associated with Morrisons.
Also another benefit of being environmentally friendly by reducing waste is that it will keep pressure groups off Morrisons, so they can sustain their good public image. If Morrisons become more environmentally friendly they can impress their stakeholders especially their staff. So the staff will be more motivated as they feel proud of being associated with a waste reducing firm rather than a wasteful company, so overall firm’s productivity will increase. The final benefit of Morrisons being a good waste management practices is that it will reduce the regulatory burden. So by Morrisons handling waste reductions are less likely to breach the legislation and regulations on waste reduction. So by doing this Morrisons is less likely to get fines or charges for waste disposal.
In the last 10 years the development of technologies has influenced Morrisons in many ways.