Political
Adidas need to be aware of the political state of the UK, the same for the all other countries where they have bases. As if the government is unstable, or there are any controversial policies, they may have a bad affect on Adidas.
There is a stable political situation in the UK, as it has a democratic government, a democratic government is one that is decided, by people voting on who they want to run the country. This means that if a dictatorship was to emerge and started making decisions that the public didn’t agree with they would simply be voted out at the next election. This is good for Adidas when operating in the UK, as it is fairly unlikely that the government would suddenly introduce any controversial policies. This will be good for my product as it gives it firm ground to work on.
There are elections every four years in the UK, with the next one in May 2005. This keeps everything functioning properly within the UK, as the government aren’t very likely to introduce any controversial policies, as they would be voted out at the next election. This is good for Adidas, as it means that the government aren’t very likely to introduce any drastic policies, which may affect them.
The government also offers subsidies if organisations set up factories in areas of high unemployment, such as the north east of England and south Wales. An example of this is Sony setting up a factory in Cardiff. However, I don’t feel this would benefit Adidas, as there aren’t any advanced skills required for manufacturing football boots, and would therefore be a lot cheaper for Adidas to manufacture their products in countries outside of the UK, where there is no minimum wage.
The minimum wage is quite a major constraint for Adidas in the UK, as this means they can acquire labour at nowhere near the cost they could in countries where there is no minimum wage. If Adidas could acquire labour at the same cost as they do in other countries, this