This document provides context and instructions for an assignment assessing public health issues in Cockatoo Rest, Australia. Students must choose one of three health conditions (COPD, stroke, or falls injuries) and write a report covering: 1) hospitalization rates in Cockatoo Rest compared to national rates, 2) potential risk factors, and 3) public health prevention strategies. The document provides hospitalization data in Cockatoo Rest by age group for the three conditions. It instructs students to calculate rates, identify modifiable risk factors through literature review, and propose one person-focused and one community-focused prevention strategy. The report must follow a specified structure and formatting guidelines.

1. Page 1 of 3
This assessment provides you with the opportunity to apply
your knowledge of population
health principles and epidemiology to a public health issue in
Cockatoo Rest.
CONTEXT:
The Cockatoo Rest Hospital has alerted the community that it is
currently experiencing a staff
shortage, especially in their nursing workforce. It is believed
that increasing numbers of
hospitalisations for selected health conditions might also be
contributing to the problem. Three
conditions are of particular concern: Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease (COPD), stroke,
and falls injuries. Given the recognised difficulties of attracting
and retaining health care
professionals in rural areas, the local authorities believe that the
development of public health
prevention strategies might be an efficient and sustainable
approach to reduce hospitalisations
related to these conditions and hence alleviate pressures on the
health system in the short and
longer term.
YOUR TASK:

2. As a member of the Cockatoo Rest Public Health team, you
have been asked to write a report
on one of the three conditions (i.e., you will need to choose
either Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease OR Falls Injury OR Stroke to write your
report), which should cover (1) the
hospitalisation rate for that condition within the Cockatoo Rest
community and a comparison
to Australian statistics, (2) potential risk factors related to the
condition; and (3) public health
prevention strategies.
Details for each section are provided below:
Hospitalisation rates:
The table below reports the number of hospitalisations within
Cockatoo Rest in 2010 by
selected age groups for the three health conditions:
Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
Stroke Falls injury
Age Group
Number of
Hospitalisations
Age Group
Number of
Hospitalisations
Age Group

3. Number of
Hospitalisations
55-69 9 55-64 2 65-69 3
70-84 18 65-74 3 70-74 5
85+ 5 75-84 6 75-79 8
85+ 4 80-84 9
85+ 40
SP5 Population Health 2015 (HLTH 1038)
Assignment 2: Essay (40%)
Assignment 2: HLTH 1038 Population Health SP5 2015
Page 2 of 3
Your task is to use the above data and calculate the
hospitalisation rate for the condition you
have chosen for the Cockatoo Rest Community for 2010 and
compare it to relevant national
statistics. Hospitalisation rate is defined as the number of
hospital separations (i.e., when a
patient is discharged) over a period of time for a given
population. Although we have not
discussed hospitalisation rates in the course, you can assume it
is like a period prevalence

4. where the events or cases are the hospitalisations. Information
on the Cockatoo Rest
Population is presented by age group and gender in the
Cockatoo Rest archive on the course
site. This section should also include a comparison of
hospitalisation rates in Cockatoo Rest
with an Australian estimate you have found to determine
whether hospitalisation rates are
higher in Cockatoo Rest than elsewhere in Australia.
Risk factors
Your report should also include a section on the potential risk
factors that might be
contributing to an increase in hospitalisation rates for the
condition you have chosen. In this
section, you will need to assess the literature to identify factors
associated with hospitalisations
of your chosen condition. Your risk factors should not only
reflect individual (person factors)
characteristics but also factors related to the community itself
(place factors) and/or time (time
factors). You should also discuss whether these risk factors are
modifiable or not. You should
use at least one peer-reviewed study investigating a risk factor
for the condition and discuss
the type of study design used in that study.
Public health strategy
Your report should also outline two public health prevention
strategies targeting one person
and one community (place) factor you have identified in the
previous section. You should
clearly indicate how the strategy is going to impact on the risk
factor and/or minimise the

5. impact of the risk factor on your chosen condition.
Structure
The report should follow the following structure:
1. Introduction: Description of the problem, overview of report
(4 marks)
2. Hospitalisation rates (see instructions above; 8 marks)
3. Risk factors (see instructions above; 8 marks)
4. Public health prevention strategies (see instructions above; 8
marks)
5. Conclusions: Summary of the main points of the proposal (4
marks)
6. Reference list: Both in text references and the reference list
need to be formatted
according to the UniSA (2015) Harvard author-date style (4
marks)
Format requirements (4 marks):
The assignment should be titled “Hospitalisations Report for
Cockatoo Rest” and your name and student
ID number should be included under the title. The assignment
should be saved as a Word document.
This assignment should not exceed 2000 words (which includes
in-text references but not the reference
list or tables). Assessors will do a quick word count and any
text exceeding the 2000 word limit will be
highlighted and NOT assessed (please note that the word limit
will be strictly applied). There is no
minimum word limit but you need to make sure you have

6. addressed all points. Text should be
Assignment 2: HLTH 1038 Population Health SP5 2015
Page 3 of 3
formatted with 1.5 spacing and size 12 font. For tables/graphs
you may use single (1.0) spacing and 10
point font (but no smaller than this).
Submission
Please submit your assignment through learnonline. The file
must be labelled with your name and
assignment number (e.g., John Smith Assignment 2). You do not
need a cover sheet.
All assignments will be automatically assessed by Turnitin.
Assignments demonstrating similarity will
be reviewed for academic misconduct, so it is very important
that you read your Turnitin reports and
make any necessary changes. Turnitin compares your
assignment against all assignments in the Turnitin
databases AND all electronic resources such as the web or
library databases and provides a similarity
report. The report highlights text, images or tables which is
similar to another source and calculates a
percentage. The percentage on its own means very little,
because if you have referenced sources, then
these references should be identified by Turnitin as being
similar to library databases or the original
source. For any assignment where you are required to use
references, the similarity report percentage

7. will never be zero (0%).
When using Turnitin, you MUST OPEN and READ the Turnitin
report, not just look at the similarity
percentage. Your Turnitin report should ALWAYS show your
references/reference list as being similar or
the same as another source. BUT unless you have directly
quoted (and correctly referenced text as a
direct quote), there should no other text identified as similar to
another source. If Turnitin has
highlighted areas of text within your assignment that is not a
direct quote and referenced as such, this is
likely to be word for word copying from a source or
paraphrasing of the source; and this is plagiarism. It
is always worth reading your Turnitin report and if needed,
amend your assignment BEFORE you submit
the final version. Please note that it can take over 24 hours to
generate a Turnitin report or longer in
peak periods. Please also note that suspected plagiarism cases
will be referred to an Academic Integrity
Officer. For further information please access the following
resource:
https://lo.unisa.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=252146
Assessment
This assignment is worth 40% of the marks for this course. The
marking scheme can be found within the
Assessment section of the course site (Assignment 2 assessment
guidelines). Late submissions penalties
will be applied as per the School of Nursing and Midwifery
policy:
thereof. As the assignment is worth 40
marks, a deduction of 4 marks per day will apply.

8. days will not be marked.
We will aim to upload your marks between two to three weeks
following the submission deadline.
Marking will be based on the rubric which is available on the
course site.
**PLEASE NOTE**
Students are advised that the topic of this assessment task may
raise issues in relation to previous or
current experiences. If you are experiencing difficulties as a
result, we encourage you to speak to your
lecturer, tutor or the counsellors available via the Learning and
Teaching Unit or seek assistance via this
link: http://w3.unisa.edu.au/counsellingservices
https://lo.unisa.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=252146
http://w3.unisa.edu.au/counsellingservices
2015
[European Business]
Table of Contents

9. Introduction 1
Task 1 3
1.1Explain the importance of international trade to an open
economy such as the UK 3
1.2 Assess the significance of comparative advantage, absolute
advantage, the terms of trade and exchange rates 4
1.3 Describe the structure of the balance of Payments 5
1.4 Explain the terms ‘surplus’ and ‘deficit’ and the
significance of long-term deficits to open economies 6
Task 2 8
2.1 explain the role played by exchange rates in European
business. 8
2.2 analyze the advantages attributed to the adoption of a single
European currency. 9
2.3 Explain the difference between free trade and protectionism
and the role played by tariffs, quotas and deregulation within
the EU. 9
2.4 evaluate the importance of geographic and occupational
mobility in wealth creation for EU member countries. 11
Task 3 13
3.1 Advise the UK government on what role the main EU
institutions play in the determination and legitimizing of EU
policy; and briefly discuss whether there is any veracity to the
argument that the UK has relinquished too much powers to these
institutions. 13
3.2 Advise the UK government on the function of EU directives
and whether or not you think they will be in breach as described
above. Further, should the UK decide to ignore the directive,
what consequences, if at all, do you think may follow. 15
3.3 What are the main EU funding streams? Evaluate their
structure and purpose. 16
Task 4 18
4.1 Produce a profile of the EU as trading block and discuss its
importance to member states. 18
4.2 Evaluate the significance of linguistic, cultural, logistical
and environmental barriers to EU operations 19

10. 4.3 Carry out an audit of possible EU funding streams that may
be available and relevant directives to support companies in
France or Italy during their financial situation in the case study.
21
4.4 Produce an action plan which lists the actions necessary for
Wonga to begin an investment venture in EU. 22
Conclusion 24
References 25
Introduction
The current discussion is regarding the international business
and trade and the functions executed by the European Union in
creating business and trade in Europe and also in setting the
guidelines for the member countries so as to execute those
functions. This paper also categorically highlights the functions
of United Kingdom which is a member nation of European
Union. This paper also projects different features of the
guidelines of European Union in making the policies for the
member nations with regards to different factors. The different
steps which should have been initiated by European Union so as
to deliver suitable authority to United Kingdom have also been
highlighted in this discussion. The discussion has tried to
project a in depth analysis regarding European Union as a
important commercial region and the function executed by the
member nations belonging to the European Union in order to
make European Union as one of the greatest commercial region
in the planet.
Task 11.1Explain the importance of international trade to an
open economy such as the UK
The main feature of open economy is that it encourages free
trade among nations with an uninterrupted flow of human and
capital resources. UK is one of the finest examples of open
economy that encourages international trade. Open economy

11. encourages globalization to a greater extent.
UK is considered as one of the proximate importers of palm oil
and it is imported mostly from countries like Malaysia. The
recessionary pressure has affected the global economy
significantly in recent time causing a fall in the global trade
volume by around 12% in the year and UK was also in the ambit
of such effect (Mikić, 1998).
International trade has been beneficial to the economy of UK
considerably helping the same in combating the rising
competitive pressure and providing ample opportunities to
different organizations to achieve growth. International trade
has provided the following advantages to UK economy:
· The concept of international trade has opened up new
opportunities for expansion for the UK organizations. The raise
in the levels of international trade has helped different
organization to generate more revenues through expansion of
business and combating competitive pressure.
· The expansion of business activities among organizations has
created employment opportunities, increased productivity and
supported a steady growth in the nation’s GDP.
· The EU policy along with the policy of UK towards open
economy has encouraged the free flow of human and capital
resources (Mikić, 1998).
· International trade allows the flow of different goods and
services in and outside of the nation that leads the people to get
access to different forms of products thereby improving their
standard of living.
1.2 Assess the significance of comparative advantage, absolute
advantage, the terms of trade and exchange rates
Comparative Advantage:
Comparative advantage is regarded as the efficiency of a nation
to produce a product which is greater another nation, it may be
in terms of cost or operational efficiency. Comparative
advantage allows a nation to produce an identical product with
lower opportunity cost in comparison to another country thereby

12. enabling the former to enjoy an advantageous position.
The open economy existent in UK has enabled the nation to
achieve significant trade performance and the same has also
encouraged the organizations to avail competitive advantages in
producing various products and the provision of numerous
services such as chemicals, aviation, pharmaceuticals etc. as
compared to other nations. The same has provided the
organizations a competitive edge in the global market
(Kendrick, 1990).
Absolute advantage:
The concept of absolute advantage refers to the ability of a
nation to produce a particular product or provide a service in an
increased quantity in comparison to another nation through the
utilization of same quantum of resources (Barry, 1996).
Terms of trade:
Terms of trade in regards to a country represents the Price
relating to the exports made in terms of the imports relating to
that nation. In simple terms, the concept of terms of trade can
be regarded as the total quantity of imports made by a country
for every unit of exports made by the same (Goode, 2003).
Exchange rate:
The term exchange rate refers to the price of the currency
belonging to a nation at which it is exchanged with the currency
of another country. The concept of exchange rate has two main
elements namely, the domestic currency and the foreign
currency. The increased value of British Pounds has enhanced
the cost efficiency of the imports made by the organizations in
UK (Klein and Shambaugh, 2010).1.3 Describe the structure of
the balance of Payments
Balance of payment represents the total economic value of the
trade committed by a country with other countries such as
exports and imports.
The preparation of balance of payment is made by following a
double entry system just like an account projecting the values of
exports and imports. However, unlike an account the balance of
payments projects the credit balances in the left side while the

13. debit balances in the right side. The debit and credit balances
being the outflow and inflows of cash made towards imports and
exports (Shamah, 2003).
Apart from the cash flows relating to export and import of
goods and services, the debit balances includes amount spent as
gifts to foreign nationals, investment of capital in other
countries, purchase of gold etc., while the credit balances
includes receipt of amount in the form of gifts from outside the
nation, cash flows from sale of assets comprising of gold,
amount invested by foreign nationals in the form of capital etc.
The balance of payment account has three main components
namely current, capital and official settlement account
projecting the values of the different transactions as referred
above (Shamah, 2003).
Visible trade balance:
Visible trade balance is referred to as the balance of trade
generated through the import and export of tangible items.
Visible Trade balance:
= imports– export = 500 m – 400 m
= - £ 100 m.
Current balance:
Visible balance + government (invisibles) + other visible +
capital flows
= - 100 m + 200 m – 150 m – 45 m
= - £ 95 m.
Balance of official financing:
In order to balance the current account deficit the amount
required would be £ 95 m. 1.4 Explain the terms ‘surplus’ and
‘deficit’ and the significance of long-term deficits to open
economies
Surplus:
Surplus refers to the excess of income over expenditure. In
regards to international trade the term surplus can be referred to
as an excess of the value of goods exported in comparison to the
value of goods and services imported. A surplus represents a
favorable balance of trade (Clark, 2011).

14. Deficits:
On the other hand deficits in terms of international trade refers
to an excess of the value of goods and services imported that
represents the expenses of a nation in comparison with the value
of goods and services exported, which represents the income of
the nation. A deficit represents an adverse balance of trade.
The significance of long-term deficits to open economies
Due to the malefic effects of the recession and the downfall of
the global currency value trade deficit has become a common
phenomenon for different nations. Exchanges rates are altered
by different nations to cope up with trade deficits. It is not
always correct that trade deficits will harm the economy.
Generally for open economies the adverse effects of trade
deficits can be averted by investing in foreign countries and
borrowing foreign currency. It has been found that with an
increased import of capital assets the productivity of an
economy has been strengthened (Clark, 2011).
UK enjoys the privilege to borrow money at world interest. On
one hand UK raises the adverse current account balance by
borrowing in order to cover its trade deficits and on the other
hand the same helps the nation in raising its exchange rate due
to inflow of foreign capital. UK is a nation that encourages
open trade in order to support its domestic industries through
government investment and by lessening tax rates and the gap in
the balance is covered by foreign currency borrowing. The
nation’s exchange rate reduces with the reduction in the level of
borrowing foreign currency due to its flexible exchange rate
structure. Hence, it can be said that trade deficits brings in good
results in the long run in case of an open economy (Clark,
2011).
Task 22.1 explain the role played by exchange rates in European
business.
Exchange rate refers to the rate at which a country purchases
foreign currency and has a direct bearing towards the efficiency
of committing foreign trade. The exchange rate is used to
purchase and sale foreign currency during import and export of

15. goods. The exchange rate belonging to a country can be of two
different categories namely, namely fixed and floating rate
(Pentecost, 1993).
Fixed exchange rate:
As the name suggests fixed exchange rate is such a rate that is
kept fixed by the central bank of a country to deal in foreign
currency. The rate is kept steady by dealing in transactions
relating to purchase and sale of currency relating to that nation
in the foreign exchange segment.
Floating exchange rate:
Floating exchange rate is a volatile rate that keeps altering; it is
driven by the market forces such as demand and supply of
currency. The gap between the so called demand and supply is
fixed automatically. A fall in demand would reduce the value of
the currency of a country and importing products and services
will become costly at that time and at the same time a fall in the
currency value will reduce the inflow of foreign goods
increasing the demand for indigenous products (Pentecost,
1993).
What is the role on importance of exchanged rate in European
Business?
For importing goods the organizations relating to a nation are
required to purchase the currency of the country from where the
goods are imported. An increase in the volume of exports
simply increases the demand for the currency of a country; if
UK starts exporting more products to other nations then the
demand for the GBP will automatically rise as the countries
importing the products are required to purchase GBP for making
payments, even foreign investments will also enhance the
demand for GBP. It has been found that the development in
business in the East European countries is more prominent that
the West European nations and the exchange rate factor is the
main driving factor behind this. For instance, if the currency
value for France is superior to that of Czech Republic then the
imports made by the later will be much costly and this will lead
the later to develop its indigenous products. Hence, it can be

16. said that an inferior currency value will develop the
organizations of a nation (Pentecost, 1993). 2.2 analyze the
advantages attributed to the adoption of a single European
currency.
What is meant by the adoption of single currency?
The variations in the exchange rates have direct bearing upon
the growth of the domestic industry. Euro has been adopted as
the single official currency by the European Union. This
decision has provided enormous privileges to the European
industry due to the reduced exchange rate volatility (Temperton,
1998).
What are the advantages associated with the adoption of the
single European currency?
The adoption of Euro as a single currency has reduced the cost
of transaction relating to different European organizations as
they are not required to exchange different currencies with the
EU area. As referred earlier the exchange rate volatility within
the Euro area has also been eradicated with the adoption of a
single currency. Again, adoption of Euro as a single official
currency in the euro zone has also helped the European
organizations to enjoy a competitive strength in the global
economy as other countries dealing goods and services in the
European market are exposed to the exchange rate fluctuations
(Temperton, 1998).
The adoption of a single currency in the Euro zone has
protected the organizations of the member states from exchange
rate risk and at present twelve member nations have adopted
Euro as their official currency with the growth rate of new
member states still increasing.2.3 Explain the difference
between free trade and protectionism and the role played by
tariffs, quotas and deregulation within the EU.
Free trade and protectionism are two different concepts. The
difference between free trade and protectionism are stated in the
following paragraphs.
Protectionism can be regarded as the practice adopted by the
government of a nation to lessen the arrival of foreign goods in

17. the country by putting barriers to trade by enhancing tariffs and
duties. It is referred to as a measure taken by the government to
support the domestic industries from foreign products. On the
other hand free trade encourages foreign trade, the policy of
free trade is adopted by the government in order to encourage
free trade between the country and other nations (Young, 2009).
It is believed that protectionism secures the growth of domestic
industries by hindering the foreign products from entering into
the domestic market. On the other hand free trade encourages
the domestic industries to improve their quality standards in
order to compete with the foreign goods and adopt international
standards.
The policies relating to tariff, quotas and deregulation plays a
vital role in developing the EU market. Article 31 of the Treaty
of Functioning of EU sets the tariff quotas in the euro area. The
EU has set its tariffs that allow total or partial suspension of
duties upon the products that that enter into the euro zone
during the period of validity of measure the duties stated are
applicable to a selected quantum of goods. The goods exported
from third world or beneficiary nations are also allowed to
enjoy tariff concessions for a selected quantum of goods. For
encouraging production in the Euro area lower tariff rates are
offered to the goods imported from different nations which are
generally raw materials or semi finished goods only and it will
also increase the employment rate (Young, 2009).
The low rate of tariffs provided to semi finished goods and raw
materials have helped the EU in encouraging productivity and
employment, this has supported industrialization in the euro
area to a greater extent. It is also directed that those goods
cannot be resold.
The policy of deregulation has been applied in the EU zone in
order to reduce the stringent regulations relating to the fields of
health and safety and environmental protection in order to relief
different big companies from the cost incurred for complying
with the regulations. The EU has also started the procedure to
encourage free trade between US and EU through the

18. Transatlantic Trade and investment Program in order to loosen
the regulations relating to international trade (Lusztig, 2004).
The policy towards deregulation adopted in the EU has relieved
the organizations from the stringent government regulations.
Regulatory Fitness and Performance Program has been
implemented in 2013 as a measure for deregulation, it plays the
role of checking the governmental regulations formulated in the
EU zone and gauges the effects of the same upon the industries
established there in. Through a thorough analysis the REFIT
program helps in lessening the regulations which are likely to
create pressure upon the organizations and raise their cost
burdens (Lusztig, 2004).2.4 evaluate the importance of
geographic and occupational mobility in wealth creation for EU
member countries.
Geographic mobility refers to the measure of the movement of
population in different geographical regions. Occupational
mobility on the other hand refers to the movement of people
from one job to another depending upon their requirements and
profitability (Black, 1980).
In order to encourage geographic and occupational mobility EU
has introduced its directive allowing free movement of human
resources among the member states. However statistics have
been found that projects the lower volume of occupational and
geographic mobility in terms of average rate of annual
migration among the member states within EU which is 0.75%
as compared to USA, 2.4%.
It is important for EU to attain higher levels of geographic and
occupational mobility for its development. There are several
states in the EU that lacks occupational skill relating to
different industries and the same has become a factor preventing
the development of the EU. The lack of occupational skills has
also contributed towards the increased rate of unemployment.
Through its report the Confederation of British Industries has
established the necessity of geographic and occupational
mobility within the EU zone in order to generate employment
and enhancing regional skills. The lower levels of geographic

19. and occupational mobility will prevent wealth generation
(Black, 1980).
Task 3 3.1 Advise the UK government on what role the main EU
institutions play in the determination and legitimizing of EU
policy; and briefly discuss whether there is any veracity to the
argument that the UK has relinquished too much powers to these
institutions.
The chief EU institutions and their role towards determining EU
policies are mentioned below:
The European parliament:
The European parliament is left with the authority to deal with
the budgetary, supervisory and legislative policies. The
members of European Parliament are elected from its member
states.
Roles:
· Providing approval to the laws as proposed by the European
Commission and passing them jointly with the European
Council.
· Formulating decisions and policies towards expansion.
· Scrutinizing democracy with regards to other European
institutions.
· Formulating policies towards international agreements.
· Acting in concert with the European Central Bank to frame
monetary policies.
· Forming EU budgets (Bolton and Eastwood, 2003).
The Council of the European Union:
It is the council of the governmental representatives relating to
the member countries, it decides the adoption of EU regulations
and the amendments that are required to be made for complying
with EU policies.
Roles:
· Adoption of regulations by the European Commission through
negotiation.
· Framing and developing foreign and security policies for EU.

20. · Forming EU annual budget jointly with the European
Parliament.
The European Council:
It is one of the important EU institutions and represents the
highest level of cooperation of EU member states for
developing the political plan.
Roles:
· Eliminating issues which are sensitive in nature.
· Deploying candidates at different authorities of the Union.
· Framing the political framework of the EU (Bolton and
Eastwood, 2003).
European Commission:
The European Commission plays the main role of
implementation of the directions provided by the European
parliament and the Council of EU, at the same time it proposes
new regulations.
Roles:
· It proposes new regulations for EU.
· It takes the initiative to frame funding policies for the EU
states.
· It implements the laws passed by the European parliament and
the council of EU.
By joining the EU, UK has adopted the policy of surrendering
major authorities to the EU institutions. However, certain EU
policies are adopted by the UK that needs reformation.
Immigration policy:
EU encourages free movement of capital and human resources
within the EU nations through its Immigration policy. This has
created immigration issues in UK. The government of UK has
decided to provide social security and other facilities to all
those immigrants who are willing to work and pay taxes to the
UK government. Hence, the immigration policy of EU needs to
be amended by including the provision for the EU citizens to
emigrate in UK for the purpose of working and not for staying
there (Bolton and Eastwood, 2003).

21. Social policy:
The EU must allow member states such as, UK to form their
social policies in regards to work time, limiting the movements
of workers to different places etc. as per their requirements that
will favor the economic policies of the nation.
Financial policies:
The UK is a major country with numerous institutions providing
financial services. EU should allow UK to formulate financial
regulations for the euro zone as Britain needs to lessen the
regulatory pressure, frame appropriate policies supporting the
industries and encouraging their growth (Bolton and Eastwood,
2003).3.2 Advise the UK government on the function of EU
directives and whether or not you think they will be in breach as
described above. Further, should the UK decide to ignore the
directive, what consequences, if at all, do you think may follow.
EU has formulated certain directives for its member states to
follow in the form of legislations that would lead to the
fulfillment of certain objectives by the member states for being
part of EU.
The EU directives helps the member states in maintaining a
standard specified by the EU, however they are authorized to
implement norms which are more stringent as compared to the
directives (Kaeding, 2007).
The directives of EU are framed to encourage competition
among the member states by eliminating the barrier towards
movement of capital and human resources throughout the euro
zone. The directives also provide directions towards social
policy and free trade.
The directives issues by the EU do not become effective on
issuance; rather they are implemented in the legal systems of
different member states by passing of legislations. The time
limit for making the directives implanted in the national law of
the member states is two years. The directive 267/14 of EU was
issued on 1st October 2014 and UK can implement the same in
the national laws by 1st October 2016 and the date of renewal
of the contract is on 1st October 2015. Hence, if UK renewals

22. the contract for delivering fire arms to non EU nations then it
will not breach the directive of EU prohibiting the same
(Nielsen and Treumer, 2005).
The EU member states are under direct obligations to adhere to
the provisions of the directives issued by the same, EU can sue
the member state for the breaching the obligation in the
European Court of Justice if the same fails to implement the EU
directive in the national laws or has failed to comply with the
provisions even after implementation of the same. Hence, UK
cannot avoid the compliance with the provisions of the EU
directive at all; however, it can frame legislations resembling
the directive.3.3 What are the main EU funding streams?
Evaluate their structure and purpose.
In the EU zone there remain two main funding streams that are
developed with the purpose of regional development in the EU
area. These are the structural funds that can be segregated in
two different streams namely European Regional Development
Fund (ERDF) and European Social Fund (ESF).
ERDF:
The size of this fund is £ 250 million making it the largest
structural fund in the EU. It was created in the year 1975. The
main authority of administering the fund has been handled by
the East of England Development Agency (Ramsden and Colini,
2013).
Purposes:
· Enhancement of production by delivering knowledge and
innovative ideas.
· Developing businesses and encouraging expansion through
delivery of support.
· Developing sustainability, productivity and consumption.
ESF:
The ultimate aim of this fund is to encourage employment by
delivering appropriate training facilities. It was created in 1985
and its administration is dealt with by five co-financing
organizations namely, DWP, LSC, EEDA, Central Bedfordshire
Council and Luton Borough Council (Toullier and Petit-Laurent,

23. 1991).
Purposes:
· Encouraging employment through creation of employment
opportunities.
· Developing employability skills among unemployed people
through appropriate training.
Task 44.1 Produce a profile of the EU as trading block and
discuss its importance to member states.
The trading block formed by EU with an objective to promote
trade, transportation and communication in the EU zone.
Europe is considered as the largest market of the world and the
EU is regarded as the top ranking region to export manufactured
goods. The EU exports manufactured items in various parts of
the world comprising of around eighty countries. Exports and
imports committed by EU constitute around 16% of the global
trading volume (Ionesco et al., 1990).
Figure 1: International trade in goods with the EU
Source:
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/index.php/File:I
nternational_trade_in_goods_with_the_EU-
28,_2013_(¹)_(%25_share_of_total_exports_and_imports)_ENP
E.png
The information provided below will project the positioning of
EU in the global trading market:
· The overall GDP of EU is calculated as € 25,000 / person
making itself as the largest economy around the globe.
· EU as a trading block is considered as the largest exporter of
manufactured items turning it to be the largest in the global
market.
· In regards to investments both inbound and outbound, EU
holds the highest rank.
· EU has entered into trading terms with around eighty
countries.
· The segment relating to trading of services relating to EU is

24. regarded as the largest open investment segment throughout the
globe.
EU has become the largest trading block with the dedication and
participation of the member states. The collective efforts of the
member countries has developed trade in EU significantly and
developed the region as the greatest trading block through
resource supply. The member states have projected sheer
cooperation towards implementing the standards and directives
of EU. The sharing of resources through the directive
encouraging free movement of human and capital resources
have also contributed towards the developmen (Ionesco et al.,
1990)t.4.2 Evaluate the significance of linguistic, cultural,
logistical and environmental barriers to EU operations
Linguistics:
EU has adopted a policy to encourage cultural diversity in order
to integrate the efforts of the different member states, which
comprises of 28 in number. The entire population of the region
is 500 million at present. There are different languages and
cultures belonging to the member nations and the effort of EU
to encourage diversity has contributed in its development. EU
has established a harmony among the different states by
adopting a multilingualism policy by creating Article 22 of the
European Charter of fundamental rights to consider different
languages and culture equally. At present the EU has almost 24
official languages (Chivvis, 2010).
Culture:
As mentioned earlier the EU region is a culturally diversified
region and EU considers the same to encourage integrity. EU
has created appropriate policies towards protecting and
preserving the culture belonging to different states, by allowing
free flow of human resources at different parts of the EU,
preserving cultural heritages, encouraging cultural harmony
among the member states.
Logistics:
Logistics in regards to the development of EU has played an
important role through the encouragement of competitive

25. strength, efficiency and sustainability of the European
businesses. An industry comprising of organizations as
consumers and providers of logistic services has been formed in
the name of Alliance for European logistics (Chivvis, 2010).
Environmental barriers to EU operations
The environmental factors influence the activities of
organizations to a greater extent. In response towards
environmental protection and encouraging sustainability the
European Commission has taken initiatives to formulate
environmental protection policies. The EU has established
standards towards environmental protection to be followed by
different EU states through its directives that have a relation
with international environmental policies.
The policies as mentioned above set by the EU have affected the
budgets of the member states as they have to incur significant
costs for adhering to the EU policies that has resulted in
incurring deficits in the budgets by the member states (Chivvis,
2010).4.3 Carry out an audit of possible EU funding streams
that may be available and relevant directives to support
companies in France or Italy during their financial situation in
the case study.
In the EU process of funding is conducted by two main types of
funding streams namely, Structural and grant funds. The
structural funds can be segregated ion to main heads namely,
The ESF and the ERDF. These funds were created to support the
development of society and different regions in EU. The grant
funds are formulated with an objective to support the
formulation and implementation of the EU policies.
There are voluntary sectors that help in funding the social and
environmental developments and encouraging human rights and
reduction of unemployment and poverty. There are community
grants established in the EU that provides small financial
backup to small and medium scale organizations to generate
employment and develop employability skills among people, the
grant amount is limited up to £ 12000 (Moussis and Moussis,
2000).

26. At present the countries like France and Italy are experiencing
issues relating to tax avoidance and evasion. Representations
have been made from these two member countries in the EC for
the formulation of an appropriate directive in order to prevent
these sorts of incidents.
The European Commission is putting its efforts to develop
directives in order to prevent the issues as mentioned, which are
presented below:
· The Commission has proposed a Common Consolidated Tax
Base that can be commonly used and followed among the
member states.
· Endeavour has been projected by the Commission to alter the
directive in regards to parent/subsidiary organization that would
possibly lessen the incidents of double taxation in regards to the
distribution of dividends among organizations forming part of
the group who has undergone hybrid loan agreements.
· The Commission has made it mandatory for different banks to
disclose different financial and non financial data as per the
provisions of the directive of Disclosure of non-financial and
diversity information.
· In order to control the incidents relating to cross border tax
frauds the Commission has altered the directive 2011/16/EU on
administrative cooperation regarding taxation of member states
(Moussis and Moussis, 2000).4.4 Produce an action plan which
lists the actions necessary for Wonga to begin an investment
venture in EU.
For developing as an investing venture in EU Wonga is required
to take the following initiatives:
Action plan:
PESTLE ANALYSIS;
Wonga can conduct an environmental audit through PESTEL
analysis, where it will analyze the political, economic, social,
technological, environmental and legal factors that may affect
its business. This will provide Wonga essential information
about the surrounding environment and would enable it to frame
its strategy effectively through market analysis (Warner, 2010).

27. SWOT analysis:
Wonga is also required to conduct an organizational audit in
order to understand its own capabilities and weaknesses. A
SWOT analysis will help the organization to analyze its
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats relating to the
present market segment. The SWOT analysis will help the
company to relate its capabilities and weaknesses with the size
of the market thereby helping it in forming a market standpoint.
On the basis of same the organization should frame appropriate
strategy to gain considerable market share (Fine, 2009).
Strategic Alliance:
Strategic alliance is another good idea for Wonga to understand
the market and defuse the competitive pressure of the new
market. Strategic alliance can be made through collaborations
with existing entities in the form of merger or acquisition. In
order to form a merger it is required to consolidate itself with
another entity by forming a new entity. It can also acquire
another aentity to form strategic alliance in the form of
acquisition. This policy would lead Wonga to enter into the new
market segment by facing lesser risk and grab market share at
ease (Warner, 2010).
Retail investors:
Provision of services to the retail investors can be highly risky
due to the form of the industry. However, providing services to
professional investors can be fruitful. A decision relating the
prevention of dealing with retail investors would also relieve
the organization from the obligation of disclosing information
relating to investor protection. It must be checked before
dealing that the investors are listed in MiFID.
Reporting:
Wonga is required to adhere to the reporting procedure provided
by EU in order to establish itself as a venture capital fund in the
EU. it is required to provide appropriate provide disclosure in
the form of an annual report comprising of financial information
and information related to its operations and the same must be
filed with appropriate authorities and distributed to the

28. investors.
ConclusionUnited Kingdom is among the largest and developed
economies in the planet which has a liberalized and free
economy. A definite connection exists between the liberalized
economy and international trade. A liberalized economy or a
open or free economy is denoted as those economies which
motivates free trade with other countries and economies. The
European Union enjoys a fortified economic position in the
current global scenario, since European Union is among the
biggest economic regions in the world. European Union is also
regarded as the biggest commercial hub in the global economic
scenario. This fortified economic position is achieved by the
European Union due to the collective unity among the member
countries which has also helped European Union become a
major economic region. This discussion successfully highlights
the different features regarding international trade and the
association among the United Kingdom and the European
Union.
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