To what extent does demographic change in the UK represent more of an opportunity than a threat to UK businesses?
The UK economy is constantly changing for various reasons such as improvement in medicine and increased globalisation leading to people living longer and the UK economy becoming more diverse culturally. Whether or not it provides an opportunity or a threat to a business will largely depend upon how the management of the business decides to attempt to change because of the change of the demographics.
The largest change to the UK demographics would be the overall increase in the average age of the country, because of the innovation in medicine keeping people alive for longer and people not getting sick for long. This could provide many opportunities for a firm in the UK, either in sales or the management of the firm. A firm could change the demographics of its target audience to an older generation, in order to potentially increase sales. For example there has been a large increase in mobile phones designed specifically for an older market, with many utilities that would be useful to the older generation, such as larger buttons and a “help me” text button. On the other hand this does provide some threat to firms in the technological industry; with firms having to work harder to gain the attention of the main target market of teenagers and young adults. However, while the over average demographic of the UK is growing older this is also countered by the fact that the whole economy is growing in general. The overall population has increased from 55million to almost 70 million over the last 50 years, and the growth is exponentially growing because of the increase presence of globalisation and the free movement of labour across all EU countries. This means that while the average age of the population has increased substantially, the overall market has increased by near the same rate. This means that while the market that are unpopular with the older generation, such as the technology industry, will have stayed about the same size; or maybe even grown a bit. This means
The largest change to the UK demographics would be the overall increase in the average age of the country, because of the innovation in medicine keeping people alive for longer and people not getting sick for long. This could provide many opportunities for a firm in the UK, either in sales or the management of the firm. A firm could change the demographics of its target audience to an older generation, in order to potentially increase sales. For example there has been a large increase in mobile phones designed specifically for an older market, with many utilities that would be useful to the older generation, such as larger buttons and a “help me” text button. On the other hand this does provide some threat to firms in the technological industry; with firms having to work harder to gain the attention of the main target market of teenagers and young adults. However, while the over average demographic of the UK is growing older this is also countered by the fact that the whole economy is growing in general. The overall population has increased from 55million to almost 70 million over the last 50 years, and the growth is exponentially growing because of the increase presence of globalisation and the free movement of labour across all EU countries. This means that while the average age of the population has increased substantially, the overall market has increased by near the same rate. This means that while the market that are unpopular with the older generation, such as the technology industry, will have stayed about the same size; or maybe even grown a bit. This means