Ace Appliances is an Irish based electronics appliance manufacturer. It began life as a family owned appliance retailer formed in the 1976, by the Kelly family. Since then the company has grown to move into the arena of manufacturing and wholesale distribution of electrical appliances with a strong market presence in Ireland and the UK. Ace Appliances is currently looking to develop new business  opportunities in other EU markets such as Spain and Italy.

All Ace Appliances products have the appropriate CE marking indicating they are compliant with the relevant EU legislation applicable to their products.

Ace Appliances products are influenced by consumer trends and ever changing lifestyle choices from one country to another as their business expands. Being in-tune with this is a very important part of Ace Appliances ability to be successful. Ace Appliances have made research and development the heart of their business and uses this to drive the business forward. This allows them be innovators in technology and to stay ahead of the market demands with being the first to market with new technology and features.

New markets are opening up for Ace Appliances but the continuing global economic crisis and high unemployment rates in certain countries means it now has to consider many other factors including people’s ability to buy their appliances/electronics and remain profitable. Strategies have to be developed to deal with these uncertainties. Ace Appliances are committed to a cleaner environment and have recently introduced new policies and procedures to ensure the environmentally-friendly disposal of its used appliances.

Manufacturing in China is proving increasingly problematic for Ace Appliances, due to ongoing political unrest and changes. Continuing uncertainty about the UK’s position with the EU is also having an impact on Ace Appliances as the value of Sterling falls.

Question 1

Using PESTLE, analyse the external business environment of Ace Appliances. Within each category of PESTLE include an additional plausible issue with references, relevant to today’s  worldwide landscape, not listed in the scenario above