Registering a Private Limited Company in the UK - Assignment Example

You Choose Topic Based On the Content Section The advancement of information and technology has led to the development of E-commerce through which the customers can purchase their desired products and services directly through their personal handheld devices such as mobile phones and tablets via internet (Lai, 2014). A major advantage of online business is that the consumers are not required to be present physically in the market place for purchasing goods and services, which saves time, money and energy. Online business has become one of the profitable businesses and majority of the entrepreneurs are showing their initiatives to start the business because of its higher profitability and moreover majority of the people are shifting to online purchase which is a positive opportunity to establish online business (4Crown, 2012). According to the current case scenario, an entrepreneur would be setting up an online business in UK where both physical goods such as cameras, computers, hard disks and digitized goods such as software will be sold to the residents of UK itself. The physical goods will be shipped to the address being provided by the customers and the consumers can purchase digitized goods through websites of the particular company. a).Your Investors Would Like To Register A Private Limited Company In The UK With Either Of The Following Names: (i) Gadgets Plaza (ii) Gadgetz International In order to establish the online business the prime criteria is to register the company with a specific name that would help in reflecting the values of the company as well as give a clear idea to the customers regarding the products and services that will be sold by the online store. While selecting the name it is very essential to consider that the particular name does not pre-exists. The online company may be charged with various legal issues if the name been selected has previously been registered by any other company. In context to the given case scenario, the name ‘Gadgetz International’ would be the most feasible for the business as it is a unique name and yet has not been registered by any company. Moreover, the name reflects that the online store will deal with selling electronics products and gadgets through which the customers can easily recognise the company by its name. For the registration of any company in UK whether it is a physical business or online business, it is very essential to follow according to the rules and regulation being established by the UK government regarding the establishment of new business in the country. Selection of the most appropriate legal structure that is appropriate with the business is also necessary for setting up the business (3Crown, 2015). Generally, the first impression regarding a company comes from the brand name or the name of the company. Therefore, the name being given to the company should be able to impress the customers that will help in attracting more customers (1Crown, 2012). b). They Would Also Like To Register Either Of The Following As Trade Marks Below In The UK As A trade Mark Under The Class: Computer, Electrical And Scientific Products. (i) Gadgets Plaza (ii) Gadgetz For establishing the new online business in the UK, it is very essential to register a specific name as a trade mark. A trade mark is usually considered as a brand name that is being used by a business in order to identify and distinguish their products and services from that of its competitors. Trade mark is therefore a brand identifier and it may be in the form of symbol, design, words and other graphical representations that helps the consumers to distinguish products of a particular company (WPO, 2006). Selection of a proper name as trade mark is very essential for the success of business because it is the Trade Mark through which the customers can recognize a particular company, its goodwill and the performance being delivered by it (Fortune Manning Lawyers, 2014). However, it has to be ensured that the name to be registered as trade mark for a new company has not yet been used by any other company. In context to the given case scenario, it would be beneficial for the company to register the trade mark in the name of ‘Gadgetz’ as it matches with the Company’s name as well as with the category of products that will be sold by the company, such as Computer, electrical and scientific products. Moreover, the name has not been registered by any other company. Trade Mark provides legal ownership of a business and thus copying the trade mark or selecting similar trade mark as been registered by other companies is highly restricted and legal measures are measures are taken against such companies. Well publicised and properly chosen trade mark possesses a much higher value in comparison to other physical assets being possessed by a company. Trade mark therefore serves as the most effective means of safeguarding the reputation, goodwill and value of a company from the competitors as per the Fair Trading Act 1973 (2Crown, 2015). c).They would also like To Purchase either of the Following Domain Names: (i) Www.Gadgets-Plaza.Co.Uk (ii) Www.Gadgetz.Co.Uk In this modern era of technology it has become very essential for the companies and business establishments to own a particular domain through which it can conduct the business or reach a larger section of the consumers via internet. The number of internet users all across the world is increasing rapidly that has created an added opportunity for the business establishments to use the medium for conducting their business more effectively. Previously, purchasing and registering a domain name was highly expensive that created difficulty for the business establishments to own but nowadays it has become much easier to purchase a domain that has contributed to the success of a business. Possessing a domain with the most appropriate name as relevant to the business is very important for its successful operation (5Crown, 2012). With reference to the case scenario, for the establishment of online business in UK it would serve feasible for the company to purchase the domain in the name of ‘www.gadgetz.co.uk’. This is because the domain name being selected does not pre-exist and the people can easily identify the company by its domain id. Moreover, the selected domain name can be easily remembered by the people and thus increases the likeliness of coming back to the website in future. A portion of the name and trade mark of the company is being included in the domain name that would serve beneficial for the company as well as e the customers. Domain is generally unique identity of a company over the internet and the most important characteristic of a domain name is its sense of ownership. Since it is an online business, the website should be highly interactive and the user interface should be attractive that would create a positive influence on the mind of the visitors and customers. There should be separate category of products being provided in the website that would provide convenience to the customers in selecting their desired products. Moreover, online customer support facility is also very essential to be provided in the website through which the customers can seek for any help from then online shop if they have any quarries. Domain name provides a professional touch to the business and it is an asset to the business that helps in attracting more customers towards the company. Therefore, a well selected domain name will help in building the reputation of the online business, carry the brand image and thus boost the brand value of the business (Welsh Government, 2015). d).They would like To Use Some Parts of Recent Popular Songs in Their Online Advertisements. Advertisement is the most important aspect of the successful promotion of any business, irrespective of whether it is physical or online business. With the advancement of information and technology, online advertisement has become one of the most effective medium. Online advertisement may be of several forms that includes ‘social-media marketing’, ‘search engine marketing’ and ‘mobile advertising’ among others. According to the given case scenario, the online business would like to use some parts of the recent popular songs in their online advertisements (IAB, 2015). People of the present generations are music freak and thus using the most popular songs as online advertising medium would serve most effective in attracting more customers. However, it is very essential to select the songs that are highly popular among the people and create emotional attachment with the company. Since the online business will be established in UK and targeted towards the people all over the country, the song should be an English song that has recently being launched and has gained a significant popularity among the people. It is also very essential to select an effective online medium through which the songs can be advertised that can be assessed by majority of the people. Advertisements through social networking sites such as facebook and tweeter would be the most effective as they are highly accessible by the people. Legal permissions from the respective sites are necessary to be taken for selecting the online medium for advertising. Moreover, permission from the song owner is also very essential to be taken as the song will be copyright protected and illegal authorization of the song would be a criminal offence that would negatively impact on the business (IAB, 2015). e).They would Like To Publish Web Links on Their Website to Various Technology Articles Hosted On Other Websites. The website that that will be created for the online business should be highly attractive as well as interactive that would be able to impress the customers as well as provide convenience to the visitors. Providing various links of websites as well as articles relating to the particular industry or products will make a webpage more informative through which the visitors can acquire required information. Similarly, in context to the case scenario for the online business it would serve beneficial to publish web links on their websites regarding various technological articles being hosted on other websites. For this, permissions from the host websites and the article owners are necessary to be taken before linking them to the website (Lai, 2014). Section 2: Privacy and data protection (a) Collecting various types of information from customers without notifying the Data Protection Commissioner The Data protection Act 1998, focused to data or information relate with the living individuals. The law recommends certain rules as well as standards, in command to accomplish the general objective of this act. Basically it deal with the collection of data or information and used it with proper security and maintaining the quality of information. For collecting data for business, purpose from customers included some set of specific operations according to Data Protection Act. These steps were, obtain and recording it for future use, organising and adapt the recorded data, consult those data, disclosing the collected information or data for making it available, as well as after all those steps destroying those data (Evans, n. d.). The Data Protection Commissioner is a public official, who works independently beside government. The main general duty of data protection commissioner has to look after the processes either those are relevant or not, specified, legitimate and compatible for purposes or not, along with those information are up to date or not. Commissioner also watch over several things like, information must be removed as soon as task is over, security of data or information while processing, when data are transferred outside of the country, commissioner is accountable for the adequate protection of the transferred data or information. The data protection commissioner has the extensive range of administration power to ensure the principles of data protection (Cloudamize, 2014). Here the investor was like to setup a new online business of both physical and digital goods located in the UK. For setup this new business, investor must be acquainted with the target market. In the view of this concept, investor must be collected various types of information from customers to setup the new business. According to the Data protection Act 1998, investor has to be informed the data protection commissioner about his proceedings of information. If the investor did not follow the proper notification related to the collection of information, it accountable as an offensive and unethical practice. In that situation, data protection commissioner might issue ‘Formal Information Notice’ as well as investigated according to the normal internal complaint procedures, and took essential steps for ensure the public information from violation (Woulds, 2004). (b) Using cookies to collect information on users’ browsing habits Cookies are specific types of transcript files, which have a little amount of information or data. These are easily downloaded in devices while visiting a websites. Basically cookies are utilized by websites owners to recognise the user’s identity. There are two kinds of cookies; one is helpful to site function and other one for the tracking. If any investor was used cookies to collect relevant information about the target market segment for developing a new online business, such kind of practices were accountable as the offensive against human right. According to the EU’s Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive jointly published an official guideline about the new law in 2011, which affects those websites that randomly used not essential cookies just for collected the information about users browsing habits. So the condition was clearly stated that investor have not been used cookies for collecting information about customers to launch his new online business in UK. This specific practice was taken as an unethical practice and responsible body as ICO might implicate the penalties on the responsible investor. Guilty investor might serve penalties up to $800,000 to the related organisation for accountable to breach the law (AllAboutCookies, 2015). To avoid such type of offensive practice, investor was followed some recommendations, such as, investor, who was planning to launch new online business, must have to check the technology that he used for the business, assessed the intrusiveness of using technologies, along with other circumstances. According to new law, investor must be conscious about his choices of technologies in the business, to avoid such critical condition like breach of law in UK (AllAboutCookies, 2015). (c) Sharing customers’ names and addresses with a company contracted to deliver goods to customers, but without consent from customers For the every business, customers are the main riding force for sustainability as well as future prospects of business. Each and every organisation was served its services and products as per customer’s expectations and needs. To meet those needs and expectations, every organisation must be communicative to its relative target market as customers. The total process was cycling in order to, According to the General Business Law (GBT), this was concerned about business, focused about both the parties related to the certain transaction. Transaction occurred between the organisation and the customer. Both have to be connected in terms of business transaction, as well as shared information about each other. Customers must be known about the organisation details; on the other hand, organisation also collected relevant information about customer for transaction as well. The total process of communication along with sharing information must be happen in concern of both the parties. It was essential according to the law as well as for avoided such criminal offenses related to the information privacy (ICO, 2014). If any owner of business shared customers personal details like, names and addresses with another company that contracted for the delivery of particular products to the customers, without any consent of customer, this whole process was remarked as a unethical practice or as a criminal offense as perception of General Business Law (GBT). To avoid such types of criminal offenses related to the security of personal information as well as human right, the organisation must followed the relevant rules and regulations. Additionally, provided enough information to the customer about their product as well as delivery procedures to the customers for evaded the unwanted offenses (ICO, 2014). (d) Not allowing employees to see their personal employee file and using a computer system to analyse the performance of employees to decide on who gets promotion Employees are the heart of the organisation. Through the consistent performance of employees, any organisation can proliferated its productivity as well as sustainability in market along with future prospects. Organisation was prepared as well as maintained employee’s personal details file and working details to ensure their growth of performances. These files were developed with the help of specific software system to measure the rate of growth easily as well as to know the names of employees who would promoted in future. Employees were also known about the whole procedure of measuring the growth of performances (Federal Mogul, 2015). It was like the employee monitoring process, for track the performance, as well as avoided the legal liability, along with protection of the trade secret and other security concerns. Promotions were motivational aspects for the employees. If all the employees were concerned about their performances, ultimately it was fruitful for the organisation. However, it was essential to allow the employees to remark their files as well as using a computer system to analyse their performances by own selves. It might help to recover the performances, as well as influenced them to make better productivity for the organisation (Data Protection, 2015). This situation can be maintained the balanced circumstances within the organisation along with evaded all the chances of conflict in between the management and employees as well as within the employees also. This process made a better situation in terms of productivity of organisation, future planning, along with long-term fore casting for the prospects of organisation in competitive market. In perception of Human right Law within the organisation, employees should have the right to see their personal employee files using organisation’s computer system as well as analysed their performances along with to know the organisation’s decision about promotion. If any organisation did not provided such information to the employees, in perception of The Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoIA), it was a breach of law. Specifically it was a criminal offense. So the organisation must be avoided such types of conditions (Data Protection, 2015). (e) Requiring that customers provide details about their sexual orientation during the process of purchasing a product According to the General Business Law (GBT), business transaction was occurred between customer and organisation, for purchasing a specific product customer must be provided some information to the organisation. There were also some regulations about required information. Organisation must not questioned about customer’s sexual orientation. According to the purchasing law, all the regulations were prohibited the discrimination against individuals based on their skin colour, sexual orientation, race, along with other personal identity. If there any organisation was requiring the details about customer’s sexual orientation during the process of purchasing the product, the organisation was done a criminal offense in terms of The Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoIA). According to both the law of 41 CFR 60-1.4(a), 60-300.5(a) and 60-714.5(a), customers must have own right not to provide such information related to their skin colour, sexual orientation, race, religion, national origin as well as other related personal identity. These types of questions were similar to the personal harassment. Customers can also file a lawsuit against the organisation if the organisation generates such type of criminal offenses (MTM, 2015). In that cases organisation must pay the large amount of money to the customer. On the other hand, if the lawsuit cannot prove then the customer must liable for pay the amount. Situation was even worse than this also. Sometimes organisation has been banned for such type of criminal practices as well. Overall, this kind of offenses was not expected for any organisation’s growth path, as well as it was not generated goodwill for the organisation also. So, all the business organisation must be avoided such kind of situations (MTM, 2015). Section 3: Advertising and Marketing a). Design An Advertisement For The Business. Your Advertisement Should Have Some Graphic Content And Words. Discuss At Least Three Ways In Which Your Advertisement Conforms To UK Advertising Regulations Identifying The Particular Regulations/Laws Concerned. For the successful establishment of the online business in UK it is very essential to implement effective advertising and marketing strategies that would help to promote the products and services to the targeted customers of UK. The prime aim of the business is to maximize the volume of profit and thus it is very essential for the business to attract customers that would help to earn profit. Selecting the proper medium for advertisement is very essential for the effectiveness of promoting the brand as well as the products and services to be sold by the online store (Michael, E. J. & et. al., 2014). As it is an online business therefore, the advertisement strategies would be to a certain extent different from that being implemented by the physical business establishments. Moreover, it is also very essential for the online business to consider the advertisement laws and regulations of UK that will control the type of advertisement strategies to be adopted by the business. Internationalization and the increased globalization have resulted in increased competition among the companies because of the advent of foreign companies in the country. Therefore, in order to sustain in his competitive environment, the online business is required to adopt effective advertisement strategies that would succeed in creating brand loyalty among the people of the country and thereby attract more customers towards the products and services of the company (6Crown, 2012). Selecting the Proper Medium for Advertisement Selection of the appropriate advertising medium is very essential for the successful operation of the online business in the UK. Since it will be a newly established business, it is very essential that people all over the country knows regarding the company as well as the products and services that will be sold by the online shop. There are various mediums through which the online business can promote their brands along with their products that includes print media, visual media and through online. Print media refers to journals, magazines, newspaper articles and pamphlets among others (Cao, 1999). The company may provide advertisement in any of these print media that would contain various offers and descriptions about newly launched products. Moreover, advertisement through television would also serve beneficial for the promotion of products to the targeted customers (Pearson Education, 2007). The online business will be selling electronic gadgets and software. Thus, the target market for the products will be manly the youth section of the society and young adults who are usually tech freak. Therefore, the television programs that are mostly watched by this section of the society should be the prime target in which the advertisements should be shown. Among all other mediums of promotion, online advertisement would be the most effective for the online business to promote brand and products to the targeted customers. Majority of the people of today’s generation access the internet and prefer to spend spent time either in social networking sites or other online sources. Thus, advertising through online mediums can help the company reach to a larger section of the society and therefore attract majority of the customers towards its products (Pearson Education, 2007). Whatever may be the medium of advertising, it should be high graphical content along with containing information regarding the products and offers that would attract majority of the customers. The online advertising may be conducted through various social media and websites that are frequently being visited by people. Preparing the advertisement is the most important aspect that would determine the extent to which it is successful in attracting customers. Considering UK Advertising Regulations in Designing Advertisements There are certain rules and regulations of the UK Government that are necessary to be followed by the company while designing any advertisement. The Advertisement Standards Authority of United Kingdom is responsible for regulating the ‘contents of advertisements’, direct marketing and sales promotion being adopted by the companies operating in the country (ASA, 2015). Moreover, the regulations being established by the UK government regarding advertisement states that the description of the products and company to be advertised should be accurate and actual. The advertisement should be decent and all the legal issues should be considered while presenting the advertisement publically (7Crown, 2015). The most important aspect is that the company should be truthful and honest about its promotion and should also be socially responsible that does not encourage illegal or unsafe behavior. However, in designing the advertisement for the online business in UK, necessary regulations will be followed that have been formulated by the UK government. Truth and accurate information will be used, all the necessary information will be used and aggressive sales techniques will be avoided. Therefore, it is very essential to design the advertisement after considering all the ethical issues as it will be viewed by every sections of the people, irrespective of the age groups. More focus will be given on the contents of the advertisement so that it would not negatively impact on the society (6Crown, 2015). b). Advise The Investor On The Legality Of The Following Marketing Communications, Giving Explanations And Quoting Appropriate Sections Of The CAP Codes Or Other Legislation. There are some specific regulations and legislations being implemented by the UK government that regulates the contents of the advertisement being designed by the companies to promote their products and services. Failing to adhere to the specified regulations is a criminal offence that would negatively impact on the sustainability of the business. The CAP code of UK is the rule book that is a rule book that is generally meant for the ‘non-broadcast advertisements’ ‘direct marketing communications and ‘sales promotion’, which is being administered by the ‘Advertising Standards Authority’ (Pinsent Masons LLP, 2015). The code is mainly targeted towards ‘online marketing communications’ such as social media, online video and banner advertising. The companies and business establishments are required to comply with the rules of CAP code while designing their advertisements through websites and other online mediums. Moreover, the advertisement regulations being established by the UK government regulates the contents of advertisement so that they do not negatively affect the society (Pinsent Masons LLP, 2015) (i).The online advertisement designed for the promotion of Coolguy cigarette, it can be seen that there is an open promotion of cigarette being taken by two girls. The advertisement is against the advertisement regulations being formulated by the UK government and the CAP code rules. The law does not permit the smoking of cigarette publicly as cigarette smoking is injurious to health and the governments of various countries are implementing measures that would restrict the consumption of cigarette. However, for the cigarette industries to operate successfully it is necessary for them to promote cigarette through advertisement or else their business would close down. In the given advertisement it was required to include the tagline “cigarette smoking is injurious to health” as it has been made mandatory by the government to include the tag in every cigarette advertisement. Similarly, there might be e-cigarette as a product of the online business and therefore, it is advised that the advertisement does not contain any scenario where the people are taking cigarette. Moreover, a tag line should be provided below the advertisement that ‘cigarette smoking is injurious to health’ (7Crown, 2015). (ii).In this section, a company has designed advertisement to promote electric shaver especially for the women. As per the scenario of the advertisement, there is high content of Nudity which is not unethical according to the CAP code rules (8Crown, 2015). For the advertisement of beauty products or lingerie items for women nudity content to certain extent is acceptable, as nudity is required for the relevancy of the advertised products. However, explicit or nudity contents of the advertisements that does not have any relevance with the products are considered unethical as per the advertising regulations and the CAP code rules of UK. The business establishments pursuing such explicit contents in their advertisements would be penalized as it is a severe offence. In the given advertise, the company has launched trimmer specialty for the women and thus it falls under the category of beauty product, which would not be termed as an office even though it involves nudity to some extent. There may arise some issues with the tag line being included in the poster i.e. “The less hair you have on your legs the dirtier you get”, as the line suggests some explicit content that is not relevant with the advertisement of the particular product. The tag line could be much decent for describing the product. Similarly, the investor is required to give special considerations while advertising their products that should not violate the CAP code rules (1Committee of Advertising Practice Ltd, 2015). (iii). According to the advertisement there has been provided an offer for the reduction in the price of laptop from £299 to £150 that has been provided with the necessary information along with the terms and conditions that are being applicable for the particular offer. Therefore, the provided online advertisement is ethical and follows the CAP code rules of UK. Nothing has been misrepresented in the advertisement and therefore does not mislead the customers in any aspect. The reduction of price has been clearly mentioned in the advertisement, i.e. the previous price of the laptop was £299 that has been reduced to £150. However, there is mentioned in the advertisement that ‘Sale ends tonight’ which represents validity of the particular offer, but the date and time when the sale will end has not been provided. This cannot be considered as a misleading advertisement because the advertisement does not mislead the people with any wrong information. The online business investor is recommended to provide all the relevant information in advertising their products and follow according to the CAP code rules and advertising regulations of UK (2Committee of Advertising Practice Ltd, 2015; HG.ORG, 2015). (iv).In this scenario, the advertisement of Motorola i867 is being provided whereby under the ‘Specifications’ section it is it was stated “up to 15 hours talk time”. Further it was stated below the text “Battery performance may vary depending on network conditions and configuration, and phone usage”. Therefore, the advertisement does not have any unethical content or mislead the customers with any fake information. There is no-where mentioned that the battery backup will be exactly 15 hours. The conditions have been provided that it may vary upon usage, configuration and network and thus the customers cannot claim if the mobile phone gives less battery backup. Therefore, the advertisement does not provide any misleading information to people regarding the product and thus it follows the CAP code rules and other advertising regulations of UK. Similarly, the online business is also advised to follow the CAP code rules and do not provide any misleading information in their advertisement (2Committee of Advertising Practice Ltd, 2015). Read More