Regulations are rules set by the government or authorities that define the limit of legal behavior. It states the requirements for people or organizations to manage an activity or a process to some degree. Government regulations are laws set to control the operations of businesses. Government regulations are classified into two social and economic regulations. Social regulations are laws that the government establishes meant to protect its citizens’ interests and social cohesion. Economic regulation is the law initiated by the government to regulate and control private corporations and influence the price of commodities. The government develops standards and policies that ensure firms and businesses can account for their activities and not engage in activities that negatively affect the environment. Also, regulations provide that government policies discourage inequalities and discrimination but encourage the improvement of professionalism and human and social capital. Appropriate regulations improve customer confidence in businesses, encourage innovation, and ensure healthy competition. Regulations differ according from one industry to the other, which affects their decision-making. Businesses are encouraged to support their regulatory policies to maximize their value in the market and discourage unhealthy activities. Failure to comply with or support regulations set by the government will affect their chances of responding to changes, opportunities, and hazards presented by regulations. Government regulations assist businesses in making long-term goals and strategies that allow companies to thrive and accomplish their objectives. Therefore, this essay will evaluate NHS and KFC businesses that operate in different markets.
The National Health Service is a government-sponsored medical and healthcare institution that provides universal care to all eligible persons in the United Kingdom. It is an institution supposed to deliver high-quality healthcare to its patients. It provides its clients with a wide range of health services, including mental healthcare, dental care, primary healthcare, hospitalization and surgeries, social services, and ambulance services. The UK government controls its funding, organization, policy-making, structure, and maintenance duties, which are divided based on regions of operations. It is managed and regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) (Blake et al., 2015). It ensures that healthcare providers promote high-quality and safest care for all their customers. It has registered most of the care providers from local authorities, independent care providers, and voluntary (charity) organizations licensed by the government. It regulates health and social care in England. It ensures that they provide high-quality, effective, compassionate, and safe services are provided to patients in hospitals, ambulances, care homes, dental care, and for patients receiving care at home (Blake et al., 2015). It monitors, inspects, and rates services provided by healthcare to ensure that the recipients are well-protected and Informed. It has the mandate and power to take action against providers with inadequate and poor services.
Moreover, the CQC influences the strategy decisions of NHS as its regulator to ensure that it complies with the set standards and remains highly rated to provide safe and quality care to its clients (CQC standards, 2020). Through monitoring, inspections, and ratings of the services, CQC affects the decision-making of the NHS in person-centered care, resource allocation, cost of health care, quality of the workforce, and legal and ethical considerations. NHS can use the reports provided by the CQC to improve their services by making decisions about the type and level of healthcare that will be provided to the patient for better health outcomes (Blake et al., 2015). It affects the resource allocation decisions of NHS as they try to provide resources that will increase quality care in their facility (CQC standards, 2020). Resources include medication, medical types of equipment, and staffing. Reports from CQC that show one area is having quality issues or is ineffective may influence the management to focus on integrating services in that area.
Additionally, the reports from CQC can be used in monitoring the performance of the NHS in different areas of health, such as quality, safety, and efficiency (Blake et al., 2015). They can use the information to make decisions that will help improve the organization’s performance. It can encourage the focus of NHS on a particular area to ensure the quality and safety of their patients. The ratings inform the type of management and healthcare staff available in the NHS. If it shows incompetency and inadequate leadership, CQC will affect the recruitment of new staff and influence management to ensure best practices (CQC standards, 2020). The regulators can inform NHS on resources that need prioritization for better health care and to meet high-quality healthcare. The reports from CQC may indicate specific areas that require improvement, and it may lead to healthcare management investing more or changing the service delivery method to meet patients’ requirements (Blake et al., 2015). Also, they may indicate the safety of the services provided by NHS and if the patients feel safe or the healthcare well secures their information. If the report shows that a patient’s information is not secure, it will affect decision-making to adopt access to safe electronic health records.
However, the National Health Service (NHS) report discusses the challenges of assuring healthcare standards and implementing risk-based regulations (Breaussier, 2016). Risk-based approaches try to rationalize and manage the limits of regulations that need to be achieved. The ambiguity of the risks does not define which risks should be regulated and what qualities need to be achieved. Risk-based regulations are achievable since there has yet to be an agreement on what potential adverse outcomes should be acceptable (Breaussier, 2016). There is no acceptable threshold of the risks that would be defined as the worst. The agreement on potential adverse outcomes is forgotten when the outcomes happen. It is challenging to determine the methodology that can be used in assessing risks to determine which is worse and which is less bad. It is ineffective when the hazard rates are very low. Also, the legal and institutional challenges to the organizing regulation are based on the risks (Breaussier, 2016). The risk-based approach focuses on one problem at a time and may distract people from a more serious problem or create a more serious one.
Kentucky Fried Chicken is a popular international fast-food restaurant that focuses mainly on serving fried chicken to its customers. The United Kingdom’s food services are regulated by Food Standard Agency (FSA). It provides regulations for food restaurants in England to ensure they follow ethical practices while serving their customers and workers. To ensure proper regulations are enforced, the agency works with the local municipal authorities to create laws that govern food safety in England. The local government may advise and help the company owners to ensure they operate within the set regulations to avoid closure or lawsuits from their customers and regulators. Food Standards Agency should ensure the safety and high quality of food produced, sold, and consumed within the UK by regulating producers and food suppliers.
Food Standard Agency has established rules that food businesses must follow to ensure that they provide consumers with high-quality, safe, and well-labeled food to their clients. Food businesses must comply with the rules of food hygiene, storage, and preparation to ensure they provide safe food for consumption. They must correctly label food products with the appropriate detailed information about the ingredients used, nutritional benefits, and allergens that should avoid the food. The information must be on every container, easy to read and understand for consumer safety. Food businesses must be able to trace their products well in the supply chain from the point of production to sale to ensure that they are safe and all the regulations are followed before selling to final consumers. In instances where food businesses use additives in their food, they must ensure that the additives are approved for use and that they are used to the right and safe limits. Food businesses that use animals in food production must adhere to their welfare standards. The regulator also controls importing and exporting food materials to meet UK quality standards.
The Food Standard Agency (FSA)is mandated to ensure that the food provided to consumers meets the required standards, that is, they are safe, high-quality, and they are correctly labeled with all the information. Regulation is achieved when the inspection is carried out on all food businesses operating in the UK, including restaurants inspected. The inspection is performed to determine if the businesses comply with food safety regulations and if they meet all law requirements for opening and running a business. The inspection processes allow the FSA officers to examine important aspects such as food storage, handling, cleanliness, hygiene, and if the staffs have appropriate training. In businesses that do not follow all the right requirements, the regulator has the mandate to take appropriate action against the owner, from issuing warnings on areas to change or improve, proposing fines, or even closing down the business until the regulatory requirements are met. The regulator can also take legal action against the business food business owner or the person violating the food safety regulations.
The government has a way of responding to public concerns, especially in risky areas (Lodge). The food safety sector is the most specific domain that concerns personal safety and health. Government regulations should be applied in all areas where the public has raised their concern about safety, whether on the print media or through proposals (Lodge). Regulatory responses are not related to public augmentation but are based on the goodwill of the politicians and leaders to their citizens. However, politicians will respond faster to crises and demands if they are in need of consumer support. Their idea is to appeal to the public that they are doing something for their benefit (Lodge). Also, politicians seek to install regulations as a response to public pressure. If the government’s response to pressure is ineffective, there should be uniform but distinctive patterns in which government responds to food scandals. Regulations should be strict, and the government should not wait for pressure to regulate the companies and food businesses. Still, a government body should focus on ensuring that best practices are used in any business.
The National Health Service in the UK is affected in decision-making by the regulatory body on the type of healthcare services they are supposed to provide. The safety and quality of the services should be included in decision-making. The performance and rating of the National Health Service are determined by the CQC, which is a regulating body, and hence, the management must ensure that they comply with their standards for a better rating. The reports provided by the CQC determine the focus of the resources, and emphasis is given to areas rated low by the regulator. It helps the NHS provide quality service to its customers for better ratings and outcomes.
On the other hand, Kentucky fried Chicken is affected by the regulations provided by FSA in England. The regulator provides requirements that must be met before the opening of a food business which means they will affect the strategic choices to meet the requirements. Also, inspections are conducted on the food business to determine whether they comply with the regulations or not. Severe consequences placed on the businesses that ignore the requirements may affect their operation and existence; hence KFC must adhere to the regulations than strategic choices.
In conclusion, regulations are essential in any industry. They ensure that businesses practice healthy competition, provide high-quality goods and services to their customers, and maintain the safety of their products. Businesses consider their customers first before considering profit-making because of the oversight body that controls their actions. The analysis of the two businesses shows the impact of regulatory bodies in their strategic decision-making and the development of goals and objectives. It shows the impacts of national policy structures, rules, and regulations on businesses that affect their choices.
References
Breaussier, A.L. (2016) Accounting for failure: Risk-based regulation and the problems of ensuring healthcare quality in the NHS, Taylor & Francis. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13698575.2016.1192585
CQC standards – 13 fundamentals standards (how to follow?) (2020) QCS. Available at: https://www.qcs.co.uk/useful-guides/cqc-new-fundamental-standards-part-3the-standards/#:~:text=What%20are%20the%20CQC%20Standards%3F%201%20Person- centered%20care,and%20equipment%20…%208%20Complaints%20…%20More%20items
Lodge, M. (no date) Lodge risk regulation and Crisis Food Safety – Transcrisis. Available at: http://www.transcrisis.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Lodge-Risk-regulation-and-Crisis-Food- safety.pdf
Blake, A., Sparrow, N., & Field, S. (2015). The CQC inspections: what they mean for general practice. The British Journal of general practice: The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 65(632), 112–113. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp15X683845
write