The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nothern Ireland is situated on the British Isles. The British Isles consist of two large islands, Great Britain and Ire­land, and about five thousands small islands. Their total area is over 244,000 square kilometers.

The United Kingdom is one of the world's smaller coyntries. Its population is over 57million. About 80 percent of the population is urban. The United King­dom is made up of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Nothern Ireland. Great Britain consists of England, Scotland and Wales and does not include No­thern Ireland. But in everyday speech Great Britain is used in the meaning of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nothern Ireland.

The capital of the UK is London. It is economic, political and cultural cen­tre. It is one of the world's most important ports and one of the largest cities in the world. London with its suburbs has a population of about 11 million people. Lon­don has been a capital for nearky a thousand years. There are a lot of places of in­terest in London which attract thousands of tourists every year. They usually want to see Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parlament, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, the London Bridge, the Tower of London.

The UK is a highly developed industrial country. It produces and exports machinery, electronics, textile. The UK is a constitutional monarchy. This means that Great Britain is governed by the Parlament and the Queen is Head of State.

The legislative power in the country is exercised by the Houses of Parla­ment. The British Parlament consists of two chambers: the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The members of the House of Commons are elected by the people. The House of Commons is the real governing body of the United King­dom.

The executive power is exercised by Prime Minister and his Cabinet. The government is usually formed by the political party which is supported by the ma­jority in the House of Commons. Prime Minister is the majority party leader and is appointed by the Queen. Prime Minister chooses a team of ministers; twenty of the ministers are in the Cabinet.

The second largest party becomes the official opposition with its own leader and the Shadow Cabinet. The two leading parties in Great Britain are the Conser­vative Party and the Labour Party.

The judicial branch of the government determines common law and is inde­pendent of both the legislative and the executive branches.

There is no written constitution in Great Britain, only precedents and tradi­tions.

Licensing

When a company is small it cannot sometimes enter a foreign market. It can sign a licensing agreement with a foreign firm. A license is a legal agreement in which one firm gives another a right to manufacture and sell its product. A company that obtains this right pays the licenser a royalty. Royalty is a certain percentage of the income from the sale of the product.

Businesses that have patents or trademarks usually can use licensing to protect them against counterfeiters. The licensee gains a successful product and the know-how. The licenser often controls the quality of the goods which the licensee produces, because high quality guarantees the reputation of the licenser. The licensee chooses the selling strategies because he knows more about how to sell the product in the foreign market.