Assignment #6 Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Economic Trends

1.  The workforce is getting older. This creates an opportunity for businesses to appeal to the younger generations who find it more difficult to find a job or figure out what they want in their life. 
• I found this trend when I was trying to understand what I should do with my career and how the workforce looked, compared to myself. 
• I believe an opportunity exists because of the shift in how younger generations are to start their careers and focus more on what they want to get out of life, whether it be a work-life balance, more benefits, or something else. 
• Most likely the prototypical customer of this opportunity is a young millennial trying to jumpstart their career, while trying to get more of a work-life balance that has become a recent trend as well. 
• I think this opportunity is easy to exploit because younger generations tend to be more impressionable and are looking for something to solve their problem of a slow starting career. 
• Why? I personally saw this opportunity because I am about to start my career and am concerned with changes in the workplace that would impact me negatively. Someone who has already established themselves in their career might not see this as a problem. 
2.  Suburbs growing more rapidly than rural or urban areas. This presents an opportunity for businesses to get a head start in the suburbs. 
• Recently my family has been wanting to make a big move, so we have been looking at ideal places to live and trends affecting this area. 
• An opportunity exists because when people decide to move to another location In large numbers, that creates a higher demand for needs in those specific areas. 
• The prototypical customer would be anyone currently living in or looking to move to the suburbs. 
• This would be a relatively easy opportunity to exploit, as long as one studies which specific suburbs people are becoming interested in and what they normally demand as consumers. 
• Why? This opportunity presented itself to me specifically because my family is in the middle of a big move and need to look at how places are changing and how the market for houses is being affected by these changes. One who is not looking for a home might not see this opportunity because they aren't interested in how the demographics in some places could be changing. 

Regulatory Changes

1. Paid leave and minimum wage hikes. I see this as an opportunity for businesses to help create a better work -life balance. I also see this as an opportunity for big businesses to focus more on their workers. 
• I discovered this regulatory changes when I saw people post about it on social media and how it was affecting them. 
• I think an opportunity exists because of the direct effect this has on businesses and families. However, this seems to pose an issue for small businesses who can't keep up with the high minimum wages and increased amount of paid leave. 
• The most likely customer would be individuals looking for better pay and willing to work hard for it. 
• This might be a difficult opportunity to exploit because of the risk involved in onboarding new people and struggle that small businesses face. 
• Why? This opportunity stood out to me because I have worked for small businesses and large corporations and saw the difference in what a dollar meant to each of them. Therefore, individuals who work in large corporations may not see an issue
2. Federal tax policy reform. This would be an opportunity to benefit small businesses in America and use those benefits like tax deductions to invest back into themselves or individuals. 
• I realized this opportunity on social media and the news where they were talking about how this would impact the overall economy. 
• What leads me to believe that an opportunity exists is the benefits that small businesses would receive once implemented. Small businesses would be able to get tax deductions which would really help small businesses succeed. 
• The most likely customer to this opportunity would be small business owners and workers in America. 
• This opportunity is definitely easy to exploit because it is a direct benefit to small businesses. 
• Why? I just saw this and thought it applied to me as an individual who wants to start their own business one day. Therefore, I am very interested in how things are affecting the future of small business. An individual who isn't interested in small businesses might not see this as an opportunity because they are simply not bothered by small businesses in America.