Skip to main content

Identifying Opportunities in Economic and Regulatory Trends

Regulatory Change Opportunities:Tobacco and Nicotine purchase age raised to 21
  • This example can be seen as a loss of opportunity or a gain, I have chosen to explain both. In this example, I read information about the new vaping age regulations in the United States. Beginning at the start of this year, tobacco and nicotine products can no longer be sold or purchased by someone between the ages of 18 and 20. The new regulations have increased the purchase age to 21 and they think they have good reasoning about it.
  • I think that some might view this article and not see opportunities, however, I think that there are. Previously, there was talk of banning flavored vape due to the greater appeal to children and teens. I think that with this regulation in place, the vape companies are able to continue to offer flavors of vape that may appeal to younger people, but due to the new regulation, it makes it much harder for them to obtain the product. 
  • To me, the customer is anyone who vapes, or is interested in vaping, and is over the age of 21. 
  • I think that the opportunity is fairly easy to exploit, seeing as how most vape companies used to offer flavors of vape before they were not allowed to anymore. To me, this means that they already have the product developed and they can just start marketing it again. 
  • I chose to see this event as an opportunity because the companies are able to sell more things now. However, I think that most people would not see an opportunity now because they lost a lot of customers due to the new regulation. Seeing as how I work where we sell a large amount of tobacco and nicotine products, I tend to unintentionally stay in the loop with what is going on in terms of new products and new regulations. This means that since October, I have seen slight changes in our customers due to the new age restriction. 
New SNAP (food stamps) regulations
  • This article by Time Magazine, sheds light on the new regulations for obtaining and maintaining food stamps that will go into effect April 1st of this year. New requirements are being put in place in terms of how much aid you can receive and how much work you must do in order for you to not only receive your aid for the month, but keep it for the following months. 
  • I think that this article shows the opportunity of being able to tighten the regulations while also still helping the ones who need it the most. With the new regulations, the average person receiving benefits does simply get their money taken away or something like that, they get the guarantee of their next meal taken away. There are increased opportunities for food banks in the areas that need it the most but they also might not be able to provide enough food, leaving the shelves empty and people hungry.
  • In my opinion, the customer is the people who are receiving food stamps. While they are the customer, they are not even close to being the only ones affected by this new regulation. 
  • The opportunity seems difficult to exploit, seeing as how you would not only have to go against the federal government, you would also be going against others by trying to offer these people help.
  • This event might not be seen as an opportunity, but to me it is. Its an opportunity to help those in need not by just giving them food but by helping them obtain work or be able to cover their expenses mainly on their own. Working at a grocery store in the location that I do, close to half of my customers buy their groceries with food stamps, this often gets me thinking about just how much money is received as aid in this area alone, much less areas that are much more poor. 
Economic Trend OpportunitiesBaby Boomers getting to the retirement age
  • Due to the large number of people reaching retirement age, Baby Boomers, there has been an increased number of retirees across the country. The trend of retirement has been labeled a "crisis" and about 10,000 boomers retire every day. 
  • This article talks about the number of boomers retiring is a crisis due to their lack of funds saved up and the large amount of social security that is going to be used. It seems as though there is opportunity for more investment and saving for the younger generations to attempt to correct the economic problems being caused by this mass of retiring. 
  • I think that the customer can be seen as either the younger generations by getting them into investing and saving for the future or as the boomers who are retiring because then they have more opportunities to spend what money they do have on basically whatever they want to do. 
  • I think that I saw this as an opportunity because I have grandparents that are retired and they talk about what is going on with the "retirement crisis" but also because I recently set up my retirement account and have started to put money away for myself for the future. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reading Reflection Number 3

Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky 1) The general theme of the book was talking about how previously, the majority of people spent their free time watching TV while now that has shifted a bit. Now, people are spending portions of their free time online collaborating with others whether it be a meaningful collaboration or not. These types of collaborations are creating what is called a cognitive surplus which addresses the excess productivity that happens outside of one's work.  2) I think that the book showed how someone might come up with an idea for a business venture. If you are constantly working on small projects with friends over the internet, it is very possible that one of those ideas could bee feasible and created to make money.  3) If I were to design an exercise based on the book I would make it a collaboration assignment. I would like for two to three students to work together to either fit together their venture ideas that are already in progress, or if that ...
1 comment
Read more

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

2) Clearly state the opportunity you have identified, including the who, what, why. For instance, "Hospitals in the United States are unable to easily, efficiently bill Medicare for drugs they distribute because of the logistical challenges in linking a drug given to a patient and the patient's bill."  The who: Hospitals in the United States The what: They are unable to easily, efficiently bill Medicare for drugs they distribute to patients The why: Logistical challenges related to listing prescribed drugs on patients' bills 3) This is your 'hypothesis' about the opportunity. It is a statement of your belief related to an opportunity. I'd like you to test the boundaries of the hypothesis by pushing and prodding each of the three elements. That means: Testing the who: Are there others who have this need? Or, does everyone in your current 'who' share the need?  Testing the what: What are the boundaries of the need? For the example above, t...
1 comment
Read more

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior Number 2

Interview 1: Alex explained to me that since she runs a business that she purchases things for frequently, she uses her business's card every day at least once a day but usually two to four times a day. She says she chose to open her business's bank account with the bank that she did based on their fees and interest rates, she did not ask about the type of card they use because she did not think it really matters. After I informed Alex of my idea for more durable debit cards she told me that if that was a thing that she could chose from she would have looked into it more and spent time looking into types of cards as well as fees and interest rates. Overall Alex seemed content with her choice based on fees and interest rates, however she is not happy with her card and the fact that it does not always work with card readers. Interview 2: Michelle says that she and her husband chose where they bank but that she didn't really have a preference. She has three kids and she ...
Post a Comment
Read more