6A-Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

1.) Economic Trend-Online shopping and it's affects on local business

a. I love shopping and I know that in the recent year, online shopping has become a major hub, almost even replacing store fronts. http://wwlp.com/2017/09/20/online-shopping-could-mean-bad-business-for-retail-shops-in-5-years/

b. The opportunity here exists in the need to re-vamp in person shopping. Last week, the major children's toy store chain TOYS-R-US filed for bankruptcy. Online websites such as amazon are just taking out the need for in person stores. People are lazy and would rather just have the item arrive at their door. There is an opportunity to bring back the experience of shopping in store. 

c. The prototypical customers are younger people who have grown up in this age of constant technology.

d. I think that this would be a difficult opportunity to resolve. I am not exactly sure how to appeal to the younger generations and get them to realize the joy in in-person shopping. 

*I thought of this opportunity because I had heard about TOYS-R-US earlier this week. I have always loved shopping in stores but have recently become accustomed to just ordering things online. I often order clothes online and have to send them back because their either do not look good or do not fit. This is an issue I would resolve if I just went to the store in person. I think that a lot of other people would see this as an opportunity as well because our generation has not always had this readily available Internet. We used to have to go to the store to buy many items so we have had an experience with in person shopping.

2.)Regulatory Change-Chattanooga stormwater regulatory changes trigger flood of concerns

a.  I found this article by looking up current regulatory changes in the news section of google. I then read a few articles to find one that had an opportunity described in it. 

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/business/aroundregion/story/2017/sep/19/storm-water-regulatory-changes-spur-debate/449757/ 

b. The opportunity addressed here is the strict rules set by the city of Chattanooga when it comes to stormwater runoff. Chattanooga is one of the only towns in Tennessee that has a standard above the statewide mandate. The problem here is that the strict rules for how much water a building retains in expensive and a hassle to residents and builders in the area. There is an opportunity for reducing it to a more likely level.

c. The customers with the opportunity are people building homes in the area.

d. I think this is an easy opportunity to exploit because the rules are very strict in the area. There are many other areas where they are not as strict so they can model them after those. 

*I saw this opportunity because it is something that should be addressed after all of the recent storms we have had. Flooding and stormwater runoff is something that has been seen all over the country recently due to natural disasters. This is why I saw the opportunity. I think that others would see this article and think of the same opportunity. 

3.)Regulatory Change-FDA implements changes to nutrition labels on food packaging

a.I was looking at recent law changes and came across this. This seemed interesting and I knew that there are many opportunities when it comes to health and relates issues. https://www.medicalnewsbulletin.com/fda-changes-nutrition-facts-label-food-packaging/

b. I believe an opportunity exists in fixing the false information presented on food labels. Many people are mislead when reading labels and this creates many issues. This allows food companies to hide the amounts and ingredients in their products. They are changing the daily recommended values which will in turn change the amounts listed.

c. The prototypical customer for this would be anybody who buys food products or cares about the ingredients or amounts in their foods.

d. Ideally this would be an easy opportunity to fix. However, we have had our old labels for so long that it could be costly and inefficient to change them now. This could also end up hurting the market for many processed foods.

*I saw this opportunity because I had heard about this from one of my friends in a nutrition class. I think that others would see this as an opportunity because many of us have heard about the hidden secrets of food labeling. However there are some people who I think would not really see this as an opportunity because they are set in the old ways and do not think that food labels would need to be changed. 

4.)Economic Trend-Sen. Friedman testifies in support of $15 minimum wage

a. In Massachusetts, they are trying to pass a bill to make the minimum wage $15. This was something I saw while looking through recent news. I decided it would be interesting to read this article.http://arlington.wickedlocal.com/news/20170921/sen-friedman-testifies-in-support-of-15-minimum-wage

b.The opportunity here is vast. A larger minimum wage would mean greater benefits for many people.  More young people would be more inclined to get jobs and be able to sustain themselves.

c.The prototypical customers are everybody who would get an low paying beginning job that would pay minimum wage.

d.I think that passing this bill would be a great opportunity. I do though think that getting this bill to pass will be difficult to do. So far there is a lot of support behind it but I could see how this could hurt the economy. 

*I think that this is an opportunity many people would see. Minimum wage is a very sensitive subject especially here in Florida because it is so low. Many people have to work multiple jobs just to sustain life. There is a big need for larger pays.