1. Consumer spending could fuel economic growth
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucemccain/2016/01/03/five-key-economic-trends-to-watch-in-2016/#18b9a4345f17
This opportunity presents a very important idea for the US economy and the world. I believe this opportunity might exist because it is logical. If consumers feel more confident in 2016 due to the factors mentioned of lower energy costs and improving household cash flow, then it is most likely to happen. The customer for this is all of the United States, as this is the economy being talked about. I think that companies in the US will exploit this if they do see the economic trend taking place within early 2016, so it should be exploited later in 2016.
I believe I saw this opportunity because of my interest in business, which has led me to take business courses. Thus, I have developed some sort of logic thinking about these sort of opportunities for an economy.
2. India will become the new growth king
Source: http://fortune.com/2015/12/28/global-economy/
This opportunity regards the global economy and talked about different trends that could happen globally. IMF expects that the Indian economy will grow at 7.3% clip, which means it would be faster than the Chinese government's numbers. I think this is possible because India has been growing steadily so, they are bound to have a turning point, and with the IMF expectations it leads me to believe that this is possible. The opportunity is there for the Indian consumers and the population to contribute to their economy. I think that this will be mildly difficult to exploit as it will be the first time their economy sees a boom, so there may be an adjustment period for India.
I believe I saw this opportunity due to my interest in economics. My interest in economics has been fulfilled by a few classes in the business school and online research.
3. New Rules Will Bring on a Pile of Overtime Lawsuits in 2016
Source: http://fortune.com/2016/01/06/overtime-lawsuits-rules/
This opportunity leads me to believe that there will be many changes in the future of overtime laws. I think this opportunity is almost guaranteed to happen because individuals are bound to find aspects of the laws that are wrong. If not that, companies will still be taking advantage of some employees through overtime laws. The customers for this are Americans that work on hourly schedules, and get taken advantage of when they work overtime and don't get paid for it. I don't think that this will be difficult to exploit because overtime abuse is rampant.
I believe I saw this opportunity because I have worked hourly schedules before for a corporation and got taken advantage of when I worked overtime and didn't get considered it. Companies find loopholes to not consider you working overtime and frame it a different way. This made me angry when I saw this regulation change, I was very happy for the future of most hourly workers.
4. Employee Pay - Minimum wage increases
Source: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7671-regulatory-issues-changes.html
This opportunity is not good for the Americans that are working jobs that could be taken over by robots or automated machines. This opportunity is specifically for the industry of fast food chains in New York since they just got new regulations on minimum wage. I think that this is very possible to happen because some of the employment positions in fast food right now could be done by automated machines/robots. The opportunity is clear for the corporations behind these fast food chains to implement technology and not have to abide by having to pay higher minimum wages. I don't think that this will be difficult to exploit for fast food corporations, as they will have to find different options if they don't want to pay for higher minimum wages.
I believe I saw this opportunity just because I have thought of it before. It is clear that corporations won't want to shell out more money than they already do and they are looking to save money wherever they can. So, they can save money by implementing technology. It is just a matter of who will do it first and how will they do it. I think that it's bad for the economy of jobs, but hopefully more jobs open up elsewhere for those individuals that may lose their jobs because of this.
I think that your articles were very interesting. I had not previously seen any type of article about India growing economically to the point of being a “king”. I also see minimum wage growing all the time so I thought it was a good topic to present, as it goes up every year. There is much debate about whether that is a good idea or bad one, and I think it is necessary as the cost of the dollar is constantly decreasing. We do disagree on that topic, but good job on your articles!
ReplyDeleteAll of these issues that you presented are very present and are addressed on numerous occasions. I agree with you about an significant increase in minimum wage would cause other economical problems including the rise of unemployment. I also didn't know there were issues with overtime laws and it would be interesting to see how that was handled in the future.
ReplyDeleteI like the regulatory topics. I think it's funny people want $15/hour for an entry level job that is very trivial. From my perspective, if you can't put sauce in my bag when I ask for it or can't stir my mcflurry you're not even worth $8/hour. I think companies will look for solutions, such as robots, if the minimum wage is to increase. We've already seen companies lay off or cut hours to save them from paying out more for benefits. Nice article, thanks for the share!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your topics and we even had a similar one about fuel and economic growth, I read your reasoning why you would be the type of person to identify this opportunity and I couldn’t agree more! I’m also a business student and I believe the types of courses we take shape us to be the type of people who look at the world this way. Also liked your regulatory articles and the way you presented the information.
ReplyDeleteDaniel, minimum wage increases are going to become a huge problem for small businesses and other businesses looking to cut costs wherever they can. I know many small business owners and they simply cannot afford to pay they're low-skilled workers $15/hour. If they have the opportunity to reduce that cost by implementing an automated system, I'm sure they would. This may lead to hard time for customers though, who want to speak/work with a real-human not through an automated system. I wonder where the sacrifices are going to be made.
ReplyDeleteI found the first entry to be interesting. To put it simply, if necessities are less expensive, then you'll have more money to spend on luxuries. I mean, I've definitely gone a little click happy on Amazon before just because of the fact that gas prices have been super low. I also liked how you mentioned that it was logical.
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