Business Application Project

Business Application Project An important part of the course is your business application project. This is intended for you to apply an economic concept(s) discussed in class to real businesses or business problems. You can choose a topic in the context of your desired future place of work (either a specific company or a general industry). Below is a list of possible topics that may be particularly germane to your future place of work but are (also) easily generalized to broader business topics. Potential Business Application Topics: 1. Will lowering prices increase your company’s sales? 2. Free Trade, globalization and your company. For example, has your company been helped or harmed the global movement of people (immigration) or goods and services (free trade)? 3. The Internet and your company: The Role of Amazon, Airbnb and Uber. How has the internet and the internet giants impacted your place of work? 4. How do companies price their goods and services? Translating costs into prices and why more than one price. For example, how (and to what extent) are changes in costs reflected in prices? 5. Is owning a business in Texas dangerous to your economic health? How do or have changes in Texas’s taxes, regulations and other economic legislation (including minimum wages) impacted overall cost structures or business demand? 6. Economic roadblocks and barriers to entry. Is your place of work one where there are many competitors or potential competitors or is it difficult to start a business in your industry? And why? 7. Does being first in a market matter? What is the role of advertising and brand names? How often, through which media (print, social and air) and how much is spent by your company? Why do they advertise? What is the impact of advertising on a company’s cost structure and demand? How can a company determine whether the increase in demand was caused by (increased) advertising expenditures? 8. Does the market system lead to income inequality? Or should there be a cap on a CEO’s salary that is tied to the lowest paid worker? 9. What role does technology play in your company providing its good or service? Do you expect large changes in this technology in the future? If so, how will these changes affect your company and your competitors? What can your company do to prepare for these changes? 10. Why does elasticity matter when determining taxes on certain goods and services? Explain using examples of proposed and enacted taxes. There are two steps or deliverables for your project: 1. Project proposal. It is expected that you will discuss with your instructor (via Blackboard) your paper before you actually complete the assignment. Your proposal should be in the form of a formal outline of your paper. The outline should include brief bullet points of the content in your introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. *All parts of the project should uploaded to Blackboard by the listed due dates under the Content tab for the week they are due. Sample Outline: 1. Introduction • Thesis: With the recent trend of consumers staying in their houses most nights, we can expect the video game industry to see an influx of consumers. The result of less outside options will cause the demand for video games to be more inelastic overall. A firm can benefit by increasing prices initially; however, a firm’s specific demand will eventually become more elastic as more video game firms enter the market. Body Paragraph 1 Description of the video game industry Explanation of monopolistic competition Cause of increase in demand Body Paragraph 2 Use of price elasticity of demand Expected changes in the marketplace Firm graph for monopolistic competition Body Paragraph 3 Possibility for profit in the short run Expectations in the long run Viable business plan Conclusion The video game industry is expanding due to phones and consoles The expanse will eventually slow down