Assignment 6A - Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Economic trend: CEOs Are Good at Predicting Economic Trends. Their Confidence in Growth Just Dropped Dramatically

• Source: http://fortune.com/2019/01/21/recession-2019-pwc-ceo-survey/
• I believe there is an opportunity here when it comes to the stock market. Statistically, these CEOs have been fairly accurate in predicting major ups and downs in the economy, and more CEOs are expecting less growth from their companies than last year. Now may be a good time to tell stocks that have been gaining recently but may look like they could be due for a decline.
• I think the prototypical customer would be someone who invests in the stock market. This includes a majority of middle-class Americans.
• I think this could be relatively easy to exploit because of the data behind the observation. 
• I think I saw opportunity here because I have always been interested but skeptical of the stock market and have seen major dips cause people to lose a lot of money.

Economic trend: Millennials are now the dominant generational cohort

• Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertbtucker/2019/01/25/six-driving-forces-of-change-that-will-shape-2019-and-beyond/#31cbfe7c107a
• I think opportunity exists here because Millennials are all about innovation. They like new features, new products, and new processes that have never been done before. They are more open minded to trying new things, such as cutting cable completely and paying monthly streaming fees. 
• The prototypical customer would be Millennials or old Generation Z people.
• The difficult part of exploiting this is coming up with something new and unique. Once you have the idea, getting people to accept it could be easier than one thinks, since Millennials are typically open to trying new things.
• I saw opportunity here because I am a young individual who could also be a prototypical customer. I like innovation and consider myself open minded. If there is something new and better, I will most likely try it.

Regulatory change: Gainesville will be 100% plastic free by 2040

• Source: https://www.alligator.org/news/the-plastic-ban-gainesville-will-be-percent-waste-free-by/article_4be9d1d4-1aec-11e9-9b28-dfc39205fdd9.html
• Opportunity exists here because people will need an alternative to typical plastic products that they are so used to using. Granted, this will be many years in the future but planning for it now could produce high profits.
• The prototypical customer would be Alachua County residents who use plastic products, like shopping bags, straws, etc. This could also include businesses that give plastics to customers and would need a replacement.
• I think this opportunity could easily be exploited. If you could provide a business with a cheap alternative that is in compliance with the law, they would go for it.
• I saw this opportunity because I had a conversation with my friends about this ban and we discussed possible solutions.

Regulatory change: Article 11 and 13 - the "link tax" and "meme ban"

• Source: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/what-is-article-13-article-11-european-directive-on-copyright-explained-meme-ban
• There is opportunity here for both artists and lawyers. If a major tech giant such as YouTube is found guilty of hosting copyright material on its site, the artist could sue. Lawyers and artists both would theoretically gain from this. If a service was provided to find copyright material and send it to lawyers/artists, they would most likely use it.
• The prototypical customer would be artists trying to protect their content or lawyers looking to exploit one of the major media sharing sites.
• I think this opportunity would be easy to exploit, since copyright material (memes included) are everywhere. The EU would need help regulating the entire internet.
• I saw this opportunity because I consider myself up to date on web culture and see copyright material (memes) every day.
• *NOTE*: I am strongly opposed to this regulation and find it to be negative for everyone except lawyers and big time artists. While artists may gain in the short term from a lawsuit, less and less people will be able to hear what they produce and less popular artists will have a hard time being discovered. Big media sharing sites will become too afraid of being sued and will crack down even more on what content is allowed, thus leading to less creators and less innovation.