6A Identifying Opportunities
1)
A
major economic trend that will continue to develop over the next few years is a
rise in infrastructure spending. Everything from ports to bridges to road
systems need updating. This will lead to a high demand for engineers and
construction managers, but also for lesser skilled workers. There is an
opportunity for prisoners to become unskilled laborers for major infrastructure
projects and cheaper than a worker in a union.
B)
This article suggests that over a trillion
dollars is necessary to do the work planned by the government on
infrastructure. Saving money on this idea will be a main priority so the
opportunity I see must exist.
C) A customer for this would be the
government looking for a cheaper way to overhaul the deteriorating
infrastructure.
D)This would be pretty difficult to exploit
because of the construction unions and the deals they often have with
contractors for projects. Also, fixing broken infrastructure with unskilled
workers is a big risk and would be useful on non-technical projects.
I saw this opportunity because I just watched The Shawshank Redemption
for the hundredth time and was thinking about how prisoners struggle when they
get back to the real world. It would be helpful for them to have some money
when they get back into society and not resort to crime. Even if they are paid
minimum wage or less, it can go a long way.
2)
“Baby
Boomers” are a massive generation set to retire soon but many of them lack the
funds to do so. Low interest on savings and the stock market decline of the
previous decade left them with less money than they anticipated. I see a
potential opportunity for almost self-sustaining retirement communities that hire
the residents to work at the facilities in the community. It could subsidize
their cost of living and make retirement easier. Nurses and professional staff
would still need to be younger adults but many positions could be filled by
functional retirees seeking help in affording living at their old age.
B)
The article suggests that a quarter of baby boomers have no retirement
savings and that over half are dependent solely upon social security benefits.
C) A customer for this would be baby
boomers but also an urban planner or real estate developer looking for a unique
community to set itself apart.
D) This would be a hard opportunity to
exploit unless done right. The argument would be that retirees could simply
work anywhere, why is it different to work from their community and why would
they want to work if they are retiring that seems counter-intuitive. The answer
would be that the state or federal government would have to give subsidies or
tax cuts to the real estate developers, or the company in charge of the
community, in order to allow the elders living their to do simple jobs for more
money than they would make in a normal low level position.
This opportunity is not that challenging to notice, everyone knows the
baby boomers are getting old. The difference is that I have had grandparents on
both sides of my family work into very old age because of issues with
retirement so I understand this topic well. Being able to get a job in their
neighborhood that pays for part of their living would save them a lot of time
and money.
3)
Marijuana
is becoming legalized rapidly in medical and recreational forms across the country
and this regulatory shift is opening the door for private business to take
advantage. Selling marijuana and growing it are the two potential businesses
most people think of but the science of regulating it is big business as well.
There is opportunity for a company to get federally contracted to ensure safe
strains of marijuana are used and that legal chemical content is adhered to.
Many individual states have already been through this but gathering a group of
great chemical engineers to fit the national spectrum would be a big
opportunity.
B)
The article discusses the hazards that
recreational marijuana poses to businesses, specifically employees showing up
to work while high. Regulation and drug testing will become even more important
throughout the country.
C)
The federal government and large private
corporations would be the target customers for my chemical engineering firm.
D)
This opportunity would be incredibly difficult
to exploit. There would be many other companies competing for similar positions
and the FDA may want to control marijuana entirely on its own.
This opportunity may seem like
it would have already been filled but many corporations are nervous to dedicate
a whole branch or entire business on the hope that weed becomes nationally
legal. I have no experience that would lead me to notice this opportunity, I
simply believe that one will develop as pressure for legal weed increases.
4)
Money wins wars and nothing can mobilize a
nation’s resources like war. With the focus of much of America’s military
operations on the Pacific theater, and the long war in the Middle East drawing
less attention, there is a new opportunity developing. North Korea, China, and Russia
are all countries that Americas has shaky relationships with at the moment.
Particularly America has a problem with N. Korea’s antics and missile threats. This
may not be a direct regulatory change but it is a change in the direction of
our military and that is close to a regulation. I believe there is an
opportunity for an internationally contracted company to maintain ICBM tracking
radar and missile defense systems on platforms in the Pacific to protect
nations such as America, Japan, and South Korea from the threats in the Area.
B)
The article suggests that N. Korea has WMD’s
that may not be reliable but still exist and are a danger to many nations.
C)
The UN would be a customer for this and any
nations under threat from N. Korea.
D)
This opportunity would be incredibly difficult
for me start up right now but is very feasible for a large company like Raytheon
with the technology for it. It would give the U.S. a break from being the world
police force and allow other countries to share the cost of missile defense.
This is a
commonly known event transpiring in the world but the opportunity here is not
so easy to spot. I think that wanting to go into the Navy myself I have a
higher interest in military operations and would be more likely to notice a
random opportunity in the defense industry like that.
Hi, I like your missile defense system opportunity. I'm glad similar defense system are already put in place in other nations like Israel. I was listening to NPR a few months ago and they brought up how the South Korean people were unsure whether they wanted missile intercepting defense systems installed near their villages around the border with North Korea because it would put a target on their villages and is likely to be bombed first if the North Koreans decide to follow through with their threats.
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