Individual Assignment # 1
Almost 80% of small businesses fail. Poor management skills is one reason, the other is that the business does not provide value to its shareholders. In other words the business does not provide the customer a reason why they must come to the business rather than going to competition. It does not solve a problem that customers are facing. For example, if you decided to open a restaurant, why would people come to your restaurant rather than a thousand other excellent restaurants already existing in the city? You have to provide a reason why, and make sure that your customers can clearly see this competitive advantage.
This assignment requires you to first think of a problem that people face, and then come up with an idea of a new product or service business that you think may solve this problem. The business idea that you come up with should address a real problem that you have observed for a population/group of people that you are familiar with. The solution need not be perfect – but the problem that your target population faces should be something that you have personally observed. To help you generate possible solutions, consider the changes that are taking place in the world today.
Observing trends is an important section in Chapter 2. Please read it carefully before you attempt this assignment. If you want something more recent, read the 2017 social, demographic, economic, technological, and political/legal trends that would impact business ideas given in the links below. Can you leverage one or more of these trends to come up with a solution for the problem that you have identified?
- *Technology trends: http://www.digitalistmag.com/digital-economy/2017/01/24/7-trends-continue-to-change-world-in-2017-04857873
- Demographic Trends: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/03/31/10-demographic-trends-that-are-shaping-the-u-s-and-the-world/
- Social Trends: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/
- *Political and Legal Trends: https://www.perkinscoie.com/en/2017-legal-outlook-perspectives-on-the-new-political-landscape/index.html
- Economic Trends: https://www.thebalance.com/us-economic-outlook-3305669
Please discuss in this one-page assignment, the problem faced by people that you are familiar with, and how your business can help solve this problem – in a way that is not happening today. Based on review of the trends discussed in the articles above (please feel free to do additional research if you feel it would be worthwhile) write what trends you see that are likely to support your product/service offering.
The assignment should be about a page long; 1.5 spaced in MS-Word; font size 10-12 points.
The assignment will have 3 sections with the following section headings:
- Target Group: The specific population that you are trying to help (describe them in as much detail as possible – both in terms of demographics as well as personality)
- Problem: What problems the target group face that makes their lives difficult (i.e. the problem should be substantial enough and faced by many people in this group)
- Solution: How the product or service that you think of can solve this problem in a way that existing businesses/organizations cannot)
- Trends: What social, demographic, technological, or political/legal trends in today’s world will help you offer this solution
Always look at the Model Papers (under course resources) before you submit each of the individual assignments to guide you in terms of format. Kindly include your name, class-section and the title of the assignment on the top page.
This assignment will become the basis of your term project for the rest of the semester so write about an idea that you will enjoy working on, solving problems of a group that you have some familiarity with, and care about. You will definitely have the opportunity to tweak your idea later – but don’t change the target group and the problems they face. One way for you to ensure that the problem is real and worth exploring is to ask a couple of people in your target group if this problem is significant and faced by many people like them, and how they are dealing with it at present.
