Assignment 6 - Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends
Regulatory change #1: more transparency regarding wages in Germany
This change happened in Germany on the 6th January 2018 and thus very recently. I read about it at the website of the German Parliament (https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2017/kw52-gesetzesaenderungen/535170). I think this change leads to an opportunity for entrepreneurs because it gives individuals the right to get to know about the processes and criteria, which were used to determine their wage. Because many people don’t have time to compare their salaries and investigate the reasons and methods that lead to their specific wage, they might want to use help from a third party. This third party could offer a service of finding out the criteria and processes leading to their wage. The prototypical customer would thus be every worker who is interested in those criteria and procedures or is unsatisfied with its pay and can afford a service like this. I think this opportunity is relatively challenging to exploit since it is not easy to reach out to people who are unsatisfied with their wages. Although there might be a broad customer base, many people might not want to reveal their salaries. I am sure I am not the only one knowing about this regulatory change. But since it is difficult to create an opportunity out of it, many people might not think about a service like this.
Regulatory change #2: new ID for pensioners that gives them access to various discounts
This change happened in Germany on the 1st of July. My source of information is a website of a German pension insurance company. I think this change leads to an opportunity because with the new ID pensioners can get access to various discounts. Since there are discounts on so many things, it might be helpful for older people to have a brochure or map where they can see on which products or services they can receive discounts. The prototypical customer is thus a pensioner with a new ID card. I think this opportunity would not be challenging to exploit. I think I might not be the only one who had this idea. But sometimes the working generation just forgets about the older people and doesn’t think about their needs.
Economic change #1: Fewer plastic bags in supermarkets in Germany
This change happened very recently, and I got to know about it when I was buying groceries at the supermarket. Many supermarkets banned plastic bags and instead introduced paper bags – a development I am very happy about. Most of the time, people even have to pay for these paper bags. The best way to avoid spending money on bags is therefore to bring your own. The problem with carrying your own bag is just the fact that people forget their bag when they go to the supermarket. That’s why I think there might be an opportunity. For example, you could develop an app that reminds the user to bring his own bag before he does his grocery shopping. The prototypical customer might be someone who is very used to using apps in everyday life – kind of a digital native. I think the opportunity is difficult to exploit because most of the people don’t want to install another app on their phone just to remind them of bringing their own bag. I think that there are not many people thinking about this opportunity, because most people just buy paper bags since they are quite cheap.
Economic change #2: Increasing number of Vegans and Vegetarians
The increasing number of people who eat vegan or vegetarian is a very new development among Western countries. I think this development, i.e., change, leads to the opportunity of offering more vegan/vegetarian products in fast-food restaurants. The prototypical customer would be everyone who cares about their diet and/or loves vegan/vegetarian food. I think this opportunity would be challenging to exploit since it might be hard to reach out to fast-food restaurants to expand their menus. I think most of the people just accept the current status-quo that they cannot go to most of the fast food restaurants when they eat vegetarian or vegan. But I think only a few people notice that there might be the opportunity for an entrepreneur.
This change happened in Germany on the 6th January 2018 and thus very recently. I read about it at the website of the German Parliament (https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2017/kw52-gesetzesaenderungen/535170). I think this change leads to an opportunity for entrepreneurs because it gives individuals the right to get to know about the processes and criteria, which were used to determine their wage. Because many people don’t have time to compare their salaries and investigate the reasons and methods that lead to their specific wage, they might want to use help from a third party. This third party could offer a service of finding out the criteria and processes leading to their wage. The prototypical customer would thus be every worker who is interested in those criteria and procedures or is unsatisfied with its pay and can afford a service like this. I think this opportunity is relatively challenging to exploit since it is not easy to reach out to people who are unsatisfied with their wages. Although there might be a broad customer base, many people might not want to reveal their salaries. I am sure I am not the only one knowing about this regulatory change. But since it is difficult to create an opportunity out of it, many people might not think about a service like this.
Regulatory change #2: new ID for pensioners that gives them access to various discounts
This change happened in Germany on the 1st of July. My source of information is a website of a German pension insurance company. I think this change leads to an opportunity because with the new ID pensioners can get access to various discounts. Since there are discounts on so many things, it might be helpful for older people to have a brochure or map where they can see on which products or services they can receive discounts. The prototypical customer is thus a pensioner with a new ID card. I think this opportunity would not be challenging to exploit. I think I might not be the only one who had this idea. But sometimes the working generation just forgets about the older people and doesn’t think about their needs.
Economic change #1: Fewer plastic bags in supermarkets in Germany
This change happened very recently, and I got to know about it when I was buying groceries at the supermarket. Many supermarkets banned plastic bags and instead introduced paper bags – a development I am very happy about. Most of the time, people even have to pay for these paper bags. The best way to avoid spending money on bags is therefore to bring your own. The problem with carrying your own bag is just the fact that people forget their bag when they go to the supermarket. That’s why I think there might be an opportunity. For example, you could develop an app that reminds the user to bring his own bag before he does his grocery shopping. The prototypical customer might be someone who is very used to using apps in everyday life – kind of a digital native. I think the opportunity is difficult to exploit because most of the people don’t want to install another app on their phone just to remind them of bringing their own bag. I think that there are not many people thinking about this opportunity, because most people just buy paper bags since they are quite cheap.
Economic change #2: Increasing number of Vegans and Vegetarians
The increasing number of people who eat vegan or vegetarian is a very new development among Western countries. I think this development, i.e., change, leads to the opportunity of offering more vegan/vegetarian products in fast-food restaurants. The prototypical customer would be everyone who cares about their diet and/or loves vegan/vegetarian food. I think this opportunity would be challenging to exploit since it might be hard to reach out to fast-food restaurants to expand their menus. I think most of the people just accept the current status-quo that they cannot go to most of the fast food restaurants when they eat vegetarian or vegan. But I think only a few people notice that there might be the opportunity for an entrepreneur.
Hello Emilia,
ReplyDeleteYour first regulatory opportunity is very interesting. I think other countries could benefit from using this type of service because I can agree that many people are not aware on how the wage for a specific job is determined. However I am not sure how this works when it comes to the different functions of a job and if that is something they input into the third party system.