Governments at all levels—federal, state, and municipal—exert a significant influence on business. The impacts of these influences may be negative, such as the imposition of costly regulations, or they may be positive, such as the provision of financial incentives for the creation of new jobs. Both negative and positive governmental actions present challenges for businesses: the impact of the action on the business’s “bottom line,” how public opinion will be influenced by the business’s response to a particular action, and the ethical issues associated with each response, for example.
Prompt: Your short paper should identify and briefly describe the business that you propose to study and describe the government impact that it has faced or would be likely to confront. Make your case for why the business and government impact you select are appropriate subjects for the final project.
Select a business that has faced, or is facing, governmental action, and analyze the impact of this action on the business. Ideally, the business that you select will be the same one discussed in the business plan you created for Marketing and Strategy (see attached business plan).
While your area of focus may be different from the possible topics and situations listed here, these should still give you an idea of the type of situation for which to look.
Topic examples:
- The decision of LG Corporation to construct a new corporate headquarters on the Hudson River in New Jersey, in the face of environmental concerns
- The decision of Tesla Motors, Inc. to choose among competing incentive packages from local governments for the construction of the company’s new Gigafactory
- The threat of Amazon.com to move its drone research development activities out of the United States unless the Federal Aviation Administration adopts a more favorable regulatory stance
- The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s decision to issue numerous citations to Ashley Furniture
- McDonald’s Corporation and the decision by Seattle, Washington to increase the minimum wage in that city
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed: Short paper (3 pages)
- Topic Selection:
- Business Profile: Provide a brief profile of the business and the industry it occupies, including the business’s market share and competitors, as well as opportunities and threats facing the business and industry outside of the particular governmental action now facing the business.
- Governmental Action: Analyze the potential governmental action or political challenge that will affect the business in this particular situation.
