Economic Events or The Fed

Option 1
Describe a significant economic event that is currently taking place in the world. Explain what you now understand more clearly and possibly relate your understanding back to your business practice. Consider including a related news link about the event.

Option 2
Using FedWatch by CME, what actions is the U.S. Federal Reserve expected to take? How do you expect these actions will impact your business, industry, and/or the markets? (Or what actions do you expect another country to take in regards to monetary policy and what impacts do you expect?)

Week 5 (Note, I currently work for a county public school system)
Supply and Demand or Utility

Option 1
Supply & Demand - Using a product or service at your company, or one that you are familiar with, describe the various factors that impact its level of supply and demand in the marketplace. Is this product more susceptible to supply elasticity or demand elasticity? Explain. As a manager, how can you use this understanding to benefit your organization?

Option 2
Utility - Using a product or service at your company, or one that you are familiar with, describe it in terms of the utility it provides to your customers. What are its strongest utility features? What are the weakest? Why do your customers keep coming back to you and not your competitors?

Week 6
Walmart Shopping or Product Analysis

Option 1
Analyze product purchase decisions from the customer perspective. Visit the Wal-Mart website and place 5 or more items in your shopping cart until you go over the $500.00 budget. Then, eliminate and/or exchange items until your reach a total of $500.00. Take notes on your reasoning during the process of elimination.
Shopping Rules:

Briefly describe your experiences using your notes from your shopping session and the concepts of utility, marginal utility, and price elasticity. What items were in your initial shopping cart versus the items that were in your final cart? What were the reasons for keeping, exchanging, or eliminating items? What types of goods did you keep (luxury or staple)? Why?

Option 2
Identify a product or service that your company provides. First, consider the product/service from the emotional perspective. What emotion does this product/service elicit from your customers? Does your company use emotions or provide emotions? Secondly, what is the price elasticity of the product or service? Explain. Lastly, consider the product/service from the "last mile" perspective. What does the customer experience look like? Does your company focus on the "last mile"? If so, provide specific examples. If not, what recommendations do you have for evaluating and improving the customer experience?