Reference no: EM133165524

Changes in the business environment can create great opportunities or significant threats for a business.  One way of looking at these external forces is through what is known as PEST analysis. 

PEST analysis is a tool used to analyze the Political, Economic, Sociocultural, and Technological changes in the business environment. It can help a business understand the "big picture" that it is exposed to, and, from this, take advantage of the external opportunities and minimize external threats.

For example, opportunities for creating and operating a small business can be seen when politicians lower taxes, minimize burdensome regulations, and fund small business services like the SBA.  Another example of how an external force can impact business can be seen by the economic threat the recent COVID-19 pandemic created on businesses like sit down restaurants.  Still another example would be the sociocultural impact of how the aging of the baby boomer generation is creating opportunities for businesses who specialize in care giving, household services, and investment services.  The last example is how opportunities can come from new technologies.  Think about the Internet, eCommerce, and Amazon.

The purpose of this writing assignment is to have you think of and research an external economic factor that may have a major impact on businesses.  As a starting point to help you get started choosing a topic for your paper, you may want to consider one of the following as examples of possible external factors:

• The use of autonomous vehicles.
• The development of drone technology.
• The advancement of Neuralinks.
• The rise in telecommuting.
• The possibility of private space travel.
• Changing demographics.
• The possibility of future pandemics.
• The use and acceptance of cryptocurrency.
• The advance of artificial intelligence.

Using a minimum of three sources, write a two page research paper of that addresses the following:

1. Identify an external factor that will have a future impact on business and determine if it should be considered an opportunity or a threat.
2. Discuss what industries the external factor will impact.
3. Discuss how and why the external factor will impact industry.
4. Discuss how the external factor will influence the local Miami Valley economy.
5. Explain how businesses will change or evolve to take advantage of the opportunities or minimize the threats associated with external factor.

Your paper should tie back to the concepts studied in this course.  This assignment is worth 25 points.

Your paper should be in MLA format.  I will look closely at the first page formatting, the page header formatting, the paragraph formatting, the in-text citation formatting, and the works cited page formatting.  If you are not familiar with MLA formatting, I suggest you research the basics at either the EasyBib or the Purdue Owl web sites.  Both resources are used by college students all over the country to ensure proper research paper formatting.

• Click here to view the EasyBib web site:  EasyBib
• Click here to view the Purdue Owl web site:  Purdue Owl