Rodriguez Fleming Economics Project Essay 1

Rodriguez Fleming 1 Uziel Loredo & Peyton Fleming Karen Stanish Economics March 20, 2019 A fabrication shop is a shop that manufactures metal, and a woodworking shop is a shop that creates pieces out of wood. According to IBIS world, both of these industries are expected to see a growth between one and three percent in the years to come. When developing our idea for a business, we took many things into consideration. We looked at location, demand, and the advantages and disadvantages. Fabrication and woodworking both play an important role in the economy by providing services and employing blue collar workers. Choosing the location where we were going to start our business was the first thing that we studied because it is important to start a business in an area that is economically booming. According to a report released by the University of Tennessee, Tennessee is expected to see a continued economic growth in 2019. The report states, “Inflation-adjusted GDP is projected to increase by 2.7 percent in 2018 and 2.6 percent in 2019, before slowing to 1.9 percent in 2020” (University of Tennessee Knoxville). Because of the economic boom in cities such as Knoxville and Chattanooga, we decided that the best place to start a business is in East Tennessee. After we chose the location, we decided to look at what is being demanded in the region. As more and more subdivisions and commercial buildings rise in Tennessee, there is an increased demand for both fabrication and woodworking shops. By combining the two industries, we believe that we will have a wider market, and therefore bringing more customers. Once we had a rough idea of what the business was going to be, we started to more clearly define each aspect of the business. Our form of business is a

Rodriguez Fleming 2 partnership, meaning that both Peyton and I are equally responsible for the company. We believe that running the business as a partnership is the best choice because it is easier to start up a business. However, we had to keep in mind that one of the negatives is that one partner's mistakes will affect the other partner. Another negative that can arise is disagreements about how to run the company. We then had to figure out how we were going to study market trends. ​ ​Since our services are done directly with the customers, we can get direct feedback. We judge the market by looking at urban development. If a new subdivision pops up, or a new commercial district rises, we can estimate how much work will be available. For example, a recent fire wiped out dozens of cabins in the mountains, therefore we can expect more work. Along with pricing, we had to decide on a what non price competition tools we were going to use. It was decided that we were going to make a regular commercial in order to gain publicity, however when reviewing our ideas, we decided that in a world that is becoming more focused on technology and social media, it would be better for businesses to change their marketing tactics in order to fit the world of social media. It is for this reason, that we did not create a TV commercials, instead we plan on gaining exposure by establishing a social media presence. Aside from social media, another non-price competition tool that we will use is having a good relationship with the customer, before and after the job. By providing a great experience, we can differentiate ourselves from our competition. The final step was to review the website and business plan, we did this by showing the website to other people in order to get feedback on what things we should change. We believe that our idea will succeed because there is a need for our service. With the growing population of East Tennessee causing urban development, we can predict that there will be a growth blue collar jobs. However, there are a few obstacles that could cause our business to

Rodriguez Fleming 3 fail. One of them is the decline of blue collar workers. With the rise of automation and a growth of white collar jobs, there is a scarcity of blue collar workers. According to Kenneth Rapoza, a business reporter for the first time, there is more of a scarcity when it comes to blue collar workers when compared to white collar workers (Rapoza). This could make it hard to find employees and therefore leading to an unsuccessful business, but if we promote our business, we can overcome the barrier. (words 751)

Citation

Rodriguez Fleming 4 “IBISWorld - Industry Market Research, Reports, and Statistics.” ​Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing in the US. Industry Market Research Reports, Trends, Statistics, Data, Forecasts,​ www.ibisworld.com/industry-trends/market-research-reports/manufacturing/fabricated-me tal-product/. “Industry Market Research, Reports, and Statistics.” ​IBISWorld​, www.ibisworld.com/industry-trends/market-research-reports/manufacturing/machinery/wo odworking-machinery-manufacturing.html.

Rapoza, Kenneth. “In 2019, Blue-Collar Workers Disappearing And In Hot Demand.” Forbes​, Forbes Magazine, 16 Dec. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2018/12/16/in-2019-blue-collar-workers-disappearing-a nd-in-hot-demand/#593d2a3a441b. “Report: Tennessee Economy Expected to See Continued Growth in 2019.” ​The University of Tennessee Knoxville News​, 17 Jan. 2019, news.utk.edu/2018/12/17/report-tennessee-economy-expected-to-see-continued-growth-in2019/.