Fluent Essays

Reply to at least 2 of your classmates initial postsRead the instructions for Assignment 1 and choose your overseas country from the list providedState the target overseas country you have chosen and explain why this country interests youBriefly describe the product or service provided by your organization (or an organization that is of interest) that you will analyze in this courseUsing any of the G, U, or I indicators, select two indicators and explain how these relate to your chosen target countrys economic healthpeer #1State the target overseas country you have chosen and explain why this country interests youSouth Africa is an excellent overseas destination for the Verizon Business Markets (VBM). The organization (VBM) is a subdivision of the American-based telecommunication multinational, Verizon Communications Inc. Verizon Business Markets is a product of the amalgamation of several enterprises and small business units formerly serving independently but under the Verizon umbrella. Several factors make South Africa an ideal investment target for VBM. The country (South Africa) is one of the leading economic hubs on the African continent. Conducting business in South Africa provides an organization the opportunity to access the Southern, Central, and Eastern Africa segments, according to the African Development Bank Group (2019). South Africa also fares well economically relative to many other states in the continent. The calming political and social environment also makes the destination worthwhile. The fact that Verizon Communication Inc., VBM’s mother organization, also has well-established roots in the nation, too, proves the suitability of the country. Going to South Africa further gives VBM an opportune chance to be part of the new frontier, Africa’s development, in the global economy World Bank (2018). Briefly describe the product or service provided by your organization (or an organization that is of interest) that you will analyze in this courseVerizon Business Markets (VBM) is an Information Technology organization. The entity leverages the mounting facet of technology, as well as big data applications, particularly to the government and business segments. VBM’s primary focus is, therefore, to establish steadfast IT frame and schemes for the IT and telecommunication clients. The entity serves both the government and the public with technological solutions such as FiOS (broadband, television, and voice service), ground-breaking voice resolutions, achieved IT services, and data security, and IP networking, among other services. Federal, local, state, healthcare, education, and utilities establishments form VBM’s primary customers (Federal Communications Commission, 2011).Using any of the G, U, or I indicators, select two indicators and explain how these relate to your chosen target countrys economic healthGDP & Growth (G), as well as, Inflation & Interest Rates (I) constitute two noteworthy indicators for the selection of South Africa as a potential destination for VBM. The country’s GDP was $366.30 billion in 2018. GDP in South Africa assumes a growing trend from 2016 to date, 295.75 for 2016, 348.87 for 2017, and 366.30 for 2018 (Trading Economics, 2020). The technology sector contributes about 1\% of the GDP and the nation’s GDP is forecasted to rise by 1.3\% by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2019). The inflation of the country, as of 2019 was 3.6 percent, from 4.5 percent in 2018. The fall in food and transport prices is the cause of the fall in inflation. Consumers in the state can now spend more money on other aspects such as investments and education, hence a great opportunity for VBM to fare well. ReferencesAfrica Development Bank Group. (2019). Southern Africa Economic Outlook 2019. Retrieved from https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/2019AEO/REO_2019_-_Southern_africa.pdfOrganization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2019). South Africa. Retrieved from https://data.oecd.org/south-africa.htmTrading Economics. (2020). Retrieved from https://tradingeconomics.com/south-africa/gdpWorld Bank. (2018). South Africa Economic Update. Retrieved from http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/798731523331698204/South-Africa-Economic-Update-April-2018.pdfpeer # 2Read the instructions for Assignment 1 and choose your overseas country from the list provided.United KingdomState the target overseas country you have chosen and explain why this country interests youI have chosen the United Kingdom as my country of choice because like the United States, they have a veteran population that has either been wounded, ill or injured and have service members that are deployed to the same areas as American troops. The United Kingdom is also going through a period of economic transition with BREXIT and resources to support their wounded, Ill and Injured service members may be in need. This would be a great opportunity to continue strengthening our allegiance with the UK while providing services that will benefit their active-duty population.Briefly describe the product or service provided by your organization (or an organization that is of interest) that you will analyze in this courseThe Navy Wounded Warrior Program was established in 2007 by congressional mandate to provide non-medical services to the wounded, Ill and Injured. I have included the mission and vision for further clarification.MissionNavy Wounded Warrior is the Navy’s sole organization for coordinating the non-medical care of seriously wounded, ill and injured Sailors and Coast Guardsmen, and providing resources and support for their families. Through proactive leadership, the program provides individually-tailored assistance designed to optimize the success of the wounded warriors’ recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration activities.VisionNavy Wounded Warrior will be recognized as the gold standard of care for the world-class support it provides each and every enrolled Sailor and Coast Guardsman, as well as their families.Using any of the G, U, or I indicators, select two indicators and explain how these relate to your chosen target countrys economic healthFor purposes of this assignment I will be using the GDP & Growth (G) and Unemployment and Utilization (U) sections to describe why a program similar to the Navy Wounded Warrior Program would be a valuable resource and an asset not only to the government but more specifically to those service members in need of assistance. In 2019, the UK economy rebounded to 0.4\% in Q3 from -0.2\% in the previous quarter. This was indicated by trade and household consumption feeding into the economy. The unemployment rate came in at 3.8\% below the forecasted 3.9\%. There were 23,000 fewer people out of work, however, the number of those employed also dropped by 53,000. These indicators may contribute to the need for support services especially in the veteran population to include their family members. Although difficult to ascertain at the moment, the United States is the only country with a robust infrastructure designed to take care of their wounded, Ill and Injured. This infrastructure does not exist in the same scale in the United Kingdom which has a smaller veteran population and smaller GDP per capita.References:Assignment 1 Instructions: GUIDESTRADING ECONOMICS: 20 million INDICATORS FROM 196 COUNTRIES. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15, 2020, from https://tradingeconomics.com/JWI515 Lecture Notes, Week 2 jwi515_wk2_lecture_1202.pdf Unformatted Attachment Preview JWI 515: Managerial Economics Week 2 Lecture Notes Economic Indicators What It Means In this lecture, you will learn about economic indicators and gain an understanding of the benefits they offer you as a business leader. Economic indicators are data items that help you follow business trends and predict upcoming business opportunities and challenges. You can examine a wide range of economic indicators, since they are published regularly on government agency websites and other sources. The available data includes indicators for your industry, your state, the national economy, and for many other countries. At certain times, the business environment changes in a significant way that impacts your company and your industry. You will learn how economic indicators can help you identify when these changes in the business environment are taking place. In addition, by tracking economic data over time and identifying trends, you can predict certain changes in the marketplace ahead of time. By learning how to “read” the data in this way, the best leaders make use of economic indicators as a tool to guide their business decisions and plans. Why It Matters • Economic indicators provide evidence of changes in the business environment • A wide range of historical and current economic data is freely available online • Leaders who identify and predict business trends make more well-informed and effective business decisions “Economics can be used to understand and predict the decisions people and other economic entities (e.g., businesses, governments) make.” Frakt & Piper © Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. JWI 515 – Week 2 Lecture Notes (1202) Page 1 of 5 JWI 515: Managerial Economics Week 2 Lecture Notes ECONOMIC INDICATORS What are Economic Indicators? An economic indicator is a piece of data that helps you interpret or predict business and investment opportunities. It is a gauge of the current or future health of the economy and, most importantly, it can be tracked over time. By observing how various economic indicators change over time, business leaders can identify how many aspects of the economy are changing. By understanding those changes, and how they affect you, your business, and your nation, you can take advantage of upcoming changes to position yourself and your business concerns to grow and prosper. Understanding economic indicators is the key to making good, strategic decisions for your business before or during a change in the economy. A wide range of economic indicators are collected and published by government agencies and other bodies and these indicators can be viewed free of charge by members of the public. In the United States, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor are two government agencies that track and publish key indicators, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and unemployment rates, at both the federal and state level. Some international indicators can be found on government websites, but a larger collection of international data is available on Trading Economics, a privately run website that collects international business data from respected sources and aggregates it in one place. Why Follow Economic Indicators? Why are economic indicators important for you and your business? Why should a leader in business care about them? To understand this, let’s look at a real-world example. Imagine you need a business loan for your small business. If you drove to your bank to speak to a representative about that loan, and there was a sign at the bank that announced, Interest rates will fall next month, what would you do? Any savvy business owner would probably consider waiting until next month to get the more favorable rate. That would be the most beneficial decision for your business. © Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. JWI 515 – Week 2 Lecture Notes (1202) Page 2 of 5 JWI 515: Managerial Economics Week 2 Lecture Notes Of course, banks do not post signs about their plans for future interest rates but, if you understand how the economy works, you are better able to anticipate significant turning points in the economic situation for your industry. An understanding of where the economy is going can help you position yourself and your company to launch successful new initiatives, make smart capital investments, and compete effectively in your business sector. As an informed leader, you need to know how to follow key economic indicators and take note of their upward and downward trends over time. By learning to interpret these signs, you can identify the best way forward in a fast-changing economy. Critical decisions are made at times called inflection points. An inflection point in mathematics is the point on a curve at which a change in the direction of curvature occurs. In the world of business, an inflection point is the turning point in an economic situation. If you, as a manager and leader, can learn to anticipate inflection points, you can make decisions that benefit your team and your company. This is true in the operation of your business and it is also true at the national level, as governments decide how to address countrywide economic issues. Who Uses Economic Indicators? Economic indicators were first published for government leaders who needed a better understanding of the country’s current economic condition. However, economic data can be useful in a wide variety of professions and for multiple purposes. Here are some examples of people who follow economic indicators, with an explanation in each case of how they use the information obtained from them: • Investors use economic indicators to fine-tune their investment strategies, improve buying and selling decisions, and match asset allocation decisions to the economic cycle. • Business leaders use economic indicators to make better hiring decisions, match inventories to the business cycle, improve business forecasts, and evaluate new business opportunities based on current economic conditions. © Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. JWI 515 – Week 2 Lecture Notes (1202) Page 3 of 5 JWI 515: Managerial Economics Week 2 Lecture Notes • Purchasing managers use economic indicators to forecast prices for raw materials and to negotiate longer-term pricing agreements during periods of economic slowdown, when raw material prices tend to be the lowest. • Policy analysts use economic indicators to guide them as they design economically sensitive policy decisions and design regulations for various business sectors and markets. • Small business owners use economic indicators to inform their plans for establishing and growing their business and to help them in their search for investors to support their new ventures. • Business students use economic indicators to develop a thorough understanding of business cycles and their implications for business strategy, so as to become more valuable hires for potential future employers. The Three Types of Economic Indicators There are three types of economic indicators: leading, lagging, and coincidental. By studying a combination of these, you will get a more rounded view of the economic outlook. • Leading indicators signal coming, future economic events. An increase in the money supply can indicate a short-term drop in interest rates, for example, and a possible rise over the long term. • Lagging indicators follow an economic event. A drop in unemployment measures is a lagging indicator of an improving economy, for example. • Coincidental indicators happen at the same time as an economic event. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is an example of a coincidental indicator. It does not predict anything, but it shows us whether the economy is healthy or unhealthy. © Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. JWI 515 – Week 2 Lecture Notes (1202) Page 4 of 5 JWI 515: Managerial Economics Week 2 Lecture Notes Which Economic Indicators Should I Follow? The challenging aspect of using economic indicators is that you need to determine what works for you, your industry, and your business. Every business is unique and thus there is no standard economic indicator “dashboard” that will apply to all companies. There are so many economic indicators that trying to follow them all would be an overwhelming task. Therefore, economists and business leaders typically track just a few indicators, the ones that are most relevant to their professional goals. There are some key indicators that many executives and business leaders use to guide their business decisions and we will learn about those major indicators over the next few weeks. In this JWMI course, we provide a tool – the GUIDES Worksheet – to help you create a collection of economic indicators for your company and your industry. You will submit your completed worksheet as Assignment 1. To interpret the data you have collected, we provide a template to help you make business recommendations based upon your findings in Assignment 2. In this way, step by step, you will “learn the language” of economics and see for yourself how useful the information found in economic indicators can be. Looking Ahead In this lecture, you learned about economic indicators, the data metrics that can be used to understand and predict changes in the economy. You explored how and why this data is valuable to you as a business leader. To complement your reading, this week you have started gaining practical experience by using the GUIDES worksheet to collect economic data related to your company and its industry. Next week, the lecture takes a closer look at some of the key macroeconomic indicators: GDP, Unemployment, Inflation, Interest Rates, and Exchange Rates. In addition, it explores the broader issues of why businesses should make decisions that are based on real-world data and considers how you as a leader can model and encourage a data-driven approach. © Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. JWI 515 – Week 2 Lecture Notes (1202) Page 5 of 5 ... Purchase answer to see full attachment