Business Issue with Competing Pressures: Based on what you see in the three videos, identify a specific issue with competing pressures. How is a business issue influenced by a social concern?

An issue with competing pressures is that in most cases companies don’t have regulations that ensure authenticity of their products. The Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) ensures the authenticity of the Parmigiano Reggiano, but that luxury is not common among other products. Most companies have to fight to prove that their products are the best and people should buy them over others. Many popular businesses also have to deal with “knock offs” of their products because competitors and substitutes come into the mix. In this case, buyers may go for the cheaper knock off products. The social concern here is that consumers may be mislead and not get the highest quality that they could. In this case, business issues are influenced by social concern because consumers are interested in getting what they pay for and not being mislead or confused by knock off packaging and guarantees.

Rationales For and Against Regulation: Based on the issue you have selected, make one statement for government regulation to address the issue (rationale for regulation) and one statement for minimal regulation/the free market to address the issue (rationale against regulation):

Knock offs aren’t illegal unless a brand can prove the resemblance that misleads consumers. While I don’t believe this needs to be changed, I think that the government should regulate labeling and naming of products. If the names and logos are different enough, consumers will most likely not get confused. This means they will be able to select the authentic item. On the other hand, if a company wants to produce a knock off of a product, they should be able to. In many cases, the off brand/knock off version are equally as good. Cereal is the main thing I think of when saying that. The Kellogg version of Special K and the Giant version of Special K both taste pretty much the same. The only difference is the Giant brand version is cheaper. So, if Giant wants to produce a cheaper version, they should be able to. This creates competition for Kelloggs because consumers may be more interested in saving money than going for the brand name.

Other Examples Like This?: Based on the competing pressures you see in this video, identify another issue that has an ongoing debate among people who argue for government regulation to address the issue versus those who argue that the free market should address the issue.

Another issue that is being debated about is Uber because they ignore rules by claiming they are a communication platform rather than a taxi service. Since the beginning of Uber, taxi drivers and companies have been losing customers. On one hand, Uber is essentially providing the same service as taxis so they should be required to follow the same rules and regulations. For this to happen government regulation would be needed to get the company in check. In the interest of a free market, Uber is only connecting drivers to people in need of rides, so they are not the same as taxis. Ubers pricing is different as well which often makes its rides preferred. If Uber can do whatever it wants, then taxis will have to change to step up and get some customers back. This

creates competition and makes the end product better for consumers. When companies have to battle each other they are constantly doing the best they can and progressing so they can gain customers.