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?
I’m quite familiar with the issue of regulating certain products based on the quality of production. Like parmigiano-reggiano, bourbon has certain qualities that must be met for a product to be marketed as bourbon. Champagne is the same way, it must be produced In the Champagne region of France. This is a good way to create quality control for the product. People who drink bourbon want it exceptionally regulated to be tailored to the bourbon vision. People who love parmigiano-reggiano want it to be tailored to what the vision of the cheese should be.
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):
Regulation is necessary to ensure the quality of products meets the expectations of the consumer. Bourbon is a whiskey, but must be composed of at least 51% corn, aged for at least 6 months, and casked in an unused, oak cask. While frequently produced in Kentucky, bourbon can be produced anywhere so long as it follows the requirements set. Regulation, however, also makes a product more expensive and exclusive, where substitutes may frequently be unacceptable or considered an inferior good. Tennessee whiskey is frequently seen as an acceptable substitute for authentic bourbon, but many bourbon drinkers won’t accept it as a substitute.
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.
The competing pressures in the whiskey industry provide regulation for certain types of whiskey. Rye can generally be any whiskey composed of over 51% rye and that has been distilled 3 times, while Tennessee whiskey must be produced in Tennessee, but the composition is not a set regulation. The whiskey industry is, in a lot of ways, extremely similar to the cheese industry in these regards.