external forces blog

Each of you need to find a current news article from a reputable, business-focused source (e.g., Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Kiplinger's, or Forbes) that illustrates either aneconomic or technological external force and its impact on your industry. In this blog, post the link to the article and your analysis of what impact the specific force will have on your industry within the upcoming year. Please do not repeat articles, unless you are focusing on the impact in a different industry. 

Choices:

• Economic opportunities and threats are often the barometer of an organization's continued competitive advantage.  The ability to "predict" changes in the stock exchange or the value of the dollar, anticipate interest and inflation rate changes, and understand why consumer index factors change (home sales, average wage growth, exports, unemployment rates) all directly impact a company's strategies.
• Technology: Organizations which fail to update technology and anticipate the changes it causes, in a word, simply fail. The Internet has proven itself a force with which to be reckoned.  E-commerce can dramatically affect product sales, customer service, target markets not to mention suppliers or distributors.  The extensive use of cell phones, tablets and personal computers has forever altered the way companies conduct business.