Cole Maltese, Tristan Kaler, Keenan O’Gara, and Nathan Tennigkeit Period 2.

Cole Maltese, Tristan Kaler, Keenan O’Gara, and Nathan Tennigkeit

Period 2

Government has no major affect on Sports equipment and apparel stores or outlet stores. The government does regulate what equipment is safe and able to protect whomever wears it. The economy has an effect on the income of a sport store, if the economy is bad then no one will come in to buy sports equipment.

Technology is used in baseball bats by making them have more pop and balancing the bat.

Parents aren’t to happy when their kid gets dome rocked by a baseball. There are some legal issues with sports equipment, like if the equipment doesn’t perform the way it’s guaranteed to perform. Warnings are sent out by the brands who make the equipment saying the possible risks that the product may produce.

In order to keep the cost of sports equipment low in the USA, companies outsource productions to countries where the cost for labor is cheaper than in the USA. This keeps the cost of production low so that companies can increase their profit.

Sports equipment and apparel manufacturers have to adapt to the new trends that people want in clothing and apparel. They also have to adapt to the new technologies in sports equipment. In order for their equipment to sell they need to come up with better technology that will out perform the older version of the product. This new technology however has to meet the league regulations across the nation.

In order to adapt to the changes in the market and social conditions of today’s economy, sports and equipment companies are constantly in the process of structuring and re-structuring to stay above these changes within businesses. In view of these changes, an organization needs to make a plan and develop that plan in the best way and in a way that the structure of the plan will allow the company to maximize its resources. This will enable the company to meet the goals that it has made.

The effects on Global Trade within sports equipment and apparel is that equipment and apparel produced in the US needs to be exported to other countries to hopefully increase interest in other countries of products in the US and increases the profit of that business’ product in other countries around the world. Exporting and importing goods from other countries also exposes sports companies to new designs or technologies not yet released in the US. The sports business can then release their version of the product.

Today's current business trends in sports equipment can easily be seen in any sports store. Often in sports equipment the trends are to make similar equipment. For example, when Demarini came out with a composite bat almost every other bat company came out with their version of a composite bat. The trends are also related to price. For example when Louisville Slugger sold a bat for $300 every other company began to price their bats for $300. I link to think of the price points as hubs. For example if you were to look for a bat you would find common price hubs. You would find about 10 models of bats for $200 skip to $250 where you would find 5 models of bats. Then to $300 you would find 10 models. Ate $350 you would find 5 more models of bats. Lastly at $400 you would find 10 more models of bats. It is so funny because each company as a bat at each price point but the skip the gaps in between these common market prices.

Factors that effect the business environment are competitors. Competitors push other businesses within sports and equipment to think of new ideas, new designs, new technologies, etc. If it wasn’t for competitors there would be one sports company that created everything, this would be a monopoly. There would be no need for the company to come up with new ideas, they could just keep the same stuff out for years and years.

A. Business ethics are like moral obligations. They are not written rules, but you must follow them to get a good reputation and keep your employees happy. Business regulations are set rules that businesses must follow. They involve how to treat customers, employees, quality control, etc…

B. Business ethics are needed in the global market so people know that they can count on the business to produce the product without terrible conditions for workers. Many people around the world refuse to purchase things from businesses with reputations of treating their employees unethically.

C. A main reason that business people choose to act unethically is money. If they can pay offshore workers to do more work for less money in terrible conditions, why not? If they can steal money from the business without getting caught, why not? Everything is about personal gain, not about other peoples’ feelings.

A. Unethical practices can have a very negative impact on businesses. Once a reputation is created, their sales can drop dramatically when people choose to buy a similar product from a company that treats their workers better.

B. Sweat shops are a common modern day practice of unethical behavior. Companies are paying workers hardly any money for working 70 or 80 hours a week offshore in terrible conditions. The companies can do this because for the people willing to accept this money, there is not al alternative source of income.

The impact of the culture and social environments of where products are being sold plays a huge role in what is to be sold. In a place like Europe where baseball is almost non existent it would be a bad place to sell baseball equipment. It would be a much better idea to sell soccer equipment in Europe and to sell baseball equipment in places such as the States, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Also, one must think on a smaller scale than entire continents. In places like Texas and Arizona where sports can be played all year long sports is a much bigger deal. In other places farther north the time in which you can be outdoors is much shorter and therefore has less of a focus on sports