Title: Module 2 Introduction: (CU1 M2) Opportunities and the Chance of Success
Course: SkillsCom BA 260 15.0 > Section: Credit Unit 1 Module 2- Opportunities and the Chance of Success

Take a look outside your window. The world does not come neatly compartmentalized or with labels. As a visual, it is a mash-up of institutions, events, happenings, and trends etc. that do not come with an announcement or a statement of what they are. As an example, when the government passed the Affordable Care Act there was no announcement or label declaring, “This act is part of the political/regulatory environment.”

In contrast, managers and entrepreneurs compartmentalize events, happenings, trends and institutions in the world into categories to help them identify entrepreneurial opportunities all the time. As an example, many entrepreneurs have identified the growing number of older consumers and are responding with new products, such as telephones with larger numbers to make them easier to read.  In other words they have identified a change in demographics and responded to it.

Some entrepreneurs will be successful in their business of supplying useful products to this aging demographic and others will not. This is because successful entrepreneurs play on their personal strengths and make moves to reduce their weaknesses. Also, they will perceive some industries as opportunities e.g. industries with low barriers to entry like home help, while other industries might be detrimental to the overall success of an entrepreneur's venture e.g. medical treatments that require great expertise and vast amounts of resources.

Module Outcomes:

- Describe how technological, political/regulatory and social/demographic changes generate entrepreneurial opportunities.
- Apply critical success factors to business ideas.