Essay - Sports Market in the United-states (The Market of Sports in...

Sports Market in the United-States (The Market of Sports in the United-States)

Introduction

This paper's role is to evaluate the sports market in US. ***** evaluation will cover both a macroenvironment (country economy level) and microenvironment (firm/consumer *****) analysis.

***** growing importance ***** sports for a community is seen both through an economic ********** social perspective. The economic part includes revenue trends, employment, number of companies - translated in tax contribu*****rs, industry pattern, trade balance and sports consumption. The social part refers to sports being part of American education ***** playing an import*****t role for communities.

Chapter I - Country Overview - PEST Analysis

Political factors

United States of America (*****A or US to be used interchangeably) is a constitutional federal republic consisting of fifty states and a feder*****l district. Its constitution was adopted in 1787 and was completed four years later by ***** Bill ***** Rights, which consists of 10 amendments ***** this document. The ***** is politically stable.

H*****t*****ically speaking, US alternated its politics between the Democratic (center left - liberal) and ***** Republican (center right - conservative) *****ies. ***** current president - George Bush - is supported by the ***** Party.

The country ranks first in the world from the ease to hire and fire employees, according to World Bank. Thus, only 12% of US workers are union members compared to 30% in Western Europe. The m*****imum wage is established by law in most ***** (except Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina) ***** each state has authority ***** decide its own level.

When compared to Europe, the *****'s labor and consumption taxes are generally lower, while property ***** corporate taxes are higher.

Economic *****

***** ranks among the first in ***** world in terms of human development (12th in 2005), with a GDP per capita of $43,594 in 2007 and a *****sonal *****come that is typical for a developed country.

As mentioned before, the minimum wage in most states is regulated ***** law, but ***** ***** vary across ***** country, ranging from $2.65/hour in Kansas to $8.07/hour in Washington.

FIGURE 1 ***** US MINIMUM WAGE

Source: US Department ***** Labor, http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm

***** annual mortgage percentage rate ***** 5-6% in 2007. The health care providers' interest ***** was 11%, showing a 2% growth when compared to the previous year ***** 4% ***** when compared to 2005. The interest rates for business loans vary ***** 3-4 % ***** 6-7%, depending on ***** type of loan (private/government; long term/short term; small *****/large business). ***** country's unemployment rate dropped to 4.5% in *****; however, ***** 2008 the labor ***** situation ***** expected to worsen as a consequence ***** economic recession. The inflation *****'s acceleration hit a maximum point in June, the highest since 1991, with the core inflation reaching 2.4%. The main concerns, at country level, are ***** high inflation and the slow economic growth (2.5-3% for 2007). The prospects for the next two years in terms of economic growth are not very optimistic, situating this indicator below 4%.

Social