BMGT 110-Introduction to Business and Management-Week 1 Discussion

Choose a product that you think illustrates the principles of supply and demand. It could be something like a Lamborghini that has a very limited supply and a great demand that makes it expensive. Or it could be something like a calculator that used to be very expensive but has become cheap because of trends in technology.

Give a brief overview of the company that makes the product. If the product is made by multiple companies, just choose one of them.

• What does the company make?

• What value does this product provide to consumers? Why do they buy it?

• Explain how the product can illustrate the law of supply and demand.

• Which of the following six external forces in the readings do you think most affects the balance of supply and demand? Describe the effect it has.

• For example, the technological environment made the chips in calculators cheap, and the low price increased demand.

Product: Maryland Blue Crab

Company Name: Crabplace.com

Company Overview: Maryland largest online blue crab retailer for over 25 years

How does this company's product offer value to consumers, and why do they buy it?

Crabplace.com has provided a way for crab lovers worldwide to enjoy blue crab all year long, a year-round delicacy that Marylanders have consumed for generations. Generally, people buy blue crabs due to their sweet taste, and eating blue crabs tends to bring people together. Sweet crabs are very popular among pescatarians and provides a calorie-free and usually high sodium based when steamed.

How does the blue crab correlate with supply and demand?

While researching the blue crab shortage in the recent year, I located a web article written by Hotakaimen, R. (2021, July 22) that explains how a Maryland top-selling restaurant chain decided this past summer to pull crab cakes off menus after crab prices tripled. While the Coronavirus pandemic crippled the blue crab industry last year, 2021 has brought further bad news. Prices have soared due to a shortage of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay, especially the blue-clawed beautiful swimmer crab. Observing the law of supply and demand in crab fishery, I also observed scarcity when restaurants and consumers who like crab cakes or a dozen hot steamed crabs are restricted by low supply.

What were the six external forces that I discovered while reading the web article on the mysterious blue-crab shortage that primarily affected the balance of supply and demand?

If the crab season is not abundant, the supply is limited, and the demand is high, so the price increases due to the law of supply and demand. Additionally, during a dredge of the Chesapeake Bay during the winter of 2020-2021, the overall population of blue crabs showed a significant decline, which was a result of a lack of juvenile crabs, as was also found in 1990. From year to year, the blue crab population fluctuates. Climate and other environmental factors also contribute to the low crab population. The current trend for restaurant owners is to offer crab boil bags, and almost every menu nationwide features a dish that includes lump crab.

Several years ago, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries introduced blue catfish for sport fishing to the James River, which might be affecting the supply of blue crabs. At the moment, the fish have grown and the ecosystem has been disturbed, filtered into the Chesapeake Bay, and the catfish have eaten too many blue crabs. If the Maryland crab industry continues to lack an adequate supply of blue crabs annually, this popular seafood pastime will gradually come to an end.

Hotakaimen, R. (2021, July 22). Mysterious blue crab shortage spawns big-time Sticker shock. E&E News. Retrieved October 21, 2021, from https://www.eenews.net/articles/mysterious-blue-crab-shortage-spawns-big-time-sticker-shock/.