Business Acumen: Supply and Demand in action
Robin Helweg-Larsen
Published Date
Supply and Demand: More Than Just a Theory
The concept of prices rising and falling due to supply and demand isn’t just a theoretical idea. It happens naturally—whether or not the buyers and sellers involved have ever heard of it.
If I want doodads, and they’re in short supply, I’ll buy up all the cheap ones first. But if I really want them, I’ll keep buying, even at higher prices.
Sellers see this happening and—if they have business acumen—they raise their prices too.
Real-World Example: The Cost of Labor in Williston, North Dakota
During the oil boom in Williston, North Dakota, companies had to pay more and more to hire enough workers to keep operations running.
- Unemployment dropped to just 0.9%.
- Walmart paid 2.4 times the minimum wage just to have enough employees.
That’s supply and demand in action—not just with products, but with labor markets too.
Learning Supply and Demand the Fun Way
Anyone who has played Income|Outcome has experienced this first-hand—and many other fundamental business realities—before encountering them in the real world.
It’s a lot more fun and insightful to learn about market dynamics, labor costs, and pricing strategies in a simulation than to run into them unexpectedly and painfully in real life. Contact us to learn more.
