Big Oil in a Small Town : The Effects of a Large Economic Event on Small Business Sales

The purpose of this research is to determine whether a relationship exists between the sales of small businesses when a large economic event occurs in the area. The sales examined were those of a small auto parts store located within in the Bakken Shale Formation during the rise and fall of the Bakken Oil Boom. In order to observe a relationship, data from the business's sales was gathered along with historical oil prices and oil production in the region. Through the use of two-tailed statistical testing comparing sales to oil price and again to oil production, the differences between two means with dependent samples were observed. Both tests found that the oil production and price were indeed driving factors that affected the sales of the small business causing the sales trends to follow the same patterns as those found in the oil production and price amounts. These same tests can be applied to other businesses in the region to determine whether or not oil had a large effect on their sales figures as well