Present a concise report of your analysis and include tables, charts, and$/$or graphs as appropriate to draw data$-$driven conclusions. While not required, you may use statistical procedures in your analysis.

Your report should consist of four sections:

Methodology. Explain and justify the methodology you used in your analysis, such as the countries you included, the time period, and analytical approach. Focus on how you will use the ITC trade data you retrieved; other data sources are not required.

Results. Create and include in your report at least one data table AND one graph to illustrate your main results. Be sure to also describe what the exhibits and data you analyzed tell us about the issue at hand.

Conclusions. Draw appropriate inferences based on the data you have collected and analyzed.

Implications for Business Opportunities and Responsible Business. Discuss implications for your conclusions for business opportunities and for responsible business.

Issue #$1$Assessing the impact of the Rana Plaza disaster on U$.$S$.$ t$-$shirt imports

The Rana Plaza, an eight$-$story, code$-$violating building in which garment workers were subjected to unsafe working conditions, collapsed on April $24,2013,$ killing more than $1,000$ people. Your assignment is to utilize trade statistics to evaluate any impact the Rana Plaza disaster had on U$.$S$.$ apparel imports from Bangladesh relative to other supplier nations. Do you find any evidence that the disaster led to a short$-$ and$/$or long$-$term disruption of t$-$shirt imports from Bangladesh? In order to get up to speed with this issue, read the executive summary of an NYU report on industry responses to the disaster. Then, use the U$.$S$.$ ITC DataWeb database $($see the callout box at the end of this section for database access details$)$ to analyze U$.$S$.$ import statistics, focusing on one main product for the sake of simplicity: cotton t$-$shirts. The $6-$digit HS $($or HTS$)$ code for cotton t$-$shirts is $610910$; for more details on HTS$/$HS codes, visit the ITC's HTS search engine and review the tutorial video in this module. Evaluate whether and how U$.$S$.$ t$-$shirt imports have changed since the Rana Plaza disaster. Be mindful of the various options in the ITC database, and keep in mind that the Rana Plaza disaster occurred on April $24,2013.$ Based on the data you have collected, do you detect evidence of either $($a$)$ a short$-$term supply disruption and$/$or $($b$)$ a longer$-$term shift in supply chains $($including quantity and if possible quality$)$ in U$.$S$.$ imports of cotton t$-$shirts from Bangladesh following the Rana Plaza disaster? Based on the trade data, do you find any evidence suggesting international fashion brands are more responsible in sourcing practices since the disaster?