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In news article in BBC, Timothey Mitchell is interviewed and asked questions about the struggles of turning his technological idea into a business. This article basically ravels all of the problems I, myself, have with starting up a business.

The part of the article I thought was most intriguing was the “Believe” portion. I have had ideas about starting a business, but I always end up thinking to myself that I don’t have the resources and that I will fail. For starters, I’m young and I don’t have any starting capital so starting any business is virtually impossible. Next, I don’t have enough expertise at my current state to manage a business properly. The problems I face persist and I always wish I had the answer. Timothey suggests to assess your current state. He says what would you lose if you were to take the chance. For him it was losing his job at Microsoft to pursue his dream. Now that I look at it this way I feel confident. If I start a small business by myself and I fail I’ll still be in school and probably have to work minimum wage. Not much to lose.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22610889

Universities provide an environment for learning and inspirations ideas. Joy Laskar, an electrical engineering professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, lost his job three years ago due to being accused of using University resources and students for his own personal benefit. Joy Laskar has created a wireless chip that has spiked the interest of companies such as Samsung and Qualcomm. Certainly I have to agree that the main purpose of resources at a university should be used to educate and to help assist students.

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Looking at this case strictly from the Universities perspective, professor Laskar was wrong for using up precious resources that are dedicated for students. However, I believe that having a professor who is making a difference in his society and being entrepreneurial is a motivational factor for students. I am sure that the students that assisted him in his achievement of the wireless chip also learned a lot. From an accounting perspective, the professor was costing the university money for using precious resources allocated to students. However, in a marketing perspective, having a professor who is capable of breaking new ground is his field actually attracts students to want to learn from them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/technology/reaching-for-silicon-valley.html?ref=business&_r=0

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In a recent article in New York Times on “the Challenge of Creating a Unified Organizational Strategy,” it talks about the difficulties of large organizations in unifying the entire business and having no boundaries.

In class we talked about flat and tall business organizations. The advantage of a tall business structure is that you have a high amount of specialization and expertise in each branch, but the flaw with all these branches is that, as described in the article, they form tribes and workers connect with their immediate colleagues. This reduces communication between different sectors of the corporation and can be costly for a business. Accounting not communicating with marketing and so forth. I believe that it is important for companies to have a unified organization. It helps build a strong and valuable corporate culture in which everyone is working with everyone. In class we talked about Zappos and how every worker, regardless of expertise, had to go through a training course. Furthermore, workers work in the same office space and the CEO works in a cornerr desk unit. This new approach to the vertical structure is a great one which breaks down tribes and units all workers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/business/the-challenge-of-creating-a-unified-organizational-strategy.html?_r=0

In a blog by fellow classmate Eric Cho, I have found that I have a much different take on the success of Urthecast. Urthecast is one of the only companies out there that allow viewers, like us, to view the earth from outer space. Outside of private government agencies, the average man doesn’t have access to such technology.

In terms of business, many people are skeptical about how the company will make money by being free. In class the founder of Urthecast mentioned how they could give exclusive rights to cable news companies. I feel that this is an ingenious way to make money. Reflecting upon my own experience of seeing natural disasters on the news, I feel that we only get to see very small glimpses of a natural disaster in news reports. For example in the recent disaster in the Philippines, all the news reports have only shown videos of particular villages and towns. I have always wanted to see the natural disaster as a whole and I believe that Urthecast can cater to my need. This is a point of difference that no news channels has and Urthercast can provide this.

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classmate blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/ericcho/2013/10/27/urthecast-not-many-people-want-to-see-thecast/

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In the blog “Drew’s Marketing Minute”, blogger Drew McLellan discusses the marketing power of direct mail. He argues that many people believed that direct mail would become extinct due to the email, however most of the junk mail that people use to receive in direct mail has transferred over to email.

I have to agree with McLellan that email has significantly replaced direct mail. Sending an email is free and sending a letter requires costly stamps. Also, I agree with McLellan on the notion that if direct mail is executed effectively, it will have positive results. Sending mail to your clients and potential clients offers a more personal approach to advertising. Furthermore, sending direct mail would be a point of difference for your business because many companies are just spamming customers day-after-day with promotions. With this in mind, it should be noted that marketing with direct mail is quite expensive. For small businesses, direct mail would be a costly expense and would only go to their most loyal customers. In terms of marketing this idea is great, but in terms of accounting the budget of the business must be assessed.

http://www.drewsmarketingminute.com/

An article in the Vancouver Sun discusses the disapproval of Surrey citizen’s to build a new coal terminal in Surrey. It was mentioned how the coal terminal passed an environmental test, but some experts found it failed to pass basic health tests.

The primary goal for a business is to make profit. At times businesses must ignore certain variables, in this case the health of Surrey citizens and the environment, to gain profit. Having a coal terminal in Surrey will provide more jobs and boost the overall economy in Surrey, but at what cost? Is it worth the health risks to gain money? This would qualify for the environmental and political aspect of the PEST analysis. In terms of environmental, the company faces external pressure to do what is environmentally correct, but if they don’t build a coal terminal they won’t be profiting. The political aspect is legalities with building a coal terminal which include permits and provincial regulations on environmental protection. This is a classic case of corporate responsibility and how, even though they know what they are doing might be wrong, they must make money.

http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Surrey+coal+terminal+passes+environment+test/9182064/story.html

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