Try to envision the cost of the most expensive purchasable item in today’s society. What would it be? Maybe a Ferrari, a house or even a satellite. It may sound counter-intuitive at first but no physical product is more valuable than the intellectual thought behind them. Donald Trump once attempted to quantify the worth of America if it were to go on sale today, and found that after all of the natural resources, land and  the rest, the intellectual property and idea creation generated by the population far out valued the worth of the other measurements.  And it is this fundamental concept…matches with brilliance and creativity that pushes entrepreneurial explorations, new innovations and future developments but those who seek it. Entrepreneurship is not solely about running a business or generating profits, but developing the idea behind it and creating something that is tangible to the rest of us. Those who seek solely in the pursuit of profit fall short of grasping the entirety of their business model and often fall short of developing a sustainable and successful venture.

Mega Infrastructure | Curiosity: What’s America Worth?

It is remarkable that the highly recognized start-up accelerator, The Y Combinator which only has an acceptance rate of 1-3% for companies that apply. And amongst the few selected, there is a less than a 1-in-10 chance of a big success according to the Business Insider. Alongside the seemingly ever-present headache that is the current economic depression, the task of developing a successful modern start-up company seems increasingly daunting and statistically improbable.
Yet, I remain optimistic in the future as I have had the luxury of watching the growth of my sister’s small start-up company Ecologik have highlighted the issues that surround being a start-up company. A key aspect for not only her business but others as well is becoming in tune with the solution to a customer’s problem or wish instead of developing A solution to a perceived problem. Establishing a structured and targeted product or service based off of customer’s inputs instead of entirely off impulse can mitigate many aspects that otherwise are factors behind start-up failures.

Link provided by ycombinator

The dotcom technological breakout has generated the ability for businesses to generate, store and ultimately use petabytes of data about all aspects of our daily lives. The general population (users of these technologies) have either consciously or unconsciously entrusted a massive proportion of their lives to these data systems. “Virtual” currency, represented in the data servers of banks worldwide as your life savings.
However, the dotcom era has also brought about issues surrounding personal privacy due to the ability of these technologies to track, observe and have direct influence our actions most of the time subconsciously; considered ethically controversial by many. Thus, the ability to remain anonymous has sparked the creation of a vertical currency Bitcoin, with the first ATM opening in Vancouver BC. Similar to PayPal, Bitcoins represent a currency value that can be used to make online purchases but offer paper representations of the currency as well. However, currency exchanges happen peer to peer, while each side remaining anonymous to each other. Bitcoins are also unique in the sense that there is always a set limit to the amount that exist at any time. However the use of bitcoins has enabled black markets to arise, thus challenging the ethicalness of the service.

Link provided by bitcoin

Alongside the idea of less vertical cooperate management structure I believe that another prior industry standard should be viewed from a different angle. For a long time the idea of workers (employees) as representative individuals have been overlooked in order to serve the “overreaching” goal of a business which is to generate profit whatever means necessary. However, taking a step back, is this practice logically sustainable?
But wait, who cares about sustainability? What is it? Well typically it is associated with non-renewable resources, which is a portion of the idea, however I would like to expand this idea into a broader sense. Sustainability from the corporate executive perspective should be viewed as an opportunity to expand the perspective of the given business model to in-cooperate a multitude of otherwise overlooked aspects of the business whilst keeping the end strategy of achieving higher profits (easier said than done). Starting with a business employees. Ensuring your workers work in a relative enjoyable environment improves the productivity of your workers, ensures worker security and boosts the overall mental state of the entirety of the business. As an example, Goldcorp offers their employees with free lunches throughout the work week, a massive expense for the corporation. Thus, according to the goal of achieving maximal profits, this practice MUST follow as illogical. Yet, employees remain at their desks during the hour, of which further work gets done and boosts productivity for the remainder of the day. Allowing more work to get done at increased efficiency.

As remarked in one of my peer’s blogs, where it was found that an organized group with a specific plan preformed at a higher degree of efficiency without one signifying leader, but instead worked together more as a unit to accomplish the set goal. The past few blog posts have remarked upon some of the changing philosophies of how, and why certain business practices are conducted. Leadership is a fundamental trait in many different avenues of life, business included, alongside the ability to articulate your ideas to other peers or co-workers proves invaluable in the cooperate world. However, as shown in the experiment above, the greater the power of one individual to invoke his/her own beliefs leaves creative thought process handicapped. For surrounding employees are more reluctant to challenge the decisions made by this “global” leader and thus less input & shared creativity is able to flourish under these circumstances. Thus, similar to the effects of more horizontal (less steep corporate ladder), the ability to effectively and efficiently communicate ideas in a team bases would enable corporate executives to gain further insight into the effects of their decisions, putting the minds of many – working together.

Link – Increased adaptability in teenage brains can be implemented into becoming a business practice

I find it remarkable in this day and age that the majority of marketing practices deduced through market research still stand to this day. Setting goods at $99.99 instead of $100.00 is such a business practice norm now that we, as consumers, have become so used to it that may believe that it no longer really matters when it comes down to purchasing something at the local grocery store. Yet, that marketing strategy is still in practice today because of its effectiveness on the consumer’s purchasing philosophy.
Personally I find it intriguing to read/hear about a new innovative marketing strategy that a business implemented before anyone else and then the rest of the world catches up and implements the strategy into their business. Architecturally, there is much consideration that goes towards the design of a store and the layout of products in order to capture the interest of their target customers the most. Where even the geometry of a store’s structure can be attuned for a specific customer basis. Market research is an interesting field of study because of its ever changing atmosphere, parameters and must be responsive to the dynamics the market. Yet, although modern and dynamic research is critical to targeting and discovering better ways of optimizing distribution of product, there are still some fundamental core values that remain almost inert as part of human nature.

The classical business model that was a standard across industries in the 20th century are now beginning to be challenged. This idea of a vertical cooperate ladder has left many corporations stagnated, unable to innovate or adjust to changing variables in their respective industries.
However, branding this form of corporate practices as ineffective and outright backwards is misleading, as many companies, fortune 500s included, depend on this vertical chain of command as a fundamental practice of their business. Corporations require leadership, deviation of tasks, roles and heads of departments to run a successful business.
However, for modern start-up companies I believe that these previous notions are becoming a lot looser and different parts of a given business are beginning to integrate more with one another. As more visual representation, this corporate ladder is becoming stumpier and greater equality is shared amongst employees.
In a lot of ways the benefits of this system is sometimes not recognized, and is dependent on a multitude of variables. Industry, identity and age of a company plays key roles in the hierarchical structure of it. However, narrowing the distance between the top and the bottom generates a more efficient, sustainable and dynamic business with multitudes of inputs being generated from all levels of the company: shift from A->B.

Image provided by the bbc

When the word brand comes to mind the first thing that comes to mind is product – the image I have associated with a particular product (both physically and physiologically.

However branding reaches far beyond the just the product world. People, organizations, teams all carry a unique identity, a brand association. The Toronto Raptors is one such team whom, as of recently is attempting to rebrand itself and the organization with its partnership of rapper Drake according to the NationalPost for the 2015-16 season.

Along with remodeling the team’s jersey design the Toronto-based newly “global ambassador” for the team brings his own charisma and brand to the team in an effort to spark excitement for the under performing franchise.

Rebranding an already known product (in this case experience) is typically unwise and unsuccessful however in the case of the Toronto Raptors I find it intriguing that  instead of repositioning their brand by modifying the inner workings of the team itself. The organization has outsourced a third-party members whom already embodies a distinctive and relatable brand-image as the centerpiece of the Raptor organization. Less to do about basketball and more to do about stardom. However, because of this, the organization is still extremely susceptible if the team remains under-performing as Drake has no quantifiable effect on the team’s performance come game time.

The Start Of A New Raptors Season Is Here