Anthony Phan's Blog

In Jackson Wu’s blog, he said Zappos has tapped into the best of both worlds: Satisfaction on employees, satisfaction on customers. I totally agree with him that Zappos has a very unique business model and that it treats its employees in a very unique style as well. Zappos trains its potential employees rigorously and it makes sure that they are passionate towards the company. Zappos also provides an energetic environment for the employees to work in. For its customers, Zappos provides free shipping and full refund on returns if customers are not satisfied with the product. Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, has really built Zappos’ culture in that it benefits both Zappos’ employees and customers.

Employees’ working environment in Zappos is very energetic and spirited; while it suits some people, some people might not like the way the company works. Some customers might not like the way the employees talk over the phone. But all in all, it is really hard to satisfy 100% of people. I think Zappos did a great job in both providing an excellent working environment for its employees and satisfying the majority of customers with its excellent service and the Customer Loyalty Team.

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/09/0908_microblog/11.htm

Google partnering with LG released the Nexus 4 smartphone yesterday in US and UK. And reports have been shown that Google sold out all its Nexus 4 stock within 15 minutes of launch in UK and within 30 minutes of launch in US. The new Nexus 4 gains popularity as it is priced relatively cheaper than its competitors, Samsung Galaxy S3 and IPhone5.

The Nexus 4 is a top-notch smartphone that is beautiful and powerful. The device ships unlocked from the Google Play Store, so customers can choose their carriers. There is no doubt that the Nexus 4 will be a hot sale. Referring back to Class 15 where Mahesh talked about demand forecasting and efficiency, it raises the question “Did Google do the right demand forecast for Nexus 4?”.

Google did not reveal how many stocks it had on hand initially; it could be a big number or small number. Google’s wrong estimation of demand has led to many unsatisfied and disappointed customers. Although the launch of the new Nexus 4 is successful and its sold out status indicates that the smartphone is very popular in the market, due to the shortage of supply, it could lead to lost of potential customers and also damage the brand of Google.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2012/1114/Google-Nexus-4-sells-out-within-an-hour-in-US-UK

Sweaty Bands, a new innovation by Donna Browning a fitness instructor, is a headband that does not slip out during workouts. It uses velvet-lined ribbon and elastic so that the headband can hold its own. According to Amielle Lake, CRO & Founder of Tagga, one of the ten reasons to become an entrepreneur is because you see “the” better way. In this case, Browning sees an opportunity for success since non-slip headbands are very useful during workouts, and also they look colorful and attractive. She is also looking forward to introduce possible product additions.

Browning is pushing the product to the market aggressively by marketing in athletic events and doing wholesale business. The company is very successful in that it has a wide distribution of channels. Browning is a good example of an entrepreneur. She presents the sweaty bands to solve the problem that plain headbands always slip out during exercises and workouts.

I think that entrepreneurs are great thinkers, they create new product to solve an existing problem. Although they might take risks and challenges, if successful, the end result would be great. In this case, the company’s revenue double every year since the company’s launch.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224367

From Class 17’s prep material, the article on fake product reviews surprises me. As a consumer myself on Amazon and eBay, I often read the product reviews to see whether the rating is high or low and that will determine if I am wiling to buy the product. As I discovered that companies actually hire people to write glowing reviews that gives out 5 star all the time, I begin to doubt every time I see a 5 star review.

Companies are deceiving and lying to customers if they hire people to write reviews that does not really reflect the actual opinion of the customer on a certain product. With the increasing use of IT in the modern world, e-commerce is very common nowadays. And by applying IT to business, business can achieve better results and target a larger customer base.

As for review sites, the Stony Brook method can help weed out fake reviews better than the Cornell method, therefore giving customers a more truthful and reliable review than before. Management Information System (MIS) is very important for companies as it can gather relevant data and information for decision making and provide information that is needed to manage organizations efficiently and effectively

http://www.technewsdaily.com/5813-computer-program-spots-fake-product-reviews.html

In Pili Vega’s Blog, she talked about how online marketing is useful and allows media to evoke emotions on consumers. After watching the Coca-Cola Happiness Machine video shown in the post, I saw how the video has evoked my emotions and made me associate coca-cola with happiness. The use of technology and internet is very common nowadays, therefore to follow the trend, companies will need to shift their traditional paper-based advertisement to online advertising. Online marketing can come in many forms such as videos, pop-ups and posters. Seeing an online advertisement or commercial is a more interactive way and it could reach a broader base of customers. Since consumers are usually online, it would be easier for them to see the online advertisement than to flip the fliers.

Online has become part of our lives, therefore it is more of a need for online marketing. It is essential to have it. Online marketing may possibly be cheaper and is also more environmental friendly. It can evoke consumers’ emotions with animations. I think online marketing is taking over the traditional way of marketing. With the use of social media like Facebook and Twitter, it can make online marketing very effective for companies.

On Tuesday’s class, I have learned a new term, which is social entrepreneur. Social entrepreneur is a relatively new terminology and is used to define someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to make social changes. In Sally Gao’s blog, she talked about an example of a social entrepreneurship that we discussed in class which is Save On Meats.

Save On Meats interests me a lot because I have never been there nor heard of it before. After some research, I have found out that Save On Meats is both a butcher shop and a restaurant which hires locals and serves the low-income people and its community. Brand’s vision is to support the community in Downtown East Side by providing jobs and access to food. He has definitely contributed a lot for the community.

Social entrepreneurs are different than entrepreneurs. I think being a social entrepreneur is very meaningful; in a way that they can do business to earn money while doing a good cause and contributing back to the society. In the near future, I would like to visit Save On Meats to experience this culture of community and also help support it.

Gastown restaurateur Mark Brand

http://www.bcbusiness.ca/tourism-culture/building-a-downtown-eastside-foodie-empire

Samsung Galaxy S3 and Apple iPhone 5 have become the hottest smartphones in the market. Despite the iPhone 5 announcement and the jury verdicts against Samsung, the sales of the S3 have not been affected but instead boomed when the verdict was announced and when iPhone 5 was announced (as shown on the graph). Since August 1, sales of the S3 have seen average weekly growth of 9 percent, according to analytic firm Localytics.

It is interesting that Apple is trying to ban sales of Samsung handheld electronics in the US and yet the S3 is still enjoying a huge demand. Apple is trying to limit Samsung sales as it sees Samsung as the major competitor against Apple’s latest product iPhone 5. The effect of this fierce competition has resulted in an increase in demand for Samsung S3. Usually when verdicts go against a company or when other competitors introduce new products, it will affect the sales of a company. But in this case between Samsung and Apple, it is the opposite. When Apple is trying to ban sales of Samsung products, it caused customers to fear a ban on Samsung products, causing them to rush to buy a device before it was too late.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57525052-94/samsung-galaxy-s3-sales-hot-despite-iphone-5/

Japanese are always the ones full of surprises. A Japanese start-up project, Town EV, is thinking to have its ZEVe ultracompact on the market in Japan next year. This new electric vehicle is smaller than a golf cart and is “Japan’s first new vehicle niche to win government approval in 50 years”. The value proposition of this new vehicle is to Japan’s aging population, Town EV is creating a street-legal golf cart that provides low-powered transportation as a way to ease travel for the elderly living in areas without convenient bus services.

Due to the company’s precise targeting of a niche market, ZEVe got approval from the government as a street-legal car because the government sees that there is a need to fulfill the market segment as almost a quarter of the Japanese’s population are over age 65. The government also shows full support to this new vehicle by offering subsidies to companies and local governments that purchase ultracompacts. Although the idea of this electric vehicle is great, there are still some safety concerns as the vehicle looks easy to crush and it has no side windows or doors. It also has a slow speed and  is light weight.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-10-04/japan-tries-cars-that-make-the-mini-look-maxi#r=read

Veda’s Blog on “What’s the idea Sirjee?” has reminded me of  how important market positioning is for a business. Avis is a car rental company that has been competing with Hertz for over half a century. Hertz has already established itself as the No.1 in car rental industry in consumer’s mind, therefore it is hard for Avis to also establish itself as the No.1 in the industry. Avis has taken a different approach and positioned itself as the No.2 with the slogan “We try harder”. This innovative way of market positioning has finally helped Avis to establish its image in the consumer’s mind.

For market positioning, the most important thing for a business to do is to create an image of the company that stays in consumer’s mind. By doing so, the consumers can therefore remember who the company is and what they do. Avis is a really great successful example of market positioning. Although it positioned itself as the second in the industry, it didn’t matter because it established itself in the consumer’s mind which in turn led to an increase in the business’ revenue and profit. In 2012, Avis has rebranded with new slogan “It’s your space”.

Companies searching for cheap labor is very common in businesses. Consumers want to maximize their benefits, therefore to satisfy the consumers’ wants, businesses have to cut the cost of production.  And the simplest way is to use cheap labor. Many companies have been using child labor and paying below minimum wages. Recently, there is even a story about prisoners doing work for a private telemarketing company and “being paid the equivalent of about 60 cents an hour- just a small fraction of the legal minimum wage.”  As the prisoners take on the job, consequently jobs are being taken away from the working force.

Businesses have gone wild in exploiting the cheap labor field. They are moving to the extreme and now even using convicts for cheap labor. It could be argued that using prison labor and getting paid extremely low is unethical but then if the convicts are willing to accept the job, it is just another form of cheap labor. Businesses should pay everyone (including convicts if they hire them) at least minimum wage as set by the government. Therefore it could eliminate discrimination and also sets up a better image for businesses as they care about business ethics.

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/95731