A new bill would allow space mining companies to legally do what their name implies: extract raw materials from asteroids and perhaps even other planets, and sell them for profit. If passed, an entirely new and unexplored industry would begin to spring up everywhere. Without legal limitations, (ambitious) companies will be able to begin R&D for machines that could do the job.

Asteroid mining base concept; Image source

Space mining could have a great impact on the world economy. According to Forbes’ Bruce Dorminey, “For some metals the commodities markets will be completely reshaped”. For the first time there will be an influx of materials coming from a source other than Earth. With space mining it will no longer matter if resources are renewable or not, because while the resources on an individual asteroid may be non-renewable, there is an unfathomably large number of asteroids in space.

Near-Earth asteroids; Image source

Asteroid mining, if successful, could change our preconceived notions of sustainability. I for one hope that the bill gets signed into law, because as I’ve made clear in a few of my previous blogs, I’m a huge advocate for progress. Advancements in technology, no matter how radical are necessary to advance us to the next stage as a species. And I’m all for that.

In his Blogpost on Side Hustle Nation, Nick Loper discusses the Girl Scouts, and why they are so successful in their sales of cookies every year. For the uninitiated, the Girl Scouts of the USA is an organization in the United States with the mission of “building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place” (Source).

Girl Scouts selling cookies in California; Image source

Every year they hit it out of the park, selling 200 million cookies on average (Source). The Boy Scouts of America sell popcorn. But they don’t do nearly as well as their female counterpart financially speaking. Loper points out a few of the reasons why. The Boy Scouts’ products are overly transparent, too expensive, and lacking a certain je ne sais coi, that Girl Scout cookies possess. As Loper puts it, in order for Boy Scout popcorn to be successful, they need to “Make it ‘a thing'”. This concept can be applied to any business. Getting customers excited about your product is a great way to increase sales; positioning your company as the only place that offers your product or service is a good way to do this. The girl scouts have done it. Many other businesses should follow suit if they want to be more successful.

The ‘one for one’ business model has been getting a lot of attention recently. Companies such as Toms and Roma Boots are built around the model, giving a pair of shoes to someone in need for every pair sold.

Toms advertisement; Image Source

Other ‘one for one’ companies have a different approach. United by Blue , for example, pledges to remove one pound of trash from oceans and waterways for every product sold. In short, a ‘one for one’ company gives customers a philanthropic incentive to buy their product. This leads some to believe these companies are more interested in selling their products than they are in genuinely helping people. According to one critic, “Toms isn’t designed to build the economies of developing countries. It’s designed to make western consumers feel good.” This claim is somewhat valid. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Giving away shoes, or removing trash,  won’t solve any deep rooted economic, social, or political issues. But that doesn’t make it any less valid. While I agree that it has its faults, the ‘one for one’ business model is truly helping people around the world, and a short term solution is better than nothing.

Charlotte Jia’s Blogpost discusses Amazon’s recent debut of its first physical bookstore, located in Seattle.

Amazon’s physical store; Image Source

The store offers books with ratings of 4 stars (out of 5) or higher online. Ideally for Amazon, the store will become the “go-to” place for purchasing a (physical) book. What advantages does it have over a traditional bookstore? In my opinion, not many. Since it only offers books that have good ratings, by nature it will not have any newly-released books. I am struggling to visualize the customer segment that could embrace this type of store. For instant gratification on a book purchase, an E-reader does just fine. If having a physical copy is necessary, then Barnes & Noble, The Elliot Bay Book Company, or any other Seattle bookstore would almost certainly satisfy that desire.

In a world where physical companies migrating to virtual world, it is surprising that an dominant online presence would chose to move in the opposite direction. While it is an interesting idea, I disagree with Ms. Jia that opening a physical store is “great move to expand Amazon’s business”. It will be interesting to see how this new venture works out for Amazon, but I wouldn’t be surprised if its the next big flop.

In her article on Business Insider, Maria Nazario describes a small New York company with a unique business model. The company, Fair Folks & a Goat, has differentiated itself from the plethora of small designer shops in the “Big Apple” by doubling as a café and allowing customers to purchase memberships.

Fair Folks & a Goat; Image Source

For $25 per month, customers get “unlimited best-in-class coffee and other beverages”, along with a 10% discount on all apparel. More and more of our daily purchases are becoming subscription based. Twenty years ago, if you were in the mood for movie you would have to drive to Blockbuster and rent it. Now for $8.99 per month, you can stream unlimited movies with Netflix. Even more recently, if you wanted to buy a song you would have to pay $0.99 on iTunes for it, or simply buy the whole album at a store. Today, for $10 per month anyone can hear and download unlimited songs with Spotify. Both of these companies have had immense success. What does this mean for the future? What will be the next industry to cater to the subscription-based business model? The answer to that question might just be the next billion-dollar idea.

In our most recent COMM 101 class we learned about marketing research. There are many reasons why businesses conduct primary research and collect secondary research, but it boils down to this: research improves important decisions. When it comes to marketing, those decisions can have to do with packaging, aesthetics, advertising techniques, and more.

The Consumer Decision Journey; Image Source

These factors will affect the consumer’s decision journey (pictured above). When making a purchase in a certain category the consumer will first consider an initial set of brands, evaluate and narrow down, then finally make a purchase decision. The next steps involve experiencing the product, advocating for it (or not), and bonding with it. Bonding is arguably the most important step, as consumers who bond with a product are more likely to make repeat purchases.

Any change in a product’s marketing could drastically effect any of the steps in a particular consumer’s decision journey. This is why effective, specific research is necessary to know how to market a product in the most effective way possible. Something as simple as a change in color scheme or packaging material could tremendously improve the consumer’s opinion on a product. But without marketing research, there’s no way for a company to know what that simple change could be in their specific case.

Maria Starko’s Blogpost discusses a quinoa bowl restaurant in California called Eatsa.

Eatsa; Image Source

The restaurant is unique because it “allows customers to get a meal without interacting with a single person”. Customers enter an order into a computer, and receive their food out of a cubby in the wall. The only human workers in the restaurant are the cooks. The post got me thinking; how far could automation like this go? The viral video “Humans Need Not Apply” clams that there isn’t really a limit to how far it could go. At first that thought didn’t sit with me well. What will we do when there are no jobs left for us?

It is human nature to want to get the most work done with the least amount of effort. Two hundred years ago Eli Whitney’s cotton gin made separating cotton fibers from the seed an automatic instead of a manual job.

Cotton Gin; Image Source

Now Eatsa is making something as personal as waiting tables an automatic instead of a manual job. Is that really so bad though? Within the next 20 years, we can expect nearly every aspect of the transportation industry to be automated. Divers, captains, and pilots will be replaced by a machine that does their job better and at lower cost. More and more jobs get taken over by automation every day, but unlike Ms. Starko, I don’t think that is inherently bad. We shouldn’t halt our progress as a species simply to reduce unemployment rates. We should work towards a more sustainable, productive future. If that means that some electrical employees are going to take over along the way, it’s fine by me.

Websites like Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and Indiegogo have ushered in an era where a startup company with a unique, creative, revolutionary, or simply fun idea can raise money by the millions in a matter of days. The content on these websites, however, isn’t actually regulated very strictly. Last year, someone made a post called “Potato Salad” with the description “Basically I’m just making potato salad. I haven’t decided what kind yet.” It raised over $50,000.

Said Kickstarter page; Image Source

One of the problems (or strengths depending how you look at it) with crowdfunding is that people make impulsive, emotion-driven decisions. If something seems exciting, people are likely to throw money at it. Startup companies know this, and therefore tend to glorify and exaggerate the capabilities and features of their products. With potato salad, its easy to see what is being sensationalized and what is not. But with something like “Solar Roadways“, it can be much more difficult to tell.

Solar Roadways; Image Source

A seven minute video describes the product’s features. The short version is that Solar Roadways are “Solar panels that you can drive, park and walk on. They melt snow & cut greenhouse gases by 75% ?!!!” Neither of these claims have been tested extensively or proven. While in theory an electric surface could melt snow, according to this video (and many other sources) it would take vastly greater amounts of energy than even the most efficient solar panels can produce to do so. The load bearing capacity, life span, and many other aspects of “Solar Roadways” hadn’t been tested at the beginning of the campaign either. As consumers we need to learn to see through deceiving marketing, and make our crowdfunding decisions logically, not emotionally.

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We get attached. It’s part of what makes us human. When that attachment is to a brand, it’s known as “brand loyalty”. The Business Dictionary defines it as “The extent of the faithfulness of consumers to a particular brand, expressed through their repeat purchases, irrespective of the marketing pressure generated by the competing brands.” In the field of electronics, Apple is a company that is known to have a very loyal customer base. This Jimmy Kimmel video is a great example.

People on the street were presented with what they were told was the newest iPhone, but they were actually being shown an 8 year old model. They still praised it though, saying things like “Apple has done it again”. The device was obviously old and obsolete. Faith in Apple caused these people to ignore their instincts telling them that the phone was a piece of junk. Customers like these are essential to Apple’s (and countless other companies) success. After all, 80% of revenue for most companies comes from 20% of their customers — the loyal ones. The uninformed praise, unconditional love, or whatever you want to call the disregard of common sense displayed in the video is essential for business owners today to be aware of. For many companies, the quality of their products is not nearly as important as the techniques they use to create loyal customers.

“Business Ethics” source

After reading The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profits by Milton Friedman, it occurred me that I had never really considered what the idea of “social responsibility” (as it applies to the business world) really means. On most companies’ websites there is a page or tab dedicated to a “mission statement” or “business model”. Take for example BP’s. The first sentence claims that they strive to “improve quality of life for millions of people”. While this may be true to some extent, it is by no means their first priority. As Friedman points out, the first priority of any for-profit organization is just that, to make profit. So why wasn’t that the first sentence? The issue is that these days, businesses (and those in charge) are being scrutinized like never before when it comes to ethics. In his article on the Huffington Post, Terry Newell gives the example of Mary Barra, CEO of GM, who had to go to extreme measures to “repent” for a faulty ignition switch which caused 13 deaths. In some ways it is no longer a CEO’s job to focus on the prosperity of the company, but instead on the prosperity and happiness of customers and others who could be indirectly or directly affected by it’s actions.

What all of this says to me is that public opinion is priority #1 for most companies. Many people boycotted Chik-fil-A recently not because they were selling bad chicken, but because it became public knowledge that a small percentage of all profits go to anti-gay organizations. This is just one example of countless others out there today.

I think it’s good that companies are being forced to be ethically conscious, but ultimately I agree with Friedman that almost without a doubt the first priority of any business is to make money, and so they should stop hiding under their “ethical” masks.