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As I retire from Tamar’s Marketing Firm, I would like to compliment my classmates and the boss herself for a great semester.

In all seriousness, 296 really did emulate teamwork in the corporate world. Groups were pre-selected and had to work on several assignments together as opposed to just one. This required patience and flexibility and the ability to get along well. In the end, my group was able to produce work of such high quality that it even met TMF’s standards. That being said, we could have benefited from more collaboration and less rigid division of tasks. The course material stresses the importance of all corporate departments working together, and this proved to be very true.

For this reason, one cannot call one area of business less important than another. What good is an accounting department if all it sees is red? How effective can a marketing division be if the logistics people cannot deliver the product in time? How can a company prosper if it’s financiers suggest projects that aren’t compatible with its culture or vision?

This course has made me realize how important the job of a marketer is. Major successes aren’t possible without creativity and/or amazing luck. In the business world, marketers have the most of the former. I like to think I will have a lot of the latter.

In his blog post, insightful business blogger Curtis Valentine comments on the failure of the EV1, General Motors’ first electric car. The futuristic two-seater inspired a cult-like following among the 1,100 EV1 lessees, who protested when, in 2002, they were not allowed to buy their vehicles out and were ordered to return them to be crushed. Curtis advances the theory that oil companies were behind the move, however there are other possible reasons. While the role of oil companies remains a conspiracy theory, the decision can be justified in other ways.

According to then-CEO Rick Wagoner, the demand still wasn’t high enough to make it profitable. While it was originally valued at just over $30,000 by GM, some estimates reported the cost of producing each vehicle to be between $80,000-$100,000. When all other relevant costs were added, such as the production of replacement parts for 15 years as mandated by the government, the viability of the innovative product was likely put in question. Nonetheless, the EV1 case resulted in negative publicity for GM.

It can be argued that it was in fact a LACK of money that killed the electric car. Unfortunately for GM, the investment may have been paying off about now, with oil prices finally high enough for many consumers to consider an electric vehicle.