Category: Uncategorized

I find it fitting that my final blog post is on risk management as it sheds light on my biggest fear. That is, I fear of one day borrowing a large sum of money in order to pursue an entrepreneurial project and fail to make anything out of it. Thus being left not only in debt, but also without a goal to pursue.

This trepidation of mine has arisen throughout the Commerce101 course as I’ve been introduce to many of the aspects required for a successful business. The areas for failure are vast and numerous; as poor personal management, a faulty marketing strategy, a fragile organizational structure, or even a mistake in the financial accounting department could be the reason for an organizations downfall.

However, after being given the privilege to meet and listen to successful Sauder graduates such as Nolan and Janice, I find the risk of putting one’s self out there and attempting to reap the rewards worth the possible rotten apple. That in mind, the article I read reminds the reader that before pursuing one’s ambition, one should remember that the biggest risk lies within us.  We should be cautious as to not overestimate our abilities and under-estimate what can go wrong. Any corporation or venture that doesn’t recognize it’s Achille’s heel is fated to die because of it.

A post on CNN’s business blog discusses Starbucks’ entry into the Indian market. I find this blog as a “must read” because it captures key lessons that have been taught in class then applies it to a real world situation. That is, the blog discusses the factors that Starbucks took into account when opening in India, as well as the points of differences that would allow Starbucks to thrive.

It may come as a surprise to hear that India’s per-capita consumption of coffee is 82 grams per year: in the United States it’s four kilos. So why would Starbucks decide to open in India? Well Starbucks holds an advantage over other competitors, as the main attraction of Starbucks will be the clean reliable seating provided to all its customers. As one girl in the blog claims; “In Mumbai, it’s become hard to find a nice place to just hang out”.

I personally applaud Starbucks for its ability to both find a gap in the market and successfully take advantage. Additionally, the blog reaffirms a vital lesson that has shown up numerous times throughout the duration of COMM 101. That is, for a business to be successful it must be able to recognize its strength as well as its weaknesses. Thus, gaining the ability to pursue ventures that are more likely to pay off. Just as in the case of Starbucks.

Recently, my classmates and I were introduced to Janice Cheam, founder of the company Energy Aware. Based on a topic she evidently has a passion for, energy conservation, Janice and her company have been able to create the Power Tab In-Home Display. A device that allows users to monitor the power consumption levels of their house.

The device is flexible in terms of placement and will come in very handy for those that live in areas in which energy bills may leave your wallet noticeably lighter. Moreover, Janice introduced the audience to several ways in which one may fund an entrepreneurial venture. Such techniques include angel investors, those who allocate funds to a business in return for future ownership equity, as well as love money. The latter being money which is given by friends and other loved ones.

Being introduced to different methods of generating financial capital in order to start up a new business was as eye opening as much as it was calming. To be frank, I never did fancy going to bank and asking for a loan that would inevitably never be given to me.

Vincent Perraud’s blog post on the blue ocean strategy stood out to me as it firmly related to the venture of a recent guest speaker we had the privilege of listening to. In short, the blue ocean strategy claims that one must not enter a market and battle it out with all the other sharks. Instead, one may create a new market and swim in a new shark free zone. This strategy heavily relates to the aforementioned guest speaker, Wade Larson, who presented his project entitled URTHECAST.

A multi million-dollar project that intends to allow individuals to stream live HD videos by installing two HD cameras on to the International Space station. URTHECAST is also expected to generate money through contracts with news networks that would be willing to pay money in order to be able to televise live events such as Hurricane Sandy.

By coming up with such a service, Mr. Larson and his brother, have successfully pushed themselves ahead of the competition by creating a product that offers services similar to that of Google Earth, yet takes it a step further by offering live streaming. A point of differentiation that certainly places URTHECAST in an ocean of its own. For now.

Common wisdom would argue that by positively reinforcing the desired actions of an employee through rewards such as bonuses, firms would be able to extrinsically motivate their employees into constantly maintaining such behavior. However, a common, and sometimes fatal mistake is rewarding A while hoping for B. A prime example of this would be the 2008 economic recession.

As banks began allocating bonuses to employees who were able to sell the most mortgages, in hindsight, it should come as no surprise that these bankers began giving out loans with inflated ratings. In fact, the situation reached the extent to which individuals who had long been deceased were being given loans. Safe to assume, such loans were never going to be paid back.

So, how can such situations be avoided? Well, firstly, it would be wise to remember that business is about disincentives as much as it is about incentives. To avoid such a mess in the future, I support the notion that bonuses and other incentives that may lead to destructive behaviour come with the added clause that one may not only lose his bonus, but also be docked pay if certain negative circumstances were to arise. Thus hopefully eliminating the probability of any incentive fueled destructive behaviour.

Article Link: http://www.conservapedia.com/Financial_Crisis_of_2008

Maria Soto’s blog on Pepsi changing the name of the Company in several Spanish-speaking countries as a result of locals finding it difficult to pronounce “Pepsi” intrigued me due to the countless number of times such mispronunciations occurs in my hometown of Cairo, Egypt.

Although Pepsi dominates the Egyptian market with an astounding 56% of the soda drink market share, as well as there being a Pepsi related ad on what seems to be every street, the absence of the letter “P” in the Arabic alphabet has resulted in Pepsi being called “Bebsi”. However, unlike in the Spanish speaking countries such as Argentina and Spain, Pepsi has decided not to officially change the name of their product to what most of their

consumers call it. As an Egyptian, I believe this to be a smart marketing decision as Pepsi have successfully taken the Arab culture into account. That is, Arabs do not like change.

This marketing decision has certainly saved Pepsi tens of millions of dollars on a marketing scheme that would have surely been a disaster waiting to happen. The possible effects of such an ill change can be seen in Mexico where Pepsi changed their name to “Pesi”. By not taking the unique Mexican culture into account, one that differs greatly from Spain, Pepsi were forced to revert back to their globally recognized name and suffer the financial effects of a poor marketing decision.

Miller Lite broke onto the scene as it created the market for “light beers”. It established itself in the consumer’s mind as the first on the market by convincing the male demographic that light beers were in no way feminine through a series of commercials and has held that position, with an iron fist, ever since.

Now, Miller Lite is attempting to go one step further and have itself associated as the “shotgun” beer. An intriguing name that grasps a consumer’s curiosity, and, more importantly, their attention.

The concept of the “shotgun” beer is that it has an excessively malleable tin top, which in turn, allows consumers to easily poke a hole in the top of the can and thus lets you drink or pour the beer without any annoying glugging. And according to their commercials, the best time to do so would be during a party or monday night football game.

My research of Miller Lite’s new approach, has synthesized the concepts of ethics in business with brand positioning in respect to a controversial issue that has arisen concerning notions that the new shotgun beer encourages consumers to consume more alcohol at an alarming rate during what are already adrenaline fuelled events.

Links:

1) http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-04-27/news/31416115_1_beer-institute-pilsner-beer-flows

2) http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/miller-lites-new-can-lets-you-drink-so-fast-you-almost-dont-taste-beer-139879

Bill gates recently claimed that Mind Mappers were the “Road Ahead” and are “leading the way into the next stage of our new information democracy.” Testament to such a statement, it has now been confirmed that virtually all Fortune 500 companies use Mind Mapping, including: IBM, British Petroleum, UBS, General Motors, Walt Disney and Microsoft. So what makes mind maps so successful and will mind maps develop in the future?

Mind Maps, described by some as the “Swiss Army Knife of the Brain,” allow individuals, and any group with whom that individual is associated with, to illustrate their natural form of thinking.It is predominantly applied to the improvement of every form of thinking; and the forms of thinking are themselves infinite.

Tony Buzan, the inventor of the Mind Map, has attempted to further the development of the mind map into a software that would explore human thinking. A feat, if it were to be achieved, he deems as difficult as the Manhattan Project.

My experience with Mind Maps has led to firm belief that they are a simple as well as insightful way in deducing an individual’s thought process and in terms of group work, it would allow for disagreements to be solved much more efficiently as team members would be able to point out in which points they disagreed.

Article Link: http://www.innovationtools.com/Articles/InterviewDetails.asp?a=252

There has always been a strong notion that it only takes 1 good idea to change the world. Ever since the inception of Facebook, Mark Zuckerburg’s idea has directly impacted the lives of a billion people as of the 14th of September 2012. However, a question has arisen as to how Facebook plans to remain relevant and overcome a fate similar to that of MySpace.

Many experts argue that it’s the ability to showcase your life and talents to friends and family members in a variety of ways that will maintain Facebook’s cool factor for years to come. And with such a diverse range of possibilities, I couldn’t help but think during our brand positioning class as to how Facebook would present itself to consumers. What position does the company hold in consumer’s minds? Should it limit itself to simple social networking or expand onto different markets such as online shopping as well as incorporating a search engine into the website. Even if it were to do so, would the company be content playing second fiddle to Ebay and Google? More importantly, how would consumers react to such changes?

I firmly believe that Facebook’s growing numbers show that they’re on the right path, however, I also suggest that just like with Instagram, Facebook should be ready to pounce on any new opportunity regarding social networking.

Links:

1) http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/why-facebook-is-right-to-force-timeline-on-everybody-opinion/

2) http://www.valuewalk.com/2012/10/facebook-inc-fb-now-has-1b-users-sponsored-instagram-offers-next/

With the outsourcing of jobs to nations such as China becoming a trend amongst large companies, Apple has followed suit due to the maximization of profits that results from such outsourcing. However, no sooner had Apple initiated an agreement with the factory dubbed Foxconn that eerie stories began to echo from the overcrowded production floors of the company.

With one of the highest recorded suicide rates of any factory in all of China, many began to enquire as to what took place between the factory’s walls. The findings were heart wrenching to say the least. The workers sign pre-drafted contracts that waiver their rights to the legal maximum working hours and the contracts not only tie workers to the job so they can’t quit, but have also legally tied the lips of workers shut concerning any work related events. So why is such a contract in place? Well not only do the workers work 60 hours a week, but they also spend a majority of that time trapped in waste packed rooms, sleeping on dirty bed sheets, and as one worker put it “spending our lunch breaks just trying to survive”.

As a firm believer in human rights and bearing in mind how many jobs would be created if apple were to keep production in the USA, the question must be asked; At what point does the well being of workers and a community take precedence over profits. 

Links:

1) http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/daily-report-chinese-plant-faces-new-labor-issue-on-iphones/

2) http://mashable.com/2012/02/22/foxconn/