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Among the companies that hit it big after introducing a new innovative product, many of those companies soon lose out to other competitors once they catch up and lose the competitiveness advantage.  Although Google may seem to be such a large and successful organization that it would still be at the top of its industry without any innovation, but we’ll never find out.  Google has made it it’s mission to stay ahead of all other competitors.  With it’s now multitudes of different Google sites to satisfy all kind of users, it seems that Google’s reigns over the search engine industry is meant to last.

Although many people know about Google Map and Google’s myriad of sites, Andrew Johnson’s Blog helped me discover some of the many ‘Easter eggs’ that Google contains. An ‘Easter egg’, for those who didn’t already know, is an intentionally hidden message or mechanism in a work such as a computer program, web page.  I find those ‘Easter eggs’ both amusing and greatly innovative.  I find that to those who discover these surprises, it leaves a sense of satisfaction, and to those who know about them, anticipation every time they type on Google to see if they discovered a new egg.  I find this addition not only improves customer satisfaction and loyalty, it markets the incredibility and differentiates themselves even more to it’s competitors.

The only question now is: What’s next Google?

Of all the resources in the world, most can agree that time is the most precious and scarce at the individual level, however, to the elation of many and the dismay of some, the possibility of buying more time may be on the horizon. Cynthia Kenyon, a renowned biologist, seemed to have found a gene that slows the aging process, and predicts the ability to sell these genes as pills.

These ‘hypothetical’ pills will slow down the aging process as long as they are taken.All benefits will be halted once the consumption of the pills is stopped.

Assuming that these pills will eventually be produced, how will this product be sold?

I find it hard to allocate a price to this type of product.

If it were cheap the demand would be unimaginable and it would cause much difficulty for the manufacturers to keep up.

If the prices were incredibly high, the demand would be much less, however I believe that many of the richest people in the world would purchase the pill no matter the price. However, many would argue that it is unethical to sell this type of product only to the wealthiest in the world.

The difficulty of this question has me stumped, and this is why I would like to ask to question to you, and all those in the world wide web: How will this type of product be sold or distributed?

In his blog, Peter Byrne addresses his concern that graduate students from commerce, no matter how well they have done in their university careers, are released into the harsh business world without any differentiation.  When not releasing marks of students in business school, firms will then judge students based on which school they graduated from and not how well they did in their respective schools.  Peter finds this makes it seems unfair to students who excelled in university.

I disagree, although good marks in a business school reflects to solid hard skills,  the ideal businessman has a combination of hard and soft skills.  Thus, marks do not change the opinion of future  interviewers as much as it would in other fields.

Moreover, I find that the goal for all business students is not about getting marks, but to gain experiences, to have a better feel and understanding of the world. Since in the business world, experience means much more than grades.  And I believe that all students who graduate from Sauder, no matter their grades, learn all the skills necessary to succeed.

Nowadays, a popular topic in the business world is the fate of apple after the untimely demise of Steve Jobs.  Although some business analyst find that the effect towards Apple is not as horrid as it seems, I believe that for the majority of the populous, Steve Jobs was more than an innovator, a visionary, but the physical manifestation of the companies’ ideas and values.  For many, Apple’s ideas and Steve Jobs ideas were synonymous.  In that regard, I postulate that Laura Ryu underestimates the draw and benefit that Steve Jobs had for Apple.

In her blog, she said “Apple will be providing the same taste and should be good to go.” However, as I just stated, Steve Jobs was a sort of icon to the common consumer for Apple, then I find that Apple will have many challenges to keep the same image they have with a different spokesperson.

I also strongly disagree with her statement: “next four generations of iPhones will carry the work of the same guy who created all the other products they love.”  Since it assumes that his current ideas and plans will be relevant in that market for the next four years, which I find much too optimistic.  The realistic predictions is that unless they can properly fill the gaps left my Steve Jobs, the future for Apple is not as bright as Laura finds.

The topic of social entrepreneurship has always captivated me and many of those of my generation. The idea of creating a successful business whilst helping society as a whole is quite a wonderful idea.  I find that sharing ideas and innovations is the greatest contribution that one can give to society, and TED seems to thinks so too.  TED, a website engineered to allow rapid spreading of new innovative products and fascinating theories and research embodies the idea that knowledge is the first step to resolving many of the world problems.

 Although economists often disagree with one another, most agree that restrictions to foreign market are disadvantageous.  The Canadian telecommunication market is without a doubt an oligarchy; being controlled by the big three (Roger’s, TELUS, Bell), who are all heavily protected from foreign competition, the state of this Canadian market is identical to that of China, unopened to foreign direct investment for foreign capital.  This does not only produce deadweight loss, but according to Wind Mobile backer Naguib Sawiris, it causes inefficiencies in the market. Since the companies that are protected are in no danger from foreign competitors, they can afford to have expensive cost structures and lack innovation.

     With that in mind, I find the decision of Naguib Sawiris to invest $500 million in a Canadian Telecommunication service a poor decision. He said that he is not in the market to be the good guys, but to make money, however it is made impossible for him to compete with the big three. His entrance in the Canadian market has decreased the price of services by a third, yet his revenue is negligible compared to the gain the revenue gains from his entrance.  So I wonder was it poor market research before entering the market that caused this ill made investment or simply his underestimation of the Canadian restrictions.

According to Porters Five Forces, the online payment industry’s barrier to entry is very strong.  In an industry that the government regulates attentively and that is mainly controlled by credit card companies, just thinking of joining the industry seems daunting;however to Ben Milne, the difficulties were just treated as challenges as he started his company. Starting his online payment company in the highly regulated and conservative state of Iowa, he fed on the restrictions and legal difficulties to fine craft Dwolla.  What differentiates Dwolla and other online payment medium is the cut that Dwolla makes form each transaction; whereas most companies charge a percent fee per transaction, Dwolla simply charges $0.25 per transaction, no matter the size of transaction.

Currently they move close to $50 million dollars a month and forecasts show that they may move over $350 million in the next year.  With the financial backing that they have acquired, there are multiple projects to incorporate Dwolla with major banks nationwide in the United States.

How did Dwolla grow so large in such short time?

Firstly the ease of the use of this method, being accessible through social media, has garnered the attention of private users.

Secondly the 25 cents charge per transaction attracted businesses. Since the transaction fee is much more advantageous compared to a % fee, which become very costly when dealing with large online transactions.

When I think of entrepreneurship, I think of Steve Jobs.  Determination, ambition, and creativity are key traits that I attribute to a successful entrepreneur and Steve Jobs is the embodiment of these qualities. Following through with an idea that he had when he was a mere high school student, he held all else off and worked nonstop until he achieved his vision.

What separates entrepreneurs and regular businessman for me is the amount of risk that each partake.  Although regular businesses are far from being without risks, the proportional risks that entrepreneurs take is unsettling.  What Steve Jobs gave of himself to the company is simply unbelievable and that is why he has had so much of an impact on not only apple but all companies that he has worked for.

Not only is he an entrepreneur, not only did he innovate and revolutionize the tech-era; he is a source of inspiration to many even after the death. The tributes to Steve Jobs are a testimony to the success he has had in his life.  In my eyes, he is the epitome of entrepreneurship.

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/Video-Games-Face-tsmf-4237746320.html?x=0

Although the market for video game consoles is evidently dropping from the previous years, but I do not consider that a  detrimental  threat to the gaming market.  Even if the gaming companies would drop the price of consoles by a substantial amount, the quantity demanded of the consoles would not increase that much; since most of the customers who value consoles highly have probably already purchased the products.

The revenue from gaming companies is not dependent on the sales of the consoles itself, but is more dependent on services (like x-box live) and the sales of games and accessories.  Although the sales of more consoles would definitively boost revenue of directs sales of consoles and sales of games (since they are complements), but overall it would not change much since these new consumers do not derive as much value from the product than hardcore gamers. Most of the revenue are from the sales of games and services which are mostly consumed by the core gamer community who all highly value the console and gained much consumer surplus when buying the console even at   it’s peek price.  So I find that the lag in sale is normal and that those companies should concentrate more on the quality of the games and it’s services than on the sales of the console itself.

BP p.l.c. has yet again been blamed for a massive oil spill. The last incident in 2006  was caused by the corrosion in one of  BP pipelines in Alaska which cause 270,000 gallons of crude oil to spread into the Alaskan tundra.  This last incident had very poor coverage and had given BP a successfully “greenwashed”¹ image whilst “maintaining environmentally unsound practices” ¹. But this time the spill in the Gulf of Mexico has had full media coverage and BP among other companies have been given the blame.  One of the causes of this oil spill was, cited by key government reports, “bad cement job, poor management by BP and its subcontractors and risky shortcuts.” ² thus proving once again that there really are no shortcuts in life. Had BP followed protocol and had not debased the structure, they could have avoided over $40 billion in fines, compensation and restoration costs, a cost that is constantly growing.  So could BP have avoided these costs had they been run in a more ethical fashion?

So the two main ethical concerns in this case are:

Is it ethical to complete a contract while debasing the material and the final product?

Is it ethical to market and project a “green” image of a company or product while partaking in practices that are environmentally unsound?

1. Monbiot, George (13 June 2006). “Behind the spin, the oil giants are more dangerous than ever”. The Guardian(London). Retrieved 26 April 2010.
2. http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/US-report-spreads-blame-BP-afp-4120032063.html;_ylt=Am_ahBremyRduS57_6n5wqnCzJpG;_ylu=X3oDMTFldWlsdXA3BHBvcwMxMARzZWMDbmV3c0h1YkFydGljbGVMaXN0BHNsawN1c3JlcG9ydHNwcmU-?x=0